Measuring inconsistently is better than not measuring at all, but consistency will provide the best results. Image: Flickr / hoshi7 / CC-BY

Measurement and testing is the basis of any well-informed marketing strategy. Most affiliates and marketers, however, end up at some point engaging in random acts of measurement, which can lead to inconsistent results.

Know what to measure

With analytics, it is possible to measure just about anything and everything to do with your website. The kinds of statistics that will be the most informative for you depend entirely on what your goals for your website may be. If you are aiming for content that is read and shared, then time on site and bounce rate will likely be your most important statistics. If you are aiming for visits from a particular keyword, than sources of traffic from search engines may be your goal. No matter what your goals, you should define what you plan on measuring and how to measure it.

Set aside time for statistics

Once every day, week or month, you should set time aside for a review of the statistics of your website. By setting aside time to measure statistics at a regular interval, you can work it into your schedule and make note of the effects of any particular new marketing effort or set of content. Setting time aside will also help you measure statistics regularly, which gives a better overall view.

Make copious notes

One of the best things you can do for your own sanity is make extensive use of notes. With an editorial calendar, you will be able to match your content and marketing efforts to the results later. If you do not have an editorial calendar or prefer to not do the work of matching, then make use of note-taking features in your analytics programs. Mark when you publish a particular piece of content, or start a particular content focus, or get a particularly big link. By taking copious notes, you will be making the job of content analytics that much easier.

Make use of the numbers

When you consider the statistics of your website regularly, you will start to see trends and find insights that you were not necessarily looking for. This could be what type of post does well, a time of posting that is particularly effective or which social networks are sending you the most traffic. No matter what trends and numbers pop up, making use of the statistics can help make your website effective. It is important to consider numbers on a regular basis, rather than inconsistently. Random acts of measurement can get you in trouble, though even those are better than no measurement at all.

We are taught to not take candy from strangers, and we shouldn't ask for money from strangers either. Image: Flickr / valeriebb / CC-BY-SA

We were always taught as kids to not take candy from strangers. As adults, though, we often forget the simple rule to do business with those we know. Asking for money before doing even the most basic of research is a mistake.

Know your customer base

The customers who will be utilizing your service should become as well-known to you as your friends. First, you should know the basics of the customers, such as gender, age and location. Second, you should know, generally, how these customers come to your website, participate in online communities, navigate your website and make buying decisions. You should know where your customers are, how they decide to buy your product and their preferred methods of payment and shipping. The more specific data, the better.

Examine and target

The data and information created by your site visitors and buyers should be carefully examined and targeted. Study the analytics of your website to ensure that you know who your customer base is and what they are looking for. You should also target your communications to that particular base, in order to get the most out of whatever communications you put out onto the web. Examining the results of your communications and targeting on the basis of those results can increase the effectiveness of your marketing efforts.

Know the questions they are asking

The questions that customers are asking when they come to your website reveal a significant amount about them. If you know the questions your customers are asking when they come to the website, then you can provide the information that they are looking for, creating a more effective presence online. Knowing the questions your customers are asking can help you know the people coming to your website. Asking the customers to spend money with your business means you should at least do the customers the favor of knowing who they are and what you can offer them.

Putting your content plans on a calendar will help you keep your sanity. Image: Flickr / oskay / CC-BY-SA

Content marketing takes a lot of daily effort and planning. For small affiliate marketers, taking a few tips from big marketing departments can help give your content marketing a professional look and feel and help keep you on track.

Schedule your content

First and foremost, the most effective marketing follows some type of schedule. By scheduling out the topics and types of content you will be posting, you can maintain consistency much more easily. Scheduling out your content also allows you to create series that post on a regular basis and hit holidays and other big content themes without a rushed feeling. Start a calendar that includes:

• Content dates: The day your content will be posted live.
• Content topics: You don’t have to be specific, but general guidelines are helpful.
• Content type: Will this be an infographic, text, pictures, a video?
• Future planning: Looking forward at the types of posts you will be posting in the future, schedule any pre-planning work that you will need to do, such as contacting a graphic designer or filming and editing video.
• Call to action or landing page targets: Every piece of content you do should have some kind of call to action, targeted keyword or targeted landing page. Scheduling these out will help balance your SEO efforts.

Leave room for spontaneity

Scheduling content out too very far may limit your ability to react to new developments in your industry or moments of inspiration. Leave room in your schedule for spontaneity or inspiration. You should always have a backup post at the ready in case inspiration does not strike, but leave that room open for yourself.

Work ahead

One of the biggest benefits of having a marketing schedule and content schedule available is that you have an opportunity to work ahead. Writing posts ahead of time and scheduling them to be posted leaves you buffer room that allows you to market the content that is posted on each day, rather than rushing to create the content. A content schedule also allows you to work with salespeople, if you have them, in order to coordinate efforts. Above all, having a content buffer and content schedule allows you to maintain consistency, which is a proven way to get better traffic to your content.

Pinterest is a relative newcomer to the social network scene, but has been growing by leaps and bounds. Some big businesses are reporting that Pinterest is already surpassing other social networks in referrals and conversions; the network could be useful for your business, if you follow a few basic rules.

Pinterest is about the visual

Pinterest is a social network and sharing platform based entirely on the visual. Most of the most popular pins on Pinterest are photographs, though illustrations and infographics can do well on the network, too. Beautiful photography is incredibly important on Pinterest, and having access to or using beautiful visuals is one of the major keys of the network.

Be willing to give credit where credit is due

Pinterest posts link back to the original source. If you are using someone else’s photography or imagery in your blog posts or on your website, then be willing to give plenty of credit. As with any social network or online forum, using images and not giving credit could eventually come back to bite you, and is generally a bad idea.

Start slowly and maintain

Just like all other social networks, Pinterest is about maintaining an active and interactive presence. If you start a Pinterest account, gain a few followers and abandon it, then it looks much worse than if you start slowly and build a following over time. Build connections, be friendly and be sure to check in on the network and maintain your presence.

Should you be on Pinterest?

If your blog or website has a strong content strategy that already includes or could easily include beautiful and compelling visuals; you have time in your daily schedule to maintain one more social network; and you generally are willing to give credit, then Pinterest could well be a great social opportunity for your blog or business.

Keeping the ads on your website contextual will improve ranking. Image: Flickr / thefutureatlas / CC-BY

No matter what the topic of your website, advertising can help pay the bills. If the advertising you have on your website does not match your content, then your ranking on search engines could suffer.

All content matters

The content on a website matters, when it comes to search engine indexing. The different types of content on a website are read differently, but all of the content means something. Web search crawlers index all of the content on the website, from the titles and footer to images and advertisements. This means when it comes to understanding what your website is about and how it should rank, search engines consider the advertisements just as much as block-text content.

Context provides power

On a website, context and natural language connections are what create context for search engines. If your advertising does not match the context of your website in at least some way, then whatever ranking and SEO authority you may have built up with the rest of your website is spread out over more than one topic area. Providing advertisements that match the rest of your website in context provides additional search engine authority can can carry over to your website. It is true that Google devalues content that is based in advertisement, but it is not non-existent in the eyes of the search engine. It may be a small bit of search engine power, but it does exist.

Curate your advertising

The best option that you have for advertising is to carefully curate your advertisements. Banner blindness may mean that your advertisements are not viewed by most visitors, but search engine crawlers do see those ads. You should, if at all possible, carefully curate your advertisements. Take a look at the advertisements you are running and how they are managed. Choose topic areas for advertisements that are as closely related to your content topic areas as possible, and re-consider on a regular basis.

Web heatmaps show that most people read webpages in an "F" pattern. Image: Blog 404

The web is a funny place, a mix of content and advertisements, all vying for the attention of readers. ComScore, a statistics tracking agency, has confirmed what has long been suspected: most web ads are never really seen.

The structure of the web

While the internet allows for a variety of designs, most readers are trained to read webpages in a particular way, usually left-to-right in an F-shaped pattern. Heat mapping from 2006 to 2012 has shown that readers generally avoid the very top of most webpages, the right-hand side and the bottom section of most pages. These are the areas where advertisements are traditionally placed. Many readers also have a tendency to scan or entirely miss content that is below the fold, the point where the screen has to be scrolled to see any more.

Many ads are never in view

In a study of 12 very large brands and the advertisements that they run online, ComScore found that 31 percent of ad impressions are never viewed. That 31 percent accounts for 527 million total advertisements that the companies are paying for that are simply never seen. If these ads are paid for on a impression basis, instead of a pay-per-click basis or pay-for-performance basis, then the advertisers are essentially paying for ads that are never seen.

The average demographics of clickers

Individuals who click ads are not always the individuals who marketers may be targeting. Research has shown that rich media users and web natives do not often click on paid advertisements. Generally, click through rates on advertisements range between 0.5 and 2 percent. On websites such as BusinessWeek, click through rates average 0.1 percent. Those who do click ads tend to be about 16 percent of the web population, with an average household income of $40,000 or less. Higher-income or more targeted individuals tend to click advertisements that are from a source that they trust, which is created with a strong content strategy.

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Managing communities of people online takes time and effort. Image: Flickr / mikecogh / CC-BY

Managing social networks and online groups can, at times, feel like a full-time job. Many big businesses and some smaller businesses have begun creating community manager positions to help collate and manage businesses’ online identity.

Community Manager job description

Online community managers generally are individuals responsible for social network sharing, social communities, message boards, and discussions about a company, product, or brand online. Community managers generally are a blend of social network managers and online identity managers. Community Managers are generally highly connected and very passionate about their industry.

Seeing yourself as a community manager

As a small business owner or a marketer, it is possible you are already doing the work of a community manager. If you are managing the social networking presence of your business, building a community around strong, helpful online content, and responding to the online chatter about your company, then you are already a community manager.

Acting as a community manager instead of a marketer means seeing your customers and social network followers as the community they are. Communities have a vibe, a pulse, a personality all their own, and they need a manager; not a personal relations guru that will try to control the message. Marketing yourself as a community manager could also create an additional avenue for income for the skills you develop as an affiliate marketer.

Could you use a community manager?

Not all small business owners, marketers or affiliates are great community managers. If community management is not your forte, then hiring a community manager could be of benefit to your business. If you are having trouble keeping up with your social media management, then a community manager may be able to help you sort through and clarify your goals and actions on social networks. Find a community manager who is battle-tested, able to show success on multiple social networks and reputation within the communities he or she works in. Be sure to develop a strong social media contract and find someone you can work well with.

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There are plenty of bloggers who will review your product in exchange for free product. Image: Flickr / jking89 / CC-BY

There is a system of bloggers on the web who are more than willing to advertise your product or service. Finding these bloggers and managing your campaigns with them can be beneficial, if done carefully.

Know your plan beforehand

Before you launch any marketing campaign, especially one in which you will be turning some control over to others, you need to be as organized as possible. First of all, know exactly what product or service you want to focus on, and ensure that your planned efforts are within your affiliate marketing agreement. Most of these blogs focus on two things: reviews and giveaways. Know what you will be asking the customer to review and what you will offer as a giveaway. Know how many reviews you would like to be posted and what the target audience should be.

Advertise your idea

Once you know your plan for review and giveaway bloggers, advertise yourself on review and giveaway websites. There are many services and communities, such as Bloggerdise, Cyber Connect and social networking groups that are based on advertising these offers. Be clear, be concise, and provide as many details as you are comfortable with.

Sort through the offers

Once you post your idea, bloggers who are interested will start contacting you with their proposals. Not every blog will be a good fit for your product or service, so be sure to carefully research before accepting an offer. The number of readers, social network followers and average conversion rates should all be considered. You should also carefully read previous posts to ensure that the writing style is one that you feel could represent your company well.

Follow up

Once you have agreed to partner with a blogger, follow up. Be sure to send the agreed-upon samples to the blogger quickly, and provide as much information as you possibly can for the blogger to include in the review. Remember, don’t skimp on service because you’re not getting paid. It’s important to provide the reviewer with the best possible experience in order to garner a good review.

Pseudonyms are going to be allowed on G+, but this should not affect your business. Image: Flickr / pjb2332 / CC-BY-SA

Google Plus has been experiencing growing pains as usership continues to grow. Today, Google announced that the much-discussed real name policy will be made a bit more flexible.

The original real name policy

The original policy of the Google Plus team was that all Google Plus profiles had to match legal names. The real-name policy was intended as a way to help G+ become the central clearinghouse of identity on the web. There was significant frustration about this policy from individuals who are known by pseudonyms, but Google stood firm in the face of outrage from a small percentage of users.

A change in policy

As of today, the Google Plus team has officially announced that the name policy will get more flexible. Any accounts that have been flagged as potentially not including a real name will have a review process available. Individuals will have to prove that the name they wish to be displayed is a “common name” that has a significant following or notoriety. This includes showing that name in print or on a domain name controlled by that individual. The Google Plus team uses Madonna as an example of a commonly known name that would fall under this policy.

For businesses, this policy doesn’t matter

For businesses, this real-name versus pseudonym issue is one that should not have any immediate effect on operations. Since Google Plus started including business pages, no business should have a personal profile. Personal profiles and business profiles are entirely separate entities. Businesses with personal profiles are not indexed the same way, are not treated the same way, and do not have the same functionality. If you have a personal profile for your business or non-personal page, then transitioning as soon as possible to a page will be the first step you should take and the best step toward getting your Google Plus profile and page indexed properly.

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Facebook's app ecosystem is becoming increasingly visible in the timeline. Image: Flickr / chadarizona / CC-BY-SA

Facebook has been built, for years, around the simple act of a person liking something. In the last few weeks, Facebook has rolled out more than 60 partnerships that add new verbs to the Facebook timeline.

Facebook’s new partnerships

Building on applications from partner organizations, Facebook has rolled out several new kinds of posts that are based on new verbs. Pinterest app users now post automatically to Facebook when they have pinned something. Spotify users listen to a song. News app users read stories. Foodspotting users post that they wanted something. More than 60 different partners can automatically post new verbs to Facebook timelines.

A new move on marketing

The move toward a more verbose Facebook timeline is, among other things, an attempt to make Facebook more attractive to marketers. Sponsored stories ads could soon integrate the new verbs, meaning that a customer could click a button to “order pizza” or “read a news story.” The new app integrations also help build usership of Facebook apps instead of sources outside Facebook, which further integrates Facebook into everyday web use.

Frustration with app ecosystem

The app integration on Facebook is not without problems. Some users are especially concerned about the privacy protections in Timeline apps. Often, installing an app means you have exactly one opportunity to set the privacy and sharing on particular apps. Many app users are also expressing extreme frustration with the fact that many app readers post links that only point back to the app itself, instead of posting a link to the actual action that the user took on the associated website or service.

Driving buzz with apps

If done carefully, marketers can use the new Facebook Timeline to build buzz about their products or services. Design Facebook apps with privacy settings that can be altered at any time and links that do not necessarily require individuals to install the app to view a friend’s action. Claim your app and your verb quickly. Facebook is about action, and building your business or service with a verb or an action will pay off in the long run.

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