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Pros and cons of AI for copywriting
November 20, 2023Marketing
When ChatGPT first appeared, it seemed to many that copywriting would become completely automated and that machines would replace writers and lead to unemployment. However, that hasn’t happened and it isn’t likely to happen anytime soon. After all, if you rely on AI to write an entire article, the resulting text will be unreadable and require further editing (fortunately, now you can order rewriting from professionals at an adequate price and with quick turnaround times). Does this mean that AI cannot be used in writing texts at all? No, it actually has its own pros. We will tell you what they are and how to use them effectively. Pros Let’s first consider the pros of using AI. There are many, so let’s go through them one by one. Increased productivity Initially, artificial intelligence was created to aid people, not to replace them. And it excels in this role. Let’s explore how AI can increase productivity when writing texts: Creating unique content Analyzing large amounts of data AI can analyze huge amounts of data in a short time, which is physically impossible for humans. At the same time, it is able to collect information from a variety of internet sources (be it news sites or social networks (this info may not be reliable, but more of that later). Once the data is collected, AI analyzes it, quickly looking through it and highlighting the most important information. This helps to better understand what’s really important for the audience or project. However, artificial intelligence lacks emotions, so it cannot truly “understand” the target audience, just like any human. Accordingly, it can only present information if the operator provides a detailed query. Cons Now let’s talk about what enabled humanity to triumph against technology so far. Inaccuracy Artificial intelligence has great potential, but it is also not immune to potential errors and inaccuracies, which can arise due to factors like input data quality, algorithm flaws, and machine learning limitations. Lack of creativity While AI can be trained to perform certain tasks and even to model some aspects of human behavior, it lacks the ability to think creatively. AI works based on the algorithms and data it is given and cannot go beyond these parameters. Lack of emotions and empathy Empathy is what makes us human. And, by extension, something that artificial intelligence can only imitate. AI is not capable of empathy at all. Empathy is being able to understand and share someone’s else feelings, including emotional and cognitive understanding, as well as social and cultural factors. It is very difficult to simulate this, because it is about “feeling” rather than “processing information.” How to use AI correctly for creating content AI has numerous benefits, but they can easily become drawbacks if using this technology incorrectly. Here are ways to avoid such consequences. Read what’s written This advice may sound obvious, but many people ignore it and rely solely on AI. As a result, the text turns out to be not only difficult to read, but also inaccurate. Therefore, it is important to be sure to read what is written as artificial intelligence is not yet perfect. Combine the work of AI and a human Artificial intelligence should be perceived as an assistant for a human, not its full-fledged replacement. It’s often faster and simpler to edit AI-generated text than to start writing from scratch. Break the text into smaller parts Entrusting artificial intelligence to write a lengthy article will lead to a mess and a large sheet of text. As such, it is ideal to break the whole work into smaller tasks and the entire text into subheadings. Of course, they should be proofread and double-checked before publication.
Leverage science: patent link building technique
October 24, 2023SEO
If you’ve never heard of patent links or patent link building technique, this is the ultimate guide you need. Especially if you’re one of those who are constantly learning and optimizing. Picture this: You discover and spread new science in your field while attracting more visitors and links to your website. More links and visitors = more authority, more traffic, and an overall higher online presence. Here’s a short promise of a patent link building technique: So how to build these patent links? Step-by-step plan for building patent links: Here’s how you can attract powerful backlinks regularly: 1. Search for ideas Go to scholar.google.com and enter keywords relevant to your niche (search engine optimization, crypto, video games, etc.) in the search bar. 2. Sort the results In the left navigation bar, check the “including patents” box and select the “Since 2022” option. This way you can see the latest discoveries in your field. If it is a very narrow niche, you can also add patents from the previous year. 3. Finetune Find an interesting patent or scientific research (achievement). Then, write an article on your website about this research in simple language. As a headline, it is best to use clickbait. Yes, it’s necessary to get promised traffic results. Clickbait works great for patent links. It gives much better results than informative headlines. For example, instead of “The role of crypto trading in the economy, renewable energy consumption and ecological degradation,” it would be better to write, “Dark side of crypto trading: how your wallet is fueling environmental crisis.” Be sure to include media (images or videos) to make the text descriptive. Don’t forget to link to the original research or patent. 4. Share on social media Go to Picaboo, Reddit or similar platforms. Choose a relevant category (thematic community). Share your article. The article will be in high demand if you create a catchy title. You will quickly get thousands of visitors in a short time (make sure the server can withstand the load). Share the link to the Picaboo publication on social networks. You will be easily placed in thematic groups and publishers, as the site is widely known (unlike your own site). 5. Get your backlinks Wait a few days. In that time, major news outlets will pick up your story. Webmasters and journalists will see that your article is in demand (trending) and will start writing more articles linking to your site. This is one of the most effective backlink strategies an author in highly competitive niches uses regularly. It attracts links that can’t be gotten any other way and helps build the site’s authority. Patent links: SEO specialists approved Originally, the technique was posted by Eric Lancheres in the Facebook group SEO Signals Lab. The post has already received over 500 likes. Other webmasters have also confirmed the high efficiency of this technique: Karin Kloosterman (founder of Green Prophet): Welcome to the world of PR. That’s what I did for years at universities and startups and a government foreign ministry unit. I think that SEO people need to look more deeply at how publicists of the past did things. it’s also a tool journalists use. Roger Montti (Search Engine Journal Editor): I have seen, heard of and executed on so many link tactics over the past 20+ years. And I have to say, this is a new one for me. Sumit Pandey (SEO Specialist): I had done this for a new website for my agency but I had no idea of what I did and what it was called. Now I know; Thank You for sharing. I hope to see more lessons like these Saddat Abid (SEO Specialist): Thank you. What a wonderful share. I’ve created something similar but I’m just struggling to find relevant reddit directory. My niche is UK property market.. Disadvantages of patent link building technique Patent links are not for everyone. Simply because it takes so much time and effort to decipher the research/patent. If you are working with scientific research and especially patents, you need a high level of expertise. Not every SEO specialist or copywriter is able to understand the advanced scientific literature. If you’re thinking of putting the production of such content on the stream, think twice. You may even need to consult with specialists so that the finished materials can gather links that will attract media attention. In most cases, however, the more sophisticated the SEO tactic, the more noticeable the outcome.
Beyond blogs: how to create other content formats
October 11, 2023Content Marketing
Content marketing is one of the most promising tools to make your company known online. It is so promising because it helps: But for content marketing to work, you should first research your target audience. Consider their needs and current trends. Finding suitable content formats is the key, considering different purposes and communication channels. In this article, we’ll introduce you to some content formats and show you how to create them effectively. Video content Video content is not new, but it is still a relevant and sought-after content format. According to Cisco, video traffic will account for 82% of all Internet traffic by the end of 2023. Advantages of the video content: Types of video content you can use in marketing: To create quality video content, you need to: Audio content Audio content is a relatively new but rapidly growing content format. According to Insider Intelligence, the number of audio content users in the U.S. will reach 212 million by the end of 2023. Advantages of the audio content: Types of audio content you can use in marketing: To create high-quality audio content, you need to: Interactive content Interactive content is a content format that requires active user participation. Advantages of the interactive content: Types of interactive content you can use in marketing: To create quality interactive content, you need to: If this is your gem, you can easily create interactive content with our quiz marketing guide: Quiz your way to success: boost conversions with quiz marketing User-generated content User-generated content is a content format that brand users create. Advantages of the user-generated content: Types of user-generated content you can use in marketing: To create quality user-generated content, you need to: Here you’ll also find some tips on how to encourage UGC: User-Generated Content (UGC) and its impact on your business Conclusion For content marketing to be effective, choosing the format is critical. Videos grab attention, audio provides intimacy, interactive content ensures engagement, and user-generated content brings authenticity. You need to ask yourself who you are and evaluate your business. Maybe there’s a gap you can cover with the content marketing format. Use each of these content format strengths to connect with your audience in a meaningful way.
How to choose what to optimize: 7 ideas for a/b testing
September 28, 2023Optimization
There is only so much you can design and implement for your website to increase conversion rates. However, no blanket change will lead to more sales. To know for sure, you should test. Every CTA, design, and text on a website should not be done on the off chance. But you should start somewhere. We’ve compiled a list of the most important elements you should test, along with why and how. Before we get started, you can check out our previous posts on A/B testing: We have audited quite a few sites. We talked to clients, and the fear of the unknown exists. And the website design mistakes are similar. If you want to order a CRO audit Test pack from us, read this article first. However, you won’t get redesigned versions of your website and customized recommendations. To get tailored recommendations + AI eye-tracking insights, order CRO audit: Flexible 10-pack Now we give you a list of 7 blocks with ideas on how & why to test them. There is a bonus. Ask Yourself images for each of the blocks you should test & optimize. Hope you find them useful. Let’s dive in. Call to action (CTA) Visuals Copy Content Navigation Forms Email
CryptoFinal: How we created the best WordPress theme for affiliate marketing
September 18, 2023SEO
CryptoFinal WordPress theme: initial plan We created themes for our projects and after several successful launches, we decided to build one WordPress theme for affiliate marketing. The plan was to follow 8 requirements: № Task 1 A theme should hit 90 – 100 points on PageSpeed for both mobile and desktop versions. 2 A theme should be optimized (read and displayed correctly) for all resolutions and devices 3 Our WordPress theme should be well-documented 4 Setup should be simple, quick and easy. 5 A theme should be easily customized so we’ve prepared a subsidiary theme 6 A theme should also be well-optimized for search engines 7 A theme should also be well-optimized for search engines 8 It should be easy to highlight the quality of the products. To do this, we have built the pessimization function of the participants into the design. This makes it much easier for the user to focus on quality products and avoid mistakes with inferior products. 9 Our WordPress theme should be well-documented Design optimization for the CryptoFinal WordPress theme for affiliate marketing Since we know crypto, we had to account for all the nuances of affiliate marketing themes on WordPress. The focus was on NFT, tech and crypto trading. Those nuances are: Here we have implemented such features as: Why our UX is great: 1. A perfectly organized navigation follows your users and allows them to return to the desired review block at any time; 2. We optimized the first screen for UX, providing maximum information to give a first impression of the product; 3. With blocks like Ratings, rankings, the number of people who have read the article, and other features, your users will get time efficiency and you – the credibility; 4. The ability to go directly to the product’s website or share it on social media ensures higher engagement. 5. With blocks like product highlights, pros and cons, pricing, key insights, Detailed Overview, Visual Analysis, and user reviews, you can set the right accents and the reader can quickly learn about the most important pros and cons of the product. How did our experience with CRO and the AI Eye Tracker affect the CryptoFinal WordPress Theme for affiliate marketing? We have optimized our own projects for conversions and also collaborated with others. We also have an AI assistant that is fed with real eye-tracking studies and can predict with 90% accuracy how your design will be perceived by your users. When developing Crypto Final – the WordPress theme for crypto trading – we leveraged our CRO experience and this AI eye tracker. What makes Crypto Final special is that all the best practices in CRO, UX design, crypto and SEO are packed into one ready-made solution. Why CRO and AI eye tracking were important: How we found a host for our best tech review WordPress theme We thought our work would be greatly appreciated by fellow marketers. So we went straight to the Themeforest marketplace, expecting that our WordPress theme for tech site review wordpress themeforest would sell like hotcakes. We failed. After a long reviewing process, Themeforest said: “Our review team handles a lot of uploads/reviews, and when it comes to hard-rejected items, we can’t provide any feedback. If we don’t accept your content, it by no means implies that your content has no inherent or artistic value, but simply that it’s not quite right for our marketplace and customers. Feedback is critical for improvement, but providing feedback for all items submitted would be a service of its own and not a sustainable benefit we can offer. If an item is hard-rejected, it must not be resubmitted. Regrettably, the item has been assessed as not a good fit for Envato. Submitting hard-rejected items puts your upload rights at risk.” After digging through the Envato forum, we learned this is pretty common to get a rejection. We didn’t give up. We switched to TemplateMonster, where we were immediately appreciated and placed on the website. The price is as low as possible. We believe that the first product should be affordable. We also wanted to prove ourselves to you, dear marketers and developers. Buy our cheap WordPress themes for affiliate marketing. You can also find us on other sites, just google CryptoFinal – CRO and SEO optimized for Crypto, NFT, Tech Affiliate Reviewers. I hope you will like and appreciate the product. We are waiting for your comments and feedback!
User-Generated Content (UGC) and its impact on your business
September 7, 2023Marketing
Introduction: What is UGC? User-generated content (UGC) is any content – be it videos, photos, reviews, blogs, social media posts, or any other form of content – that is created by unpaid contributors, often your brand’s customers or fans. Then you use it to promote your product. UGC is a win-win: both you and your users get benefits. Your business constantly receives new content that you don’t have to spend time or money to create. Your users feel more empowered and engaged. You, as a representative of a product or service, just need to directly or indirectly motivate your users to create and distribute the content. With user-generated content, the trust of the cold audience grows, because the opinion of other people is more important than the advertisement. People like to engage with other users’ stories. This is something authentic, real and genuine. This kind of content attracts new users much more effectively than perfect, “polished” advertising photos. Difference between UGC and influencer marketing In a previous post about influencer marketing, we sang its praises. But depending on your goals, you might also consider UGC (or a mix of two) because: Why you need UGC UGC is unbiased and genuine. User-generated content helps audiences explore customer experiences, which in turn builds trust. When UGC is used, it increases traffic and the number of unique links, which is an important criteria for website ranking. In other words, your brand’s website will rank better in the search engine when UGC is present. This, in turn, leads to a larger audience. User-generated content can be integrated at any point in the sales funnel: at the awareness, consideration, or decision-making stage. One of the main reasons why user-generated content has such a strong impact on conversion rates is that it is the most trusted and authentic content in the marketing ecosystem. As mentioned earlier, users are attracted to and feel engaged by reviews from real customers, which leads to an increase in conversions. Social media is the center of UGC, where billions of people research, gather and learn about products through user recommendations, customer reviews and visual content. Increased awareness leads to engagement with potential customers, which in turn means engagement with your brand. Engagement is undoubtedly the main goal of an online marketing strategy, as it positively correlates with conversions. Bonus: And that’s not all, because UGC is also cost-effective. Brands don’t have to spend additional resources on creating this content. Instead, they can focus their efforts on curating and promoting this content.Tip: Consider adding UGC to your content marketing strategy. For this, use our guide How to write content that sells. Part 4 How to encourage UGC Conclusion UGC is an organic way for you to connect with your audience, build credibility, and enhance your online presence. Influencer marketing offers unique benefits, but the spontaneity and authenticity of UGC carry their own weight. Brands that can effectively use both strategies will undoubtedly be one step ahead in fostering genuine relationships with their audience.
In the age of authenticity: How does influencer marketing affect SEO trends?
August 28, 2023Marketing
Gone are the days when brands were merely searching for celebrities to use as advertisers; today, everyday creatives are in the spotlight with their passionate and engaged audiences. With a projected valuation of $21.1 billion and the rise of AI influencers, the intertwining of genuine influencer partnerships and innovative SEO strategies is becoming increasingly important. Why are brands partnering with influencers, what unique tools do influencers offer? What trends exist now and are planned for the future – answers to the most critical questions from the marketing agency Scale Final. Let’s get right to it. Influencer marketing in a nutshell Analytics & trends The Influencer Marketing Benchmark Report 2023 shows that the future of influencer marketing is more than bright.The data applies to almost all jurisdictions, with as many as 3,500 marketers surveyed. Some bullet points: And interesting trends: However, you should follow some rules when doing influencer marketing. Despite the advantages mentioned above, influencer marketing is only good if it is honest and authentic. So that you and your fellow influencers to gain mutual benefits and communicate your values to the audience. Influencer marketing guidelines 1. Full disclosure. Influencers must explicitly mention sponsored content so the audience knows it is advertising. 2. Authenticity. Influencers should promote products they truly believe in and that their audience cares about. Advertising for profit can undermine their credibility. 3. Transparency. Brands should be open about their partnerships with influencers and also provide information about rewards. 4. Accountability. Both brands and influencers should be held accountable for the content of their advertising to ensure product safety and the legitimacy of advertising claims.Some of the well-known brands that are successful with influencer marketing include Patagonia, Dove, and Airbnb.So we’ve covered trends and analytics. Ethical questions about dealing with your audience. The next part is about influencer marketing and SEO, i.e. how search engine algorithms react to influencer content and how it affects your brand. SEO and influencer marketing The future of SEO will be closely linked to influencer marketing. More and more search results emphasise personal experiences such as short videos, Perspectives, Knowledge graphs, and Author carousels. There is a strong correlation between social signals and performance on Google, especially in Discover. Although Google has stated that social media is not a ranking factor, the correlation between the two is strong. This is especially true for YouTube, which Google increasingly includes directly in organic search results. Videos with many views on YouTube often take top positions in search. This is even more true for Perspectives. Google‘s addition of the new letter “E” (experience) to the word E-E-A-T was an important clue. The most innovative SEO strategies will involve real experts and contributors, and their online profiles will be the focus of all SEO activities. We can highlight the increasing role of in-house influencers, whose presence on social media will represent the brand. Learn how to build authority via an expert content strategy: How to write content that sells. Part 2 Google will understand even better who people are and what they do. Authenticity will become increasingly important. Conclusion The symbiosis between influencer marketing and SEO has never been more evident. This paradigm shift, backed by extensive analytics, demonstrates authentic content creators’ undeniable influence and potential in shaping online visibility and brand trust. As search engines prioritise authenticity and personal experiences, companies must remain agile and blend the worlds of influencer collaboration and innovative SEO tactics. This is the only way to ensure a meaningful connection with audiences and a stronger online presence.
The evolution of Google Search Engine
August 21, 2023SEO
Being found on the Internet isn’t just a luxury. It’s a necessity. As you grapple with the ever-changing digital landscape, it’s crucial to understand how Google search has evolved over the years and what that means for modern search engine optimization. Take a journey from its keyword-based beginnings to today’s machine learning algorithms. From keywords to user intent In the 90s, search engines ranked pages based on keywords. You just needed to include your keywords as much as possible, and you’d get a good ranking. And then came Google. The IT giant was founded in 1998 and introduced its PageRank algorithm based on inbound links. This revolutionized SEO and made Google the top search engine. 2003 the first major Google evolution update was birthed – the Florida update. It was designed to combat link spammers. Google began using statistical link analysis to find natural data points (anchors, link patterns etc.) Google still uses this approach. That’s why statistically natural data points are essential even today for SEO. However, staying under the radar was relatively easy: relying on keyword density, EMDs, and spam links with XRumer. In 2005, Jasper and BigDaddy updates followed, and then there was a break until the Panda update (2011 – it eliminated content farms of the 00s) and the Penguin update (2012 – exact anchors started being potentially detrimental). Things were beginning to change for link spammers. The following year, the Hummingbird update happened. Google tried to have the user’s intent behind the search in its computer mind. Instead of searching for sites based on user query as it was typed, it looked for those sites that could match a user’s intent. This brought it much closer to modern SEO. The rise of machine learning in Google Search RankBrain update was released in 2015 and brought with it machine learning. AI relies on a Knowledge Graph filled with entities (currently, 8 billion of them) and facts (800 billion). It’s contextual-based, so it can tell the difference between searching for an apple (fruit) and Apple (the tech company). I t can recognize that the user is searching for Paris no matter if you type “the capital of France” or “What is the capital of France”. To further understand user intent, Google keeps track of a search chain. It can predict with some accuracy what search will follow the previous one. Furthermore, machine learning generates questions to fill in the missing information. It searches the documents indexed on the net and then updates the Knowledge Graph with answers. That’s why PAA sites dominated the net, consisting purely of Q&A until Google stopped it with further updates. In 2020, Google rolled out the Bert core update. It further improved AI’s understanding of user intent and the ability to find entities, generate and answer questions. It also brought natural language processing to understand search queries semantically better. So the current authority came into play with full force. If you cover as many questions and subtopics as possible, you show Google that you know your niche well. In 2021, another update, MUM, saw the light of day. Before it, Google’s used different AI models for different tasks, but with MUM, it’s just one model handling all tasks, allowing machine learning better performance. The most relevant thing for SEO is that MUM isn’t just processing text for data mining but other media formats: images, audio and video, all contributing to the Knowledge Graph. What this means for SEO The last step in the evolution of Google has significant implications for SEO. Google’s natural language processing needs less structured information. Technical SEO tasks, including markup with structured data, become inefficient. Links, content, and other media formats are still relevant. By co-occurring in searches and content, links are signals of trust and authority. The frequency of keywords is less important than the perspective from which a topic is approached. TF-IDF analysis is still how to find relevant terms regarding a topic’s keyword corpus. When it comes to content, just creating it is not enough. Google is looking to assist users on their customer journey to receive traffic related to products and get a share of the market. Content marketing is key here. Throughout users’ research on a topic, they may go from “What is content marketing” to “How does content marketing work” and then, realizing that there’s a lot to this topic, “Who provides content marketing services?”. And throughout this research process, companies need to have the answers for users. Therefore, the content you create now must have the users and their questions and needs in mind. For this purpose, you should focus on SERP analytics. Final words It’s interesting to think about the Google evolution of this search engine. From manual analysis of statistically natural data points, to sophisticated machine learning, it’s come a long way. Ultimately, no one knows precisely how Google’s ranking pages. It was simple in the old days, but with machine learning, Google interprets vast data points and makes decisions. Still, at the point where it’s now, there are valuable SEO lessons to be extracted from how Google has developed MUM. P.S. SEO is more than just understanding algorithms; it’s about anticipating change and adapting strategies for accurate results. ScaleFinal is here to help and support you every step of the way. Contact for a free SEO consultation and discover the difference expertise can make.
Uncovering the complexity of B2B lead generation
August 11, 2023Marketing
Lead generation is all about finding the perfect way to turn prospects into loyal customers. But guess what? B2B lead generation sometimes feels like a puzzle that’s missing a few pieces. It takes a special approach. One that overcomes all the challenges and focuses on authenticity and building real connections. But not all specialists and agencies understand this and offer you quick wins or strategies for other types of businesses. In this post, we’ll go over how you should and shouldn’t go about B2B lead generation. How you shouldn’t approach B2B lead generation Very often B2B lead generation agencies offer a service like this: 1. You portray your ideal customer 2. The agency finds LinkedIn users who match the portrait 3. The agency sends them a bunch of intrusive messages. 4. The agency finds those people’s email addresses and bombs them there. These types of agencies won’t spend time on quality content. Nor will they spend time building connections between you and potential clients on social media.This type of work amounts to cold emailing without permission from users. It’s nothing more than multichannel spam. And this approach leads to low conversion rates. But that’s not even the whole problem. What’s the problem with cold outreach in B2B lead generation? Your company’s reputation drops below zero in the minds of those who have received these cold messages. Imagine if every one of you reading this post receives three private messages from us within a week offering to buy our service. And then you get the same message five more times via email. One of you might even buy our service. What about the other 1,000 people? It’s already difficult to run an effective inbound or ABM (account-based marketing) program. Never be seduced by quick wins like this. How do you go about B2B lead generation B2B lead generation is more complicated than the e-commerce cycle, which is: And this approach will also fail: Not only do you have to find the right way to generate leads, you also have to track where they come from. But even tracking software can fail. You’ll learn more about that later in the text. First, it’s Important to understand this: 1. B2B buyers rely on the recommendations of their peers when making a purchase This was true even before COVID, but thanks to COVID this process has accelerated dramatically. Instead of searching Google, “What tools should I buy to create TikToks?”, you’re more likely to go to a community in Slack and ask 13 CMOs. Or you email three people you met at a conference and ask them what they do. To back this up, here are some statistics from Evan Hughes: “Over 75% of website demo requests said they were made aware of the brand by a different source than the attribution software reports. Here’s the breakdown of SRA (self-reported attribution): 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘶𝘴…? 31% Colleagues/friends/word of mouth24% Internet/paid search/Google/Bing18% Community/G2/podcast/event16% Paid Social/LinkedIn/FB11% “Other” or N/A However, attribution software (HubSpot) reports: 82% Direct/Organic11% Paid Search2% Paid Social5% Other\Mix Despite those number, marketers still prefer attribution software over qualitative customer feedback.” This only led to: 2. You must invest in content Almost every SaaS becomes media. Founders are learning from their kids to make videos that take off on TikTok. People are still looking for things, they just have a lot more ways to look. 10 years ago, it was mostly Google. Today, that search can be on Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, in the community, in a LinkedIn group, at events, etc. A very typical way: 1. You listened to a podcast with a startup founder. 2. Then you watched his video from the conference. 3. Your former colleague told you how he implemented this software in his new company. 4. You Googled the company and clicked on “contact sales.” The marketing software tagged you as an organic user, but you can’t do anything with that information. This makes attribution a very difficult task. In consumer businesses, at times like this, they turn to “marketing mix modeling.” In B2B, there isn’t enough data for this kind of calculations. This approach doesn’t prioritize the channels that are typically used to generate demand because the attribution software is based on tracked digital touchpoints. This limits the marketing team’s ability to select the tools they can use to attract new customers. On top of that, we’re reaching limits every year on the Internet.A single source of truth for attribution has become a utopia. Using Google Analytics alone is no longer effective. It’s getting harder to track users across the web and iOS apps, and cookie-based strategies are losing their utility. Conclusion B2B lead generation is complex. The key is to build trust, deliver valuable content, and adapt to the changing preferences of your target audience.Avoid the pitfalls of cold outreach and focus on building genuine relationships, leveraging peer recommendations, and creating compelling content. By implementing these strategies and staying agile in tracking and attribution, you can overcome the challenges of B2B lead generation. You would position your brand for sustainable success in a rapidly changing environment.Tip: learn more about leadgen channels in a previous blog post: Lead generation or how to attract customers to your website
Lead generation or how to attract customers to your website
August 4, 2023Marketing
A user who wants to purchase or order a service on your website is called a lead. Both online and offline businesses need leads. In simple words, lead generation is finding potential customers and collecting their contact information for further interactions. Lead generation exists in every niche. Only the methods of acquiring leads differ, influenced by the specifics of your company’s field of activity. Both marketers and sales departments work on this process. The former combine SEO, contextual advertising, targeting and social networks. The latter focus on improving the work of customer support and sales managers. The ultimate goal of lead generation is to sell goods and services and build an active customer base. How to evaluate lead generation? You can evaluate your lead generation by quality and quantity of leads. If the quantity of leads varies from business to business depending on your goals, it is quite easy to assess the quality of leads. These are potential customers who: How do you capture leads on a website? Lead generation on the website benefits the business because if the visitor has left their data, they’re most likely interested in making a purchase. Even if they’re not planning to do it here and now. Another plus is that lead generation on the website requires less investment than buying other types of advertising or attending various conferences and exhibitions. The choice of effective lead generation channels depends on your business’s sales and development goals. Now for the lead generation tools on the website. Feedback form This is the first thing that comes to mind regarding lead generation. But there’s more to it than that. That’s why you must keep the following in mind when working with the feedback form: Follow these essential rules to make your feedback form a valuable and profitable tool. Lead magnet Another effective way to build your customer base is to offer a potential customer a free gift in exchange for a specific action: filling out a feedback form, subscribing to a newsletter, etc. For example, if you sell cosmetics for face and body care, offer potential customers a checklist to help them choose the right cream for their skin type, asking for an email and a phone number. Other options that work are: Your job is to offer the potential customer something of value, not just beg for their contact information. Newsletter The task of a lead magnet is to present a potential customer with a gift on a one-time basis, while a newsletter implies regular communication. And this tool must be used properly. Nowadays, there is an opinion that emails are a thing of the past, and nobody reads the messages sent. However, it is a great way to warm up the customer for an extended time and motivate him for additional orders or at least not let him forget that your company exists. You shouldn’t underestimate the newsletter because quality content will find its readers. Landing page The main goal of a landing page is lead generation and nothing more.A landing page should be sales-oriented, familiarize the visitor with the product or service, include a lead magnet offered in exchange for contact information, and at the same time advertise exclusively to your target audience. Tip: Feedback forms also work on the landing page, so you can combine both lead generation channels. Useful content If you’re told there’s too much content and you shouldn’t post it, don’t listen.In the vastness of the internet, most of the posted articles are of average and low quality, customers easily recognize this and therefore ignore them.Informative and relevant blog content on a website attracts potential customers, increases trust in the brand as a whole and strengthens your status as an expert in the niche. Read our guides on how to write content that sells: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 Note: That’s why it’s important to focus on the quality, usefulness and regularity of the content you publish. As a bonus, you can improve your SEO, climb to the top of search results, and get a steady stream of organic traffic that, if handled properly, will convert into leads in the future. Customer support Customers can’t always find the information they need on the website, so they contact online consultants for help.By writing a question to the chatbot, the user gets quick help, and you get the contact details of a potential customer.Among other things, a chatbot can respond to customers, because consumers are spoiled with fast service at a high level and unwilling to wait even a few minutes. Tip: to dive deeper, check out our B2B lead generation guide: Uncovering the complexity of B2B lead generation
Understanding PR: what it can and cannot do
July 28, 2023PR
In this article, you’ll learn which business goals PR can handle and which it can’t. And why for some of those you simply need a marketer or a salesperson. By the way, this is also the reason why many are confused about what different things like PR, SMM, advertising and so on mean. In a nutshell: Marketing – to understand, attract, and satisfying consumer needs PR – to create and maintain a positive image and reputation. Advertising – to get your message across and promote your offerings SMM – to engage and build community Why do you need PR? In short, businesses need PR to: PR -manager doesn’t sell the product or build a full-fledged plan for product promotion. A salesperson and a marketer should be responsible for this. But a PR manager ensures that your business gets positive mentions in the media and stays constantly in the info field: he thinks up topics for articles, seeks contacts with journalists and writes comments on editorial requests. Sometimes companies see a PR manager as a wizard and expect him to publish articles in the “top” media in his first month on the job. Few consider that Forbes isn’t interested in materials (even if they’re of the highest quality) from an unknown company. Breaking through the information noise is tricky: You must constantly work on your public presence. PR isn’t a short-term action. As you have already realized, you need to invest time and money. What PR can’t do? A PR specialist cannot influence all things in your business. You need to know that before you go to PR: PR can’t ensure customers don’t write hundreds of negative reviews about a bad product. It’s up to other specialists to monitor the quality of the product. PR can’t to improve the work of the sales department and customer service. If there is a constant flow of leads but no deals, the problem is within the company. Not in external communication. Selling a product is the job of advertising, not PR. Media articles familiarize people with the company, but they can’t sell them the product. PR influences buying indirectly – by building trust with the target audience. Everything in the business should work like clockwork: PR is only one of the marketing tools. You mustn’t forget the others. How to evaluate the work of a PR manager? You can evaluate the work of the PR department using simple calculations of indicators: However, there is a difficulty: a user may read an article, remember the name of the company and visit the site via a search engine the next day – the impact of the article can then no longer be tracked. Managers often ask customers how they learned about your business to assess PR effectiveness. Usually, the customer says: “I don’t remember, I heard it somewhere”. This means he might have read the company’s articles or heard the name from colleagues in the forum. Therefore, in practice, customer surveys as one method of calculating PR effectiveness usually don’t work. Conclusion If you place more hope on PR than it can justify, you’ll get a painful result: whatever it may be, the goal won’t be achieved. PR is one of the marketing tools that only works if the business has a comprehensive idea of why it needs publications in the media. If there is no insight, but you want to make sales, it’s better to think ten times before investing money and time in PR. In other words, this article is a reminder: You can always write us to help you with PR efforts.
CRO: why, when and how to optimize the conversion rate in e-commerce?
July 21, 2023Optimization
CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization) refers to activities aimed at increasing the percentage of users who complete a particular action (e.g., an order on a website). In the early 2000s, after the dot-com bubble burst in 2001, marketers recognised the need for CRO. The massive collapse of Internet startups showed that investment and advertising weren’t enough to make an online business a success. Building a user journey is essential so that as many visitors as possible become customers. Today, CRO is one of the most significant growth areas in e-commerce. Because through conversion optimization, you can increase your sales without increasing your advertising budget. Is conversion optimization always applicable, and how can you determine if CRO works for your business? Let’s take a closer look at it. When should I use CRO? CRO is a universal tool suitable for most industries and types of online businesses. Still, there are situations when you can see the biggest impact of CR optimization. We’ll talk about them below. 1. Optimization of the top of the funnel doesn’t bring results We’ve compiled a checklist of 5 questions to help you realize that you might need CRO. So, your website/app: If you answered “yes” to most of the questions, but still aren’t getting the business results, pay attention to your customer journey. 2. CR of your website/app is below market benchmarks By comparing CR on different devices with the corresponding industry average, you can assess whether your funnel is running well now or whether it’s better to optimize it. You can track the current benchmarks and their dynamics by month via DynamicField 3. You have enough traffic to conduct A/B tests One of the most essential tools for testing hypotheses in CRO is to conduct A/B, A/B/C, and A/B/n tests. If by the end of the test, there is a statistically significant increase in conversions in the test group compared to the control group, the hypothesis is considered confirmed. Note: A strong hypothesis is crucial for statistically significant results and a sufficient sample size for the test. Learn more about classic a/b testing: CRO from scratch. Part 2. And multi-armed bandit testing: Multi-armed bandit vs A/B test: choose your fighter How to increase conversion rates in e-commerce with CRO? CRO isn’t a chaotic but a systematic process with several repetitive steps. Step 1: Search for insights In this phase, you analyze the user journey on the website or app using analytics and look for funnel bottlenecks. The deeper you go into this phase, the more meaningful hypotheses can be derived from it. Funnel bottleneck is the term used to describe the phase in the customer journey where potential customers bounce at a high rate, which reduces the conversion rate. Tip: We recommend custom reports, analyzing user behaviour of different segments, and looking for patterns in successful and unsuccessful interaction scenarios with your website. Step 2: Creation of hypotheses Create hypotheses based on the patterns you found in Step 1. Example: You found that the conversion rate of a segment that uses search during a session is 50% higher than that of a segment that doesn’t. Hypothesis: If you fix the search bar while scrolling the page, you’ll increase the conversion of users to customers because you make the search function more visible. Step 3: Development of the test design You are getting ready to test hypotheses. Steps: Attention to detail is most important at this stage. You don’t want to waste time with invalid test results you can’t interpret. A proxy metric is an indirect metric that affects a key metric. Step 4: Test You run the test with the users, monitor the correctness of the data collection, and draw conclusions until the end of the test. It’s necessary to achieve statistical significance. There are AI testing solutions you might want to try: Conversion intelligence: AI for CRO Step 5: Scaling After completing the test, you analyze the data obtained and decide whether to scale, stop or optimize. Note: The same hypothesis can bring a statistically significant increase in conversions for one segment, a decrease for another, and no effect for the third segment. Therefore, in the decision phase, you should look at the results for all important segments and analyze the impact of the tested changes on other business metrics. What is HADI for CRO? HADI is an abbreviation for the four steps of any hypothesis testing: Hypothesis (H): Formulation of an educated guess or prediction about a possible change that could improve conversion rates. Action (A): Taking the necessary steps or implementing changes to test the hypothesis. This may include changes to the website’s design, content, or functionality. Data (D): Collecting and analyzing the test data using analytics tools to determine the impact of your changes on conversion rates or other key metrics. Insight (I): Concluding the data and gaining insights that you can use for future CRO strategies. This may mean identifying successful changes that you can apply more broadly or identifying areas where further testing is needed. Tip: We recommend starting and ending the testing cycle at the letter “I” (Insights). The insights gained before and after the implemented changes allow you to interact more effectively with users and lead them more seamlessly to conversion. When combined with other strategies, such as user experience research and data analysis, the HADI model can effectively increase e-commerce conversion rates. Ready to optimize your conversion rates? At ScaleFinal, every business is unique and requires a personalized approach. If you’re just starting your CRO journey or find that your current strategy isn’t delivering the results, our AI-powered CRO audit is the perfect starting point. AI eye-tracking technology allows us to identify potential bottlenecks and opportunities in your conversion funnel and provide valuable insights to improve your website’s performance.Don’t leave your growth to chance. Let ScaleFinal guide your path to higher conversion rates. Start your CRO journey with us today.
Pros and cons of AI for copywriting
November 20, 2023Marketing
When ChatGPT first appeared, it seemed to many that copywriting would become completely automated and that machines would replace writers and lead to unemployment. However, that hasn’t happened and it isn’t likely to happen anytime soon. After all, if you rely on AI to write an entire article, the resulting text will be unreadable and require further editing (fortunately, now you can order rewriting from professionals at an adequate price and with quick turnaround times). Does this mean that AI cannot be used in writing texts at all? No, it actually has its own pros. We will tell you what they are and how to use them effectively. Pros Let’s first consider the pros of using AI. There are many, so let’s go through them one by one. Increased productivity Initially, artificial intelligence was created to aid people, not to replace them. And it excels in this role. Let’s explore how AI can increase productivity when writing texts: Creating unique content Analyzing large amounts of data AI can analyze huge amounts of data in a short time, which is physically impossible for humans. At the same time, it is able to collect information from a variety of internet sources (be it news sites or social networks (this info may not be reliable, but more of that later). Once the data is collected, AI analyzes it, quickly looking through it and highlighting the most important information. This helps to better understand what’s really important for the audience or project. However, artificial intelligence lacks emotions, so it cannot truly “understand” the target audience, just like any human. Accordingly, it can only present information if the operator provides a detailed query. Cons Now let’s talk about what enabled humanity to triumph against technology so far. Inaccuracy Artificial intelligence has great potential, but it is also not immune to potential errors and inaccuracies, which can arise due to factors like input data quality, algorithm flaws, and machine learning limitations. Lack of creativity While AI can be trained to perform certain tasks and even to model some aspects of human behavior, it lacks the ability to think creatively. AI works based on the algorithms and data it is given and cannot go beyond these parameters. Lack of emotions and empathy Empathy is what makes us human. And, by extension, something that artificial intelligence can only imitate. AI is not capable of empathy at all. Empathy is being able to understand and share someone’s else feelings, including emotional and cognitive understanding, as well as social and cultural factors. It is very difficult to simulate this, because it is about “feeling” rather than “processing information.” How to use AI correctly for creating content AI has numerous benefits, but they can easily become drawbacks if using this technology incorrectly. Here are ways to avoid such consequences. Read what’s written This advice may sound obvious, but many people ignore it and rely solely on AI. As a result, the text turns out to be not only difficult to read, but also inaccurate. Therefore, it is important to be sure to read what is written as artificial intelligence is not yet perfect. Combine the work of AI and a human Artificial intelligence should be perceived as an assistant for a human, not its full-fledged replacement. It’s often faster and simpler to edit AI-generated text than to start writing from scratch. Break the text into smaller parts Entrusting artificial intelligence to write a lengthy article will lead to a mess and a large sheet of text. As such, it is ideal to break the whole work into smaller tasks and the entire text into subheadings. Of course, they should be proofread and double-checked before publication.
Leverage science: patent link building technique
October 24, 2023SEO
If you’ve never heard of patent links or patent link building technique, this is the ultimate guide you need. Especially if you’re one of those who are constantly learning and optimizing. Picture this: You discover and spread new science in your field while attracting more visitors and links to your website. More links and visitors = more authority, more traffic, and an overall higher online presence. Here’s a short promise of a patent link building technique: So how to build these patent links? Step-by-step plan for building patent links: Here’s how you can attract powerful backlinks regularly: 1. Search for ideas Go to scholar.google.com and enter keywords relevant to your niche (search engine optimization, crypto, video games, etc.) in the search bar. 2. Sort the results In the left navigation bar, check the “including patents” box and select the “Since 2022” option. This way you can see the latest discoveries in your field. If it is a very narrow niche, you can also add patents from the previous year. 3. Finetune Find an interesting patent or scientific research (achievement). Then, write an article on your website about this research in simple language. As a headline, it is best to use clickbait. Yes, it’s necessary to get promised traffic results. Clickbait works great for patent links. It gives much better results than informative headlines. For example, instead of “The role of crypto trading in the economy, renewable energy consumption and ecological degradation,” it would be better to write, “Dark side of crypto trading: how your wallet is fueling environmental crisis.” Be sure to include media (images or videos) to make the text descriptive. Don’t forget to link to the original research or patent. 4. Share on social media Go to Picaboo, Reddit or similar platforms. Choose a relevant category (thematic community). Share your article. The article will be in high demand if you create a catchy title. You will quickly get thousands of visitors in a short time (make sure the server can withstand the load). Share the link to the Picaboo publication on social networks. You will be easily placed in thematic groups and publishers, as the site is widely known (unlike your own site). 5. Get your backlinks Wait a few days. In that time, major news outlets will pick up your story. Webmasters and journalists will see that your article is in demand (trending) and will start writing more articles linking to your site. This is one of the most effective backlink strategies an author in highly competitive niches uses regularly. It attracts links that can’t be gotten any other way and helps build the site’s authority. Patent links: SEO specialists approved Originally, the technique was posted by Eric Lancheres in the Facebook group SEO Signals Lab. The post has already received over 500 likes. Other webmasters have also confirmed the high efficiency of this technique: Karin Kloosterman (founder of Green Prophet): Welcome to the world of PR. That’s what I did for years at universities and startups and a government foreign ministry unit. I think that SEO people need to look more deeply at how publicists of the past did things. it’s also a tool journalists use. Roger Montti (Search Engine Journal Editor): I have seen, heard of and executed on so many link tactics over the past 20+ years. And I have to say, this is a new one for me. Sumit Pandey (SEO Specialist): I had done this for a new website for my agency but I had no idea of what I did and what it was called. Now I know; Thank You for sharing. I hope to see more lessons like these Saddat Abid (SEO Specialist): Thank you. What a wonderful share. I’ve created something similar but I’m just struggling to find relevant reddit directory. My niche is UK property market.. Disadvantages of patent link building technique Patent links are not for everyone. Simply because it takes so much time and effort to decipher the research/patent. If you are working with scientific research and especially patents, you need a high level of expertise. Not every SEO specialist or copywriter is able to understand the advanced scientific literature. If you’re thinking of putting the production of such content on the stream, think twice. You may even need to consult with specialists so that the finished materials can gather links that will attract media attention. In most cases, however, the more sophisticated the SEO tactic, the more noticeable the outcome.
Beyond blogs: how to create other content formats
October 11, 2023Content Marketing
Content marketing is one of the most promising tools to make your company known online. It is so promising because it helps: But for content marketing to work, you should first research your target audience. Consider their needs and current trends. Finding suitable content formats is the key, considering different purposes and communication channels. In this article, we’ll introduce you to some content formats and show you how to create them effectively. Video content Video content is not new, but it is still a relevant and sought-after content format. According to Cisco, video traffic will account for 82% of all Internet traffic by the end of 2023. Advantages of the video content: Types of video content you can use in marketing: To create quality video content, you need to: Audio content Audio content is a relatively new but rapidly growing content format. According to Insider Intelligence, the number of audio content users in the U.S. will reach 212 million by the end of 2023. Advantages of the audio content: Types of audio content you can use in marketing: To create high-quality audio content, you need to: Interactive content Interactive content is a content format that requires active user participation. Advantages of the interactive content: Types of interactive content you can use in marketing: To create quality interactive content, you need to: If this is your gem, you can easily create interactive content with our quiz marketing guide: Quiz your way to success: boost conversions with quiz marketing User-generated content User-generated content is a content format that brand users create. Advantages of the user-generated content: Types of user-generated content you can use in marketing: To create quality user-generated content, you need to: Here you’ll also find some tips on how to encourage UGC: User-Generated Content (UGC) and its impact on your business Conclusion For content marketing to be effective, choosing the format is critical. Videos grab attention, audio provides intimacy, interactive content ensures engagement, and user-generated content brings authenticity. You need to ask yourself who you are and evaluate your business. Maybe there’s a gap you can cover with the content marketing format. Use each of these content format strengths to connect with your audience in a meaningful way.
How to choose what to optimize: 7 ideas for a/b testing
September 28, 2023Optimization
There is only so much you can design and implement for your website to increase conversion rates. However, no blanket change will lead to more sales. To know for sure, you should test. Every CTA, design, and text on a website should not be done on the off chance. But you should start somewhere. We’ve compiled a list of the most important elements you should test, along with why and how. Before we get started, you can check out our previous posts on A/B testing: We have audited quite a few sites. We talked to clients, and the fear of the unknown exists. And the website design mistakes are similar. If you want to order a CRO audit Test pack from us, read this article first. However, you won’t get redesigned versions of your website and customized recommendations. To get tailored recommendations + AI eye-tracking insights, order CRO audit: Flexible 10-pack Now we give you a list of 7 blocks with ideas on how & why to test them. There is a bonus. Ask Yourself images for each of the blocks you should test & optimize. Hope you find them useful. Let’s dive in. Call to action (CTA) Visuals Copy Content Navigation Forms Email
CryptoFinal: How we created the best WordPress theme for affiliate marketing
September 18, 2023SEO
CryptoFinal WordPress theme: initial plan We created themes for our projects and after several successful launches, we decided to build one WordPress theme for affiliate marketing. The plan was to follow 8 requirements: № Task 1 A theme should hit 90 – 100 points on PageSpeed for both mobile and desktop versions. 2 A theme should be optimized (read and displayed correctly) for all resolutions and devices 3 Our WordPress theme should be well-documented 4 Setup should be simple, quick and easy. 5 A theme should be easily customized so we’ve prepared a subsidiary theme 6 A theme should also be well-optimized for search engines 7 A theme should also be well-optimized for search engines 8 It should be easy to highlight the quality of the products. To do this, we have built the pessimization function of the participants into the design. This makes it much easier for the user to focus on quality products and avoid mistakes with inferior products. 9 Our WordPress theme should be well-documented Design optimization for the CryptoFinal WordPress theme for affiliate marketing Since we know crypto, we had to account for all the nuances of affiliate marketing themes on WordPress. The focus was on NFT, tech and crypto trading. Those nuances are: Here we have implemented such features as: Why our UX is great: 1. A perfectly organized navigation follows your users and allows them to return to the desired review block at any time; 2. We optimized the first screen for UX, providing maximum information to give a first impression of the product; 3. With blocks like Ratings, rankings, the number of people who have read the article, and other features, your users will get time efficiency and you – the credibility; 4. The ability to go directly to the product’s website or share it on social media ensures higher engagement. 5. With blocks like product highlights, pros and cons, pricing, key insights, Detailed Overview, Visual Analysis, and user reviews, you can set the right accents and the reader can quickly learn about the most important pros and cons of the product. How did our experience with CRO and the AI Eye Tracker affect the CryptoFinal WordPress Theme for affiliate marketing? We have optimized our own projects for conversions and also collaborated with others. We also have an AI assistant that is fed with real eye-tracking studies and can predict with 90% accuracy how your design will be perceived by your users. When developing Crypto Final – the WordPress theme for crypto trading – we leveraged our CRO experience and this AI eye tracker. What makes Crypto Final special is that all the best practices in CRO, UX design, crypto and SEO are packed into one ready-made solution. Why CRO and AI eye tracking were important: How we found a host for our best tech review WordPress theme We thought our work would be greatly appreciated by fellow marketers. So we went straight to the Themeforest marketplace, expecting that our WordPress theme for tech site review wordpress themeforest would sell like hotcakes. We failed. After a long reviewing process, Themeforest said: “Our review team handles a lot of uploads/reviews, and when it comes to hard-rejected items, we can’t provide any feedback. If we don’t accept your content, it by no means implies that your content has no inherent or artistic value, but simply that it’s not quite right for our marketplace and customers. Feedback is critical for improvement, but providing feedback for all items submitted would be a service of its own and not a sustainable benefit we can offer. If an item is hard-rejected, it must not be resubmitted. Regrettably, the item has been assessed as not a good fit for Envato. Submitting hard-rejected items puts your upload rights at risk.” After digging through the Envato forum, we learned this is pretty common to get a rejection. We didn’t give up. We switched to TemplateMonster, where we were immediately appreciated and placed on the website. The price is as low as possible. We believe that the first product should be affordable. We also wanted to prove ourselves to you, dear marketers and developers. Buy our cheap WordPress themes for affiliate marketing. You can also find us on other sites, just google CryptoFinal – CRO and SEO optimized for Crypto, NFT, Tech Affiliate Reviewers. I hope you will like and appreciate the product. We are waiting for your comments and feedback!
User-Generated Content (UGC) and its impact on your business
September 7, 2023Marketing
Introduction: What is UGC? User-generated content (UGC) is any content – be it videos, photos, reviews, blogs, social media posts, or any other form of content – that is created by unpaid contributors, often your brand’s customers or fans. Then you use it to promote your product. UGC is a win-win: both you and your users get benefits. Your business constantly receives new content that you don’t have to spend time or money to create. Your users feel more empowered and engaged. You, as a representative of a product or service, just need to directly or indirectly motivate your users to create and distribute the content. With user-generated content, the trust of the cold audience grows, because the opinion of other people is more important than the advertisement. People like to engage with other users’ stories. This is something authentic, real and genuine. This kind of content attracts new users much more effectively than perfect, “polished” advertising photos. Difference between UGC and influencer marketing In a previous post about influencer marketing, we sang its praises. But depending on your goals, you might also consider UGC (or a mix of two) because: Why you need UGC UGC is unbiased and genuine. User-generated content helps audiences explore customer experiences, which in turn builds trust. When UGC is used, it increases traffic and the number of unique links, which is an important criteria for website ranking. In other words, your brand’s website will rank better in the search engine when UGC is present. This, in turn, leads to a larger audience. User-generated content can be integrated at any point in the sales funnel: at the awareness, consideration, or decision-making stage. One of the main reasons why user-generated content has such a strong impact on conversion rates is that it is the most trusted and authentic content in the marketing ecosystem. As mentioned earlier, users are attracted to and feel engaged by reviews from real customers, which leads to an increase in conversions. Social media is the center of UGC, where billions of people research, gather and learn about products through user recommendations, customer reviews and visual content. Increased awareness leads to engagement with potential customers, which in turn means engagement with your brand. Engagement is undoubtedly the main goal of an online marketing strategy, as it positively correlates with conversions. Bonus: And that’s not all, because UGC is also cost-effective. Brands don’t have to spend additional resources on creating this content. Instead, they can focus their efforts on curating and promoting this content.Tip: Consider adding UGC to your content marketing strategy. For this, use our guide How to write content that sells. Part 4 How to encourage UGC Conclusion UGC is an organic way for you to connect with your audience, build credibility, and enhance your online presence. Influencer marketing offers unique benefits, but the spontaneity and authenticity of UGC carry their own weight. Brands that can effectively use both strategies will undoubtedly be one step ahead in fostering genuine relationships with their audience.
In the age of authenticity: How does influencer marketing affect SEO trends?
August 28, 2023Marketing
Gone are the days when brands were merely searching for celebrities to use as advertisers; today, everyday creatives are in the spotlight with their passionate and engaged audiences. With a projected valuation of $21.1 billion and the rise of AI influencers, the intertwining of genuine influencer partnerships and innovative SEO strategies is becoming increasingly important. Why are brands partnering with influencers, what unique tools do influencers offer? What trends exist now and are planned for the future – answers to the most critical questions from the marketing agency Scale Final. Let’s get right to it. Influencer marketing in a nutshell Analytics & trends The Influencer Marketing Benchmark Report 2023 shows that the future of influencer marketing is more than bright.The data applies to almost all jurisdictions, with as many as 3,500 marketers surveyed. Some bullet points: And interesting trends: However, you should follow some rules when doing influencer marketing. Despite the advantages mentioned above, influencer marketing is only good if it is honest and authentic. So that you and your fellow influencers to gain mutual benefits and communicate your values to the audience. Influencer marketing guidelines 1. Full disclosure. Influencers must explicitly mention sponsored content so the audience knows it is advertising. 2. Authenticity. Influencers should promote products they truly believe in and that their audience cares about. Advertising for profit can undermine their credibility. 3. Transparency. Brands should be open about their partnerships with influencers and also provide information about rewards. 4. Accountability. Both brands and influencers should be held accountable for the content of their advertising to ensure product safety and the legitimacy of advertising claims.Some of the well-known brands that are successful with influencer marketing include Patagonia, Dove, and Airbnb.So we’ve covered trends and analytics. Ethical questions about dealing with your audience. The next part is about influencer marketing and SEO, i.e. how search engine algorithms react to influencer content and how it affects your brand. SEO and influencer marketing The future of SEO will be closely linked to influencer marketing. More and more search results emphasise personal experiences such as short videos, Perspectives, Knowledge graphs, and Author carousels. There is a strong correlation between social signals and performance on Google, especially in Discover. Although Google has stated that social media is not a ranking factor, the correlation between the two is strong. This is especially true for YouTube, which Google increasingly includes directly in organic search results. Videos with many views on YouTube often take top positions in search. This is even more true for Perspectives. Google‘s addition of the new letter “E” (experience) to the word E-E-A-T was an important clue. The most innovative SEO strategies will involve real experts and contributors, and their online profiles will be the focus of all SEO activities. We can highlight the increasing role of in-house influencers, whose presence on social media will represent the brand. Learn how to build authority via an expert content strategy: How to write content that sells. Part 2 Google will understand even better who people are and what they do. Authenticity will become increasingly important. Conclusion The symbiosis between influencer marketing and SEO has never been more evident. This paradigm shift, backed by extensive analytics, demonstrates authentic content creators’ undeniable influence and potential in shaping online visibility and brand trust. As search engines prioritise authenticity and personal experiences, companies must remain agile and blend the worlds of influencer collaboration and innovative SEO tactics. This is the only way to ensure a meaningful connection with audiences and a stronger online presence.
The evolution of Google Search Engine
August 21, 2023SEO
Being found on the Internet isn’t just a luxury. It’s a necessity. As you grapple with the ever-changing digital landscape, it’s crucial to understand how Google search has evolved over the years and what that means for modern search engine optimization. Take a journey from its keyword-based beginnings to today’s machine learning algorithms. From keywords to user intent In the 90s, search engines ranked pages based on keywords. You just needed to include your keywords as much as possible, and you’d get a good ranking. And then came Google. The IT giant was founded in 1998 and introduced its PageRank algorithm based on inbound links. This revolutionized SEO and made Google the top search engine. 2003 the first major Google evolution update was birthed – the Florida update. It was designed to combat link spammers. Google began using statistical link analysis to find natural data points (anchors, link patterns etc.) Google still uses this approach. That’s why statistically natural data points are essential even today for SEO. However, staying under the radar was relatively easy: relying on keyword density, EMDs, and spam links with XRumer. In 2005, Jasper and BigDaddy updates followed, and then there was a break until the Panda update (2011 – it eliminated content farms of the 00s) and the Penguin update (2012 – exact anchors started being potentially detrimental). Things were beginning to change for link spammers. The following year, the Hummingbird update happened. Google tried to have the user’s intent behind the search in its computer mind. Instead of searching for sites based on user query as it was typed, it looked for those sites that could match a user’s intent. This brought it much closer to modern SEO. The rise of machine learning in Google Search RankBrain update was released in 2015 and brought with it machine learning. AI relies on a Knowledge Graph filled with entities (currently, 8 billion of them) and facts (800 billion). It’s contextual-based, so it can tell the difference between searching for an apple (fruit) and Apple (the tech company). I t can recognize that the user is searching for Paris no matter if you type “the capital of France” or “What is the capital of France”. To further understand user intent, Google keeps track of a search chain. It can predict with some accuracy what search will follow the previous one. Furthermore, machine learning generates questions to fill in the missing information. It searches the documents indexed on the net and then updates the Knowledge Graph with answers. That’s why PAA sites dominated the net, consisting purely of Q&A until Google stopped it with further updates. In 2020, Google rolled out the Bert core update. It further improved AI’s understanding of user intent and the ability to find entities, generate and answer questions. It also brought natural language processing to understand search queries semantically better. So the current authority came into play with full force. If you cover as many questions and subtopics as possible, you show Google that you know your niche well. In 2021, another update, MUM, saw the light of day. Before it, Google’s used different AI models for different tasks, but with MUM, it’s just one model handling all tasks, allowing machine learning better performance. The most relevant thing for SEO is that MUM isn’t just processing text for data mining but other media formats: images, audio and video, all contributing to the Knowledge Graph. What this means for SEO The last step in the evolution of Google has significant implications for SEO. Google’s natural language processing needs less structured information. Technical SEO tasks, including markup with structured data, become inefficient. Links, content, and other media formats are still relevant. By co-occurring in searches and content, links are signals of trust and authority. The frequency of keywords is less important than the perspective from which a topic is approached. TF-IDF analysis is still how to find relevant terms regarding a topic’s keyword corpus. When it comes to content, just creating it is not enough. Google is looking to assist users on their customer journey to receive traffic related to products and get a share of the market. Content marketing is key here. Throughout users’ research on a topic, they may go from “What is content marketing” to “How does content marketing work” and then, realizing that there’s a lot to this topic, “Who provides content marketing services?”. And throughout this research process, companies need to have the answers for users. Therefore, the content you create now must have the users and their questions and needs in mind. For this purpose, you should focus on SERP analytics. Final words It’s interesting to think about the Google evolution of this search engine. From manual analysis of statistically natural data points, to sophisticated machine learning, it’s come a long way. Ultimately, no one knows precisely how Google’s ranking pages. It was simple in the old days, but with machine learning, Google interprets vast data points and makes decisions. Still, at the point where it’s now, there are valuable SEO lessons to be extracted from how Google has developed MUM. P.S. SEO is more than just understanding algorithms; it’s about anticipating change and adapting strategies for accurate results. ScaleFinal is here to help and support you every step of the way. Contact for a free SEO consultation and discover the difference expertise can make.
Uncovering the complexity of B2B lead generation
August 11, 2023Marketing
Lead generation is all about finding the perfect way to turn prospects into loyal customers. But guess what? B2B lead generation sometimes feels like a puzzle that’s missing a few pieces. It takes a special approach. One that overcomes all the challenges and focuses on authenticity and building real connections. But not all specialists and agencies understand this and offer you quick wins or strategies for other types of businesses. In this post, we’ll go over how you should and shouldn’t go about B2B lead generation. How you shouldn’t approach B2B lead generation Very often B2B lead generation agencies offer a service like this: 1. You portray your ideal customer 2. The agency finds LinkedIn users who match the portrait 3. The agency sends them a bunch of intrusive messages. 4. The agency finds those people’s email addresses and bombs them there. These types of agencies won’t spend time on quality content. Nor will they spend time building connections between you and potential clients on social media.This type of work amounts to cold emailing without permission from users. It’s nothing more than multichannel spam. And this approach leads to low conversion rates. But that’s not even the whole problem. What’s the problem with cold outreach in B2B lead generation? Your company’s reputation drops below zero in the minds of those who have received these cold messages. Imagine if every one of you reading this post receives three private messages from us within a week offering to buy our service. And then you get the same message five more times via email. One of you might even buy our service. What about the other 1,000 people? It’s already difficult to run an effective inbound or ABM (account-based marketing) program. Never be seduced by quick wins like this. How do you go about B2B lead generation B2B lead generation is more complicated than the e-commerce cycle, which is: And this approach will also fail: Not only do you have to find the right way to generate leads, you also have to track where they come from. But even tracking software can fail. You’ll learn more about that later in the text. First, it’s Important to understand this: 1. B2B buyers rely on the recommendations of their peers when making a purchase This was true even before COVID, but thanks to COVID this process has accelerated dramatically. Instead of searching Google, “What tools should I buy to create TikToks?”, you’re more likely to go to a community in Slack and ask 13 CMOs. Or you email three people you met at a conference and ask them what they do. To back this up, here are some statistics from Evan Hughes: “Over 75% of website demo requests said they were made aware of the brand by a different source than the attribution software reports. Here’s the breakdown of SRA (self-reported attribution): 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘶𝘴…? 31% Colleagues/friends/word of mouth24% Internet/paid search/Google/Bing18% Community/G2/podcast/event16% Paid Social/LinkedIn/FB11% “Other” or N/A However, attribution software (HubSpot) reports: 82% Direct/Organic11% Paid Search2% Paid Social5% Other\Mix Despite those number, marketers still prefer attribution software over qualitative customer feedback.” This only led to: 2. You must invest in content Almost every SaaS becomes media. Founders are learning from their kids to make videos that take off on TikTok. People are still looking for things, they just have a lot more ways to look. 10 years ago, it was mostly Google. Today, that search can be on Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, in the community, in a LinkedIn group, at events, etc. A very typical way: 1. You listened to a podcast with a startup founder. 2. Then you watched his video from the conference. 3. Your former colleague told you how he implemented this software in his new company. 4. You Googled the company and clicked on “contact sales.” The marketing software tagged you as an organic user, but you can’t do anything with that information. This makes attribution a very difficult task. In consumer businesses, at times like this, they turn to “marketing mix modeling.” In B2B, there isn’t enough data for this kind of calculations. This approach doesn’t prioritize the channels that are typically used to generate demand because the attribution software is based on tracked digital touchpoints. This limits the marketing team’s ability to select the tools they can use to attract new customers. On top of that, we’re reaching limits every year on the Internet.A single source of truth for attribution has become a utopia. Using Google Analytics alone is no longer effective. It’s getting harder to track users across the web and iOS apps, and cookie-based strategies are losing their utility. Conclusion B2B lead generation is complex. The key is to build trust, deliver valuable content, and adapt to the changing preferences of your target audience.Avoid the pitfalls of cold outreach and focus on building genuine relationships, leveraging peer recommendations, and creating compelling content. By implementing these strategies and staying agile in tracking and attribution, you can overcome the challenges of B2B lead generation. You would position your brand for sustainable success in a rapidly changing environment.Tip: learn more about leadgen channels in a previous blog post: Lead generation or how to attract customers to your website
Lead generation or how to attract customers to your website
August 4, 2023Marketing
A user who wants to purchase or order a service on your website is called a lead. Both online and offline businesses need leads. In simple words, lead generation is finding potential customers and collecting their contact information for further interactions. Lead generation exists in every niche. Only the methods of acquiring leads differ, influenced by the specifics of your company’s field of activity. Both marketers and sales departments work on this process. The former combine SEO, contextual advertising, targeting and social networks. The latter focus on improving the work of customer support and sales managers. The ultimate goal of lead generation is to sell goods and services and build an active customer base. How to evaluate lead generation? You can evaluate your lead generation by quality and quantity of leads. If the quantity of leads varies from business to business depending on your goals, it is quite easy to assess the quality of leads. These are potential customers who: How do you capture leads on a website? Lead generation on the website benefits the business because if the visitor has left their data, they’re most likely interested in making a purchase. Even if they’re not planning to do it here and now. Another plus is that lead generation on the website requires less investment than buying other types of advertising or attending various conferences and exhibitions. The choice of effective lead generation channels depends on your business’s sales and development goals. Now for the lead generation tools on the website. Feedback form This is the first thing that comes to mind regarding lead generation. But there’s more to it than that. That’s why you must keep the following in mind when working with the feedback form: Follow these essential rules to make your feedback form a valuable and profitable tool. Lead magnet Another effective way to build your customer base is to offer a potential customer a free gift in exchange for a specific action: filling out a feedback form, subscribing to a newsletter, etc. For example, if you sell cosmetics for face and body care, offer potential customers a checklist to help them choose the right cream for their skin type, asking for an email and a phone number. Other options that work are: Your job is to offer the potential customer something of value, not just beg for their contact information. Newsletter The task of a lead magnet is to present a potential customer with a gift on a one-time basis, while a newsletter implies regular communication. And this tool must be used properly. Nowadays, there is an opinion that emails are a thing of the past, and nobody reads the messages sent. However, it is a great way to warm up the customer for an extended time and motivate him for additional orders or at least not let him forget that your company exists. You shouldn’t underestimate the newsletter because quality content will find its readers. Landing page The main goal of a landing page is lead generation and nothing more.A landing page should be sales-oriented, familiarize the visitor with the product or service, include a lead magnet offered in exchange for contact information, and at the same time advertise exclusively to your target audience. Tip: Feedback forms also work on the landing page, so you can combine both lead generation channels. Useful content If you’re told there’s too much content and you shouldn’t post it, don’t listen.In the vastness of the internet, most of the posted articles are of average and low quality, customers easily recognize this and therefore ignore them.Informative and relevant blog content on a website attracts potential customers, increases trust in the brand as a whole and strengthens your status as an expert in the niche. Read our guides on how to write content that sells: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 Note: That’s why it’s important to focus on the quality, usefulness and regularity of the content you publish. As a bonus, you can improve your SEO, climb to the top of search results, and get a steady stream of organic traffic that, if handled properly, will convert into leads in the future. Customer support Customers can’t always find the information they need on the website, so they contact online consultants for help.By writing a question to the chatbot, the user gets quick help, and you get the contact details of a potential customer.Among other things, a chatbot can respond to customers, because consumers are spoiled with fast service at a high level and unwilling to wait even a few minutes. Tip: to dive deeper, check out our B2B lead generation guide: Uncovering the complexity of B2B lead generation
Understanding PR: what it can and cannot do
July 28, 2023PR
In this article, you’ll learn which business goals PR can handle and which it can’t. And why for some of those you simply need a marketer or a salesperson. By the way, this is also the reason why many are confused about what different things like PR, SMM, advertising and so on mean. In a nutshell: Marketing – to understand, attract, and satisfying consumer needs PR – to create and maintain a positive image and reputation. Advertising – to get your message across and promote your offerings SMM – to engage and build community Why do you need PR? In short, businesses need PR to: PR -manager doesn’t sell the product or build a full-fledged plan for product promotion. A salesperson and a marketer should be responsible for this. But a PR manager ensures that your business gets positive mentions in the media and stays constantly in the info field: he thinks up topics for articles, seeks contacts with journalists and writes comments on editorial requests. Sometimes companies see a PR manager as a wizard and expect him to publish articles in the “top” media in his first month on the job. Few consider that Forbes isn’t interested in materials (even if they’re of the highest quality) from an unknown company. Breaking through the information noise is tricky: You must constantly work on your public presence. PR isn’t a short-term action. As you have already realized, you need to invest time and money. What PR can’t do? A PR specialist cannot influence all things in your business. You need to know that before you go to PR: PR can’t ensure customers don’t write hundreds of negative reviews about a bad product. It’s up to other specialists to monitor the quality of the product. PR can’t to improve the work of the sales department and customer service. If there is a constant flow of leads but no deals, the problem is within the company. Not in external communication. Selling a product is the job of advertising, not PR. Media articles familiarize people with the company, but they can’t sell them the product. PR influences buying indirectly – by building trust with the target audience. Everything in the business should work like clockwork: PR is only one of the marketing tools. You mustn’t forget the others. How to evaluate the work of a PR manager? You can evaluate the work of the PR department using simple calculations of indicators: However, there is a difficulty: a user may read an article, remember the name of the company and visit the site via a search engine the next day – the impact of the article can then no longer be tracked. Managers often ask customers how they learned about your business to assess PR effectiveness. Usually, the customer says: “I don’t remember, I heard it somewhere”. This means he might have read the company’s articles or heard the name from colleagues in the forum. Therefore, in practice, customer surveys as one method of calculating PR effectiveness usually don’t work. Conclusion If you place more hope on PR than it can justify, you’ll get a painful result: whatever it may be, the goal won’t be achieved. PR is one of the marketing tools that only works if the business has a comprehensive idea of why it needs publications in the media. If there is no insight, but you want to make sales, it’s better to think ten times before investing money and time in PR. In other words, this article is a reminder: You can always write us to help you with PR efforts.
CRO: why, when and how to optimize the conversion rate in e-commerce?
July 21, 2023Optimization
CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization) refers to activities aimed at increasing the percentage of users who complete a particular action (e.g., an order on a website). In the early 2000s, after the dot-com bubble burst in 2001, marketers recognised the need for CRO. The massive collapse of Internet startups showed that investment and advertising weren’t enough to make an online business a success. Building a user journey is essential so that as many visitors as possible become customers. Today, CRO is one of the most significant growth areas in e-commerce. Because through conversion optimization, you can increase your sales without increasing your advertising budget. Is conversion optimization always applicable, and how can you determine if CRO works for your business? Let’s take a closer look at it. When should I use CRO? CRO is a universal tool suitable for most industries and types of online businesses. Still, there are situations when you can see the biggest impact of CR optimization. We’ll talk about them below. 1. Optimization of the top of the funnel doesn’t bring results We’ve compiled a checklist of 5 questions to help you realize that you might need CRO. So, your website/app: If you answered “yes” to most of the questions, but still aren’t getting the business results, pay attention to your customer journey. 2. CR of your website/app is below market benchmarks By comparing CR on different devices with the corresponding industry average, you can assess whether your funnel is running well now or whether it’s better to optimize it. You can track the current benchmarks and their dynamics by month via DynamicField 3. You have enough traffic to conduct A/B tests One of the most essential tools for testing hypotheses in CRO is to conduct A/B, A/B/C, and A/B/n tests. If by the end of the test, there is a statistically significant increase in conversions in the test group compared to the control group, the hypothesis is considered confirmed. Note: A strong hypothesis is crucial for statistically significant results and a sufficient sample size for the test. Learn more about classic a/b testing: CRO from scratch. Part 2. And multi-armed bandit testing: Multi-armed bandit vs A/B test: choose your fighter How to increase conversion rates in e-commerce with CRO? CRO isn’t a chaotic but a systematic process with several repetitive steps. Step 1: Search for insights In this phase, you analyze the user journey on the website or app using analytics and look for funnel bottlenecks. The deeper you go into this phase, the more meaningful hypotheses can be derived from it. Funnel bottleneck is the term used to describe the phase in the customer journey where potential customers bounce at a high rate, which reduces the conversion rate. Tip: We recommend custom reports, analyzing user behaviour of different segments, and looking for patterns in successful and unsuccessful interaction scenarios with your website. Step 2: Creation of hypotheses Create hypotheses based on the patterns you found in Step 1. Example: You found that the conversion rate of a segment that uses search during a session is 50% higher than that of a segment that doesn’t. Hypothesis: If you fix the search bar while scrolling the page, you’ll increase the conversion of users to customers because you make the search function more visible. Step 3: Development of the test design You are getting ready to test hypotheses. Steps: Attention to detail is most important at this stage. You don’t want to waste time with invalid test results you can’t interpret. A proxy metric is an indirect metric that affects a key metric. Step 4: Test You run the test with the users, monitor the correctness of the data collection, and draw conclusions until the end of the test. It’s necessary to achieve statistical significance. There are AI testing solutions you might want to try: Conversion intelligence: AI for CRO Step 5: Scaling After completing the test, you analyze the data obtained and decide whether to scale, stop or optimize. Note: The same hypothesis can bring a statistically significant increase in conversions for one segment, a decrease for another, and no effect for the third segment. Therefore, in the decision phase, you should look at the results for all important segments and analyze the impact of the tested changes on other business metrics. What is HADI for CRO? HADI is an abbreviation for the four steps of any hypothesis testing: Hypothesis (H): Formulation of an educated guess or prediction about a possible change that could improve conversion rates. Action (A): Taking the necessary steps or implementing changes to test the hypothesis. This may include changes to the website’s design, content, or functionality. Data (D): Collecting and analyzing the test data using analytics tools to determine the impact of your changes on conversion rates or other key metrics. Insight (I): Concluding the data and gaining insights that you can use for future CRO strategies. This may mean identifying successful changes that you can apply more broadly or identifying areas where further testing is needed. Tip: We recommend starting and ending the testing cycle at the letter “I” (Insights). The insights gained before and after the implemented changes allow you to interact more effectively with users and lead them more seamlessly to conversion. When combined with other strategies, such as user experience research and data analysis, the HADI model can effectively increase e-commerce conversion rates. Ready to optimize your conversion rates? At ScaleFinal, every business is unique and requires a personalized approach. If you’re just starting your CRO journey or find that your current strategy isn’t delivering the results, our AI-powered CRO audit is the perfect starting point. AI eye-tracking technology allows us to identify potential bottlenecks and opportunities in your conversion funnel and provide valuable insights to improve your website’s performance.Don’t leave your growth to chance. Let ScaleFinal guide your path to higher conversion rates. Start your CRO journey with us today.