Content Marketing Mistakes You Shouldn’t Be Making

31 March 2021

By now, most people are aware of the value that a content marketing campaign brings to your business. Given the reach and convenience of the internet, most brands are bound to hop onto the content marketing bandwagon.

The only problem here is that not everyone who hops onto trends completely understands them. Before you fully commit to a content marketing campaign, it’s important to know what you’re getting yourself into so you can avoid making catastrophic errors.

Why Should I Consider Investing in Content Marketing?

The first reason that content marketing is beneficial is that it significantly contributes to your return of investment (ROI).

ROI can come in different forms, such as a customer subscription, better brand visibility, improved brand reputation, increased inbound traffic, and customer loyalty.

Content marketing also helps establish your brand as an authority, so long as your content is of good quality. You can even become your niche’s primary source of information. When this happens, customers are more likely to remember your brand whenever they need a product or service that you offer.

Finally, content marketing is a potent means to interact with your target audience (and your target demographic). Sharing content helps you build trust with your audience and it also acts as a means to extend your reach even further whenever your audience shares your content.

Furthermore, frequent followers and readers eventually become actual customers.

Content marketing is a useful method to bolster your business’ performance, but only if you utilize it properly. It’s not a silver bullet that’s going to solve all your marketing problems.

Generally, your best course of action is to hire a content marketing agency to launch and implement your campaign properly, but for those who want to try their hand at doing their own content marketing, there are some mistakes that you need to avoid.

Publishing Content Without a Goal in Mind:

Whenever we publish content, it’s important to always have a goal in mind. You have to determine whether the goal of your content is to sell, generate leads, inform, or engage with your audience.

Your goal will determine things about your content such as your call to action and tone (whether conversational, informative, or imperative). For example, if your content is meant to sell a product, it needs to sound friendly yet informative. A post that’s meant to engage with your audience is best written in a sincere, genuine tone.

Failing to Utilize Paid Content Amplification:

The internet is currently oversaturated and highly-competitive. Content brands are constantly vying to get their message on the feeds of prospective customers.

The brand that gets relegated to the background is sure to lose out on customers, even if their product is superior to that of their competitor. Paid amplification helps your content reach your intended audience and they almost always produce quality leads. Consider the fact that even industry giants make use of paid content amplification.

This means that you should do so as well if you want to stay relevant in your chosen industry.

Forgoing the Use of Social Media Stories:

Social media stories are mobile-viewed vertical videos and images that appear outside a user’s regular feed and last only 24 hours. Storytelling will be the key to distributing your content successfully. Stories are perfect for building emotional connections with your audience because they are more casual and are mostly used as a medium for real-time engagement.

Stories also have a natural progression. This means that users can arrange their content to be more cohesive to viewers. Stories also allow users to enable their viewers to react to the story, while also helps users determine the type of content that viewers want.

Limiting Your Content Form:

In today’s market, text and image content alone will not differentiate you from your competitors especially when you consider that users are gradually shifting away from written content because of the increasing popularity of video content, podcasts, and infographics. This is especially true considering how these types of content are also searchable on major search engines.

It’s important to invest in other content channels in order to maximize your reach. This also allows your users to choose how they consume your content. The best part about this is that you don’t necessarily have to generate new content in order to fill these channels.

In fact, you can repurpose written content and simply change the channel they’re published on. An old blog post can serve as your framework for your video and audio content. Your users will appreciate the variety of your content and this variation will also help improve your website’s SEO ranking.

Ignoring Data Analysis:

Successful content marketing is not just based on artistic taste and content popularity. It is also heavily influenced by data. Running an analysis of your campaign’s performance grants brands the insight needed to make informed decisions regarding content.

The numbers will help you determine which approach is better for a particular demographic. This also allows users to correct a wrong approach.

For example, if you’ve discovered that most of your users are active at a certain time, then use that data to determine the best time to publish your content. Simply ignoring the data will not only rob you of the traffic you would have gotten otherwise, but it will also convey that you’re indifferent to your audience, which will eventually spell the failure of your campaign.

Content marketing is a boon to business owners because it grants them the ability to grow their businesses quickly. It requires a lot of work and experience to get it right the first time, but since you’re posting your content on the internet, it essentially means that as long as your website is up, your content will continue to do its job. Whether your content becomes effective or not depends on whether you do things correctly.

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Ariana Smith

I enjoy writing and I write quality guest posts on topics of my interest and passion. I have been doing this since my college days. My special interests are in health, fitness, food and following the latest trends in these areas. I am an editor at Content Rally.

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Performance Testing For E-Commerce Platforms

Are you an E-commerce brand or platform that is looking for experts to run mobile app testing for your channels? Do you how specialized software testing services can help you climb over your competitors in the E-commerce space? Have you looked at enlisting the services of experts like QA Madness that can help you grow your E-commerce platform? Time and again, we see blogs on the internet that suggest running an E-commerce platform is as easy as eating a piece of cake. To be honest, if being successful and generating sales in E-commerce would be so easy, everyone would be acing it. The fact of the matter is that E-commerce is not easy. It requires a lot of effort, time, strategy, and resources. You cannot simply create an E-commerce website and hope to become the next Jeff Bezos! In this article, we look at how performance testing for E-commerce platforms is essential for garnering success. We take help from leading experts and friends at QA Madness to understand what goes into making a successful E-commerce business. What is Performance Testing and why your E-commerce Business should Invest in it? In simple words, without sounding too nerdy, let us try to look at what is Performance Testing. Performance Testing is the process of rigorously testing all the tech and digital components of an E-commerce business. This includes the desktop version of the platform and mobile app testing. The key is to look at and analyze how the entire tech and digital ecosystem operates when exposed to real-world use. Imagine hundreds of people are using the E-commerce platform app at the same time. The questions that then arise are- Is the server being able to handle the heavy load of all the traffic using the mobile app at the same time? Is there a lag or breakdown that any of the users are experiences or are the UI and UX getting compromised under stress? What are some of the benchmarks and standards that should be used to judge speed and whether the platform is exposing some bottlenecks? Performance Testing is more than just looking at loading page speeds. It seeks to test each aspect of the E-commerce platform and suggest the perfect optimization for the same. 4 Important Things to consider during Performance Testing for E-commerce: In this section, we request experts at QA Madness to help us. Specifically, to list down some important things that should be considered during Performance Testing- 1. Testing Financial Transactions- One area where things can go wrong is in the area of financial transactions. With so many people using the same platform at the same time, you need to test to ensure that every transaction is going through. Integrations with Payment Gateways, the ERP, and Inventory Management Software are all areas that should be covered under this software testing services. 1. Checking the Mobile App Exhaustively- Mobile app testing perhaps constitutes one of the most important verticals for Performance Testing. How the app performs, is the search is optimized, whether the graphics are getting compromised are all issues that mobile app testing will help resolve. In addition to the app, the mobile version of the E-commerce platform’s website also needs to be tested rigorously. 2. Region-Based Testing for Different Geographies- If you are starting an e-commerce business, you are looking at a truly global audience. This is why you need to make sure that the internet protocols of the different countries are not interfering with how the customers in those countries are engaging with your platform. Changed domain URLs, IP addresses, and other rules and regulations need to be considered. 3. Data Management Testing- Any successful E-commerce ecosystem is incomplete without integrated data management. For an E-commerce platform, data is the lifeblood that helps all its verticals- marketing, sales, and CRM. Performance Testing needs to ensure that the data collection, cloud storage solutions, and the final outputs are being generated in a systematic and orderly fashion. The Three KPIs of Performance Testing as stated by QA Madness- While there can be multiple KPIs that software testing services can help E-commerce brands with, QA Madness states that the following are the three major ones. They refer to the same as the three ‘S’s of their Performance Testing goals. 1. Speed- When it comes to speed, we are referring to the speed of the website, mobile version of the web, and the mobile application. It also includes the speed with which users are progressing from one page to another on the app and the website. The higher the speed, the better will be the user experience. This combines to deliver the best sales and revenues for an E-commerce platform. 2. Scalability- You do not want your website and app infrastructure to be so weak that it crashes only after a hundred visitors. Your E-commerce website and the app must be tested for scalability to handle massive loads all at the same time. This will help you provide a fluid experience to millions of users and potential customers all at the same time without compromises. 3. Stability- A lot can go wrong on an E-commerce website when it is put under stress. Graphics can fall out of place and payment gateways can collapse. You never want the users to experience these problems on your platform. An E-commerce platform needs to be stable all the time, with or without load. Performance Testing seeks to build the stability of an E-commerce platform. The Bottom Line: There is no set rule as to when an E-commerce platform should go for Performance Testing. Some believe that it should be done at the early stages of development. Others believe that it should be done once the development of the platform is complete to identify the loopholes and then plug them accordingly. No matter when you get them done, Performance Testing is essential for your E-commerce platform. If you want to create a highly optimized and result-oriented business, this is a great investment you should look at making. If you have any other questions on software testing services or mobile app testing, feel free to ask them. Use the comments section to drop your queries. We will once again request, or disturb, as the case may be, our friends at QA Madness to help you out. Read also: The Right B2B E-Commerce Platforms to Sell Your Used Machinery Approaches for Increasing E-commerce Sales Through Inventory Reports 5 Reasons to Use Magento for Your Next Ecommerce Website

Oh, Crop! Killer E-commerce Mistakes You Need to Conquer

One of the most lucrative and fast-growing industries is the e-commerce industry. It has risen in popularity over the years due to the convenience and accessibility it provides for the consumers, and even for the sellers themselves. A lot of people have been trying to start their businesses from home, yet they don't know where to start, and they have no idea about the wide variety of industries they can invest in or the right tools they should use. Aside from knowing what to do with your new venture, you also need to know the common mistakes and blunders you can commit. Lapses, no matter how small, can be highly detrimental to your business. But as worrying as it all sounds, don't worry. You can learn how to spot, avoid, and remedy these mistakes with this simple guide. Without further ado, here are five mistakes you need to avoid to keep your e-commerce business bug-free and in full swing. Mistake #1: Forgetting Your Market One of the biggest and most common mistakes online entrepreneurs make is forgetting what their market looks like or who their target audience is. Aside from spending most of your time and effort in honing the perfect product, without actually creating a need for your customers, you also have to know your customer demographic. Wouldn't it be ideal to have customers before creating a product, rather than having a product beforehand and then looking for clients? All of your efforts will be rendered fruitless. Know how to target your audience or your buyer persona. A buyer persona is a representation of your customer's demographics, such as age, gender, profession, and social status. To paint you a clearer picture, if you're a designer in the print industry, you need to know your target audience before you begin selling. You won't sell cheap business cards to upper-class professionals looking to spruce up their portfolios just as you wouldn't sell overly-priced prints for low-quality products. Mistake #2: Lack of Social Media Presence The regular person owns at least five social media accounts. And on average, we spend about an hour and 40 minutes browsing these sites. Can you believe that the number of online shoppers in the United States alone will reach 224 million in 2019! Numbers aside, the stats are telling us to leverage social media in getting our brand out there. Say hi to social media. Brands are using social media marketing for some highly useful and practical reasons. Some even devise different loyalty program for their avid followers on social media channels. Some of these are because it provides: Low-cost solution. Social media platforms are an excellent way to get bang for your buck advertising and brand exposure. Customization. From Facebook Insights to Google Analytics, you can customize your pages to your heart's content and receive detailed reports on your customers' demographics and browsing behaviors. Excellent customer service platform. According to a recent study by Venturebeat, 51 percent of the respondents say businesses need to be available around the clock. If e-commerce brands are now adopting customer service chatbots with 24/7 messaging services, so should you. If you’re still not convinced, you can think of your social media accounts as your company’s very own affordable business cards, showcasing your brand and the services you offer virtually. Mistake #3: Neglecting Mobile Optimization Mobile is everywhere, and the world is accessing the internet through their smartphones. With 80 percent of internet users owning a smartphone, failing to recognize the need for mobile optimization, could mean losing half of your potential e-commerce market. Poor user experience can negatively impact your conversion rates. If you shift your focus on creating the ideal mobile user experience for your customers, you can increase your brand reputation and customer retention, and avoid losing 61 percent of your clients due to the poor website experience. As an internet-based entrepreneur, use whatever tools you have at your disposal to provide an optimized user browsing and shopping experience. Bank on your best assets and give yourself an advantage over your industry rivals. Mistake #4: Faulty Shipping Flexibility When you first decided to run an e-commerce business, I'm guessing you did for the flexibility it gave you in doing your daily tasks. You didn't have to meet people face to face, and you could make your timetable to suit your needs. You can now do all of your work at home, and nobody would have to see you in sweatpants. The same principle goes for your consumers. All customers like to have options, especially when it comes to shipping. According to research, only 1 in 4 online shoppers complete a purchase? 44 percent of cart abandonment cases are due to high shipping costs, and a whopping 93 percent of online shoppers say they'll buy more if they got free shipping. Free shipping can increase sales and improve customer loyalty. According to a study from E-tailing, 73 percent of purchasers consider unconditional free shipping as a decisive factor in shopping online. But like all other business aspects, weigh the pros and cons of your business before making a decision. Mistake #5: Failing to Measure Performance If you want to succeed in the competitive world of e-commerce, you need to know how to gauge and evaluate your performance. Take note of your business habits, particularly regarding expenses and marketing. Use your business plan as a roadmap to help you steer your way throughout your business venture. Check your statistics regularly. Update your ledger and see if your business is thriving or failing. Look at your consumer insights and keep up with the masses' latest trends. Be as specific as you can with your data. Don't inflate your figures and understand the areas you lack to improve them further. By monitoring your performance, you are helping your business achieve greater heights compared to passive management. And the good news is, there's always room for improvement, be it for you or your business. Takeaway As John Sagel said, "What we do know now is that the 'E' in e-commerce doesn't stand for 'easy.' Opening an e-commerce business can be overwhelming and nerve-wracking, but it can also be a highly worthwhile and profitable venture. There is no guarantee of overnight success. However, you can set yourself up for the best chance at succeeding. To do so, grasp the basics, learn from seasoned entrepreneurs, and watch out for their mistakes to avoid committing them yourself.

How to Get Into Content Marketing

Growing traffic to a website is the goal of any business owner. More visitors can mean more conversions. As the pandemic showed, eCommerce is on a steep upward surge, and competition therefore can be fierce. In 2020 more than 2 billion individuals made purchases for goods online, according to Statista. These customers made purchases because they had either used a particular vendor before or had found one through a search on the net. Organic traffic is the desired way to increase visitors and to do this content and keywords are crucial. Content marketing is one key way to grow organic traffic, but what is it exactly, and how do you get into it? What is content marketing? This basically refers to the creation of online content for a website. It could also refer to social media posts. However, for it to work effectively, the content must be of relevance, and it has to engage. The content doesn’t necessarily need to promote any specific brand, but it should be a topic that holds an audience's attention and helps to generate traffic and leads. There are points to consider when building a content marketing strategy. You will surely have competition in your niche, and it's important to see what content they are creating. Links are important, and quality backlinks can boost your content’s audience. Keywords and the content itself are vitally important. Performing keyword research and optimizing this area will help improve how effective your content is on SERPs. Effectively, content marketing is a form of SEO and is designed to help generate more organic traffic. Why do businesses need content marketing? Businesses need content marketing to help them appear higher in search rankings, attract more visitors, and then reduce their bounce rate. A report by the Nielsen Norman Group shows the average user spends less than 20 seconds on a webpage. This statistic shows how hard it is to keep the attention of the average web user. Posting regularly on social media, and improving the content of a website can help to keep visitors on the webpage longer. If you can hold a visitor’s attention then they are more likely to visit again, and hopefully, make a purchase. The point of content marketing is to keep a business’s brand in someone’s mind for when it comes time for them to make purchases online. Good content with quality backlinks can help to promote brand awareness and to increase trust and loyalty. How can you get into content marketing? There are a couple of possibilities for getting into content marketing. If you have a website yourself then you can perform some SEO on that. This means writing content that is suitable for your target audience and making adjustments to optimize it for search engines. Long-form content is more desirable than shorter blog posts, but relevance and quality are key. If you have old content on your site then revisit it and check that the facts are still accurate and the links are working. Perform some keyword research and freshen up the content a bit. Another way to get into content marketing is to purchase existing niche websites. Firms such as Content Marketing Plans basically purchase, service, and then flip websites in this manner. Purchasing older websites that have some authority is a great way to get into content marketing. Once you have improved the content and made the site perform better you can then use it for generating leads, or for affiliate marketing. By doing this you can monetize an existing website instead of building up a brand new one. What advantages does utilizing content marketing give? Digital marketing takes on many forms, and working on SEO and content is just one of them. The usefulness of content marketing is as you can see here. Increased brand awareness Retention of audience Increased organic traffic Increased revenue and conversions (hopefully) Higher rankings on Google and other SERPs Are there any negatives to content marketing? Content has and possibly will always be king in regard to SEO and rankings. However, that doesn’t mean it is perfect. The main problem with content marketing is that it doesn’t offer a quick solution. It can take months for the positive effects of content marketing to take hold. This is why some people turn to black hat SEO techniques for a quick fix. However, this always turns sour over a long period. So if someone cannot wait for a new website to grow, purchasing an existing niche one is a better option. Summary Digital marketing in all of its forms can help a business to grow online. Ecommerce is only going to expand, and attracting visitors is vital to remain viable. Quality content can help a site to rise up the ranks of the search engines, and to improve organic traffic. Good content marketing will improve the website’s performance, and will also increase a brand’s presence online and its reputation. Read Also: 5 Benefits of Digitalization in Marketing The Top 7 Content Marketing Challenges for 2022 Required Content Marketing for Your E-Commerce

Content Marketing Mistakes You Shouldn’t Be Making

Why Should I Consider Investing in Content Marketing?

Publishing Content Without a Goal in Mind:

Failing to Utilize Paid Content Amplification:

Forgoing the Use of Social Media Stories:

Limiting Your Content Form:

Ignoring Data Analysis:

5 Ways Marketing Strategies Will Change Post COVID-19

5 Tips for Creating a Successful Call to Action in Your Business Emails

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Ariana Smith

I enjoy writing and I write quality guest posts on topics of my interest and passion. I have been doing this since my college days. My special interests are in health, fitness, food and following the latest trends in these areas. I am an editor at Content Rally.

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Performance Testing For E-Commerce Platforms

Oh, Crop! Killer E-commerce Mistakes You Need to Conquer

How to Get Into Content Marketing

Content Marketing Mistakes You Shouldn’t Be Making

Why Should I Consider Investing in Content Marketing?

Publishing Content Without a Goal in Mind:

Failing to Utilize Paid Content Amplification:

Forgoing the Use of Social Media Stories:

Limiting Your Content Form:

Ignoring Data Analysis:

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I enjoy writing and I write quality guest posts on topics of my interest and passion. I have been doing this since my college days. My special interests are in health, fitness, food and following the latest trends in these areas. I am an editor at Content Rally.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Popular

Follow Us

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