20 Digital Marketing Tips from the Experts

Who better to turn to for digital marketing advice than the experts? Exactly, which is why today we’ll be focusing on 20 tips from the experts. Let’s get started!

SEO

Up first are five tips from the world of search engine optimization:

1. “Always keep in mind the reader as opposed to the search engines.” – Brian Honigman

You’re writing for your users, not Google. Google always puts the end-user’s experience in the forefront, and you should as well if you want your content to be liked and shared more.

2. “Add more content, not just more keywords. The most important thing about keywords is not how many times they occur… The more pages you have, the more pages on your site will be indexed.” – Neil Patel

SEO is a long-term strategy and spammy posts with keyword stuffing are not doing anyone any favors — your users will click out and you will be penalized for poor SEO behavior.

3. “Good SEO work only gets better over time. It’s only search engine tricks that need to keep changing when the ranking algorithms change.” – Jill Whalen

Google changes their algorithms for a reason. If you’re doing everything right and by the book, there’s no need to worry when another change rolls by. In fact, you rankings will only improve as others’ drop.

4. “Search engines are unique in that they provide targeted traffic—people looking for what you offer. Search engines are the roadways that make this happen. If search engines cannot find your site, or add your content to their databases, you miss out on incredible opportunities to drive traffic to your site.” – Rand Fishkin

The quotes speaks for itself; if people want to find someone like you, they will — as long as you’re putting out the right content for them to find.

5. “All links aren’t equal.” – Kristopher B. Jones

One link from a website with high authority is worth more than 20 from low quality, spammy sites. If you want search engines to notice and rank you higher, build a strong link profile.

Paid Advertising

From SEO we arrive at SEM, AKA paid advertising:

6. “If your plans don’t include mobile, your plans are not finished.” – Wendy Clark

We live in a mobile-first world where the majority of Internet browsers turn to their smartphone before their desktop or laptop. In other words, you have to be on mobile.

7. “If you’re using paid advertising as part of your marketing campaign – you need to be creative. Only then can you expect a great ROI in the form of brand awareness,  leads, and potential customers for your small business.” – Neil Patel

If you want your ad to work, you have to make an impression. Hint, Super Bowl ads.

8. “If you spend too little on advertising, you are spending too much.” – Philip Kotler

You can’t be stingy with advertising. Using an exaggerated example, if your CPC is $1 and you only spend $1, absolutely nothing will happen. You have to use the odds to your advantage and increase your spending.

Even though David Ogilvy passed away before online advertising was as big as it is today, he’s widely regarded as the father of advertising. Here are two tips from the legend himself:

9. “Never write an advertisement which you wouldn’t want your own  family to read. You wouldn’t tell lies to your own wife. Don’t tell them to mine. Do as you would be done by.” – David Ogilvy

Lying in your ads will only serve to lose your audience’s trust. You may get the sale in the beginning, but once they catch on, you’ll have a lot to answer for.

10. “I don’t know the rules of grammar. . . . If you’re trying to persuade people to do something, or buy something, it seems to  me you should use their language, the language they use every day, the language in which they think. We try to write in the vernacular.” – David Ogilvy

If you want people to buy your products, you have to make sure they understand what you’re saying.

Social Media

Let’s not forget the social world — it’s where you’ll find  your audience:

11. “Social media is here. It’s not going away; not a passing fad. Be where your customers are: in social media.” – Lori Ruff

No matter your industry, you can bet that your audience is on social media, whether it be Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or LinkedIn. Make it easy for them to find you with a presence in all these platforms.

12. “No matter what, the very first piece of social media real  estate I’d start with is a blog. It’s a website, with lots of built in features that make it useful from a search perspective, and simple from a content creation perspective.” – Chris Brogan

Google considers social media in their rankings; likes equals links, and with a blog in tow you can share content with your audience every day.

13. “In Social Media the “squeaky wheel” gets the oil. You have to put yourself out there, to find people who will relate or even debate with you, depending on what you are looking for.” – Jessica Northey-Shaw

The squeaky wheel gets the oil because it’s heard above the others. The same goes for social media — if you want to be found, you have to  be heard, and to do that you need to put yourself out there.

14. “Successful companies in social media function more like entertainment companies, publishers, or party planners than as traditional advertisers.” – Erik Qualman

People typically don’t like ads — unless they’re entertained by them. To be successful on social media, you need to be engaging and always  hold your audience’s attention.

15. “Today, content-based marketing gets repeated in social media and increases word-of-mouth mentions; it’s the best way to gather buzz about a product. It worked in the past and it does now.” – Marsha Collier

Everyone’s on social media and content-based marketing reigns supreme in the social world. Translation? Post content about a product on social media.

Content Marketing

Finally, content is king for a reason:

16. “If you’ve been publishing for a while, a content audit will help you find those old, outdated content assets and make them shiny and new again. Yes, it’s detailed. Yes, it will take a lot of work.” – Heather Lloyd-Martin

Marketing is filled with changing trends and your content should reflect them. Similarly, your brand voice may have changed over time, and you most likely publish better quality content today than you did five years ago. If someone visits your site, make sure everything is up-to-date and up to your higher standards.

17. “When we deliver meaningful content, it means we show up, invited, with words and images that matter. It means that we are trusted enough to be permitted to speak the first few words, and talented enough to keep the attention we’ve worked so hard to earn.” – Seth Godin

Be original and make a connection. A catchy headline may grab someone’s attention, but content doesn’t live up to expectations leads to a bounce.

18. “Business results on the web don’t come from content; they come from content that moves.” – Mark Schaefer

Content isn’t a one-off thing you do; you want to be engaging and build trust with your audience.

19. “Trustworthy content has a balanced point of view. It asks and answers the right questions. It doesn’t love itself. It tries to inform and educate.” – Steve Farnsworth

Take a page from Google’s playbook and produce content with the end-user in mind. Don’t be self-serving — if your audience has a problem, solve it; if they want to know something, tell them.

20. “Content is King, but engagement is Queen and she rules the house.” – Mari Smith

If doesn’t matter if you churn out 10 posts a day if you’re audience isn’t reading them. Make sure to write content that is engaging, only then will your content truly be king.

Final Thoughts

There we go, that’s what the experts have to say. Make sure to take heed! They are experts, after all.