“If SEO traffic is what you want, then stop publishing new content without updating old ones. It’s a quick & reliable win in SEO.”
Rafiqul
Hey👋, Rafiqul here. Welcome to Content Marketing VIP that delivers actionable insights, the latest updates, & free resources every Monday, for free.
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Table of Contents
Actionable insights
💡 1. Deconstructing the home page (worth $33,115) of Ahrefs
There is no single right way of creating or writing landing pages.
But when it comes to using social proof, Ahrefs’s home page is one of the best.
Here are five elements that make the landing page so special →
1. Clear message: The first thing users will see on the page is the above-the-fold section.
Ahrefs wanted to shift from positioning just as a backlink research tool to an all-in-one SEO tool for everyone. And the message clearly conveys this idea.
TIP: Ensure that the above the fold section answer these questions right away:
- Who is this for?
- What benefits will I get?
2. Customer-shared images: Adding human photos strengthen the social proof. You might have seen testimonials with a tiny image of the customer.
Here, Ahrefs stand out by adding large-sized images of customer-shared images.
TIP: Never miss a chance to humanize your marketing by adding human photos.
3. Relevant testimonials: Here comes my favourite part from the landing page.
The Ahrefs tool has multiple target audiences such as:
- Bloggers
- Content marketers
- SEO folks
- Agencies
- SaaS
Therefore adding testimonials only from bloggers or SEO professionals doesn’t make it completely relevant for other audience bases.
The solution?
Ahrefs categorized their testimonials for every set of audiences.
That way, a blogger can easily know what other bloggers are saying about the tool. Likewise, SEO folks will get to see the testimonials from other SEO pros.
TIP: Categorizing testimonials for different user bases is a great practice.
And, if your product doesn’t have multiple audience bases like Ahrefs, make sure you’re adding testimonials from the people of the same industry as your prospects.
4. Show don’t tell: Whether you have a complex product like Ahrefs or a simple newsletter subscription, you should follow the “show, don’t tell” approach.
TIP: Help your audience visualize your product’s feature/benefits/experience with either an illustration or a quick video.
5. Third-party reviews: The fact is many people/brands put fake positive reviews (even fake images too) on the landing page to persuade the users.
But this cheap trick doesn’t always work. “1 out of 3 consumers suspect FAKE reviews if there’s nothing negative” (From Revoo research report)
The solution?
Leverage third-party reviews as Ahrefs did on the home page. They have added the reviews from third-party sites like:
- G2
- Capterra
- Trustpilot, etc
Even better, Ahrefs has linked these testimonials to the source page so anyone can verify the reviews right away.
💡 2. Content strategy canvas
Want to create a basic content strategy to get started with your content marketing program?
Or, if you already have a content strategy, then it’s time to review the plan.
For both cases, you need to answer the following questions:
- Who are you creating content for?
- Why are you creating content?
- What type of content will you create?
- Where will you publish the content?
- How will you create the content?
The reason?
65% of successful content marketers document their content strategy based on the CMI survey.
Here’s a sample of content strategy canvas that you replicate for your own.
Insights from Ahrefs
Free resources
💡 1. Website Clinic: A Live Critique of Website Design and Content
Get your site audited by Andy Crestodina, someone who has built and planned 1000s of websites so far.
In this webinar, you’ll learn:
- Elements of successful websites
- How to find missing opportunities in SEO
- Elements of visual hierarchy in website design
From: Orbit Media
Date of the webinar: July 20, 2021
💡 2. Defining Content in a Digital-First World
Creating content just for the sake of it is not enough. Instead, shift from ‘just creating content’ to ‘creating content experiences.’
In this 1-hour webinar, you’ll know:
- Top 5 skills to survive the content shift
- How to make your content a part of the sales process
- Measuring the content effectiveness
From: Content marketing institute
Date of the webinar: July 21, 2021
💡 3. Building a Future-Proof SEO Strategy
Investing in SEO and not being able to rank in the top 10 results is not okay.
That is why having a solid SEO strategy is so important.
Join Pete Kever (Founder & President of K6 Digital Marketing, Inc.) and Courtney Kehl (Principal @ Expert Marketing Advisors) to learn:
- How to build a future-proof SEO strategy to drive traffic and generate leads.
From: BrightTALK
Date of the webinar: July 22, 2021
Latest happenings
💡 1. Powerful SEO chrome extension to quickly check out web pages (it’s free)
A few months back, Kristina Azarenko launched an awesome tool for SEO and content marketers.
With SEO Pro extension, you can:
- Quickly audit web pages
- See the heading structure of the page
- Check the indexing status, internal, and external links
- Look at the schema type used in the page, etc.
With the recent feature update, the extension will also show you the core web vitals data.
Install the SEO pro chrome extension
💡 2. You don’t need to hide affiliate links for search engines
In the latest episode of #AskGoogleBot, Google’s John Muller responds to the following question:
“Is it any good to hide store/affiliate links?”
Here’s what he recommends:
There are two important aspects to keep in mind.
“First, your website should provide unique content and value of its own… Second, affiliate links, as with other paid links, should be declared. They should be declared both for users as well as for search engines.”
So, how do you declare links for search engines?
It’s simple. Either add a nofollow (rel=“nofollow”) or sponsored tag (rel= “sponsored”).
💡 3. Does website revamping affect organic traffic?
If you see a sudden traffic drop just after revamping the website, then chances are you’re doing something wrong.
It is difficult to understand whether the changes are happening because of the website revamping or because of any core update.
Still, you can make sure that the URL, website layout, and internal linking stays the same as much as possible.
Here’s what John suggested:
“When doing a revamp, make sure that the URLs stay the same as much as possible so that you don’t change the URL structure and internal linking as much as possible… Consider making the content and the layout on the pages the same as much as possible.”
He also added redirecting old URLs to the new ones, so it is easy for users and Google to crawl the site and understand the content on the pages.
Watch the full video here (SEO office hours)
Useful Quotes
💡 1. Landing page tips
“How to build a good landing page?
- Fire Right pointing backhand index
- Keep it concise and relevant
- Communicate your UVP in the header
- What problem do you solve
- What are the benefits of your product/service
- Call to action can’t be missed!”
– Sharissa (Content marketer)
💡 2. What’s working now in SEO
“The rise of fake news prompted Google to change & focus on reliability rather than other factors for sensitive queries.
What works now:
- Information on authors
- Reputable brand – Trustworthy
- Clear expertise
- No misinformation or sales tactics
- Clear focus”
– Ọla King (SEO nerd @ Moz & @ Notionhq)
Have Some Fun
Which one are you?
By Semrush