10Jan

The Ultimate Recipe to Use Google Analytics in 2022

January 10, 2023Online Marketing

What is Google Analytics?

Google Analytics, or GA, is a free analytics tool that gives you an in-depth look at your website and/or app performance. It integrates with Google’s marketing and advertising platforms and products (including Google Ads, Search Console, and Data Studio) making it a popular choice for anyone using multiple Google tools.

Is Google Analytics Free?

There’s a free and a paid version of GA (the latter is called Analytics 360). Small and medium-sized businesses will likely get all the features you need from the free version. Analytics 360 begins at $150,000 per year (invoiced monthly) and increases after your site receives more than one billion monthly hits.

Should you use Google Analytics?

If you want a lot of data — and more importantly, have the time and ability to analyze and act on it — GA is a great fit. However, GA takes time to set up, learn, implement, maintain, and use.

Other marketing analytics options, such as HubSpot, can give you all the data you need with much less work.

Now, what steps will you need to follow when setting up GA? Good question.

How to Set Up Google Analytics

  • Create a Google Analytics account.
  • Add the name, URL, and industry of the website you want to track.
  • Add a view to your property.
  • Add your tracking code directly after the head tag of your site.
  • Visit your GA portal and verify the code is working.

Before you start using Google Analytics, you’ll have to set up a Google account. This means you must have a registered Google Account email address and password.

Once you’ve created a Google account, that doesn’t mean you automatically have access to GA — rather, you have to register for Analytics (which we’ll review how to do in the next section). But the important thing to note as you go to set up GA is that you can only access the tool by using a valid Google account.

Here are the steps on how to use Google Analytics for your website. (I’m using my class reunion website as an example.)

Step 1: Create a Google Analytics account.

First, you’ll have to create a Google Analytics account. Or, sign in to your current account.

Before we move forward, you should know that there are currently two versions of Google Analytics: Universal Analytics and GA4.

Step 2: Add the name, URL, and industry of the website you want to track.

Choose which account you want to add the property to.

You should create and name your Property at this point and enter the website’s URL as well as the industry and reporting time zone. Then you’ll be able to Create and Finish this step of the process.

Step 3: Add a Data Stream or View to your property.

Note: GA4 no longer uses “Views” but it instead has “Data Streams” with similar functionality. Keep this in mind when following these steps using Universal Analytics.

To add a view to your Universal Analytics account, go to the account and property you want to add a view to — use the menu to Create a View, name your view, select the type of view (web or app), and answer a few other questions. Remember, you can add up to 25 views to a property in GA.

To add a data stream to your GA4 account, go to the account and property you want to add a data stream to — use the menu to add a Data Stream. Choose or add a stream, and save it.

Step 4: Add your tracking code directly after the <head> tag of your site.

When you create a property, you’ll have access to a unique ID for tracking and a global site tag (code you need to add to each site page you want to measure). This is how you’ll be able to collect data in your property

Then, paste your global site tag right after the opening <head> tag on each site page you plan on measuring.

You’ll be asked to choose your type of site (static, dynamic, web hosting, Google Tag Manager) so that you can set up the data collection accurately.

Step 5: Visit your GA portal and verify the code is working.

Lastly, verify your code is working. You can do this by looking at the Real-Time reports section while clicking around on your site in a different tab or on your phone. The report should show at least one visitor to the site (that’s you!)

And that’s pretty much it! After that review, you may be wondering the following:

Do you need to add the GA code to every page of your site?

That’s a lot of manual work — especially if your website has more than 50 pages. Plus, what happens when you create new pages? Do you need to add the tag every time?!

The short answer is: no.

The longer answer: you only need to add the tag to every page template. So, if you have one-page type on your site (meaning every individual page uses the same header module), you only need to add it to that module — and it’ll be applied to every page

If you have two-page types, you’d need to paste the code into the two separate header modules. Three-page types? Three header modules.

And if you use a CMS like HubSpot, this task is even easier. These tools come with a separate field where you paste your tracking code just once. HubSpot users can follow these simple instructions for adding GA.

Additionally, to set up GA properly, you’ll want to understand the various layers of the tool — specifically, the hierarchy.

Understanding the Basics of Google Analytics

Google Analytics is made up of many parts, so it’s important to have a clear lay of the land as you begin learning. This section is dedicated to Google Analytics guidelines to help you master the basics of this powerful tool.

Google Analytics Hierarchy

Here’s a look at the GA hierarchy. Remember, Universal Analytics uses “Views” while GA4 uses “Data Streams”, so both are demonstrated in the visual below.

Let’s dive into each of the sections within the hierarchy.

1. Organization

The organization is the highest level. It represents a company. For example, our organization is HubSpot, Inc. One organization can encompass multiple GA accounts.

Organizations are recommended for larger businesses, but not mandatory.

2. Account(s)

Accounts are not optional. Using Google Analytics requires at least one (sometimes several) accounts.

An account doesn’t mean a user account. I can log into the HubSpot Google Analytics accounts using my Google email ID. HubSpot’s head of technical SEO can also log into the same account using his Google email ID. Our historical optimization specialist can also log into the same account using his Google email ID

Important details:

  • You can assign one property to each account or multiple properties to one account. Every account can hold up to 50 properties.
  • You can give user permissions for an entire Analytics account, a property in an account, or a view in a property.

You might be wondering, “What’s better: creating a new account for every property or adding every account to the same property?”

It depends on your use case and goals.

For example, suppose you have one website — the Stark Industries corporate site — and five subdirectories, including the Stark Industries blog, careers section, media resources, case studies, and investor relations information.

You want to create separate properties for each subdirectory so the people on each team can look at how their portion of the site is performing, as well as the larger site

But maybe you have another site that discusses Tony Stark’s work with S.H.I.E.L.D. You want the S.H.I.E.L.D. team to see data for this subdirectory, but you don’t want them to see data for the rest of the website. You create a new account and property for the S.H.I.E.L.D. site.

3. Property

A property is a website or app. Each property can support up to 25 views.

4. View

At the minimum, you need two views per property:

One with zero configuration — essentially the “raw” version of the view

One with filters set up to exclude any traffic from within your company (i.e. a filter for your IP address) as well as bots and spam traffic

A view only captures the information after your filters and configured settings have been applied. And once you delete a view, that data is gone forever. For those reasons, it’s critical to keep an unfiltered view of your data.

5. Data Stream

A data stream in GA4 is a flow of data that gives you more insights into how your site is performing across different operating systems. There are three preset data streams you can choose from including web, iOS, and Andriod; or you can choose to create a custom data stream.

6. Google Analytics Dimensions and Metrics

To use GA successfully, you need to understand dimensions versus metrics. I’ve found the easiest way to think about it is:

Dimensions: categorical variables. Simple examples include names, colors, and places.

Metrics: quantitative variables. Basic examples include age, temperature, and population.

Or as my Data Analytics professor put it, “Metrics are what you can do math on.” Not the most eloquent phrasing, but it works.

Dimension Examples

  • Browser
  • Location
  • Landing page
  • Device
  • Customer type

Metric Examples

  • Sessions
  • Pageviews
  • Conversions
  • Bounce rate
  • Session duration

In any GA report, your dimensions are your rows and your metrics are your columns.

Custom Dimensions and Metrics

GA lets you create custom dimensions and metrics from Analytics data plus non-Analytics data. To give you an idea, suppose you track the membership type of customers who have created an account in your CRM. You could combine this information with page views to see page views by member type.

Or maybe you run a blog. If you want to understand how audience engagement impacts other metrics (like conversions, pages per session, etc.), you could create three custom dimensions for each type of reader:

  • Advocate: user who shared one-plus posts on social media
  • Subscriber: user who signed up for your email list
  • Customer: user who purchased premium access
  • Using these dimensions will give you invaluable information.
7. Google Analytics Audiences

An audience is a group of users that have something in common. That commonality could be anything: maybe you’re targeting consumers in Australia, so you have an “Australian audience,” or you want to sell to millennials, so you have a “25-34 audience.”

GA comes with several built-in audiences (including the two I just mentioned, location and age). You don’t need to do a thing to set these up — once you have the tracking code installed, GA will automatically break down your visitor data into these audience reports.

However, you can also create custom audiences. Perhaps you’re only interested in “Australian millennials”; you’d need to make a custom audience that only includes visitors who are A) in Australia and B) between the ages of 25 and 34.

Creating an audience is fairly easy. Honestly, the hardest part is figuring out what you’re trying to accomplish and then identifying the user characteristics that’ll help you do that.

Once you’ve done that, follow these instructions to create a new audience segment. From there you can import a segment to use as the basis for your Audience Report.

8. Google Analytics Segments

A segment is a subset of your data. I like to picture an entire pizza made up of all different slices — one slice has pesto and mozzarella, another has sausages and spicy peppers, another has ham and pineapple, and so on. Metaphorically speaking, each slice is a segment.

You can create segments based on:

  • Users (e.g. users who have bought something on your site before, users who have signed up for a consultation, etc.)
  • Sessions (e.g. all sessions that were generated from a specific marketing campaign, all sessions where a pricing page was viewed)
  • Hits (e.g. all hits where the purchase exceeded $85, all hits where a specific product was added to the cart)
  • Like audiences, GA provides you with several segments. I wouldn’t stop there: you can get incredibly granular with your segments.

To give you some inspiration, here are a few of HubSpot’s segments:

  • Users who viewed a specific product page and watched the demo video
  • Users who viewed the same product page and didn’t watch the demo video
  • Users who view a specific Academy course page
  • Users who view a specific Academy lesson page
  • Users who view a blog post and a product page

The sky is your limit — well, that, and GA’s segment cap.

Google Analytics Reports

There are five primary reports available in Google Analytics that can give you insight into your website’s performance. You’ll find these reports on the lefthand size of the screen.

All of these options can be a bit overwhelming. And depending on which version of Google Analytics you have (universal analytics or GA4), you’ll see different reports.

Let’s walk through each report together. First, we’ll start with Universal Analytics reports and then move on to GA4 reports.

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06Jan

The 10 Golden Rules for SEO Content Writing

January 6, 2023Brand Visibility

Getting organic traffic is an important part of any Digital Marketing strategy. And the best way to increase your traffic is by getting better rankings on Google.

A solid SEO strategy will help you with that, but there’s more than applying on-page and off-page SEO rules to your blog.

SEO writing is a must, and it will guarantee that you’re not neglecting the user experience in your pages. After all, the page experience is one of the most important ranking factors.

If you want to better understand SEO writing, keep reading!

What is SEO Writing?

SEO writing is the process of writing content with the goal of ranking on the first page of search engines like Google. This is achieved by researching relevant keywords and creating optimized content that answers the user’s intent.

Google, for example, uses “spiders” that crawl content to see what it’s about. During this crawl, they learn a lot about the web page by the language used on it.

SEO writing optimizes the content on the page so that search engines will more easily crawl its content and judge it favorably. When it is judged more favorably, it is given a better placement in the SERP.

If the content is created without SEO writing, it may not come across as search engine friendly, and the crawlers may not even figure out what the page is about.

Why Is Writing for SEO Important?

SEO writing is done to help content rank better on Google. If the content is not optimized, it will come up several pages back in a search.

And why is it so important to get on that first page?

A study found that the number of clicks that pages get depends not only on getting onto that first page of search results, it also depends greatly on getting as high up on that page as possible.

The first result on the first page gets clicked on by more than 28% of people doing the searching. After that first result, the percentages go down with each spot on the page. So you need your site to be one of the first results that people see.

Writing for SEO is also important because it is a marketing technique that keeps going for the life of your website.

Many people do well with PPC advertising, but if they stop paying for that advertising, it will no longer bring traffic. Good SEO content keeps working for your website no matter what else you do to market your site.

What Are The Basics of SEO Writing?

SEO writing is fairly straightforward, but it isn’t always easy to do.

There is no magic formula for ranking the best in search engine results, but there are several parts of the Google algorithm that we do know about. Content should be written with those aspects in mind in order to rank better.

One of the most important aspects of SEO writing is using the proper keywords. This means knowing what people are searching for when they are looking for sites like yours.

This requires the SEO copywriter to do some keyword research and create a list of words and phrases that need to be included.

It’s also important to use a lot of related words in the content. That means words that go well with the keywords that were researched.

Google looks at whether there are a lot of words related to the main keywords to be sure of what the content is about. Using these related words is called latent semantic indexing, and it helps tremendously with SEO. The crawlers also assess whether the content is written for an audience or purely for SEO.

This is why SEO copywriters have to avoid keyword stuffing — or putting the same keywords in over and over again so that the content isn’t suitable for a human audience.

The balance that must be struck is for the content to appeal to human readers as well as search engine spiders.

The use of complex language is another factor in search engine crawls. If the language is too simple and uses too few unique words, it is not assessed as being of high value.

SEO writing has to flow well and be complex enough to impart a lot of information on its topic while using language naturally.

What Is an SEO Copywriter?

An SEO copywriter is a writing specialist that uses the known aspects of search engine rankings to create content that is well optimized for them

They must deeply understand Google’s ranking factors, as well as the best practices to use in a text. The know-how on on-page SEO is also expected since this person will be responsible for optimizing the articles

The language used must be straightforward enough for human readers to connect with it. The copywriter must use keywords throughout, but also use them in a natural fashion.

What Skills Should an SEO Copywriter Have?

An SEO copywriter should understand how to write content with a unique voice and a writing style that flows well. They should know exactly who the intended audience will be so that they can factor that into the way the copy is written.

The copywriter needs to know what the competition is doing with its copy, and should be able to do a quick research and see what it will take to rank well for a page of content.

They need to be able to write in a persuasive tone so that the copy will convert, and also need to have enough creativity to come up with new content topic ideas, especially for blogs.

A good SEO copywriter will also understand the basics of latent semantic indexing to further boost the position of the content. They have to be able to pack text with as much information as possible to provide a good experience for both readers and search engine crawlers.

An SEO copywriter also has to stay up on all the new changes to search engine algorithms that are announced.

Periodically, there will be changes in the algorithm to make one aspect of content more important than before. An SEO copywriter has to stay on top of these changes so that they can be integrated into his work.

The 10 Golden Rules for SEO Writing

1. Write for Humans

Know your audience and write for them.

SEO copywriting is only one part of SEO. Another important part is backlinking. The content you write must attract backlinks from other sites in order to improve its SEO.

Therefore, the copy that you write has to be written for a human audience first. If it sounds too robotic or is keyword-stuffed, few sites will want to link to it later.

2. Understand Google’s Algorithm

Understand the latest algorithms of Google. As the largest search engine, it is important to know how to drive more traffic to your blog.

They tweak their search algorithm regularly so that the best-quality pages get ranked more highly. Google is concerned about wanting the search engine to be as effective as possible.

When you understand all that the search engines are looking for, you can better deliver it.

3. Know How to Find Keywords

You have to know how to perform keyword research and how to pick the best keywords for the content you’re writing.

This includes being able to assess how popular the main keyword is and how to choose long-tail keywords.

Often, the main keywords for a topic have far too much competition for the first few places in search engine results.

This makes it necessary to go for keywords that have a lower search volume. An SEO copywriter has to be able to assess the amount of competition for each word or phrase and choose the best ones to use.

4. Write Long Content

The Google Panda 4.1 algorithm update was put in place to reward longer, more informative content and to penalize thin content.

A good rule of thumb is to have each page contain at least 1,000 words of high-quality content. Shorter pages may simply not have enough complexity for the current algorithms.

Writing longer content also gives you the freedom to serve up information in a number of ways such as lists and tables.

You need to pack a lot of information into each page, and having some varied methods of presenting information can be helpful to both people and search engines.

5. Make Every Sentence Unique

Search engine algorithms all reward unique content. If parts of a page are copied from another web page, it may get marked as spam and give a poor ranking.

Using sites like Copyscape can help you to make sure that every part of your SEO copy is unique.

If you find any duplicates, reword those parts while keeping the copy sounding natural.

6. Use Related Words

The latest algorithms look for common words that accompany the keywords that you use.

That lets the search engine know that the content is really about that topic. It usually isn’t necessary to research which accompanying words to use, as they are generally the basic words that something about that topic would use.

If you aren’t sure how to use these companion words, study up latent semantic indexing and put that knowledge to use.

7. Link to High-Quality Sites

Using links as information citations is a common way to show where the information came from.

However, your site should not be using information from low-quality sites. If you have links to spammy sites, the information on your page will be assumed to be spammy as well.

Always link to high-level websites that are popular in their own right.

The overall goal of search engines is to make good information universally available. When you link to good sites, you show search engines that you are connected to other sites and that you get your information from useful sites.

8. Use Varied Content Types

A great web page may include a number of different ways to impart information. These often include other types of media to back up and expand on the information in the text.

The use of videos on the page is excellent for this purpose. Using helpful pictures is also useful to readers.

Too much gray text can be hard for people to read. Breaking it up makes it flow better and allows for easier reading.

9. Write Meta Information

Every piece of content needs meta tags and a meta description. This allows search engines to display a short description of the content you created.

You also need a title tag that will be displayed as the title of the page. This should be no longer than about 70 characters. his is the maximum allowed for titles by Google.

The meta description should be no longer than 160 characters. If you aren’t up on basic HTML, learn some of the basics so that you can create these valuable pieces for your content.

10. Use Plenty of Subheadings

No matter how narrow your topic is, it can be broken up with subheadings. This also allows you to have your keywords where they are prominent.

Subheadings help to break up the text, and they make it easier for readers to find exact the information they are looking for

In SEO writing, you need to consider the goals set for your strategy and the ranking factors of search engines. However, writing content is much more of a process to meet user demand than SEO requirements.

When you provide a qualified and unique experience of reading and visiting the page, with high-quality content, it automatically favors the position of your page in the SERPs. An SEO strategy needs to be mature in order to work well. Take our SEO Maturity Assessment and identify where to focus efforts to evolve to the next stage on the maturity curve!

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01Jan

Why A Content Editor is Vital To Your Marketing Success

January 1, 2023Brand Visibility

What You’ll Read In This Article:

  • Understanding Editing: What Is It Really?
  • Do I Need To Hire A Content Editor?
  • Why Shouldn’t I Edit My Web and Marketing Content?
  • What Kind Of Content Editor Do I Need?
  • Hiring a Freelancer Vs. a Professional Content Editor
  • Conclusion

The online presence of your business or brand is vital to its success. The internet allows instantaneous worldwide access to your company, but even the best brands can struggle with marketing to their online audience. It’s hard to keep your language, grammar, and cultural knowledge polished enough to appease an international audience. Thankfully, a content editor can make it easier.

In this article, we will show how the presence of a professional content editor is key to your business’s content marketing success. We will be covering:

  • Understanding content editing and why it’s necessary.
  • The importance of hiring a content editor and the tools they use.
  • Why self-editing hurts more than helps.
  • Finding the right content editor for the job.
  • The difference between freelance vs. professional help.

Learn everything you need to know about content editing here and see how this blog can help your online content reach new heights.

Understanding Editing: What Is It Really?

The term editing is often used interchangeably with proofreading. However, any professional editor will tell you there is more to content editing than proofreading. It’s broken down into two significant types of editing: micro and macro.

Macro editing includes article editorial assessments and development editing. These processes look over your product as a whole, making major edits like paragraph restructuring and adjustments in the narrative flow. Macro editing occurs at the beginning of a project, helping structure your rough draft into workable content. Depending on the editing service you request, pieces can come with detailed suggestions or quick overview tips.

Micro editing is detailed work and includes proofreading, structural editing, and copy editing. In micro editing, your editor focuses on grammatical, spelling, or localization errors. It’s often used at the end of your project, turning your rough draft into a perfect finished piece.

Editing is vital to content marketing success because it goes beyond basic spelling adjustments. A content editor keeps your project relevant to modern localized audiences. They can fact-check your work, get rid of unconscious bias, and keep your work streamlined and honest.

Editors are also valuable teachers, helping you grow as a content creator and see mistakes that went unnoticed before. This makes future pieces stronger, with fewer flaws and macro edits. No writer is ever 100% error-free, but with the help of a content editor, you can see written work perfected in no time.

Do I Need To Hire A Content Editor?

Now that you understand what editing is and what roles editors take in written projects, it’s time to decide if your project needs one. Hiring an editor will never harm your project, but knowing what you are investing in before purchasing is essential.

Below, we cover the specific benefits a content editor can bring to your project outside of grammatical adjustments.

SEO

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the act of priming a piece for search results. With the help of keywords, adjusted meta titles and descriptions, layout adjustments, and more, a content editor can see your work listed at the top of the results page. The better your SEO, the more likely you are to get seen by audiences.

SEO also helps with the readability and comprehensibility of your work. It takes your written piece’s core focus and intention and lays it out in a way made for the online world. This can include hyperlink placement, word density management, calls to action, and more to boost your page results.

Your articles will be better to read, easy to understand, and brought to bigger audiences with SEO.

Topic Expertise

Writing about a topic is one thing, but having a relationship with your content is another. A content editor specializes in research, letting them understand field-specific jargon or complicated content. They aren’t just writers for your product but experts in the field. With an intimate knowledge of your topic, the content editor will see your product truthfully represented the way you desire.

Need an edit for your brewery page? Our ale aficionados are happy to help. Do you need a proofreader for your banking business sales pitch? Our professional business editors are ready to crunch the numbers.

With experts dealing with your work, the content is in capable hands.

Accuracy

Accuracy has many meanings in written work. It covers the description of your product, the quality of facts and statistics used, and the reliability of resources referenced in your article. A content editor keeps your work quality, using only the best, most relevant, and factual resources for your piece. If a fact is inaccurate or outdated, they will replace and update it with the latest intel.

Complete with topic expertise, you will never have to worry about misrepresentation or flawed descriptions.

Boosted Sales and Reputation

The written language is complex and prone to errors, especially when working with audiences outside your localization. Customers have a keen eye for written flaws and will notice any misspellings or improper jargon. Yet even innocent mistakes can harm your company’s reputation and turn customers away.

A content editor will clear all errors and save your work from any embarrassing mistakes. Not only do they offer grammatical revisions and spell checks, but they’ll rework your article for better readability. The content editor will also match the tone to the audience. This ensures your customers never feel alienated or estranged from your brand.

SEO, accuracy checks, and topic experts handling your work will result in a perfectly polished piece. Content editing will grow your site’s online traffic and boost your content marketing success with satisfied clientele, old and new.

Don’t settle for subpar rough drafts. Let a content editor help you become a professionally published piece.

Why Shouldn’t I Edit My Web and Marketing Content?

Editing is an essential skill for any writer or content producer to master. Yet, even the most accomplished editors will run into issues when editing their work. Problems like unconscious bias and content fatigue can easily cause you to miss errors.

The help of a content editor can keep your content clear of the issues that plague the industry.

What is Unconscious Bias?

Unconscious bias, otherwise known as unintentional bias, is the hidden feelings of prejudice we subconsciously hold. They can lessen the credibility of a topic, alienate audiences, and even cause the spread of misinformation. Unconscious biases are normal, but you can’t fix them until you are aware of them.

Your unconscious bias can affect the quality of your content editing. It’s better to hire a professional, removing yourself from the equation.

A content editor brings fresh eyes to your product piece, giving you the advice and feedback you need on what you can’t see. Editors train to recognize these biases and combat them through research and rewrites. Clearing your work of unconscious biases helps content marketing and ensures your business and brand stay true to your mission statement.

Keep your messages clear and your content focused with the help of a content editor.

What is Content Fatigue?

Every day, the internet produces an estimated 1.145 trillion MB of content. Yet, the average adult only spends an estimated six hours online a day. Audiences can’t consume content at the rate it’s being published. This causes audiences to skim and ignore articles until they vanish under a wave of new content. Content fatigue is the burnout of audiences, forcing businesses to be more thoughtful in how they publish their products. Longevity is key.

Editors work to battle content fatigue by streamlining your work into easy-to-read, bite-sized pieces. With the help of the tools we’ve listed below, a content editor helps optimize your articles for tired audiences. This includes revising your content for better SEO results, prioritizing keywords, breaking up word density, and more.

A content editor is a professional and the best resource for getting your pieces noticed through content fatigue. See the tools we use to optimize your products below.

The Tools We Use

We ensure quality through the use of several central editor filters. These tools include Grammarly, Hemingway, SEO book, and plagiarism filters. They ensure the quality of our work, with every written project going through these major filters before hitting your desk.

Here is how these tools help.

– Grammarly

Grammarly is a broad strokes filter used to correct basic language mistakes. Red and green underlines show when a sentence contains a misspelt or misused word. A side tab shows a list of possible corrections, including re-wording sentences for clarity or active voices. Grammarly’s main job comes in localization services.

The localization features give a content editor an extra eye on editing for a worldwide audience. They choose the target region for an article, and Grammarly alerts them to any regional inconsistencies. This can include the use of the wrong punctuation or how certain words have different spellings regionally

– Hemingway Editor

While Grammarly deals with punctuation, grammar, and localization, Hemingway focuses on sentence structure. It grades every filtered piece a basic reading level, with levels 5-9 being the ideal range for accessibility and readability. Hemingway highlights complicated sentences based on readability, showing overdrawn, complicated, or run-on sentences.

Hemingway helps shape every article into something easy for a reader to understand. They offer suggestions to simplify sentences and omit any adverbs. It also works to highlight passive phrases, keeping every sentence active and present.

– SEObook

SEObook ensures written pieces are optimized for the online world. This includes everything from building a sitemap to using the right keywords for the best search engine response. Our editors use the keyword density feature to keep an eye on the language used in eye articles.

We ensure that key points repeat without becoming overwhelming. Managing your keyword density is crucial to content marketing success. It ensures your business will always list in connection to these major buzzwords helping draw customers to your page faster than ever.

– Plagiarism filters

Plagiarism filters help keep your content unique and personalized. It’s easy to reuse popular phrases, and common for two separate people to have the same idea. Yet, even unintentionally plagiarized work can devalue the credibility of your brand of business.

A content editor will see every piece processed through high-quality plagiarism filters like Copyscape. Here, our editors will see sentences that sound similar, the number of potentially copied words, and articles with similar content. Our professionals then re-word and reorganize content to keep it unique and set it apart from the competition.

Finally, all content is reviewed a final time by our editing team, ensuring only the best work gets delivered. That’s what your editor needs to do for you.

Check out our blog for more information on the tools we use to help build your brand.

Why the Expert Touch Matters

Filters and AI suggestions can be an excellent tool for turning a rough draft into a final copy, but even the smartest filters will miss things. Grammarly may check your spelling, but it won’t fact-check your statistics. Hemingway will help keep your sentences clear, but they won’t explain cultural jargon relevant to your audience. This is why the expert human touch is essential.

A content editor will adjust the written product beyond filters. They know when to adjust grammar to fit regional standards and know when to use the controversial oxford comma. They also acknowledge regional and historical significance in any written piece. They know when to add more context and what trusted sources to refer clients to for more information.

Whether you need help with content marketing or just general writing help, a content editor is ready to help you.

What Kind Of Content Editor Do I Need?

We’ve discussed the many benefits and roles a content editor can take but finding the right editor for your project can be challenging. Every project has different needs and can require more than one type of editor to make it shine.

There are several different types of content editors. Ensure that you get the correct specialist for your needs.

They work from big-scale edits to minor adjustments and feedback. Check out the detailed list of content editor specialties below, and find the perfect fit for your team.

Article Editorial Assessment

Article assessors will be the first type of editor to see your project. They work at a macro-level but leave only quick notes and editorial suggestions. These editors will give valuable feedback on your work and assess if it meets quality standards and fulfills your desired requirements. They are also referred to as Beta readers.

An article editorial assessment will give you:

  • Quick overview.
  • First-look feedback.
  • Notes and suggestions.
  • Minor adjustments.

Development/Substantive Editing

Development editing, also known as substantial editing, is a major rework of your rough draft. This is macro work, focusing on content, clarity, and consistency. At this stage, editing isn’t focused on grammar or spelling but the flow of the draft.

Does the article make sense? Is it laid out in a logical order? Are important facts emphasized or buried in the paragraphs? Do your ideas, and tonation match your audience? Development editing will ask these questions and more to see that your piece works professionally.

A development editor will identify these aspects when editing and leave detailed notes and revisions:

  • Article flow.
  • Narrative pacing.
  • Formatting.
  • Clarity.
  • Consistency.
  • General layout.
  • Tonation.
  • SEO

Structural Editing

Structural editing is similar to development editing but is micro-level work instead of macro. This is where editors check the quality and pacing of your piece. Now that your working copy is appropriately laid out with its primary writing done, structural editors will do a paragraph-by-paragraph analysis to check your content.

Major revisions are still made at this stage, focused on seeing that your work reads well, looks good, and is factually accurate. Structural editors will overview and send suggestions back on the following:

  • Content overview.
  • Fact/source accuracy.
  • Paragraph by paragraph analysis.
  • Overall readability.
  • Paragraph/sentence density.
  • Produce major structural revisions.

Copy Editors

Copy Editing is microwork on a macro scale. They pour over an entire written piece, evaluating each sentence for accuracy and grammatical correctness. Contrary to proofreaders who work at the end of a project to make sure it’s error-free, copy editors are mid-project, detailed workers. Their focus is on the core of your work, making any final large-scale edits before the proofreader sees it.

Work brought to a copy editor is a functioning rough draft. It’s fully fleshed out but needs a professional eye to restructure and re-word it for better audience reception. They adjust and make revisions, last-minute reworks, and outline changes at this stage.

Their editing focuses on:

  • Major spelling issues.
  • Major grammatical mistakes.
  • Punctuation errors.
  • Language and localization.
  • Readability and density.
  • Case consistency.
  • Final revisions if needed.

Proofreaders

Proofreaders are editors who help cross your t’s and dot your i’s. It’s micro-editing work that acts as a final clean-up for missed errors before distribution. A proofreader will be the last editor to see your work but will only focus on surface-level mistakes. All major edits and reworks are cared for at prior stages.

Hiring a proofreader to edit your content before it goes live can save you from publishing simple mistakes. A proofreader will focus on these aspects of your piece to get it ready for publishing:

  • Missed spelling or grammatical errors.
  • Awkward sentence wording.
  • Typographical errors.
  • Formatting inconsistency.
  • Having a second set of eyes to look over your project is never a bad investment.

Hiring a Freelancer Vs. a Professional Content Editor

When hiring an editor, you have many options to choose from, but no service will offer you the same flexibility and variety as us.

At this blog, we employ seasoned professionals to match all your editor needs. With worldwide experience, our teams can match any localization market and grammar style. Our trusted team can edit at large capacities, with faster turnarounds than freelance writers.

A content editor is vital to your marketing success. They ensure your articles and posts are correctly structured, well-formatted, and read correctly.

Our editors will revise your work promptly and give you detailed reviews and revisions you can’t get anywhere else. Our extensive quality pre-checks and attention to detail will make your work error-free in no time.

We prioritize your privacy. Confidentiality is key, ensuring your work will stay secure through the entire editing process. Whether you want a one-time proofreader or a team of editors to process your project from beginning to end, we’ve got you covered.

Freelancers are expensive, with varying quality and vague timelines. With us, you are a part of the team. Whether you need a fast revision, outline adjustment, or detailed overview, we are here for you.

Fast, affordable, and detailed we are ready to serve. Sample our work with a free demo today for a firsthand look at our unbeatable quality.

Conclusion

Content editors perform a vital service to blogs, websites, and digital content creators. They’re the eagle-eyed watchers that ensure only the finest content makes it to the publishing stage. However, it’s a challenging and time-consuming process that most content creators just don’t have time for. Luckily, you don’t have to waste precious project time self-editing; hire a professional to do it for you. Our specialty team of content editors is ready to get you the help you need, fast. Request a free demo today, and let us turn your rough draft into a final copy.

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28Dec

Types of Digital Marketing (with examples)

December 28, 2022Online Marketing

When you run a business, you need to figure out how to reach potential customers who want the products or services you offer. Traditional marketing can work, but it’s old-fashioned and limited. There are newer, better ways to market your brand.

With smartphones and easier access to the internet, modern consumers are going digital. The best place to reach these technologically savvy prospects is through virtual platforms.

So, if you plan to create a new website or develop your social media presence to reach your target audience and grow your business, then you need to know how digital marketing works.

How digital marketing works?

a. What Is Digital Marketing?

Whenever you use the internet to inform people about your brand, you’re doing digital marketing. You can use any type of digital marketing channel including social media, email, and content marketing to engage potential consumers.

b. Why Is Digital Marketing Important?

There are many reasons to move toward digital marketing. It is a more affordable way to reach a wider audience and directly engage with them. You can also gather valuable insights from digital marketing campaigns so you can make better decisions.

Let’s dig deeper to understand why and how digital marketing works.

1. Minimize Advertising Costs

The high cost of traditional marketing is a challenge for small businesses. And, you always have to compete with large businesses for ad space.

Digital marketing can be a small business savior. Read on to learn how digital marketing works to help minimize marketing expenses and reach a larger audience.

2. Reach a Larger Audience

Digital marketing defies the limitations of your physical location — you can reach more people wherever they are. Connect with people across the world and on the go when potential consumers use their mobile devices to access the web.

3. Target Your Ideal Customers

Traditional marketing strategies like radio advertisements and billboards can be a leap in the dark. You might have a specific audience in mind, but you don’t know whether those marketing mediums reach them or not.

Digital marketing makes it easier to ensure you reach the right people for your content. With search engine optimization (SEO), you can connect with clients that are purposely searching for what you have to offer. Similarly, pay-per-click and social media strategies empower you to target the type of consumer who will be interested in your products and services.

4. Get Important Insight into Your Marketing Campaign Efforts

Because of its digital nature, it’s much easier to assess whether the type of digital marketing you’re using is working or not. You can see how many website visitors you get, what content they view most, and how long they spend on specific pages. You use the information to adjust your campaign and enhance future marketing efforts.

Proper digital marketing analysis will also help you allocate resources and budget. This reduces unnecessary expenses and keeps you focused on the strategies that get the best results.

5. Offer Clients an Effective Customer Engagement Platform

With digital marketing, not only can you reach the customers who are most likely to be interested in your products or services, but you can also get their feedback. Have a real-time one-on-one conversation and gain valuable insight into your brand. This a privilege you won’t get from traditional marketing methods.

What Are Some Examples of Digital Marketing?

If you’re still wondering how digital marketing works in real life, here are a few practical examples.

1. Pay-Per-Click (PPC)

Pay-per-click (PPC) marketing, also called search advertising, is a type of digital marketing that empowers you to pay only for the clicks you get on your ad. PPC campaigns involve a thorough search and analysis of keywords relevant to your product or service. You can use applications such as Google AdWords or Google Keyword Planner for your keyword research.

Among the most common types of PPC, providers are Google Ads. The quality score of your website will determine whether you get a spot on Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs).

Other channels that use PPC include Sponsored Messages on LinkedIn and paid Facebook ads.

2. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO utilizes tactics that help you rank higher on SERPs so you can reach more potential customers. On-page SEO is everything you do on your website to win clients including engaging content and great website design.

Off-page SEO is everything you do outside the website including the use of backlinks. SEO can help you optimize your digital presence and increase conversion rates when you act as a blogger for your website’s content.

3. Email Marketing

Email marketing is a fantastic way to boost interest and awareness from potential clients that already like your business enough to join your mailing list.

A smart digital marketer uses a variety of marketing channels to add leads to their email list. To build an email list, you need to create engaging content for your target customers so they can see the value of hearing what you have to say.

When you send out emails to the people on your email list, you need to write enticing subject lines and define the best time to send emails.

The contents of your emails can be:

  • General newsletter information from your business
  • New product and or service announcements
  • Special event invitations.
  • Coupons and special offers

The idea is to use your emails to nurture your client relationships and improve customer retention.

4. Video Marketing

Video is a wonderful medium for conducting a marketing campaign that showcases your products or services. High-quality video content helps increase customer engagement and boosts website traffic. YouTube is the second most popular search engine after Google with more than two billion users. Lots of potential customers search for information on YouTube before making a purchasing decision.

You can use video marketing on YouTube or Facebook to demonstrate products or services and educate your viewers.

5. Social Media Marketing (SMM)

Social media has dominated digital media lately. According to Statista, as of 2021, there are 3.78 billion social media users worldwide.

Popular social media channels include:

  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • Pinterest
  • Facebook

The greatest benefits of social media are its accessibility and affordability. When you market on these platforms, your aim should be to create brand awareness and build social trust among your followers and the wider digital population.

If you have a WordPress website, you can streamline your digital marketing and increase engagement by adding social media plugins to your web pages.

6. Affiliate Marketing

When you do affiliate marketing, you don’t directly promote your products or services. Instead, you incentivize other content creators (affiliates) to advertise your product. You give affiliates a unique link and whenever a reader clicks on it and makes a purchase, the content creator earns a commission. 

Many companies, including Bluehost, offer affiliate programs. It’s an easy way to outsource your digital marketing without an upfront cost.

7. Content Marketing

Content marketing involves creating assets that answer specific questions in a user’s mind.

Your content might include:

  • Webinars
  • Blogs
  • Online tutorials
  • E-books
  • Infographics
  • Podcasts

Your content marketing efforts should be geared towards providing high-quality content and relevant resources to your audience. You don’t want your content to feel like an advertisement. Instead, help people solve their problems and make decisions as they experience your brand.

What Does a Digital Marketer Do?

The basic role of a digital marketer is to generate leads and build brand recognition using various types of digital marketing strategies, including:

  • Social media
  • Websites
  • Online advertisements
  • Email marketing

A digital marketer should understand how digital marketing works across the digital channels they are using. Let’s explore some of the topics digital marketers need to understand.

Basic Video Editing

Apart from improving your rank on Google’s SERPs, videos can improve user engagement. A solid understanding of how to edit and write video scripts is crucial.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

It’s important to have a deep understanding of how search engine marketing (SEM) works. You also need to be fluent in SEO best practices to maximize your online marketing efforts.

Content Marketing

Online marketing is virtually impossible without valuable content. A digital marketer should understand all aspects of online media and why high-quality content is important to successful marketing campaigns.

Digital marketers ensure virtual content is truly useful and relevant to solve your customers’ issues. Don’t forget: SEO engines rank better quality webpages and information higher in the SERPs.

Data Analysis

It is crucial that digital marketers not only understand how to generate and gather data but also how to analyze and use the information. Base your decisions on consumer behavior and you’ll make better choices on website optimization, attracting new customers, and retaining current customers.

Digital Technologies

A digital marketer must understand how to use various aspects of technology in marketing. They should also stay informed about the latest changes and adapt quickly to new standards.

Skills with content management systems (CMS), coding, and an assortment of digital marketing tools and services can make a digital marketer especially well-suited for their job. What Businesses Does Digital Marketing…

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