What is Semantic SEO and How can it be Optimized for Semantic Search?
Jul 18, 2024
10 min read
Over the past decade, internet searches have changed a lot. Websites like Google have become exceptionally adept at understanding our queries almost as a real person would.
Their goal is to provide users with relevant results quickly and easily. This is why keeping up with search engines is super important if you want people to find your content online easily. But how do you do that?
By implementing Semantic SEO strategies, you can make sure that your content not only has the right words but also talks about things in a way that makes sense.
This blog will explain how to use semantic SEO to make your content and be noticed by more people online.
What is Semantic SEO?
Semantic SEO is about making your online content more helpful by focusing on its overall meaning, not just specific words you think people will search for.
It's about making sure your content matches what people really want to know and does an excellent job of thoroughly explaining the topic.
This method is important because it's how modern search engines, like Google, decide what's helpful and should be shown to people searching.
By covering a topic deeply and linking ideas together, you help search engines understand your content better, which can help your content show up in search results for more questions people have through effective semantic SEO services.
The impact of AI and NLP on Semantic SEO
The growth of semantic SEO is closely connected to advancements in artificial intelligence and natural language processing technologies.
These advancements have significantly changed how search engines understand and rank content.
Let's look at key developments that have influenced the current SEO landscape.
Google's Knowledge Graph
Introduced in 2012, the Knowledge Graph is an extensive database that maps entities and their relationships. It helps Google understand the connections between concepts, providing more contextual search results.
For example, when you search for a famous person, the Knowledge Graph allows Google to display a panel with key information about that person, their relationships, and related entities.
Hummingbird Algorithm
Launched in 2013, this update marked a significant shift towards semantic search. It helped Google to understand the intent behind queries better, moving beyond exact keyword matching. Hummingbird allows Google to interpret the meaning of entire phrases rather than individual words, leading to more relevant search results.
RankBrain
This machine learning algorithm, introduced in 2015, further enhanced Google's ability to interpret search queries and provide more relevant results, especially for never-before-seen searches. RankBrain can make educated guesses about the meaning of unfamiliar words or phrases based on similar queries it has encountered before.
BERT (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers)
Implemented in 2019, BERT revolutionized Google's natural language understanding, allowing it to grasp context and conversational language nuances in search queries. BERT is particularly effective at understanding the importance of prepositions and context in search queries, leading to more accurate results for complex or conversational searches.
Search Generative Experience (SGE)
Announced in 2023, SGE represents Google's latest push towards AI-powered search, generating interactive snippets that thoroughly answer user queries.
This feature gives users more immediate and detailed answers directly in the search results, potentially changing how users interact with search results pages.
Why is Semantic SEO important?
Implementing a Semantic SEO strategy for your business offers several advantages:
Improved rankings
When search engines clearly understand your content, this increases your chances of appearing in more searches related to your topic. This helps more people find you in search results, underscoring the importance of search engine optimization services.
Improved user experience
Semantic SEO encourages the creation of valuable content that more effectively addresses user intent, leading to higher engagement and satisfaction.
Users are more likely to find the information they need, which will help reduce bounce rates and increase time on site.
Increased visibility in SERP features
Well-structured, semantically rich content is more likely to appear in featured snippets, knowledge panels, and other prominent SERP features. These high-visibility placements can significantly increase click-through rates and overall traffic.
Better voice search optimization
The conversational nature of semantic content aligns well with the growing trend of voice searches. As more users adopt voice-activated devices, optimizing for natural language queries becomes increasingly important.
Improved content quality
The process of optimizing for semantic search SEO often leads to creating more informative content. This benefits you by providing more value to your audience, potentially increasing brand authority and trust.
By leveraging semantic analysis SEO, you can improve your rankings and visibility, enhance your content's overall quality and relevance, and lead to a better user experience and increased engagement.
Want to reduce your CAC to half?
4 Semantic SEO best practices
To effectively implement semantic SEO, consider the following strategies:
1. Semantic keyword research
Focus on topics, not just keywords
Instead of targeting individual keywords, consider broader topics and themes. This keyword research approach enables you to craft more comprehensive content covering multiple facets of a subject.
An example of semantic topics SEO: Instead of just targeting "how to bake bread," consider covering related subtopics like types of flour, kneading techniques, and troubleshooting common baking issues.
Identify related concepts and entities
To get your content noticed and help it perform better, try using Google’s "People Also Ask" feature or tools that help you find related keywords.
For example, if you search for digital marketing online, you'll see a box called "People Also Ask."
This box is filled with questions that lots of people are asking about digital marketing. If you ensure your content answers these questions, your article or page could rank higher in Google searches and appear directly in the "People Also Ask" box, catching even more people's attention.
Analyze search intent
It is essential to understand why users are searching for a particular term. Are they looking for information, trying to make a purchase, or looking for a specific solution?
For instance, searching for "best running shoes" likely indicates a purchase intent, while "how to start running" suggests an informational need.
Customize your content to match the search intent.
Use keyword clustering
Group related keywords together to identify overarching themes and subtopics within your content.
2. Content creation
Create comprehensive, in-depth content
Try to cover your chosen topic thoroughly, addressing various aspects and related questions. This doesn't necessarily mean writing excessively long content but ensuring that your content is rich in relevant information.
For example, a guide on "how to choose a laptop" should cover aspects like processor types, RAM, storage options, display quality, and user needs.
Use semantically related phrases
Use natural language and include terms and phrases conceptually related to your main topic.
This helps search engines, such as Google, better understand the context of your content.
For example, an article about "sustainable fashion" might naturally include phrases like "eco-friendly materials," "ethical manufacturing," and "slow fashion movement."
Optimize for conversational queries
With the rise of voice search, it's important to consider how people might ask questions verbally.
Include natural language phrases and questions in your content.
For example, instead of just targeting "weather forecast," consider including sentences like "What will the weather be like tomorrow?" or "Do I need an umbrella today?"
Use proper HTML structure
Employ semantic HTML elements like <header>, <nav>, <article>, and <section> to provide clear structure and meaning to your content.
This will helps search engines to understand the hierarchy and relationships within your content.
Implement schema markup
Leverage structured data to offer additional context about your content, aiding search engines in comprehending the relationships among various elements on your page.
For example, using Article schema can help search engines understand the structure of your content, such as the headline, author, and publication date.
Create multi-format content
Consider presenting information in various formats, such as text, images, videos, and infographics. This caters to different user preferences and can help search engines better understand your content through other mediums.
3. Internal linking
Create topic clusters
Organize your content into clusters of related pages, with a main pillar page linking to more specific subtopic pages. This helps establish topical authority and provides a clear context for search engines.
For example, a main page about "digital marketing" could link to subtopic pages about SEO, social media marketing, and email marketing.
Use descriptive anchor text
When linking between pages, use anchor text that accurately describes the linked content, providing additional semantic context.
In the HTML code of a webpage, an anchor text looks like this:
<a href=”https://www.example.com”>Anchor Text</a>
Instead of common phrases like "click here," use descriptive text that gives users and search engines an idea of what the linked content is about.
Link-related content
Connect pages that cover related topics or aspects of a broader theme, reinforcing the semantic relationships between your content.
Implement a logical site structure
Organize your website to group related content naturally. This could involve creating category pages, tags, or other organizational elements that help users and search engines navigate your content more easily.
Use breadcrumbs
Implement breadcrumb navigation to show the hierarchical relationship between pages. This will assist users in navigating your site and provide additional context about its structure to search engines.
4. Structured data
Implement schema markup
Use appropriate schema types, such as articles, FAQ pages, or product schemas, to provide additional context about your content. This assists search engines in gaining a clearer understanding of your content, potentially leading to more informative search engine results pages through effective SEO Semantic Markup.
Highlight key information
Use structured data to mark important elements like dates, ratings, and author information. This will facilitate search engines' understanding and display of this information effectively in rich results.
Implement organization schema
Use Organization schema to provide information about your company, including your logo, social media profiles, and contact information.
How do we measure the impact of semantic SEO?
To measure the effectiveness of your semantic SEO strategies, consider monitoring the following metrics:
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Organic traffic growth: Track increases in organic traffic, particularly for long-tail and semantic variations of your target keywords.
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Keyword rankings: Monitor improvements in rankings for your target keywords and related semantic phrases.
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SERP feature visibility: Track your appearance in featured snippets, "People Also Ask" boxes, and other features.
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User engagement metrics: Monitor essential metrics like time on page, bounce rate, and more to evaluate how well your content meets user needs.
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Conversions: Monitor any changes in conversion rates that may be attributed to improved content relevance and user experience.
Conclusion
Creating content and making sure it shows up in searches is all about relevance and related to what people are looking for.
Even if your website works perfectly and uses some of the right words, it won't show up high in search results if the content doesn’t really talk about what it’s supposed to, emphasizing the importance of SaaS semantic SEO.
The basic rules of semantic SEO tell us that you need to make your content in a way that Google can understand well, ensure it works with how people naturally ask questions, and try to answer as many related questions as possible.
At Saffron Edge, we are dedicated to creating meaningful, relevant content customized to your brand’s needs. Contact us today and take the first step towards a more engaging, trustworthy, and visible website. Let's make your content impactful together!
7 Ways to Ace Your SEO in 2019
The way search engines like Google rank websites changes everyday. Yes, you heard that right! Apart from the big algorithm changes that Google announces once in a while, certain little tweaks and optimizations are made to their algorithms everyday to provide better results to searchers which you don’t even know about. And 2019 is going to be no different! With a few new algorithms introduced this year, Google will give more importance to those websites that adhere to those algorithms for sure in some time to come. Also, Google is focusing more on providing the best search experience to their searchers and if your website doesn’t, you will lose a few rankings on the SERPs for sure in the year to come. So, what should you do exactly to stay in the good books of Google and ace your Search Engine Optimization in 2019? This post is all about that and a lot more. So, let’s dive right in - Rankbrain is going to be more prominent than ever Rankbrain is one of the most prominent algorithms Google has released in recent years. But what exactly is it? It is a Google indexing algorithm backed up with AI which promotes/demotes websites on SERPs based on a certain set of factors. It is designed in a way to make sure that the best results come first for searchers searching for a specific query. Since it’s a machine learning algorithm, it automatically adjusts websites on the SERPs and doesn’t require human intervention at all and can make changes to SERP almost instantly. But what’s it based on? The algorithm was implemented to make sure users get the best search engine experience and the websites that they click on do that as well. So, websites that focused more on providing the best UX to visitors were rewarded by gaining Google’s top real estate, which gets the most clicks. Doing all of that is handled by Rankbrain now. So, you’ll have to keep Rankbrain in mind and optimize the UX of your entire website to provide a better experience to the people who stumble on your website after searching on Google. Doing this is going to be extremely important in 2019! But to ace Rankbrain, you need to know the exact factors on the basis of which it grades websites on the SERPs, which are - 1. Dwell Time Dwell time is the time a visitor spends on your website. Obviously, a visitor won’t stay on your web page or blog if the content is irrelevant to them or is of bad quality. So, providing quality content that aligns with searchers intent is of utmost importance to excel in the Rankbrain era. 2. Click-Through-Rate Rankbrain is designed to look closely at the CTR of each and every web page on the internet to give an appropriate ranking to them. For example, if a search engine result on the 6th position is getting a higher number of clicks than a result on the 3rd position for the same query, Rankbrain would notice and bump up the rankings of the result on the 6th position. But since dwell time is a factor as well, just getting a higher number of clicks on your web pages will not be enough, you will have to provide the kind of content that makes users stay as well to improve your search engine rankings. Take care of these two factors for all your webpages & blogs and Rankbrain would do the rest. Go Mobile or go obsolete Google cares about their searchers. And apparently, a majority of them search for queries from their mobile devices. Mobile searchers have long surpassed desktop searchers and Google wants to provide them with the best user experience. For the same, Google rolled out the Mobile-first indexing algorithm in March this year which changed how the algorithm accessed websites forever. Under this new algorithm, Google crawlers would prefer a mobile website first for indexation and ranking to primarily provide better results to their mobile searchers. So, having a mobile website that properly supports your desktop website is not something you can procrastinate anymore, it has become an absolute necessity under this new algorithm. Google prefers having a mobile responsive website over other methods of going mobile because of its ease. But having a mobile website is not enough, you’ll have to provide a great user experience on your mobile website as well (remember, Rankbrain) to make an impact in 2019. Focus on working on the speed of your website According to a study performed by Google themselves, a website’s speed is the greatest factor that determines if a website’s UX is satisfactory or not. And since, Google has been lately focusing so much on providing a great user experience to all their users, they rolled out an update that ranked websites based on this sole factor. They called it the ‘Speed Update’. While the factor is not the heaviest, focusing on optimizing the speed of your website will certainly give you a advantage and it would greatly improve the UX of your website, which is always a nice thing to do under the watch of Rankbrain. To make your site load faster, you can get rid of heavy elements on your website or minify or combine scripts. Or else, you can use Google’s own tool to check and optimize the speed on your desktop and mobile website - PageSpeed Insights. This tool will tell you everything there is you can do to make your website load faster and perform better in SERPs. The increasing relevance of unlinked Brand mentions Google has long been solely dependant on backlinks for determining the authority of websites over the web. The general idea is, the more backlinks a website has, higher will be it’s authority in the eyes of Google, and higher it will be placed in SERPs. And it has been like this since the inception of Google. But all of this is going to change. The way your brand is mentioned over the web on social media conversations, blog posts, forums and any other medium is closely looked over by Google. It takes into account the tone, intent and context of each brand mention over the web to ascertain if it’s positive or negative and the way people talk about you over the web will certainly affect your ranking in 2019. ‘Unlinked brand mentions’ over the web are gaining relevance each day and it calls for social listening. You’ll have to jump on each and every conversation happening about your brand over the web and make sure it’s in positive light to maintain your brand reputation in the eyes of Google. Google’s Gary Illyes mentioned it himself. So, if you’re not actively monitoring your brand mentions over the web and making sure they add to the overall reputation of your brand, you will struggle to increase your search engine rankings is some time to come. To monitor your brand mentions over the web, you can make use of tools like ‘Awario’ and ‘Brand Mentions’ that would help you do just that with ease! Searchers are consuming more video content than ever People preferring to consume video content over any other type of content is nothing new and has long been a trend that’s still going strong. If you are looking to gain a lot of engagement from your audience on your website, social media or blogs, then video is certainly your best bet because people simply prefer video over anything else. Obviously, quickly watching a video about something is always easier than reading a ton of content and that’s why video is still so popular. In this world, where every brand is throwing up a lot of content on the web and is seeking attention from their audience, people have found a better way to consume content on a daily basis that quickly gives them the facts and is engaging to consume. So, if you’re not making use of Video, you're definitely missing out on a lot of engagement and additional SEO benefits. I would suggest you quickly start creating some video content for your brand and publish it on Youtube. Since, Youtube is owned by Google, you can also enjoy some obvious search engine benefits in the time to come. Target people searching for answers on Google Assistant Optimizing your content for voice searchers is currently a hot topic. And it has all the reasons to be. Voice searches globally are on a tremendous rise and you’ll be missing out if you don’t write content that targets those users head-on. But how do you target them? Here are 3 ways that would help Google Assistant pick your content over others when it comes to answering voice search queries put up by searchers - You need to be on the top 3 results for Google Assistant to even consider picking up your content. If your content appears in the featured snippet, your chances to get picked up by the Google Assistant increases by folds. Here’s how you can get featured in the featured snippet. Answer your own questions in your content. Usually, most of the voice queries start with a question and to answer that question, Google Assistant usually picks up the content that revolves around that exact question. So, try answering the most basic questions people might have around your focused keyword. To know more about what else you can do to target those voice searchers, Forbes compiled a list of best advices from 15 members of the Forbes Communications Council… do have a look at it. Quality content and backlinks are still important While the above suggested ways are vital to ace your SEO in 2019, don’t forget that content and backlinks are still the top ranking factors that matter the most to Google. With Google placing more importance on the user experience that each search engine result provides to users (Rankbrain), I think creating quality content should be your top priority for acing SEO In 2019. If your content provides real value to your target audience, they will be inclined more to read it all. And when they dwell more on your content, Google will notice via Rankbrain that you have a knack of providing quality content to all your users. Which I think is the point of SEO in general. Link building and providing quality content goes hand-in-hand as only when people love your content, they’ll want to share that content on their own blogs and within their own social circles, expanding the reach of your content and building some valuable backlinks along the way. If you continue to provide awesome content to your audience, the biggies in your industry will notice and would want to link to you too. That’s the essence of natural link building right there, and it’s not going to lose value in 2019 and beyond! If you are looking to approach your SEO in 2019 with a bang, the above mentioned ways are the perfect way to do it. But before you start implementing them, keep this in mind, Rankbrain ranks website keeping in mind the response of your audience to your content. If they bounce even before your site loads completely, Rankbrain would not even let you reach the first page of Google, let alone acing it. It’s a machine learning algorithm that does it all for Google and looks at the UX signals of your website really closely to award rankings. And it’s not easy to game Rankbrain because of it’s self-learning mechanism. You’ll have to provide quality content to your audience to get your SEO ball rolling in 2019 and there’s no escaping it now! Having said that, I hope the above mentioned ways will help you greatly in improving your website’s overall SEO potential! Being a SEO agency ourselves, we’ll rely greatly on these tactics as well to provide the best services to all our clients. If you think there are other ways (I know there are) that have helped you greatly in achieving SEO success lately and you're confident that they’ll be of equal importance in 2019 when it comes to increasing a website’s search engine rankings, do let us know about them in the comments. ...
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Buy Now, Pay Later: Does BNPL Strategy Work for Businesses?
Sixty-seven percent of Gen Z respondents to a Statista survey the same year reported using a BNPL service during the previous three months. Buy now, pay later is a convenient and popular way to shop for a broad variety of goods and services. Mozo found that among Australians who are already utilizing BNPL services, 67% are buying needs like furniture and household appliances, 57% are buying luxury items like designer apparel and jewelry, and 27% are buying basics like food. A second payment method that firms might use is the "buy now, pay later" model. When they make a purchase, they may get their hands on it right away, and they also have the option to spread out their payments. Also, customers can feel more at ease purchasing an expensive item like luxury apparel or furnishings if they can spread out their payments over time. By allowing customers to make installment payments, you may be able to enhance both sales and client loyalty. A purchase now, pay later option can help customers whose budgets have been thrown off by the spread of COVID-19. History of how BNPL became so popular Let's go back to the beginning of BNPL to learn more about its history and how it got to be what it is now. Many of these warehouse stores have also experimented with layaway and other payment plans in the past. The widespread adoption of credit cards has led to the demise of these alternatives. Many stores now provide their own credit cards and actively encourage their use at the point of sale as a means of boosting customer loyalty and increasing sales. Key features of BNPL, according to researchers, are lower transaction values and the absence of a credit check or conventional underwriting. This debt is unavailable to creditors because BNPL services do not report user activity to credit bureaus. In most cases, a 25% down payment is required at the time of purchase, with the remaining 75% divided into three equal installments due every two weeks. The buyer must authorize automatic payments using a debit or credit card in order to complete the BNPL transaction. A definition of "Buy Now, Pay Later" With Buy Now Pay Later, a client may make an immediate purchase and then pay for it in monthly payments over a short period of time. In essence, you will be granted a short-term loan, the whole amount of which must be repaid either in monthly installments or in a single payment. If you repay the loan on time, you won't have to pay any interest. Though yet in its infancy, BNPL's promising future is assured by its rapid development. Online purchases are a common reason that borrowers seek out these sorts of loans. The speed with which loans may be approved sets it apart from more traditional approaches. As long as you don't postpone payments, it won't have any effect on your credit score, which is still its largest perk. There is a plethora of BNPL service providers in India. Mobikwik, Amazon, Simpl, PayPal, Alibaba Postpaid, and Paytm Postpaid are all part of the group. Nonetheless, at this point, you're probably wondering how BNPL makes money. Exactly how does BNPL function? It's finally here. Explaining the Operation of BNPL Read on to learn how the BNPL system benefits both shoppers and stores. The shopper continues shopping as usual and proceeds to the checkout counter. BNPL begins the same way that every other online purchase does for the buyer. You go to several internet retailers, choose items, and get ready to check out. The BNPL provider the store has selected offers a buy now, pay later payment plan. The consumer can pay with BNPL, along with other payment methods like credit cards, at checkout. The borrower's credit is given a "gentle pull" by the lender. When a consumer chooses to pay using BNPL, they must provide the BNPL lender with basic identifying information (such as a full address and Social Security number). In order to ensure that the borrower would repay the loan, the lender does a mild credit check right away. Since this form of credit check is not shared with credit reporting agencies, it will not have a negative impact on credit ratings. The store must pay a fee to the BNPL provider. The BNPL provider will deduct a fee from each sale made at retail and pass the cost on to the store owner. Fees (usually 2-8%) are withheld from the amount the BNPL lender transfers to the retailer. This is analogous to the partnerships between banks and shops that enable the use of credit cards. The consumer makes payments against the outstanding debt. In most cases, BNPL sellers may waive interest charges entirely if you pay off your debt in a very short amount of time (typically 30 days). Lenders often provide a variety of payment plans, each with its own set of terms and interest rate, to clients who may require additional time to repay the principal. As is the case with credit cards, the consumer will save money on interest charges if they pay off their balance quickly. Where do BNPL businesses get their money? The next obvious question is, how does BNPL make money? Who or what is providing the funding? Earnings via retailers: BNPL provides a platform for businesses to expand their clientele and hence their revenue. As a result, customers with low balances can still make purchases. Additionally, it provides a new method of vendor compensation. As a result, they will be charged a transaction fee of 2-8% of the total purchase price. This raises a red flag for the sellers who are footing the bill for the hefty transaction costs, but the rising average order size speaks for itself. Obtaining Funds from Customers: Interest- BNPL's clientele are a significant source of revenue. Depending on the customer's credit or the length of time before the balance is paid off, some businesses impose interest rates anywhere from 10% to 30%. The borrower is responsible for paying interest on the loan if he or she extends the loan's repayment term. However, there are a select few businesses that will not assess any fees so long as the loan is repaid on time. Payment postponement - The client is responsible for the late fees if the payment is not received by the due date. It is a major source of income for BNPL enterprises. It's possible to accrue interest at a rate of 30% or more. It is the penalty for late payment, even when the consumer pledges to reimburse the remaining amount promptly. They are also interested in developing their own online marketplaces in order to generate revenue. This will allow them to boost their earnings by encouraging customers to swipe their cards more often. As a result of referring clients to their business partners, they might collect a commission. Another significant revenue stream comes from the display advertisements they host. There are several brands that use ads to boost their credibility and sales. Inevitably, there is a cost associated with running this ad. In exchange for advertising space, these companies are paid by the brands that advertise on their site. Many still have not subscribed, thus the money from this source is low. Earning money from data is the way of the future. They now have access to a wealth of personal information about you that might generate income for them in the future. This information is extremely valuable and might be transferred for monetary gain. They may put that money into expanding their business in the future. Now that we've covered BNPL firms' primary income streams, it's time to learn about BNPL's benefits. What are the benefits of “buy now pay later” for business? It may be hard for you to see how accepting this kind of payment will benefit your company. That's hardly surprising, considering the prevalence of layaway plans in retail sectors. Here are four benefits that should help you see how this payment method may be used in a business-to-business setting: Reduce cash flow stress as much as possible. If most of your cash flow is already being spent, it may be impossible to pay for new or used equipment right once. Services that allow you to make a purchase now and then make a payment at a later time can help you better manage your finances. Smaller payments can be made starting after the selling date, rather than all at once. If the equipment can be put to work generating more money, then it more or less pays for itself. Second, don't use up all of your available finance options. Do you prefer not to use your available credit at the bank? Do you wish you didn't have to use all of your company's credit? You can think of BNPL as a distinct line of credit from your other options. In this way, you won't have to worry about draining your credit account in order to get the necessary tools. Third, think about arranging a special payment plan. Do you think it would benefit your company if you could finance machinery with no money down and only interest to pay for the first six months? Instead, how about a payment plan that adjusts with the seasons? With BNPL finance, there are several flexible payment options for business-to-business transactions. The sellers and their partner lenders may surprise you with their willingness to negotiate. Fourth, shop with complete ease. There are a plethora of BNPL system sites readily available on the web. In addition to checking out items, making automated payments, and downloading data for internal reporting are also options. Inquiring about the seller's ability to offer financing at a later date never hurts. After nearly two years of navigating the effects of global economic volatility, many small businesses are on the road to recovery. But most decision-makers are aware that they require the proper equipment to do the job and bring in money. If your business is ready to take the next step but needs a financial bridge, buy now, pay later services might be the solution. Is BNPL the Best Option for Your DTC Company? In recent years, the option to finance purchases with delayed payment has skyrocketed in popularity, and it's not expected to disappear anytime soon. As more and more vendors provide this choice, not providing it might put a store at a competitive disadvantage. You should thoroughly research your potential BNPL provider and make sure you have the funds available before committing to using BNPL for your company. Verify that the supplier you're thinking about will work well with your present sales infrastructure. ...
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Developing Content For Customers In Various Stages Of Buying Cycle
The buyer’s journey is not too hard to understand in a thoughtfully designed sales funnel. A sales funnel is step-by-step progress taken by the customer in the entire life cycle. Traditionally, it’s been split up into three areas: Awareness: Right from the start when the customer becomes aware of his need of a product in your industry category, searches for options over the web- hopefully, finding your business in the process. Consideration: By now the customer has narrowed down his choice to 2-3 options and is looking deeper into the choices by directly comparing the pros/cons, processes, etc.). This usually happens for smaller or directly beneficial individuals, but for larger B2B transactions, this is also the stage when the person doing the research may have to present his findings to higher-ups for decision making. Decision/Purchase: After much of the effort by the sales team and interactions with the customer via email, phones, or social media, this would be the stage where the customer decides to buy from you or not. A study supports the fact that a customer is already 57% through the sales process before they even contact a sales representative, it’s obvious to have useful content in place on your site. But if you’re basing your content marketing strategy only on that three-step journey, you could be leaving a big hole in your strategy-making process. Ahead in the article, we are going to list out how content can be made and optimized along with the various stages of the buyer’s journey: Developing content for customers in the pre-purchase stage, content for current customers, and content for long term/advanced customers. Businesses also need to understand the fact that a customer journey does not end when they become customers. If you stop creating content for people after they became customers, you could be ruining your retention rates or making customers feel that they you left them in cold as soon as you got their money. Developing Content For Prospects in The Pre-Purchase Stage To get it all started you must have the data from your previous or current customers that let you know that: What questions did they have in mind before they purchased your products? How did they skim through your competitors and make a choice of buying from you? Was there any hiccup or a second thought while making the purchase decision? Did you have a hard time finding answers to any specific questions about the product/service? Such case studies could prove to be helpful at any stage of the process. Answers to these questions will let you jump-start right into creating on-site content, whether it is blogs, or FAQ/knowledge base entries. But, to warn you, nobody wants to hard sell or get obsessed with selling and differentiating their product/service in every blog post on their website. Content marketing institute lists some suggestions for types of content that work well for B2B businesses in the pre-purchase stage. Developing Content For Current Customers After the sale has happened, there is the vital step of “keeping your commitments” and “maintaining customer loyalty”. So how do you plan to keep your customers happy? Did you guarantee that your product could solve a specific problem faced by the customers? Then it had better deliver. In addition to all this, there are natural emotions or hiccups along the way after making a purchase: Buyer’s remorse New influencers and decision-makers Resentment or aggression Distrust Failure to build value Every customer is bound to go through a post-sale evaluation of the decision they made to purchase the product. Failure on your part to keep commitments and drive home value and you’ll be opening doors for your competitions to make the next sale. For many businesses, this means tailoring content for mainly two departments in charge of project delivery, and customer service. Content regarding project delivery: Building trust with customers Addressing customer inquiries Does your customer understand the features? Pointing out new needs Content regarding customer service: Addressing customer emergencies Solving common product issues Continuing to build trust Explaining sensitive issues These are some of the key areas where businesses focus on creating content. There are many other issues that might be addressed by content marketing and are unique to your industry. Hence you need to look out for those issues in coordination with the sales team or the customer service team. Developing Content For Long Term/Advanced Customers Here you are creating content that helps customers get past the “my product is good enough, but it could be better” area. Now is the time to create customer loyalty or customer advocacy. Within your client base, there will be a small percentage of people who truly love what you sell. In such cases, word-of-mouth still reigns supreme and hence you should create content to encourage these customers to speak about you. Some of the key points that need to be addressed during this stage: Go the extra mile to provide your customers extra from what they have already purchased. You should always be the next choice of making a purchase whenever the time comes. Repurposing content for the current customers so that it is easily shareable, enables you to create a sales team outside your business venture. This also lets your business open up to new communities related to your current customers. These communities might not have heard about your business before but may have the need that your products can meet. Conclusion Content marketing can fit any size of the business. You just need to answer the common questions or hurdles that your prospects face before making a purchase decision from you, even if they have bought it- are they satisfied with it, what steps is your company taking to ensure that it maintains long-term relationships with the existing clients. ...
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