89% of Websites that Ranked 7 Years Ago are Not Ranking Now!

“89% of sites that ranked 7 years ago are not ranking now. ” From Marcus Tober of SearchMetrics quoted from the Chicago SEJ Summit earlier this year.  (see tweets)

After I heard this, I had a private chat on Facebook with Marcus about this……he said:

Behind the analysis is our massive 7 year historical Research Cloud

I aggregated all domains that used to have at least one ranking in the past on keywords with at least a search volume of 10.

Then I checked how many of these domains still have at least one ranking

Only 11% are left!

(from checking the top 30 results).

I also asked him,

What do you think % would be if you took just “expensive” commercial phrases and checked ?

and he replied

If you take commercial queries probably the number if domains disappeared is higher

So yea, 89 % of websites that ranked 7 years ago in the top 30 no longer rank for anything in the top 30 today. I totally believe this (and love that it’s backed up with Marcus’s analysis from SearchMetrics historical research data)!

I believe that those 89% of websites were sites that were doing “artificial things” (ie, crappy link building) to get those old rankings, and today they are penalized and fried by Google.

More thoughts on things like analyzing backlinks knowing that 89% of sites from 7 years ago are penalized today…

Internally, at Ninjas, we have some tools that analyze backlinks for projects like doing a disavow analysis, or for services like finding common competitor backlinks that we might want to try to get for our clients as well….and in these link analysis’, we look at Majestic domain backlinks to websites, and we cross reference this with how these sites rank in Google using tools like Spyfu and/or SEMRush…specifically looking at the history of the sites performance for keywords in Google…for example, you can have a backlink from SomeWebsite.com which has backlinks to it from 1000 other sites….but if SomeWebsite doesn’t rank for ANYTHING of ANY Value, then chances are, the site has been penalized in Google. Looking at charts from SEMRush or SPYFU for these sites often show that sites like SomeWebsite.com, at one time, ranked for lots of phrases worth lots of money….and then the site got fried by Google, and now it doesn’t rank in the top 10 for any phrase worth any $.

In any link profile which I analyze, about 2/3 of the links are from sites that are fried in Google (sites that don’t rank for anything worth any value in Google. Google has fried a lot of sites…a lot…actually, 89% to quote Marcus and his data….

Here’s also an area where if you’re focused on Moz, Majestic, ahrefs or other sites “Domain Value” you’re being fooled…this is because they’ll show those sites as high value (lots of backlinks), when in actuality, the site is worthless because it’s been banned in Google for ranking for anything of any value. (For example, it may show a moz domain authority of 50….but if the site is penalized in Google, it should be a domain authority of Zero).

So keep in mind that even most backlinks you may have to your site aren’t worth a damn because they’re from sites that have been fried in Google. Seven years ago someone may have had 1000 links….and today only 11% of those links may count because 89% of those sites are penalized, and thus links from them are probably useless as well….the question in analyzing backlinks really becomes, “What backlinks to you have of Value”?

I should notes that there are exceptions…. lets say you have a backlink from a boy scout chapter websites, or Bob’s Rock Hobby Website….they might not rank for commercial phrases, but that’s ok….the ones you have to look out for are the sites who once ranked for a bunch of phrases, but now they do not….part of that 89%.

Does everyone realize that the majority of websites are worthless today?

The post 89% of Websites that Ranked 7 Years Ago are Not Ranking Now! appeared first on Internet Marketing Ninjas Blog.

from Internet Marketing Ninjas Blog http://ift.tt/21qky4i
via IFTTT

The Meme Regime: A Gallery of Creativity from the Age of the Internet (Infographic)

“The Age of the Internet”: That’s how historians will describe the era we live in.

The Internet is how and where we do everything. Learning, shopping, news, entertainment, you name it: It’s all instantly available at the click of a button. Twenty years ago, that little piece of trivia on the tip of your tongue might drive you crazy all day long. Today, as quickly as you can pull your phone out of your pocket, the mystery is solved. One might argue that all of this convenience is making us lazy, but at Internet Marketing Ninjas, we like to think it just gives us more time for our creativity to flourish.

Since the early days of the Internet, creativity has been something that made it a truly special and unique place. An idea born in San Francisco could be elaborated on by someone in Tokyo and then further improved upon by someone in Sydney; with the power of the Internet, the potential for an idea is endless. This is where memes come in.

Memes certainly existed before the Internet: Remember the “Winnebago Man” outtakes that were copied and passed around on VHS tapes? But it’s with the Internet and websites like Reddit, 4chan, Tumblr, and YouTube that memes became something that are as easily accessible, editable, and shareable as they are today. This infographic, developed by the Ninjas Digital Asset Team, will take you on a stroll down meme-ory lane to examine our favorite memes of all time.

Not sure what memes are? No problem. This infographic will teach you everything you need to know before we get started.

(Click to view full size image.)

The Age of the Internet: That’s how historians will describe the era we live inClick To Tweet

The above infographic was proudly researched and developed by the talented Digital Asset Team at Internet Marketing Ninjas. Our team offers an impressive selection of digital assets, including infographics, quizzes, applications, and widgets that are developed with your goals as a company in mind and are geared toward your ideal potential customers.

We offer a month of dedicated promotion for our digital assets, during which our team works to achieve virality, link acquisition, increased traffic, visibility, and brand recognition. Contact us and see what we can do for you!

The post The Meme Regime: A Gallery of Creativity from the Age of the Internet (Infographic) appeared first on Internet Marketing Ninjas Blog.

from Internet Marketing Ninjas Blog http://ift.tt/1QQ2flt
via IFTTT

How to Build a Lucrative Business with Premium WordPress Themes

Sometimes content marketers forget that content isn’t only a game for wordsmiths.

In fact, there’s a thriving community of visual content creators who have built robust businesses around what they do. And one of the most scaleable ways to do that is to craft high-quality premium WordPress themes.

But there’s a lot more to it than “build something beautiful and the customers will show up.”

In this post, I want to talk about what it takes to succeed as a WordPress theme designer in today’s environment.

Once upon a time, all WordPress themes were free. The robust open-source CMS (content management system) attracted enthusiasts of all kinds, who made themes that looked good and suited different tastes.

Today, WordPress has grown to power a quarter of the world’s websites — and premium (paid) themes are the norm for professionals, businesses, serious bloggers, and even passionate hobbyists.

That wealth of premium themes poses a new challenge for designers: the sheer number of great-looking themes out there. There’s more competition than ever, and a lot of them are gorgeous

But : there’s still room for someone with solid design skills to make a name (and a great business) as a theme designer. And it starts by thinking as a business owner first.

Here are five points of focus on your path to building your premium theme empire …

#1: Business know-how

No matter what kind of digital business you might want to build — and WordPress themes fall squarely into this category — you can’t ignore the business part.

You may think of yourself as a design professional who “isn’t into the whole business thing.” But business is just a set of skills that can be learned — and upgrading those skills can open the door to making a great living doing what you love.

Sites like Digital Commerce Institute and podcasts like Unemployable and Confessions of a Pink-Haired Marketer can help you pick up the core business skills you need — without compromising your integrity or making you feel like a creep.

In my experience, 90% of business ability is mindset. Once you get your head in the right space, you’ll be able to readily pick up the skills you need to make your business a success. You might also choose to partner with smart people who will complement your strengths.

#2: A targeted audience

Because it’s beautiful is no longer enough to find an audience for your WordPress theme.

Themes today need to solve specific problems for well-defined groups of people.

In other words, it’s not only about design — it’s about design thinking.

Virtually any type of business you can think of needs beautiful, thoughtfully designed themes.

Think:

• Real estate professionals
• Law offices
• Restaurants
• Medical offices
• Schools
• Artisans and “small batch” producers
• Coffee shops
• Online publishers
• Coaches
• … you name it!

Successful theme designers today know precisely who will be using their themes. And they use smart design thinking to solve real-world problems with those themes.

If you build themes for a particular group, decide how you’ll uncover that group’s needs and desires. If you’re not a member of that community yourself, work closely with the types of folks who will be using your theme, so you can come up with innovative and elegant solutions to their needs.

“Niching” down your offer this way might seem like it would narrow your audience of buyers — but in fact, it opens all kinds of doors to reach the right buyers.

#3: A way to reach that audience

It’s not enough to build a gorgeous solution to the needs of a well-defined audience — you have to be able to get the word out!

The web today provides incredibly focused tools for targeted advertising to precisely the kinds of buyers you’re looking for.

You can also partner with well-known experts in that space. For example, you might work with a popular blogger who has the audience you’re trying to reach.

And if you build your frame within an established “ecosystem” (like Genesis, which we’ll talk a bit more about in the next point), you get the benefit of a community looking for the solutions you have to offer.

#4: A commitment to security and clean code

WordPress sites are astonishingly common. MarketingLand reports that WordPress powers about 25% of all of the sites published on the web around the globe.

In fact, its next two closest competitors (Drupal and Joomla) power fewer than 5% of the planet’s websites — combined.

WordPress is robust, it’s amazingly flexible, and it’s everywhere.

And because it’s so popular, a WordPress theme that ignores security best practices can find itself vulnerable to hackers. Which is no fun at all for your buyers, or your reputation.

Fortunately, there are excellent tools available to manage security and protect the themes you create.

If you don’t want to become a full-time security expert, one simple way to address the problem is to design themes on a framework that’s doing the performance and security heavy lifting for you.

Our company builds one of the best-regarded frameworks in the WordPress community (if we do say so ourselves …), Genesis.

The “back end” (that means all of those behind-the-scenes technical elements) of the Genesis framework is reviewed thoroughly and frequently by security and performance experts. We make sure that all of the code is keeping up with best practices … and with updates in WordPress itself.

Security is just one benefit of building your theme on a reliable framework — but that’s a topic for another article.

#5: An eye for trends and beautiful design

You might have thought this one would come first! And of course, no one wants a premium theme that doesn’t look great and feel fresh and current.

Great designers know that beauty matters — but it’s only one element of great design.

In addition to your great eye for gorgeous site design, make sure you’re incorporating:

• A solid business mindset
• Theme design that solves meaningful problems for a well-defined market
• Effective communication with the audience you’re serving
• Serious security to keep your customers’ sites safe from the bad guys

Pull these elements together, and you might find that designing WordPress themes becomes the foundation of an amazing business.

Want to know more about the life of a premium theme designer?

The founder of StudioPress and creator of Genesis, Brian Gardner, will be the subject of a webinar inside of Digital Commerce Academy on December 2 where he will share his insights on how he built his WordPress-based business.

Brian wasn’t a technical guy — he has no formal education in programming or computers. In fact, when he started playing with WordPress themes, he was a project manager for an architectural firm.

He calls himself an “accidental entrepreneur,” following his interests where they led. And where they led was a genuinely disruptive innovation — the creation of the premium WordPress theme market. That’s because Brian was the first person to actually offer a WordPress theme and take money for it.

Join us for this live conversation with Brian (he will take questions at the end). We’ll be talking about:

• How the premium WordPress theme market has changed over the last half decade
• Expert tips for anyone who wants to create a theme
• How to know what will sell (without guessing)
• The biggest mistakes Brian made, and how he overcame them
• The invaluable lesson about relationship building that Brian learned by working at a convenience store

Plus, much more.

To attend this webinar live (or to view the replay), all you have to do is activate your membership to Digital Commerce Academy.

Join Digital Commerce Academy Today
And attend Wednesday’s case study webinar with Brian Gardner

We offer a 30-day money-back guarantee with all Digital Commerce Academy memberships, so we invite you to check out this event and peruse the other content inside before you make any long-term commitments.

We’ll see you there!

About the author

Sonia Simone

Sonia Simone is co-founder and Chief Content Officer of Rainmaker Digital. Get lots more from Sonia on her podcast, Confessions of a Pink-Haired Marketer, or come hang out with her on Twitter.

The post How to Build a Lucrative Business with Premium WordPress Themes appeared first on Copyblogger.

from Copyblogger http://ift.tt/1YD9L4v
via IFTTT

3 Editing and Proofreading Lessons to Help You Elevate the Quality of Your Content

Let’s compare bland content to plain bread.

Plain content bread isn’t going to build an authority sandwich for your business; it’s fairly easy to produce and many other places offer it.

Editing and proofreading are the peppercorn-crusted turkey and applewood-smoked bacon you need to layer on top of your plain content bread.

With peppercorn-crusted turkey and applewood-smoked bacon (and maybe even some Dijon mustard or horseradish mayonnaise), you’re able to craft an engaging experience for readers — something savory, a little spicy, and more robust than all the other plain content bread out there.

Building an audience is hard work because you have to offer people an experience they don’t get anywhere else. The winning details that make your content a go-to resource can emerge during the time you take to edit and proofread.

This week’s Copyblogger Collection is a series of three handpicked articles that will show you:

• How to objectively review your own writing
• How to transform your content into persuasive and shareable works of art
• How to catch more writing mistakes with an underutilized proofreading trick

As you work your way through the material below, think of the following lessons as a mini editing and proofreading course.

The Traffic Light Revision Technique for Meticulously Editing Your Own Writing

I can give you an example of how editing played an important role when I wrote the introductory paragraphs above.

I originally compared editing and proofreading to “peanut butter and jelly.”

A draft of the opening section was complete with this analogy, but when I reviewed it, “peanut butter and jelly” didn’t contain enough details to support my point. I wanted to communicate a more vivid picture.

The Traffic Light Revision Technique for Meticulously Editing Your Own Writing will help you objectively review your work.

It outlines how to pinpoint portions of your text that you can develop further to create more precise and potent content.

15 Copy Editing Tips that Can Transform Your Content into Persuasive and Shareable Works of Art

Next up, check out 15 Copy Editing Tips that Can Transform Your Content into Persuasive and Shareable Works of Art.

Once you’ve edited your draft to your satisfaction, copy editing further refines your writing so that readers effortlessly comprehend your message.

During in-person communication, you can rephrase your verbal speech if you observe a puzzled or clueless look on someone’s face. With writing, you don’t get the luxury of such feedback until after you’ve published.

At that point, you don’t get another chance to explain yourself; a reader will simply stop reading.

Your attention to detail demonstrates that you care about your audience’s experience — which sets your content apart from sloppy or convoluted writing.

Catch More Writing Mistakes with This Underutilized Proofreading Trick

After you prepare your peppercorn-crusted turkey and applewood-smoked bacon authority sandwich, it’s time to present it to your audience to build the relationships that build your business.

But there’s one more step to solidify your efforts: proofreading.

While you may have corrected grammar mistakes and typos when editing or copy editing, proofreading is a separate activity that polishes your content.

In Catch More Writing Mistakes with This Underutilized Proofreading Trick, you’ll discover why proofreading is different from just reading and how this simple practice helps you publish professional content.

Stay tuned to Copyblogger …

We’re celebrating Thanksgiving in the U.S. this week, but we’ll have a fresh article for you on Monday!

If you’re not already subscribed to get updates that help you become a stronger content marketer, please join us.

Type your email address* into the box below and click “Join us!”

Enter your Email:

*We will never share, rent, or sell your email address to anyone.

About the author

Stefanie Flaxman

Stefanie Flaxman is Rainmaker Digital's Editor-in-Chief.

The post 3 Editing and Proofreading Lessons to Help You Elevate the Quality of Your Content appeared first on Copyblogger.

from Copyblogger http://ift.tt/1NP0QFA
via IFTTT

(3 videos) Hacksaw Jim Duggan & Jim Boykin vs Panda & Penguin

Enjoy 3 Hilarious Videos with Hacksaw Jim Duggan and Jim Boykin taking on the Penguin and the Panda!

This past weekend we had the honor of hosting WWE Hall of Famer, “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan, at our offices in Clifton Park.

A few months ago Hacksaw had done a promotional video for one of our clients…and man was he awesome in that video! I could see additional future big potential for a man of his entertaining talents! I tried to find him in a Google search, but that got me no where…even for a man with a twitter account with over 100,000 followers (which many of my clients would dream to have this many followers), he could not be found in Google …the real official Hacksaw Jim Duggan website was ranking #45 for his name. That site also needed a lot of work on it…to say the least!

Once I did get a hold of Jim I said, “Hey Jim, I can help you with your website …and for free! You have a lot of untapped online potential that could make you more money.” Shortly thereafter, we invited him to our office for a “Big Event” (you can watch Hacksaw and our own Ninja Sarah on YouTube, as they chat and watch the Survivor Series live…we’ll it’s no longer live ).  During the Big Event Hacksaw Jim Duggan also took questions from Twitter and Reddit and Parascope and YouTube. The event was a huge success all the way around!

While Hacksaw Jim Duggan was here, he was kind enough to have some fun with us in creating some videos of our tag team match featuring

“Hacksaw” Jim Duggan and Jim Boykin (The Internet Marketing Ninjas) vs The Panda and the Penguin (The Penalties of Pain).

FYI, Tomorrow there will be another post with a Q & A about social media and we’ll include another fun Video with Hacksaw Jim Duggan and I…stay tuned for that one too!

(3 Videos)

So stay tuned for an updated Official Hacksaw Jim Duggan website, and more social and online improvement.

If you have been effected by the Panda or the Penguin Google updates, feel free to contact us.

Google Penguin update solutions

Google Panda recover solutions

The post (3 videos) Hacksaw Jim Duggan & Jim Boykin vs Panda & Penguin appeared first on Internet Marketing Ninjas Blog.

from Internet Marketing Ninjas Blog http://ift.tt/1OqkaMi
via IFTTT

Social Media Smackdown with WWE’s “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan

This past Sunday, Internet Marketing Ninjas stepped into the ring with WWE Hall of Famer “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan for a hard-hitting ‘Social Media Smackdown’.

Through a live-streamed event that engaged fans on both Twitter and YouTube, the inaugural Royal Rumble Winner gave analysis and thoughts on the big event, answered questions from fans from all over the world, and had fun giving away prizes to those who tuned in.

After the event, we unlaced our boots and sat down with the Hall of Famer; not to solely discuss Professional Wrestling, but to dive off of the top rope and into the world of Social Media.

Ninja Jim & “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan

IMN: We’re Social Media Ninjas – pure stealth and execution. You’re pretty active on Social Media yourself, particularly on Facebook and Twitter. Which is your favorite between the two and why?

Duggan: I like Facebook because of the way it’s hooked up. Whatever I put on Facebook goes to my Twitter account. I’m pretty new to all of the social media stuff and the way it’s hooked up. You know, a lot of folks say that’s not the way to go, but I enjoy Twitter, because I can just push the Retweet button on stuff that I like. So, it’s a combination – I like Facebook because of the format and it’s easy to do, but I like Twitter with the Retweets. My Twitter handle is @OfficialHacksaw, with the Blue Check, Brother!

IMN: Managing communities for clients from several different industries, we definitely receive our fair share of strange questions and comments from social media users. What’s the strangest thing that you can remember being asked on Facebook or Twitter?

Duggan: Probably about where the 2×4 came from, something like that, besides some weird sexual connotation thing, but besides that, where the 2×4 came from. To find out where it came from, you’ve got to buy the book to get that story, Brother.

IMN: Social Media has changed entertainment, television, and sports so much over the last handful of years. What’s been the biggest difference when comparing the world of Professional Wrestling at the height of the ‘Hulkamania’ era of the 1980s to now, due to the emergence of Social Media? What stands out?

Duggan: I think social media pulled the curtain back from wrestling. In the WWF days, the Golden Age, people still weren’t sure about it, how it went, before it was all out there on the internet, who was going to win, who was going to lose, and all of the storylines being scripted. “The Blade,” that was the big deal in the day; hide the juice. I think social media obviously pulled the curtain back on wrestling, and in that way hurt the business a little bit.

IMN: Who are some of your favorite people, both from the Wrestling world and outside of it that you enjoy following?

Duggan: I really don’t follow too many folks on social media. You know, Jake “the Snake,” Ted DiBiase, and Roddy Piper pretty much, God Bless him. I keep up with what those guys are doing, but even then, not that much. I know that I’ve got to get better at it.

IMN: You’ve said in the past that you want to surpass Jake “the Snake” Roberts in the amount of Twitter Followers. He’s ahead of you by about 100,000 right now. What’s your plan to pick up a Twitter victory over Jake, and could this lead to a match at WrestleMania XXXII in Dallas?

Duggan: Let me tell you somethin’, Jake “the Snake” Roberts….. “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan – I’m coming after you on this Twitter deal. I’ve got the Internet Marketing Ninjas on my back, and we’re comin’ for you, Tough Guy! Give me a “HOOOOO,” fellas! [HOOOOO!!!!]

For close to forty years, “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan has entertained fans all over the world, most notably with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW). Duggan was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2011 in Atlanta, Georgia, won the very first WWE Royal Rumble Match, and held both the WCW United States and Television Championships. Prior to battling legends like Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant, Duggan played football at Southern Methodist University, and later spent time with the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons.

You can follow “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan on Twitter at @OfficialHacksaw. Also, be sure to check out his telling 240 page biography, Hacksaw: The Jim Duggan Story, available both in Hardcover and on Kindle.

The post Social Media Smackdown with WWE’s “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan appeared first on Internet Marketing Ninjas Blog.

from Internet Marketing Ninjas Blog http://ift.tt/1Oe7HNj
via IFTTT

How to Use an Iterative Loop to Dominate Your Niche

Here at Rainmaker Digital, we’re riding an iterative loop. It’s how we do business.

We listen, we create, we offer, we improve, and the cycle goes on.

Approaching your content strategy as an iterative loop will help you create useful, in-demand information that serves your customers and builds your business.

Out in the business world, this approach is called design thinking. And design thinking is in the news right now. Harvard Business Review ran a cover story on it this past September. The New York Times featured it earlier this month.

Here at Copyblogger, we’ve been talking about design thinking since 2010.

Design thinking isn’t difficult — it’s just different. It requires a mindset shift that will change the way you create products, content, and customer experiences.

What is design thinking?

It might be easiest to answer this question by comparing design and design thinking.

Design is about making objects functional and pleasing to the eye. Traditionally, design has been a discipline that was practiced by the small percentage of people who’d studied it or those whose aesthetic sense made them especially qualified.

Design thinking is about developing products and services using a methodology that puts the customer’s needs and experience at the forefront. It’s a different way to approach the development process.

Design thinking is driven primarily by audience needs, and the fruit it bears is based on the challenges and problems they face. It’s about looking at how real people interact with your products and services, and adapting them so they truly meet their needs.

Companies that practice design thinking put an imaginary sticker on everything they produce that says, ‘Designed by our customers.’

IBM bets their future on design thinking

Profits are down at IBM, but I’m not too worried about it.

How many technology companies can boast that they’ve been around for more than 100 years? It’s only through aggressive adaptation that IBM has succeeded despite all the changes in the technology landscape since they started back in 1911.

Their latest adaptation is to incorporate design thinking as an integral part of their business. They’re using design thinking to change their culture and the way they do business.

IBM is in the process of hiring 1,100 designers, with a long-term target of 1,500. They’re training a large portion of their management staff in the principles of design thinking. They’re “embedding” designers inside product development teams throughout the company. To date, 8,000 people company-wide have received some type of design thinking training.

It’s a small percentage of the total employee population, but it represents a significant investment of resources in a new way to look at their business.

They’re banking on design thinking to improve their long-term outlook.

How to apply design thinking to your content and your business

The goal of design thinking is to make your content, your website, and your products and services inherently simple and useful.

Aim for something that is so well designed that people don’t notice the design.

The goal? Design that doesn’t call attention to itself. Design that isn’t ‘precious,’ or even very noticeable.

It all starts with one important question.

“What is a better way to do ___?”

Ask this question of any process, product, or service.

Then grab a physical object — a pad of sticky notes, some pieces of paper, a whiteboard and marker — and map out what your customer experiences now and what you’d like them to experience. Even better, get a customer or two in the room with you to tell you firsthand what they’re experiencing.

Very basic prototyping gives you insights into the important customer touchpoints in your business. It shows you where you can improve their experience either through better content, a streamlined interface, or a more robust solution.

When thinking about your content, incorporate a customer experience map. Create a content strategy that serves customers along every step of their journeys.

Design thinking. Do. Iterate.

Graphic courtesy of Diagrammer on Duarte.com

Here’s an example from our own company.

A couple of months ago, we launched the Rainmaker Labs feature within our Rainmaker Platform software.

Labs is a place where a select group of users are invited to experiment with features that are currently in development and provide feedback directly to the team that’s working on those features.

• Design thinking: We’re thinking about our customers as we develop new features — they’re often a result of direct requests.
• Do: We develop the feature enough to be tested in the real world. It’s the software version of a physical prototype that real end-users can try out.
• Iterate: Based on the feedback we get, we improve and polish the software enough to release it as part of the platform that all users access.

We’ve built design thinking right into our software. Pretty cool, huh?

The downside of design thinking

Design thinking sounds great, doesn’t it? What’s not to love?

Here’s the thing: people who live by the rules of design thinking welcome failure. Often. If you’re going to ride the iterative loop, you have to be prepared to fail and learn from that failure. You’ve got to embrace the fact that things will have to be pulled apart and re-done when the best customer experience demands it.

You’ve got to put your ego to one side, and recognize that the customer is king and their experience rules the process.

If you haven’t done business this way, it can be uncomfortable. But when you see the final results, you’ll recognize that it’s worth a little discomfort.

Design thinking makes space for emotion

Traditional design is about functionality and aesthetics. “Does it work?” “Does it look good?” These are the questions you consider.

Design thinking folds in emotion. “How do our customers feel when they use our product or service?”

This might sound a little woo-woo. But design thinking means having deep empathy with your users and producing experiences they’ll remember. Those memories are sealed in with the emotions they experience when interacting with your business.

And those emotions make your business memorable — remarkable, even.

The iterative loop and where to use it

This iterative loop — design thinking — do — iterate — is something you can use to make deep cultural changes within your business, whether it’s a one-person shop or a 412,000-employee corporation.

The iterative loop can touch every single aspect of your business, even down to elements like your shopping cart software and the copy on your invoices.

Adding design thinking to your process leads to products that are simple and human.

Every aspect of your business, from the front end to the back, can be designed around your users’ needs.

Let the iterative loop guide your strategy

One warning: design thinking often makes your future unpredictable. Planning months ahead of time is difficult. You have to be willing to ride the loop wherever it takes you.

Your customers will lead the charge, not you.

You’ll be alongside them, serving up what they need with a dose of memorable emotional appeal.

About the author

Pamela Wilson

Pamela Wilson is Executive Vice President of Educational Content at Rainmaker Digital. Follow her on Twitter, and find more from her at BigBrandSystem.com.

The post How to Use an Iterative Loop to Dominate Your Niche appeared first on Copyblogger.

from Copyblogger http://ift.tt/1Oe09u6
via IFTTT

How to Monitor and Manage Comments and Likes on Instagram

Take a wander through popular accounts on Instagram. You will notice some common patterns emerging between those that are successful, and those that aren’t. No, it isn’t the number of photos (many accounts post thousands of images and barely break a dozen followers). It isn’t even the quality of pictures, either.

What sets these successful accounts apart is the engagement. They have not just treated their Instagram like a mobile photo album that they fill at their leisure. Instead, they have built a community with a group of dedicated followers who regularly comment on their images.

If you want to confirm that an Instagram account is popular, look at the comment section and liked, not the follower count. While a follower account can be impressive, the other two are markers that the content is actually being seen and responded to.

Boosting your own engagement takes time and cultivation. But without proper monitoring you will never know how to shift your efforts in a more productive and fruitful direction. Without proper management, you won’t know what to do with the comments and likes you get.

The good news is this is an easy problem to rectify when you have the right tools.

Get A Social Platform With Instagram Monitoring

---

Everyone is serious about their social interactions should have a platform dedicated to the task. These allow you to schedule posts, monitor trending or industry specific hashtags, find influencers, build a userbase, watch for brand mentions, and much more.

Unfortunately, not many platforms allow you to integrate Instagram. But a couple do, and these are the best of the options.

Hootsuite

Everyone knows Hootsuite. It has been a giant in the world of social management for years, growing from a simple scheduling and analytics tool to a powerhouse of features that do pretty much everything you can imagine.

You can add Instagram as an extension, and use it through the mobile app. It is a bit inconvenient, but great if you also need to watch other social platforms like Twitter and Facebook.

Websta

Websta is a web viewer made specifically for Instagram to take it from the mobile screen to your desktop. But you can follow and unfollow, monitor people who follow and unfollow you, organize posts, like and comment, get account statistics, and more.

Sign Up For Instagram Metric Dashboards

---

More advanced metrics are appreciated when creating a plan moving forward. Whether that plan is based around growing your followers, or lead generation to grow your business, you need analytics to get there. These are some that really focus on Instagram.

Iconosphere

This is a full management software and platform, but it has a great analytics feature that is incredibly useful. Mainly about location and what patterns can be found between your multiple followers.

Minter

Minter isn’t as well known as Iconosphere in most circles, but it is quickly moving up. It focuses less on overall account management, and more on audience and engagement insights. They are more expensive, so you have to think of it as an investment. But if you are generating leads that will end up in off-site conversions/profits, it could be worth the monthly price tag.

Further reading: How to Schedule Instagram Updates (and Post to Instagram from the Web)

Bonus: Track Hashtags For Better Engagement

Having the right Instagram hashtags is a pretty crucial part of targeting the correct audience. But there aren’t as many tools out there for it as there are for Twitter hashtag monitoring. Probably because the use of hashtags is still growing and being refined on the platform. These two are must-haves.

Keyhole

For Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, this is an excellent hashtag monitor because it covers all your bases from one platform. You will quickly find that trends don’t usually extend across the three networks, because active users tend to choose a single profile and cultivate it more than others. So customization is important.

Tag Sleuth

This is a unique tool. You take a couple of hashtags and activate them across multiple platforms. You can track how it works along each, and monitor the ebb and flow on each. So if you need to know how a hashtag fares on each platform to improve your marketing, this is great.

Do you have a tool to add to the list? Let us know in the comments!

The post How to Monitor and Manage Comments and Likes on Instagram appeared first on Internet Marketing Ninjas Blog.

from Internet Marketing Ninjas Blog http://ift.tt/1QDR6UM
via IFTTT