Blog
Online Directories - What are the benefits?
22nd Jun 2017
While more businesses are using online directories than ever before - and the market is expected to see a steady growth by around 2.4 percent by 2017 - this method of digital advertising is still heavily underutilised by many small and medium businesses who place too much importance on SEO and SMM alone (we will be posting blogs on these topics within the coming weeks). Here are some of the key benefits businesses could enjoy through placing an advert in a global online directory:
Improved Outreach
There are many benefits of blogging to a global audience, yet many businesses shy away from international marketing due to the stresses and hassles of optimising content for foreign audiences using different keywords, key phrases, and cultural references. Placing an ad in an online directory is one of the most effective ways to reach new audiences without alienating.
Local Reputation
While advertising to a UK or global audience can be beneficial, word-of-mouth marketing is still a major player when it comes to building a local reputation. It’s important for businesses to promote themselves, their products, and their services to the local community through location-based advertising on online directories, encouraging customers to spread the word in the locality.
Increased Visibility
At a time when on-site content marketing is proving to be so effective, many businesses are becoming sucked into the SEO world and are failing to see that, for SMEs, SEO isn’t everything. Optimised web pages should be used in conjunction with digital advertising forms such as online directories that work to introduce consumers to businesses they may not have found otherwise. Online directories also push your details onto Google, try this by simply typing ‘Barfia Yazoomer’ into Google the results speak for themselves.
Together, these three primary benefits do what they’re supposed to - they bring in business. A study by the The Editor & Publisher Co found that more than half of all business owners who advertise in online directories plan to renew their ad when it expires due to success and overall satisfaction.
Yazoomer is currently offering a FREE listing with an option to upgrade to Premium for £5 which offers a lot more benefits, most importantly enhancing visibility of your business not only online but to our 10,000 followers!!
Killer Content is King!
15th Jun 2017
It’s reported that 93 percent of marketers today use content marketing to promote their business and reach target audiences, but it’s important to remember that there’s a very significant difference between content, and good content.
64 percent of content marketers claim that their biggest challenge today is producing enough content to keep their audience hooked, but perhaps it’s time to stop focusing upon quantity, and instead make quality more of a priority.
When questioned, experts in the field claimed there were three distinct aspects that, when combined, help contribute towards killer content:
Audience Relevance
Audience relevance has been proven to be vital in both B2B and B2C scenarios. In terms of B2C, 82 percent of blog readers report a preference for reading relevant content rather than generic content, while in a B2B context, 79 percent claim they’re more likely to choose a vendor that displays relevant content online.
Keeping a blog relevant needn’t be a difficult task - it’s simply a case of doing a little research. Keep up with trends and news within the industry, take into account what direct competitors are posting, and perform keyword analysis to determine what modern consumers are looking for.
Engaging Storytelling
Engaging storytelling is often cited as important for brands, but why? Many believe that it all comes down to human science and the fact that ‘human memory is story based’. In order to remember information, the brain converts information into a story, and so we’re naturally more inclined to engage with data if it’s presented to us in a story-like format.
Creating a compelling storyline is actually much more simple than it sounds - it’s about following the Monomyth structure. This structure is often found in fiction, but it can easily be applied to blogs - begin with the familiar, discuss challenges, risks, concepts, and ideas to lead to a revelation, finally returning to the familiar to conclude.
Triggers Actions
A true measure of whether blog content has triggered a response in its audience is whether or not the content goes viral. Blog readership figures are essentially pointless if none of that audience are influenced to an extent that they feel compelled to take action - to share information with a friend, to follow the brand, or to make a purchase, for example.
Experts state that an audience is more likely to react to content that is positive, rather than negative, to content that arouses emotions and pushes buttons, and to content that is practical and useful within day-to-day life. Incorporating these aspects into blog content is vital.
The Key to Success
Whether your content is considered ‘killer’ or not isn’t determined by one single factor - it’s about having the right combination of factors that work together to create content that’s original, meaningful, and, ultimately, influential.