The digital marketing world is constantly changing, and innovations alter the landscape of current trends every day.
More and more, people crave a personal connection with web content, and are increasingly supporting companies who show a marked interest in the user’s lives, buying habits, and real-life concerns.
Personalized experiences are crucial to effective marketing campaigns, and learning the tips and tricks of the modern content writing trade can help you gain a stronger footing for the future of the Digital Age.
Tip #1: Don’t Underestimate UX Or UI Design
User experience (UX) and user interface (UI) design are both crucial to the success of a product, and as this graph reveals, it’s something that needs improvement in the marketplace.
UX and UI work closely together to build a cohesive, functional, and appealing user experience while on a website or app. UX Design has to do with the technical aspects of a site, such as the analysis of customer interactions, site testing and prototyping, and development of site for quality results. UI Design, on the other hand, handles the content and layout of a site, focusing on its appeal to customers, aesthetic attractiveness, and responsiveness with users.
Both design types are critical to the way a user will perceive your website and can mean the difference between making a conversion and losing a customer entirely. UX and UI together form the lifeblood of any website, and one cannot (and should not) be used without the other. Having a firm understanding of the roles of both, and hiring a team member who is practiced with both, can make your website feel personal to the user and keep them hooked forever.
Personalization shines through with proper UX and UI, because you can analyze user habits and current trends and directly implement them into your website design. For example, if your UX analyses show that users continually click away from your site after accessing a certain page, such as your “About Me,” you can use this information in your UI Design to remedy the problem and increase conversion rates.
Tip #2: Update Your Digital Content Daily
This may be a tall order to fill, but reevaluating and changing the information on your website according to daily trends and market changes shows that you value your customers’ time and want to give something valuable to them in your content at all times. There are simple updates you can use to redesign your website to fit the modern age, but it’s important to return to your website analytics periodically and search for places you can optimize your site.
Blogs are an easy way to give a daily update to your customers and attract them to your website, without having to spend too much time and energy redesigning your whole page. Blogs result in better lead generation, ultimately increasing your site traffic and by extension, your conversion rates and customer base. Updating your digital content through a blog can:
- Increase user engagement
- Establish credibility and thought leadership
- Attract new people to your site
- Increase your SEO organically
- Develop a personal connection with customers
Customers today want to feel like their needs are being attended to, and updating your site daily or at least often can achieve this. Spending the extra time and energy to keep your site current can mean the difference between a user going to your site first for new information or dismissing your site for being too outdated.
Tip #3: Understand The Effects Of Mobile Technology
Mobile devices are predicted to completely surpass desktops for online access this year, which means the start of mobile-first marketing for businesses. Instead of creating a site for the desktop, and then altering it or downsizing it to fit mobile devices, businesses should instead design their sites for mobile devices first. The benefit this brings to your company is to keep you at the forefront of the mobile device boom and to ensure your site will operate at maximum optimization on the number one device people are using to look at it.
Mobile-first marketing offers a great way to increase the quality of your content, since it lends itself to personal user experience. Accessing a website on a mobile device entails the use of the user’s fingers to physically interact with your website, instead of a mouse and keyboard. This means that websites need to pay more attention to the usability and responsiveness of their sites and keep the needs of the user first at all times.
The exponential proliferation of mobile devices is creating a brand new type of marketing that businesses everywhere have had to adapt to. Videos have always been a popular form of communication, but as high-speed connections and high-definition mobile device screens become more and more widespread, video has nearly surpassed written content in importance. Google has begun to include video advertisements in its first page of search results, confirming the fact that video content marketing should be of utmost importance to your digital strategy.
Tip #4: Identify Your Ideal Audience
Instead of trying to write for as many people as possible, do the opposite. Write for your ideal, targeted audience and make the information as specific and current as possible. Identifying your reader and determining what they want makes your content more personal and makes customers want to stay on your site.
It’s important not to be of the “if you build it, they will come” mindset – creating content you want and then finding your audience afterwards. Doing this will make your content sound too broad and generic, and instead of resonating with a wide audience, you won’t resonate with anyone. There are ways to tailor your content to be directed at a specific audience, but still convey a far-reaching message.
Even though content is still king, there is such a thing as too much content. Users are being constantly bombarded with content online – text, video, audio, pop-ups, and flash advertisements. Users have to sift through this content to find the gems, and often end up giving up altogether. Make your content short, sweet, and to the point with a real takeaway message.
Tip #5: Create Content From The Heart
Telling a story with your content has been an ongoing trend for the last few years, as more consumers are drawn to content that shows emotion, concern, and real-life passion for the subject being discussed. Millennials are increasingly turning away from big corporations in favor of smaller startups that show enthusiasm for their industry and a sense of inspired entrepreneurship.
While content marketing isn’t rocket science, it’s often difficult to master due to its ever-changing trends and analytics. It is increasingly necessary to spend due time and effort on creating content for your site, but it’s also best not to over think it. Consumers want you to connect with them on a personal level, to feel empowered by your brand and proud to support you. Writing content, or creating video content, from a place that inspires your own practice will also inspire your customers.
Social media platforms especially need to adhere to this piece of advice while creating content, since social media sites are not a place for pushy sales ads, but rather a place customers go to connect with the rest of the community. You should be using social media platforms to show your engagement with people, your love of the work you do, and to give something of value to readers. Creating content that speaks to people is the number one way to hook a customer in and keep them on your site.
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* Adapted lead image: Some rights reserved by silverback44