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17/Jul/2020
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Managing standard SEO strategies can be challenging enough, but the task becomes much harder when you go international and attempt to deliver better experiences for visitors in other regions around the world.

If you have recently started optimising your website to help search engines deliver content to users you want to target in different countries and languages, then you will be better prepared to succeed if you know some of the reasons why strategies can falter.

Technical issues

You need search engines to access and crawl your webpages so that you can feature in rankings.

This process is known as technical SEO, and it requires more work when you are managing multiple versions of a website based on locations and languages.

With more to optimise, there is a greater likelihood of technical mix-ups that can hold your international SEO strategies back.

Two of the most prevalent problems that webmasters run into are poor domain and URL structures.

Don’t worry, as even the biggest companies run into these issues.

Netflix had indexing problems back in 2017 and struggled to deliver content to each of the 180-plus countries it operates in.

In addition to optimising domain and URL structures, try to correct any XML sitemap conflicts, poor use of tags, internal linking issues, and mixed hreflang signals.

Slow loading times

A report by Unbounce found that 81% of marketers believe that page speed has a direct impact on conversions, but just 3% focus optimisation efforts on loading times.

Google prefers to serve content that loads quickly, and you will benefit in search performance if you can reduce the time it takes for pages to be usable.

You can improve your page speed times by compressing images, using the best hosting service available to you, reducing the amount of server requests, and minimising redirects.

Strategies that have not been localised

Cutting and pasting a domestic SEO strategy template for international efforts rarely works as it does not take into account the cultures, needs and interests of audiences in each market.

You need to localise your SEO and content campaigns so that they are tailored by language and location.

Merely translating copy with Google is not enough either – you need natural content crafted by native speakers to really engage with audiences overseas.

This will boost your international SEO as content will be search engine optimised for the country and language you are targeting while retaining the authentic and authoritative voice you want to present.

Relying on geo-targeting

Geo-targeting and the practice of delivering content to visitors based on their location is cost-effective and very useful, but you need to be aware of its limitations.

For example, there are countries where multiple languages are spoken or a large expat community does not speak the national language.

This is where website accessibility comes in.

You should try to offer an accessible UI that allows users to change language, location and currency via an intuitive dropdown menu. By doing this, you reduce the risk of alienating visitors who may not be able to navigate your webpages.


14/Nov/2016
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Content marketing certainly seems to be undergoing a revival as many B2B companies begin to realise that such strategies really can be successful. It was only in September that the ‘B2B Content Marketing 2017 – Benchmarks, Budgets & Trends – North America’ report was released. In this report, it was revealed that 62 per cent of companies believe their content marketing efforts for this year have already been more successful than in 2015. However, firms also continue to feel they’re stuck in a rut, largely because they simply do not have the time to prioritise.

Developing a successful content marketing strategy can take time. In fact, of those who said their strategy fared worse in 2016 than last year, 57 per cent admitted it was due to time constraints. Curating content can be extremely time-intensive, and most brands need to dedicate time to both writing content and developing fundamental strategy elements before campaigns begin. For those starting out on their marketing journey, or companies wanting to boost their efforts, there are some important questions to ask.

Brands must initially identify whether content marketing has become an organisational priority. The previously mentioned benchmark report said that 80 per cent of respondents want to generate leads from their content strategies. Growing a business can rely heavily upon lead generation, and if a firm’s aim for its content is to boost these leads, it is vital for content marketing to be seen as a priority. Content marketing is also much cheaper than attending trade shows and can generate leads just as well. Therefore, business priorities might need to be switched around so that enough time can be found for content creation and strategy.

B2B firms also need to ask themselves if they have foundational content marketing apps in place. For example, only 47 per cent of survey respondents are using buyer personas. Meanwhile, 43 per cent use social media calendars, and 62 per cent utilise an editorial calendar. Far higher efficiency can be found when using timesaving tools, helping firms carve out more time for content creation itself. However, foundational elements go beyond physical software aids to the development of new processes, such as a content approval system. These all boost time management and help strategies get the time resources they demand.

Finally, it’s important to recognise whether content is actually being created in an efficient way. All marketing teams need to evolve with the times, and if individuals are not equipped with the skills required for 2016, content creation strategies may well be outdated. Once the strategy for content development has been created, it’s vital for firms to realise that marketers have to be excellent writers with journalistic curiosity and the expertise to tell a story. Writers also need to be well versed in digital marketing, as well as having the ability to adapt their writing to suit various situations and platforms. For those unable to do this in-house, it’s well worth outsourcing content creation.

Overall, businesses must increasingly prioritise the carving out of time for content creation. Abandoning older practices that do not generate enough leads, along with optimising the foundational elements of a strategy, and ensuring that content creation itself is swift and efficient can make this happen.


27/Jun/2016
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Most companies have a well-considered and strong mission statement that’s used throughout their operations to drive business in the right direction. These businesses also have a good content-marketing strategy so they can draw customers in, make sales and build positive branding. However, to achieve the greatest amount of success, these two areas need to be meshed together.

In many scenarios, content marketing strategies are separated in silos and cannot interact with other business operations. This often happens because advertising is looked at as an external platform and not, therefore, part of a firm’s culture and internal values. However, the best marketing occurs when businesses are able to clearly communicate their ethos, branding and mission to consumers. As such, these two areas need to gel firmly if the best success is to be seen.

One of the first steps to help missions and content marketing work alongside each other is to ensure brand consistency. Every platform should provide customers with the same message, regardless of how, where and when consumers are getting the information. Even for those displaying a logo on their content or developing a personal brand need to be sure that nothing deviates from their main persona. Consumers must have the same ‘feel’ whenever they come across a brand, so consistency is key.

Another way to ensure that content strategies and missions align is to actually draw topics from objectives and use these to build a campaign. For example, a firm who aims to reduce their carbon emissions should make their customers aware of this through content marketing. It’s also worthwhile to announce any efforts being made in this area. For example, if reducing emissions is part of your key agenda, participating in green initiatives and similar schemes all work as positive branding. Meeting attendances, speaking at a summit or creating a new environment campaign could then be applied to create new content to engage with like-minded consumers.

Businesses must also keep the demographics of their audience, and the tone of their content, in mind at all times. It is here where objectives and missions once again come into play, helping companies decide how they want to come across to consumers. If a mission is to improve communication with people, then a conversational tone should be preferred. There should also be many opportunities for consumers to engage with content.

Writing out mission statements and setting strong objectives is often one of the first tasks undertaken by businesses. Therefore, it’s important to use these for other operations too. Content marketing strategies should include these messages and help back up a firm’s branding, and shouldn’t only be used to push products and services. In the modern age, consumers want to buy into an entire firm, not just individual items, so it’s important for firms to show their values to their audience.

Luckily, meshing mission statements and content strategies together is relatively easy. It only takes a small number of changes to strategy development to ensure that marketing aligns with core values and benefits a brand’s reputation and visibility.