It’s every performance marketer’s worst nightmare. You’ve logged long hours piecing together a campaign plan, convinced that you’ve found the formula that will win over target audiences and convince them to purchase a product, fill out a form, or enrol in a free trial. Despite all the effort, the fruits of your labour are lacklustre and the cost per acquisition (CPA) is uncomfortably high.

Fortunately, a carefully planned, well-executed campaign strategy can fend off this nightmare scenario, lowering your CPA and delivering desired results. Follow these five steps and you’ll see your CPA trending in the right direction: downward.

1. Know your audience

A surefire way to send your CPA soaring is by lacking an understanding of your target audience.

To better define your audience, make sure you’re asking the right questions. What action do you want them to take? What’s the level of connection between you and your audience? What messages resonate with them? Do they find your ad compelling? For example, fintech marketers will want to know the financial goals of their audiences – are their users going on vacation, or looking to pay off their student loan?

Answering such questions will prove indispensable in placing the right ad in front of the right audience. Harness the power of tools like Facebook Insights and Google Analytics to gain actionable insights on audience interests and to segment your audiences accordingly.

2. Segment as much as possible

As any experienced marketer can attest, there is such a thing as casting too wide a net. User segmentation can help you avoid this common pitfall.

To create different campaigns, you need different data. Aim for as many seed audiences as possible; each seed represents a different audience segment.  Seed audiences are built using a  range of actions; people who watched a video and engaged with social content, repeat purchasers, etc.  The more seeds you have, the more campaigns you can build.  Try targeting repeat buyers, customers with high lifetime value (LTV), those who bought specific products, those who are prone to purchase during a specific season, and so on. Segmenting by key demographics and customer behaviour will help ensure that your campaign reaches those most likely to perform the actions you want.

3. Diversify your creatives

The fundamental logic behind audience segmentation is clear-cut: A campaign that resonates with one particular audience at one particular time will not necessarily click with another demographic at a different time. Look at your CTAs, creatives, and ad copy. Use A/B testing to gauge the resonance of different content, and execute accordingly.

It’s foolhardy to only display the same ads to the same segmented audience for a prolonged time. Even if you’ve found a winning formula and pinpointed your highest-quality audience segment, your customers are not immune to banner blindness. Mix and match between different audience segments and offers to increase the likelihood of reaching the right audience segments, with the right messages, at the most opportune moments. There are times when all it takes are different graphics behind the same slogan to motivate users – a holiday look and feel around December and a tropical look and feel a few weeks later both are relevant to users when they see a banner that reminds them to balance their accounts.  They say an image speaks a thousand words – let that truism work for you.

To maximise the effectiveness of your performance planning, it’s crucial to decide on your ads’ optimal frequency. On Facebook, among the best time-tested practices is to set your ad frequency to lower than five.

4. Add more targeting layers

It’s readily obvious that only content that resonates with your audience stands a chance of generating results. Less obvious is figuring out which messages will hit it out of the park and which will strikeout.

Precise targeting is therefore paramount in promoting your offers to different segments. For instance, if you are selling shoes, you may not only want to target people who purchased shoes during a specific season, but also those who like, say, red shoes.

Facebook and Google’s arsenals are well-stocked with user data that you can wield to plan impactful campaigns that target audiences according to their unique identities. Don’t let that data go to waste.

5. Peeling away the mystique

The dynamics of the marketing industry are ever-evolving, but identifying robust strategies for lowering CTA remains an ongoing challenge. But driving down costs is far from an elusive goal. By asking the right questions, pinpointing target audiences, smartly leveraging audience segmentation, and optimising your content for key segments, you’ll ensure that the long hours of meticulous planning for your performance campaign was time well spent.

The post Facebook Advertising: Five ‘Secret’ Steps to Lower CPA appeared first on PerformanceIN.

Are your company’s SEO efforts in a rut?

If you’re churning out content only to see your rankings remain stagnant, chances are you’ve fallen prey to common SEO myths. To attract more eyeballs and drive conversions, while trends in SEO are constantly evolving, there are some practices you’ll want to avoid regardless of the latest algorithm change.

Here’s a look at four of the most common myths pervading the SEO world – and how marketers can better position their companies for SEO success.

Myth #1: Lots of content generates higher rankings

Reality: Quality trumps quantity

Spending more time honing fewer pieces of content may seem counterintuitive, but it’s a far superior method of driving results than turning your marketing team into a content factory.

Google’s algorithm rewards content that delivers relevant results to searchers. This often entails thoroughness: An analysis of Google search results found that the average first-page result contains 1,890 words. Fifteen pieces of content that barely scratch the surface of a topic will be drowned out by a more comprehensive page that packages information in a compelling and user-friendly manner. Such content will be shared by more users and enjoy a longer shelf life.

Myth #2: More backlinks mean higher rankings

Reality: One quality link can be more beneficial than many poor ones

Inbound links from highly-trafficked and relevant sites will give your site a significant search boost, whereas links from obscure, low-quality sites are ineffective at best and can actually damage your site’s link profile.

Of course, many backlinks from many stellar sites are even better than a handful of such backlinks – but as with the content on your own website, emphasizing quality over volume is crucial. Ensuring that your website is up to snuff can help generate premium backlinks.

Myth #3: Content must be lengthy to climb the ranks

Reality: Search intent should define content development

While it’s true that the average first-page result skews longer, that doesn’t mean that you should strive for lengthiness in all cases. User intent matters.

So when should you opt for lengthiness, and when is brevity the soul of SEO success? Viewing each case through the searcher’s lens can help guide your path. Consider a user searching for “top tourist attractions in London.” A piece titled “15 London Tourist Attractions You Can’t Miss” is likelier to spark her interest than one titled “2 Top Tourist Attractions in London.” The former post gives her far more to work with, and while the latter page may indeed provide some handy information, it’s unlikely to be the first page she visits, given its dearth of options.

But say our tourist has arrived in London and is conducting a search for “vegan pizza restaurant in Notting Hill.” In this case, she’ll need short and to-the-point results reflective of her navigational intent.

It’s not complicated: To draw more users, optimize content according to what it is they’re searching for.

Myth #4: A high search ranking is enough to accomplish your KPI

Reality: Traffic is great, but it’s only the first step to conversions

If you’re luring a high volume of users only to see them leave your site without taking action, your content strategy needs some rejiggering. Ensure that your landing page features a clear call to action and is optimized for conversions. Utilize A/B testing to determine which messages ultimately move users to perform desired actions.

In SEO, the intent is a two-way street. Developing your content through the prism of both the user and your company is key to an SEO strategy that generates both traffic and results.

The post It’s Time to Bust These Four Common SEO Myths appeared first on PerformanceIN.

One decade after Google launched the Voice Search app for the iPhone, continued advances in artificial intelligence and voice recognition technology have ushered in a voice search revolution.

Ten years on, the ascendance of voice search has marketers across sectors scrambling to pinpoint and implement the right strategies for capitalising on its potential. And there’s potential galore; Voice searches already account for more than one billion searches each month, per Alpine.AI’s most recent statistics, and by 2020, half of all searches will be voice searches, ComScore projects.

While such figures underscore the pressing need for marketers to adapt, the question of how to do so effectively has proven a vexing one. For affiliate marketers, long-tail keywords are an indispensable piece of the puzzle. By successfully leveraging these three- to four-keyword phrases, you will significantly increase your content’s visibility, widen your reach with target audiences, and maximise your SEO strategy’s impact. Here’s how:

Step 1: Take a deep dive into your target audiences

It’s one thing to know who you want to reach. But how much do you actually know about your target audiences – their online behaviour, their search habits, their expectations, their receptiveness to different messages…

Search engines and competitor site statistics offer a treasure trove of data providing answers to such questions. To create truly impactful campaigns, marketers should harness this data to develop a fuller understanding of what exactly their target audiences are looking for, and which long-tail keywords they are likely to use when searching by voice.

Step 2: Predict

Think about how your audiences speak in everyday conversations – because that’s how they’ll be conducting their voice searches. By anticipating conversational voice tones and specific questions your audiences have, you can turn them into long-tail keywords that will direct them toward the content they’re looking for while boosting your SEO rankings – a win-win.

Consider a consumer seeking a prime hotel deal. In a text query, she may well type “best hotel deals,” but in a face-to-face conversation, she would not say this out loud. Instead, she’d be more likely to say something like, “Find me the best hotel deals.” Marketers who most accurately predict conversational voice patterns will better position themselves both in search rankings and, not coincidentally, to win over the consumer.

Step 3: Plan for micro-moments

When it comes to voice search, long-tail keywords define micro-moments – short windows of opportunity when consumers are ready to act. These searches also define consumer intent. For instance, a consumer who voice-searches “Find the best Thai restaurants near me” is expressing more urgency and explicit intent than one who types a query for “best Thai restaurants New York”. In the former case, you have a consumer who wants a delectable drunken noodle and doesn’t want to travel far to enjoy it.

While we know that the text searcher is interested in quality Thai fare, it’s less clear when he wants it, and he’s not restricting his search to any particular neighbourhood.  Amid mobile-centricity and the rise of voice search, the importance of micro-moments has been magnified. With users increasingly demanding instant, relevant, and personalised results, it’s more important than ever to develop your content with these moments top of mind.

Step 4: Think local

Research shows that voice search queries are overwhelmingly local. Indeed, they’re about three times more likely to be locally-related than text searches, which is hardly surprising given that voice searches are taking place on mobile devices.

With “near me” searches soaring on Google, marketers should plan accordingly. Optimise your website for long-tail keywords that answer questions specific to an immediate area.

Seizing the voice search opportunity

As voice recognition technology becomes increasingly sophisticated and more consumers discover voice search utility as a means of delivering the instant, tailored results they crave, voice search is poised for significant growth in the coming years. While the voice search market is likely to expand and develop in ways we cannot currently foresee, the difference between marketers who latch onto voice search and those who ignore its importance will mark the divide between those who are positioned for success and those who are left in the dust.

Just as the rise of Google compelled businesses to integrate SEO into their marketing strategies, the growing prevalence of voice search demands meticulous attention to voice SEO.

And though Siri may not be able to find your target audiences for you, the smart leveraging of long-tail keywords will help bring consumers your way.

The post How Affiliates Can Capitalise on Voice Search with Long-Tail Keywords appeared first on PerformanceIN.

After years of steady gains, mobile web browsing overtook desktop browsing for the first time ever in 2016. The following year, mobile surpassed desktop in global online purchases.

If these milestones highlight the growing centrality of mobile in everyday web usage, they also underscore the need for marketers to optimise their mobile seats for lead generation. And while there’s no one-size-fits-all solution for mobile optimisation, marketers who display data-savviness, a deep understanding of user experience, and a commitment to relationship-building are most primed to turn their mobile sites into lead generation engines.

Here’s a guide to getting there.

Emphasise user experience to generate more conversions

A sleek, seamless mobile site isn’t a sufficient condition for customer acquisition, but it’s increasingly a necessary one. While a quality site won’t take you very far if you’re hawking products consumers don’t want, a third-rate mobile site will drive potential customers away.

Few bugs alienate more users than a site that’s slow to load. To maximise site speed, consider having images that load as users scroll down the page, rather than populating your page with images that load simultaneously and slow load times.

Once users are browsing your mobile site, they should have ready access to your contact information. Click-to-call icons allow customers to easily and conveniently get in touch. Your mobile users will especially appreciate instant access to this information; after all, mobile’s ascendance was fueled by the public’s demand for instantaneousness – whether in communication, in navigation, or in finding the best burger in town.

It’s also vital to prioritise the way users receive information on your site. Your mobile site design is different from your desktop site design. When it comes to mobile design, individual bits of information you display to your visitors on the desktop can be deleted; the most important thing is to decide what information to remove. The key to success lies in ensuring users have all the essential information without being overwhelmed – and it doesn’t take a marketing wizard to tell you that what’s digestible on desktop may well constitute information overload on a mobile device.

Keep tabs on your site’s lead generation process

Mobile’s on-the-go nature is its chief attraction for users, and your site’s lead generation process should reflect that. How, then, to maximise efficiency and effectiveness?

Consider your site’s content. Start with the headlines. Because mobile screens do not provide the same amount of space as desktop screens, short yet informative headlines are the way to go. In crafting the best website copy, knowledge of your user base is of the essence. Messaging should be clear-cut and the site should be devoid of rivers of uninterrupted text; find ways to crisply and compellingly tap into your customers’ interests, likes, and psyches.

In plotting the flow of your mobile site’s content, it can prove highly useful to generate heat maps that illuminate which areas of your site spark the most interest. This information can be leveraged to prioritize information and determine which content appears above and below the fold.

What about your most engaged users? To easily facilitate customer service engagements, make sure your contact form stands out. Use contrasting colours. If it fits your business, add a click-to-call icon.

After customers have been acquired, mobile can play a key role in retention efforts. Cultivate relationships with “thank you” pages, which have proven a meaningful way of deepening relationships and fostering greater customer affinity for brands. To optimise your post-purchase pages, make sure that they include a mix of any following offer’s most critical components.

To put meat on the bones of your mobile operation, learn how to leverage data analytics wisely. Google Analytics is a powerful tool on this front. Use it to pinpoint high-intent users and determine if they have completed desired actions. In the event that they have not, you now have the opportunity to utilize your retargeting strategy to reach them on desktop and to brainstorm new ways of optimising content and messaging to close the deal with mobile users.

In a world where mobile now reigns supreme, businesses across sectors must be mindful of the need to create interactive, pain-free mobile experiences for users. While evolving trends in mobile technology and everyday usage may keep you on your toes and force the occasional recalibration in your strategy, the plain fact is that the mobile-first era is upon us. Marketers who understand their target audiences’ mobile behaviour and the needs of today’s “right here, right now” consumers will find that this new era is one rich with promise and opportunity.

The post How to Turn Your Mobile Site into a Lead Generation Engine appeared first on PerformanceIN.