Must Market

2016 Year of the Story
Telling e-commerce stories is HARD. When we tested narrative on the e-commerce site I managed conversions tanked. Conversons tanked because we did it wrong (lol).

This post riffs a video game developer post from Gamasutra. What does e-commerce and video games have to do with one another? Read our Curagami post to find out:

http://www.curagami.com/new-ecommerce-story-rules/

Why I'm Not A SEO in 3 Parts

Why Not A SEO #1
Blue Oceans on Scenttrail Marketing 
http://www.scenttrail.com/why-im-not-an-seo/ 

Why Not SEO #2
Used Car Salesmen LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-im-seo-martin-marty-smith 

Why Not SEO #3
Confusingly Similar & the Psychology of Great Web Marketers
on Curagami
http://www.curagami.com/magical-thinking/new-seo/why-im-not-a-seo-3/  

Everything Is Harder Suddenly everything online seems harder. Or there may be a slow drip with energy and value leaking out seemingly unrecoverable. Google’s algorithmic haircuts hurt no matter how realization dawns. This post is about how to recover, regain and reposition your website after traffic, conversions and money are dealt an injury by an algorithm change by the Google Gods.

Follow these 5 Easy Steps to Recover:

• Stop, Wait & Listen.
• Analytics Deep Dive.
• Create New KPIs.
• Back In To Blue Oceans.
• Create Community.

Possibly "easy" is the wrong word (lol). First STOP whatever you've been doing since "old SEO" tactics don't work anymore. Next figure out where to go that new and start testing. This Curagami post shares several Haiku Decks and explains each of those 5 "Recovery" tips.

This original research by Internet Retailer offers insights into whats driving growth in sales conversion among Americas leading web merchants.

Marty Note
Listening to David Payton discuss the cool conversion report FedEx created with Internet Retailer:

1. Free Shipping = top way to convert visitors to buyers.
Some will even opt for a slower time for free shipping. Some want ship to store. Free shipping is "essential" said VP Marketing David Payton at SMB Conference today.

2. Responsive = device agnostic.
The ability to see the site and have the site function across platforms is key. Company in David's slide deck saw a 40% increase in conversion from responsive design.

3. Email Marketing Still Matters
David's and FedEx's study shows email is still very important. Persoans and personalizing emails is key. No more batch and blast.

4. Ratings and Reviews
Ratings and reviews boost online sales 62%. David referenced a Bazaar Voice review. Add one product review = 10% product review. From 0 to 30 increase 30%, 0 reviews to 100 = 37% sales increase.

5. Loyalty
Easier to sell those who are already in the boat. Make sure you value and reward those who are loyal to you.

Social Media: It’s The conversation, stupid Are You Listening? Why is it so hard for institutions and companies to listen? Here is a sequence of social marketing I created to support the James Cancer Hospital that underscores how listening creates opportunity in a social / mobile / connected time. 

You are playing a game. Once more than one person is involved games have begun. Online communities must disrupt and gamify to win.

Value, Experience & The New SEO
I'm having five related conversations across three social nets right now about  #contentmarketing  ,  #contentcuration  and #SEO with @Robin Good@Brian Yanish - MarketingHits.comand @David Amerlandthis post pulls these threads together in a single place.

"David's idea is all of factors will align at some point in the not very distant future. Points such as:

* What makes money.
* The value of an experience NOW and over time.
* Value as a function of Uniqueness / Scarcity.
* The social REPUTATION and AUTHORITY of a brand or curator."

Brian suggested we have a debate and I think that is a great idea. Will see if we can put together a HOA on content marketing, engagement and the new SEO soon. In the meantime I'm sure everyone will chime in on this G+ post.

SMM For Startups
Great tips here for #startups including:

Content Shock Meets Community Shock
Building on Mark Schaefer's brilliant Content Shock ideas the next web marketing tsunami will be Community Shock. Community Shock is when adding one more member DEPRESSES instead of LIFTS a site's ROI (because cost of acquiring new members became unsustainably high due to intense competition). 

Marty Note: Email Matters
Your email list is something you own. You've earned the right to NOT pay Google or anyone else when you communicate with your email list. The value of the list is HUGE.

We saw a monetary value of $100 a subscriber recently and there are times when you email list can be worth many multiples of that such as:

* When your organic rankings take a huge hit thanks to an algorithm change.
* During peak sales times.

* To create sustainable online community.
* To increase sales.

* To bolster SEO and then increase sales.

Here is a great and simple list for how to increase the size of your email list:

1. Subscribe Button

2.  Ask Your Readers

3.  Give Incentives

4. Speed Up Website

5. Offer A Free Course

6. Squeeze Page

7. Guest Blogging

8. Implement Hello Bar

9. Video Call To Action

10. Scroll Box

11. Feature Box

12. Sumo Me

13.  QR Code

14. Trade Shows

The Problem of Web Copy
Today a friend shared copy that fought itself. He was trying to tell two stories at once. You can't tell two stories at once without reader confusion. I suggested combining the two very cool elements he wanted to mash together into a single story.

"Think of each element as a character in the story, in a story where difference between them will become zero at resolution," I suggested. The conversation reminded me of why storytelling is the future of web copy and why storytelling online is different than writing novels.

Online NOW is the only time that matters, so even historical reference needs to be shared in present tense. Wandering down a historical path is a sure prescription for readers wandering off. Find more online storytelling tips in the G+ post.

Community shock is what comes after March Schaefer's content shock. This post shares 3 quick tips for winning the coming race to create online community:

* Social - embracing social media marketing.

* Mobile - operating mobile first and crating responsive websites.

* Gamification - using the 4th pillar of building online community to attain the scale and return every Internet marketer needs.

We at Everhour share startup marketing tips and tricks together with the first-hand experience on different promotion tactics.