Massive mobile tech trends that will impact marketing this year
You want your small business to make it in 2017; you better be aware of the mobile technology trends that are redefining how companies sell and market their products, advertise, or directly operate on a day to day basis. Change and new technology can be intimidating, but the reality of the situation is that for every business that resists change, there are two of its competitors who are embracing it. If your company doesn't embrace the change brought on by mobile technology, your business will become a flip-phone in a smartphone world.
It’s a new year, so it’s the perfect time to try something new with your business, and a mobile app should be one of those things. Chances are, you are already reading up about the industry-specific trends that will affect you. Mobile apps are no different, except they are changing…
Three areas of focus to make shoppable marketing work for you and your brand
As recently highlighted in Smart Insights’ top ecommerce trends briefing, 2017 will see a number of really interesting developments, from subscription-based business models to the growth of artificial intelligence and chatbots. However, one trend that caught my attention was the prediction that shoppable personalised video will break through as technology and programmatic capabilities advance:
The concept of ‘shoppable marketing’ is something I’ve been looking at more closely recently as I investigate new ways to combine ecommerce and digital marketing and create more compelling customer experiences. With more people than ever having access to broadband and smartphones - spending more time online, the rise in online shopping means there are more opportunities to capture customers in the moments that matter.
Defining the shoppable marketing touchpoints
Many brands spend a great…
Key lessons from the Strategy and Innovation World Forum
Robert Jones, our research analyst and I headed off to London last week to go to the Strategy and Innovation World Forum, set up by World Forum Disrupt. The Innovation Directors were attending in force, and with talks from the global heads of innovation from Santander, BT, UNICEF, Vodaphone and other world leading businesses there were plenty of interesting lessons to be gleaned.
With over 32 different speakers over the two days of the forum, it would be a bit of an information overload, if I tried to convey everything that was discussed at the event. But it did offer some great insights into the cutting edge of innovation strategy, so I've tried to distil the top 8 talks into just a few bite-sized takeaways that you can learn from and implement when developing your own innovation strategy.
Setting Strategies for uncertain times - …
A new report shows over half of web traffic comes from bots
Ever year Incapsula release their bot traffic report, and every year I can't help but be shocked by quite how online traffic is comprised of bots. This year was particularly shocking but human traffic fell below the 50% mark, meaning that the majority of web traffic is now comprised of bots. And before you go thinking; 'that just must be wrong, how could there be that many bots?', the report analyzed 6.7 billion web visits across 100,000 randomly selected domains. With a sample size almost as large as the total population of the planet earth, it's likely that this finding is not far off the mark.
Bots aren't necessarily bad, many perform useful functions which the internet would not function properly without. However, the report also analyzed the nature of the bots, dividing them into the 'good bots' which provide useful functions, and 'bad bots'…
Key SEO trends to plan for this year
The SEO industry can be treacherous – you never know when Google will roll out its next game-changing update.
For most SEO experts, every few days is another turning point that marks the need to review one’s strategy. But even if you’re that careful, there’s still a chance that you’ll miss one of Google’s 500-600 updates in a year.
There’s no sleeping on the job when it comes to SEO. If you want to secure your rankings, you need to be vigilant, adaptive, and aware of the ongoing trends in the world of search engines.
Based on the updates observed last year, here are some of the trends you can expect to continue for the rest of 2017:
The Rise of Google’s Rich Answers
SEO isn’t just about snagging the top position anymore. Google has a special place on top of SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) for content…
Increase your organic traffic this new year with these future-proof SEO tactics
Search engine optimisation is a constantly changing field, one that requires effective planning and actionable tactics to succeed.
This post is aimed at those who have a fast website, perfect on-page SEO and a good site structure, yet are looking for ways to take your website to the next level.
In this post, we’ll reveal our top 5 eCommerce SEO tactics that you need to implement in 2017. Allowing you to remain ahead of the competition and drive targeted traffic to your website.
1. Competitor Backlink Analysis
A competitor backlink analysis is one of the most simple, yet effective e-commerce tactics you can undertake. In short, you look at your competitors’ backlinks and see how you can also gain similar links.
If done properly, this can allow you to uncover patterns, problems and opportunities, simply from analysing the links your competitors have already built!
One…
How keep your SEO strategy up to date with the latest mobile index changes
We all are living in a mobile world. Most of us pick our phones at the moment we wake up in the morning. Mobile phones have become a part of our daily routine, from reading the daily news to reviewing emails. Now, everyone knows the role that mobile-first and responsive design plays in achieving website rankings and improving traffic. Instagram is one of the best examples of mobile-first design.
Google's desktop indexing has been around since the beginning of Google Search. But, as this Smart Insights post announcing and discussing Google's Mobile First index launch shows, it is now 'abandoned' and pushed to backup status. It's no secret that Google has rolled out its new mobile-first index. Mobile-first search indexing will focus on the mobile version of your web page than that of the desktop version. So in this…
3 key steps for fueling your performance with the latest news and information
Google Reader is long-gone as a way of keeping track of the latest developments in digital marketing. The important industry information on platform changes that we still need is out there but it is coming at us from more sources than most of us have the time to track effectively. The good news is that, with just a little planning, you can still stay on top of exactly the information that you need to fuel your own performance and also give your bosses, clients, co-workers and followers great reasons to be glad that they have you around.
Gathering business information is a full-time job for me; I publish a newsletter, Who's Blogging What, that highlights important blog posts for 20,000 subscribers working in social media and online marketing. Given this, Dave Chaffey of Smart Insights thought it would be useful…
Email Marketing Expert Dan Grech explains his one goal for 2017: 'Do less'.
I've never really been a fan of ‘expert predictions’, especially when it comes to Digital Marketing. They remind me of Mystic Meg caressing glass balls, making some tenuous claims for the sake of entertaining an audience.
I don’t think much will change in Digital Marketing in 2017. Like in previous years, email marketing will continue to hold the highest potential ROI against other marketing channels - yet so many businesses will get it wrong. Google will continue to make seemingly bizarre changes that we'll complain about - then we’ll accept them as being 'for the greater good' of online advertising. Video will continue to grow - yet people will scratch their heads at why a live broadcast of an eating contest on The Lad Bible's Facebook page gets more engagement than a 60 second YouTube pre-roll with a 6-figure…
One of the biggest trends of 2016 went unnoticed, but it will change advertising this year
Chatbots, Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and Big Data. These are the hot trends for 2017 that have got marketers excited, and you are probably reading a whole host of blogs repeating endlessly how great Chatbots, VR, AR and Big data will be this year.
They may well be great, but it’s often so difficult to distinguish between the hype and the actual business value delivered by a new technology that they can be impossible to effectively evaluate until some time has passed the hype has begun to die down.
Instead of focusing on the next shiny thing to come over the horizon, I thought it would be valuable to look at a major long-term trend that will have an impact on marketing not just in 2017, but over the next 5-10 years. I speak of the growing politicisation of…
