This means your content strategy needs a serious overhaul, and personalization is the key to unlocking its true potential.

This article is the first in a series exploring key findings from the 2024 State of Marketing Report, a comprehensive study by industry leaders like HubSpot, Litmus, Rock Content, and Search Engine Journal. 

Today, we delve into the future of content marketing, a future where personalization reigns supreme.

TL:DR

The Content Idea Crisis: Understanding Your Audience is the Cure

Imagine this scenario: you walk into a crowded marketplace, overwhelmed by a cacophony of shouts and hawkers vying for your attention. Everyone seems to be selling the same generic wares, their pitches blending into an indistinguishable noise. This, unfortunately, is a metaphor for the current state of online content.

The 2024 State of Marketing Report reveals a startling truth: the biggest hurdle for marketers is content ideation. A staggering 16% of respondents struggle to find ideas for new content. But the solution isn’t forcing random topics or resorting to clickbait tactics. The answer lies in understanding your audience – their needs, desires, pain points, and aspirations.

By creating content that directly addresses their specific concerns, you’ll generate a steady stream of relevant and engaging ideas. 

Think of it like this: instead of shouting generic product features in the packed marketplace, you identify a customer with a specific problem and offer them a targeted solution. Suddenly, your voice cuts through the noise, and you have their full attention.

Here’s how personalization can help you overcome the content idea crisis:

• Audience Research: Conduct surveys, analyze social media conversations, and leverage website analytics to gain deep insights into your target audience. What are their interests? What questions do they keep asking? What challenges do they face?
• Content Mapping: Based on your audience research, create a content map that outlines topics, formats, and distribution channels that will resonate with them.
• Keyword Research with a Personal Touch: Don’t just rely on broad keywords. Look for long-tail keywords that demonstrate specific user intent. These “micro-niches” present golden opportunities to create highly personalized content.

Engagement Enigma: Personalization Sparks Interaction

Generic content gets ignored. Period. It blends into the background noise of the digital marketplace, failing to capture attention or generate any meaningful response. But personalized content that speaks directly to your audience’s needs sparks action.

The State of Marketing Report highlights another significant challenge for marketers: creating content that receives high levels of online engagement. A staggering 16% of respondents struggle with this aspect. Here’s where personalization comes to the rescue.

Imagine you create a blog post titled “5 Ways to Improve Your Home Cooking Skills.” This generic title might attract a few clicks, but it lacks the personalization needed to truly engage. Now, consider these alternatives:

• “Level Up Your Weeknight Dinners: 5 Easy & Delicious Recipes for Busy Professionals” (targeted to busy professionals)
• “Master the Art of Baking: A Beginner’s Guide to Creating Perfect Pastries” (targeted to baking novices)
• “Healthy on a Budget: 5 Affordable Meal Prep Ideas for Fitness Enthusiasts” (targeted to health-conscious individuals)

These personalized titles immediately grab the reader’s attention because they address specific needs and interests. This personalized approach continues throughout the content itself. You use relevant examples, address common pain points within that segment, and offer solutions tailored to their specific situation. 

The result? Increased engagement in the form of clicks, shares, comments, and even direct messages from interested readers.

Read also: How to Create Content That Will Rank in 2024

Traffic Triumph: The Power of Personalized Attraction

The days of relying on broad keywords to attract website visitors are fading. Search engines are becoming increasingly sophisticated, prioritizing content that not only matches search queries but also demonstrates relevance to the user’s intent.

Personalization allows you to target your content to specific audience segments. This laser focus attracts the right kind of traffic – potential customers who are already interested in what you have to offer.

Here’s how it works: Imagine you’re a company selling hiking gear. Using a generic keyword like “hiking boots” might attract a broad audience, including casual walkers and fashionistas looking for trendy footwear. 

But by personalizing your content, you can target specific segments within the hiking community.

• Create content for experienced hikers: Focus on technical gear reviews, challenging trail recommendations, and tips for advanced techniques.
• Develop content for beginner hikers: Gear guides for first-time purchases, tips on choosing the right trails, and essential safety information.
• Cater to specific hiking interests: Create content for backpackers, day hikers, or enthusiasts interested in specific terrains like mountain climbing or desert hiking.

This targeted approach attracts qualified leads. They’re already interested in hiking and actively seeking information relevant to their specific needs. By providing valuable, personalized content, you establish yourself as a trusted resource and increase the chances of converting them into loyal customers.

How Your Content Can Meet Google’s E-E-A-T Expectations

Google’s latest March 2024 core update emphasizes prioritizing content that is helpful, informative, and demonstrates expertise. 

This focus on quality aligns perfectly with the concept of personalized content marketing. When you create content that addresses a specific audience’s needs and pain points, you’re inherently crafting informative and helpful pieces. 

Google’s algorithms are likely to favor this personalized content as it demonstrates a deeper understanding of the topic and caters directly to user intent. By prioritizing personalization, you’re not just creating content that resonates with your audience, you’re also creating content that resonates with Google’s ever-evolving search engine ranking factors.

On an expert note, I anticipate potential impacts on content rankings and results, depending on how you create content.

Net: now is the time to act within the 2-month window provided by Google to ensure you are creating content that is trustworthy, authoritative, and truly helpful for your audience. The E-E-A-T guidelines (experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness) are more important than ever before.

Read also: Google March 2024 Core Update: Low-Quality Sites Being Deindexed

Here are a few tips:

• In Google’s own words, “avoid creating search engine-first content.”
• Build a robust Creative Brief for your brand and audience for customization of your content.
• Request bylines on 6-star orders.
• Rely on the team at WriterAccess for talent recommendations of our best writers in each industry or niche.
• Meet with writers ahead of time on our Conference Call tool to ensure alignment with your target audience.
• Be careful with the overuse of AI-generated content or AI tools.

WriterAccess talent creators are trained and ready to create meaningful content based on your brand and audience’s needs. In other words, content that ranks!

Reaching Your Right Audience: Personalization Cuts Through the Noise

Imagine again that crowded marketplace where everyone is yelling the same message. Search engines are flooded with generic content, making it difficult for users to find what they’re truly looking for.

Personalization lets you cut through the noise and reach your target audience directly. By speaking their language and addressing their needs, you become a beacon they can’t ignore.

Here are some personalization techniques to reach your right audience:

• Content Segmentation: Divide your audience into distinct groups based on demographics, interests, and online behavior. Then, tailor your content to resonate with each segment.
• Dynamic Content: Use website personalization tools to deliver content that adapts based on user behavior and preferences. For example, a returning visitor might see a different blog post than a first-time visitor.
• Personalization in Email Marketing: Leverage user data to personalize email subject lines, greetings, and content recommendations. This increases engagement and click-through rates.

Lead Generation Liberation: Personalization Converts

Content that resonates generates leads. However, generic content often fails to connect with audiences on a deeper level, leading to a disconnect between content and conversions.

The State of Marketing Report highlights another key challenge: creating content that generates leads (14% of respondents). When you create personalized content that addresses your audience’s specific problems and offers valuable solutions, you’re nurturing trust and laying the groundwork for conversion.

Let’s revisit the hiking gear example. Imagine a potential customer reads your personalized blog post titled “Top 5 Backpacks for Weekend Hiking Adventures.” The article addresses their specific needs, provides in-depth reviews, and offers clear purchasing advice. This personalized approach fosters trust and positions you as an expert.

Now, consider these additional steps to move them further down the conversion funnel:

• Include clear calls to action: Tell your audience what you want them to do next, whether it’s subscribing to your newsletter, visiting your product page, or contacting your sales team.
• Offer lead magnets: Provide valuable downloadable resources like ebooks, white papers, or discount codes in exchange for user information. This allows you to capture leads and nurture them with targeted marketing messages.
• Personalize your landing pages: Ensure your landing pages are consistent with the content that led the user there. Reinforce the personalized message and offer a clear path to conversion.

Conclusion: The Personalization Imperative

The 2024 State of Marketing Report paints a clear picture: personalization is the future of content marketing. 

By prioritizing your audience’s needs and creating content that resonates on a personal level, you’ll not only stand out in the crowded online space, you’ll generate leads, boost engagement, and achieve your marketing goals.

So, ditch the generic approach and start crafting content that speaks directly to your audience’s hearts and minds. The future of content marketing is personal, and it’s time to embrace it.

The post [New Report] Why Your Audience Doesn’t Care About Your Efficiency (and How Personalization Can Save You) appeared first on Rock Content.

User behavior evolves every day. In a post-pandemic and AI-boom society, this is more apparent than ever.

People are changing the way they create and consume content online, the way they search, and the way they interact with each other and with brands.

Naturally, the entire internet infrastructure (Search Engines, social media, news websites, etc.) has been adapting to meet this new behavior.

Google is a good example. 

Last year, we saw a clear path from the search engine giant toward prioritizing quality content, and more recently, this month we witnessed one of the largest and most impactful Core Updates that completely deindexed low-quality sites.

Alongside this, the new Search Generative Experience promises to completely change the way we interact with the SERP today.

Indeed, Google is adapting. And quickly. 

And for us, brand owners, marketing, and SEO professionals, it’s impossible not to ask the question: how do we create content that will rank in 2024?

Here at Rock Content, we’ve been closely monitoring every change for some time now – from the rise of new AI tools to Google updates and user behavior.

After several tests and after piloting new models in the way we produce content (for us and our clients), I’ve gathered key insights based on recent studies, our experience, and real data, to help you tailor your content for the future of SEO. Follow along with me.

Search Generative Experience: What Does the Future of the SERP Look Like?

Before we delve into content creation strategies for 2024, it’s crucial to understand the evolving landscape of search engines. I highly recommend reading our dedicated article on the Search Generative Experience (SGE) to gain a deeper insight into this concept. 

Here, I’ll briefly explain how Google’s SERP will evolve in the near future, because of the influence of AI, to help you better understand the content tactics that I’ll share later.

Read also: Search Generative Experience: What Is It & How Does It Impact SEO

As I said, Google’s algorithm is changing. And we need to pay attention to its evolution to continue generating organic traffic.

How Does The Google SERP Work Today?

Today, Google works with search intent according to the searched keyword. The algorithm seeks to present web results that will best answer the user’s question. When the answer is very objective, it presents a preview of the page on the SERP, through the snippet features.

Now, if the question is complex, Google tries to present the closest results related to the topic. Sometimes, if there is nothing so specific that has already been published by third parties, it is not able to help.

When we ask very specific questions, Google shows the results that better fit our search intent, but rarely does it find the exact answer we need. In the previous example, Google has left behind the “200 dollars” part of my search, and shows head-tail articles instead of providing the specific answer I requested.

The algorithm, in a way, forces people to simplify their questions. It prioritizes its results pages trying to direct the user to the best answer, considering mainly the following attributes:

• Well-organized information;
• Objective questions and answers;
• Expertise and authority;
• Interactivity within the pages;
• Strategic linking;
• Multimedia materials;
• Structured data;
• Usability.

How Will Google SERP Work with AI (Search Generative Experience)?

The example above is still being tested, but Google showcased it here as a preview of what’s to come.

Google SGE is an AI-powered feature added to the Google Search interface that everyone already knows and loves. It leverages the power of AI technology to enhance search results, offer handy SERP overviews, and streamline the process of browsing the web.

As you can see, Google continues to deliver simple answers as it always did, but now it is less dependent on the availability of an external page that responds to that search intent. Google itself presents an answer through AI.

In other words, Google is now able to answer unique and specific questions, like the one in the previous example.

Does it mean that SEO is dead?

Raise your hand if you’ve heard something like that this year (people always try to kill SEO every once in a while).

No, quite the opposite. SEO is more important than ever, and it’s stepping up its game.

You see, Google is still a primary search engine. We still don’t know how Google will give credit to content that generates answers through AI-driven searches. We need to wait and see.

Read also: SEO in the Age of AI Search

However, it’s important to remember that even as the Search Generative Experience integrates into our search habits, our familiar traditional SERP will still be present, positioned just beneath the AI-generated response. 

But we also need to remember that, even when the Search Generative Experience becomes part of our search routine, we’ll still have, just below the AI-generated answer, our well-known traditional SERP, with fewer result options on the first page and prioritizing the same structure and content quality.

Now, transitioning to this topic…

Google March 2024 Core Update and The Move Towards Content Quality

Google has emphasized the importance of high-quality, helpful, reliable, and people-first content for some time now. We saw numerous Core Updates last year, all pointed to this focus.

In March 2024, this became clear: the latest Core Update aims to reduce low-quality, unoriginal content in search results by 40%. We have a comprehensive article explaining all the details about this Core Update, which I highly recommend you read here.

But the bottom line is: You can’t stick with the same content and SEO strategies and expect similar growth.

We’re facing new ways of interacting and distributing content, with the same golden rule. As stated by Google Search Liaison on X:

“Google’s key advice is to focus on doing things for your readers that are helpful. For example, if it makes sense for your readers to see a byline for an article (and it might!), do it for them. Don’t do it because you’ve heard having a byline ranks you better in Google (it doesn’t). Put your readers and audience first. Be helpful to them. If you do this, if you’re doing things for them, you are more likely to align with completely different signals we use to reward content.”

Where does AI-generated content fit into this equation?

Perhaps you may have heard that Google is penalizing AI-generated content. Well, I need to clarify that the search platform hasn’t made any direct statements regarding penalizing content created by Artificial Intelligence.

However, when we understand that quality content is what Google is prioritizing now, I invite you to reflect.

In 2024, the extensive adoption of Artificial Intelligence has made content creation more accessible than before. However, this has also increased the risk of producing, disseminating, and consuming subpar, superficial, inaccurate, and mediocre content.

When we examine most of the sites that were deindexed after Google’s update, what we find is a pattern of mass-produced AI-generated content with very little (or none at all) human editing, resulting in generic, shallow, outdated content that violates Google’s spam guidelines.

This means that brands will need to create even better content, as the bar for quality and user expectations only continues to rise. High-quality content becomes vital to differentiate oneself and achieve results.

In a world where AI decreases the effectiveness of SEO, good content is worth its weight in gold.

So… What Is The Future of SEO? And How Can We Be Prepared?

Now that we understand where Google is heading, it’s time to get practical: how do we adapt our content strategy to ensure it meets the expectations of the future SEO guidelines?

We can divide the best SEO planning practices into two fronts:

• Strategy for choosing topics;
• Essential elements of on-page optimization.

Let’s explore each of these separately.

Strategy for Choosing Topics

The main premise should be to produce content focused on user experience, transmitting experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (E-E-A-T). This means producing content with new information and approaches, which AI tools cannot produce, to gain a competitive edge.

In practice, the focus should be on topics that:

• Demand in-depth analysis;
• Help the user make individual decisions based on their context;
• Transmit human expertise and a higher level of specialization;
• Explore information related to recent contexts and events, prioritizing originality.

Case Study: Trending Keyword

As I mentioned, everything I’m presenting in this article is based on research and facts, and most importantly, on our own experience. We’ve run a series of tests and updates to our own strategy, as well as that of our clients, to ensure our numbers continue to grow in a reality where many sites are losing traffic.

Here are the components integrated into the blog posts utilized for testing:

• An in-depth analysis;
• Expert insights;
• Originality;
• And, most importantly, a context that is both timely and trending

In July 2023, we capitalized on the buzz surrounding the Barbie movie to create an article about the “Marketing of the Barbie Movie” — which quickly became the most accessed article of the month, bringing a peak in traffic beyond the evergreen articles.

This article was written by one of our Content Specialists, who ingeniously brought her expertise not only as a Marketing professional but as a fan of “Barbieland” to create a unique, highly timely article, relevant to our audience, with updated data, that rode on a trending keyword of the moment.

Essential Elements of On-Page Optimization

In addition to the strategy adopted in choosing topics to explore, some elements need to be prioritized to guarantee an advantage over the competition.

Features that should be prioritized during content production include:

• Incorporating expert quotes with proper attribution hyperlinks to their professional networks;
• Clearly identifying authors and their qualifications/experience;
• Integrating multimedia elements such as videos, infographics, embedded materials, etc, aiming to provide complementary information and reinforce the content search intent;
• Utilizing data and insights from reputable research institutions and relevant bodies in the field;
• Using interactive content pieces embedded such as mini quizzes and calculators to provide a personalized experience and help to make decisions individually.

How Does It Look in Practical Terms?

Let’s take, as a practical example, how some blog post titles should follow the tactics we discussed here:

Case Study: Expert-Driven Drives Organic Traffic Growth

Another case study that supports our hypothesis, this time from our clients (whose names we’ll keep confidential), demonstrates how using expert-driven content can generate traffic growth. Take a look at the graphic below:

As you can see, blogs that have consistently implemented expert-driven content from the outset demonstrate a clear pattern of constant growth.

In contrast, those that have gradually introduced expert-driven content show signs of stagnation with occasional fluctuations. Moreover, blogs adhering to traditional SEO strategies without adapting to content specialization are facing a decline in traffic.

These insights underscore the importance of expert-driven content in staying competitive and achieving sustainable growth in the current SEO climate.

The table below also showcases improvements achieved in just three months by one of our clients (which, again, we’ll keep the name confidential), including a 398% increase in CTR (Click-Through Rate) and a 67% rise in SERP (Search Engine Results Page) positioning.

It’s important to clarify that we have clients from various sectors. To ensure we delivered expert-driven content that reflected the expected quality, we relied on our pool of 15,000 talented writers within WriterAccess, our talent marketplace.

We also adopted an interview process with specialists to ensure current and relevant quotes. The results speak for themselves.

Here is a significant note:

In this article, I’ve emphasized actions necessary to enhance your content strategy and secure a competitive edge in this new era of SEO changes.

In addition to the tips provided here, good SEO practices remain crucial, so remember to craft a solid content plan, run keyword research, implement link-building strategies, optimize on-page and off-page elements, etc.

f you require assistance with the essentials, , you can explore our Complete SEO Checklist provided here.

Wrapping up

As you can see, producing personalized, humanized, and high-quality content is essential to attract the user’s attention and also succeed in the future of search engines. So, the focus of your SEO content production should be on these elements in 2024.

If I can give you a final hint, I recommend you explore WriterAccess and discover how our talent creators can assist you in creating content that not only endures but also thrives in the future of SEO.  You can sign up here for a 14-day free trial.

Is your company ready for the future?

The post How to Create Content That Will Rank in 2024 appeared first on Rock Content.

Each year, businesses consider what they can afford to spend on content marketing and what they get from it. Return on investment (ROI) is the metric people use to decide if the money they spent has paid off. For example, is the money you put into social media marketing driving traffic to your website while increasing brand recognition and, ultimately, revenue?

The benefits of content marketing can be subtle, though. That can lead many companies to question whether ROI for content marketing is real.

It is wise to routinely reassess your content marketing strategy and ROI for many reasons. First, technology is constantly changing, and your digital marketing must evolve to meet new challenges. It is also vital for your content marketing to remain cost-effective and sustainable.

One thing is clear, though. Content marketing is the best way to build trust with your audience and nurture their loyalty. Loyalty translates into sales and customer retention. This article will examine the myths around content marketing ROI and the proper ways to measure its benefits.

Common Misconceptions: Debunking Content Marketing ROI Myths

The biggest myth around content marketing ROI is that you can’t prove it. It’s true you may not see an instant jump in revenue or sales arise from a few content marketing efforts. But ROI is about more than just making more money than you spend. Increasing monetary gain is the end game of marketing, but that doesn’t happen in a vacuum.

Revenue is based on many factors, such as:

• Market acquisition and size
• Pricing
• Customer base
• Product line
• Trends

Of course, marketing efforts are on that list. Again, the benefits of content marketing are subtle but measurable. That is one reason why developing a content marketing strategy is so critical.

When you create a content marketing strategy, one of the first steps involves defining your goals. What is the purpose of having a blog, for instance? It’s not to increase your sales immediately. Blog posts improve your SEO rankings. They help establish authority in your industry, and they engage potential leads.

You don’t measure the benefits of that blog in dollars and cents. You look at your page rankings, website traffic, and social media engagement to see the effects. That is measurable ROI.

Social media marketing has no impact on the bottom line

A large part of content marketing is social media, and calculating the value of that channel is challenging. The goal of social media is not a monetary one. It is more about market growth and branding, which affect revenue. Consider some facts about social media that show its value:

• Social media has 5.17 billion users globally.
• One person typically uses 6.7 different social media networks each month. That includes spending an average of 31 minutes per day on Facebook.
• 56.1 percent of people who use the internet also buy products online at least once per week.

Now, factor in how many people research a product or brand online and through social media before making offline purchases, and it’s clear that this form of marketing does impact the bottom line.

You’ll see immediate benefits from content marketing

No, content marketing is playing the long game. It rarely provides instant gratification. Its job is to plant seeds that will grow your market and brand over time. When you plant seeds in a garden, you don’t get watermelon within minutes. It takes time and effort to see that return.

Measuring Success: Key Metrics for Content Marketing ROI

So, if you can’t count on an immediate jump in sales, what metric should you be monitoring to evaluate the success of your content marketing? Let’s start with a basic formula that measures content marketing ROI in dollars.

Calculating ROI for your content marketing

If you can’t shake the idea that ROI is strictly about monetary expenditure and gain, there is a formula for content marketing that you can use:

• (Sales – Content marketing costs)/ content marketing costs x 100

For example, if you spent $500 on content marketing and had sales equaling $4,000, your ROI would be 700 percent.

• ($4000 – $500)/$500×100 = 700%

This is an excellent formula to use at the end of a year or quarter. It does not necessarily represent the full return on your investment, because the content will remain valuable over time. However, it will help you develop and manage your marketing budget. These metrics also provide accurate indicators of value for content marketing:

Organic traffic

Organic traffic represents how well the content performs in searches. You can use the Google Search Console to find this metric. Look at the performance section to see the number of clicks from organic searches.

Keyword rankings

Keyword rankings help you determine the power of your content’s keywords and their performance in search results. To measure this, you will need an SEO tool like SEMrush.

Page views

How many times do people visit pages on your website? This data has several practical applications. It tells you which blog posts perform the best, for instance. You can also see which product pages get the most hits and look at sales numbers for the associated products. If page views go up and sales don’t, you need to reassess the page or the product.

You can use Google Analytics to measure webpage performance.

Bounce rates

It’s not enough for someone to visit a page. If they don’t stay long enough to have meaningful interaction, you need to make changes. The bounce rate measures the number of visitors who exit a page right away and don’t explore your website.

Along those same lines, you can measure the average time spent on each webpage to see which ones make a difference and what pages are just taking up space.

Social media

Social media offers several helpful metrics. The basics include:

• Followers
• Engagements, such as shares or comments
• Brand mentions

Social media platforms also have other metrics that you can use to monitor engagement, such as the number of “likes” or upvotes.

Click-through rates (CTR)

Click-through rates are necessary metrics for email messages, ads, and search engine listings. The associated platform will show what percentage of people click a link to see your website. For email, use tools such as MailChimp to measure CTR and open rates so that you can assess the effectiveness of your content.

Strategies for Maximizing ROI: Tips from Content Marketing Pros

Consider following some advice on maximizing your investment from those who do content marketing for a living.

Have a strategy

The best approach to maximizing ROI for content marketing is to start with a strategy. Once you accept that content marketing is playing the long game, the importance of having a strategy becomes clear.

A content marketing strategy enables you to set goals and identify the best path to achieve them. If you blindly create a blog without understanding its purpose, you will never maximize its potential.

A strategy also establishes your key performance indicators (KPIs). Knowing your KPIs will tell you which metrics are most critical for your business.

Keep the content fresh

Topics such as “Your Industry Trends for 2024” will attract traffic for about six to eight months, but they become redundant at that point. This doesn’t mean you can’t use that concept, but keep it fresh. Around mid-year, you should consider replacing that topic with new trends for 2025.

A practical way to keep content worth reading is to make it evergreen. That means a large percentage of your topics should always remain relevant to your audience. For example, “How to Make Over Your Bathroom” is a topic that will stand the test of time.

If you stockpile a core base of evergreen material, you’ll have some leeway to create content on topics that last only six to eight months. Evergreen topics are also reusable. If you are behind in creating content, regenerate a previous topic with some spit and polish to make it new again.

Know your audience – always

It is the golden rule of marketing. Create content with your audience in mind. This is crucial regardless of whether you are developing blog entries or social media posts. A company that sells diapers will not see much headway if it targets CEOs. The target audience is clearly new parents, and the content should reflect their interests.

Optimize, optimize, optimize

We really can’t say it enough: Optimize your material for search engines. Use keywords throughout the content, and make sure they fit naturally into the text. Assign SEO-friendly URLs to your pages and ensure that what you produce is of high quality. Grammar errors and poor writing will quickly cause your rankings to fall.

Don’t just optimize new pages. Go back and make sure the old ones satisfy current SEO standards and trends. Search engines love to throw a wrench into your content marketing by constantly moving the goalpost. It is up to you to keep your SEO as fresh as your content.

Finally, hire professionals to produce quality content. It will be worth the investment. WriterAccess offers some of the top writing talent in the world, making it easy to perfect your content marketing. We can help you scale content production as well. Get a 14-day WriterAccess trial and see how your ROI can grow.

The post Rethinking the Narrative: Is Content Marketing ROI Just a Myth? appeared first on Rock Content.

Options like drag-and-drop design tools and foolproof interfaces have made it possible for nearly anyone to try basic graphic design. But a truly effective design is about more than simply having the logistics down pat.

It takes experience, know-how, and a trained eye for visuals to produce professional-level designs that efficiently support brands and convey powerful messages. That makes hiring a professional graphic designer a must when it truly counts.

But how much does it cost to hire a graphic designer, and how can you be sure you’re hiring someone whose work you’ll be happy with? Let’s break down what you need to know about finding the right person and hiring someone perfect for your brand.

What Is Graphic Design: Unraveling the Artistic Mystery

The term “graphic design” refers to the process of combining various visual and textual elements to convey pointed messages and ideas. Great designers understand the ins and outs of key artistic elements like balance, contrast, proportion, and emphasis. They also understand how to use what they know to create specific impressions and spark interest.

Print and traditional graphic design are declining these days but are still relevant. However, digital graphic design is increasingly important as brands and consumers alike take to the web to pursue the things they need. Today’s best graphic designers leverage a combination of traditional and digital skills to create various assets, such as:

• Compelling web design
• Dynamic designs for product packaging
• Illustration
• Typographic design
• Layouts for magazines, brochures, posters, etc.
• Marketing and advertising designs
• Animations and other types of moving graphics

The Power of Design: Why It Matters More Than You Think

Although a well-orchestrated graphic design is easy on the eyes, quality is about a lot more than simple aesthetics. Graphic design elements like logos, color schemes, font choices, and more all contribute to your brand’s overall visual identity.

Plus, consumers often make shopping decisions with their eyes first, so your brand’s approach to graphic design can help set you apart from the competition in a powerful way, boosting your bottom line in the process. Here are some other key reasons why graphic design matters.

Amazing first impressions

Modern consumers have a lot vying for their time and attention these days, so making an unforgettable first impression is crucial. Sophisticated, unique graphic design elements can help ensure your target audience remembers you via a powerful first impression.

Clear messaging

A picture is worth a thousand words, especially in a day and age when the average person is exposed to between 4,000 and 10,000 ads every day. Well-executed graphic elements like infographics and charts help summarize important information at a glance, making it several times more engaging than simple text alone.

Consistent branding

Graphic design and winning written content truly do go hand in hand when it comes to results. Strong visual elements help reinforce important ideas and add value to content, helping your brand establish industry authority. Developing a distinctive approach to graphic design helps boost brand recognition, as well.

Effective storytelling

Graphic design elements like font styles and color palettes are important parts of your brand identity, as well as helpful when it comes to storytelling. Choices like these convey emotion, reinforce brand values, and support the storytelling present in all your best content.

Creative edge

At this point, there’s no such thing as an entirely new idea. Everything’s been done before, so you need to differentiate your content by leveraging your unique creativity and point of view. Amazing graphics are a simple but effective way to give yourself a creative edge in an increasingly competitive marketing landscape.

Design 101: The Basic Rules Every Graphic Designer Swears By

The smooth, effective graphic design involves plenty of creativity. However, there are certain inviolable rules that every great design adheres to, whether you’re talking about standout packaging for a new product or an interactive weekly company newsletter design. Here’s a look at a few of the most important.

Be consistent

When designing brand-related visuals, consistency is vital when it comes to colors, typography, layout, etc. Ideally, people should be able to recognize your brand presence just by these elements alone.

Embrace alignment

Although placing graphic elements within a design in unusual, off-kilter ways may sound like a creative way to differentiate your visuals, this can easily backfire. Branded and professional designs work better and are easier to process visually when they’re properly aligned, organized, and neat.

Pay attention to the visual hierarchy

Establishing a proper visual hierarchy within your designs helps guide the viewer’s eye in an organized manner, making it easier for them to understand your visuals at a glance. Use color and size wisely to help emphasize some elements over others.

White space is your friend

Sometimes less is more when it comes to graphic design, especially when designing for brands and businesses. Using white space wisely and taking care to leave enough of it helps designs look more professional, as well as gives the visual elements you use more impact.

Keep images crisp

Raster-based images rely on pixels, so they depend on resolution to look their best. Enlarging or shrinking them can result in unsightly pixelation that ruins an otherwise great design. Always go for high-resolution images to avoid this, and be sure to maintain proportions when scaling up or down.

Watch your textual elements

Don’t focus on the visual elements of your design so intently that you lose sight of the text. Spelling, punctuation, and grammar errors can tank a design and potentially lose the respect of onlookers, so don’t sleep on proofreading.

Keep it legible

Resist the urge to go crazy with too many elaborate fonts when putting together a good design. It won’t ultimately matter how visually stunning a design is if people have to struggle to read the text, so always err on the side of simplicity.

Finding the Perfect Graphic Design: How and Where to Search

Knowing what differentiates a fantastic graphic design from the rest of the pack is step one of taking your brand assets and marketing content to the next level. The next step is finding the right people to add to your team.

Here are some expert tips on how to hire a graphic designer who’ll change the game for your brand.

Decide between in-house vs. freelance

While larger enterprise companies that require constant access to professional designers may want to consider hiring a full-time graphic designer or two, that’s not your only option these days.

Many top designers choose to work on a freelance basis instead, with good reason. Going with freelancers over full-time employees allows you to order and pay for designs as needed – a great option for small businesses, start-ups, and sole proprietors.

Know what you need

The world of graphic design is vast and varied, so think long and hard about what you need your designer to be able to do.

Are you merely looking for someone to create standard still graphics, or does the person need to be familiar with motion graphics and animation, as well? Will the person you choose need to help build your brand identity from the ground up, or will they simply be added to one that already exists?

Craft job descriptions and casting calls with enough detail that potential applicants will fully understand what’s expected of them. Include a short list of requirements and “nice to have” extras. But avoid making too many demands, as you might scare away some of your best applicants.

Understanding what skills you’re looking for

Although work experience and areas of expertise may vary from designer to designer, some skills should be considered essential in 2024 and beyond. For example, every professional designer should be proficient in essential programs like Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign.

However, soft skills are important, as well. For instance, does the applicant work well as part of a team? Can they think outside the box, handle constructive criticism, and communicate well? Look for evidence of traits that will make someone a better-than-average addition to your team.

Look carefully at each applicant’s portfolio, as well. It’s not enough for the person to do great work, in general. Look for (or request) examples that are similar to the types of projects you’ll be asking the person to take on for you.

Offer fair compensation

How much is it to hire a graphic designer? Taking on the right person shouldn’t necessarily destroy your budget, but it’s important to keep in mind that talent, in-demand skills, and experience call for competitive rates.

So, be prepared to offer fair compensation in exchange for someone’s time and labor. Treat your designers well, and they’ll continue giving you their very best for a long time to come in return.

Last but not least, it’s important to know where to look for the best graphic designers. Top platforms tend to attract top talent, so choose yours carefully. LinkedIn is a great place to post job listings, as numerous top professionals populate there and keep track of the job boards.

Also, look closely at dedicated platforms like Upwork or WriterAccess. Upwork is a good place to look if you want access to lots of different talents. However, WriterAccess uses a rigorous vetting process to pre-screen talent for you, so you can rest easy in the knowledge that everyone on the platform is experienced, skilled, and highly professional.

Spotlight on WriterAccess: Your Go-To for Graphic Design Talent

Don’t let the name “WriterAccess” fool you into thinking you can only use this trusted premium platform to connect with writers. Yes, WriterAccess is a terrific place to meet copywriters, bloggers, and professional writers of all kinds. However, it’s also a great place to meet, vet, and hire other content creation experts, like graphic designers and editors.

Benefits WriterAccess, in particular, brings to the table include the following:

• A thorough vetting process that ensures only top talent makes it onto the platform
• Handy star-rating system that lets you browse, hire, and pay designers according to their skill level and experience
• Highly accurate matching system that makes finding and connecting with the right talent simple
• User-friendly interface that takes the guesswork out of drafting, posting, managing, and paying for projects.

Plus, WriterAccess offers new members a free two-week trial period that allows them to try the platform out risk-free.

Sealing the Deal: Tips for Working Successfully with Your Graphic Designer

Once you’ve found the perfect graphic designer for you, it’s essential to ensure a smooth, successful working process for both of you. Here are some tips for doing exactly that.

Create efficient design briefs

The ability to create a workable project brief is crucial when it comes to getting what you want out of your talent. Strike a good balance between detailed and concise to ensure your designer has what they need to do a good job without becoming overwhelmed.

Use visuals for direction

It can be tough to accurately convey what you want when ordering professional graphic design visuals, as you can never be sure someone’s imagining the same thing you are. Providing visual references that are similar to what you’re looking for can be super helpful here.

Implement a reasonable schedule

Next-level graphic designs take time, so it’s important to ensure designers have enough of it to deliver their very best for you. Be reasonable when it comes to putting together delivery timeframes and project milestones. Be sure to be available and responsive to questions or concerns your designer may have, as well, to ensure projects stay on schedule.

Ready to meet the graphic designer of your dreams? Sign up for your free 14-day WriterAccess trial today to connect with some of the best and brightest professionals in the industry. You’ll be glad you did.

The post How to Hire a Graphic Designer: The Complete Guide appeared first on Rock Content.

There is an infinite amount of branding advice online. Be unique, be consistent, and create a memorable identity. Get to know your competition, create a platform, and use social branding.

In the end, though, successful branding boils down to one simple piece of instruction. Get to know E-E-A-T guidelines and follow them.

Savoring the Basics: Understanding E-E-A-T for Your Brand

E-E-A-T stands for experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. Google uses this catchphrase to determine search rankings.

Customers use it too. Over four out of five consumers say they need to trust a brand before buying its products. A whopping 86 percent of shoppers say authenticity is vital when making a purchasing decision.

To use E-E-A-T in your branding, you need to show consumers that you have experience and expertise in your field. You need to show you’re an authority in your industry. Most importantly, you have to get people to trust you.

This looks a bit different for each brand and industry. The way another company successfully implements E-E-A-T in branding won’t necessarily satisfy your exact needs. Even so, there is a “basic recipe” that all businesses can follow to meet E-E-A-T criteria.

A Few Dashes of Experience & Expertise: Enhancing Your Brand’s Authority

If you want people to consider you an expert, you have to prove your experience and expertise.

First, consider the needs of your audience. Are they looking for someone who can offer the best merchandise, lowest prices, or most eco-friendly products? Your brand name, colors, logo, and slogan should show that you’re the company of choice for your audience.

Your content style should also meet your audience’s needs. Provide in-depth, detailed articles and blog posts if you’re in a technical field. Offer casual, easy-to-follow advice if that is what’s in line with your company’s products or services.

Share personal firsthand experiences related to your industry. A daycare owner, for instance, can talk about personal experiences with teaching young children. A travel agent may want to tell stories about places that he or she has personally visited.

The Secret Ingredient: Building Trustworthiness in 2024

Building trust and being authoritative go hand in hand.

Do you want people to trust you? Then you have to act like an authority in your field.

You can accomplish this by always being honest with your audience. Research any claims you make, and link to authoritative sources that back them up. If you don’t know the answer to something, don’t pretend you do.

You also build trust by creating personal connections. Make it easy for consumers to find your address, email address, and phone number. Offer friendly, professional customer service to anyone who gets in touch with your company.

Your customers can also help you build trust. Encourage people to interact with your brand on social media. Post positive customer reviews in a prominent location on your site.

Taste Test: Evaluating Your Brand’s E-E-A-T Impact

How do you evaluate the impact E-E-A-T has on your brand?

First, bear in mind that you need to be patient. It takes time for a cake to bake or a stew to boil. In the same way, it will take time to see the full impact of E-E-A-T on your brand.

Second, use tools that help you measure consumer experiences with your brand.

Google Analytics offers an in-depth look at your website’s stats. You can check the bounce rate and number of visits to each page on your site. You can see where visitors are coming from and what they view before making a purchase.

Social listening tools like BuzzSumo and Sprout Social help you keep track of online brand mentions. Is the number of people talking about you increasing or decreasing? Are people enthusiastic, neutral, or negative about your brand?

You can also ask your customers for input. A short survey with a freebie at the end will encourage people to take the time to answer. You can collect feedback from in-person customers as well as users of your site and social media pages.

Take time to read social media and blog comments. If more than one person mentions the same issue, take it seriously. Make changes based on consumer suggestions in order to offer improved service.

Future Flavors: Staying Ahead with E-E-A-T Branding Trends

E-E-A-T will likely be around for the foreseeable future. Even so, industry trends and future events will impact how consumers interact with brands. What engendered trust years ago may not do so in the future.

Stay abreast of industry developments and trends. Keep in touch with consumers to see what they need and want. You need to stay at the cutting edge of your industry to remain an authority in your field.

Your core branding should remain the same. Don’t change your logo, colors, or tone of voice unless absolutely necessary. However, the way in which you communicate your values may change over time.

WriterAccess can help you create the winning content you need to build your brand. Our platform has over 10,000 vetted, experienced writers. All of the content is unique. It is written and researched by humans to ensure accuracy.

Do you need to tell your story? Our team can create a compelling narrative that will help people get to know and trust you.

Do you need detailed, thoroughly written content? We have skilled researchers who can create compelling case studies, white papers, and more.

Try out our 14-day free trial period to find out what WriterAccess can do for your business. We look forward to meeting or even exceeding your expectations.

The post Spice Up Your Brand: Adding Flavor with E-E-A-T in 2024 appeared first on Rock Content.

Google’s March 2024 core update is significantly impacting the SEO industry. This update specifically aims to improve search quality by targeting and removing low-quality and spammy content from its index.

This isn’t the first move we’ve seen from Google toward prioritizing quality content, but certainly, it is being described as one of the largest and most impactful updates.

Google’s commitment to providing users with the most relevant and valuable search results continues with the March 2024 core update. This update expects to reduce low-quality, unoriginal content in search results by 40%.

Several sites have already been affected and completely deindexed in the past weeks. However, there’s no need to panic. Let’s explore the details of this update, what Google expects from your content going forward, and how you can adapt to these changes effectively. 

Understanding Google’s March 2024 Core Update

Google’s latest core update, announced in March 2024, represents a significant shift in how the search engine giant evaluates and ranks websites. Let’s break it down, gathering insights straight from the source:

Improved Quality Ranking

Google is giving its core ranking systems a boost through algorithmic improvements. The goal? Prioritize the surfacing of the most helpful and relevant information while minimizing unoriginal content in search results. This includes refining ranking systems to identify unhelpful web pages. These are pages with poor user experience or content seemingly created for search engines, not human audiences.

Elizabeth Tucker, Director of Product at Google Search, shares: “This update is more than just algorithm tweaks. It’s a strategic move to reshape the narrative around Google’s search quality. We want to emphasize that AI isn’t the enemy; our focus is on ensuring valuable, relevant content rises to the top.”

New Spam Policies

To combat the rise of spammy, low-quality content, Google is introducing new and improved spam policies. These policies aim to keep the lowest-quality content out of search results. The spotlight is on three key areas:

• Expired Domain Abuse: This targets the manipulation of search rankings by purchasing expired domains and repurposing them for hosting low-quality content.
• Scaled Content Abuse: Google aims to curb the creation of numerous pages primarily for manipulating search rankings, resulting in large amounts of unoriginal and low-value content.
• Site Reputation Abuse: This policy targets the publication of third-party pages with minimal oversight or involvement from the host site to manipulate search rankings.

Reduction of Low-Quality, Unoriginal Results

Building on initiatives from 2022, Google is fine-tuning its ranking systems to reduce unhelpful, unoriginal content. The aim? Identify pages that may seem unhelpful or provide a poor user experience. Also, look for pages created just to match specific search queries. 

As we mentioned earlier, the objective is to significantly reduce low-quality, unoriginal content in search results by an estimated 40%.

Faster Penalties and Inconsistent Communication

A standout feature of this update is the rapid implementation of “manual actions”. 

When Google detects a website that fails to adhere to its guidelines, it may impose a “manual action,” resulting in the site’s complete removal from its search results, also known as “deindexation”.

Starting March 5th, there was a noticeable increase in the number of these notifications appearing in the Google Search Console Manual Action dashboard for various sites. The implication of such manual actions is typically the total exclusion of the affected sites from Google’s search results.

Social media reports indicate instances where sites were completely deindexed, and penalties affecting all pages were applied. 

However, there’s inconsistency in communication, with some businesses receiving email notifications, while others spot the manual action in their Google Search Console.

Adding to the complexity of this update, it appears that Google’s approach extends beyond mere penalties to the complete removal of certain websites from its search results. This action seems particularly targeted at sites that predominantly utilize AI-generated content.

Influential figures within the digital marketing sphere have shared stark examples of well-known sites disappearing from Google’s index virtually overnight. 

The severity of this measure highlights the critical importance of compliance with Google’s guidelines and the potential perils of relying too heavily on artificial intelligence for content generation.

The AI Discussion on High-Quality Content

It’s important to mention that Google hasn’t made any statement regarding its approach to AI-generated content in search results, but the rule is clear: priority goes to high-quality, helpful, reliable, people-first content.

Barry Schwartz adds, “The specificity of this update is noteworthy. Google is not just penalizing; they’re clearly defining their targets. Scaled content abuse, expired domain abuse, and site reputation abuse are in the spotlight. It’s a call for sites to step up their game.”

Google’s algorithm can discern original, high-quality content that demonstrates expertise, experiences, authority, and trustworthiness (E-E-A-T). 

And this is where the March 2024 Core Update intersects with the discussion of AI-generated content.

When we analyze most of the sites that were deindexed in the past week after Google’s update, what we find is a pattern of mass-produced AI-generated content with very little (or none at all) human editing, resulting in generic, shallow, outdated content that violates Google’s spam guidelines, now more than ever.

As Matt G. Southern, Senior News Writer from Search Engine Journal, states: “A decade ago, there were concerns about the rise in mass-produced human-generated content. Rather than banning all human-generated content, Google improved its systems to reward quality content.

Now, Google says it will continue to take a responsible approach toward AI-generated content while maintaining a high bar for information quality and helpfulness in search results.”

Matt’s argument is reinforced by Rock Content’s VP of Marketing, Giuseppe Caltabiano: “This development serves as a critical reminder for content creators and SEO professionals to focus on producing genuinely valuable content that meets the needs of their audience, rather than resorting to automated solutions that compromise quality for the sake of efficiency.”

Google’s Strategy: Addressing Spam without AI Hostility

Let’s set the record straight – Google is not waging a war against AI. The primary objective is to combat content lacking originality and relevance. 

In fact, the update is a targeted effort to eradicate weak, repetitive content, irrespective of whether it’s crafted by AI or other methods.

It’s a call for real content, not a total dismissal of Artificial Intelligence.

Diving deeper into Google’s rationale, it’s not about undermining the potential of AI-driven content but rather ensuring that every piece adds genuine value. The focus lies on removing mediocrity, whether it emerges from automated processes or traditional content creation methods.

Understanding Google’s viewpoint requires acknowledging that AI is a tool, not an adversary. Google’s pursuit is to reward meaningful, engaging content that resonates with users. The intricate dance between algorithms and human-centric content creation is at the heart of Google’s vision for a more enriching online experience.

Celebrating the Human Element

So, as the SEO realm adapts to the winds of change, the message is clear – AI isn’t the enemy; the battle is against mediocrity. Both AI-driven and conventional websites are urged to embrace this shift, prioritizing the substance of their content to navigate through Google’s updates successfully.

At the heart of this narrative is a celebration of the human experience in content creation. 

Beth Ashton from The Independent rightly points out, “It’s crucial to find that balance. Google’s push against spam is valid, but there’s a responsibility to collaborate with content creators for a future that stands the test of time. Quick penalties are part of the equation, but equal attention should be given to rewarding quality content.”

In refining algorithms, the goal is not to discard technology but to integrate it with human insight, enriching the content with depth rather than superficiality.

Rock Content’s Insights on Content and Authority Post-Update

As a pioneer in digital content solutions, Rock Content remains at the forefront of guiding clients through these evolving landscapes.

For some time now, we’ve been closely monitoring every change – from the emergence of new AI tools to Google updates and user behavior. We’ve conducted numerous tests and delved into what defines quality content, how to create it properly, and, most importantly, ensure sustainable growth for our clients.

Our insights into content production and authority building post-update are designed to empower businesses to create high-quality content that not only complies with Google’s guidelines but also secures top rankings. 

Here we’ll share key findings from our research and practical tips to help you stay ahead in the dynamic digital world. 

Expert-Driven Content Plays a Pivotal Role in Driving Organic Traffic Growth

This comparative graph shows the positive impact of expert-driven content on organic traffic growth (for reasons of confidentiality, the client’s names in this study were withheld):

By examining data from multiple clients, we can observe distinct trends: blogs that have consistently implemented expert-driven content from the outset demonstrate a clear pattern of constant growth. 

In contrast, those that have gradually introduced expert-driven content show signs of stagnation with occasional fluctuations. Moreover, blogs adhering to traditional SEO strategies without adapting to content specialization are facing a decline in traffic. 

These insights underscore the importance of expert-driven content in staying competitive and achieving sustainable growth in the current SEO climate.

Rock Content’s suggested SEO strategy stands as a testament to rigorous planning and continuous refinement, particularly in response to Google’s algorithm updates. 

The table above showcases the dramatic improvements achieved in just three months by one of our customers, including a 398% increase in CTR (Click-Through Rate) and a 67% rise in SERP (Search Engine Results Page) positioning. 

The graph further illustrates the success of this approach, with a steady ascent in organic traffic sessions. These results not only emphasize the power of expert-driven content but also reinforce our commitment to improving SEO strategies in alignment with Google’s updates.

Expertise, Personal Touch, and Human-Centric Search Experience

In Q2/23, we noticed Google’s algorithm updates emphasizing experiences and expertise, highlighting a move toward a more human-centric search experience. This development contrasts with the rise of AI-generated content, emphasizing the continued importance of human expertise for complex queries and deep analysis. 

Our hypotheses suggest that the unique value of expert insight and real-time adaptability remain decisive factors.

To rise above the digital noise, content must be crafted with a personal touch, and be anchored by credible, transparent sources. These are the pillars that give content its edge in a crowded marketplace.

Using this format we achieved results beyond expectations in a scenario in which everyone was losing traffic.

The Power of Synergy: AI and Human Editors Unite

Let’s be clear – AI for content creation is here to stay. Why not combine the strengths of AI with human insights and expertise? Meet our team at WriterAccess, a platform of content creators and AI experts ready to elevate your content.

Imagine this – a platform designed to lift your content, ensuring it meets Google’s latest standards and guidelines. A guard against spammy content and your key to using AI’s potential without getting penalized.

Wrapping Up

Let’s redefine our approach to Google’s updates; they’re not obstacles but opportunities, guiding content creation toward quality and relevance. It’s a call to embrace collaboration, recognizing that the fusion of AI and human expertise propels us into a new era of content creation. 

Instead of avoiding this transformation, let’s embrace it. Explore WriterAccess and discover how our network of over 15,000 content creators can assist you in crafting content that not only endures but also thrives in the ever-changing SEO field.

Sign up now for a 14-day free trial and start your journey to content excellence today!

The post Google March 2024 Core Update: Low-Quality Sites Being Deindexed appeared first on Rock Content.

Thankfully, you don’t have to memorize each of these factors to do well on Google. You just have to remember the acronym E-E-A-T.

Unpacking E-E-A-T SEO: What It Is And Why It Matters

You’ve likely already heard of the SEO term E-A-T. It’s been around for some time and stands for Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness.

In 2022, Google added another E to the acronym. It stands for Experience. E-E-A-T, therefore, stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. 

Why does it matter? When explaining E-E-A-T, Google stated that measuring content against this standard helps writers “conceptually align with the different signals used to rank content”.

Put simply, E-E-A-T is the standard you need to measure your writing against. A good article will showcase the writer’s first-hand experience and expertise.  It will also be authoritative and generate trust.

If your content meets E-E-A-T standards, it will meet Google’s standards for quality content. If not, then it will fall short of Google’s requirements. E-E-A-T can spell the difference between a successful SEO strategy and a failed one. 

The Core Elements of E-E-A-T: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness

Let’s look deeper into each of those core elements.

Experience

First-hand experience is a plus when creating many types of content. 

Are you writing about real estate in a particular area? If so, your content will perform better if you have experience buying/selling real estate in the area in question.

Are you writing about a field of expertise, i.e., purchasing a phone or choosing a college? Be sure to share your first-hand experience. It will help your content rank higher than articles based solely on research.

Expertise

What is your expertise in a field? Do you have a degree or life experience? If so, talk about it in the article or the author’s bio.

Even more importantly, make sure your content reflects your level of expertise. Your information should be as detailed as possible. Organize it using topic clusters and pillar pages.

Authoritativeness

Authoritativeness means setting your site up as an industry leader.

Providing detailed content based on expertise is a good start. Effective internal linking shows that you can provide comprehensive information on the topic at hand.

At the same time, partnering with industry experts can help you stand out from the crowd. Writing guest posts for a high-ranking blog shows that you’re a trustworthy industry leader. Interviewing industry experts provides your site with content from established experts in your field.

Trustworthiness

To be trustworthy, your content must be 100% accurate. Statistics should be up-to-date. Sources should be relevant and authoritative.

Is something debatable, and you don’t have all the answers? Say so. Don’t pretend to know something you don’t.

Do you have old content that is no longer relevant or accurate? If so, update it or delete it. Don’t count on readers noticing the date on which the post was originally published.

Another aspect of building trustworthiness is making it easy for people to connect with you. Provide your address and phone number if you have a physical company. Create a contact page and provide an email address/phone number if you run a virtual business. 

Measuring the Impact: How E-E-A-T Affects Your SEO Performance

E-E-A-T affects your SEO performance in almost every way imaginable. 

Consumers will notice if your content is relevant, helpful, and accurate. They will spend time on your page, lowering your bounce rate. They will share your content on social media, increasing its visibility.

Experts will link to content meeting E-E-A-T guidelines. This will boost your site’s authority levels and, thus, its Google rank. Backlinks are currently one of Google’s most important ranking factors.

Success Stories: Brands That Nailed E-E-A-T SEO

Reddit’s monthly sessions went from 69 million per month to a whopping 200 million per month. Why?

Reddit’s users are real people who speak with first-hand experience. People find the answers they’re looking for on the conversation forums. Google has taken notice, and Reddit is reaping the benefits.

Medic Update saw a 300% increase in year-on-year revenue when it took three simple E-A-T-related steps.

The company eliminated poor content and created accurate, trustworthy content. It linked its content to authoritative sources, asked medical experts to review content, and then posted a “Content Medically Reviewed By” box on all its pages.

Future-Proofing Your SEO: Staying Ahead with E-E-A-T

Google has undergone multiple updates over the years. These have upended the way millions of companies use SEO to boost rankings.

Even so, Google’s end goal has always been the same. Its main aim is to provide users with accurate, helpful content.

Adhering to E-E-A-T guidelines isn’t just about boosting your site’s standing on Google in 2024. It’s about earning a permanent high placement on Google’s search engine.

Sites that adhere to E-E-A-T guidelines will attract consumers, earn likes, shares, and backlinks, generate sales, turn profits, and build brand loyalty.

The time and effort you put into applying E-E-A-T guidelines to your site will be well worth it. 

Furthermore, you don’t have to do it all alone. WriterAccess offers access to vetted, experienced writers in multiple fields of expertise. 

Our AI-powered platform makes it easy to find experts in any field. To start, open an account and provide information about the types of writers you need. Select one or more writers, provide detailed instructions, and trust our experts to get you across the finish line.

Are you ready to use Google’s E-E-A-T guidelines to build a wildly successful business? If so, check out our 14-day free trial period to see what WriterAccess can do for you. 

The post E-E-A-T SEO: The Secret Sauce to Skyrocketing Your Rankings appeared first on Rock Content.

“In determining page quality, Raters must consider EEAT.” These are Google’s exact words.

What does this mean for your content? Simply put, anything you write should adhere to E-E-A-T standards.

What Is E-E-A-T Content, And Why Does It Matter For SEO?

E-E-A-T stands for experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. These four words tell you everything Google is looking for when rating content.

Content that meets E-E-A-T standards will meet your audience’s needs. People will link to it, share it, and even come back to it. Industry experts will link to it, giving your site valuable backlinks.

Even more importantly, because E-E-A-T content is quality content, it will perform well in the long term. It won’t drop off a cliff with Google’s next algorithm update. Google will always reward unique, quality content that offers value to readers.

Crafting E-E-A-T Content: Tips For Showing Your Experience And Expertise

Picture yourself reading a blog post about a particular product. Would you like a technical explanation or a story of someone’s first-hand experience building/using the item in question?

There are several ways to show Google you’re an experienced expert. You can tell a story or use your author’s bio section. You could also quote people with relevant experience.

Experience shows expertise. However, the two aren’t the same.

Do you have a degree in the field you’re writing about? Has your company won industry-related awards? Tell your audience about it to show you’re an expert in your field.

For some fields, you may even want to have an expert review your content before publication. Medical sites such as WebMD and Medical News Today take this approach. It not only showcases expertise but also builds trust.

Building Authority: Strategies to Enhance Your Content’s Credibility

Authoritative content doesn’t have to be full of jargon that only experts can understand. Casual or even humorous content can be authoritative if it’s properly written.

To start, research your topic thoroughly. You want to provide value to your audience and show that you know what you’re talking about.

Organize your content, so users can find what they need easily. Topic clusters are ideal for this purpose.

Back up any claims you make, using only authoritative sources. Differentiate between facts and your opinions, and be honest if you’re not sure about something. Dishonesty and embellishing facts will not only tank your search engine rank but also your reputation.

Proofread your content to ensure it’s free of spelling and grammatical errors. Articles with lots of mistakes tend to have a high bounce rate. They also fail to get the links you need to improve your standing on Google.

Fostering Trust: Creating Content That Resonates with Your Audience

It’s important to have experience and expertise while also showing you’re an authority in your field.

However, it’s not enough if your readers feel they can’t trust you.

How do you engender trust? One of the best ways is to help people get to know you, and telling a story is a good start.

Do you run a mom-and-pop business? Talk about how it started and why you enjoy doing what you do.

Do you sell products online? Share interesting facts about how they were invented and how they were made.

Make sure people can contact you easily. Share your email address or build a contact page. If you have a physical location, share your address and phone number.

Create a terms and conditions page for your site. Tell people how you will (and won’t) use their personal information.

You can also use your existing customer base to build trust. Include positive product reviews on your site. Nearly three-quarters of customers say reviews increase trust in a brand.

E-E-A-T in Action: Real-World Examples of Content That Delivers

What does E-E-A-T in action look like? Consider the following examples.

Digital Émigré did extensive research and analysis to find a unique topic that offered excellent value to its clients. The company then went to work creating a comprehensive post on the subject. The post got over 17,000 clicks and generated over $65,000 in revenue.

Gadget Flow decided to put a premium on creating relevant, high-quality content. It made a site-wide content model and created structured data. Organic traffic grew by nearly 200% for the site’s news articles.

Tharawat Magazine cleaned up all its content. It structured over 1,000 articles to improve their E-E-A-T levels. The result was a whopping 321% increase in traffic.

Staying Ahead: Future Trends In E-E-A-T Content And SEO

New tools and technologies will likely affect future Google algorithm updates. However, nothing will affect Google’s primary mission of delivering the best search engine results to consumers.

If your content meets user needs, it will get links and shares. It will have a low bounce rate. Google will see it meets E-E-A-T standards and rank it well.

If your content does not meet E-E-A-T standards, performance will range from mediocre to poor. It may bring some results. However, it won’t perform well in the long term.

This is the reason why E-E-A-T content is so important. It’s not just about meeting current Google standards. It’s about creating content that will perform well now and in the future.

Creating winning content sounds daunting because it is. Thankfully, you don’t have to do it all on your own.

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The post E-E-A-T Content Unwrapped: The Recipe for SEO Greatness appeared first on Rock Content.

But what is social media marketing? Why is it so important in today’s digital marketing scene, and what do brands need to know in 2024 to ensure their strategies resonate? Let’s dig into what you need to know.

The Evolution of Social Media Marketing

The term “social media marketing” describes the entire process of leveraging various social media platforms to share content, drive traffic, and create relationships with your ideal audience. It includes everything from content creation to content marketing to fielding customer service concerns via instant messages.

However, the world of social media is constantly evolving — with new platforms exploding onto the scene all the time.

Early ‘90s-era platforms like Six Degrees and Bolt started the craze by giving people places to stay in touch with friends, send messages, and interact on message boards. MySpace and later Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and so forth added the ability to individualize profiles by sharing status updates, photos, and more.

Throughout the 2000s, social media gradually stopped being a fad for younger people and became an important part of everyday human interactions. That’s when everyone’s favorite platforms also became potential marketing tools – a way for brands and businesses to meet their customers where they spend their time online and forge important business connections.

Unveiling the Core Strategies: Social Media Marketing Demystified

Although social media platforms change over the years and best practices evolve, solid social media marketing fundamentals remain pretty constant. Here are some key examples to keep in mind.

Clear goal-setting

Every new social media strategy should start with a serious goal-setting session. You need to define what you want to achieve with your efforts and why. How do your social media goals connect with the long-term goals for your business?

Knowing your audience

These days, just about everyone spends time on social media. However, not everyone hangs out everywhere for the same reasons, so knowing your audience is crucial. Who are they, and which platforms do they spend the most time on? The answers will help you craft incredible content that attracts the right customers for your products.

Choosing the right platforms

These days, there are so many social media platforms that it’s difficult for a brand to maintain a robust presence on all of them. So, consider where your target audience is today and where they might be in the future.

Looking to connect with Gen Z? TikTok is the place to be. Looking for the best place to do some serious SaaS marketing? Make sure LinkedIn is part of your strategy. Need to plant some flags where nearly everyone hangs out? Go for mainstays like Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook.

Choosing the right KPIs

How will you know you’ve crafted a successful marketing strategy for social media? By tracking the right metrics, of course. Avoid vanity metrics that don’t get to the meat of the matter and instead look to examples like:

• Number of clicks
• Overall reach
• Engagement rates
• Likes (on both paid and organic content)
• Hashtag performance
• Overall rapport followers have with your brand

Quality content creation

Content is still king, especially on social media. But audiences have a lot competing for their attention these days. You need content that stops people in their tracks and practically demands they stop scrolling long enough to absorb it.

Amazing content that gets people’s attention differentiates your brand from everyone else out there. It engages people, encourages them to try your products, and inspires them to keep up with your brand.

And when more people engage, the platform algorithms will show your content to even more potential customers. There’s a tremendous opportunity for genuinely well-crafted content to reach a massive audience, making it great for small business social media marketing, building awareness for new brands, etc.

Posting consistency

Today’s social media platforms reward consistency on several levels. Consistency boosts your presence on your platform of choice and raises brand awareness. Algorithms reward users who show up consistently and post high-quality, original content that adds substance to people’s feeds.

Posting often and consistently also helps keep your brand and products on people’s minds. You become a valued part of their daily visits to their favorite platforms and raise the chances that they’ll choose your brand when they’re ready to purchase.

For best results, create a social media content calendar that includes planned content and target platforms. Coordinate your social posts with blog content, guest posts, etc. Be sure to target consumers at all levels of your marketing funnel.

Ongoing adjustments

Successful social media marketing strategies aren’t “set it and forget it” deals. They involve ongoing monitoring, data gathering, and analysis to assess whether they work. Keep track of yours, and make adjustments accordingly.

Keep track of emerging trends and occurrences that could affect your strategy. These include changes affecting social media platforms, as with Twitter’s recent rebranding move and subsequent rebirth as X.

Building Your Brand: The Role of Social Media Marketing

Whether you’re a small business looking to expand your reach, an independent contractor looking to attract new clients or someone else entirely, brand-building is an important part of using social media wisely. Building a strong brand via social media helps you:

• Familiarize people with what you do
• Develop your unique brand voice
• Cultivate a strong community around your products and services
• Establish yourself as an authority in your industry
• Build trust in your business

Today’s consumers aren’t just open to following brands on their favorite social media platforms. They want and expect to see them there, so building and maintaining a robust social media presence helps you meet expectations and keep up with your competition.

Social media marketing is also a way to stay on your customers’ radar in a natural, non-intrusive way. Seeing your brand in their feeds daily helps increase the chances that they’ll remember you the next time they’re in the market for services and products like yours.

Staying Ahead: Trends and Innovations in Social Media Marketing

As platforms evolve and features come and go, the game keeps changing as far as what works best. The following are key trends and social media innovations to include in your strategy throughout 2024 and beyond.

Influencer marketing

Social media influencers come complete with readily engaged audiences that are primed and ready to take suggestions on what to explore further. Partnering with influencers in your niche is a powerful way to boost your signal and expand your reach.

Video content

Strong visual content is a huge part of making your social media feeds pop. Images, graphics, and data charts are good choices, but video is especially trendy right now. However, note that it’s not just about short-form video anymore in 2024.

Longer videos have been making a comeback lately, especially on platforms like TikTok. Explore them as a possibility for your brand.

Meme-inspired content

Everyone loves a good meme, and with good reason. They’re shareable, relatable, and fun. Plus, leveraging a meme-style approach to social media posts can be a great way to show audiences your brand is stylish, playful, and super relatable. Consider ways to do this that align with your larger brand voice.

Authentic content

No one likes social media content that feels fake or overly promotional, especially from businesses and brands. Authenticity is where it’s at. It’s also something many wish they saw more often from the brands they love. Look for ways to humanize your brand via social media and add a personal touch to your content.

Navigating Challenges: Common Pitfalls in Social Media Marketing

Knowing what works for social media marketing is important, but so is understanding what not to do. Here are some common social media mistakes to avoid as you launch your next campaign.

Being too promotional

Modern consumers never want to feel they are being advertised to, but this is especially true on social media, where it’s important for interactions to feel more personal. Be sure to intersperse promotional posts with plenty of storytelling, user-generated content, fun behind-the-scenes looks, etc.

Too much repetition

Posts that repeat themselves or are very similar to one another can quickly bore audiences. They can also give audiences the impression that your brand is one-dimensional without a lot of creativity to bring to the table.

Choosing quantity over quality

Keeping your feeds filled with plenty of consistent content is important. But don’t focus so much on quantity that quality suffers. Fewer high-quality posts are better than an onslaught of low-quality filler content.

Ignoring negative feedback

Sooner or later, every brand faces critics and unsatisfied customers, and you’ll eventually hear from yours. Never ignore negative feedback or reviews. Respond professionally and politely, addressing problems head-on. It’s an important part of helping people trust your brand.

Trying to do everything themselves is another common mistake many brands make regarding social media marketing, especially as they grow and diversify. Assembling a team of professional content creators and marketing experts can help you hit your stride and keep content quality high.

Meet some of the industry’s brightest content creators and writers on WriterAccess when you sign up for your free 14-day WriterAccess trial today! You’ll love the difference the right talent can make for your brand.

The post Decoding the Essence: What Is Social Media Marketing and Why It Matters appeared first on Rock Content.