– The leaders of the ecommerce industry in China include Taobao, WeChat and JD.com.
– Ecommerce trends are currently mainly cooperation with influencers, live shopping and selection of products after scans or photos.
– Digital wallets and group purchases are also gaining popularity.

E-commerce leaders in China and their key tools

In recent years, many solutions in the e-commerce world have been refined to adapt to the demanding and changing needs of consumers. Chinese online commerce relies heavily on marketplaces and social media shopping, and the leaders of e-commerce are Alibaba, JD.com and WeChat. Let’s take a look at one of the most popular Chinese e-commerce sites and learn about the solutions they propose.

E-commerce leaders in China:
– Taobao
– WeChat
– JD.com

Alibaba and Taobao Group

The Alibaba group dominates the Chinese e-commerce market. It consists of two of the most famous platforms – Alibaba.com and Aliexpress. Their popularity is due to the fact that they sell abroad. Alibaba operates in the B2B model and Aliexpress B2C.

The other services included in the group are platforms targeted at Chinese users. One of them is Taobao.com – the largest Chinese online store, operating on the basis of C2C. This platform allows small businesses and entrepreneurs to display and sell a wide range of products, from toys and clothing to electronics and cars. Launched in 2003, the site operates on a similar basis to American eBay. Goods can be sold at a fixed or negotiated price or at auction.

There are several tools on the Taobao platform designed to help brands reach more consumers and aid marketing efforts. All these tools have different functions, but one goal – to facilitate the sales process:

Image search: The option available on Taobao allows you to quickly search for a product based on its image. All you need to do is upload a photo and the portal will search for graphically similar articles.

Weitao – Social Media Integration: A social platform built into Taobao that serves better communication between sellers and consumers. Brands and influencers use Weitao to publish content, engage consumers, and consequently to acquire customers and increase sales. Consumers, on the other hand, use Weitao to stay up to date on news, read product reviews and connect with brands.

With this option, consumers, when they see something they like, can go directly from viewing the product to shopping. This eliminates any additional steps that could distract the potential customer from completing the transaction.

Taobao Live – Live Dealer Streaming: E-commerce live streaming is a selling method where streamers introduce products and viewers can make purchases in real time. The possibility of more dynamic, interactive sales based on real-time feedback is of great interest to consumers, and in recent months has broken records of popularity among sellers. Brands and companies that have suffered from pandemic restrictions are increasingly choosing Taobao Live to resume operations and reach as many audiences as possible.

WeChat

WeChat is Tencent’s multi-functional social media, messaging, payment, and shopping application. It is the Chinese equivalent of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, WhatsApp and many more. Everything in one place.

The e-commerce option was introduced to the application, which was initially intended as a messenger. Thanks to the introduction of the WeChat Store and WeChat Pay functionality, it has become a trading platform. Wechat Pay allows you to make online and offline payments using QR codes. What’s more, the functionalities of the application are constantly developed thanks to mini-programs.

Mini-programs are smaller applications inside one application. Below are the possibilities they provide:

Scan-and-go purchases: Shoppers can use a mini-program to scan products and make payments without waiting in line. There is also a possibility of home delivery.

Multi-Channel Selling: The Uniqlo mini-program allows buyers to place an order online and ship their purchases to the store. The goods are ready for collection within an hour.

Group purchases: Companies offer discounts to the entire group when there is a certain number of people willing to shop. It works like this: a community leader promotes the product at a discounted price in his network to the WeChat group. If enough people make a purchase, each buyer will get the product at a discounted price.

Sales with influencers: Influencers, also known as key opinion leaders, promote products on their profiles and lead buyers directly to a specific product page. The entire purchase – sale transaction takes place inside the application. Influencers have various tools at their disposal to create promotional content as part of WeChat KOL:
– WeChat Article – an option with which you can create content that includes text, photos, videos,
– WeChat Channel – a video channel for content creators, brands, companies and individuals to reach audiences beyond their circle of friends / followers,
– WeChat Live streaming – tools to easily implement live broadcasts.

Self-service stores: An unmanned brick-and-mortar store owner uses WeChat to allow buyers to enter the store, exit their purchases, and receive a bill through their WeChat account. The EasyGo mini-program provides a QR code that shoppers scan to enter the store. Payment is made via WeChat Pay.

JD.com

JD.com is the second largest e-commerce platform in China. It offers millions of different products that fall into categories such as cosmetics, fresh food, clothing and electronics. JD.com allows retailers to open virtual storefronts, but unlike Taobao.com, JD.com has its own warehouses and can be sold directly to end customers. Thus, JD.com works more like a traditional online store, similar to Amazon. JD uses three basic models:

JD.com Direct Sales: JD fulfills orders and is responsible for issues such as international logistics, customs, warehousing, product page design, marketing and after-sales services.

JD.com Marketpalce: Seller completes orders. He deals with customer service, marketing, and generally – sales. However, it can use JD.com’s international logistics services, i.e. it does not have to deal with customs issues, warehousing and delivery to customers.

Worldwide Sales: JD Worldwide is a cross-border ecommerce platform. It offers international traders the opportunity to enter the Chinese market by providing shipping and warehousing solutions. JD Worldwide is open to brands, retailers who are legally registered outside of China and sell products sourced from outside of China.

E-commerce trends in the Chinese market

When it comes to innovation in the e-commerce world, China is definitely the trendsetter. Over the years, e-commerce in China has evolved a lot in response to the needs of customers and sellers. The above-described solutions and functionalities are a response to ecommerce trends, although it is difficult to say unequivocally whether they were always the result or maybe the cause. Here is a list of the ecommerce trends we are seeing in China.

Influencer involvement

To increase brand sales, companies engage influencers, i.e. key opinion leaders (KOL). These are paid collaborations aimed at promoting a given product. KOL is an expert whose opinion is valued in a specific industry. These are people who are trusted and respected in a given environment, have authority through long-term building relationships with recipients. When choosing a KOL to cooperate with a given brand, whether the product fits the content created and promoted by a given author. Everything depends on the product they want to sell. KOLs can be models, movie stars, singers, fashion icons, etc. Not every famous personage or celebrity can be a KOL.

Due to the fact that Chinese e-commerce responds quickly to changing consumer preferences, another type of influencer is more and more often used to build brand awareness and increase interest in the product, namely KOC (key opinion consumer). It is a customer who has reached for a given product himself and shares his honest opinion about it. Chinese internet users are more and more often influenced by the choices of ordinary users, trusting that their reviews have not been paid for.

Digital wallets

In a culture so heavily involved in mobiles, the great interest in digital electronic payment does not come as a surprise. Such a solution is offered, for example, by Tencent (WeChat Pay) and the Alibaba group (Alipay). Digital wallets are a complete payment method that makes it very easy to pay using your smartphones. You can pay on the website, in the application, as well as in a stationary store. Users keep funds in their mobiles digital wallets. Based on these funds, a QR code is generated, which you can pay by scanning it in stores. This trend has integrated online systems with everyday offline shopping.

Trade in the cross-border model

Cross-border online commerce is a relatively new type of sales channel that was introduced to make it easier for foreign brands to enter the Chinese market. In the cross-border model, goods are sold online on platforms intended for foreign companies (e.g. the already mentioned JD Worldwide). Listing your products on such a platform is the fastest way to test the prognosis of a given product on the Chinese market. The fact that you can sell the products directly to the final consumer is also a big advantage. Sellers and consumers making transactions in this model can count on special conditions when it comes to customs, sanitary issues and the necessary certificates.

Shopping via social media (social e-commerce)

The country’s largest e-commerce platforms are heavily integrated with the most popular social networks, offering innovative services such as mini-programs and live trading.

Social e-commerce is a response to an overly saturated market, increased competition and rising costs of acquiring consumers. Undoubtedly, the rise of a new class of consumers – affluent, discerning and mobiles millennials – helped accelerate the e-commerce revolution. Since this demographic dislikes traditional advertising, marketers had to come up with alternative ways to engage and build strong relationships with their customers. Millennials are educated and innovative young people who like to be pampered. Due to the need for entertainment and immediate satisfaction, they choose social media shopping.

Innovative technologies have also improved the overall shopping experience, making the process more convenient, positive and fast. Hence the popularity of live streaming, cooperation with KOLs, group purchases or flash sales (sales consisting of a short-term discount on a given product).

Integration of online and offline channels

Customers add offline products to their online wish list, compare products online, then watch them live, make final purchasing decisions in front of a desktop computer, pick up online orders in stationary, scan QR codes in stores, use self-service checkouts. Based on these consumer behaviors, we see online and offline channels becoming increasingly integrated, creating new hybrid purchasing models. The O2O trend has been present in Chinese for several years and continues to grow in strength.

The term O2O (Online-to-Offline) basically refers to anything in the online world that attracts customers to physical stores or makes them buy products and services that have traditionally been sold offline. While e-commerce in China has huge benefits, O2O companies can still compete by focusing on reaching the right consumers who are willing to go to the store to test the product or save delivery time when purchasing the product.

QR codes play an important role in integrating online and offline channels, which, in addition to being a payment method, can be easily shared online or printed on marketing materials such as posters, packaging, banners, and then scanned with any smartphones . QR codes may link to websites, social media accounts or any other suitable online channel.

The most popular social media

First, let’s review the social media that Internet users most often use. It may be surprising that the most popular medium is not Facebook, but YouTube – it is used by as many as 92.8% of Internet users aged 16-64 (source: Paraphrase-Online.com Digital 2021). Facebook ranks second, followed by Facebook Messenger in the ranking. Then, in order, we have such platforms as:

– Instagram,
– WhatsApp,
– Twitter
– Skype,
– Snapchat,
– TikTok,
– Pinterest,
– LinkedIn.

These social media have much smaller reach than the top three giants, but they are still used by a huge group of network users – from 60 to about 25% of internet users. These numbers go to the imagination, which is why social media marketing is gaining popularity all the time. However, it is important to approach it methodically and with a developed action strategy.

Social media marketing – channel selection

First of all, it is worth realizing that effective marketing does not mean that our brand must be in all available social media channels. Of course, if we have the time and resources, we can invest in activities on various platforms, but it is worth considering how profitable it will be. First, the analysis should cover the habits of our target group. You should consider what types of users are in it and see where they spend the most time. This will help select the social media channels that will work best for a given type of business. Sometimes the choice is quite obvious – it is known that business partners are unlikely to be found on TikTok, and hydraulic services are not an ‘Instagram-like’ industry. However, when conducting an analysis, it is worth following not only your own feelings and experience, but also available statistics from various sources – there is a good chance that this way we will find recipients that we did not have access to before.

After the first screening, it is time to assess whether the budget will allow you to appear in all channels that we found useful. It is also worth considering whether the time will allow us to actively deal with each of them or whether we can afford to entrust the care of social media to an external agency. Obviously, omnichannel and sales support works best wherever our customers are. With the skilful use of various social media and a coherent message, we can count on synergy that will ensure a significant increase in profits. However, if we have a relatively small amount of resources, it is better to focus on fewer platforms. This will keep the quality of your ads and posts high, making your promotion more effective than chaotic activities across channels.

What does effective social media marketing look like?

The essence of effective social media marketing is to get to know the specifics of each of the channels in which we operate. Promotion on the Internet is very different from what can already be called classic – that is, on TV, radio, in the press or on billboards. Its essence is that the recipients do not remain passive, but are in touch with the brand, they can comment on its posts, ask questions, insert reactions or pass the material on to show it to their friends. In addition, we only have a fraction of a second for the interest of the recipient – whether it is an advertisement or a non-promoted post. Users are bombarded with various information on the Internet and only a small percentage of them focus their attention on longer. That is why publications in social media should be primarily:

– eye-catching – it does not mean that we should use a whole rainbow of colors and dozens of emotes. The point is to somehow grab your audience’s attention. You can do it with an interesting composition in a photo, an intriguing slogan or in any other way – the more creative the better. – engaging – in social media it is not enough to show your products or services and wait for applause. It is important to post content that prompts users to act. We can ask our recipients for their opinion, preferences (e.g. the brand’s favorite product), encourage them to respond to posts or organize contests with prizes. Sometimes, in order to interest the recipient, it is enough to show the brand from the backstage: describe how it works or introduce its employees. Such posts generate great commitment and increase brand credibility.
– adaptation to the medium – each social medium has its own specificity. On Instagram, we work almost exclusively with the image, and we build the reach with appropriately selected hashtags. On Facebook, we often link an image or video to the text of a post. LinkedIn is a medium for industry publications, in which the substantive value of the entry is valued. TikTok uses short videos that have nothing to do with polished TV commercials – they are spontaneous, natural, amateurish, but in a positive, relaxed way. If we do not follow the unwritten rules, our communication will be artificial and, as a result, ineffective.
– current – not every entry has to refer to the current situation, but in the posts it is worth referring to the events that society lives, but of course only if they can be associated with the brand’s offer or its business profile. We are talking about permanent elements such as holidays, holidays, the beginning of the school year, Black Friday, sports competitions (Olympics, Euro, etc.), but also about less obvious events. When looking for ideas, you can refer to the calendar of unusual holidays or even information portals. Often a funny politician’s mishap, unusual event or comic photo becomes a breeding ground for internet users and a base for virals. However, when using Real Time Marketing, you need to act really quickly and creatively. Only an immediate and brilliant reaction to the event will be applauded by the Internet community. Late “reheated chops” will only bring you weariness and irritation.
– valuable for the recipient – a common mistake of companies conducting social media marketing is to write about themselves instead of about the user. Often the only solution is to change the narrative. Example? If a cosmetic company boasts that it has created a new hair conditioner, the value of this message for the user will be nonexistent. It is different, however, if it communicates that it has a unique solution for people struggling with hair that is difficult to comb. Then our target group will feel that the given entry applies to them and it is worth taking an interest in it.

Advantages of social media marketing

Marketing in social media has many advantages that a good specialist can skillfully use. They mainly include:

– variety of formats – using social media, we can publish texts, videos, photos, collages, slide shows, create groups, events, add locationss, moods and many other elements that enrich the message.
– direct contact with recipients – in social media, like nowhere else, we can build customer relationships with the brand and research their needs. Thanks to them, the recipient has faster, more direct contact with the company than in the case of e-mails or forms.
– the ability to direct traffic to the website – we can post links to the blog, offers or individual products from the assortment, which means that social media can be valuable sources of traffic.
– long range – as we have already written, social media is used by a huge number of people from various age groups. A brand from virtually every industry can find the most appropriate audience for its marketing purposes.
– speed of dissemination of information – if we care about time, social media is an ideal way of communicating messages. There, we can post information about promotions, sales, changes in the offer, as well as unplanned situations, e.g. temporary closure of a restaurant due to a breakdown or a last-minute deadline for a cosmetic procedure that may be taken over by another willing person.
– the possibility of conducting both organic and paid activities – you do not have to pay to run company profiles on social media. So we can build our group of recipients without incurring any costs. However, one should bear in mind the tendency to cut organic reach in social media – as a result, an ordinary post may reach only a small percentage of people who have shown interest in the brand’s profile. However, free activities can be supported with paid advertising campaigns that will reach a very well-chosen target group. After all, who knows more about us than the social media we actively use?
– the possibility of building brand awareness – social media marketing is often used to increase brand recognition, build a narrative around it and inform about the company’s values. Thanks to this, potential customers have a chance to become attached to the brand, which in turn helps ensure their loyalty.

Social media marketing – what should you watch out for?

Social media is a tool that must be used with caution, as the slightest mistake made there can be widely echoed. A badly understood post or advertisement will be widely commented and passed on, which makes the case public and the brand image suffers. The flagship example is a post by a company from a few years ago, which is still a warning to most marketers. The brand published an entry on its fanpage with the question: “What surprised you the most with our company in recent years?” Users began to write massively comments about unpleasant surprises they encountered in the offer and when dealing with consultants. The seemingly innocent post turned into a storm that left scratches on the brand’s image for a long time. Therefore, when handling social media, you need to anticipate potential crises, and in the event of unexpected situations, react quickly and minimize damage.

It should also be noted that social media marketing is a time-consuming activity. It requires not only preparing materials for publication, but also monitoring private comments and messages as well as animating the community, for which high availability is needed. Another downside is that the content posted on social media is more fleeting than anywhere else. Therefore, a large group of people may miss the information posted there, because it will be overlapped with other posts and advertisements. For this reason, it is worth placing important messages not only in social media, but also in other places – for example on your website.

Results before positioning

The client in question runs an online store where he sells sockets, switches, cables, wires, extension cords, installation boxes, insulating tapes and other products used in electrical works. He signed a SEO contract with us in June 2019, opting for a budget of $ 1,400 per month. When we started SEO activities, the client’s website appeared in 18 phrases in TOP3 and 145 phrases in TOP10, while in TOP50 there were less than 1000 phrases. So it cannot be said that we started from scratch – the website was visible in the search engine and also had organic traffic. However, the audit showed us that the website has the potential to generate even more search engine hits and gain better places for industry phrases.

The first year of cooperation

During the audit, we noticed that the client’s website is available at two addresses, which would be a significant difficulty in positioning, among others due to duplicate content. At the beginning of the cooperation, permanent redirects to one of the addresses were introduced, thanks to which the problem was quickly removed and opened the way to new activities.

In the next stage, we focused on the most urgent issue, i.e. optimizing the pages of the most important product categories by adding comprehensive descriptions. We chose the best key phrases for each of them and placed them in the texts to increase the probability that the page will be high in the search results for these keywords. We have also determined the optimal H1 headings and meta titles, and we took care of the appropriate length of the text for each subpage. This brought the first signs of increased visibility, which showed that the chosen positioning strategy was working. The website appeared on 38 phrases in TOP3, 387 phrases in TOP10 and 1795 phrases in TOP50.

Second year of cooperation

After a year of cooperation, the client decided to extend the SEO contract and additionally increase the budget to $ 1,800 a month. As the most urgent changes have already been implemented, we focused on increasing website traffic with blog articles. We focused on extensive, valuable texts containing phrases loosely related to the client’s activity, which we could not implement in the category descriptions. This resulted in a significant increase in the number of phrases in top positions, and thus an increase in the visibility of the customer’s website, which translated into greater brand recognition. The client also agreed to expand the website with detailed categories that were optimized for long tail phrases. Thanks to this, we were able to fight the competition for even more keywords relevant in the industry.

The strategy based on extending the website with high-quality texts brought particularly noticeable effects in May this year, when the Google algorithm was updated. Our observations show that as a result, pages with a large amount of unique content recorded increases, and sites with little text or duplicate content fell in the ranking (e.g. product descriptions taken from manufacturers’ websites). This change confirmed our predictions about the future of positioning, and although it did not echo widely in the industry, it had a significant impact on a large number of websites, especially online stores. This is shown by the results achieved by our client:
– TOP3 – 218 phrases,
– TOP10 – 1099 phrases,
– TOP50 – 4656 phrases.

What is the conclusion of this? Positioning requires not only knowledge and experience, but also tracking trends so that updating algorithms, instead of destroying the effects of work, help to climb higher and higher positions.

Thanks to chatbots, depending on their purpose, design and advancement level, we, as users, can easily order a cinema ticket, take advantage of help in choosing a product in the online store, find a solution to a technical problem with a purchase or receive various types of information.

Chatbot in the company – examples of applications

– answers to the most popular questions related to the product or the purchasing process,
– preliminary lead qualification – obtaining information on the expectations of a potential customer,
– comparison of the offered products based on data provided by the user,
– testing the level of customer satisfaction with the product / service.

The simplest chatbot is based on rules – the mechanics of its operation use a set of predefined answers to specific questions. As you click on the next options, new branches will be activated in the tree. More advanced bots use machine learning, thanks to which, to some extent, they “themselves” choose answers based on keywords and their construction, in theory increasing their capabilities with each subsequent interaction with the user. The most developed chat programs are based on artificial intelligence, which allows them not only to “learn” to interpret new words, but also to generate statements in natural language.

Chatbot in the company – is it worth it?

From the company’s perspective, the greatest advantage of a chatbot is the relief of the customer service department. The bot is usually able to answer frequently asked questions and solve simple user problems. If the matter asked by the client requires an employee’s intervention, the bot will provide the consultant with basic data after an initial “conversation”, thanks to which the consultant will be armed with information about the question category at the beginning of the conversation, saving time – both for the employee and the client.

Despite the many undeniable advantages, it is very easy to implement a chatbot in a way that will do more harm than good. The installation of the chatbot in the company must be thought out and properly implemented.

What should we watch out for when “hiring” a chatbot in a company?

In customer service, even the most advanced chatbot builds a psychological wall between the company and the contacting user at the outset. No human likes to be treated – mechanically. Of course, this is an individual matter, but for most clients, making contact with the program creates a feeling of being an ignored petitioner to some extent.

Conversation with a bot (especially underdeveloped) can be irritating – explaining the problem to a consultant is usually faster and easier in terms of communication than “clicking” through the available options to finally find – or not – a specific issue or reach the option of contacting a person on the hotline.

Bots process natural language better and better, but it will be a long time before they learn less standard grammar structures and will be able to fully “understand” every question addressed to them. Even greater complications arise with bots that try to interpret verbal speech. Then the first system is to understand the message using the speech recognition system and process the message into a text form, and then tag individual words. This involves a huge amount of data – each person speaks with a different voice, has a slightly different accent or phonestic habits, and there are potential interference or background noise on the line. It should also be remembered that we usually construct verbal messages a bit differently than written ones. It is only at this point that it comes to the “standard” interpretation of the text, which in itself is a multi-faceted, intricate process.

If the bot cannot recognize the interlocutor’s intentions quickly and accurately, the stairs begin. Some users will resign from contact at this stage, which can be considered a Pyrrhic victory (less work for the service department, at the cost of annoying the customer at best, losing the customer at worst).

Let’s assume that the message has been fully understood and the bot has data on the basis of which it is able to help the user. As in the case of the list of frequently asked questions (FAQ), messages sent by the chatbot must be as specific and precise as possible. In this case, placing a wall of text in front of the user, overloaded with various topics orbiting a specific issue, but not touching it directly, will increase negative feelings from the entire account.

How to implement a chatbot?

The key aspect – as usual in business – is the answer to the question of what tasks the chatbot is supposed to fulfill and, above all, to whom it is intended. Only after a thorough analysis of the purpose and requirements of the target group, it is worth moving to the design stage and then implementation.

Therefore, you should collect a database of questions with which customers (no matter if current or potential) turn to a given company – the brief should be as detailed as possible. The good news is that in the vast majority of cases it is not necessary to create a chatbot from scratch – there are hundreds of ready-made programs on the market that we can implement with the help of specialists according to our needs and requirements, for example by integrating the chatbot with the company’s CRM system.

Search without the phrase

If we want Google to omit pages related to an issue in the search results, we can put a minus after entering the search term, and the phrase to be excluded directly after it. The text entered in the search engine should look like this:

searched phrase -omitted phrase

Using an example, if we are looking for information about Greece, and in the search results we see a lot of offers from travel agencies, we can enter the keyword: Greece -Vacations. Then Google will omit the pages related to holidays in the ranking, and thus sites referring to, for example, the history of the country or current events, will be placed higher.

Search for a specific phrase

Thanks to the use of quotation marks, Google knows that it should treat our query only as a whole and not provide results tailored to only one of the words. This type of search will be useful, for example, when we want to find a product of a specific color, and the search engine stubbornly shows us this product in different colors. In this case, enter the phrase as shown below:

“Phrase searched”

So when searching, for example, for the keyword “red kettle”, we should only receive offers from stores that offer a kettle of just such a color.

Search on a specific website

Advanced search functions also allow you to limit the results to a specific website. This option is useful, for example, when a given site does not have a built-in search engine or its use is cumbersome. To get results from one domain, we should enter the query in the model:

site:www.searchpage.com keyword

So if, for example, we would like to search our website for all the subpages where we mentioned Facebook ads, we would have to enter the following query: site:Paraphrase-Online.com facebook ads. In this case, Google will show us all offers, blog entries, guides and other content related to this type of campaign.

Search for similar pages

If it happens that we want to find a page on the Internet similar to the one we like, we can also use the advanced search. It is possible after entering the password as follows:

related:www.thepageyouarelookingfor.com

In this case, the search engine will present us with pages with a similar business profile and similar content, thanks to which we can, for example, compare competing brands or read more about a given issue in another source.

Search for incomplete phrases

This type of refining the search is especially useful when, for example, we only remember a part of the title of a book, movie or song. By entering the remembered text with the appropriate tag, we let Google know that we want it to supplement the phrase with an additional, forgotten element. In this model, the query should look like this:

Search phrase *

Search for files in a specific format

Thanks to the appropriate command, we can also search Google for files of a specific format, for example pdf or doc. This function can be useful, for example, when looking for e-books or scientific articles on the web. In order to narrow the results to files of a given genre, enter the following into the search engine:

search phrase filetype: file format

Search for images of a specific size

Also in Google Graphics, we can narrow down the search field by introducing some restrictions – for example as to the size of the image. This function can be useful, for example, when we are looking for graphics for a desktop wallpaper or when we need a high resolution image. The following command is used to conduct this type of search:

Search phrase imagesize:widthxheight

An example of a search in this model might look like this: Buckingham Palace imagesize: 800 × 450. Of course, the size of the image is always given in pixels.

Search in a URL

Google also allows us to conduct more advanced searches, such as website URLs. Thanks to this, we can, for example, find those pages from a specific category that run their blog, and therefore post content of a guide nature. The query schema here looks like this:

allinurl:search term

Suppose you are looking for pages that have a blog about tires. In this case, we can enter the password allinurl:tire blog.

Search by prices

When we want to search for products at a specific price, we should use the dollar sign in the query like this:

search term $price

Although the query includes the US currency, we do not have to worry – the search engine will show us the results in your currency, and no conversion will be needed. So if, for example, we are looking for a laptop for 2000 euros, just enter in Google: laptop $2000. We can also ask the search engine to show the product in a specific price range, then the query should be: laptop $2000..$3000.

Social media search

You cannot count on the search engine to find all posts published on social media. However, by using the @ or # tags, we can ask Google to show us those that have been indexed. Thanks to this, in order to see mentions of a given topic on social networks, we do not have to laboriously wade through unrelated results. The following in the model will help:

@phrase searched
or
#search phrase

The first method is used to search for information about a person, band, brand, etc., and the second – more detailed issues.

Search for a phrase in the text

When we simply enter a query into a search engine, we get the results that, according to the algorithms, respond best to them. This does not mean, however, that in each case the specific phrase that we entered in Google will be in the text on the page. If we want to be sure that our keywords will appear in it, we should enter the query:

allintext:search term

Then the search engine will omit from the results those pages where the phrase was found only in the address, tags or meta description.

What is effective marketing?

Marketing includes a number of activities based on the company’s communication with the client. Its goals are primarily to increase sales, but also, for example, to improve recognition or image. Achieving business goals requires, first of all, formulating them and then creating a strategy for their implementation. It should include, inter alia, defining the target group and its needs, as well as analyzing the company’s situation and its business environment. Only on this basis, it is possible to design specific actions within the short- and long-term marketing strategy, along with their schedule or budget. When the strategy is developed, you can proceed to its implementation, constantly monitoring the effects and analyzing the obtained results based on previously developed indicators.

If the above description sounds complicated, it’s because that’s the job of a marketer. A good specialist should not forget about any of the above aspects – only then can he count on obtaining the expected results. Therefore, in his work, he uses many tools that perform various functions and facilitate work in specific areas.

Internet Marketing – Analysis Tools

Analytics is a very important part of a marketer’s job. The actions taken should result from the conducted research and conclusions drawn from it. The analysis should be carried out at the beginning – assessing the company’s situation before implementing the assumptions of the marketing strategy – and then constantly monitor changes in indicators (the so-called KPI). This is the only effective way to assess which of the adopted assumptions prove to be correct and which actions bring the most profits.

There are many analytical tools. Each of them has slightly different functions and is suitable for slightly different tasks. Importantly, some of them are completely free!

Google Analytics
Google Analytics is an indispensable tool for anyone who runs a website. The marketer can use it to obtain important data that is helpful both in planning and in measuring the effectiveness of implemented activities. An example may be data on recipients containing information on the demographics of internet users visiting the website. In addition, you can see what devices users are using, what they are interested in and how they spend their time on our website.

From the marketing point of view, very important data are also those concerning the sources of traffic. They tell you how users come to your website. The information in this section is really detailed, so you can check the results of your campaigns and analyze each keyword. You can also check how effectively the traffic generated from a given source translates into conversion. As a result, actions that do not bring the expected results can be eliminated, and the resources freed in this way can be allocated to the intensification of more effective methods. It is also worth checking multi-channel paths for this purpose. There you will find data on how the different traffic-gaining channels support each other and which paths convert best.

Google Analytics is a free tool for the marketer that offers a wide range of possibilities. It’s worth taking the time to get to know them inside out because they provide a lot of valuable information.

Tools for the marketer – content marketing and SEO

SEO and content marketing are currently the main areas of interest for most marketers. Actions taken to increase the visibility, value and credibility of the website bring long-lasting results. Therefore, they are the main pillar of the long-term strategy of any company that is serious about marketing. Effective SEO or content marketing, however, requires tracking trends and careful content development. Fortunately, there is no shortage of tools that facilitate work in this area.

Google Trends and Google Keyword Planner
These two tools for the marketer, SEO expert or content creator are absolutely essential. Google Trends is about trends – you can use it to see which phrases are currently typed most often in the search engine window. The application also allows you to check historical data on searching for specific phrases. Therefore, you can see if a specific keyword is gaining or losing. It’s a great tool for finding publication ideas.

Google Keyword Planner is related to the Google Ads platform. It allows you to plan keywords necessary for SEO or SEM campaigns. Its functions enable, among others creating a database of keywords related to the industry in which the company operates, as well as checking their popularity. What’s more, you can check the competitiveness of your phrases and average advertising rates

Senuto
Senuto is also a tool supporting both SEO and SEM activities as well as content marketing. It is quite an advanced application that allows you to analyze the visibility of any page on the Internet. The data presented by it concern, among others the distribution of positions in the search engine and their changes in terms of decreases and increases. They also allow you to check the history of SERPs for a given keyword and indicate tabs exposed to cannibalization of phrases. Thanks to the program, it is also possible to perform a fairly advanced analysis of the phrases themselves – not only in terms of the average number of searches, but also their difficulty or relationship.

Senuto can be used both when planning content marketing activities and checking their effectiveness. It also allows you to optimize SEO, eliminate errors and increase effectiveness in this area. In addition, it offers an analysis of the results of competing websites.

BuzzSumo
How to check if your publications are popular? Just use BuzzSumo. This is a kind of tool for the marketer that allows you to primarily monitor content sharing on social media. Based on this, you can easily draw conclusions about which publications attract the most interest and take steps to maximize their potential. In addition, BuzzSumo allows you to check the amount of content published on the website in a selected period and their total number of views. It also provides slightly more advanced analyzes – it helps, for example, to check how long the content is most popular or on which day of the week it is most often shared. The built-in alert system facilitates work and saves time, which is certainly an additional advantage.

SurferSEO
To be successful in marketing, you don’t always need to be original. Often a better solution is to use someone else’s experience and duplicate the best-working patterns. SurferSEO facilitates analytics in this area. It is a program that analyzes the current results of the top 50 in the Google search engine in terms of potential ranking factors for the query phrase. It gives a wide range of analysis of the competition and the position of a specific website among similar websites. It has the option of a quick SEO audit that clearly presents data related to the most important ranking factors and allows you to identify areas where your site deviates from the competition. The Content Editor function is also interesting, as it allows you to automatically create a brief for a copywriter. The guidelines are based on the given keyword. However, they can be adjusted according to your preferences.

Canva
Content-based marketing requires presenting it in an appropriate form. With Canva, no help from a graphic designer is needed to create engaging content. It is a very intuitive program that allows you to instantly create aesthetic graphics, ideal for example as binding for posts in social media. The biggest advantage of this tool for the marketer is its simplicity – it includes an infinite number of ready-made templates for any occasion.

Internet Marketing – Management and Organization Tools

Proper organization of work and task delegation is not easy, especially in marketing, which is such a dynamic and multifaceted field. That is why it is worth using applications that help to control the chaos of information and the precise separation of responsibilities.

Asana
Managing collaborative projects can be a headache. However, it is much easier when you use the Asana. It is a project management application that is very functional and intuitive. It works great both when acting alone and when working with a team. It allows you to create projects and tasks and then delegate them. It allows you to check progress, set deadlines, exchange files, as well as communicate between project participants. All this is presented in a clear and convenient form.

Slack
Slack is a kind of marketing tool that will work in almost every industry. It is a business messenger that facilitates collaboration. It enables public, closed-group and one-on-one discussion, so it can be used by the entire company.

Marketo
Marketo is a slightly different way of organizing work, or actually its automation. It is a comprehensive platform characterized by wide availability of functions. It enables the automation of various marketing activities, incl. content marketing, e-mail marketing, website analysis and internet advertising. It has extensive analytical functions, thanks to which it provides a lot of valuable information – e.g. information on the effectiveness of specific channels and marketing campaigns in terms of increasing revenues. The tool is integrated with the most popular CRMs. It is great for deep analysis of the customer’s purchasing path. It allows you to draw conclusions leading to better resource management and optimization of campaign costs.

Internet Marketing – Mailing Tools

Newsletters and mailing campaigns are an important element of a marketer’s work. Their coordination requires assistance in the form of dedicated software. The available tools make it possible not only to coordinate the dispatch and manage address databases, but also to prepare attractive messages.

MailChimp
MailChimp is one of the most popular newsletter management tools. It includes a number of options for managing shipping and recipient lists, as well as creating a sequence of messages. In addition, it allows you to create pop-ups and landing pages encouraging you to subscribe to the newsletter. An interesting feature is also reports that allow you to check the results of individual campaigns and compare them with the results of the competition. It is not without reason that so many specialists use this application.

OptinMonster
OptinMonster is primarily used to create effective pop-ups that are designed to encourage subscribers to the newsletter. The tool is easy to integrate with almost any email marketing program. It includes a number of useful options. Thanks to it, you will create an attractive and inviting pop-up and specify the rules for its display. It also allows you to conduct A / B tests. They consist in checking which of the two versions of the prepared material is more effective. You don’t want to use pop-ups? With OptinMonster you can also prepare other types of messages promoting the newsletter.

Klaviyo
An e-mail marketing platform that supports business development by delivering recipients precisely selected e-mail messages at the right time? This is Klaviyo. It is a tool designed mainly for e-commerce that allows you to manage and automate e-mail communication. The program can be easily integrated with pop-ups or other similar elements on the website to obtain e-mail addresses for the database. Plus, it provides tons of options, including sending message sequences to people who have abandoned their cart or viewed a product but didn’t put it in their cart, creating second purchase campaigns, creating reactivation campaigns targeting inactive subscribers, and more. The great advantage of the tool is the possibility of very precise segmentation of users. Klaviyo also allows you to create attractive messages, conduct A / B tests for almost every element and analyze the effectiveness of activities.

Woodpecker
Woodpecker is the perfect tool to automate cold mailing. It allows you to prepare messages addressed to a completed database, which do not look like offers, but rather like traditional e-mails. It enables full personalization of the content and connects to the user’s e-mail box, so replies are sent to the selected address. Advanced settings allow you to adjust the mailing parameters to your preferences in such a way that the correspondence looks natural. This also applies to subsequent messages sent when certain criteria are met. This makes the tool also suitable for communication with a group of clients. It is easy to use and intuitive.

It’s best to use methods that have proven themselves many times. Of course, you can rely on momentary inspiration, dazzle or a rush of ingenuity, but if you want to achieve consistently good results, bet on what just works.

Persuasion in sales copywriting boils down to the use of proven principles. Copywriters who are convincing know how to appeal to specific human desires and needs. Their understanding and ability to use this in the texts will allow you to increase the effectiveness of your messages, i.e. the strength of their persuasion. But what are the rules of knowledge? Let me explain!

People value what is not enough

This rule says that people are more willing to buy a product that is (or will be soon) short of. This means that the value of a given item increases as its availability decreases. Some products are bought because of their usability, appearance or capabilities, and others because of their uniqueness.

Sales copywriting uses this dependence for a long time and in various forms. See how you can increase the value of your product or service in the eyes of customers, guided by the principle of shortage.

A. Quantity
“Limited Edition”, “Collector’s Edition” – these are messages whose limitation refers to quantity. They work great in B2C sales. It is used by footwear and clothing brands, producing children’s toys and many others.

Example:
“Only 200 pairs of limited edition XYZ fluorescent shoes will go on sale on Friday!”

B. Time
In the context of this limit, products are sold within a specified time frame. This can be seen great on the online course market. The authors, long before opening sales, intensively promote their product, then opening its sale for only a few days or a week. Time pressure makes people make purchasing decisions faster – they are aware that the offer is not eternal.

What do these messages look like? Maybe you associate mailings like:
“Last 2 hours! We are closing the sale of the XYZ course in a moment ”

C. Threat
If you do not take specific action, the existing privilege or convenience will disappear. This method may be associated with a shortage of time, but here it is about permanently depriving the recipient of a specific opportunity – this is the basis of the message, not the deadline. See:

“The plan to close the local confectionery factory is due to the low number of visitors. So take your toddler there or lose this opportunity! “

D. Targeting
The product or service is directed to a selected, specific group of customers. These may be people who have previously bought a specific item and now you would like to sell them something else. It is worth pointing out that the offer is only available to them because, for example, they have fulfilled certain conditions.

“How is your new coffee machine working? Because as one of the few customers you bought it online from us, you can get coffee capsules 50% cheaper! “

E. Invitation
The service is available only to people who will be invited, e.g. by one of the current users. This not only builds the impression of inaccessibility and exclusivity, but also increases curiosesity.

“Our new functionality is currently only available in beta. You must receive an invitation with a link to access it. “

From a psychological point of view, the shortage principle used in sales copywriting is effective because it is based on the loss of some opportunity and fear of regret.

If a product is available all the time, the customer feels confident and at ease – he knows that he can buy it at any time. He has the freedom to choose whether he will do it now or in a week. However, when you suddenly limit its availability, the customer loses this opportunity and reacts against this change by buying a product.

At the same time, people have a strong fear of regret, that is, they are afraid that if they do not buy the product now, when they have the opportunity, then they will regret it. If this fear is strong enough, it is easier for them to spend money – they treat this investment as a form of security.

Traps

When using the principle of shortage in your copywriting, remember to do it properly. If you want it to work in favor of your offer, you must use it in a thoughtful way. Below are three basic rules that you need to keep in mind.

– Deficiency should not be the main advantage / value of the offer – it’s just an add-on that strengthens the basic message,
– If you produce something massively and at the same time try to support sales, e.g. with the slogan “limited collection”, do not count on spectacular effects. Similarly with discounts: if the same “Last sale days” banners have been hanging from store display cabinets for several weeks, people will quickly stop believing in this sale. Your message must be consistent with what you really do,
– Not every product / service can or should be promoted with the support of the shortage principle. The sales model for everyone, without any quantitative or temporal restrictions is also appropriate. Which path you choose depends on the overall brand strategy and the campaign.

Sales copywriting often raises sympathy

We buy more willingly than those we like. Among other things, this is why well-known actors, singers and popular Youtubers appear so often in commercials. People are more likely to follow the directions of the people they identify with, who are familiar, have similar views or are a role model or authority for them.

How can a copywriter use the crush principle as a form of persuasion? After all, he does not meet his recipients face to face. Only words are available. Or maybe a word?

Usually, sales texts focus immediately on the benefits of purchasing a given product or service. However, if you want to arouse sympathy at the beginning, you can start the content with a skillfully written compliment. See an example:

“If you work remotely, you know perfectly well that it doesn’t mean all day in bed with a laptop on your lap. If you work effectively, you probably already have a great time management or avoid distractions. To make 100% remote work you need to solve only one problem … “

Such an introduction shows that you understand the situation of the recipient, identify with him and at the same time appreciate how much he has achieved on his own. In this way, as a copywriter, you will find a common language with the reader from the very beginning, thanks to which he will be more eager to find out what you have to say to him.

The principle of sympathy, like any technique, must be used skillfully. Its foundation is proper knowledge of the recipient – his needs, everyday life and expectations. It will be difficult for you to create an effective text if you set too broad a target group. The narrower it gets, the easier it will be to personalize your message.

Write also about the disadvantages

Copywriters very often focus only on the benefits and benefits of the products or services they describe. They try to show them in superlatives, which often creates a seemingly unreal image of the offer. Because are there ideal things? They may exist, but people rarely believe in them – especially when they have to buy something.

Much faster and easier you will gain the trust of the recipient and arouse credibility when you also write about the disadvantages of your product or service. In this way you can also position it for specific clients.

Someone is looking for the cheapest solution and you offer it, but at the same time there is a doubt about quality? Explain to the customer what the lower price is for.

“Our product is cheaper because we gave up several functions almost unused by customers, and instead we focused on refining key functionalities. Thanks to this we have obtained optimal quality in relation to the price. “

Why is such a description more effective? Because it contains a logical explanation and at the same time an assurance that the basic functionalities (i.e., most likely the reason why the customer wants to buy it when it comes to the bottom price shelf) will work flawlessly.

Show the specifics

By accessing websites you can find many terms saying:

“You will achieve success with us”
“We respond quickly to any requests”

Do you know what connects them? That they actually say nothing and do not inform about anything. Because what does “success” or “quickly ” mean? Probably something different for everyone. General statements and assurances do not sound credible and poorly sell, because the recipient does not see in them specific values for themselves and their business.

By adding specific information, you can easily increase the persuasive power of your messages:

“With us you will increase your revenue by up to 30% in 6 months”
“We respond to all requests within 24 hours”

Do you see the difference? Which message would inspire your trust faster? Similarly with the customer – specific information increases the credibility of the content.

Rely on authority

Do you remember that people are more eager to buy from the ones they like? But not only from them. They value and are ready to succumb to the suggestions of those whom they consider to be experts in a given industry.

Therefore, use authority as an argument. Include in your texts expert statements (e.g. scientists in a given field), links to research or statistics. Make sure that the information you provide is well-founded.

Remember that the authority you refer to is to be an authority primarily for the recipients, it does not necessarily have to be for you. Ads very often use images of teenage stars to promote cosmetics for young girls. Of course, actresses usually have no idea if the compositions of these products are good and they themselves, e.g. pleasant to use, because they do not use them.

However, the involvement of female fans is so great that it is enough to remove their pretty face with a given cosmetic and a short description to convince the girls to buy. This is an excellent way to show how persuasive authority can be, even unjustified.

Summary

The above techniques will help you relatively easily increase the effectiveness of your sales copywriting. You don’t have to use all of them – at first, get to know your target group well, then think about which methods will be most effective in your case. Often more is not better.

Website positioning – key activities

If you want your site to appear in the deep depths of the Internet, then you need to ensure its proper SEO optimization. Every day, there are more and more website users who, through computers, smartphoness and tablets, scour hundreds of websites daily, looking for information, shopping or strengthening social ties. The modern user is more and more demanding and it is more difficult to satisfy him, and thus – to stay on a given page. Competition in every internet area is growing all the time, which is why website positioning should be a priority for you if you do not want to be left behind.

That is why SEO activities are so important, which will be carried out consistently and reliably after some time. These practices should be started primarily with page optimization within on-site. Appropriate headers, friendly URL, internal linking, page loading speed, defining the group of recipients, using appropriate key phrases and of course substantive content enriched with photos. All these aspects have a positive impact on branding, website attractiveness and its value in terms of content. These actions, in effect, contribute to increasing the visibility of the site in SERP.

Google robots scan content, but they can’t see photos if they don’t have the alt and title attributes. Images on the site must be well marked and described to inform robots of their content. Well-optimized photos will be indexed and will positively affect website SEO.

What is the alt attribute?

Otherwise, an alternative image description, which can be found in the HTML of the page.

<img src = “image address” alt = “Alternative description” />

The naming of the alt attribute, which is an alternative description, is the key here. If the picture was not loaded on the page, then the completed image alt is still visible to Google robots and is subject to indexation.
Interestingly – it is the alt attribute that is read by programs that are used by people with very large vision defects or those who are blind.
All alternative descriptions on the site can be viewed with the help of the Web Developer plugin, which is installed under the browser. This way you can easily verify that the page is supplemented with alt attributes.

What content should the alt attribute contain?

Alt is read by programs for the blind as well as indexing robots. For these reasons, the alt attribute should specify the actual content of the image. However, in the era of website optimization for SEO this rule has changed slightly. The description should inform about what is on the site and what content can be obtained from it. However – like in the case of meta tags – they can not be decimal phrases, but specific queries or links containing keywords – but still refer to the image content.

What is the title attribute?

It is nothing more than the title of the picture, which is visible after moving the cursor over it (provided the picture contains an alternative description). It is also called auxiliary text and is slightly less important than the alt attribute.

<img src = “image address” alt = “Alternative description” title = “image title” />

The title of the photo can contain a description of what is in the image or a shortcut of the content of the page, for example, it can be called “Alt and title – effective optimization of SEO images”. A well-titled photo has a positive effect on the graphic positioning of the page, thanks to which it can increase the reach of the post and clicks on the page.

Optimization of images on the site

Smaller is better – follow this rule when it comes to the size of images on the page. A smaller photo is better for the page, because it will load faster. Loading your site too slowly affects the high bounce rate. The speed of the website is important for the user, but also for Google robots. According to the assumptions, the picture on the website should not be larger than 100 kb.

Content is important when optimizing the alt and title attributes. Like all available content on the site, the one in the pictures should be unique – especially within one page or subpage. The varied description for alt and title is good for Google reading pages. Such action will be reflected in higher positions in the search engine for given key phrases.

Image and iconography as an important medium of information transfer

Not only optimization, but also the “content” of the photo is important above all to the user. Images enrich the text wall, increase the attractiveness and transparency of the site. Good photos with properly described alt and title attributes – especially on shop windows – can have a decisive impact on whether a customer buys a given product.

Recently, iconographies have become very popular, which are worth using for specialist texts and on social media. Such pictures give the recipient a clear message, which is often condensed information related to the content of the page. Sometimes such a photo is a specific knowledge base for the user, which is why they quickly position themselves in Google graphics.

A properly optimized website has a chance to rank higher in the search indicators for given key phrases. From the very beginning it is worth ensuring the high quality of activities carried out on it. Website positioning is a labor-intensive and demanding discipline and consistency in activities in which you can’t forget to optimize images with the alt and title attributes.