Online marketing is like a roller coaster ride, with many ups and downs. In order to succeed with your marketing campaigns, you have to be up to date, with the methods that work today, and know what techniques you must avoid.
In this post, I have asked 29 experts what are the most common mistakes people do with online marketing, and what are the myths people still believe.
Without any further ado, let’s see what they recommend:
Kristi Hines
Q: Based on your experience, what are the most common mistakes online marketers are doing?
I’d say one of the biggest mistakes online marketers are doing right now is not investing enough in competitive research. SEOs will typically research a competitors backlinks, but outside of that, not many use competitor research as a way to develop a content and social media strategy that will work for their own (or their client’s) target audience.
In most industries, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel – you can easily look at the top three to five competitors to see what works and what doesn’t. So instead of building a basic strategy from scratch, you can learn a basic strategy and then embellish it with tactics unique to your business (or your client’s).
Some great tools I would recommend include Rival IQ to see all of your competitors social media bios, website meta tags, and much more at a glance, Monitor Backlinks to get your competitor’s latest backlinks emailed to you, and Feedly to keep up with and get inspired by your competitor’s content.
Q: What are the top 3 myths marketers still believe?
I still see a lot of people who believe the keys to ranking well in search include obtaining exact match keyword domains, using keyword anchor text for links, and buying sitewide links in sidebars and footers (as a blog owner, I still get lots of requests for them). Google has struck all of these down in the last two years with algorithm changes, so it’s really time for everyone to adapt.
Kristi Hines is a freelance writer and professional blogger, you can follow her on Twitterand Google Plus. Check her website at KristiHines.com
Brian Dean
Q: Based on your experience, what are the most common mistakes online marketers are doing?
That’s easy: not building an email list.
The simple fact about online marketing is this: if you don’t have an email list, you
don’t have a business. Period.
don’t have a business. Period.
Your search engine traffic could disappear overnight with a single Google update.
Or Facebook could tweak their Edgerank algorithm and shut you out from your
own fans.
Or Facebook could tweak their Edgerank algorithm and shut you out from your
own fans.
But with an email list, you’re in the driver’s seat.
Q: What are the top 3 myths, marketers still believe?
1. “If you build it, they will come”. I see far too many people get roped
into this idea. Great content is NOT enough. You need to hustle
to promote the content you already have on your site.
2. SEO is dead (or less effective than it used to be)
3. Social media traffic can replace SEO traffic.
into this idea. Great content is NOT enough. You need to hustle
to promote the content you already have on your site.
2. SEO is dead (or less effective than it used to be)
3. Social media traffic can replace SEO traffic.
Brian Dean is the founder of BacklinkO.com. You can follow him on Twitter and Google Plus.
Marko Saric
Q: Based on your experience, what are the most common mistakes online marketers are doing?
The most common mistake is having unrealistic expectations and believing in the success stories. You hear so many success stories and a lot of people promise instant results, that many marketers enter the field by believing the hype and thinking that they can achieve their goals quickly, easily and without putting too much effort. This is simply not true and results in many people giving up prematurely after they don’t see the results immediately. Be prepared for the long haul instead.
Q: What are the top 3 myths, marketers still believe?
1. “Get-rich-quick”: Kind of like my answer above.
2. “SEO is the answer to everything” and you just need to SEO-optimize your site. This is simply not true and doesn’t work very well. You need much more than just putting up some “unique” content, optimizing your meta tags and getting some links from random websites.
3. “Content is everything you need” – Thrilling content is the king really, but it is not enough on its own. If you don’t go out there and tell people about you content, nobody will know about it. Publishing a great piece of work is only the start, you also need to go in social media, forums, other websites, looking into advertising opportunities etc in order to drive people to your great content.
2. “SEO is the answer to everything” and you just need to SEO-optimize your site. This is simply not true and doesn’t work very well. You need much more than just putting up some “unique” content, optimizing your meta tags and getting some links from random websites.
3. “Content is everything you need” – Thrilling content is the king really, but it is not enough on its own. If you don’t go out there and tell people about you content, nobody will know about it. Publishing a great piece of work is only the start, you also need to go in social media, forums, other websites, looking into advertising opportunities etc in order to drive people to your great content.
Marko Saric blogs at HowToMakeMyBLog.com. You can follow him on Twitter and Google Plus.
Julie Joyce
Q: Based on your experience, what are the most common mistakes online marketers are doing?
1. Still building/buying completely obviously spammy links. It’s amazing. I sometimes check to see what my clients’ competitors are doing as far as links go and tons of the new links I see coming in are just absolutely horrible. They’re the kind of links that we built in 2006 for throwaway domains.
2. Promising results. I really cannot stand it when people will swear up and down that they can get you to number one in Google.
3. Buying up tons of irrelevant old domains and 301 redirecting them. This is very dangerous but I still see it being used on some money sites and it makes me very nervous.
Q: What are the top 3 myths, marketers still believe?
That Google won’t penalize them because they didn’t intentionally do anything wrong. Google isn’t a genius at gauging intent.
That nothing other than bad links will get them into trouble. Almost every site has some bad links. I’ve seen too many sites who have decent backlinks so they think they can create 10000 pages of semi-duplicate content or do nothing but crank out generic posts that get zero social traction.
That creating great content is the solution to all of their problems. It’s not. It’s part of it for many cases of course but there are some sites that really don’t need to be blogging every day.
Julie Joyce is the owner of a link building company, Link Fish Media and the co-founder of SEO chicks. Follow her on Twitter and Google Plus.
Richard Marriott
Q: Based on your experience, what are the most common mistakes online marketers are doing?
Sure, most professional online marketers are awesome at converting visitors into customers, but when it comes to SEO, their link profiles are all too often extremely shocking.
What I’m talking about is link profiles where not one single link has come from another real person’s blog, but all links are either from their own blog network or from article submission sites.
This may still be working in the short term, but Google is getting smarter by the day and when it eventually realises that most of the links to a site are artificial, these online marketers with bad link profiles will get hit hard.
The way to avoid this problem is to start networking more with bloggers in your niche and if those bloggers aren’t willing to link out then start networking with bloggers in adjacent markets whose sites won’t be competing with your content.
Networking in adjacent markets has worked wonders for my new niche site. People have been more than happy to link out and just a handful of these links have already helped me outrank my competitors for a number of highly competitive keywords.
No matter how competitive a niche is there are always ways to build white hat links from real people’s blogs. You’ve just got to think out of the box a little more. And if you put in the effort, even just a couple of white hat links will reap far greater rewards than dozens of artificial links you create for yourself.
Q: What are the top 3 myths, marketers still believe?
1. Google won’t become intelligent enough to spot links from your own blog networks in the near future.
2. You can’t get links from other bloggers in highly competitive niches.
3. People will never link to your content no matter how many dozens of emails you send.
2. You can’t get links from other bloggers in highly competitive niches.
3. People will never link to your content no matter how many dozens of emails you send.
In a nutshell, no matter how impossible getting white hat links in a competitive niche might seem, there’s always a way.
Richard Marriott is SEO addicted and he writes about white hat link building and viral content at Clambr.com. Follow him on Twitter.
Razvan Girmacea
Q: Based on your experience, what are the most common mistakes online marketers are doing?
I will speak from a start-up point of view, where speed of reaction and good resource management matters.
Marketers are relaying too much on developers to give them some basic reports from inside their user database so they can analyze and take action based on that data.
Another mistake is not learning the basic SQL queries (or software usage of PhpMyAdmin) to get the data from the database slows the marketing and the developing process.
The third mistake is that they fail to prioritize what needs to be done to make the most of it. Choosing to spend a few weeks on something that may not have a big impact on the startup can have tremendous consequences.
From an SEO point of view, I’ve seen marketeers that start working on promoting and writing about their product or their customer niche, but skip the keywords research phase and it fails to bring the long term wanted results.
Q: What are the top 3 myths, marketers still believe?
1. Marketers may think that just by looking at data is enough, but failing to talk with the users may lead to wrong decisions.
2. Social media marketing is free. It couldn’t be more wrong. You may not pay any invoices, but you pay the employee and sometimes instead of spending $100 on a service, you end up paying $500 a employee time to do the exact same job. Small investments in marketing tools can make a lot of difference.
3. You must get a direct positive ROI for a advertising campaign to be worth it. I’ve rarely seen direct conversions that bring a positive return of investment from a marketing campaign. But there is so much more to take into account:
- visitors that come may recommend your brand in other places
- visitors may see your brand now, recognize it after a while, and purchase later from another marketing channel
- sometimes it’s worth investing a small amount just to get some visitors, do some research or a/b testing
- visitors may see your brand now, recognize it after a while, and purchase later from another marketing channel
- sometimes it’s worth investing a small amount just to get some visitors, do some research or a/b testing
Razvan Girmacea is the CEO and founder of MonitorBacklinks.com, a must have SEO tool for all marketers. You can follow him on Twitter and Google Plus.
Brian Hawkins
Q: Based on your experience, what are the most common mistakes online marketers are doing?
The most common mistake online marketers make today is the failure to understand the new social paradigm where consumers must trust and know you before they purchase. All but are gone the days where shoveling loads of copy in front of potential customers until they break down and buy. The terms engagement, authority and influence are thrown around the net to the point their true meaning is so watered down it’s tough to understand but that is exactly what online marketers must do to continue moving forward in a profitable manner – understand.
Q: What are the top 3 myths, marketers still believe?
We have to look no further than our own personal email in-boxes to see just how out of touch many online marketers have become. The toughest part is narrowing it down to just three so let’s take a look at the top myths that stand out like a sour thumb.
Myth #1: It’s a numbers game.
Old school thinking dictated that recycling leads and buyers was a normal part of the process. After all, there’s an endless supply of buyers, right? That’s no longer the case, thanks to powerful resources such as social media, blogs and forums combined with Google. Cross too many people and the negative feedback quickly rise to the top of the search result’s pages.
Old school thinking dictated that recycling leads and buyers was a normal part of the process. After all, there’s an endless supply of buyers, right? That’s no longer the case, thanks to powerful resources such as social media, blogs and forums combined with Google. Cross too many people and the negative feedback quickly rise to the top of the search result’s pages.
I personally know marketers with hundreds of thousands of subscribers, leads and fans. Unfortunately, those numbers mean very little without trust, influence and the right amount of engagement. An active following of 2,000 Twitter followers, for example, can outperform a following of 100,000 random followers.
Myth #2: You can fake it until you make it
Myth number two is a continuation of myth number one. Marketers and bloggers love the clout social proof can provide but many fail to understand the harm that artificially inflating those numbers can bring. Many marketers become so disparate they actually buy followers to give the illusion of importance in hopes that will in turn influence others to follow. This, in today’s market, only hurts their reputation and builds widespread distrust. That distrust kills any hope of long term profits and can dig a hole so deep that recovery is often futile.
Myth number two is a continuation of myth number one. Marketers and bloggers love the clout social proof can provide but many fail to understand the harm that artificially inflating those numbers can bring. Many marketers become so disparate they actually buy followers to give the illusion of importance in hopes that will in turn influence others to follow. This, in today’s market, only hurts their reputation and builds widespread distrust. That distrust kills any hope of long term profits and can dig a hole so deep that recovery is often futile.
Don’t spend valuable time or resources building large numbers of useless leads that result in nothing but the sound of crickets. Instead, take the time to understand your market, engage with that group on a deeper level than your competition and you’ll find the true value of brand ambassadors/advocates, social sharing and loyalty. This does assume you have a product you can stand behind and you’re providing a ton of real value.
Never lie or stretch the truth of results, sales numbers, endorsements, features or benefits. Instead, develop or find the best product that offers the best solution for your target audience’s challenges and stand by that product. Put the consumer first and they will be far more likely to purchase, recommend you to others and become repeat buyers.
Myth #3: The more products I develop and/or push, the more sales I’ll make.
This goes back to reputation and authority; many marketers risk both buy focusing on numbers rather that quality. Again, we have to look no further than our inbox. When people are inundated with offer after offer with no true value, it becomes abundantly clear that the marketer has little concern for their list or the products they promote; today’s consumer can see right through that shallow approach.
This goes back to reputation and authority; many marketers risk both buy focusing on numbers rather that quality. Again, we have to look no further than our inbox. When people are inundated with offer after offer with no true value, it becomes abundantly clear that the marketer has little concern for their list or the products they promote; today’s consumer can see right through that shallow approach.
Don’t grab onto every affiliate opportunity that comes your way for the sake of a few dollars, you’re reputation is worth much more than that. The first goal a marketer should set is to provide the best solution for their market, backed with proven customer service. Once trust is built and maintained, open rates improve, conversion goes up and long term success becomes within reach.
Bonus – Without elaborating, a few other myths are: PayPal is good enough, mobile isn’t a concern yet, and I can’t compete with big brands. No it’s not, yes it is and yes you can. Thanks and take some kind of action every single day.
Brian Hawkins is an experienced blogger who writes at HotBlogTips.com. You can follow him on Twitter and Google plus.
Tadeusz Szewczyk
Q: Based on your experience, what are the most common mistakes online marketers are doing?
One very common mistake committed by marketers for almost a decade is very annoying. It’s about social bookmarking. Even though social bookmarking is almost forgotten due to the slow downturn of Delicious by now superficial marketers still advise people to use “social bookmarking sites like Delicious, Reddit, StumbleUpon to build links or promote their business”. There are already three mistakes in here.
- You don’t use social bookmarking to promote anything or build links directly, you use these sites to bookmark things as the name suggest.
- The second mistake is to categorize sites like Reddit or StumbleUpon as social bookmarking at all. I’ll tell you why this is wrong. When I started to use social bookmarking sites in 2006 for the first time I read such articles too. Then I “bookmarked” five of my sites on Reddit and got banned right away. Reddit is social news or rather a collection of numerous communities dealing with different topics by now. StumbleUpon is about social discovery that is finding amazing content matching your interests. You don’t bookmark anything there, you share links from third party sites.
- Last but not least self-promotion on social sites in general and first generation social sites like Delicious, Reddit or StumbleUpon is not only futile in most cases it’s also frowned upon and considered SPAM.
Of course there are ways to use social bookmarking sites to get links. Also Reddit and StumbleUpon can help to spread the word about you even despite the fact that they are NOT about bookmarking. It’s about encouraging people to bookmark or share your content there. When Delicious was still a popular site getting on its frontpage meant a lot of links while getting a bunch of bookmark meant some links already as these bookmarks would get republished on blogs and other sites.
What most people understand though is that you have to bookmark your stuff on Delicious, Reddit and StumbleUpon just like I did in 2006. What a stupidity.
That’s also why a large amount of bookmarking sites went defunct by now: people were mostly using them to promote themselves and thus SPAM prevailed over legitimate uses. I even remember how people attacked me on StumbleUpon just because I was advocating SEO. They were assuming I’m one of those idiots convincing people to SPAM social sites.
A new generation of social bookmarking sites, this time image bookmarking sites like Pinterest or We Heart it are there and marketers are again mistaking them for one-way self-promotional channels.
Another wide-spread mistake is separating intertwined disciplines too much (search, social media, blogging, content, conversions). When I write an “SEO audit” for a new client I always consider all of those. You need to specialize but telling clients that optimizing for search and conversions are not connected is simply misleading.
“Acronymia” is also a huge mistake! What’s the ROI of SEO or the KPIs of CRO? RTFM LOL! Marketers are like teenagers writing short messages all the time. They use cryptic acronyms nobody besides them understands. That’s one of the reasons many people assume SEO is about magic. Experts who want to get understood like educators, librarians or information architects use the term findability instead.
Q: What are the top 3 myths, marketers still believe?
1. Google is your friend and what Matt Cutts says is true. Just because Matt Cutts says so, doesn’t mean you don’t have to test it or at least think for yourself. Google is not a charity and they only tell you what they want you to know or believe.
2. There is a division between social media and search. There is only social search now. You can’t just do search or social media now without missing out on half of it.You can compete online without publishing anything by adding SEO voodoo.
3. Empty sites can rank but it’s considerably harder to do so. Ranking with empty sites will cost more than creating that content to rank. Why? Google doesn’t want your link building and SEO, they want your content to monetize it. So you need to provide it to play Google’s game.
Tadeusz Szewczyk is a blogger and search specialist. His website is OnReact.com. You can connect with him on Twitter and Google Plus.
Lewis Sellers
Q: Based on your experience, what are the most common mistakes online marketers are doing?
Generally, the most common mistakes I see in online marketing campaigns are missing the basics. SEO is becoming more and more technical, with people looking at new ways to acquire great links, contact people and scale up their link building efforts. Whilst this is going on, people are missing the really easy and simple forms of improving your online presence such as Meta titles and description, good on-site content, internal linking and even sitemap submission to the three major search engines. We work with a number of clients who’s websites are full of duplicate content that their previous SEO company have not picked up.
From a personal point of view, I think it’s worth having an ‘SEO blueprint’ that you look at when setting up a new site. This should cover all of the basics that are easy to carry out. Once you’re confident you’ve implemented all of this correctly, then you can start looking at more of the creative strategies to bring external links in. Each and every campaign is different, but your on-site strategy is certainly a very important one and is worth spending the time on.
Q: What are the top 3 myths, marketers still believe?
Myth 1 – SEO is Dead
We work with a number of clients for website design and development. We always offer SEO as an additional service after the site is built / re-vamped. Over the past year, a few clients have said ‘I don’t want to do any SEO as everyone knows it’s dead‘. This reply is always a frustrating one, as SEO obviously isn’t dead. Yes, Google are clamping down on spam such as blog comments, forum profiles, huge guest posting campaigns etc, but they’re doing it to improve the search engine results so they provide a better experience to their users.
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation – If you’re optimising your site for the search engines, building good content, linking your content together and creating a great user experience for your potential customers, then you’re going to rank better.
Treat your SEO like a regular marketing campaign, try to build your brand and push it to people who want to hear about it. Don’t spam the web with thousands of links from forums you’ve never been active on and try to build a following. If you master that, you’ll rank very well.
Myth 2 – Articles should have a keyword density of x%
If you’re looking at keyword density, then you’re probably doing something wrong. Keyword density was something that people used to look at when writing articles in bulk. In the modern world of SEO, it’s not about writing and submitting as many articles as possible, it’s all about quality. If you’re writing great quality content, then keyword density shouldn’t be thought about – your keywords will naturally flow into the content. For this reason, looking at your content and trying to figure out the best keyword density is not the way forward.
Myth 3 – If you receive a penalty from Google, Disavowing the links is enough to get the penalty revoked
As nice as this would be, unfortunately it’s not the case. We remove both manual and algorithmic penalties for clients worldwide on a regular basis, it’s something that we’ve refined overtime, but it’s a slow process that requires a lot of manual work and effort in order to get the penalties lifted.
There are lots of people online who say that to get a penalty lifted, all you need to do is disavow all the bad domains and resubmit reconsideration request. We’ve tried this on many sites, but unfortunately, you’ve had to do some grovelling to Google, manually put in a lot of effort to remove as many links as possible.
The best way to avoid this is to not receive a penalty in the first place. Stick to good linking methods, write good content and grow your brand organically, that way, you’ll never have to find out if Myth 3 is correct or not! 
Lewis Sellers is a web developer and search engine optimisation analyst atPinPointDesigns.co.uk. You can connect with him on Twitter and LinkedIn.
David Leonhardt
Q: Based on your experience, what are the most common mistakes online marketers are doing?
Wow, tough one. I would say, in a word, “panic”. Right now everybody is panicking about getting Google penalties. They are panicking about losing all the “equity” they have built up in Facebook likes. I am not suggesting the panicking is unwarranted, just that it is useless. Marketers need to be laying down a solid business format that will not fall if some other site was to disappear into a black hole. That does not mean to avoid using other sites and services, just to not be totally or primarily reliant on them.
Q: What are the top 3 myths, marketers still believe?
The myths are absolutes, that there are things everybody HAS to do. In the real world, there are no absolutes.
I would say the top myth is that everyone needs to build a list. A list is worthwhile only if you have the type of product or service where sales can be made primarily through relationship building. Not every business fits the bill.
Second is that every business needs to blog. Blogging is something every business should consider – but ”consider” includes possibly rejecting blogging if there are more effective things the business could be doing with its time and money.
A third myth is that being seen as an expert will create sales. This is in fact true for all the people spreading the myth, since they are all consultants. But for most businesses online, expertise is not a factor in making purchases (Has anybody ever checked to see how many expert articles the owner of a travel booking site has written before booking through the site?) – more at http://www.seo-writer.com/
For me to point out the holes in these myths is a little counter-intuitive, since I sell blogging services and create content to help build expertise. But it is important for businesses to do what will work best for them, not follow along with the latest trends and buzzwords, or to do something just because all the consultants have discovered it works great for them.
David Leonhardt is an SEO consultant and he is also known as the happy guy marketing. He writes at SEO-Writer.com, and you can follow him on Twitter and Google Plus.
Stacey Cavanagh
Q: Based on your experience, what are the most common mistakes online marketers are doing?
I think the mistake I see most is defaulting to last click attribution when measuring results. I’m not saying last click attribution is always wrong! Far from it… but attribution models should be carefully thought out and considered right at the outset of any campaign. (http://www.tecmark.co.uk/
Q: What are the top 3 myths, marketers still believe?
2 of the myths I encounter most often relate to mobile:
- Mobile doesn’t convert! We have data to the contrary. When we released the mobile site for one of our travel clients, we found that users were converting at a similar rate to desktop.
- Users don’t make high value purchases on mobile. Again, with the travel site, we found average order values higher than desktop over a 3 month period and users do book holidays of multiple thousands of pounds right on their smartphones.
The third is that SEO is something you can just handover to a “techie” type and have it done with. Modern say SEO requires content marketing, social, PR, usability understanding etc in addition to a technical understanding of a site. So the idea that one person can have all the skills required is a bit dated, to say the least.
Stacey Cavanagh blogs about SEO on BlogSession.co.uk. You can follow her on Twitterand Google Plus.
Paul Teitelman
Q: Based on your experience, what are the most common mistakes online marketers are doing?
There’s a few common mistakes I see every single month time and time again when prospecting new clients.
The first is many small to mid size business owners underestimating the importance of having a website that is SEO friendly and built to convert. Many times I see outdated sites that have terrible Call To Action and barely have any engaging content on the site. What’s even worse is how some business owners are actually proud about how little they spent to build their website (Oh buddy, I got such a great deal on this site, it’s OK right?) OK is not acceptable since 2010, get with the times…
In order to compete and WIN online you really need a website that (at the very least):
1) Looks great with a user friendly and easy to navigate design
2) Is built to convert with lots of call to action (prominent phone number, free quote on homepage, etc.)
3) Has lots of engaging content on the homepage and all other targeted pages
4) Is interlinked with your social media accounts
5) Has a blog or newsletter where fresh content can be posted
6) Is mobile friendly!
3) Has lots of engaging content on the homepage and all other targeted pages
4) Is interlinked with your social media accounts
5) Has a blog or newsletter where fresh content can be posted
6) Is mobile friendly!
Another mistake is that many sites have also cheaped out in the past with their SEO services and as a result have felt the wrath of a Google algorithm update and lost their rankings. Again, CHEAP IS EXPENSIVE in the world of business. Do your research, find an ethical SEO provider who isn’t going to risk your long term success online for a quick buck. All these ‘Don’t pay until you rank’ services can seriously harm your website and online presence in the long run. General rule of thumb in the world of SEO and internet marketing: “If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is!”
Q: What are the top 3 myths, marketers still believe?
1) SEO is dead
If you listened to the blogosphere, SEO has been dead for over 5 years right?? Right?!?!
2) Quality content will bring “magical” rankings
Quality content is crucial yes, but you still need a well optimized site and quality backlinks to rank for any competitive keyword(s).
3) Social media is the most important aspect of online marketing
Social media is crucial to your online presence sure, but if you are a small business owner you need to focus on dominating search (both SEO & PPC) before even considering a significant investment into social media. Classic push/pull marketing concept here. Why bother spending time reaching out and trying to push through social media efforts, when there are hundreds/thousands of people already searching for keywords related to your business; focus on the pull efforts here and get yourself into the right positions on the first page of the search engines to attract and get some of that business.
Paul Teitelman is an SEO expert based in Toronto Canada. You can check his website atPaulTeitelman.com and follow him on Twitter and Google Plus.
Jayson DeMers
Q: Based on your experience, what are the most common mistakes online marketers are doing?
Marketers still don’t understand what truly quality content looks like. Various quality metrics are tossed around by marketers, such as content length and inclusion of images and content, but in truth, it goes much farther than that. Here’s an article I wrote that covers this in more depth: 7 Ways to Find What Your Target Audience Wants and Create Epic Content. Additionally, in my experience, when marketers do create great content, they fail to properly promote and distribute it.
Q: What are the top 3 myths, marketers still believe?
1. Links are all you need for rankings (you need the three pillars of SEO for success: links, content, and social media).
2. Ranking particular pages for particular keywords is still cost-effective (it’s all about the long-tail now).
3. Social media is a luxury, not a necessity (social media has graduated to become a necessity)
2. Ranking particular pages for particular keywords is still cost-effective (it’s all about the long-tail now).
3. Social media is a luxury, not a necessity (social media has graduated to become a necessity)
Jayson DeMers is the founder and CEO of AudienceBloom.com. You can follow him onTwitter and Google Plus.
Vinny La Barbera
Q: Based on your experience, what are the most common mistakes online marketers are doing?
I don’t particularly like to critique what other online marketers are doing as I still have a lot of room to grow myself and sometimes directives come from higher ups that push marketers to do certain things. That said, if the question is about what mistakes we see prospects and clients making when they come to us, then I can certainly address that.
First and foremost, the biggest mistake we see is businesses throwing money at different marketing tactics (online and offline) without any tracking / reporting in place. There are tons of businesses that continue to spend thousands of dollars across different marketing channels, but have no real idea of what their actual return is on those methods.
The second biggest mistake we see businesses making is paying for online marketing without truly knowing some key information about their business. It’s not uncommon for us to come across businesses that can’t answer simple questions like: Who is your target audience? What is your unique selling proposition? What is your primary call to action? What is your brand’s voice?
The other common mistake we see many businesses make is always looking for solutions based on price. I’m sure most agencies can attest to this as we’ve all come across the marketing executive or business owner that wants to take down their competition without investing the time, money or resources to do so. Making decisions to grow your business based off of an arbitrary budget that they, or someone higher up, has set is about as frustrating as it gets.
Q: What are the top 3 myths, marketers still believe?
I feel like this question gets addressed every 6 months or so and has been covered many times over, but I’ll provide what I see as common myths to this day.
Number one is definitely that a business must publish a large quantity of content to compete organically. Anyone that has been doing content marketing successfully knows that this couldn’t be further from the truth. Some great examples of this are respected marketers like AJ Kohn, Jason Acidre and Jon Cooper. They don’t post as often as some other SEOs, but their content is so well received due to its quality that they don’t need to pump out content to remain competitive and maintain their authority.
Number two would be that technical SEO is a thing of the past and all that matters now is content. It’s not uncommon for us to work with businesses that just need some cleanup or optimization of basic and/or advanced technical on-page SEO work to see very quick, large wins for their company.
Last, but certainly not least, would be that paid advertising is a waste of money. To this day we speak with clients that denounce paid advertising as some “SEO expert” told them that it’s a waste of their time and money. It’s unfortunate that this erroneous information continues to get passed along – especially since paid advertising can be extremely effective in meeting many different business objectives.
Vinny La Barbera is the founder of imFORZA.com. You can follow him on Twitter andGoogle Plus.
Jeff Ferguson
Q: Based on your experience, what are the most common mistakes online marketers are doing?
The most common mistake I’m still seeing is that they are usually chasing the wrong metrics. There’s a very big difference between diagnostic metrics and actual Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and that difference is what is actually making your business money.
All too often, we hear clients and even other agencies claim their goals are to get more clicks, impressions, likes, followers, and so on, when in fact their goal should always be something that ties back to the way the business makes money. Sales, leads, even pageviews, if they are publishers who make their money from advertising, but it’s never going to be a “like.”
Not that these metrics should be ignored, it’s that they are a means to an end.
Q: What are the top 3 myths, marketers still believe?
That proper media planning is dead. In this age of “self serve” media channels, such as Facebook, Google, and so on, it’s easy to think that anyone can roll up on a site and pull together an effective media campaign. However, the decision to use these new media channels, along with a myriad of others is media planning.
That display media (banners) or any other medium “don’t work.” Blaming the media mix in your advertising campaigns for poor performance is like a carpenter blaming his tools for a poor design. It is our responsibility as media planners to chose the right media vehicles for each campaign based on target audience and campaign goals. If the campaign does not live up to its potential, our inability to choose or optimize a media channel is at fault.
That SEO is a marketing practices in and of itself. SEO is really a collection of marketing and site development best practices that any self-respecting site owner should be doing, even if search engines didn’t exist. They’ve simply been repackaged into what we call SEO in an attempt to classify these activities as something new and unique.
Jeff Ferguson is the CEO of FangDigital.com. You can follow him on Twitter and Google Plus.
Marcus Taylor
Q: Based on your experience, what are the most common mistakes online marketers are doing?
The biggest mistake most marketers make is doing things a little bit better than what has previously worked. Very few marketers are truly innovative. Very few marketers do the polar opposite to what everyone else is doing – often it’s these ‘polar opposite strategies’ that generate the best results.
Q: What are the top 3 myths, marketers still believe?
I’d say the top 3 myths are probably 1) build it and they will come. 2) social media is the be all and end all of online marketing (it still only represents less than 7% influence over our buying decisions), and 3) you must do what Google tells you to do well in the SERPS.
Marcus Taylor is the founder of VentureHarbour.com. You can follow him on Twitter andGoogle Plus.
Eric Siu
Q: Based on your experience, what are the most common mistakes online marketers are doing?
Based on your experience, what are the most common mistakes online marketers are doing? Trying to take shortcuts. Everyone wants the easy way out. When I first started, I tried my hand in black hat and always looked for ‘the magic solution’. That’s not to say that black hat doesn’t work (it does). But if you want to build something for the long term, you aim to do the boring things that compound over time, such as blogging. And that’s not all – you have to do those things better than everyone around you so you can stand out. The more you learn and the more you experiment, the better you’ll get. Most online marketers stagnate at a certain point because they keep trying the same things that don’t work and stop learning.
Q: What are the top 3 myths, marketers still believe?
- That there’s a silver bullet – there is none.
- That it’s okay not to be a well rounded marketer – you have to be a t-shaped marketer in today’s world to survive.
- That more successful marketers are ‘luckier’ than you – they’re not. they just work harder than you.
Eric Siu is the CEO at digital marketing agency Single Grain and is the founder of Growth Everywhere, where he interviews entrepreneurs weekly. Follow him on Twitter and Google Plus.
Joel Chudleigh
Q: Based on your experience, what are the most common mistakes online marketers are doing?
To narrow things down I am going to focus on SEO link building. It is tricky to say exactly the mistakes that other people are making. However here are some mistakes that I have seen occur:
1) Outreach that is not personalised: We have gone past the point where it is acceptable to send people emails asking them to do things for us without taking the time to find out their name, or if their name is not publicly available to at least spend some time qualifying your approach with some detail on why your approach is relevant to the recipient and how it benefits them too.
2) Following others – The reason so many link building tactics have been crushed by Google is that they were adopted by so many marketers. As an industry we have a great culture of idea sharing, although this is reassuring as to the level of humanity in our industry it is also something that has led to much of our failures. If marketers spent more time focusing on thinking about their clients products and services and how they benefit the client’s customers’ then they may be able to come up with more innovative, unique and creative link building ideas.
3) The biggest mistake that I myself have made is to focus on volume. I always used to think that in order to make a piece of content successful I had to get it in front of as many people as possible. this is not the case, in most cases with marketing it is less of the right people that you need to focus on. I do not necessarily mean people well known as influencers in the industry, but rather people who will love what you have and help you sell it to others.
Q: What are the top 3 myths, marketers still believe?
1) That if you follow Google’s Webmaster guidelines you will do fine in the long run. The truth is that you may avoid a penalty, at least until the guidelines are changed but the key is to experiment and see what works for yourself. If you notice specific links having an effect then focus on similar links, if certain types of content work well for a specific industry then do more of that.
2) Design is not important to SEO. I think that in the coming years we will see the importance of web design increase dramatically and also hopefully the pay of skilled web designers (sorry off the point). Google are now focusing more and more on understanding entities and the attributes of those entities. For example Rand Fishkin is an author (attribute) of Moz.com (entity). Search engines want to rank results based on trust, links have always been a signal of trust on the web but the extent to which they have been gamed has left things a tad murky for search engines.
However – things like live user data and the data built up over years on the activity of entities and their attributes cannot be gamed as it is more akin to how humans put our trust in others. Of course we are also fooled sometimes but it happens less often. I imagine search engines will be looking to diversify their ranking signals more and more towards this kind of data in the future.
3) The last one is not really a myth but rather confusion – the relationship between SEO and social. None of us have the answer to whether or not social plays a part in Google’s rankings but I would think it crazy if they did not have some influence. However – I do think that in the large part the relationship is currently causal. If a piece of content gets a high number of social shares then it typically picks up a high number of links too and as a result ranks better. I do think that in the future that links will become less important than some of the things mentioned above and perhaps even less important than social shares, but only if/when Google can recognise that those shares come from trustworthy entities.
Joel Chudleigh is the founder and CEO of DeepFootPrints.co.uk. Follow him on Twitterand Google Plus.
Moosa Hemani
Q: Based on your experience, what are the most common mistakes online marketers are doing?
Let me limit the number to 3, so if I have to identify three most common mistakes that online marketers are doing that would be:
- Creating a Chaos
Let’s admit, we do this all the time! Last time when Matt Cutts slammed down guest blogging, people were infuriated and there were thousands of blogs posted about alternative techniques for guest blogging, why it is dead, why it isn’t and what’s not!
This was not the first time but it happens all the time and I believe it is the most common mistake because as ethical online marketers it is our job to make the internet world clean and informative so that people can find whatever they like without the hassle.
But opposite to our duty, in order to grab people’s attention and some links( maybe) we start spreading things that are not concrete enough to share with public (I mean “Guide to Google Plus” right after the few hours of Google plus launched is insane).
My advice is to give some time before and come up with an analogy about a new product or an update by Google and if we keep hitting things that are less or untrustworthy, people might shift their attention to other areas.
- Pleasing Bots
Yes! We all say “write for users and not for search engines” but phrases like “keyword density in the piece” are as popular as the first one.
We claim to be literate especially after the panda and penguin update but we still see 100s of website being penalized every time Google comes out with an update. The problem is that we online marketers are still working hard to please search engines, rather than focusing on users and audience.
Let’s get this straight, Search Engine is not the whole online marketing plus marketing is simply impossible without interacting and pleasing other real people instead of robots.
My advice is to do what you say instead of just writing it on the paper and not changing the mentality accordingly.
- Experiments and Risks
As an online marketer, I know how the industry changes over the period of time and how fast this trend shift in the digital marketing industry.
I am not saying all but there are many people who have stopped experimenting things or let’s say taking risks and this is mainly because the time is short and risk (especially on the client sites) which might end up in a big loss.
That being said I still believe like a good online marketer, one should have their own website where they can test and try different stuff and put the website in to risk to figure out how to get out of it.
Things are getting complex and tough these days with regards to online marketing but still my advice to any online marketers is to take some time out for experimenting and researching so that everyone can participate in to the community and grow together.
There can be many more frequently made mistakes I can come up with but above are the top 3 mistakes that we make as professionals, almost all the time.
Q: What are the top 3 myths, marketers still believe?
Here are the top 3 myths marketers still believe is true, when they aren’t
- Google still gives credits to exact match domain
I believe not anymore. Yeah but the importance of .com is more than .info. And.edu and .gov are more trustable domain are some undeniable facts.
- Keyword Density Matters
This sounds bogus but I have literally seen professionals fighting to each other about the percentage of keywords a document contains. Again, when you don’t get your hands dirty with tests and experiments this happens!
- Content is King!
I have used this phrases many times in my posts and I believe this is true but what many marketers forget is the fact that kingdom does not run only by the king, there are other factors which are important and without it, even a king can actually be a king!
Content is King but promoting that content is the real power that bring the change.
Moosa Hemani is a SEO consultant and link builder. He writes for SETalks.com. You can follow him on Twitter and Google Plus.
Nate Dame
Q: Based on your experience, what are the most common mistakes online marketers are doing?
Ignoring areas of SEO that are becoming increasingly important such as site design/trustability, load speed and overall user experience.
Focusing on link building before building a worthwhile site.
Batch-and-blast email – untargeted, annoying more people than it helps and teaching people to ignore your next email.
Q: What are the top 3 myths, marketers still believe?
SEO is too complicated. Yes it’s changing, but the broader principles of SEO have not changed. Provide value, shrewdly, and there’s still a lot of benefit in SEO. It’s still by far the cheapest acquisition channel IMHO.
Social gets leads. It’s very hard (costly) to get an a live lead via social media. Instead, use social to nurture leads.
Single-channel marketing focus. It’s easy, especially for small business, to pour 90%+ of their marketing budget into one channel. Never a good idea, even if that channel is SEO =). Diversify, measure, and continuously adjust your limited investments accordingly.
Nate Dame is the founder of SEOPerks.com. Follow him on Twitter and Google Plus.
Nick LeRoy
Q: Based on your experience, what are the most common mistakes online marketers are doing?
The biggest mistake I see marketers doing these days is limiting their
techniques to what others have already deemed good or bad. If you had
an opportunity to pay your buddy who works for a online newspaper
$100 to link out to your clients website as a legitimate resource why
wouldn’t you take advantage of this? Would you turn down a guest
posting opportunity on a blog that no-follows links simply because
others have placed zero value on no-follow links? SEO is very
subjective and goes well beyond “white” or “black”. Make smart
decisions and be less concerned what others think. Just make sure you
get results!
techniques to what others have already deemed good or bad. If you had
an opportunity to pay your buddy who works for a online newspaper
$100 to link out to your clients website as a legitimate resource why
wouldn’t you take advantage of this? Would you turn down a guest
posting opportunity on a blog that no-follows links simply because
others have placed zero value on no-follow links? SEO is very
subjective and goes well beyond “white” or “black”. Make smart
decisions and be less concerned what others think. Just make sure you
get results!
Q: What are the top 3 myths, marketers still believe?
- You can’t get away with paid links.
- Guest posting will die.
- Small niche websites no longer rank or make money.
- Guest posting will die.
- Small niche websites no longer rank or make money.
I’ll touch on the third one specifically. It’s no question that Google
favors large brands and websites with skyhigh domain authority. They
truly can rank for anything and everything but there are a lot of
niches out there that haven’t been tapped. With the right amount of
keyword research and analysis you can still create small websites that
rank and allow you to cash in. Micro sites or niche sites are NOT
dead.
favors large brands and websites with skyhigh domain authority. They
truly can rank for anything and everything but there are a lot of
niches out there that haven’t been tapped. With the right amount of
keyword research and analysis you can still create small websites that
rank and allow you to cash in. Micro sites or niche sites are NOT
dead.
Nick LeRoy is the owner of BackBreakingSEO.com. Connect with him on Twitter andGoogle Plus.
Giuseppe Pastore
Q: Based on your experience, what are the most common mistakes online marketers are doing?
It’s evident web marketing is becoming more and more complex everyday with increasing overlapping between disciplines and still many people continue to look at SEO, social, content, PPC as silos (just to name a few channels). Probably one of the main reasons for this is that’s difficult to be competent in each of them but nonetheless having a unique strategy that includes different channels (and not a few separated strategies) is the key to win at web marketing today.
Also, overlooking emerging disciplines like Conversion Rate Optimization or considering mobile a secondary aspect is something most of us would like to re-consider these days.
Q: What are the top 3 myths, marketers still believe?
I don’t know if these are the top 3 myths, but surely still believing in them is a nonsense, at least in my opinion:
a. “More traffic will bring more sales”. In many cases, having low high targeted traffic volume is far better that having thousands of people reaching your site when in the very first steps of the conversion path.
b. “SEO is dead”. Being an SEO I read almost every day this statement. Since years. The truth is SEO is becoming complex and a part of a wider strategy but overlooking SEO means badly hurting your business. Full stop.
c. “Social is easy”. Well, memes and kitties maybe can rise 1000s of likes, but it takes a bit more to build a brand through social media. That’s why you can get a million of fans and still not sell a single product.
Giuseppe Pastore is a SEO specialist. He blogs on his website atGiuseppePastore.com. Connect with him on Twitter.
Nicole Beckett
Q: Based on your experience, what are the most common mistakes online marketers are doing?
I think the biggest mistake online marketers are making is failing to
provide REAL value. Whether it’s by hiring a writer that doesn’t have the
skills to create great content, blindly picking an affiliate product off
ClickBank without thinking about how it will legitimately help their
target audience, or sending their email subscribers a million sales
pitches — but not offering any real information or insight with them.
provide REAL value. Whether it’s by hiring a writer that doesn’t have the
skills to create great content, blindly picking an affiliate product off
ClickBank without thinking about how it will legitimately help their
target audience, or sending their email subscribers a million sales
pitches — but not offering any real information or insight with them.
Unfortunately, the web seems to be full of people who want push-button
solutions that will make them rich overnight, without any real work.
These people are then emboldened by “gurus” who promise to have all the
answers. If online marketers simply took the time to put themselves in
their target audience’s shoes — and thought about what they need, want,
and expect — they’d see a lot more success!
solutions that will make them rich overnight, without any real work.
These people are then emboldened by “gurus” who promise to have all the
answers. If online marketers simply took the time to put themselves in
their target audience’s shoes — and thought about what they need, want,
and expect — they’d see a lot more success!
Q: What are the top 3 myths, marketers still believe?
The biggest myth is that you can create overnight success. Building a
business online is just like building a business in the “real world”.
Sure, the tools you use to build it may be a little different, but it
takes the same attitude. For some reason, many online marketers aren’t
thinking about the long haul. They want a ton of traffic, sales, and
exposure RIGHT NOW. However, it takes time to build a successful business
– either online or off. A healthy dose of patience and perseverance can
go a long way!
business online is just like building a business in the “real world”.
Sure, the tools you use to build it may be a little different, but it
takes the same attitude. For some reason, many online marketers aren’t
thinking about the long haul. They want a ton of traffic, sales, and
exposure RIGHT NOW. However, it takes time to build a successful business
– either online or off. A healthy dose of patience and perseverance can
go a long way!
Hope my answers are helpful! And, if you could, I’d really appreciate you
sending me a link to your article when it’s finished. That way, I can
share it with all of my contacts!
sending me a link to your article when it’s finished. That way, I can
share it with all of my contacts!
Nicole Beckett writes at PremierContentSource.com. Follow her on Twitter and Google Plus.
Harris Schachter
Q: Based on your experience, what are the most common mistakes online marketers are doing?
The most common mistake I see in online marketing is over-generalization of tactics. All too often one business will try to mimic successful practices of others; outside of their market or niche. Without a second thought, they think if it worked somewhere else it will work for them. The problem is that they rarely consider the differences in products/services, demographics, audiences, social networks, need states, and the specific checkpoints within their buyers’ decision making processes. If a marketing campaign is to be successful, it needs to start with data and a firm understanding of prospects it is meant to engage. These marketers choose to ignore the vast amount of data they already have in order to rush into irrelevant copy-cat marketing.
Q: What are the top 3 myths, marketers still believe?
Tough question, as there are various levels of expertise and corresponding “myths.”
In SEO, one thing I still see every so often is the antiquated focus on keywords. Don’t get me wrong- keyword research is extremely important for learning the language of your customers to transfer it onto a site. But there is a difference between raw keywords and their conceptual meaning. The goal isn’t to use the exact keywords over and over again, but discovering the topics and ideas they’re conveying. The important part, especially for semantic search technology, is to have relevant content – not keyword repetition.
In SEO, one thing I still see every so often is the antiquated focus on keywords. Don’t get me wrong- keyword research is extremely important for learning the language of your customers to transfer it onto a site. But there is a difference between raw keywords and their conceptual meaning. The goal isn’t to use the exact keywords over and over again, but discovering the topics and ideas they’re conveying. The important part, especially for semantic search technology, is to have relevant content – not keyword repetition.
A myth which I encounter at the enterprise level is that SEO can be sprinkled on at the end of a project. This could not be further from the truth. The utility of SEO is best suited for the very beginning, and in fact even before a project starts. Data analysis, competitive research, keyword research, and audience/persona development needs to be done before a single word is written. Again, it’s more than keywords.
Finally, there is a myth surrounding content marketing which suggests that you’ll be set as long as you’re producing great content. The myth is that you don’t have to worry about link building and social media success as long as the content kicks ass. No matter how good a blog may be, no one will see it unless you help spread awareness and drive traffic. Content marketing is a popular topic, but this message is often centered on quality alone. Budgets and strategies laid out for content development need to include promotion too.
Harris Schachter is the owner of Optimizepri.me. You can follow him on Twitter andGoogle Plus.
Todd McDonald
Q: Based on your experience, what are the most common mistakes online marketers are doing?
The biggest mistake, and it really stands out in SEO and digital, is a lack of strategic planning. While it would be easy to place blame on the individual(s) responsible for specific channels or tactics, the problem usually lies higher up. If an organization doesn’t value planning and strategy, then there won’t be much incentive to take the time and prepare well further down the line. Larger brands tend to do a bit better with this, but many mid-size and small businesses really suffer here – and they pay the price.
It’s not uncommon for me to spend the first 3 to 6 months of an engagement working through strategic planning because no one has bothered to do it, or no one has bothered to do it well. Personas don’t exist, market research is limited, vision is lacking of how marketing ties to overall business objectives, and the structure needed to efficiently and sustainably implement a (digital) marketing campaign don’t exist. In many cases it’s logical because smaller businesses don’t feel that they have the cash to invest in a long term plan. With digital though, this will put you in a constant position of playing catch-up after awhile, and it may not lead to quick downfall, but it will be very difficult to grow and keep pace with competitors that have invested in strategy and processes to began with. Their early investment will pay off long-term in improved efficiency, the ability to take advantage of new opportunities and more.
I also believe a lot of digital marketers utilize data incorrectly because they don’t really understand what they’re seeing in those pretty analytics reports. A lot of SEO’s (and other digital marketers) know that “unique visits” is supposed to be the number of “unique” individuals that visit a site during a certain time frame. Few of them understand that this data can get skewed very easily based on device and browser usage. In fact, there are many instances where you can get different numbers for metrics such as unique visitors just based on how you breakout the reporting (by device type, channel, etc.).
Because of this, many of them put too much faith in their data and businesses get wrong information about what’s really happening with their marketing. Digital is supposed to be so much more “actionable” because of its trackability, and in many ways it is, but we have to be very careful about how we analyze and utilize data.
Finally, I think a lot of online marketers make a mistake (or are just ignorant of) the general principles and processes of marketing in general. As a result, they aren’t able to connect the dots between what they are doing and how it relates to business objectives. Poor alignment with business objectives is a very quick way to lose money and have your marketing go off track.
Q: What are the top 3 myths, marketers still believe?
While I don’t feel super qualified to speak for all marketers, I’ll throw out a few ideas that will likely have some cross-over between “traditional” and “digital”.
1) As I stated above, many marketers think their data is 100% reliable and that digital data can be completely trusted. It can’t – at least not to the degree that many people want to. It’s directional, and more insightful than many metrics of off-line marketing, but it’s not perfect and we need to be careful. There’s still a lot of room that needs to be allowed for trial and error and that means we need to budget properly and be willing to adjust when things don’t work correctly.
2) We don’t need to develop personas or do market research. FALSE. This is a must, even if it’s rough (as in, not extremely detailed). Test out your theories, but build a theory to start with. Otherwise, you won’t really have a good idea of who you are talking to and it’s more important than ever to understand who, how, when, where, and why you are talking to your audience. User engagement is a big deal!
3) Finally, I think a lot of businesses believe they can study the works of larger organizations that have had success with a specific tactic, channel, or campaign and simply duplicate that. It’s not that simple and it takes serious time, effort, and investment to do marketing right – digital or non. This is especially true for a mid-size or small business without a significant brand. Many of these campaigns work so well because the company has invested a lot over a long time in developing their brand.
Specific to SEO, I believe it used to have such a ridiculous ROI that it caused a lot of businesses to believe that it’s a relatively quick win and extremely efficient channel. It can be, but it’s much more common for it to take time and a lot of effort to see success. Understanding the marketing flywheel is very important.
Todd McDonald writes at NewBrewMedia.com. You can connect with him on Twitter.
Spencer Haws
Q: Based on your experience, what are the most common mistakes online marketers are doing?
A very common mistake is that online marketers try to copy others too much. Its important to learn from others, but its also important to think on your own as well. I personally never found significant success until I tried to be different and thought “outside the box”.
If you can figure out a strategy that works well for your individual situation rather than reading and relying on what everyone else is doing, you will be ahead of the game.
Q: What are the top 3 myths, marketers still believe?
1: Online marketing is fast money
2: Online businesses are passive income
3: You can learn more by buying an info product or course than by going out and making mistakes on your own and learning from them.
2: Online businesses are passive income
3: You can learn more by buying an info product or course than by going out and making mistakes on your own and learning from them.
Spencer Haws blogs at NichePursuits.com and it’s the owner of LongTailPro.com. You can connect with him on Twitter.
Dan Stelter
Q: Based on your experience, what are the most common mistakes online marketers are doing?
Way too much emphasis on technical SEO and not enough focus on being the most valuable resource online.
2. Not differentiating. In most niches, if you’ve seen one website, you’ve seen them all.
3. No personality whatsoever. Consumers like the novel and unique – most companies say the exact same thing about their business.
2. Not differentiating. In most niches, if you’ve seen one website, you’ve seen them all.
3. No personality whatsoever. Consumers like the novel and unique – most companies say the exact same thing about their business.
Q: What are the top 3 myths, marketers still believe?
1. Undoubtedly that content is a cheap, readily available commodity to be purchased. Everyone wants to purchase bulk articles at low rates. It’s totally the wrong way to go about content. Because, if you’re paying $50 for a blog article, you’re getting cookie-cutter crap that’s found 5000 other places on the web. I know this because I used to write the stuff. It’s better to write one powerhouse article per month than four crummy ones.
2. Focus on keyword density. You want to stay away from this at all costs. Around 1.0% lets you write in natural language, while also getting keywords in there for Google.
3. Too much talking about what the company does. Consumers want businesses that provide benefits and solve their problems. Most websites say “we do this,” and “we do that,” and “we, we, we…” That focus turns off consumers, and while you can rank well via using keywords, you get more business when you actually rank by using copy that communicates benefits.
Dan Stelter is a SEO consultant and freelance copywriter. His website is FreelanceWriterInChicago.com. Connect with him on Twitter and Google Plus.
Peter Nikolow
Q: Based on your experience, what are the most common mistakes online marketers are doing?
Number one mistake is that online marketers try to chase customers everywhere, especially on social media. I think this is a common mistake, and it should be avoided at all cost. A recent study published on Linkedin shows that traditional media, organic search and e-mails, outperform social media conversions by over 40 times.
The reason is simple – marketers think that every follower is a potential customer, and they try to push sales with broadcast-era methods. This is wrong. Marketers should understand the difference and come up with new outreach methods. I love what Porsche does on Google Plus. Since they provide luxurious and expensive sports cars, they don’t have to show the “Buy now” button on their posts. Each day Porsche shares beautiful pictures of old models, some video about sport racing events or more information about the current models. For a non-experienced marketer, this may look like a missed opportunity, but for true fans this is invaluable information that they can’t reach anywhere. It’s all about building a brand.
The 2nd mistake is that most marketers abuse email campaigns and think this is not a viable technique. That’s not correct, email marketing works. You just need to resist the temptation of abusing your customers. You need to collect emails with “sign up for our newsletter” boxes. Think first about customer benefits and later about what you will gain. Treat your customers exactly as you would like to be treated. SEO/SMM/PPC channels need time to drive potential customers to your landing page, but running email campaigns can save you a lot of time. Email campaigns are often missed opportunities for most marketers.
Another popular mistake is not paying enough attention to A/B testing and not analyzing what works and what doesn’t. The hard work starts after launching a campaign. Sometimes small design changes in your landing pages can increase your conversion rates. You should do A/B testing all the time and find the new opportunities to increase your leads. Let me tell you some examples of successful A/B tests. In 2011, the presidential campaign Obama website has decreased the loading time for their website from 5 to 2 seconds. This, along with other metrics provided by their tests, has helped their website get 14% more conversions, meaning $34 millions. In 2010, Mozilla has managed to increase their downloads by 15% by doing a lot of A/B testings. I think A/B testing should be part of everybody’s online marketing campaigns. Every marketer should optimize it’s tasks as a marathon runner, not like a sprinter.
Q: What are the top 3 myths, marketers still believe?
Myth N:1 – Keyword positions
The keywords hype is still valid and alive. But it’s over… with personalized SERP results, semantic web and social layers over SERP results it’s unclear on what position your site is performing for given keyword. The best way to get valid information is to use the Google Webmaster Tools, where you can see your keywords and SERP position.
Myth N:2 – You need lots of web traffic to be profitable.
Traffic is useful without sales and conversions. Quality traffic is much more important. Instead of targeting the entire web, try to get traffic only from relevant sources. There are numerous valuable key performance indicators (KPI) you should monitor on the visitors on your site. The bounce rate, time of visits, etc. Driving non-targeted traffic to your site is a waste of time and money, but worse it’s driving your expectations about forthcoming leads and sales.
Myth N:3 – Customers are coming for low prices or slick design.
We all live in brick-and-mortar world, and there are still customers that come for lowest price tag or for slick design packaging. That days are over. Your potential customers can now watch reviews about your company. You need to have great products, services for long-term success.
Peter Nikolow is a programmer and he has developed the mac SEO application called SEOSpyder. Follow him on Twitter and Google Plus.
Steven MacDonald
Q: Based on your experience, what are the most common mistakes online marketers are doing?
The biggest mistake online marketers are making is using outdated SEO tactics. Penguin and Panda changed marketing forever yet too many marketers are still playing against Google’s search guidelines. Unless you looking to make a quick buck, you should instead be investing in a long-term marketing strategy.
Q: What are the top 3 myths, marketers still believe?
- Content will promote itself (it won’t, you need to spend as much time promoting content as you do creating it).
- Email marketing is dead (It’s not. It’s still provides the highest ROI of any given marketing channel).
- B2B marketing is different than B2C marketing (you’re still marketing your product/ service to people. As soon as you realize this, you will generate more leads and increase conversion rates).
Steven Macdonald is an online marketing and conversion rate enthusiast. He blogs atTribes.no and you can connect with him on Twitter.
Conclusion
To summarize, these are some of the most common mistakes according to the experts interviewed in this article:
- Not collecting email addresses and not building a community around your website or blog
- Abusing marketing campaigns
- Not checking what your competitors are doing
- Thinking that the results will come over night
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