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5 Digital Marketing Resolutions to Start the New Year Off with a Bang! 2017 Edition

2017 digital marketing resolutions

At the beginning of 2016, I gave you 5 digital marketing resolutions to jump start your year. How’d you do?

Hopefully, you did better on them than I did on making personal resolutions. I hate making resolutions for reals. But I don’t mind doling them out.

With that in mind, here is a new set for you to work on for 2017:

1. REALLY Invest in Digital Marketing Already

It’s time to stop dabbling and go all-in with digital marketing. That may mean investing your own time or the time of someone in-house. It may mean investing money to hire someone to do it full-time or engage an outside agency.

Whatever it means to you, commit to it for a full year. There are no overnight successes in digital marketing. While you may see a few quick wins, it really takes a full year to see the true results of your efforts.

2017 is the year. Do it, and stick with it.

2. Shake Up Your Blog

This is similar to one of the resolutions I made for ’16, but I’m taking it even further for the new year. If you’ve heard “Content is king” a million times, you’ve probably heard this one at least a few hundred thousand times: Good content isn’t enough. In fact, GREAT content isn’t enough anymore. Forgive the cliche, but you seriously need to start thinking way outside the box to get your content noticed now that everybody and your mother is doing it.

It’s time to start playing around different formats and type of content. Embrace video. Try some gifs. Major bonus points if you can find a way to make it interactive.

Just remember, no matter what cool tricks your blog can do, at its core, it still has to be valable. Don’t do it just to do it. Make enhancements to your blog that truly make it the best all around source on the internet for your niche.

3. Reevaluate your keyword research strategy

Hopefully at this point, we don’t have to tell you that keyword stuffing is no bueno. But what you may not know (unless you are a loyal reader of this blog, and in that case, thank you!) is that keyword optimization is out, topical optimization is in.

So what does that mean for your keyword research process? Well, instead of defining one keyword that should be used ad nauseum on one page, you should now be looking for groups of keywords that can be sorted together based on topic and searcher intent.  You then should be trying to create new content or optimize existing content to thouroughly cover the topic represented by the keyword group. That content must also satisfy the intent of the searcher.

topical-optimization-example

Also, you may want to take a second look at the tools you are using to conduct keyword research and how you are using them. Unfortunately, keyword research tools are getting less and less accurate. If you are relying solely on these tools, it’s time to stop.

4. Branch Out in Social Media

Don’t throw your hands up in the air declaring that social media doesn’t work just because your organic reach has declined. There are a number of ways to squeeze some untapped value out of your social media efforts.


  • Consider joining groups. Most social networks have groups where you can interact directly with people with similar interests. Specifically, you can find active groups in LinkedIn and Facebook or join Twitter chats. This is a great way to establish authority and build valuable relationships.

  • Advertise. Ok, we get it. You don’t want to spend money. But done right, you can get much more out of social media advertising than you ever put in. And for many networks, particularly Facebook, it’s simply the best way to get in front of your audience.

  • Mix it up. Just like with content, you need to offer variety. If you are only posting links to your blog posts, people are going to get bored. Share others’ content. Use images and gifs. Video is hot, hot, hot…try to incorporate it into your social media mix.

5. Commit to creating a better user experience

If you do nothing else in 2017, strive to provide value to your user in every single thing you do. Does that blog post you’re about to publish provide your audience with actionable points that will enhance their work or life? Will that tweak you’re about to make to your site make it work better for users, or are you only doing it a vain attempt to boost your search rankings? Do your social media posts give people something they can’t get from every other brand trying to sell something?

The brands that put the user first will come out on top, regardless of how many followers they have or how they are ranked in Google. Focus on the user, and the rest will follow.

So, are you up to the challenge? Let us know if you are planning to tackle these resolutions…or if you have some of your own. We can all use some inspriation, right?

 

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