Instead of waiting for someone in your marketing department to answer your questions about the corporate website’s performance, let’s explore how we can find the answers ourselves. 

This article is written with the Chief Marketing Officer, Marketing Manager, and/or Head of E-commerce in mind. If something does not sound familiar, don’t hesitate to reach out.

https://search.google.com/search-console is your new bookmark, but before you can access any website data, you have to ask our marketing department or web agency to grant access. Send that email request now, and return to this article in a few hours.

Is the marketing department doing its job?

The Performance report on Search Results can quite quickly answer the burning question of “Is marketing doing its job.” If we disregard the fact that Google makes constant changes to its algorithm and how the search results look, this report shows if we’re getting more visitors (clicks) and more organic visibility (impressions). 

A good CMO applies a Query Filter to include and exclude the brand. If the company is running ads on TV or blasting a new campaign in a few metro stations, expect your organic visibility (impression) and visitors (clicks) to increase around your brand and the campaign topic.

If you spot a negative trend, use the Query Filter to see if this is due to branded searches. If not, contact your marketing team and have them investigate the reason. But don’t forget that most industries today have some kind of seasonality. Don’t chase ghosts. 

Use the same approach for positive trends to understand what is behind the increased clicks or impressions. 

I sure hope IT knows how to maintain a website.

Boring parts, but vital ones, would be the Index Coverage Report (you’ll see it as soon as you open up Google Search Console, with the headline “Indexing”) that indicates if Google finds and saves more or less of the website’s pages. 

If we have worked with 50 pages, we want these 50 pages indexed by Google. If not, there might be a technical issue behind it. And if you spot a growing number of pages that are not being indexed, there might be technical issues behind that, too. 

A quick “so, we’re not on fire, right?” email to your favorite person IT will enable you to, maybe, not stay ahead of the curve but react when the curve appears. 

That’s 5 minutes well spent.

You can now answer two questions regarding the corporate website and marketing efforts. But remember that SEO and content marketing are long-term strategies that require patience. It can take months before you see significant results and improvements. 

As the CMO, you need to ensure constant focus and ongoing efforts to improve the website, content, and other online marketing activities. Search, just like any other social media platform, can change how things are ranked and displayed overnight – which demands that we are always up to date with the latest changes and rumors.

The post The CMO’s Guide to Google Search Console (why, how, and as fast as possible) appeared first on Per Pettersson.

Let’s explore how to evaluate a new market’s potential with tools you’re most likely already familiar with.

This article is written with the Chief Marketing Officer, Marketing Manager, and/or Head of E-commerce in mind. If something does not sound familiar, don’t hesitate to reach out.

Thoughts on doing market research

By performing keyword research with known tools such as Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, or Semrush, we can identify the search volume for specific products or services in a specific market and language. We can understand the market demand by identifying how big of an online interest there is in what we offer.

We must remember that if we do poor keyword research, the outcome will also be a poor insight into the market demand. This is not something that should be taken lightly or be done quickly, but thoroughly. Choose your battles wisely. This activity is essential and lays the foundation for evaluating a new market.

Need to perform keyword research to understand the market demand but don’t know where to start? At Curamando, we have a whole team of online researchers who do this regularly.

And then finding out who the competition is

Competitor analysis follows keyword research just like mustard accompanies your bitterballens (yes, I am a new fan of this Dutch invention). Who is the dominant player on the market, and how many players are fighting for the customer’s attention? There might be fifteen competitors to fight online or three.

Assessing your competitors in a new market is more than finding out who is dominating the search results and getting the eyeballs on their products or services. We also need to assess the pricing set by the market and its current players to understand if we’ve got a financial case targeting this new market.

And if there are any cultural differences

When we understand the potential and competition, we have to figure out if there are any cultural and geographical differences. Not in terms of “in Sweden it is considered evil to eat ice cream” but more in terms of “there is a short summer period in Sweden, and they really do love their Liqorice Puck, can we compete with it?” etc. 

The cultural differences could also mean we must adhere to new economic or legal requirements. Is a milk super tax applied in Sweden, which we do not apply in the Netherlands? Are there any market-specific regulations or data protection laws? 

And yes, you guessed it, we also have a rock-solid Insights & Analytics team that can make sure you follow all the laws and share and store data – the legal way if you need that support.

After all this, we can start to calculate what the cost, in days and hours, would take for us to profit from this new market. But let’s cover that another time.

Interested to know if you should expand to a new market? Reach out.

The post How do you evaluate the potential of a new market? appeared first on Per Pettersson.

As an experienced SEO consultant, my work has to be aligned with multiple other online channel strategies and marketing disciplines. SEO could stand on its own legs back in the day but is more dependent on the overall performance and strategy taken by the brand itself these days.

Everybody and their mum know that speed is vital. We all get that. No one has the patience to wait 7 seconds for a page to load or scroll past the mission and vision when we’re looking to buy a new bike for the nephew. The art of user-friendlifying (yes, let’s coin that phrase together) a website is not only making sure everything loads fast but also making sure everything works as intended and guides the visitor to the desired destination or goal. While making sure it looks good.

From the SEO perspective, this means focusing on loading times, clear navigation, structured pages with user-centric content, and relevant internal links. Basically, the UX consultant will be pushing parts of our agenda within a project. And if the output is not aligned with this, well – then you need to switch who gets to run the user experience workstream for you.

Both UX’ers and SEOs want to ensure websites have a clear site structure, gathering the same topics in clusters to get those little bots from Google and Bing to understand what the website is all about, and what expertise the brand offers.

Both want visitors to find crucial information fast, and have the possibility to find more with ease. Cutting out the noise for the main audience, but not removing it completely. 150MB press images should still be accessible, but maybe not linked to on pages where the intent is to get the visitor to take action A or contact company representative B.

UX’ers will die a little on the inside when they stumble upon pages with repetitive content optimized by the SEO rules before the birth of Facebook. Luckily, so do SEOs. We all know that bad content, misspelled words, and five miles of scrolling through “The History of Bicycles” will punch your conversion rate in the gut. The happy place is something called great communication, a good content structure, aligned with how the target audience actually searches for the topic or product this page is intended to serve.

As the marketing department leader or product or project owner, you must ensure that your SEO team is involved in most major changes and planned strategies. The best output is more traffic followed by leads or conversions, and the worst would be no additional traffic (but also no risk of running a project that negatively impacts your organic search acquisitions – which is a really good output if you ask me).

The same applies to UX. You don’t take something that looks good and works well and then make it worse. It is 2024, and we should have learned by now.

And if you ever wake up in the middle of the night screaming, “What about the experience!?” like Catherine O’Hara in Home Alone, don’t worry. Friends within ARC have your back when you need it. All you have to do is to reach out. I enjoy talking UX almost as much as I enjoy optimizing this or redirecting that.

The post A user-friendly site is often also search-friendly appeared first on Per Pettersson.

That’s quite a lot.

As an experienced SEO consultant, I can tell you that the benefits of having an SEO strategy and operational support are too good not to talk about more often. Just in case you missed out on the opportunities that come with search engine optimization.

Organic traffic or paid?

When you and I go to Google or Bing and search for a nearby restaurant or a product, we get a search result with both organic and paid results. All paid results are labeled with “ads” or “shopping” while the rest is usually referred to as the organic results. And this is where your SEO consultant spends all their time.

Of course, the local results, i.e., maps, can be optimized to suit your marketing efforts. The pages that show up for which searches can also be optimized, as long as we have a marketing strategy that highlights the way forward.

Reach the whole customer journey

Paying for search traffic is great, but should focus mainly on converting potential customers to paying customers. No one wants to spend their marketing budget on building awareness about a product range if we’re not making money on our products.

SEO is the full funnel approach, compared to paid advertising.

When approaching SEO work, content on the website should respond to the audience no matter at what stage in their customer journey they are:

Someone who is searching for “computers” might be looking into a gaming computer, a laptop for work, or just as well as parts for their existing computer. It is a very broad and generic search, but still something that the website can and should work towards being exposed for.

Someone who is searching for a “gaming computer” is more prone to actually doing research on what to buy, or already ready to buy and browsing around the web to find a good deal.

Someone who is searching for a “Lenovo gaming computer X99” has already made up their mind, and they are more likely to buy now.

Someone who is searching for “turn off computer LED lights” might already own our specific gaming computers, and we should let them know how they can tweak and customize their product.

There are not that many CMOs with a budget that allows them to target all different types of searches to reach the audience. But with SEO, they can.

Invest now, return later

Setting up operational SEO support or kickstarting an SEO project does not create change overnight. The first activity is always to make sure that the website itself has the capabilities from a performance perspective, i.e., loading relatively fast, and that produced content can be published and structured in a logical fashion across pages to ensure search engines understand what this organization is offering.

As soon as a website or content changes happen, the work is measurable and should be visualized for the whole organization. Investing time and effort to make changes without any impact indicates that we are either not doing a great job or that we need to work even more due to competitors doing the same work, or, which can happen, the audience itself has shifted their interest or even changed their search behavior.

SEO as the game-changer

All SEO work is based on data. Search data, which is also used for paid advertising, offers great insights into how humans use words in search engines and whether interest is peaking or on a steady decline.

This is data that offers market insights, not just numbers that should steer what content to produce on a specific market and language.

Writing this out of experience, I have seen organizations call their products something completely different from what the audience is calling them. Thus searching with different words than what the website is using and marketing.

Both big and small SEO engagements create impact.

Some organizations have hungry teams ready to show which impact they can have on the revenue stream. Some have little to none.

Align the organization’s capabilities to dedicate time and effort to the overall business goals, and it comes down to either “run now with the help from multiple people” or “walk fast with support”.

Just don’t miss out on what SEO brings to the table in terms of revenue and marketing possibilities. And if you have any thoughts, reach out, and let’s get those thoughts turned into actions by yourself or with support.

The post SEO could be the game-changer in your digital marketing strategy appeared first on Per Pettersson.

Ensure crawlability, i.e., is your page accessible to search engines? Look for issues with your robots.txt file and audit the website with Google Search Console. No issues? Great! Then we can move on.

Optimize page titles and URLs. Make sure they are concise and descriptive. The page title is also what users will click on in search results, so make the best use of it. Play around with different call-to-actions and how to utilize your unique USP.

Don’t let your headlines (H1 tags in the source code) go off topic. We might call it Life Support Cup, but our audience might be search for a Coffee Cup. Never, ever, ever lose track of your audiences perspective.

Feature pricing and reviews in a prominent way for users and search engines. Make sure it is easy for a website visitor to see the price, if you have it in stock, on discount and what customers think of the product. And when featuring this, you can utilize Schema Markup to detail all this relevant information for search engines to pick up. How about showing your product price in search results? That’s pretty neat.

And for godness sake, don’t forget to detail delivery information. Can you ship it today, tomorrow or next week? Also, how will you ship it?

Describe the product. Don’t let people guess what material that sweater is made of, or how long the battery will last on a cool gadget. Take the opportunity to talk about your products, to your potential customers. Highlight key features and benefits.

Address common customer queries. If I purchase this sweater, how do I wash it? How do I charge the battery on my soon to be gadget? Do other customers use these socks as mittens? Frequently asked questions are great additions to your product pages. Use them.

Use high quality images and videos of your products. Don’t use pixelated pictures that forces your targeted audience to guess if that “Carbon Cool” shirt is dark blue or black. And while you are at it, optimize the images. Start with a descriptive file name, compress the image itself (whilst not losing any vital details in the image), and then write an ALT tag.

ALT tags are also a principal of web accessibility. If your visitors use screen readers, then the ALT tag will be used, to describe the image. This means a win for both SEO and Accessibility.

All of these steps are crucial for optimizing product pages, and the user experience.

Do you need help growing your e-commerce business through strategy, tactical planning or optimization? Or do you lack operational support in your digital sales channels? At Curamando, we have extensive experience in supporting our clients, creating return on investment, driving digital growth and making sure business is good.

Our supply chain team at Above can support in matching you with the right sourcing strategy and working together with the supplier in setting up the production on-site in China with our people on location, or locally in Sweden in the cases this shows to be a more sustainable, flexible or cost efficient solution.

The post Optimize your product pages for organic search appeared first on Per Pettersson.

Although these tools are now more accessible and affordable than ever before, it is important to note that not all of them are equally effective. This blog post will focus on identifying the most useful technology for remote work and providing guidance on how to use it effectively. Whether you are assuming leadership of a remote team or seeking to standardize collaboration, the tools discussed here will help you lead your team successfully.

Project management

To effectively collaborate with your team, it’s important to establish a dedicated home base for communication and project management, rather than relying on your email inbox. A reliable project management tool should enable you to assign and track tasks, establish schedules and timelines, share files, facilitate discussions, and make decisions seamlessly.

Ideally, the tool you choose should be easily accessible on both desktop and mobile devices, catering to the varied preferences of your team members. If you’re in search of such a tool, consider checking out project management services such as Basecamp, Monday, and Trello, which can help streamline your team’s collaboration efforts and enhance productivity.

File collaboration

Most project management tools offer the functionality to share files, but not all of them allow for real-time collaboration. So it may be necessary to use a separate tool to centralize company and team files, ensuring that everyone has access to the most updated versions.

This tool should also maintain a revision history of the files, as accidental deletion of important files is not uncommon. Consider leveraging cloud-based file-sharing services such as Dropbox and Google Drive, which not only provide an easy way to store and share files but also offer collaborative features like commenting and simultaneous editing. With these services, your team can work together seamlessly on shared files, while ensuring that all revisions are tracked and recoverable.

Collaboration is easy with Google Drive

Google Drive is a cloud-based file storage and sharing platform that offers several benefits. One advantage is the ease and security of file sharing. Different levels of access can be set for various users, making it easy to collaborate or share files with others.

It also offers a large storage capacity, including 15GB of free storage for individual users, with paid plans available for additional space. Google Drive integrates well with other Google services like Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Slides, making it easy to create and edit documents within the platform.

Time management

Effective time management is crucial, especially when working with a remote team. It’s essential to have a shared calendar to not only schedule meetings but also to safeguard your time and communicate your availability to your teammates.

Although some older calendar tools offer sharing features, they may also allow others to schedule events on your behalf, which can be inconvenient and counterproductive. Instead, it’s recommended to use a shared calendar tool that defaults to sending invitations, or even allows you to find a time that works for all team members from a set of predetermined open hours.

Consider using Google Calendar, which not only enables you to create and share events easily but also offers features like automatic time zone adjustment and integration with other Google services like Gmail and Meet. With Google Calendar, you can optimize your team’s time management and ensure everyone is on the same page.

Virtual meetings

When it comes to conference calls, it’s recommended to switch from audio to video when there are more than one or two people involved. Video calls provide added visual cues, making it easier to communicate and minimizing interruptions. For consistency, it’s best to use the same tool for both small group video calls and larger all-hands meetings.

Google Meet is a great option for this, as it allows for hosting breakout rooms where smaller discussions can take place during team meetings or brainstorming sessions. This feature eliminates the need for people to jump on and off different calls, improving productivity and collaboration.

Signing documents remotely

Gone are the days of sending out uneditable PDF documents and asking for signatures via scanning, emailing, or even faxing. This cumbersome process can be avoided with the help of electronic signature services that offer secure and efficient document management.

One such service is DocuSign, which allows for the electronic signing of documents and offers features like automatic reminders and real-time tracking. With DocuSign, documents can be signed and sent back in a matter of minutes, simplifying the entire process and saving time and resources.

The post Remote leaders toolbox (tools for remote work) appeared first on Per Pettersson.

Written by PUNEET SANDHU for Fast Company

When I look back at the managers I’ve had since the beginning of my career, it’s clear to me—now, having done years of people management experience myself—that some of them should never have been given that responsibility. In talking to friends and coworkers, I realize just how shockingly common this sentiment is: Data shows that half of American workers have left jobs to escape a bad boss whose behaviors may range from micromanagement to acting on their unconscious biases.

Business culture has equated seniority of title with the ability to manage people, which is common a mistake. “You know that cliché, ‘people don’t leave bad companies, they leave bad managers’? It’s pretty accurate,” says Adam Karpiak, a recruiter. “The overall culture of an organization matters, but the direct supervisor is where it can be the most challenging.”

Bad management is a business feature, not a bug

Karpiak says he gets hundreds of messages each year from job seekers, describing their experience with bad managers: They were treated as cogs in a machine and not as individuals who need to be developed. This “one-way street” approach leaves them feeling like they are merely tolerated, and not engaged or supported at work.

The problem is that very few organizations approach people management intentionally. Leadership often assumes that if an employee excels at their job, they’ll also excel at nurturing talent—but those are two entirely different skill sets.

“If you are an awesome cost accountant, you’re great with numbers. If you become a supervisor in the accounting department, all of a sudden, you have to figure out how to motivate people to work. You have to review work. You have to represent your department and manage stakeholder relationships. It’s a whole other ballgame,” Karpiak says. 

So, why do so many good workers automatically get promoted to people-management roles? 

Shonna Waters, vice president of strategic alliances and partnerships at coaching platform BetterUp, attributes this to the Peter principle, which she describes as the idea that “people are promoted to their level of incompetence.” 

“When making promotion decisions, leaders may place weight on current performance rather than the skills required to be a great leader at the next level,” she says. This automatically pushes great individual contributors to managerial roles, and then impacts those being managed by the newly promoted leaders. “They might have to suffer through the new manager’s learning curve: Individual contributors have been rewarded for a host of behaviors that they’ll eventually have to let go of to be a great manager. That transition can be difficult (hello, micromanagement!) and means that their teams have to be patient.”

Karpiak suggests that it also boils down to a misguided retention and growth strategy: If you give a high performer a higher spot in the organizational chart, it makes them feel good about their place in the company, prolonging tenure. But as the data shows, this causes a retention problem elsewhere in the organization, with employees leaving to flee bad managers. 

How to create a culture of good people management

One solution to this problem came up over and over again: Coach and train people on what good management looks like. This has been an ongoing ask from American workers, 57% of whom think their managers could do with more training on people management. 

“People want to feel seen, heard, and appreciated. This requires that managers develop mindsets and behaviors such as self-awareness, self-efficacy, authenticity, empathy, and encouraging participation,” Waters says. In their research, BetterUp noticed a 160% increase in self-awareness and a 60% increase in authenticity through personalized coaching for managers, tailored based on factors like skill needs or upcoming career transitions.

Waters offers that development and “show and tell” of good management can take various forms: training programs for those interested in management; mentoring from experienced people leaders; or volunteer assignments that help employees learn while doing. “Managers can also help create opportunities for employees to learn on the job with special projects. For example, managing a project team is a good way to start building the alignment, delegation, and collaborative skills that will be important as a people manager,” she says.

Not everyone wants to manage people. That’s a good thing

An under-examined facet of this conversation is that not everyone wants to manage people, even in cultures where models for good leadership exist. “The problem is, in the past, companies didn’t always have established growth tracks for individual contributors and just pushed them into management. But often, people like their job and just want to have greater reach, greater budgets to play with, and greater pay,” Karpiak says. 

Waters suggests people be allowed to opt-out of management if it’s not what they want to do. “Some organizations have found great success with realistic job previews, interim assignments, or shadowing opportunities,” she says. “Giving ICs a realistic sense of what people management entails lets them decide it’s not for them before learning the hard way.”

Bad people managers can be a cultural and operational liability, but good managers can be a nurturing and stabilizing influence on teams—especially during uncertain times. The stakes in this role are high: People managers impact the company’s bottomline but, just as crucially, if not more, they influence employee happiness and development, all of which may affect other parts of employees’ lives. Only employees with the intent, desire, and potential for people management should be offered these positions, but equally, they should be equipped with the tools required to succeed at this work.

Written by PUNEET SANDHU for Fast Company

The post Why the wrong people are promoted to management— and how to change it appeared first on Per Pettersson.

However, with our busy lives, it’s hard to find the time to think about long-term career goals. This has been especially true in the past couple of years, when everything felt like a rush.

Learning communities to support employee development

Creating a learning community for employees is like giving them a oasis in the desert. Encourage them to build networks and learn from people outside of their immediate teams and managers. This can include informal groups, peers, and even indirect managers. This type of networking and learning brings new perspectives and can lead to breakthroughs and better results.

This type of community can be transient and informal, but it creates an ongoing exchange of information and a two-way dialogue between employees and their most trusted colleagues. This leads to a more fulfilling employee experience, increased productivity, satisfaction, and better outcomes for everyone.

Create internal networking opportunities for your employees

Networking while working remotely can be a bit of a challenge. New employees may have a harder time getting to know their colleagues since they’re not physically in the same space. And for everyone, it can be difficult to figure out how to interact with each other in a remote setting. For example, is it okay to have casual conversations with colleagues or to ask for mentorship?

Asking for advice or support from colleagues can also feel a bit awkward, since they might be eager to disconnect and spend time with their families after work hours. This can leave you wondering if they’d rather not mentor you.

In a remote work environment, there are fewer opportunities to meet colleagues in person or expand your network at conferences and events. One way to overcome this is to create internal networking opportunities within your team.

Sharing tips and best practices with your colleagues can be a valuable professional development activity. And remember, building a strong network is a marathon, not a sprint. So, it’s important to keep practicing and fostering connections with your team.

Prioritize diverse leadership teams

Creating a diverse leadership team should be a top priority for any company. Why? Because having a diverse leadership team is essential for fostering a culture of belonging for all employees. When employees feel like they belong, they are more likely to thrive and be engaged in their work.

In simple terms, a company that lacks diversity in leadership can feel like an exclusive club, which is not an environment where employees can feel comfortable and supported.

So, before leaders can expect their teams to feel a sense of belonging, they need to take responsibility for creating a diverse leadership team. This includes implementing an employee experience program that specifically addresses diversity and inclusion within leadership. Only then can leaders begin to create a larger culture of belonging within the company.

Employee development needs engagement with senior leaders

Mentoring relationships are crucial for developing talent and inspiring high-quality performance. They provide a structured path for professional development and a safe space for exploration, experimentation, and taking risks. The best way to achieve development is through a supportive community.

A lack of opportunities to engage with senior leaders can be a major barrier for many employees, particularly for those from underrepresented groups. To retain talented employees and develop diverse employees into future leaders, it’s important to provide them with opportunities to connect and learn from senior leaders.

Another obstacle is the lack of career support and mentorship. Leaders should commit to supporting and developing the professional and leadership goals of their team members, particularly those from underrepresented groups. These individuals can be your future leaders and mentors.

It’s important to remember that employees need development support now more than ever. They need opportunities to strengthen their network and establish mentoring relationships. For diverse professionals, especially those who have been newly hired, additional support is essential. Leaders should make sure to involve them in the organization and help them feel a sense of connection and belonging.

Ultimately, leaders should invest in their people at every opportunity. Your team members are your most valuable investment.

The post Employee development, and how to tackle it appeared first on Per Pettersson.

This is known as the Franklin Effect, named after Benjamin Franklin who discovered this theory while trying to improve his relationship with a rival senator. Franklin asked to borrow a book his rival was passionate about and returned it with a grateful note. This simple request highlighted their shared interest and put his rival in a position to help him, leading to the two becoming close friends. The Franklin Effect demonstrates that asking for advice on a topic the other person cares about can greatly enhance a relationship.

Don’t forget the context when asking for advice

To ensure you get the most from your requests for advice, it’s important to be mindful of certain key points. Personalize your request by explaining why you have chosen to seek advice from that specific person. This added context will enhance the bonding power of your request.

For example, you could mention that you admire their leadership style, they have achieved something you are striving for, or their insights have helped you in the past. By highlighting the reason why you want their advice, you can begin your request with a compliment and demonstrate that you value their opinion.

To effectively ask for advice, make sure your request is specific

To effectively ask for advice, make sure your request is specific. People are often willing to offer advice, but they may not have the time or patience for vague or confusing questions. Avoid asking for general advice, picking someone’s brain, or inquiring about hypothetical situations. Instead, target a specific problem or question.

Some examples of specific questions you could ask are: “How would you approach dealing with [specific problem you are struggling with]?”, “I’m struggling with [insert struggle], and I think [idea] might be a solution. What do you think?”, “I received [description of difficult message], do you have any advice on how I should respond?”

Express your gratitude and follow-up on actions

Express your gratitude to the person who provided you with advice by thanking them for their valuable insights. Also, let them know how you plan on implementing their advice. It is important to follow-up with actions and let them know how well their advice worked. This gives them a sense of pride in your accomplishment and allows both of you to bond over your success.

If their advice did not work, still follow-up by thanking them for their insights and sharing with them what you learned from the experience or the outcome of your situation, so they know how it turned out.

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