The vast majority of companies operate in highly competitive industries and dynamically developing markets. Starting a business in such an environment should be preceded by a reflection on the business model. The lack of a well-thought-out strategy in a competitive market usually leads to price competition, which automatically lowers the profitability of the business and leads to meeting the customer’s expectations without meeting the company’s needs. Creating business models avoids similar situations. So it’s time to take a look at what a business model is.

Business model – what is it? Business model definition

A company’s business model, also known as an economic model, is a plan that creates a company to generate income and maximize operating profit. In other words, it is a document that describes all the logic that will enable a given company to earn money. The business model is therefore central to most business plans and is an opportunity to create a thriving, profitable business.

Elements of the business model

The purpose of the business model is to plan how you will create value for your customers and then how you will deliver it to them. In addition, this plan answers the questions: when should your business start, how can it grow and when will you know you have been successful? Each thoroughly developed business model should consist of four basic elements. Here they are:

WHO is the customer of the company?
Targeting your offer to a wide audience will not allow your company to focus on customers who really need your product or service. Therefore, when creating a business model, it is worth limiting the group of recipients to two or three precisely defined persons. We have prepared some sample questions for you that you can ask yourself to create a clear picture of your customers:

– How old is your client?
– Does she have children?
– What is his profession?
– Where he lives? – What are his passions?
– What do I need?
– How does he make purchasing decisions?
– What social networks does it use?
– Why should he choose your product or service?
– What may prevent him from taking advantage of your offer?

WHAT value do you offer?
The second element of the business model defines the value you intend to provide to your audience to meet their needs and expectations. Think about what product or service you can offer to your target customers and describe it in as much detail as possible.

HOW will you deliver value to your customers?
Think about what methods, tools or technologies you will use to deliver defined value to your clients. Also think about how at this stage you can stand out from the competition that offers similar products or services. This will tell you what you can do differently to more completely meet the needs of your target customers.

WHY should the client take advantage of your offer?
To define the fourth element of the business model, you may consider why your target customer should leave their current supplier and take advantage of your offer. What are the benefits of making him take risks and partner with you? Why should the customer pay you? It is worth considering how he will be able to make this payment.

Of course, business models do not have to (and should not) be limited to just defining the above four elements. In your analysis, you can also include information on how you will implement the developed model to your business, whether you will establish cooperation with some business partners, and what strategic resources your company has at its disposal.

Before starting to build a business model, it is worth getting to know the market and its trends well. The collected data should be real and reliably verified. Otherwise, you risk developing your model based on wrong assumptions.

Business model – how to do?

Building business models is basically asking yourself the right questions to get the necessary information from the four areas defined above. Before that, however, it is necessary to choose the right tool with which you will be able to collect all the necessary data in a way that will allow you to use it in the future for business development. Experts in the field of creating business models use many different methods in their practice. One of the most popular and used is the Canvas model.

Canvas model

The Canvas model allows you to create business models by presenting them on a single page in the form of a table. This quick and synthetic process also helps you prepare for an oral presentation of your project. This tool will work for almost any type of business, regardless of the scale and type of value offered. It enables verification of the consistency between what will be sold and why, to whom, how and for how much. At the same time, Canvas allows you to map key design elements, understand the interactions between them and organize them.

Several methods can be used to create a Canvas business model. The best known and currently widely used method was proposed by Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur. According to the authors’ assumption, the Canvas model consists of 9 elements:

– customer segments,
– value proposition,
– key partners,
– key activities,
– key resources,
– channels,
– customer relationship,
– cost structure.

The individual blocks of the Canvas business model form an inseparable whole, which in the final form constitutes the business model of the enterprise.

Business model – an example

There is no one perfect exemplary business model. Business models can be categorized in a variety of ways, based on many different market relationships. Moreover, companies rarely use only one type of model. The most advantageous option is to create your model, which will be a combination of several different types. The most popular classification of business models is based on the relationship between an enterprise and its customers and distinguishes the following types of models:

– B2C (Business-to-Customer): companies target their offer to individual clients,
– B2B (Business-to-Business): the enterprise offers value to other companies,
– C2C (Customer-to-Customer): exchange of goods between consumers,
– P2P (Peer-to-Peer): sharing files on the Internet without the need to transfer them through the main server,
– E- or m-commerce: consists of selling products and making transactions via the Internet and mobile devices.

To inspire you even more, here are some examples of other popular business models.

A. Production and distribution
Production is a classic business model. It consists in transforming raw materials into products intended to be placed on the market. Example: an artisan selling his wares.

B. Franchise
In this model, the franchisee adopts the concept of the franchisor who grants permission to use his idea. In exchange for the possibility of using a model whose profitability has been proven, the franchisee is obliged to pay the franchisor a fixed part of his turnover. Example: fast food restaurant chains.

C. Rent
This business model is to charge customers for using a product or service for a specified period of time without making a purchase. As a result, consumers gain access to goods that they may not be able to afford or simply do not want to buy. Example: car rental.

D. Advertising
The advertising model is one of the oldest and still developed business models. The customer pays for visibility to disseminate his message through a variety of media. Example: Ads offered by Google on the search results page.

A long but profitable process

A business model is a specific recipe that will become the basis for the success of your future business if well prepared. However, if you already run a business, regardless of whether your company is a startup or rather a business that can be described as traditional, it is important that you thoroughly analyze your model, because thanks to this you can effectively improve the performance of your enterprise. Do you feel that you need support in creating or developing your e-commerce business model? Please do not hesitate to contact us. Thanks to an in-depth diagnosis of the economic model, we effectively help our clients to question their business models and improve them, or to design and implement completely new solutions.

It’s best to use methods that have proven themselves many times. Of course, you can rely on momentary inspiration, dazzle or a rush of ingenuity, but if you want to achieve consistently good results, bet on what just works.

Persuasion in sales copywriting boils down to the use of proven principles. Copywriters who are convincing know how to appeal to specific human desires and needs. Their understanding and ability to use this in the texts will allow you to increase the effectiveness of your messages, i.e. the strength of their persuasion. But what are the rules of knowledge? Let me explain!

People value what is not enough

This rule says that people are more willing to buy a product that is (or will be soon) short of. This means that the value of a given item increases as its availability decreases. Some products are bought because of their usability, appearance or capabilities, and others because of their uniqueness.

Sales copywriting uses this dependence for a long time and in various forms. See how you can increase the value of your product or service in the eyes of customers, guided by the principle of shortage.

A. Quantity
“Limited Edition”, “Collector’s Edition” – these are messages whose limitation refers to quantity. They work great in B2C sales. It is used by footwear and clothing brands, producing children’s toys and many others.

Example:
“Only 200 pairs of limited edition XYZ fluorescent shoes will go on sale on Friday!”

B. Time
In the context of this limit, products are sold within a specified time frame. This can be seen great on the online course market. The authors, long before opening sales, intensively promote their product, then opening its sale for only a few days or a week. Time pressure makes people make purchasing decisions faster – they are aware that the offer is not eternal.

What do these messages look like? Maybe you associate mailings like:
“Last 2 hours! We are closing the sale of the XYZ course in a moment ”

C. Threat
If you do not take specific action, the existing privilege or convenience will disappear. This method may be associated with a shortage of time, but here it is about permanently depriving the recipient of a specific opportunity – this is the basis of the message, not the deadline. See:

“The plan to close the local confectionery factory is due to the low number of visitors. So take your toddler there or lose this opportunity! “

D. Targeting
The product or service is directed to a selected, specific group of customers. These may be people who have previously bought a specific item and now you would like to sell them something else. It is worth pointing out that the offer is only available to them because, for example, they have fulfilled certain conditions.

“How is your new coffee machine working? Because as one of the few customers you bought it online from us, you can get coffee capsules 50% cheaper! “

E. Invitation
The service is available only to people who will be invited, e.g. by one of the current users. This not only builds the impression of inaccessibility and exclusivity, but also increases curiosity.

“Our new functionality is currently only available in beta. You must receive an invitation with a link to access it. “

From a psychological point of view, the shortage principle used in sales copywriting is effective because it is based on the loss of some opportunity and fear of regret.

If a product is available all the time, the customer feels confident and at ease – he knows that he can buy it at any time. He has the freedom to choose whether he will do it now or in a week. However, when you suddenly limit its availability, the customer loses this opportunity and reacts against this change by buying a product.

At the same time, people have a strong fear of regret, that is, they are afraid that if they do not buy the product now, when they have the opportunity, then they will regret it. If this fear is strong enough, it is easier for them to spend money – they treat this investment as a form of security.

Traps

When using the principle of shortage in your copywriting, remember to do it properly. If you want it to work in favor of your offer, you must use it in a thoughtful way. Below are three basic rules that you need to keep in mind.

– Deficiency should not be the main advantage / value of the offer – it’s just an add-on that strengthens the basic message,
– If you produce something massively and at the same time try to support sales, e.g. with the slogan “limited collection”, do not count on spectacular effects. Similarly with discounts: if the same “Last sale days” banners have been hanging from store display cabinets for several weeks, people will quickly stop believing in this sale. Your message must be consistent with what you really do,
– Not every product / service can or should be promoted with the support of the shortage principle. The sales model for everyone, without any quantitative or temporal restrictions is also appropriate. Which path you choose depends on the overall brand strategy and the campaign.

Sales copywriting often raises sympathy

We buy more willingly than those we like. Among other things, this is why well-known actors, singers and popular Youtubers appear so often in commercials. People are more likely to follow the directions of the people they identify with, who are familiar, have similar views or are a role model or authority for them.

How can a copywriter use the crush principle as a form of persuasion? After all, he does not meet his recipients face to face. Only words are available. Or maybe a word?

Usually, sales texts focus immediately on the benefits of purchasing a given product or service. However, if you want to arouse sympathy at the beginning, you can start the content with a skillfully written compliment. See an example:

“If you work remotely, you know perfectly well that it doesn’t mean all day in bed with a laptop on your lap. If you work effectively, you probably already have a great time management or avoid distractions. To make 100% remote work you need to solve only one problem … “

Such an introduction shows that you understand the situation of the recipient, identify with him and at the same time appreciate how much he has achieved on his own. In this way, as a copywriter, you will find a common language with the reader from the very beginning, thanks to which he will be more eager to find out what you have to say to him.

The principle of sympathy, like any technique, must be used skillfully. Its foundation is proper knowledge of the recipient – his needs, everyday life and expectations. It will be difficult for you to create an effective text if you set too broad a target group. The narrower it gets, the easier it will be to personalize your message.

Write also about the disadvantages

Copywriters very often focus only on the benefits and benefits of the products or services they describe. They try to show them in superlatives, which often creates a seemingly unreal image of the offer. Because are there ideal things? They may exist, but people rarely believe in them – especially when they have to buy something.

Much faster and easier you will gain the trust of the recipient and arouse credibility when you also write about the disadvantages of your product or service. In this way you can also position it for specific clients.

Someone is looking for the cheapest solution and you offer it, but at the same time there is a doubt about quality? Explain to the customer what the lower price is for.

“Our product is cheaper because we gave up several functions almost unused by customers, and instead we focused on refining key functionalities. Thanks to this we have obtained optimal quality in relation to the price. “

Why is such a description more effective? Because it contains a logical explanation and at the same time an assurance that the basic functionalities (i.e., most likely the reason why the customer wants to buy it when it comes to the bottom price shelf) will work flawlessly.

Show the specifics

By accessing websites you can find many terms saying:

“You will achieve success with us”
“We respond quickly to any requests”

Do you know what connects them? That they actually say nothing and do not inform about anything. Because what does “success” or “quickly ” mean? Probably something different for everyone. General statements and assurances do not sound credible and poorly sell, because the recipient does not see in them specific values for themselves and their business.

By adding specific information, you can easily increase the persuasive power of your messages:

“With us you will increase your revenue by up to 30% in 6 months”
“We respond to all requests within 24 hours”

Do you see the difference? Which message would inspire your trust faster? Similarly with the customer – specific information increases the credibility of the content.

Rely on authority

Do you remember that people are more eager to buy from the ones they like? But not only from them. They value and are ready to succumb to the suggestions of those whom they consider to be experts in a given industry.

Therefore, use authority as an argument. Include in your texts expert statements (e.g. scientists in a given field), links to research or statistics. Make sure that the information you provide is well-founded.

Remember that the authority you refer to is to be an authority primarily for the recipients, it does not necessarily have to be for you. Ads very often use images of teenage stars to promote cosmetics for young girls. Of course, actresses usually have no idea if the compositions of these products are good and they themselves, e.g. pleasant to use, because they do not use them.

However, the involvement of female fans is so great that it is enough to remove their pretty face with a given cosmetic and a short description to convince the girls to buy. This is an excellent way to show how persuasive authority can be, even unjustified.

Summary

The above techniques will help you relatively easily increase the effectiveness of your sales copywriting. You don’t have to use all of them – at first, get to know your target group well, then think about which methods will be most effective in your case. Often more is not better.

What is SEO?

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is one of the ways by which you can promote your online business. The essence of SEO is such activities that Google will consider a site valuable, which will show it higher in search results. Website optimization consists in conducting activities on the site (on-site) and off-site. In addition, content on a website is extremely important in SEO. The better the texts appear on the site (both in terms of language and content), the better Google will evaluate the entire site.

In this article, we present the advantages of SEO, which – we hope – will dispel your doubts about starting positioning activities. Below are seven SEO benefits that will affect the development of your business.

Seven reasons to invest in SEO

A. Visibility on Google
98.38% of users use Google search engine (data from September 2019 according to Paraphrase-Online.com). Of this huge number, a really negligible percentage goes to the other side of the search engine – that’s why you should make sure that your keywords get the highest possible page rank. Because it is using the Google search engine that customers look for information about products and services.

The higher you go to Google, the greater the chance that a potential customer will visit your site. The benefits of SEO in the form of visibility will translate into more website traffic.

B. SEO is an opportunity for small businesses
Promoting a site on which no previous positioning activities were conducted can take from six months to even several years. For some this may seem like a long period of time, however, the effects that the website will get – if only the actions are performed correctly – can last for years.

Search engine optimization is a long-term process – stopping website optimization may result in a decrease in visibility, because Google focuses on promoting websites that are constantly expanding. In addition, remember that if you give up positioning activities, you give competitors who know the advantages of SEO, the opportunity to chase you away in search results. Regular investment in SEO brings enormous benefits, especially to growing businesses that are unable to spend on promoting such large budgets as large corporations.

With a constant budget, you build visibility of your online business for years. SEO benefits are also such that after a while you don’t have to (but you can, the effects will be even better) increase your budget significantly.

C. SEO is profit for the company
Investing in positioning with a reasonable budget and maintaining business continuity will ensure a return on investment. That is why it is worth starting a cooperation with a marketing agency, which will not only conduct a detailed audit of your website, but also plan activities for the next months, so as not to burn your budget.

A good SEO agency will not only prepare a plan for you, but will also constantly monitor the growth of individual keywords and will ensure the visibility of your website. However, don’t be put off by the lack of results after 3 months – it’s not like you don’t have any benefit from SEO. As we mentioned in point B. for SEO to be profitable, the site should be positioned for at least half a year.

The benefits and advantages of SEO are enormous when it comes to your company’s earnings. Positioning is an investment that after some time (depending on many factors, e.g. industry or your budget) will bring you significant profit while maintaining a low budget.

D. SEO is cheaper in the long run
The advantages of SEO are also a constant budget and growing effects. A well prepared SEO strategy can be cheaper than other forms of online advertising. The first half of the year is mainly an investment that, compared to other PPC ads, may seem unprofitable at first glance. However, if you survive the first phase, in which you mainly invest, then you will later appreciate these seemingly unprofitable positioning activities.

For paid advertising methods, you must pay to see results and traffic on the site. In the case of SEO after the first phase, traffic is still growing (organic searches) despite the same budget. Positioning conversions for long-term activities are simply more effective.

After some time, organic traffic continues to grow while maintaining the same budget. The costs of positioning activities do not increase drastically, as in the case of other forms of online advertising. These SEO advantages will also allow you to set a firm budget for the months and years ahead.

E. Local SEO will attract customers from the area
SEO also brings benefits to the local market. Google has long been giving users results that are based on their geolocation (e.g. GPS location).

How does it look in practice? You enter “cheap hairdresser” or “good patisserie” on Google, ignoring the city, and Google based on your location will show you the results of the nearest premises in the current area. Most of the answers to queries that the user directs to the search engine are personalized. The advantages of SEO are different, but for smaller businesses this is one of the most important, if not the most important: local positioning is also cheaper than global positioning, and for some industries it is also much more effective. A good SEO agency will tell you which type of positioning will be most profitable for your business and what exactly benefits SEO will give you.

Local positioning is often cheaper and more profitable for small businesses that address their offer to the local market.

F. SEO will show you as an expert
What are the benefits of SEO besides increasing sales? Positioning increases the visibility of the website on the internet, which translates into greater customer confidence in the brand. SEO activities also include content marketing, i.e. creating valuable content from the user’s point of view.

The more answers your questions find on your site, the faster Google will notice and position you higher. And the higher the page is on Google, the more likely they are likely to be trusted by its customers. SEO will help you achieve the image of an expert on the web, and will also show users that your employees are very knowledgeable and not afraid to share it. The more substantive content you provide to users, the more likely they will buy a product from you or pay for the service, believing that you know what you are doing. The advantages of SEO are not only influenced by increasing sales – it also increases brand awareness in the eyes of your potential customers.

The higher your business is on Google, the more likely Internet users will trust you. And people prefer to buy from experts and trusted sellers, than unknown companies.

G. SEO is advertising reaching a specific group of recipients
SEO will allow you to reach people actually interested in your offer. In the case of e.g. billboards or outdoor advertising, the message reaches both people who would be interested in leaving you money and people who will never use your services. Positioning allows you to create a model persona and match both queries and answers to the user who is your potential customer.

With well-conducted SEO activities, you don’t have to worry that part of the budget reaches people who are not interested in your offer.

What are the benefits of positioning?

Website positioning can give you above all real profit from business – sales and customers. By climbing the next positions in the search results, you have a great opportunity to reach more people who want to buy your product or use your services. The higher you go on Google, the better chance you have of increasing inquiries. And that’s what you mean, right?

Website positioning process

SEO is a long-term process worth investing in. However, it is difficult to run your own business – hiring employees, taking care of orders or accounting as well as the quality of the goods or services provided is time-consuming enough. Therefore, you should not make decisions about independent positioning hastily. In SEO agencies, positioning is done by teams consisting of several people. These are, among others, positioners, client supervisors or copywriters. Each person is responsible for a different aspect of positioning, thanks to which they can 100% focus on performing specific actions for your company. Thanks to cooperation with an SEO agency you have the chance to significantly increase your revenue.

Combining strategies

We encourage you to combine different e-marketing strategies. The combination of SEO and PPC ads, i.e. Google Ads, is particularly effective under the influence of conversions. Google Ads drives sales in the first phase, when positioning will work on itself, and then will support (with a lower budget) organic traffic, obtained through SEO.

Choosing keywords for positioning is one of the first problems you need to solve in order to best conduct further actions. In most tutorials you will come across suggestions to use the keyword tools in Google Ads. It’s also worth adding Google Ads campaigns to this list.

When choosing keywords, you’ll ask yourself a few questions that require immediate answers. Among other things: do you want to position general keywords that give you greater ranges or a long tail? Is your domain brand strong enough? Later, it remains to select phrases within a given group. There are constantly new questions. In this case, a well-run Google Ads campaign can be the answer. If you have properly invested in this advertising channel, it may prove to be a great support for you.

In Google Ads campaigns, you can extract a very large amount of data about the searched and clicked keywords and their effectiveness. Both for text and shopping ads. In both cases, you are able to check the keyword that the user entered, clicked on your ad, and then converted (or not).

Where to look for all this information?

Where to look for all this information? In the search terms report. After logging in to your Google Ads account, select Keywords from the left menu, then click Search terms in the options at the top.

You import the entire report into a spreadsheet to freely analyze the data and suddenly you discover a sea of data. There are so many keywords here that you don’t know where to start.

You can do several things:

– Leave only those phrases that have brought valuable conversions and focus on them. With this solution, I recommend taking data from a minimum of six months back, preferably one year. Then you won’t be exposed to seasonal data analysis. Additionally, you can expand your word list in the direction of long tail niche phrases.

– Leave only keywords that have a specified minimum number of impressions in the analyzed time range. Here, I also recommend relying on data from a minimum of half a year. Then sort the data by number of views, descending. It is worth referring to the quality of traffic in Google Analytics and leave those phrases that have good results or have converted.

– Group keywords by product category, e.g. filter phrases for whether they contain the word “jacket”, “pants”, “sweatshirt”, etc. Then you need to determine the potential of each of these groups and analyze their effectiveness. However, remember to leave words with the best reach and conversion rates. In this way, the list will actually contain searched and clicked phrases from a given topic.

Analyze detailed data

If you do not want to analyze such detailed data and bury yourself in a huge spreadsheet, you can use the results in Google Ads at the keyword level. You’ll find them in your campaigns. This list will allow you to evaluate phrases and similar variations in terms of efficiency and profitability for business.

You can also download this data to a spreadsheet, then filter and sort according to your needs. The main difference between this report and the previous one is that here you won’t see exactly what users enter in the search engine, only the keywords from your campaign. In addition, this report does not include data from shopping campaigns.

What can you do with a table full of keywords?

What can you do with a table full of keywords? Exactly the same as with the search terms report. Depending on the amount of time you have and the amount of data, you are able to prepare and then choose the positioning phrases that will bring the best results. However, regardless of which method you choose, you always get reliable data. Not only about the possible ranges, but also the effectiveness of these phrases (number and value of conversions and conversion rate). Thanks to this, you don’t choose keywords in the dark, based on the “can convert” principle, only according to real performance data.

Content marketing and its impact on SEO

Content marketing is one of the main factors affecting rankings in organic search results. Its use allows:

– tell Google robots what the page or subpage is about,
– contain key phrases with high potential, important from the point of view of positioning,
– increase website traffic,
– provide users with valuable and useful content,
– build the image of an expert in a given industry,
– increase conversion.

Publishing the content gives search engine robots a signal that the site is still working and is constantly updated. Unfortunately, creating new content, optimizing it in terms of search engine algorithms, and then assessing the potential in terms of profit take a long time. Therefore, before we undertake any content activities affecting website positioning, it is worth finding out what content is worth investing in.

Fresh content – does it affect positioning?

Users like not only valuable, but also current content. For the same reason, they are also valued by Google search algorithms. What is the so-called fresh content? This is content that:

– is associated with recent events that are gaining popularity (e.g. natural disasters, individual sporting events, presidential elections, information on celebrities),
– applies to events that are repeated periodically (Olympic Games, TV programs – e.g. Dancing with the Stars),
– it is updated frequently and is subject to numerous changes (e.g. product reviews, lists and rankings of the best equipment, which are updated at specified intervals).

The emergence of new, popular content arouses the interest of both current and new users – regularly published content increases website traffic and clickthrough rate (CTR), which can also affect positioning and position in organic search results.

What content should you choose? In an electronics store, attention should be drawn to an article about the most popular smartphones or useful home gadgets that improve everyday life. In turn, in the gadget store, an article about 5 best gifts for a partner may turn out to be interesting. What’s more, such content, although related to a specific event, will also be current next year.

Fresh content – what content is it?

However, it turns out that “fresh content” is not always closely associated with the date of publication. It is the search engine algorithms that decide which content will be matched to the user’s query. It may turn out that the “fresh content” will be an article from a few minutes or hours ago, but also from a dozen or so days ago or from the previous month. Example? In the case of the password associated with the presidential election, the search results appear published several dozen minutes ago, a few hours earlier and a few days earlier. In turn, the slogan “the best smartphones” we see both articles from a few days ago, and 2-3 months ago. Matching the most current results to queries related to current events is the result of two updates – from 2009 on indexing and from 2011 (the so-called Freshness Update), which affected about 35% of searches, and thanks to which today in the search engine we find content recently published.

Query Deserves Freshness – what does this mean?

Therefore, it turns out that Google algorithms prefer “fresh content” only for some queries. They are so-called Query Deserves Freshness (QDF). If Google considers the password to be “fresh”, the results will show recent material, but the time may vary – from a few minutes to several months, depending on the type of query. You can use such searches to create relevant content and increase website traffic, but it’s worth remembering that in the future, when the increased popularity of the query passes, the traffic generated by the material will also be limited. This does not mean, however, to opt out of fresh content, because they can be a source of many valuable links. What’s more, it’s worth choosing the right title for them – the year of publication visible in the search results can affect the increase in the clickthrough rate (CTR), which already has a direct impact on the position in organic results.

For queries outside Query Deserves Freshness, the date of publication of the article will not have a major impact on your search engine rankings. Examples of content for which publication time is not important include:
– recipe for pancakes,
– blog entry titled Which phone case should I choose?
– blog entry titled 5 ways to get a better night’s sleep.

In the above cases, not the date of publication will be relevant, but:
– value of user information provided,
– use of relevant key phrases in appropriate density,
– traffic generated by the subpage,
– authority of the site,
– popularity among recipients),
– valuable links to the site
– and many other factors.

Evergreen content in positioning – how to use eternally live content?

Somehow in opposition to dynamic content associated with current or cyclical events, stands the so-called evergreen content, which is eternally live content that does not become outdated despite the passage of days, months and even years and in the long run generates constant, valuable traffic. This type of content contains universal advice, tips and information that is not affected by the passage of time. The carrot cake recipe from 2020 is no different from the one from a few years ago. What materials are covered by evergreen content? Primarily:

– guides (how to choose an exterior door for your home, how to create a happy relationship),
– industry lists (5 ways to better sleep, 3 methods of coping with stress, 7 best natural cosmetics),
– case study,
– dictionaries of terms,
– answers to user questions and FAQ sections.

However, this does not mean that the content that users are looking for at all times, regardless of the season or season, does not require editing. Why? Because technology also changes over time. An example is the marketing and internet and positioning industry – the article on SEO myths from 5 years ago will look completely different from the one published in 2020. Therefore, if we have already created a text on such subjects some time ago, it is worth keeping a finger on the pulse and adapting it to the changing information and ways of positioners.

Fresh and evergreen content and SEO

Publishing new content usually involves either creating new subpages or updating existing ones. It is worth remembering, however, that adding content or updating it must be a thoughtful strategy, not “art for art’s sake.” If the newly published content does not bring value to the user, it probably will not bring you the expected benefits (more traffic, higher conversions). Therefore, when updating content, you should avoid practices such as:
– changing the publication date to keep the content up to date,
– cosmetic, minor changes on the page (in ads, user comments, JavaScript, etc.).

The higher frequency of updates of a given subpage and website generally causes Google robots to index it more often. A larger number of articles on a page or blog in this way generates more traffic, which indirectly affects positioning, but if this traffic is of little value (e.g. it will increase the bounce rate), then it does not have to be associated with an improvement in the position in organic search results. What’s more, SEO experts are multiplying examples of entries in top10 searches from pages that have not been updated for a long time. Therefore, the frequency of publication can affect website positioning, but does not have to, and there are so many ranking factors that it is difficult to predict the effects.

If the updates are not valuable to the user, then probably Google’s algorithms will not display them in high positions, and the content will not generate the increased traffic or conversions that we care about. Such actions do not make sense, because the content is created in order to achieve specific business goals.

Content recycling

Who said that created content can be used only once? The growing popularity of various forms of communication with users means that the existing material can be transformed into a slightly different one with little effort and reused. Examples?

– A tutorial entry on a blog can be a great base for an infographics or a podcast, and a series of tutorials material for an ebook.
– Multimedia presentation for training participants can be converted into a PDF guide (or vice versa).
– Graphics prepared for social media can also be found as an illustration of a blog post.

This reuse of already existing content is what we call recycling. These activities involve creating new content that is valuable to the user, based on existing content and has nothing to do with duplication. Content recycling can also consist of:
– article update, which we already have on the site,
– combining several old articles into one larger material (remember to redirect to avoid losing links to the material),
– extension of the guide,
– re-sharing the article on social media (containing content that does not become outdated).

What are the benefits of recycling content? Primarily:
– we save time – creating completely new materials would definitely require more energy,
– we attract recipients interested in a given medium (some prefer to listen to podcasts, others read blog entries),
– we are increasing the number of potential recipients,
– we support SEO and conversion – modern forms of content marketing, if properly optimized, also affect positioning,
– we “remind” the content of search engine algorithms that re-index the page, i.e. evaluate its content.

How to choose subpages that need updating?

It is worth betting on updating the content if:
– the content can (and even should) be supplemented with new, valuable information,
– the site has collected valuable links and you don’t want to lose them,
– the material ranks in the top 10 search results for interesting phrases, but does not generate conversions,
– The site has several articles on a given topic, but only one of them generates relevant traffic.

When to create a new article and when to update an existing one?

Why is it not always profitable to create a new article? Because new content, unlike existing content, doesn’t have valuable links (e.g. from social media). If we want to use their potential, and at the same time we have no idea for new material, then a good solution may be to supplement the content of an existing entry. In the case of new pages that do not yet have a lot of content, it is worth focusing on new content, because these expand the catalog of keywords, which will be visible in search results.

Step by step content update on the page

To assess which pages we should update, it’s worth focusing on a content audit. Thanks to this you will be able to verify which subpages bring the expected results, which do nothing for you, and which are potentially harmful. To this end, you can use tools that analyze the traffic generated by individual URLs. Among them are:

– Google Analytics, which shows, among others bounce rate for a given subpage and the time spent by the user on a given subpage,
– Google Search Console, indicating the number of views; if there are many views and the time spent on the subpage is short, it is a signal that the content may be unattractive.

Updating content can be divided into several stages:
A. Log in to the Google Analytics account and go to the Behavior-> Website Content-> All Pages section, where we will find the most popular entries on our blog. On this basis, we preselect pages that are worth analyzing in more detail. It is worth to read them again, compare them with similar materials available from competing companies or stores and think about whether we can expand, enrich or change our own content.
B. We use popular tools – Google Analytics and Google Search Console. The data stored in them will help us choose the elements to improve. If:
– you have a high bounce rate, increase the attractiveness of the content – for example, supplement it with eye-catching graphics, tables, charts;
– the data shows that the specific subpage has a low CTR (Click Through Rate), it is worth considering changing the meta data – title, meta description;
 – the subpage generates very few conversions, focus on visually attractive CTA (call to action).
C. After making any changes, it is worth following the results in the above-mentioned tools – in this way you will find out whether the implemented changes and enriched content actually brought the expected results.

There are content that will always be up to date. However, because technology is moving forward in many areas of information, current a few years ago, today is useless. Therefore, it is worth looking at your site in this respect and checking whether we can improve, update or improve the previously created content. To this end, you can bet on:
– interesting combinations (e.g. data in a table or in the form of diagrams),
– infographics,
– updating statistical data,
– posting the opinions of other industry experts.

It may also be necessary to verify keywords – phrases popular in the past do not have to be today. It is also worth interfering with internal linking. Why? Because while we often place links to existing entries in new content, we often forget to update existing entries with links to new subpages or blog content.

Content update and conversions

One way to increase conversions is to update and enrich the content. Many SEO experts have achieved amazing results in this way. Ireneusz Iwański (Paraphrase-Online.com) increased the conversion rate from 0.54% to 4.82% in one day. An important content update can also be condensing information in one place. Lists with interesting links also attract users and increase conversions. How can this trend be used? If you’re writing an article about featured groups on Facebook, provide links to them. If you create a post about tools for a positioner, put in it links to pages of specific tools.

Use the potential of content in positioning.

The Content is King slogan is still alive, but in order for content published on our website to have a positive impact on positioning, you need to spend a lot of time and work. What’s more, user preferences and technologies are constantly changing, and website and blog owners must keep up with them. If we do not have time to create content on our website and update it, as well as regularly enrich or supplement and analyze the results, it is worth focusing on cooperation with an SEO agency. It employs both positioners responsible for technical optimization of the site, as well as content marketing specialists. Thanks to this, the team of experts will not only create valuable materials for the user, but will also update and enrich them as well as analyze their effectiveness. What’s more, by working with a marketing agency, you’ll also get a valuable profile of links that lead to your site. Only in this way – by focusing on comprehensive actions – can you count on the effects of positioning. Because content, although very important, is only one of the elements of SEO strategy.

Is it worth spending your time, energy, knowledge and sometimes money to have a blog on your website or online store. From a specialist’s point of view, SEO is an idea that can be described briefly as excellent. What speaks for having a blog on the site and what is a blog?

A. The presence of a blog means the systematic addition of new content thematically related to the page’s offer, which can translate into better page indexing by Google and, as a result, higher positions. A page with new content is perceived by Google’s web robots as more attractive, more up-to-date, potentially more interesting to the reader. That is why they are ready to reward it with a higher position in the search engine ranking – of course if the texts posted on the blog are unique, correct and valuable.

B. We gain the ability to perform internal linking using blog entries that supports positioning. In blog entries (including those already published) it is worth adding links leading to products or categories that logically relate to the topic of the entry.

C. Properly writing and extensive texts on blogs index well, ensuring good visibility of the website – many a person can get to the website thanks to the text from the blog that they found in the search engine.

D. The saturation of keywords on the page increases. Inevitably, texts added to the blog are often thematically related to products or services, the promotion of which the client is particularly interested in. This is reflected in the use of certain terminology that also includes keywords. As with us, you can find a lot of information on positioning, content marketing or text paraphrases.

E. Blog on a website or online store is a help in positioning on the so-called long tail.

F. Blog can perform the function of supporting the sales process and become part of the conversion funnel. This benefit is unrelated to SEO, but worth noting.

G. Blog helps to shape and strengthen the desired image of the company.

Since we already know why it is worth to engage your funds and have a blog on the site, now it’s time for a few tips on how to run a company blog to work effectively for better search engine positions.

What is a blog – basic guidelines

A. Subdomain or subpage?
A better solution from the SEO point of view is a blog that is part of the website, functioning as a subpage available at e.g. www.company-name.com/blog.

B. Length of texts published on the blog.
The length of the text should be adapted to the subject, so that the text appears complete and exhaustive of the issue. it is also worth considering how it can be perceived by a potential reader – whether it will provide him with the information he needs, and at the same time be understandable and simply enjoyable to read. The length of the entry is also important. We urge you to diversify in this area and adapt to the nature of the blog post. After all, there can be such concise, very informative, in which there is nothing to dwell on, as well as their opposite – topics demanding a comprehensive entry. It can be assumed that the minimum length is 1000-1200 characters (counted with spaces); Of course, this would not apply to an entry saying that the company is not in the middle of a long weekend or that it is changing its headquarters.

C. Frequency of publishing texts.
Fortunately, the blog supporting the positioning process does not require pharmacy accuracy in the publication of texts. There is no requirement to publish texts daily. Entries also do not have to appear in a perfectly even interval. We suggest introducing 4-7 unique texts per month, focusing on their size and quality rather than the frequency of publication. Longer texts, even less frequently published, can bring more SEO-benefits to a website than the often released “serfdom” blog.

D. Use of keywords in texts.
When writing texts for a blog, it is worth using the keywords selected for positioning our website. One text should contain 1-2 keywords selected for positioning. Avoid reaching too often for one word and using it in most of the written texts – in order not to achieve the opposite of the intended effect. The frequency of occurrence of a keyword in a dedicated text should be 1-3 times depending on the length of the text and the possibility of its use – so that the text looks sensible and attractive in terms of language. The keyword should be used unchanged and not split by another word. An exception can be made for the place name. Introducing it in a rigid and unchanged form, such as “cleaning Boston air conditioning” can be stinging in the eye of the reader. In this situation, the text “cleaning of air conditioning” and “Boston” may appear separately. Of course, it is possible to use these changed forms in the text, but they do not have the function of a keyword then. Of course, keywords do not have to be entered in every entry.

E. Division of text into parts.
The preferred form of text placed on the blog is an entry divided into paragraphs, blocks, parts. A good idea might be to use a frame or information box. Blog text should not look like an overwhelming monolith. The title and subtitles should also be used for the natural and logical division of the text. They should be marked e.g. as h1, h2, h3 – depending on the length and planned division of the text. Whenever possible, we’ll enrich titles and headings with keywords. Of course, not every headline must contain them – let’s reach for them in a reasonable way. It is worth using the bold option in the text for phrases containing keywords or for the keywords themselves (the number of bolds – moderate, giving an exaggerated impression). At the same time, there is no reason to use several font types within one entry.

F. Adding graphics to the entry.
The text should include graphics or charts that will also visually divide parts of the text and make it easier to read. Let’s not be afraid of graphics! It is worth noting here that the graphic that illustrates the text can also be used to enter a link to our entry. The link in the graphic can also be used e.g. to perform internal linking within our website.

G. Adding links to the entry – tips & tricks
Blog entries may contain links entered in the text or graphics leading e.g. to specific subpages or products corresponding to the content of the entry. Entering a link to the entry to be effective support for SEO and not harm our site, must be skillful. If we do it, it is worth remembering a few principles of “SEO”:
– the link does not have to be in every entry,
– enter 1-2, a maximum of 3 links to one entry; their quantity is related to the length of the text (more links can be included in longer text),
– if the blog has outbound links that do not lead to our website or other customer-owned pages (e.g. other blogs or online store), then these links should be marked as “nofollow“
– it is very important if we do not want to weaken our website (and since we decided to position it, we definitely do not care about this effect),
– Links to subpages within one site do not have to receive the ‘nofollow’ attribute.

Note: the above recommendations for blog entries can also be used in the context of keeping the news section.