August 2021 - Verseo Ads

Lead Magnet

30 August 2021 (update 22 November 2021) | By Magda Walczak | 0 Comments

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Lead Magnet

What Is a Lead Magnet?
How to Make a Lead Magnet?

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Generating leads is an activity that fast-growing companies do not spare time and resources for. The size and quality of this contact base determines how many valuable customers an entrepreneur acquires and what real profits he or she will make thanks to it. Leads can be acquired in various ways: through advertising, content marketing or posts in social media. A very effective method of acquiring them is also offering so-called lead magnets. What are they and how to use them?

What Is a Lead Magnet?

To explain what a lead magnet is, let’s first briefly discuss what a lead is. This term is used to describe a person or a company who in some way interacted with our website/social media profile and left his/her e-mail address, phone number or other data with the help of which we can contact him/her and convince him/her to use our offer.

Internet users are usually very reluctant to share their data anywhere and fewer and fewer things are able to encourage them to do so. They are inundated with requests to leave a contact, therefore in fear of spam they are skeptical about each of them and carefully analyze whether it will be somehow profitable for them.

Such thinking of the global network users gave rise to the concept of lead magnet, or simply a lead magnet. This strategy of acquiring contacts to potential customers is very simple – in exchange for contact information, we offer for free something that the recipient needs or at least something that may be useful to them. This is a win-win lead acquisition model – trading an attractive gift for data of a person who may be interested in your offer.

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How to Make a Lead Magnet?

This begs the question of how to make a good lead magnet. As with most questions, there is no one right answer to this one either. Audience groups differ and have different needs, so it’s natural that there is no one magnet that will attract everyone. However, it’s very important that the lead magnet meets a few basic conditions, namely that it’s:

Relatability

It is obvious that if we run a dental office we will not give potential customers a gift in the form of a guide for farmers applying for EU subsidies. Lead magnet should be related to the area in which we operate.

Benefits

The gift must be attractive enough for the recipient to decide that it’s worth leaving contact information in return. It should solve a problem or increase the comfort of their work, in other words, be useful to them.

Ease of Use

If, for example, we want to present the recipient with access to a tool, it will work as a lead magnet only if this tool is as intuitive as possible. If the user has to spend time reading instructions or learn how to use it, he loses interest.

Easily Access

Few potential customers will be interested in a lead magnet if they have to, for example, write an e-mail to the company to receive it. It will simply cost them too much effort. The gift should be easy to download – for example, by clicking the appropriate button on the landing page.

Originality

You won’t attract people with a gift that is easy to get even without leaving contact information. So a lead magnet in the form of an article about makeup trends will not work, because there are plenty of such materials on the Internet. The only thing that will be a magnet is something that will interest the recipient and will be unique.

Examples

Creating a lead magnet may be more or less laborious. Often, however, the gifts that work are simple for an industry expert to make and don’t require spending hours crafting them. Here are some examples of lead magnets that many businesses find to be a huge help in collecting contacts for potential customers.

Educational Lead Magnets

Gifts that convey valuable, proven knowledge about a topic are highly valued by internet users. Such lead magnets can take many forms. An easy to make and effective gift is, for example, infographics, i.e. material explaining some issue in a visually friendly way. A hairdressing salon can show, for example, how to do an impressive haircut in just a few steps, a yoga studio can explain a short sequence of exercises for the spine, and a tire retailer can show how to check the wear of a tire tread. You can, of course, find such information on the web, but if we explain it clearly, illustrating it with appropriate graphics, we will gain material that Internet users will be happy to read.

More complicated, longer topics can be presented in the form of a webinar or tutorial. A specialist can include a lot of information in an accessible form, giving examples from his experience and developed tricks helpful to the client. Of course, he will not reveal all his secrets, but he will reveal some of them.

More complex, longer topics can be presented in the form of webinar or tutorial. The specialist can include a lot of information in an accessible form, giving examples from his experience and developed tricks helpful to the client. Of course, he won’t reveal all his secrets, but he will reveal a bit of a secret, which will make him an expert in the eyes of the audience, who is worth coming back to for paid materials or services. Sticking to the industries chosen for the article: a hair stylist can talk about his ways to nourish hair damaged by bleaching, a yoga instructor – about the specifics of a particular type of yoga, and a tire salesman – about the strengths and weaknesses of different tire manufacturers.

Free e-books and guides are also very popular among Internet users. Such materials do not have to be several hundred pages long – a few dozen or even a dozen is enough. They should be nicely prepared, enriched with graphics or charts, available for download on a specially prepared landing page. What kind of materials can be created here? For example, our hairdresser could make a guide to Korean hair care, a yoga instructor could make a guide for beginners, and a retailer could make a comparison of different tire models.

Ready-to-Download Products

Not only education works well in the form of lead magnets, it’s also quite profitable to provide potential customers with materials that they can use in their daily work. A popular gift here, for example, is a calendar. It doesn’t have to be handed out in hard copy, a printable PDF or desktop wallpaper will suffice. Of course, such a calendar must be tailored to the needs of the target group and stand out from the standard versions available on various websites. If the calendar is to be useful for a teacher, it should contain information about the beginning of vacations, the end of a semester, dates of state exams, vacations in individual provinces, etc. The calendar for an accountant will not need such information, but it will be useful to have dates when new regulations come into force, information on deadlines for settlements, submission of documents, etc.

Another useful gadget for recipients will be a planner or a schedule to be filled in. Such a tool allows you to clearly plan your daily duties, and if it’s well designed, it’s not only functional, but also a nice addition to the office.

Checklists are also interesting ready-made tools that can serve as a lead magnet. It can be a cheat sheet for a conversation with a potential client, a list of things to check before buying a car, or a list of things to do before a party. These materials should also be well-done graphically, with a focus on clarity.

Tools to Make Work Easier

Very often an element which attracts potential clients is a free template to download. We are talking about various templates, not only graphic ones. Depending on the industry, it may be a template for a diploma, official letter, or a sheet for planning a household budget. Many people are not able or do not have time to create them on their own, so they like to use ready-made templates prepared by companies.

An example of a lead magnet is also various web applications and online calculators. How to create such a lead magnet and how to use it? Suppose we run a construction store. We can create a calculator thanks to which our potential customers will calculate how much paint, cement or other material they will need in order to do the renovation. At the same time, however, the tool will be free only for logged-in users, i.e. those who have left their data.

Demos and Discounts

We can also collect leads by offering our recipients special, financially viable opportunities. This certainly includes demo versions of programs and tools, free access to a chapter in the case of books, or access to a single lesson when selling courses. Lead magnets good for many industries offering services are free quotes and consultations or free audits.

It is also worth thinking about discounts for people who sign up for a newsletter, create an account in the system or simply leave their e-mail address.

Lead Magnet – A Contact Acquisition Technique for Every Business

When it comes to lead magnets, there are many more examples – the more original and interesting the content is, the more likely it’s to help build your contact base. However, it’s worth remembering that the key issue should be the usefulness of the materials for a given group of recipients. So before you decide to invest time and money in creating such a magnet, you should analyze the needs of your audience and research what similar content is already available online.

What Is a Keyphrase?

20 August 2021 (update 22 November 2021) | By Magda Walczak | 0 Comments

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What Is a Keyphrase?

What is a Keyphrase?
Keyphrases in Texts
Keyphrase Types
Selection of Keyphrases

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The keyphrase is one of the key concepts related to search engine positioning – the proper selection of phrases and their number that depends on how visible the website will be in the network, and thus how many potential customers will find it. However, what exactly are keyphrases and what types of them can we distinguish? What is a phrase?

What is a Keyphrase?

Keyphrases, or keywords, are queries which users type into a search engine, for example Google, when looking for something on the Internet. There are, of course, billions of keywords and new ones appear every day, but there is a large pool of keywords which are repeated many times – from this group we choose valuable phrases to position your website.

But let’s take it one step at a time: what is positioning for specific phrases all about? When a user types a specific keyword in a search engine, algorithms create a ranking of results. The highest ranked sites are those which are most likely to answer the Internet user’s question. Many factors have an influence on the evaluation of whether a website should appear high in the search results for a given keyword – among others, quality and credibility of the website, correctness and formatting of texts or links from other portals. However, one of the most important is whether the headings and texts on the page contain the specific phrase that the user typed into Google. When it appears, it’s a signal for algorithms that in this site the recipient is likely to find the answer to his question, and this makes them place it high in the results.

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Keyphrases in Texts

The discovery that algorithms take into account key phrases brought a plague of texts written solely for bots. They were full of keywords that had the most searches, but did not represent any value for the user. However, Google quickly put an end to this practice by introducing an algorithm called Panda. It was created to promote high-quality websites with reliable knowledge and original content. Since then, inserting keywords in every sentence has ceased to make sense and today you should make sure that the text contains an optimal number of them and that they are woven naturally into the narrative.

Keyphrase Types

Key phrases may be short – one word – or composed of even several words. Most often they are divided into general phrases and long tail phrases, the so-called long tails.

General phrases are short and – as the name suggests – rather imprecise. They are typed in by users who are usually at the beginning of the purchase path, i.e. they do not yet have specific expectations concerning the service or product. General phrases may be, for example, “summer dress”, “sneakers” or “car mechanic”. They have a lot of searches on the web, so they are often considered the best for positioning a website. In reality, this is not always the case, because often the user typing in such a phrase is only doing preliminary research and is not determined to make a transaction.

Long tail phrases are much more developed and quite precise, because they are typed by users who already know what they are looking for. Long tails have fewer searches than general phrases, but they are often more effective – because if the Internet user has already formulated his/her expectations about the product or service, it means that he/she is probably ready to make a decision about it. Long tail phrases are becoming more and more important in website positioning, as year by year Voice Search is becoming increasingly popular. This type of search favors the use of longer and natural sounding keywords, which is what long tails are.

Selection of Keyphrases

How to choose keyphrases? There is no universal method here. Everything depends on the type and scale of business, offer, activities of the competition and many other factors. For example, if you run a hairdressing salon, the best keyphrases to use are local ones, i.e. ones that give the name of the town or district where the salon is located. There is no need to position on very general phrases, because logic dictates that you should look for customers only in the area. Online stores will not use local positioning, but should focus on longer keywords matching their product range. Therefore the choice of phrases should always be preceded by a thorough analysis of the industry and competition, and formulation of objectives that we want to achieve.

It’s worth knowing that choosing the right phrases is important not only in the case of websites – also the YouTube algorithm takes keywords into account when displaying videos in search results. The “trending” tab on YouTube is not only the right content and quality of the video – it’s also the right description.

Google Ads Banners – How to Design?

16 August 2021 (update 22 November 2021) | By Adam Kubaszewski | 0 Comments

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Google Ads Banners – How to Design?

How to design Google Ads banners?
Google Ads Banners Common Mistakes

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Google Ads promotes your brand not only in the Google search engine, but also on millions of partner websites. This category includes websites of almost all types – from tiny hobby blog for a narrow group of recipients, through medium-sized websites (e.g. specialist thematic portals which have already earned recognition in a given industry), to large horizontal portals, run by media corporations and visited daily by hundreds of thousands of Internet users. The Google Display Network, which is a part of Google Ads, covers in its various forms about 90% of the Polish Internet users.

The system is very simple and works in such a way that both the advertiser and the website, on which the ads are placed, have their profit. The advertiser gets access to a huge number of potential customers, whereas the partner website earns money on making its advertising space available – depending on business decisions and design, it may be a small panel (or panels) or large frames overshadowing the page content.

Banners in Google Display Network can be displayed only to specific people thanks to targeting and remarketing. This means that a given user, on the basis of previous behavior on the Web, history of typed keywords in the search engine and visited pages, will receive a different message (a different banner will be displayed to him/her) than the other person entering a given portal. This guarantees better matching, and thus better campaign results, than in the case of static banners displayed in the same form to all Internet users visiting a given portal.

However, even perfect use of targeting possibilities offered by Google Display Network will not be sufficient if the displayed Google Ads banners are not well designed and visually attractive. After all, their task is to encourage viewers to click on them. The right banner ad design has a huge impact on campaign effectiveness and achieving a high CTR (click-through rate).

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Google’s guidelines for banner features are simple and fairly obvious. The ad must refer directly to the promoted offer (without “smuggling” other companies or products), and at the same time it cannot

contain low quality images (too compressed or unreadable for other reasons);
mislead the user (contain false information, e.g. warnings about an imaginary virus to increase click-through rates)
promote pornographic or erotic content (the Web is also used by minors).

How to design Google Ads banners?

There is no universal way to create a banner that will guarantee perfect campaign results. However, you can consider good design practices when designing, which will give your banners a very good chance of achieving the desired CTR.

Google Ads banners usually consist of:

a product image (packshot) and/or an image illustrating the offer (from a dedicated photo shoot or from a stock portal);
brand logo;
optional advertising slogan;
a call to action (CTA).

Packshot

A packshot photo focuses on the product. Making a good packshot is not easy – you need to consider, among other things:

perspective – the product must be shown at its best, from the right angle, highlighting its advantages and most important features. For example, when promoting a baby carriage for a child, it’s better to show it not directly from the front, but at a slight angle, so that in addition to the seat we can also show other elements – handles for the parent or rear wheels.

Background – as a rule, the packshot photo is devoid of any background, which of course doesn’t mean that on a banner we can’t “overlay” the product on a chosen background. The process of removing the background from the original photo is called “sparsing” and it’s very important – if done improperly, i.e. leaving fragments of the “old” version at the edges, it will lower the visual quality of the packshot. Some companies also decide to place a shadow cast by the product on the packshot – this is one of the options to consider.

Lighting – products look different depending on the intensity of the light – the same plastic case can look low quality or high quality. Poorly chosen lighting will highlight product flaws, hurting sales. Of course, a lot can be “fixed” with post-production, but it requires time, cost and the involvement of a retoucher.

Illustrations

An image that shows, in a more or less obvious way, the context of our offer. A travel agency may decide to visualize a paradise beach or a luxury spa center, while a rally circuit will probably present a dynamic visualization of a speeding car. There are as many companies and industries as many possibilities.

In the case of, for example, expert services or recruitment offers, it’s worth using a real photo of a person working in the advertised company, preferably dealing with a given topic – this builds credibility and a professional image. Another option is to use an external photo of a person who inspires trust and encourages to click.

Image bank (stock) graphics can be downloaded from paid services, for example Adobe Stock or Shutterstock. However, there are many portals with a huge number of free images – Pexels, Pixabay, Unsplash and several others. Graphics can be freely edited and customized (if the license allows).

Brand logo

If the size of the banner allows it, it’s a good idea to place the brand logo on it. Exposure of the logo builds recognition, and in case of premium brands it significantly increases CTR. Remember that the logo should usually be just one of the elements, not the central, dominant point of the banner. There is also no point in forcing it if it would disturb the whole composition or violate the protection zone described in the brand’s visual identity.

Call To Action (CTA)

Banner presents the offer in a visually attractive form but it’s the CTA that “finalizes” the click. Call to action is a text encouraging to perform an action, which should be on the one hand as short and simple as possible, on the other hand explaining what benefits the user will receive after conversion. The most popular phrases in the CTA are “buy now” (sales offer), “download a free guide” (reading incentive) or “join us” (job ad) – but be more creative depending on what you’re offering.

Google Ads Banners Common Mistakes

However, the text is not the only element – the CTA should usually be separated from the rest of the banner, e.g. placed on a background of a different color than the rest of the creation. You can read more about the rules of creating CTAs in a separate post on our blog.

The most common mistakes when creating Google Ads banners:

Overkill – advertisers often present their offer in an elaborate form and detail all the advantages of a given product or service or put some photos. The time for this will come after the click, when the customer reaches the landing page. The banner is only to encourage conversion by presenting the strongest point (or possibly points) in a shortened form. In the vast majority of cases, less is more, and empty space (aka whitespace) is an integral part of a well-designed banner.

Ignoring visual identity – consistency is one of the keys to creating a recognizable, credible brand. If a brand has been using a specific color combination for years, you can – if the brand book allows it – make subtle modifications, but a complete change of color palette in isolation from the developed identification will cause dissonance in the customer. It does not mean that a given campaign will be unsuccessful, but it’s a short-term action, which in the long run may turn out to be harmful.

Clickbait – the content placed on the banner – both graphic and textual – must be related to the offer. The Google Display Network system will not allow a clear incompatibility of the ad with its message, but the devil is in the details. A campaign focused on clicks, in which you unethically “exaggerate” the presentation of the offer in relation to its real value, will probably have an excellent CTR, but in the end the customer will not make many final conversions, and will become discouraged with the brand.

Make Your YouTube Videos Visible – YouTube SEO Tips!

09 August 2021 (update 06 May 2022) | By Magda Walczak | 0 Comments

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Make Your YouTube Videos Visible – YouTube SEO Tips!

YouTube SEO – Why Do It?
YouTube Video SEO – What It’s All About?
YouTube SEO – An Easy Way to Increase YouTube Channel Visibility

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The Internet is constantly changing. Platforms are born, grow in popularity, and die, replaced by other channels that are more relevant to modern users. This circle of digital life applies to most sites, but some breakout of the cycle and triumph around the world for years. YouTube belongs to this elite group. The platform was born over 15 years ago and quickly became one of the fastest-growing websites in the world. Today, the Youtube search engine is the second most popular search engine in the world and therefore a platform with huge marketing potential which should not be underestimated. In this article, we will give you some useful Youtube SEO tips and show you how to optimize your video to rank high in the Youtube search results.

YouTube SEO – Why Do It?

More and more marketers are investing resources in YouTube, but most often this involves Google Ads (read more about Google Ads on YouTube). However, YouTube can also provide a brand with a significant increase in visibility thanks to organic traffic – how-to videos, company videos, reports from industry events, and product videos – all content that helps brands gain both customer interest and trust. But of course, there’s a catch. According to statistics, a total length of about 500 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube every minute! There are billions of videos on the platform, uploaded by users from 88 countries. So you cannot assume that just uploading a new video to the web is enough to become the king of YouTube – according to the Pex report, almost 90% of videos on YouTube do not exceed 1,000 views. So, just like with Google and other search engines, you need to make an effort to rank high and get noticed. This is where YouTube video positioning comes into play.

YouTube Video SEO – What It’s All About?

Positioning is still mainly associated with the optimization of websites and text on them, while this concept is much broader. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) concerns not only written content but also all other materials on the Internet – such as photos or films. Therefore, we can also take appropriate steps to optimize YouTube content and thus increase the number of views. It is worth doing because YouTube is the world’s largest search engine for entertainment content. According to a study conducted by Ahrefs in 2019, it only takes a few basic SEO actions, no more than 5 minutes, to increase the organic reach of a youtube video by 30%. And if we decide to spend about 15 minutes on optimization and enrich the youtube video with all the elements of SEO, we can increase the reach by as much as 400%! But one step at a time. We will tell you step by step what you need to do to optimize your video on Youtube to be more visible and achieve a higher ranking. Here are some tips you should remember when creating videos.

Step 1 – Analysis

The basis of any orderly and effective actions in the field of YouTube SEO is an in-depth analysis of the channel and individual videos. It helps us to see the current visibility of the videos, what works best, and also the problems and room for optimization. Specialized keyword research tools such as vidIQ help with this.

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vidIQ is a Chrome browser plugin that measures our video results in terms of YouTube SEO and helps increase the organic reach of our videos, also checking the results of competitors or similar channels. What’s most useful in the program is the algorithm that determines the optimization score, i.e. the estimated SEO score for each video on YouTube. It analyzes all the factors related to the video and determines the probability that the material will be placed high in the Youtube search results or in the side list with similar videos. With the plugin, we can also audit the channel or check the actions taken by competitors. It is a tool that gives you the production value and arms you with basic knowledge, with which you can proceed to do YouTube SEO.

Step 2 – Video Title and Video File Name

The title is one of the first things a user sees when selecting content to watch. However, it’s also one of the elements taken into account by the YouTube algorithm when matching results to the terms people are searching for. Therefore, it’s important that the video’s tagline specifies what the youtube video is about and contains a target keyword.

A keyword is a phrase that users type into the platform’s search engine to find a video on a given topic. Its selection is very important and should be based not on gut feelings, but on hard data about the monthly number of searches for a specific phrase. Tools available on the Internet, such as the aforementioned vidIQ plugin or Ahrefs – providing keyword research for Google and other search engines – can help in finding relevant keywords. However, the easiest way to find valuable phrases is to check YouTube search engine hints.

Youtube Search - Ideas For Keywords — Youtube Search – Ideas For Keywords

The video title should explain what the user will find in the video, but it’s worth remembering that in a list with similar or recommended videos, a name that’s too long may be cut off. To make sure this doesn’t happen, you should create a title with no more than 60 characters, including spaces. However, you can also use the so-called Zeigarnik effect, which says that people feel the need to finish the process they started. So when the title is too long and is cut off, there’s a chance that the user will open the video to learn the rest of the name, but it must break off in an interesting place.

If we decide on longer titles, the most important thing is that the first three words should be matched with attractive key phrases. This can be followed by long tail phrases, CTAs or clickbait. However, using clickbait names only works if they fully relate to what is in the video. Ultimately, it’s the user’s engagement with the video that determines whether YT’s algorithm will continue to display the video for a given query as interesting content. If a lot of people watch the video and don’t abandon it in the first few seconds, it means the content is valuable – this is called fulfilling user intent.

Positioning a video on YouTube will be more effective if you also include the keyword in the video file name you intend to upload to the platform. This is a very important step for SEO, as algorithms can read the name to determine the subject matter of the video. So a meaningless, unique video file name reduces our chances of getting into the search results list and the recommended videos bar.

Step 3 – Video Description

Video description is a place where we can include all the most important information about the material – creators’ data, place and time of the shooting, etc. However, it is also a space that allows us to use the potential of popular keywords.

The SEO-optimized video descriptions should contain phrases that are thematically related to the video content but placed naturally – artificial saturation of the text with not related keywords will not only not increase the organic reach but may also bring the opposite effect.

Why is setting the right video descriptions so important for YouTube SEO? Content placed in this field is one of the elements taken into account by algorithms when it comes to videos ranking, so placing important keywords in it increases the likelihood that the video will end up in the sidebar with suggested youtube videos of similar topics. This in turn is an important source of views for most youtube channels.

The character limit for the video description is so high that we can afford to discuss each video in detail. Taking advantage of this potential and creating comprehensive video descriptions (at least 450 characters) – is an important element of YouTube SEO. However, most users will only see the beginning of the video description, which is about 100-150 characters. To see the entire text, they have to click the “show more” button, which is chosen by a small percentage of Internet users, so the first sentences should contain the most important information about the video content and the most relevant keywords.

Step 4 – Tags

The choice of tags is one of the most important steps in positioning pages on YouTube. They should best indicate to users what they will find in the material, but also help algorithms thematically link the video with other videos on the platform. To a large extent, tags are what determine what videos will end up in the sidebar list with YouTube’s suggested similar content. However, choose tags for your video carefully – too many unrelated tags to the topic of your video can be considered spam by the algorithms and result in a penalty from YouTube. The previously mentioned vidIQ tool can help you choose the best tags. You can use it in two ways. If we add the first tags to the video, the algorithms will show us similar tags with high potential. However, we can also search for them manually, checking in the vidIQ program the actions of competitors who do best in positioning on YouTube. It is worth adding in tags not so popular keywords such as the name of the channel or exact phrases from the title of the video, but also popular, but not too broad keywords.

Step 5 – Add a Custom Video Thumbnail

The video thumbnail is, next to the video title, the most visible element in the results list, so it largely encourages or discourages users to click the link, and thus is quite important in positioning the page on YouTube. Take care of the positive visual impression of our audience and prepare a special board about the topic of the video and attract the eyes of Internet users. Admittedly, we can choose one of the automatically generated by the platform thumbnails, but YouTube itself states that 90% of the most effective videos are those that have a custom thumbnail. It is important that the image is of very good quality and that it’s readable in the listing of videos also on smartphone screens – after all, about 70% of YouTube users access the service via mobile devices.

The correct parameters for a thumbnail are:

thumbnail size: 1280×720 pixels,
format: .jpg, .png, .gif or .bmp,
file size: max 2 MB.

When creating video thumbnails, it’s worth using, for example, graphic software Canva – it not only has a wizard with sizes appropriate for YouTube, but also templates.

YouTube thumbnail example — YouTube thumbnail – example

Step 6 – Subtitles

Videos published on YouTube should also be enriched with subtitles. They will be useful when the user watches the video with the sound muted and facilitate the reception of deaf people. In addition, they are very important for the positioning of videos on YouTube – the platform’s algorithm likes videos with subtitles, preferably in several languages. We can add subtitles in different ways. The simplest is to place a simple transcription of the text in the video description. Then the user can read the content, but will not be able to watch the material at the same time. However, we can use a simple editor on YouTube and add subtitles to the video directly on the platform. We can mark when a given part of the text should appear on the screen and how long it should stay there, so it’s easy to synchronize the subtitles with the sound or we can also use an external tool and export the video file to YouTube in .srt file format. For the most important videos on our channel, it’s worth adding both a transcription in the description and subtitles in the material itself.

Step 7 – End Cards and Screens

Tabs and end screens can be compared to linking in the text to various tabs of the website or external services. They encourage viewers to read other videos, subscribe to a channel or go to an e-commerce website, but also, for example, allow you to conduct a survey.

Cards are properly formatted notifications that can be set at different points in the video using an editor with a timeline. When we turn on tabs on YouTube, the video content will include the so-called “trailers” which, when clicked, will take the user to another video, channel, etc., depending on the implemented link. Up to five tabs can be implemented in a single video. End screens work on the same principle, but they appear after the end of the video, as an element occupying the entire surface of the player. You can set an image of your choice as a background and place visually appealing links in them – for example, if you decide to enter a link to another video, its thumbnail will appear on the screen.

By taking advantage of the opportunities provided by tabs and end screens, we greatly increase the chance that the user will reach for other content we publish – especially if we combine it with relevant calls to action in the video. So this is a very important part of YouTube SEO.

YouTube SEO – An Easy Way to Increase YouTube Channel Visibility

At first, positioning videos on YouTube may seem difficult and time-consuming, but with a little practice, it does not take more than a few minutes to a dozen minutes (of course, it will take more to create a transcript, but it’s really worth adding). Compared to the time it takes to prepare a video, this is very little, and it can make the difference between the effort put into creating the video being worthwhile. Correct YouTube SEO generates more traffic, builds a more engaged group of users, and in addition, the video often gets better average ratings (ratio of round-ups to round-downs) than videos promoted for a fee. Could there be a better reason to start?

Call to Action – What Is It?

02 August 2021 (update 22 November 2021) | By Maciek Popiołek | 0 Comments

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Czytasz teraz:

Call to Action – What Is It?

What Is a “Call to Action”?
Why Is the CTA so Important?
Where to Use CTAs?
How to Create an Effective Call to Action?
Effective Call To Action – How to Check it?

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One of the most important features of marketing texts is the presence of a Call To Action (CTA) – usually in the form of a link or a button. What is it actually, what is it for and how can it increase sales? How do you create a Call To Action and how do you make them effective? Read on to find out!

What Is a “Call to Action”?

“Check out the offer”, “sign up”, “buy now”, or even the “read on” – what do these phrases have in common? They can all be classified as calls to action. They are key elements of any advertising or promotional campaign. Currently, they are mainly associated with content presented on the Internet, but they have also been used for years in traditional advertising. Usually, a CTA is designed to direct the user to where you want him/her to be. On the web, it usually takes the form of a button or other active link that directs to the right tab, landing page or store. It seems unimportant, but in marketing efforts, CTAs can make a huge difference. That’s why it’s a must-have element of every campaign, website, or mailing advertisement.

Why Is the CTA so Important?

You may be wondering how does such a simple thing as a call to action bring results? Experience proves unequivocally that indicating to the user exactly what he/she should do raises chances for him/her to take an action. A CTA can be treated as a sign that shows exactly where to go and guides the customer along the purchase path. It is this element that often leads to conversion, which is one of the marketers’ favorite terms for achieving a specific goal (most often making a purchase, but also for example subscribing to a newsletter or making an inquiry).

Even if you think that your website is well-designed and there’s simply no chance to get lost in it, you should not give up on CTAs. They should appear at each stage of the customer path leading to conversion. Choose them carefully. For example, after adding a product to the cart you can encourage the user to place an order or continue shopping. The shopping cart itself should also contain clear signposts regarding the transition to subsequent stages of completion. Thanks to them you will avoid confusion and potential customers who, frustrated, will leave the page before making a conversion. It’s also a good idea to use CTAs to direct internet users to your website – for example, by placing them in social media posts or meta tags. If you haven’t used them so far, after changing your strategy you will definitely notice the difference!

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Why use Call To Action? In short, because it pays off. What’s important, using calls to action does not have to be difficult. You just need to learn a few simple rules which will help you to skillfully create them and place them in the right places so that they bring the expected results.

Where to Use CTAs?

As mentioned, CTAs usually take the form of a button or a link. Use a call to action wherever you want to trigger a specific action. They most often appear on websites and in email campaigns. However, it is also worth using them in social media posts or in the meta description of a page. The goals of Call To Action can vary. These include:

getting acquainted with an offer or price list,
buying a product,
subscribing to a newsletter,
signing up for a course, webinar, etc,
downloading a file,
submitting an inquiry,
contacting a company,
filling out a form or survey, etc.

Don’t count that users – without a definite incentive – will understand the intentions of the creators of the site and meet their expectations. That is why we use Call to Action, which precisely indicates the direction of action and allow, as it were, to make an automatic decision. The power of the call to action is immense!

How to Create an Effective Call to Action?

Creating the call to action itself is not difficult. However, it is important to use CTAs wisely! What’s equally important, remember that not every text will always work the same way. Therefore, there is no one-size-fits-all recipe for effective calls to action. Content should always be tailored to your target audience. It’s also worth checking their performance, comparing them with other possibilities, to choose the best solution. In the beginning, however, it is good to know the principles of creating a Call To Action, which are above all effective. What are these rules?

Keep Your Message Simple

The best Calls to Action are very simple. However, some people tend to complicate it unnecessarily. The wording used as a call to action must be understandable and unambiguous – it should not create any doubt as to what it refers to. Therefore, the button which allows adding the product to the cart should be simply called “Add to cart”. You can then prompt the customer to “proceed to checkout” or “proceed to payment”. You could also use buttons that say “BUY” followed by “PAY” or “ORDER”. Extremely simple, yet clear – which is exactly what a CTA should be.

Be Specific

An enigmatic “move on” or “click” button may not look bad at first glance. Some may even find it intriguing. But usually this kind of CTAs are not effective enough. Increasingly, they also fail to inspire trust. It is best to inform the user at once what awaits him after clicking the button. That’s why you shouldn’t be afraid of phrases like “sign up” or “proceed to payment”. They are much clearer and lead to higher conversion rates.

Don’t Mention Complicated Tasks

Many users are reluctant to move on if they receive a message that suggests a task or tedious work to be done. An example would be the phrase “fill out a survey” – simple and clear, that’s for sure, but is it encouraging? Who wants to waste their precious time filling out some survey? Whereas “participate in a survey” sounds much more interesting. The same goes for the sometimes used “provide payment information” – it is associated with some difficult task. Meanwhile, “Pay” is not only simpler and shorter but also does not contain any suggestion that the work has to be done.

Taking care to make the purchase process as simple as possible is very important and can increase conversion. However, you should also not forget about CTAs, which can cancel out all the effort you put into building a simple and friendly website if used inappropriately.

Emphasize the Benefits

This point is somewhat related to the next one. Instead of emphasizing the difficulties that may await the user in the next step, remind him of the benefits! It is often a good idea to replace “Register” with “Try for Free”. Instead of “Sign up for the newsletter” you can again use the first person singular and say “yes, I want to know more about…” or “I want to receive information about promotions”.

What else is worth remembering? A call to action alone will not do the trick. It should also be accompanied by a text that encourages its execution. It’s worth mentioning benefits or guarantees. It is also best to create a need to take this step immediately. Sometimes it may be helpful to emphasize the success so far (e.g. “join thousands of satisfied customers”).

Not Just Content Matter – A Well Exposed Call To Action

A successful Call To Action must combine two aspects – the right content with the right form. Therefore, once you’ve decided what text should adorn a button or a link, consider how to make it visible so that it is not overlooked. In this case, you can also define a set of rules, but remember that each situation should be approached individually.

Visibility

Your carefully designed CTA may be of little use if it’s not visible enough. It’s unacceptable that the user has to scroll through the entire page to get to the button. This applies to websites as well as mailing campaigns. Ideally, the call to action should be at the top of the email so that it shows up to the user without scrolling. This is especially important in the case of emails because it’s estimated that 8 out of 10 recipients do not go deep into the content of marketing messages, reading them only up to the so-called fold line, which is the place visible without scrolling.

You should take care of visibility by also using color highlighting and by using an appropriately sized button. CTA should be in such a form that the user knows it is for clicking. Remember to use the first person singular – it often helps to increase conversions. There should be enough free space around the button to make it stand out.

One Offer – One CTA

Using different calls to action on one page or in one promotional email can only lead to unnecessary confusion. Your message should be clear so that the recipient doesn’t have to think about what to choose and what to click. If he can’t make a decision right away, he definitely won’t move on. Therefore, you should always use only one CTA. However, you can place them in different places on the page or in the email so that the potential customer does not have to waste time looking for the button. In most cases, this is even a recommended solution.

Don’t Make It too Long

Remember that CTA should be short and unambiguous. Calls-to-action consisting of just 2 – 4 words are the most common. If you have more content to share, place it above the button – the call to action should only be about what awaits the user after moving on. However, it’s usually better to avoid cliched and overly general phrases (like “check it out” or “click here”) that don’t say much.

Check the Links!

Last but not least, there is nothing worse than a CTA that leads to an invalid or non-existent subpage. So always check your links before you launch a page or send out marketing messages.

Effective Call To Action – How to Check it?

To create effective calls to action, it’s a good idea to keep an open mind. Even if you think a call to action looks great and will be effective, in practice, it may turn out otherwise. Therefore, a good way is to prepare several variants of CTA and monitor their effectiveness. How to do it? One of the easiest ways is to check the Click Through Rate (CTR). It tells you how many of those who saw the offer decided to click on the link contained in it. So if out of 100 people who visited the page (or out of 100 emails sent), 5 click the link, the CTR will be 5%. Constant monitoring of this indicator can tell you a lot about both the choice of Call To Action and the design of the offer itself.

Our CTA looks like this:

It’s always worth paying attention to the conversion rate, i.e. how the visits on the website translate into finalizing transactions, i.e. making a purchase, signing up, contact, etc. Unsatisfactory results can sometimes lead to a loss of sales and can sometimes be the result of incorrectly chosen calls to action. Of course, a good CTA is useful not only for websites but also for mailing campaigns or Google Ads campaigns.