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  • Get More Done with Less Stress: The Ultimate Guide to Productivity and Time Management Strategies for a More Fulfilling Life

    Get More Done with Less Stress: The Ultimate Guide to Productivity and Time Management Strategies for a More Fulfilling Life

    Get More Done with Less Stress: The Ultimate Guide to Productivity and Time Management Strategies for a More Fulfilling Life

    Introduction: Are you tired of feeling overwhelmed and stressed out by your to-do list? Do you find yourself procrastinating and struggling to stay focused? If so, you’re not alone. In today’s fast-paced world, we’re all looking for ways to get more done in less time while reducing stress and increasing our overall well-being. In this article, we’ll explore some proven productivity and time management strategies that can help you do just that.

    Get More Done with Less Stress

    1. Set Goals and Prioritize One of the most important steps to getting more done with less stress is setting clear goals and priorities. Start by making a list of your most important tasks and then rank them in order of importance. This will help you focus on the tasks that matter most and avoid getting bogged down in less critical activities.
    2. Create a Schedule Once you’ve set your goals and priorities, it’s time to create a schedule that will help you stay on track. Use a planner, a calendar, or a time management app to block out time for each task on your list. Be sure to include breaks and downtime to prevent burnout and keep your energy levels high.
    3. Minimize Distractions Distractions are one of the biggest time wasters and stressors in our modern world. To get more done with less stress, you’ll need to minimize distractions as much as possible. This might mean turning off your phone notifications, closing your email inbox, or working in a quiet environment.
    4. Use the Pomodoro Technique The Pomodoro Technique is a time management strategy that involves working in focused 25-minute intervals with short breaks in between. This technique can help you stay focused and avoid burnout while increasing your productivity.
    5. Take Care of Yourself Finally, it’s important to take care of yourself if you want to get more done with less stress. This means getting enough sleep, eating a healthy diet, and getting regular exercise. When your body and mind are healthy, you’ll have more energy and focus to get things done.

    Conclusion: By following these productivity and time management strategies, you can get more done with less stress and enjoy a more fulfilling life. Remember to set clear goals and priorities, create a schedule, minimize distractions, use the Pomodoro Technique, and take care of yourself. With a little bit of effort and practice, you can achieve your goals and enjoy a more productive and stress-free life.

  • Copywriting Tips for Social Media Profiles

    Copywriting Tips for Social Media Profiles

    Copywriting Tips for Social Media Profiles

    Although some may still confuse as to how to succeed in this particular area, this post will give you solid copywriting tips for social media profiles and bios. 

    Writing for social media is similar to writing for any other marketing channel. You need to be clear on your audience, your brand voice, and your objective. And because of the way people consume social content, these things are even more vital on social media.

    A lot of us have social media on our phones and we scroll through everything half-distracted, not even registering half of what’s there. When you write for social, you’re writing for these casual scrollers and skimmers, not highly engaged readers. 

    If there is one thing you need to always remember to have great copywriting, it’s to always write with your readers in mind. What attracts these mindless scrollers is a post that’s about them and that addresses their problems, their needs, and their desires. 

    When you’re planning your content, keep in mind that the focus of your businesses’ social activity shouldn’t be your business, it should be your customers.

    Writing on social media tends to be more casual compared to other sorts of business communication. That’s mainly because people use social media to connect with friends, to socialize, to catch up on news, and for other non-work-related things. So naturally, a more informal, less business-like tone is expected and appropriate. 

    Space is a premium on social media. For your message to be effective, you to get it across quickly. Using abbreviations and breaking a few grammar rules are acceptable and useful to achieve this. 

    When choosing how casual to go on social is to determine your brand tone of voice. Your brand voice should be consistent and recognizable across all your marketing channels. Choose the right language to reflect your brand to achieve that.

    You need to have clear objectives so your social media copywriting will be successful. When it comes to your social media activity, you probably have several objectives and targets around engagement levels, click-throughs, and conversions. Assuming that the overall strategy is clear, the next thing to make sure of is to have a simply defined objective for each post. Your objective will probably be linked to a call-to-action, but not necessarily. Sometimes the objective of a post is just to make followers aware of something or remind them of a key message. 

    Here’s the important thing: a post should only ever have one call-to-action. Remember those skimmers and scrollers? And the limited time and space you have to get your message across? Unless you are absolutely clear what one action you want your reader to take after reading your post, your message will come across as confusing and will probably be ignored. 

    Important points to remember to have a solid foundation for social media success:

    • Know your audience
    • Use a more casual language as appropriate for your brand
    • Stick to one simple CTA per post. 

    Copywriting Tips for Social Media Profiles

     

    How to Write Social Media Profiles and Bios

    Bios are the snippets of text you see when you click through a social profile. They’re important because they will be the first impression that people will get of your brand. that’s why you need them to be accurate and engaging. 

    Start Strong with your Social Profile Name

    If your brand is very well-known, like Apple, or has a name that describes what it does or sells, like Carpet Warehouse, then you’ll want to stick to using just your company name here. However, if your company name does not describe what your company is or is not as well-known, being able to add a more descriptive word to your name on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter, can make you more quickly discoverable by people who are searching for both your company and your product or service.

    Get to the Point

    On Twitter and Instagram, the text needs to be very short. In that short space, you need to engage your target audience and persuade them to take action. So you need to be organized about it, you don’t need any fluffs or fillers here. 

    If you are struggling to perfect your company social media bio, try starting with this simple tried and tested formula. 

    • Start by saying who you help and how you help them. Notice that we’re focusing on the reader here and not ourselves. 
    • Explain what makes you unique. How are you different from other companies in your field?
    • Offer some proof, something that builds your credibility. This could be a membership of a professional body, it could be an award you’ve won or an impressive statistic, like the number of years you’ve been in business or the number of customers you’ve served. 
    • End with a CTA and attach a benefit to it. Give your reader a great reason why they want to take the action that you’re proposing.

    Banish Bloat

    On Facebook and Linkedin, the character limit for your bio is longer, but that doesn’t mean you should use all of them. I strongly advise you not to. Banishing bloat and keeping all your social media bios to the simple formula shown above will make your message clearer and your CTA more persuasive than if you try to stuff in too much information this early in your relationship with your reader. 

     

    For more posts like this, check out our blog.

  • What Will Make You Fully Stand Out in the Digital Marketing Scene this 2022?

    What Will Make You Fully Stand Out in the Digital Marketing Scene this 2022?

    What Will Make You Stand Out in the Digital Marketing Scene this 2022?

    It’s 2022 and yes, every business is already saturated and digital marketing is not an exception. The question is what should you do to make your business stand out in the digital marketing scene?

    As the pandemic went on in 2021, the demand for businesses to go digital even became higher. If you are doubting coming into the online world when it’s already becoming more and more saturated, you shouldn’t be because it will still be a booming market even in the next few years granted that you’ll be smart about it.

    Marketing your business has changed over the years and a lot of options have opened with the help of technology. Today, you can market both online and offline. Offline marketing is traditional marketing where you spread your business by word of mouth or distributing flyers and the like. With online marketing, you’ll advertise your business over the internet by paying for ads, social media marketing, partnering with influencers, video marketing, and so many more.

    There are so many ways to market your business online and with the right strategy, you’ll be reaching more potential customers and this can help push your business forward and help you achieve success. With that said, how do you not get drowned in the sea of a saturated market? How do you make yourself stand out in the digital marketing scene so that your business can be differentiated from all others?

    Marketer Neil Patel has some amazing tips to share to make you stand out in the digital marketing scene. Let’s review them.

    Tips to Make You Stand Out in the Digital Marketing Scene

    Personalize Your Content

    First things first: content. When you think about content, you need to know that, presently, there are already more than a billion blogs and websites on the internet. So how do you differentiate yourself amongst this number? How do you make your content stand out among others? One tip is to use facts and data and then mix some of your own story with it. Storytelling has become a huge part of digital marketing because it personalizes a brand. People crave fresh perspectives and with personalized content, you’ll make something they can relate to. 

    Keep Your Content Updated

    Knowing how much content there is already out there, it’s now important to spend more time updating your old ones rather than creating more. Google likes ranking fresh content over stale ones so keeping your old posts up to date will make your Google rankings better.            

    Work With Influencers     

    One marketing strategy that has been gaining traction for a few years now is influencer marketing. Partnering up with the right influencer will help blow up your product and garner new customers. Large brands do this all the time (hello Cristiano Ronaldo, Kylie Jenner, and Alexa Chung), but it can also work for small brands when you find the right influencers to work with. 

    Read: All About Influencer Marketing

    Use Facebook for Internet Marketing

    Facebook is one of the most popular and most used social media apps today, from millennials to boomers and even the newer generation. With the number of users in this app, you’ll definitely find your target market and you’ll reach more people when you start using Facebook ads.

    Read: Facebook Marketing Tips for your Small Business | 10 Tips to Increase Your Facebook Page Engagement

     

    What Will Make You Stand Out in the Digital Marketing Scene this 2022?

     

    Incorporate Upsells and Downsells

    Add in upsells and downsells to your marketing strategy. This will help optimize and improve your conversion rates. Upselling and downselling can help you generate more revenue which will make things more profitable in the long run. 

    Read more about Upsells and Downsells.

    Use More Than Just One Channel

    Last but not least, use more than just one channel when you market online. Being in only one channel used to work, but times change and it’s better to have backups when one channel changes its algorithm that will then affect your strategy. There’s a lot to choose from including SEO, Facebook ads, Google ads, and so many more. Don’t just depend on one, take an omnichannel approach. Some may not perform as well as others but that’s okay. You’ll do well in the long run and won’t have to worry so much when there are updates.

    Wrap Up

    Even when the digital marketing world is swamped and saturated with competitors, you can still stand out in the digital marketing scene when you provide value and solutions to your customer’s problems. After all, the point of building a business is to offer convenience to your target market’s pain points, right?

    Be creative in your digital marketing approach. It may seem easy to just post an online ad but it takes a greater deal to create the right message to persuade people to trust your business.

    Need help with digital marketing? Contact VE Digital today!

  • 8 Tips for an Effective Video Marketing Strategy

    8 Tips for an Effective Video Marketing Strategy

    8 Tips for an Effective Video Marketing Strategy

    Video marketing has become bigger and bigger in the digital marketing field today and if you are still one of the businesses that haven’t implemented this strategy in your marketing efforts, you are missing out on a lot of opportunities. In this post, we will be featuring 8 tips to make your video marketing strategy effective. 

     

    Define your video goals

    To begin strategizing for your video marketing endeavor, of course, the first thing you need to define is your goals. What are you hoping to achieve with your video? Are you introducing something new or continuing a series? Are you trying to address a problem and offer solutions? Do you want to create awareness for your brand? Do you want to convince the viewer on what product to use?

    Define what your video goals are and the next steps will flow after that.

     

    Tell a story

    People love stories. It’s one reason why they read long captions, browse photo albums, and watch long videos. In making content for your videos, always keep in mind to tell stories rather than just concentrating on selling a product or service.

    Video marketing is an incredible tool for storytelling as it has the power to convey emotions to your customers that will create the personality of your brand.

    Incorporating stories into your videos will encourage and improve engagement from your audience. Rather than just making bland videos introducing your company and showcasing your products and services, look for ways to tell a captivating story that will have your audience hooked on your videos.

     

    Include product tutorials and demos

    Keep a balance on your video marketing strategy by having product tutorials and demos as well as story-telling videos.

    With video marketing, you can introduce your product, its features, and further explain its use and how it can solve your customer’s problems.

    Product tutorial videos are very helpful for customers who are only a step away from clicking the checkout button. When people have questions about your products or services, they can just easily find and watch your videos before purchasing them.

     

    Show your personality and be creative

    People relate to videos more when they have that authentic feel and character so it’s important to show your brand personality. Showcase what your company is all about in a creative manner, after all, viewers appreciate engaging videos that are full of creativity and personality.

    What makes your business stand out from your competitors? What makes your brand different from others? Highlight those things on your videos.

     

    Listen to your customers and include their feedback in your videos

    One great video marketing strategy is including customer-generated content. People love seeing themselves being featured and this strategy has the potential of making your brand go viral.

    Encourage your customers to create videos using your products or services and then make a video about it and post them on your website and socials.

    When people see themselves in a video, they will more likely share it with their followers and that is free advertising for you to get more reach!

     

    Always include calls to action at the end

    Calls to action are not only for the written content, it can also be used in videos so don’t forget to include them! What actions do you want your viewers to do after watching your video? Do you want them to subscribe to your channel, follow you on your socials, or check out your website? Let them know at the end of your videos.

    Adding calls to action is simple and effective, and this can spark engagement with your audience. So don’t forget to add them to every video you create and publish.

     

    Video Marketing Strategy

     

    Optimize videos for search engines

    As the owner of YouTube, Google indexes YouTube videos. So when you upload to this platform, don’t forget to optimize your videos for search.

    Include important and relevant keywords in your video’s description box. You can include your website link here or any shortened links with calls to action for your audience to take.

    Here are other things you can do to optimize your videos for search:

    • include relevant keywords on your video title, and make it interesting (not clickbait-y)
    • write a comprehensive summary of your video for your description box and, of course, include your keywords
    • add relevant tags
    • add closed captions
    • include a transcript of your video that’s rich with your keyword/s

     

    Maintain a realistic budget for your videos and stick with it

    Every video you create has its own budget and let’s face it, no matter how great a plan is, when it does not coincide with your budget, your video quality will fall short.

    Have a realistic budget and work within that limitation. You can maximize your resources and still come up with great results. Certain videos will be more expensive than others, do your research if there are alternatives and balance it out.

     

    Ultimately, your goal for your videos should be to educate your customers, whether it be about your company or your products, place yourself as a leading authority in your field, and establish a relationship with your audience. 

    For more video marketing-related articles, do visit our blog.

    Need guidance and help with video marketing? Ve Digital offers videography services. Contact us today!

  • 9 Things To Have A User-Friendly Website

    9 Things To Have A User-Friendly Website

    As more and more businesses transition into the digital world, it’s worth looking into the things that will improve your online presence and that is to have a user-friendly website. Aside from leaving your digital footprints through social media, having your professional website up and running is important as well. A user-friendly website is not just a marketing tactic that will gain your business traction in the digital world, it will also be your stepping stone to success. Here are some of the things you’ll need to have to make your site more user-friendly.

     

    9 Things To Have A User-Friendly Website

    Mobile Responsiveness

    As you all might have already known, the world has been taken over by mobile phones, and every day, more and more people use smartphones to access the internet. And that is reason enough why having a mobile-optimized website is necessary.

    A user-friendly website is mobile-friendly as well so make sure that yours is mobile responsive. Make sure that your navigation works fine on both desktop and mobile devices. Optimize your images as well so that your website will load smoothly.

    Scannable and Well-Formatted Content

    Internet users nowadays skim through content while just mindlessly scrolling through their devices. They rarely read web content word for word except when they really intended to search for it. That’s why it’s important to format your content having the relevant key parts of the page easy to determine. Correctly use headings, subheadings, bullet points, and numbers lists to break down your text and make it an easy scan for your readers.

    Quick Load Times

    Isn’t it annoying when a certain page takes ages to load? It would lead you to quickly close the tab and move on to another one. And you don’t want that to happen to you when prospects open up your website. You want your website to be fast-loading because you don’t want your potential customers to lose interest.

    And so to have a user-friendly website, you need to make sure your pages load within 4-6 seconds to ensure good usability. This will not only delight the viewers but will also affect your search engine ranking positively. There are a lot of online tools you can use to test the speed of your website and to get suggestions on what to do to improve it.

    Try out Pingdom to test out your website speed.

     

    User-Friendly Website

     

    Good and Effective Navigation

    When talking about good website usability, good and effective navigation is a priority. Make sure it’s uncomplicated and clutter-free. Limit your menu items a much as you can and consider having a drop-down menu or sub navigations when you are working on a large site.

    Aside from the menu, navigation also includes good internal linking, accurate headers and footers, a custom 404 page, and more. Pay attention to these ones, too.

    Have Search Functionality

    A search bar or icon may be overlooked most of the time, but it’s one of the most useful things on a website. When you need to find something and you can’t see it anywhere you click, you’d want to search for it. And that’s why search functionality is important in a website. It will help your visitors find exactly what they are looking for quickly.

    Eye-Friendly Color Schemes

    In order for a website to look enticing and pleasing to the eyes, it needs to have color. But not just any color, it needs to have the right ones that match your branding. Choose a harmonious color scheme and be consistent with it. Choose colors that will represent and define your business.

    Try out Coolors to generate color schemes.

    Usable Forms

    On business websites, forms are crucial because these are where you generate your leads. Forms are what users use to interact with your site and reach you. To ensure that you get the most out of your website, make sure that your forms are accessible and easy to use.

    Your forms need to have correct labels for all fields, have a good design, use correct validation, and have a display message on completion. Also, try to have a minimum number of fields to fill in.

    Easy to Find Contact Information

    A website needs the basics—a logo, a navigation bar, an about page, and your contact information. If any of these are missing, you don’t have a user-friendly website, you just have a website, a lacking one. Your contact information is important information and if it’s missing, you’ll miss out on potential business.

    Make your contact information as complete as possible. Include your business phone number, email address, business location, and maybe even your business hours.

    Visible Social Media Icons

    Displaying your social media icons on your website adds to its shareability. People like to share what they find useful and exciting. and having your social icons there will make it easier for them to follow you on other platforms to stay updated on your new content. 

    Final Thoughts

    These are the things you’ll need to have if you want to build a user-friendly website. The key to a good site is to have a good user experience so you’ll have to constantly make improvements to ensure that comes across to your visitors.

    Take the time to audit your website and ask your customers for feedback. Don’t stop learning and be resourceful to get things done.

    If you need help with improving your website, VE Digital can help you with that. You can reach out to us and talk to us here.

    For more articles like this, visit our blog.

  • 13 Ways to Get More Instagram Followers

    13 Ways to Get More Instagram Followers

    In this post, we will be talking about ways to get more Instagram followers. If you are interested to learn more about growing your brand on Instagram, then continue reading!

    With over a billion monthly users, Instagram has become one of the most competitive platforms to grow your brand and boost your following. Fortunately, we have curated a list of 13 ways to get more Instagram followers for you to follow!

    There’s is no step-by-step guide by the book to grow an Instagram page, but these practices will help you reach a wider audience and gain new followers.

    13 Ways to Get More Instagram Followers

    Use the Right Hashtags

    The goal of every brand on Instagram is to gain recognition and to attain that, one must engage with your current audience consistently while also growing your number of followers at the same time. Posting interesting, engaging, and shareable content will satisfy that goal, however, in order to begin growing your following, you’ll find that using hashtags in your photos is essential. Hashtags will make it easier for people to get to your content as they search for something specific.

    Just like on Twitter, users choose certain hashtags that are currently popular and discoverable. This will more likely reach new users and thus will grow your reach. However, popular generic hashtags will now help your brand out. What you want is to use the right hashtags that are relevant to what your post is about.

    Do the appropriate research to find the relevant hashtags for your photos that not only describe your brand but are also being searched for on Instagram. 

     

     

    Write Great Captions

    Instagram is a visual platform and it used to be all about visuals. But with the release of the new keyword search feature, captions have become important as well. Long captions were popular in the last year and it seems like it’s not going away this year.

    Sharing a lengthy caption will give more insights to your followers about your post rather than just merely showing them a photo. Having great captions can be an advantage especially when it comes to raising awareness for social causes that you care about.

    When you share more thoughts with your audience, you are building a stronger community. An increase in engagement will improve your post’s performance in the Instagram algorithm and can help you gain more followers.

    Post at the Right Times

    Aside from including the right hashtags on your posts, posting them to Instagram at the right times will largely affect your content’s performance. To do this effectively, you’ll have to analyze what has and has not worked for you in the past. Study your insights and detailed analysis of your posting history and engagement.

    Promote Your Instagram Account on Your Website and other social media platforms

    Cross-promoting your Instagram on other platforms can also help you gain new followers. Aside from promoting your Instagram on your website, link them to your TikTok and Pinterest, too. These platforms have very active users and when they happen to your profile, users will almost always have the tendency to click the links found in it.

    Other platforms you can promote your Instagram include email newsletter, podcast, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube!

    Optimize Your Instagram Profile for Search

    This Instagram hack is very under-utilized and you should definitely try this out this year! Six English-speaking countries including the UK, US, Ireland, and Canada, will be able to search the platform using keywords – a huge game-changer!

    Posts with captions, names, or bios that feature the keyword that’s been searched will show up, even those that don’t have a hashtag.

    Plan your content, organize them, and optimize your Instagram bio and posts for search by adding keywords that are relevant to your posts.

    Create authentic shareable content

    Authenticity is key on Instagram when you want to grow your following. One of the best ways to reach audiences is by creating both engaging and shareable content. When people share your content, they are spreading your message across their followers.

    When your posts are shared, it will get engagements that will help raise your post on the Instagram algorithm. It might also be featured on the explore page if there’s enough engagement!

    A simple click of the Share button makes a difference for a brand’s post, so be mindful of the content you put out and create more meaningful and shareable content.

    Post Consistently

    People have short attention spans and most won’t follow you for what you have already posted in the past but for the promise of your possible posts in the future. Your audience will be interested in what they are gonna get if they are going to click that follow button.

    Having a feed that shows consistency will have a big impact on possible followers.

    Use Geotags to Boost Local Discovery

    Another technique you can incorporate in your post is to geotag it. Make your Instagram posts and Stories discoverable by tagging your location or the city you are in. Locations have their own feed and story, as well as hashtags when you add them in your posts.

    Geotagging can benefit local businesses the most by posting regularly to these feeds and engaging with the posts that are also tagged in the same location.

    Hop on Trends

    Trends come and go, but it doesn’t hurt you when you follow the train and hop on the bandwagon. When the opportunity is there, you can align your content to the trending topics and this can improve and increase your discoverability and engagement.

    By hopping on trends that connect to your brand, you can widen your brand awareness and reach more audiences. Be sure to engage back and join in conversations authentically.

    Run a Giveaway

    One of the best and easiest ways to gain followers on any social media is by hosting a giveaway.

    The best comments to get on any social platform are people tagging their friends to see your post. This not only helps with your engagement but also improves your performance that will boost your post on Instagram’s algorithm. Each tag will bring you a new audience that will likely be a new follower. And the best way to encourage this behavior is by running a giveaway.

    Take Advantage of Instagram Live

    Going live is all the rage these days. In running a marketing strategy on any platform. Live videos brought a way to make it possible for audiences to engage with brands in real-time.

    When you start a live, your followers will be notified and when you finish your broadcast, you can upload it on your IGTv so that those who missed it can still watch it.

    Instagram lives are interactive and your viewers can comment while you are streaming. Acknowledge them as much as possible and find a way to get them to participate with you.

    Work with micro-influencers

    In 2021, working with micro-influencers is one of the best ways to incorporate in your marketing strategy if you are looking to reach new audiences. Partnering with influencers who have 10k-100k followers has the potential of tapping into a really engaged audience.

    Be more inclusive and diverse

    Being inclusive and diverse isn’t just the right thing to do, but also a great way to drive your engagement and follower count. This will then strengthen your brand’s relationship with your community.

    Begin including subtitles to your video content so that people can understand what it’s all about even without turning on the audio.

    Partner with more diverse content creators and show support for social causes in your area.

    Doing these things will humanize your brand and increase brand loyalty. This will definitely increase your engagement and following!

     

    For more posts like this, check out our blog.

  • 5 Reasons Why Your Content Marketing Strategy is not Working

    5 Reasons Why Your Content Marketing Strategy is not Working

    Why Your Content Marketing Strategy is not Working

    You must have already read from somewhere that ‘content is king’ and this phrase has become somewhat of a cliche now. Content surely does have a huge role when it comes to building your brand, reaching out to your target audience, and increasing sales. However, does this ‘king’ bring the same success to everyone who is leveraging it to their businesses? Here are 5 reasons why your content marketing strategy is not working for you.

     

    5 Reasons Why Your Content Marketing Strategy is not Working

    1. You Are Writing for the Bots and Not Humans

    One of the biggest reasons why your content marketing strategy is not working is that you focus more on making content that will rank rather than writing something interesting for your audience. Google has now become smarter and it considers how people love your content to rank it automatically. If your readers and target audience don’t connect with your content, it will not add value to your business.

    5 Reasons Why Your Content Marketing Strategy is not Working

     

    Writing to rank is understandable, but if you overstuff it with keywords and links and key phrases, your content won’t be reader-friendly. Check your content strategy again and if it’s only backed by keyword analysis and nothing else, it will really fail in the long run. 

    Here are some tips you should keep in mind to have a working content strategy:

    • Write more than just the required 300 words and cover the topic fully, maybe at least 1000-1500 words. Create your content with the needs of your readers in mind, yet at the same time, think about optimizing it for search engines.
    • Be careful on inserting long and short-tail keywords. Make sure that it doesn’t feel forced because it will not make sense to your readers. Insert your keywords strategically throughout your content pieces.
    • Link to informative pieces and not just to the services or products you promote. 
    • Include images in your written content to keep your readers entertained.

    2. Your content does not offer value

    Creating content just for the sake of making one will only take you so far. If you want your content to work for you, you need to remember to create it from a place of intent. And that intent should be providing something of value to your readers. 

    Think about your audience while you write your content. What will make them click, read, and engage with your post? Write something that will stand out and pay attention to the type of content that works and that does not.

    3. Your SEO needs improvement

    SEO and content marketing work together in a complementary relationship. If you have poor SEO while doing content marketing, the content you’re creating might as well be not created at all because nobody is going to find it. 

    The point in content marketing is to gather people to see your business by writing good quality content. And for people to find your content, it has to be visible on the search engine result pages when people search for something related to your niche. Ranking in search engine pages depends highly on your SEO, so if you lack in that department, it’s time to backtrack and improve what needs to be improved.

    4. You’re not promoting your content

    After creating your content, it’s just common sense to promote it further to gather traction. Content Marketing is not just about creating content. It is also about sharing and promoting that content to as many people. 

    Here are some ways you can promote your posts:

    • Social Media: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, etc
    • Email Newsletter
    • Mentioning your content when commenting on other blogs and website
    • Pitch to other bloggers and ask them to share your content with their followers
    • Partner with influencers who can share your content

    Always remember that content marketing involves BOTH content creation and content promotion. The two goes hand in hand—always.

    5. You’re in a tough niche

    Now, another reason why your content marketing strategy is not working is that you are in a niche with too many strong competitors.

    Yes, your content is great and you’re producing all types of content that appeal to your audience. You are even doing a great job promoting them. Yet, for some reason, it just doesn’t work.

    Maybe the niche you’re in has just too many strong competitors and the market is already dominated by these industry giants that you just can’t compare.

    Here are some tips you can do:

    • Make content that offers solutions to your target audience’s probable problems. 
    • Consistency is key. Be consistent in delivering your content. 
    • Build a community in the niche you’re in. Start small and grow from there.
    • Make skyscraper content by creating something inspired by your competitor’s content and generating something even better.

    Final Thoughts

    There can be other reasons why your content marketing strategy is not working for you and the ones we listed above are just the very common ones.

    Audit your content marketing strategy and find out where you’re lacking. Ramp up your business strategy and improve what needs to be improved. And don’t forget to have fun! Content marketing has its challenges but it’s worth it.

    I hope this post helped you. For more articles like this, visit our blog!

  • 7 Digital Copywriting Mistakes You Should Avoid

    7 Digital Copywriting Mistakes You Should Avoid

    7 Digital Copywriting Mistakes You Should Avoid

    If you are looking to improve your writing online, you are in for a treat! We have curated this post to help you identify and avoid the seven most common digital copywriting mistakes that are often seen online. This will help you drive more leads, convert more customers, and make more sales on your business online.

    “Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.” – Albert Einstein

    Making mistakes is a part of life, it is growth, and it’s not necessarily a bad thing as long as you learn from them. The main goal of this post is to help your learning curve be a lot faster than normal. 

    The truth is, the internet needs good writers. In our world today, where over half of the population can write whatever they like on the internet, one of the best ways to make you and your business stand out is to have the best communication and cleanest copywriting on the block. Your audience will thank you for it with their wallets.

    Mistake #1: Not Having a Goal

    One of the biggest digital copywriting mistakes I have probably made in the past is writing a piece of copy without having a goal in mind. You must keep in mind that people have short attention spans and they get bored easily. You don’t have a lot of time to make a good first impression so you need to make sure that every word you put out on the internet counts.

    Think about something that you’re marketing for your business right now. What’s the first thing you’d like your potential customer to take? What’s the one thing that they could do that would help move towards success for your business? Think about what that is for you and then make sure that every word you are writing works towards that goal.

    There are many types of goals that you could aim for with your writing. Here are some ideas to get you started:

    Provide Value

    To attract customers and get them to buy from you, you should first aim to prove that your product, business, or service is valuable. Give and give to your customers over and over again without asking for anything in return. They will thank you for it with their loyalty.

    Get Information

    Now that you have already provided your potential customers with a lot of value, it’s the right time to ask them something in return. The best thing here is to ask for their contact information. Having this will allow you to follow up with them and continue to stay in touch with them so you can turn them into customers eventually. 

    Show Gratitude

    Pleases and Thank Yous go a long way with customers, especially on the internet. Show your appreciation to your customers, show them how grateful you are for having them pick you among other businesses to choose from. Show them that you care about their experience, this will make them want to keep buying from you again and again. 

    Keep your writing straightforward and simple. And make sure that every word you choose works toward an ultimate goal. This will keep you on the right track.

    Mistake #2: Writing For the Wrong Audience

    Who are you writing for? Because I guarantee that it’s not for yourself. Oftentimes, I see companies online talking way too much about their experience, talking from their perspective. This might be unpleasant to hear, but your customers couldn’t care less about your company’s history or what you did to get to where you are now. They just want to know if you can provide them the service or product they need. Think about the people who need your product or service. What’s their experience? Why do they need your help? What are they looking for? People go to you because they need something and they think you might be able to help them. Don’t waste their time talking about things that don’t matter to them. Be forward, get to the point, and give them what they need.

    Another way people mess this up online is by having a poorly translated website. Remember that the way you communicate with your customer matters, even if it’s not in English. Lots of businesses are trying to reach more audiences who speak different languages. If you’re going to do this, make sure that your translation is accurate. This may seem like a no-brainer, but it’s not. If you need to communicate with your customers in a language that you don’t personally speak, don’t just put your words in Google Translate and call it a day. I’m telling you, this is not enough. Utilize the internet and find somebody who natively speaks the language you’re trying to communicate in. Have them look at what you’ve written so you can make sure that you are actually saying what you are trying to say.

    Mistake #3: TL;DR

    If you don’t know this yet, TL;DR stands for Too Long; Didn’t Read. The internet moves fast. Your audience and potential customer doesn’t have a lot of time to consider what you have to say before they move on to the next thing. If you want people to engage with your content online, you need to write in a way that respects their attention span. Here are a few key things to remember:

    Get to the Point

    Filler language is a waste of everyone’s time and your customer will not appreciate it. Show them that you respect their time by not wasting any of it. Get to the point.

    Don’t Bury the Lead

    Say you’re doing an online giveaway to gather email addresses for potential customers. Lead with the value that they are going to get from engaging with your business. Start with the thing that matters to them. 

    Wrap it Up

    Give your customer exactly the information they need to make an informed decision and that’s it. Keep your writing concise and to the point, and you will have a lot more success reaching the people you want to notice you.

     

    Digital Copywriting Mistakes

     

    Mistake #4: Answering the Wrong Questions

    To find out what your customers need, you need to look at the world from their perspective. Put yourself in their shows and try to understand why is it that they’re coming to you for help. For your customers to reach an informed decision, they will need to find out something specific about your business.

    For example – for a coffee shop, that could be the shop hours; for an esthetician, that could be the different services that you provide; or for a birthday clown, it could be what type of clown you are. Whatever type of business it is that you have, there is something specific your customer needs. 

    Oftentimes, businesses bury that information somewhere on their website, and it’s so hard for the customer to find out the things they need to know to decide on your business. Find out what that crucial piece of information is for your business, and then make sure you make it easily available to your customer.

    Things to keep in mind:

    1. Be clear about what your business offers. That may turn out to be exactly what your lead is looking for, or it might not be. Either way, help your customer make the right decision by being crystal clear about what it is that you offer.
    2. Avoid giving your leads an onslaught of information. Your goal should be to help them, no to beat them over the head with your words. Remember, TMI equals TLDR.
    3. In this day and age, there’s no need to guess at what your potential future customers need. Use the internet and social media to get to know your current customers and that will help you attract more people like them. 

    Mistake #5: Bad Fonts & Colors

    You’ve worked really hard on your copy, you’ve carefully chosen your words, and everything is written to work towards a goal. But something is still not working for some reason. If this is the case, maybe the problem now could be your design.

    Another one of the digital copywriting mistakes we are going to talk about now is bad design as it can seriously detract from your message. Bad design can draw your reader’s attention to the wrong thing. It can even make your viewer feel uncomfortable, and you don’t want that.

    Design elements like font and color choices evoke emotion. The best way to make this work for you is to think about how you want your customer to feel. Use your design to create that feeling for them. Here are some tips to keep you on the right track:

    Always Keep it Readable

    Bad color choices will make your texts hard to see. It will become unappealing and the readers won’t have a second thought at closing that tab. When in doubt, stick to light background colors and dark colors for the text. The same concept is applied when it comes to font choices. Readability should be the top priority.

    Use Multiple Styles (but do so carefully)

    This depends on what you are writing, but it is recommended to use about 2-5 different fonts and colors. Using different styles draws focus and attention to your readers. Just be careful not to go overboard or it can become distracting.

    If you have a website, it should comply with the American Disabilities Act

    Depending on your business type, it should be in compliance with the ADA regulations, this may even be a requirement for your website. 

    Mistake #6: Too Pushy

    Another digital copywriting mistake is being too pushy. You have to think about the push and pull between you and your potential customer, just like dating. If you come on too strong, you’ll scare them away. Use your writing to draw your lead-in. People are smart, and they can tell when a business is trying too hard to get their money.

    Give your audience and potential customers all the information they need to make a decision, and then back off. Give them the space they need to decide on their own pace, but this is not to say that you couldn’t engage with your leads repeatedly. Because you absolutely should. Just don’t push them too hard to do something for you. This is particularly true with online advertising. Offer your leads a whole lot of value first and then put your call-to-action in front of them at just the right moment. 

    If you want to avoid sounding pushy online, you need to keep these two things in mind:

    • On the internet, ALL CAPS is shouting. Use it very carefully. Think about how much you shout in normal life. You probably don’t do it often. The same social norms apply online. 
    • Don’t sound desperate. Why should people want to buy from or work with a business that doesn’t sound confident about what they have to offer? Use your writing to highlight the positive things about your business, your customers will notice this.

    Mistake #7: Spelling and Grammar Errors

    There’s no excuse but laziness for bad spelling and grammar errors in professional writing. But sometimes, mistakes are inevitable, we’re just humans after all. But some companies seem to go above and beyond the limit of punctuation and spelling mistakes they make online. And this just makes those companies look bad. The issue here is that many people don’t see spelling, grammar, and punctuation mistakes as a big deal. But this post is here to tell you that those people are wrong. Any writing you put out online could be your business’s first impression with someone. The first impression is everything and you need to make sure that it’s always a good one.

    Having these errors in your writing just makes your business look sloppy. Think of it this way: If your potential customer sees that your business doesn’t try very hard on their website, why should they think that you’ll try very hard for them? This is important for every type of business, especially for those companies where building trust with customers is crucial. You want your audience to feel confident that you can deliver on what they need, and little things like spelling and grammar errors make it look like you won’t. Your goal should be to fill your reader with confidence that your business is worth every penny you ask for. Don’t give your reader any reason to doubt that.

    We all have our strengths and weaknesses. We are not all born strong writers, and that’s okay. This is what the internet is for. You can outsource and look for someone whose strength is writing. Maybe you know someone who has a full grasp of the English language and can write well. You can ask them for guidance and maybe even let them take a look at what you’ve made. As an alternative, you can look for talented freelance writers online (in Craigslist, Upwork, etc.) and hire them to work for you. 

    It is okay not to be an amazing writer, but it is not okay to let your business look sloppy and lazy. Outsourcing and asking for a little bit of help can go a long way towards making your business look both professional and reliable online.

    Writing online may seem easy but there are some pointers you need to heed to make your business look reputable and trustworthy. I hope you learned something about how to write a digital copy that truly engages your customers and helps put your business’s best foot forward online. Keep these digital copywriting mistakes in mind and your writing online will surely improve.

  • How to Overcome the Fear of Failure?

    How to Overcome the Fear of Failure?

    How to Overcome the Fear of Failure?

    If there’s one thing that hinders us from reaching our goals and full potential, that is the fear of failure. And this mindset is common because as mere human beings, fear is an emotion innate in all of us.

    No one wants to fail, that’s for sure. But how do you get over the fear of failure to actually start something new?

    When it comes to building a business, there is always a risk. Things won’t always go as planned and there will be hiccups along the way. How do you overcome the overwhelming feeling of fear of failing and strive forward to move closer to your goals?

    In this post, we will be discussing this fear. What it’s about, why we have it, and how to possibly overcome it so you can fully enjoy life and your journey towards achieving your goals.

     

    The Fear of Failure

    This fear comes in all shapes and sizes but it all boils down to what “failure” means to you.

    We all have a standard that we keep unconsciously in our minds. Though it may be different in each person, this is the benchmark that we don’t allow ourselves to cross because when we do, we automatically think that we have failed.

    We have many definitions of failure, and some people’s failure may only be a learning curve for others. What’s bad about the fear of failure is it hinders us from trying, gives us self-doubt, and stops us from doing the things that can move us forward.

    Trying is better than doing nothing.

    There are many reasons why we have this fear. It can root in childhood traumas, unsupportive parents, being a perfectionist, having an overly-inflated ego, low self-esteem, and so on.

     

    How to Overcome the Fear of Failure

    We have to realize that there are always two sides to a story. When doing something, while there is a possibility to fail, there is also a possibility to succeed. To face challenges head-on even with the knowledge that failure is possible makes you not only courageous but also empowered, and this will grant you a fuller life that is more rewarding.

    Here are ways to overcome this fear.

     

    Find the benefits of your failures in the past

    The negative experiences that we had in the past come with valuable life lessons that can be very beneficial to our present lives. Learn and practice how to find these benefits so that the next time you fail, you know that there is still a silver lining after it.

    To start practicing this habit, think of a past negative experience, reflect on it, and list down three things that you’ve learned from it. By doing so, you will know what to change in your actions to prevent this failure from happening again.

    Our failures are what make us keep going and what improves us because we learn from our mistakes and we do our best not to make them again.

     

    How to Overcome the Fear of Failure?

     

    When failure is inevitable, take it as a learning experience

    There are times when failure seems inevitable and knowing this can be stressful. In these cases, it’s up to you how to handle that stress.

    If we give in to the stress, our bodies will gear us up to battle this threat. But if you train yourself to view this stress as a challenge, your body will react to it more calmly and you will less likely fail from what you are doing or about to do.

    Build this mindset by reflecting on past mistakes and challenges that you have conquered. Think about how you did it and how it felt to have overcome them. This will give you the confidence to remind yourself that you have succeeded before, and then the task in front of you won’t look as intimidating as it did before.

     

    Learn to see the positive side

    We tend to believe the things that we tell ourselves and that is why positive affirmations are such a game-changer when you want to have a change in perspective.

    Everyone wants to succeed, our society is obsessed with it. But we need to acknowledge the fact that success does not happen overnight. Successful people also had their fair share of failures before achieving their goals and dreams. Take Steve Jobs and Walt Disney for example. Both were fired from their jobs and both were put down with negative feedback, but that did not stop them from pursuing their dreams and working hard to reach their goals. Now, the companies they’ve founded are the biggest names in their industry.

    You have the power to cultivate negative feedback thrown your way and make them your fuel to strive harder to overcome the challenges ahead. Exercise positive thinking whenever negativity creeps inside you.

     

    Treat yourself kindly when you experience failure

    Failures are unavoidable and you will experience them a couple of times in your life. When this happens, it’s okay to feel down but don’t beat yourself up and be too hard on yourself.

    It’s normal to feel bad and disappointed, after all, we’re just humans. But you have the power to choose how to react. And in these times, you can choose to be kind to yourself by cultivating a more forgiving attitude to stave yourself off from guilt, shame, and embarrassment.

    Practice self-care, this is one way to be kind to yourself. Do something stress-relieving, something that will take your mind off your problems.

    Failing is a part of life and everyone experiences it. There’s no need to put yourself down and feel more guilty. Feel sad, feel bad, feel the disappointment, but at the end of the day, pick yourself up and move forward.

     

    Visualize all potential outcomes/results

    When starting something, it’s better to imagine and visualize potential results rather than just standing there being uncertain about what will happen next. Think about the best and worst-case scenarios and mentally prepare yourself for both.

    The fear of the unknown will eat you up and might keep you from doing things. List down the pros and cons and think about the potential failures and successes when you make your move. This will help you prepare yourself for the disappointment if you do fail.

     

    Have a Backup Plan or Two

    When Plan A does not work out, always have a Plan B and Plan C and so on. Having a contingency plan will help you feel more prepared and confident in case what you expected did not happen.

     

    Learn From Whatever Happens

    Sometimes, life will not go on as you’ve planned it but this does not mean that you’ve failed. Whatever happens, learn from it and take those lessons to heart. They might come in handy in your future endeavors.

     

    Our Takeaway

    The fear of failure is present in all human beings and what matters is what we do to overcome it. This may be easier said than done but this is not impossible. Build yourself up gradually to take in these failures and view them as life lessons you needed to learn to improve yourself and move forward. 

  • What is TikTok Marketing?

    What is TikTok Marketing?

    What is TikTok Marketing?

    The popularity of Tiktok has surprisingly exploded out of nowhere and has become the third most downloaded app in 2019 surpassing Facebook and Instagram. What is Tiktok (and Tiktok marketing) and what makes it so famous that people, especially the younger generations, have become addicted to it? 

    Tiktok: A Short-Video Sharing Platform

    Tiktok is a video-sharing social network that’s only available on mobile. It allows its users to record up to 60-second videos that are on vertical display. Tiktok users are given many options to video editing tools including filters, effects, texts, timers, and different music and audio options. Recording, editing, and uploading videos on Tiktok is simple and easy, and very user-friendly. 

    Viewers then have the option to like, comment, and share the videos they see in their For You dashboard.

    The History

    The Tiktok we all use today is the combination of two platforms – musical.ly and Douyin – the Chinese version of Tiktok. In 2017, muscial.ly was acquired by ByteDance, the owner of the Douyin App and the parent company of Tiktok. ByteDance retained Douyin in mainland China and relaunched musical.ly to the rest of the world as Tiktok.

    Why Market in Tiktok?

    As of today, Tiktok has about 500 million monthly active users with more than 90% of its users who log in multiple times a day. This is a great number of audience you wanna introduce your brand across!

    Marketing in this platform with its sensational growth has become a buzz in the digital marketing world. And with over 1.5 billion users, anyone can see why it has the potential to be a great marketing tool for your business!

    Although this app leans towards marketing to young people, it is not to be underestimated. This marketing tool is the perfect platform for budding businesses that are looking for a huge audience. With great content, viewers will undoubtedly share your videos and tell their friends and family about it, widening your reach and increasing brand awareness!

    Tiktok Marketing

    Because of the reach and exposure that Tiktok can provide, marketing in this platform will definitely help increase brand awareness, if not sales.

    If you can make content that appeals to Tiktok users and reach more people on the “For You” page, you will quickly boost your brand awareness and perhaps your other social media following.

    Tiktok Marketing Tactics

    Here are ways how you can use Tiktok to your business’s advantage:

    Tiktok Influencers

    Like other social media networks, Tiktok has users with a huge following and is growing in popularity for brands. The influencer you work with will find a way to incorporate your brand message in their content to possibly bring attention to it from their viewers. It’s important to note that when working with an influencer, it’s best to let them decide how to introduce your brand to their followers. Yes, you are more knowledgeable about your product but the influencers know best how to tell it to their avid viewers.

    Brand Challenges

    Challenges are very popular on TikTok, it provides its users regular content ideas for their followers. Usually, these challenges are given a hashtag name to make them easy to find. Trending challenges have a higher probability to end up on Tiktok’s Discover and For You page giving you more reach and possibly engagement.

     

    What is TikTok Marketing?

     

    Tiktok In-Feed Ads

    These paid ads will pop up in between user videos and will allow a brand to showcase what they have to offer. The ads are skippable which won’t bother the users and are fully customizable and provide click-through rates, total views, and viewing time that you can trace.

    Tiktok Hashtags

    Just like how it works on Instagram and Twitter, hashtags in TikTok are used to categorize videos and help users find relevant content. Putting in hashtags in every video you post is recommended. 

    The best way to understand this sensational social network is by trying out the app yourself. Research. Do experiments. Lurk. The more immersed you are in the platform, the better you understand how it works. 

    As a marketer who understands the importance of reach, TikTok is a platform that works to improve post reach like no other, and it’s the key marketing benefit of TikTok.