The only constant is change.
And if you have a website, you can’t ignore the marketing and usability trends because they drastically impact how or IF people interact with you and your website.
I pulled some noteworthy stats from a curated article published by Business 2 Community last month, and I want to share my thoughts.
1) 46% of People Say Website Design Influences Website Credibility
Content may be king, but if your site looks like it was designed in 1997, it can be horribly distracting.
And don’t forget about the importance of having a mobile friendly/responsive theme. With more people using mobile devices and site owners switching to responsive themes, people have less patience with sites that make them pinch and zoom.
Also, if you use a responsive theme and you notice your larger images are cut off in the mobile view, remove the width and height attributes from the code. Just know that those values can help improve page loads, but with most people on higher internet speeds these days, the impact is minimal.
2) Posts with videos attract three times as many inbound links as text posts.
Believe it or not, this is something I’ve never really measured.
I rarely check inbound links earned on individual pages, but I’m more interested in traffic and engagement on posts with videos compared to posts with just text.
I quickly went through some content with embedded video and compared them with those without and saw no concrete correlation with regards to engagement and shares.
I’d love to know if you’ve tested this on your site.
3) 75% of Smartphone Users Watch Videos On Their Phones
If you publish videos, this is why it’s so important to use the zoom feature on screencasts when showing small text.
The other thing to consider is clickable annotations on YouTube don’t work on smartphone and tablet devices, so if you use them, provide an alternative. Put a small notation underneath the annotation that says something like “See description for link.”
This is something I often forget. I don’t watch that many videos on my smartphone, so I have to remember that I am in the minority and make sure I accommodate both groups.
4) Pinterest is Becoming an Ecommerce Force to Be Reckoned With!
You can sleep on Pinterest if you want, but site owners are discovering that it’s more than just a site for women who like to gaze at wedding ideas and 6-inch stilettos.
The platform grabbed 41% of social ecommerce traffic in 2014 compared to Facebook, which was at 37%. In other words, retail companies that track social traffic found that Pinterest is now bringing them more traffic than Facebook.
Pinterest also generates over 400% more revenue per click than Twitter and and 27% more than Facebook.
What’s more interesting is that even though men make up just 20% of the user base, they tend to use Pinterest as a shopping tool, while women use it more for ideas. I learned that little tidbit from Jay Baer’s article on ConvinceAndConvert. Interesting!
And if you think Pinterest only works for visual sites, think again. Amanda Hoffman proved this isn’t always the case. She’s had tremendous success with a bookkeeping site. Yes, bookkeeping!
Many of you already know I’m a huge fan. Check out my podcast on Pinterest.
5) Companies That Blog at Least 15 Times Per Month Get 5 Times More Traffic
Excuse me while I cringe. 😕
This is one of those stats that needs a “BUT.” Obviously this is true if what you’re putting out content that meets the needs of your reader, but if no one is reading your content when you post 4 times per month, adding 11 more posts to your monthly publishing schedule won’t necessarily do much.
Quantity means nothing without quality. So I’m OK with that stat as long as there are some caveats.
6) When it Comes to Conversions, Email Marketing Ranks 1st, SEO is Second and Banners Are Last
For some of you, I bet you’d swap email and SEO either because you don’t use/have a list, or you don’t get many conversions from it.
When I first started my site I relied completely on SEO and ignored email, but that all changed. More sign-ups for my courses came from my email list than site links.
People on your list are usually your biggest fans. Think about it. They’re giving up something that many people guard so closely thanks to spam and receiving too many emails. So it’s no surprise site owners report email converts best.
7) Almost Half (48%) of All Emails Are Opened on a Mobile Device
What’s even more interesting is the article also revealed that only 39% of site owners actually optimize their emails for mobile devices. So there is a gap.
Most email marketing services like AWeber and MailChimp have test features. Don’t forget to test your mobile layout.
8) E-mail open rates are noticeably lower on weekends
Open rates have been pretty consistent since I’ve been online, but this is definitely worth mentioning — especially if you’re new to Internet marketing.
I never send emails out on the weekends. People are busy and they get behind on checking email. And the older the email gets, the less likely they are to see it.
Studies have shown Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesday are the best days to mail your list, but as you can see above, the numbers are very close.
Some don’t like to send anything on Mondays because many people take long weekends or are catching up on email sent Saturday and Sunday.
9) 33% of clicks from search results go to the top site on Google
(In case you’re curious, rank #2 and #3 get 17% and 11% of the traffic consecutively.)
This is another stat that hasn’t changed much over the years, but I wanted to include it because I get lots of questions on a related issue.
If you’ve been online long enough, you may remember a time when you could estimate how much traffic you would receive from a keyword if you rank for position #1, 2, 5, etc.
For example, let’s say you rank #1 for how many in a bakers dozen and you know the keyword gets searched for 10,000 times per month. Based on the above stat, you would be able to estimate about 3300 monthly visits from that phrase (10,000 x .33).
Well that’s changed and it’s likely you are getting less traffic than you would have years ago.
There are a couple of reasons…
1) Search is still somewhat personalized based on people you’re connected with via Google Plus, sites you’ve visited, etc. So you may be #1 on your computer, but #3 on someone else’s.
2) Google continues to change how results are displayed and the company also uses its own knowledge graph (a database of information they collect.)
Try typing How many in a baker’s dozen and notice how Google displays the answer so you don’t even have to click on any result. This really impacts websites that rank high for certain keywords.
10) eBay, MTV, Amazon and Starbucks Are The Engagement Leaders on Twitter
Sure, most of us don’t have a massive following like a major brand, but we can all shoot for better engagement with the followers we have right?
So what can we learn from these companies?
If you go to any of their Twitter feeds, you’ll immediately notice all four companies often post very high-quality, engaging pictures with their tweets and they’re not all about their brands. Some images are just fun and/or eye-catching.
Last week for Martin Luther King’s Holiday Starbucks posted the tweet below, and it was one of their most shared tweets in a long time…
— Starbucks Coffee (@Starbucks) January 19, 2015
It’s simple, yet clever and socially relevant.
So don’t forget to switch things up from time to time to re-engage those who may have lost interest, and post more images!
I post images all the time on Facebook and Google Plus, but for whatever reason do not post as many on Twitter. I need to get better about that.
11) 71% of users access social media from a mobile device
Going back to images again, this is exactly why they are so much more effective for getting exposure. When people are browsing on smaller screens, images stand out twice as much as a text update.
And with regards to visibility, don’t forget red images get shared twice as much as blue ones. So keep ’em bright and bold!
You can see the full article from Business 2 Community here.
Personally I don’t get the video thing. Maybe I’m just old, but I don’t have the time or the patience to watch video’s. I just want to scan through text to see if its relevant. (So thank you Lisa for posting transcripts, so I don’t have to watch)
Anyway, just want to remind people that text still matters. If I want to buy something online, and most relevant content is video, I shop elsewhere. I am probably not alone.
this is an awesome article, very informative but still well written and explained, i think i must get down to work on pinterest so that it can also give me some leads, i am not very into pinterest but now i will pull up my socks and invest more time into it and hopefully what you said comes true.
Great info thanxs
Hello lisa here is the website http://trade.adahor.com/ Nigeria classified site to buy and sell. hoping you give me more idea on how to generate traffics to it,should i run payed ads on google adwords or should focus on seo ?
reply
Hello i just launch a new website,when will you write article on how to generate traffic?
i really need it,i am looking up to you as my eye opener.
Hi Lisa. I’m really impressed by this guide to MARKETING. I have newly built blog and I’m still looking around for better marketing tips – I bet this is the best, thanks again Lisa – Guys can check out my blog at http://www.blog-master.co.za anytime
Thanks Lisa,
I really want to say thank you for putting out such an awesome post, this post has shifted the way I will be working online. Thank you.
Hi Lisa,
Thanks for this awesome post, I’ve been seeing you talk about Pinterest but I really haven’t checked it out because I have been relying on paid traffic because it’s kind of fast but now I want to test it out. Thanks again 🙂
Great tips, thank you Lisa, I didn’t know that Pinterest could help me, I will definitely try that now.
I always get my ideas from Lisa’s tutorials. I was motivated to be own a great site so created my site http://www.howtokreat.com from the Lisa’s 2createawebsite.com, everything i learn about blogging are all from Lisa’s tutorials.
Keep your good ad highly inspiring tutorials up.
Hey Lisa,
Thanks for the tidbits here . I started using Pinterest more after you mentioned a Pinterest plugin in for adding the button to your images in one of your previous posts. Also it’s good to know how the big companies you mention get their traffic. I will definitely have to add more engaging images to my tweets!
Thanks for the share and I hope you have a great week!
Hi Lisa. Fantastic as always. I had not heard from you in a while (as in emails) and was wondering where you had ventured to. I see you have changed your website, looks excellent. I’m in the process of building (well wordpressing) my new personal site so a couple of tips here will help. I was wondering, you have sidebars or your site. I read that this can have a negative affect on a site. I do not have a side bar on my new site because I am torn. Is there an actual problem with having side bars or is this just bull?
Hi Stephen
I’ve been sending emails at the same pace so I wonder if you just missed them. Anyway, glad to see you back.
I think you have to test. Now you may notice I did remove my sidebar from 2createawebsite.com. I’m testing this now. That’s a very high converting page and I don’t want distractions. My bounce rate has improved a bit. But on my blog pages and other content I don’t mind. I don’t think there is a clear answer. It depends on the site.
Yes, I’ll test away. People are damn to distracted these days as noticed by major websites doing away with their comment sections. Cheers Lisa.
HEY LISA
thanks for the post. this article is very helpful for me. keep it up.
Great list of website marketing trends, Lisa!
And thanks for including a link to my email marketing post on SuperOffice.com. You make a great point, and the best way to find out which day is better is to test it yourself and send out email campaigns on different days of the week.
15 Posts a month?!?
😛
Sorry, but I just do not have time to read that much and cannot imagine that it would stay relevant enough. I think it would go empty, just like AOL’s news of. “You won’t believe what is happening” and it they still do not know what is happeing other than writing a headline. Unles you are tracking weight loss or a sports team and even then…
Great stats though. I think some are tempered for sure to better industries or products.
Thanks for sharing
Yeah there’s no way. I struggle to get 2 some months. LOL Completely agree. I also think they were referring more to established brands that have large followings.
I think the stat about posting 15 times a month is easier for multi author blogs with a posting schedule. There is no way I would write that much without the quality dropping but then I am just one person.
Yep either that or companies that have a team to blog about their products and services. There’s no way I’d ever do that for the reasons you mentioned.
Thank you so much Lisa for your response. I tried both of the things you suggested, but still wasn’t able to see just a summary of posts on my home page as opposed to a long list of full text of the posts.
I actually found a theme that I really liked last night, spent $10 to upgrade it to the premium version and quite a bit of time tweeking it. It shows summaries of the posts no problem at all either.
What I forgot to check in my excitement is if the theme is compatible with mobile devices. After trying to browse the page on my mobile Android device this morning, I discovered that it is not at all compatible with mobile devices, so back to the drawing room again.
That is good to know that the default themes from 2012 onward are compatible with mobile devices.
It is a bit of a disappointment though, because I really like the way that it looks on my desktop computer. Oh well, live and learn.
Thanks for sharing Lisa. My goal is to have a website similar to yours but only in a different market such as sports. I want to lots of engagement on my post and lots of shares on the major social media network.
I’m writing a blog post every day this year so at least I got one of these down.
Wow David! That’s impressive.
Very interesting post Lisa. And guess how I got to read your post today? You guessed it! Through being on your email list. So I can definitely see the value of email marketing.
I definitely need to have a mobile friendly theme for my blog. I am using WordPress 4.1 Twenty Ten theme. I suspect that my theme might not be mobile friendly. I’m going to have to click on your link on mobile friendly themes.
The other problem that I’m having is I can’t seem to be able to show excerpts of my posts on the front page, rather than showing a very long page with the entire content of many of the posts. I’ve selected “summary” in the Reading Settings next to “For each article feed show” and I’m still getting the full text of my posts on the front page. I suspect that might be the theme I am using as well.
Thanks again for the excellent blog post. I enjoyed reading it and look forward to future posts.
Hi Christopher,
The good news is the newer default WordPress themes (2012 and up) are responsive. So getting your site to be responsive is a pretty easy fix now that so many themes are created that way.
Have you checked the documentation for your theme? Also check the settings within the “Edit” mode up top and underneath where you write the posts. Sometimes you have to select excerpt there. It’s definitely a “theme issue.” But since you’re using a default WordPress theme there’s definitely a way to do it.
Thanks for reading!
Good info Lisa, lots to consider for sure. I’m still surprised at the number of sites I see, from some big folks out there in the IM space, that do not have mobile friendly sites. I think they need to read your article! 🙂
Thanks Chris!
Believe it or not, a lot of people still don’t believe having a mobile site is necessary. I remember reading a site where a blogger was saying responsive sites are overhyped and that most sites look OK with the default view on smartphones. The problem with that logic is as more users get used to responsive sites, they have less patience.
I wish I could remember who it was because I’d love to see their site now.
I remember when I didn’t mind pinching and zooming but now I HATE it when I arrive on a site that’s not mobile friendly.
Agreed! I understand if they’re still getting traffic and conversions that it might seem like all is well, but I’m not sure how long that will last.
I also used to be OK with the pinch and zoom game, but lately I’ll just avoid sites like that, unless it seems like the only place where I can find whatever it is I’m looking for.
Even if someone doesn’t want to change themes fully, with free plugins like WPTouch Mobile, it’s super easy to retrofit an existing site.
Great Post Lisa !
What about being Transparent to Visitors ?
Absolutely! This post focused more on trends and stats mentioned in that article I referenced, but by all means TRANSPARENCY should be one of your top goals! It’s a great credibility builder.
Thanks for replying Lisa !
I have been your fan since last two years. The way you write posts is very easy to understand. I actually included your biography in my 6th semester college seminar Project. “Earning money from Internet” 😀
I had interviews with some great bloggers such as “Adam Connell” & “Sue Anne” on my blog. I would just love to have one with you if you give me the permission.
Thanks ! 🙂
Lisa, excellent set of trends for 2015. I went and listened to the Pinterest interview with the book keeper, very good. I also liked your comment on “See Description for Link” tip, very good tip for videos.
Nicely done, thank you
Thanx for the info. You are such a great resource. I appreciate all your help.
Thanks for this post, Lisa. I’m writing great content on my blog, however I’m having difficulty getting eyeballs on my posts. These stats will be very helpful in adjusting my marketing strategy.
Hi Paul, are you referring to the blog that’s linked to your name here on this post?
If so, I know from mentoring so many others that writing a more personal blog on various life events, reviews etc. can be challenging if you don’t yet have an audience.
If you aren’t having much luck with that method, you might want to try focusing on a specific niche/audience so it’s clear WHO you are targeting from the start. That way you know more about what your audience wants instead of only writing content that is relevant to a small percentage of your readers.
But maybe you are referring to another site so before I go and ramble on let me stop….. LOL
Lisa,
I know my current posts are kind of scattered. I’m looking to create a lifestyle blog focused on Zen, minimalism, travel and living life by your own terms.
In the near future I will be writing profiles of people who have escaped the 9-5 and have created a living doing what they love. You are in that category, for sure.
Check out my post “They Said I Was Crazy, But I Had to Do It if I Wanted to Live. ” It’s my manifesto!
Paul
Great info and insights as usual Lisa. Good post!
awesome tips, thanks for this awesome article, i humbly want to request please write a Great article on “50 Free Traffic Tips/Sites/Ideas” and also notify us when you write that, please.