My conclusions are based on cooperation with nearly three thousand clients that we have had or have had the pleasure to run from the very beginning of
Paraphrase Online. As an organization, we meet dozens of business owners every day and exchange hundreds of emails with people responsible for marketing. We also know everything about budgeting in most industries and about the ratio of marketing expenses to revenues in general. Ultimately, we have a preview of how certain types of activities work, and how others hinder scaling or the ordinary communication flow.

Sin # 1: Marketing specialist

The proverbial marketing specialist is a dinosaur who does not know yet that an asteroid is flying towards him. Once upon a time, a marketing one man show was possible. The competition was smaller, advertising and analytical systems easier to use and offering very limited possibilities. Ba! There were simply fewer advertising channels we needed to know about. Therefore, in many companies, several people could take care of everything and possibly replace each other. Also, hiring someone was much easier due to relatively general market demands. Someone obtained approval from the Management Board, someone launched a prom on FB with a discretionary budget, someone else ordered leaflets or started cooperation with an influencer. There was usually no time for analytics in such a system. Everything was going forward anyway, so for several years no one asked any questions, and marketing departments were covered in a spider web of stagnation.

It ended, however.

Today we are dealing with a completely different battlefield. Every team member must specialize, be well paid, and be good at what they do. It does not have to be a social media ninja or a content visionary of the decade. However, he must be a solid craftsman, which – contrary to appearances – is really difficult to do.

Everyone wants to have everything “here and now” without a minimum of persistence and without working on themselves. Finding people who know Rome wasn’t built in a day is insanely difficult.

Given the current complexity of marketing tools, it is currently not possible to be good at everything. You have to test, search, read and experience to get to know a given platform inside out. And sometimes this is not enough, because there is, for example, an algorithm update or a new company policy and … you have to do it all from scratch, and using old schemes will result in reduced effectiveness.

But why is it necessary to be good at something?

Because there are more and more companies like yours on the market. Because advertising budgets are getting higher and there are more of them. Because the number of advertising space or places does not increase as much as the number of companies that want to develop them. This implies competitiveness that requires optimization of its activities. If we rely on the same behavior for several years, we will consistently lose reach among potential customers.

Sin # 2: Budget

We often come across a situation where a company hired someone to handle Google Ads, with a payout of $ 5,000, spending $ 3,000 or $ 4,000 on the advertising budget alone …

In the case of a paid channel like Google Ads or Facebook Ads, it’s completely absurd. It is not possible to hire a specialist for $ 5,000 who, with such a low budget, will become profitable by optimizing such a campaign. Someone with such skills simply has to earn and spend more in the campaign.

With this type of relationship – where the cost of a person for paid channels is, for example, 50% of the company’s total marketing expenses, it is much better to shift the budget to a proven agency or freelancer. Quite simply – a sensibly targeted budget of $ 3,000, say $ 7,000, instead of $ 3,000, will do a lot better for most industries. Servicing this type of budget in marketing agencies is between 20 and 30% of this sum, so you will close to $ 9,000 for the whole, but you will spend twice as much on pure marketing than if you hire an in-house specialist.

Based on conversations with companies and taking over accounts that were managed in this way, I can guarantee that only then you will feel the real power of paid channels (of course, the budgets given here are hypothetical, because they largely depend on the industry).

Sin # 3: We employ the wrong places

Currently, no company can afford a situation where it relies on only one advertising platform. In the case of giants such as Facebook or Google, we must be ready sometimes for the fact that, for example, the possibility of advertising certain products within them will be limited overnight, as has been the case recently, e.g. with masks or sanitary devices.

There are also topics – such as underwear or dietary supplements that can block accounts for up to several weeks. It happens that even advertising accounts in neutral industries are suspended for a week or two, because the algorithm decided so, and the support was just lazy.

Your customers are also present in more than one channel, and marketing must make sure that you meet them wherever possible, not just where… we consider it best. In the case of outbound marketing, the more often they encounter your homogeneous message, the greater the probability that they will finally decide to buy your product or service. Shopping is definitely more impulsive than measured from top to bottom.

That is why most businesses must diversify the channels of reaching a potential customer. Depending on what we do, what budget we have and what we want to achieve, there is a more or less sensible methodology for selecting people for work. Basically, it can be presented simply by answering the question of who is worth having in the company, and what topics are better to be sent to external entities.

I know a company that has an advertising budget of $ 40,000 per month. At the same time, it employs:
– A social media specialist who runs a FB profile and deals with superficial advertisements.
– A marketing specialist who runs instagram and pinterest, orders printed materials and collects invoices from various subcontractors.
– The second marketing specialist who coordinates the filming and basically also acts as a graphic designer.
– SEO specialist who is also a copywriter, but does not have a separate budget for reasonable linking.
– Marketing Manager who embraces them all and reports them higher.

The total monthly cost of maintaining these employees, in this arrangement, is 38,000 dollars. Therefore, monthly, this company spends ~ $ 80,000 on marketing, of which only half of this money goes to advertising channels. Of course, organic work on Insta, FB, or Pinterest can be worth a lot of money. In general, however – the people from the example – do not even know if what they are doing works …

In such a case, it would be wise to reduce employment by one or two people and leave strategic resources within the company, and release the rest of the funds to additional channels that can only be selected after a meaningful audit of the activities carried out so far. You can also decide on a new division of competences and send specific people to specialized training. In this example, they should probably start with a meaningful web analytics course to delineate further axes for acquiring new competences.

In conclusion, in most cases, it will be a good idea to have a mix that will accommodate both internally employed specialists and agencies that can provide selected services. What is most important in this system, however, is the fact that in the end the costs of servicing and maintaining agencies and specialists do not exceed 30% of the company’s total marketing budget. If we hire for a company, remember that it should give us a specific skill due to its presence. The fact that we add an additional person to the project does not mean that the project will speed up and will have a positive impact on its effectiveness. It could, in principle, be the other way around.

Our client has been operating on the market for almost twenty years, selling cameras and photographic accessories for both amateurs and professionals. It offers high-quality laboratory equipment and services, thus providing its recipients with comprehensive service. In the case of Google Ads for this client, we operate equally completely: we run text, product, video (on YouTube) and display campaigns, including remarketing. We’ve already got to know your audience, so we can focus on campaign optimization, achieving more and more conversions within our budget. Let’s take a look at how the combined results of all these campaigns changed over the course of a few months – from March to June this year.

Clicks and conversions

Testing and optimization measures in the customer’s account have led to a significant change in the number of clicks. At the turn of February and March, advertisements collected about 11,000 clicks, and in May-June it was slightly more than 15,000 clicks per month, which is an increase of 39.9%.

However, this parameter is not the most important in ad statistics – clicks in themselves increase website traffic, but they do not have to be associated with the achievement of the most important goal, which is the purchase. What’s more, a large number of clicks with a small number of transactions may indicate a poorly selected target group or an unclear advertising message. In this case, however, it can be seen that both the recipients and the content of the message have been correctly selected. You can see this clearly in how the number of conversions has changed over the period – it increased by 85%. The cost of obtaining them changed very slightly, only by slightly more than 5%.

Profits from the campaign

The good results achieved in the campaigns made the client decide to allocate more funds to Google Ads – in three months the budget almost doubled (by 94.07%). In February / March, we spent about $ 8,000 on advertising on Google, and at the turn of May and June, over $ 15,000. The client’s willingness to invest led to even more tests, which made the results even more satisfactory. Revenue increased from $ 114,374 to $ 560,431, almost 390%. In other words, raising the budget by about $ 7.5 thousand allowed to achieve income higher by over $ 446 thousand.

Return on advertising investment in Google Ads increased from 1,416% to 3,575%. What does it mean? Simply put, at the turn of February and March, each dollar spent brought about $ 14 in revenue, while three months later it gave almost $ 36.

Facebook Ads

The results from Facebook ads show even greater progress. In their case, however, it should be noted that the default data attribution settings are selected in such a way that the system also counts indirect purchases in the statistics. What does this mean exactly? When counting conversions, it takes into account the attribution model 7 days after the ad is clicked and 1 day after it was displayed. As a result, he also credits himself with conversions that have already taken place in other channels and for which Facebook did not have to be the last channel on the shopping path.

This is justified, because Facebook is a channel that does not respond with advertisements to the directly expressed shopping intention in the search engine, and selects advertisements that best match the user’s preferences.

Clicks and conversions

The number of clicks on Facebook Ads did not change as rapidly as in the case of Google campaigns – it increased from 7803 to 8709, i.e. by about 11.6%. However, as we have already mentioned, clicks do not directly translate into profits, and the most important statistics parameters are the number and cost of conversion. In the case of the number of conversions, the increase is more clearly visible – from 132 to 184, i.e. by 39.4% in three months. As for the cost of a single conversion, the level remained very similar – the fee for acquiring one customer decreased by $ 1.51, a decrease of about 3.5%.

Profits from the campaign

We increased the budget for the Facebook Ads campaign by 34.6%, or about $ 2,000. The revenue generated thanks to this channel increased by $ 685,573, which, with the given budget, means an increase of 283.4%. ROAS, i.e. the return on investment for this campaign for the period May 16-June 15, 2021 was 11981%, which, even when counting indirect purchases, is a very good result for this type of campaign.

Sa ibaba ipinakita namin ang recagestag stagesthat na maaari mong asahan kapag nag-a-apply sa amin

Pag-uusap sa telepono kasama ang HR (20-30 min)

Kung ang iyong karanasan at kasanayan ay umaangkop sa profile ng posisyon, aanyayahan ka namin sa unang yugto ng pangangalap. Ito ay isang 20-30 minutong pag-uusap sa telepono kasama ang HR. Sa pag-uusap na ito, malalaman mo ang tungkol sa Paraphrase Online Group at ang papel na iyong na-apply. Kami naman ay hihilingin na tanungin ka tungkol sa mga detalyeng nauugnay sa iyong karera, kakayahan at pagganyak na magtrabaho sa ganitong posisyon. Pag-uusapan din namin ang tungkol sa iyong mga inaasahan sa pananalapi at pagkakaroon, upang matiyak na ang lahat ng mga kundisyong nauugnay sa pagtatrabaho sa amin ay kaakit-akit sa iyo.

Panayam sa rekrutment kasama ang mga miyembro ng koponan (1h)

Kung ang aming mga impression pagkatapos ng unang pakikipanayam ay positibo, aanyayahan ka namin sa isang oras na pakikipanayam sa mga tao mula sa koponan kung saan mo isinumite ang iyong aplikasyon. Ito ay isang magandang pagkakataon para malaman mo kung paano ito magtrabaho sa kagawaran na ito, kaya ihanda ang iyong mga katanungan – ikalulugod naming sagutin ang mga ito. Gusto naming magtanong ng mga katanungan na magpapahintulot sa amin na mas mahusay na suriin ang iyong mga kakayahang kinakailangan para sa posisyon na ito. Maaari mong asahan ang mga katanungan batay sa mga tukoy na sitwasyon na maaari mong makasalamuha habang nagtatrabaho sa amin. Papayagan kaming mas masuri nang mas mabuti kung magagawa mo nang maayos ang papel na ito at makakatikim ka sa hinihintay mo sa amin. Sa simula ng pagpupulong, aanyayahan ka naming makumpleto ang isang maikling sikolohikal na pagsubok, tatagal ng hindi hihigit sa 10 minuto.

Opsyonal – isang gawain (aabutin ka ng halos 1 oras ng iyong sariling oras + 30 minuto para sa isang pagpupulong na nakatuon sa pagtalakay sa gawain)

Para sa ilang mga pangangalap, nagpapakilala rin kami ng isang gawain upang matulungan kaming suriin ang iyong diskarte sa paglutas ng mga tukoy na problema. Para sa amin, ito ay isa sa mga pinakamahusay na paraan upang subukan ang mga kakayahan at tiyaking ang pinakamahusay na mga manlalaro ay sasali sa aming koponan. Bibigyan ka namin ng isang oras upang makumpleto ang gawain – humigit-kumulang. 2-3 araw, sisiguraduhin din naming hindi mo na gugugol ng higit sa isang oras ng iyong sariling oras dito. Matapos mong makumpleto ang gawain, mag-aayos kami ng isang maikling pagpupulong upang talakayin ito.

Madalas naming pinagsasama ang yugtong ito sa isang pakikipanayam sa pangangalap, hinihiling sa iyo na maghanda ng isang solusyon sa isang problema bago ang pagpupulong.

Sino ang makikilala mo?

Ang pagpupulong ay palaging dinaluhan ng iyong bagong manager, ibig sabihin, ang taong makikipagtulungan ka nang higit. Gusto namin na mas makilala kayo. Ito rin ang pinakamahusay na oras upang sabihin sa iyo ang tungkol sa koponan na iyong inilapat at alisin ang anumang mga pagdududa.

Anong mga katanungan ang maaari mong asahan sa pakikipanayam?

Nagtatanong kami tungkol sa mga isyu na nauugnay sa papel na iyong inilapat.

Gumagamit kami ng mga katanungang pang-sitwasyon, ibig sabihin, mga katanungang tumutukoy sa iyong tukoy na nakaraang karanasan, at bilang karagdagan sa mga tumutukoy sa mga sitwasyong hipotikal. Tinutulungan nila kaming mas maunawaan kung paano ka nagpapatakbo at kung paano ka lalapit sa paglutas ng problema.

Ginagamit namin ang pamamaraan ng STAR (situation – sitwasyon, task – gawain, action – pagkilos, result – resulta) para dito. Kailangan namin hindi lamang isang paglalarawan ng sitwasyon na kinaharap mo, ngunit higit sa lahat impormasyon sa kung paano mo ito hinarap. Maging tiyak sa pagsagot sa mga naturang katanungan.

Nagsasagawa rin kami ng isang maikling pagsubok na magsasabi sa amin ng higit pa tungkol sa iyong mga kakayahang panlipunan at pangunahing mga ugali ng pagkatao. Salamat sa ito, susuriin namin kung nasa parehong wavelength kami.

Panghuli, kumpirmahin namin ang mga kondisyong pampinansyal at ang iyong kakayahang magamit.

Tandaan na ang panayam ay oras din para magtanong ka sa anumang mga katanungan na maaaring abalahin ka sa konteksto ng iyong tungkulin at kumpanya.

Paano maghanda para sa isang pakikipanayam sa trabaho?

Ito ay laging nagkakahalaga ng pagiging handa at ito ay isa sa mga prinsipyo na pinahahalagahan namin sa Paraphrase Online Group. Maaari kang maghanda para sa pakikipanayam tulad ng sumusunod:

Basahin muli ang patalastas sa trabaho at alamin ang tungkol sa mga kinakailangan. Sa panahon ng pakikipanayam, magtutuon kami sa mga lugar na mahalaga sa amin sa konteksto ng oposisyong ito, at bibigyan ka ng anunsyo ng isang buong larawan ng kung sino ang hinahanap namin para sa partikular na papel na ito. Kaya’t ang karamihan sa mga kasagutan doon mismo.

Suriin ang iyong CV at isipin ang tungkol sa mga kasanayan na gagawing angkop sa iyo para sa trabahong ito. Mag-isip sa mga tuntunin ng mga nakamit, hal. Tukoy na mga bagay na pinamamahalaang mong pagbutihin, gawin nang mas mahusay, ang mga nagdala ng mga benepisyo sa kumpanya. Magdala ng ilang mga sitwasyon na kumpirmahin ang iyong mga kakayahan. Ito ang tatanungin namin sa iyo.

Suriin ang aming website, blog at Facebook – gawin ang iyong araling-bahay at kilalanin ang kumpanyang nais mong pagtatrabaho.

Ang Paraphrase Online Group ay walang pormal na dress code, kaya’t ang lahat na makilala mo sa pakikipanayam ay magsusuot ng maong at isang T-shirt kaysa isang suit.

Puna

Pagkatapos ng bawat yugto ng pangangalap, babalik kami sa mga kandidato na may feedback.

Kung positibo ito, mahusay iyan – makikipag-ugnay kami sa iyo upang kumpirmahin ang mga tuntunin ng kooperasyon. Ang susunod na hakbang ay ang mag-sign ng isang kasunduan sa kooperasyon. Para sa hangaring ito, makikipag-ugnay sa iyo ang isang tao mula sa aming Kagawaran ng Pamamahala.

Gayunpaman, kung magpapasya kami na ang iyong karanasan at kakayahan ay hindi umaangkop sa profile ng kandidato na hinahanap namin, makakatanggap ka ng impormasyon mula sa amin tungkol sa mga dahilan para sa naturang desisyon. Karaniwan kaming bumalik na may feedback sa loob ng ilang araw, ngunit kung ang proseso ng pangangalap ay dapat na pinalawak, ipapaalam namin sa iyo. Kung ang sagot ay hindi dumating sa oras – tiyaking ipaalala sa amin.

Ano ang dapat mong tandaan kapag nakikipag-usap sa online?

Sa oras na naka-iskedyul ang pagpupulong, mag-click sa link ng Google Meet na ipinadala namin sa iyo sa email at sumali sa pag-uusap. Nasa ibaba ang ilang mga tip na dapat tandaan bago makipagkita sa online.

– Pamilyarin ang iyong sarili sa Google Meet kung hindi mo pa nagamit ang tool na ito dati.
– Suriin ang kalidad ng iyong koneksyon sa internet.
– Suriin kung gumagana ang iyong mga headphones at mikropono.
– Maghanap ng isang tahimik na lugar kung saan maaari kang makipag-usap (mas mabuti na may likas na ilaw na nagniningning nang direkta sa iyong mukha).

Alok

Naging okay ang lahat? Malamig! Maligayang pagdating sa Paraphrase Online Group!

Telephones conversation with HR (20-30 min)

If your experience and skills fit into the position profile, we will invite you to the first stage of recruitment. It is a 20-30 minute telephones conversation with HR. During this conversation, you will learn more about Paraphrase Online Group and the role you have applied for. We, in turn, will want to ask you about the details related to your career, competences and motivation to work in this position. We will also talk about your financial expectations and availability, so as to be sure that all conditions related to working with us are attractive to you.

Recruitment interview with team members (1h)

If our impressions after the first interview are positive, we will invite you to an hour-long interview with people from the team to which you submitted your application. This is a good opportunity for you to find out how it is to work in this department, so prepare your questions – we will be happy to answer them. We will want to ask questions that will allow us to better check your competences needed for this position. You can expect questions based on specific situations that you may encounter while working with us. This will allow us to assess even better if you will do well in this role and you will get a taste of what is waiting for you with us. At the beginning of the meeting, we will invite you to complete a short psychological test, it will take no more than 10 minutes.

Optional – a task (it will take you about 1 hour of your own time + 30 minutes for a meeting devoted to discussing the task)

For some recruitments, we also introduce a task to help us check your approach to solving specific problems. For us, it is one of the best ways to test competences and be sure that the best players will join our team. We will give you a time to complete the task – approx. 2-3 days, we will also make sure that you do not need to spend more than an hour of your own time on it. After you complete the task, we will arrange a short meeting to discuss it.

We often combine this stage with a recruitment interview, asking you to prepare a solution to a problem before the meeting.

Who will you meet?

The meeting is always attended by your new manager, i.e. the person with whom you will cooperate most closely. We want you to get to know each other better. It is also the best time to tell you more about the team you applied to and dispel any doubts.

What questions can you expect in the interview?

We ask about issues related to the role you applied for.

We use situational questions, i.e. questions that refer to your specific past experience, and additionally those that refer to hypothetical situations. They help us better understand how you operate and how you approach problem solving.

We use the STAR (situation, task, action, result) method for this. We need not only a description of the situation you faced, but most of all information on how you dealt with it. Be specific in answering such questions.

We also conduct a short test that will tell us more about your social competences and main personality traits. Thanks to this, we will check if we are on the same wavelength.

Finally, we will confirm the financial conditions and your availability.

Remember that the interview is also a time for you to ask any questions that may bother you in the context of your role and company.

How to prepare for a job interview?

It is always worth being prepared and this is one of the principles that we value at Paraphrase Online Group. You can prepare for the interview as follows:

Re-read the job advertisement and learn about the requirements. During the interview, we will focus on the areas that are crucial to us in the context of this position, and the announcement will give you a full picture of who we are looking for this particular role. So most of the answers are right there.

Check your CV and think about the skills that will make you suitable for this job. Think in terms of achievements, i.e. specific things that you have managed to improve, do better, those that have brought benefits to the company. Bring up a few situations that will confirm your competences. This is what we will ask you about.

Check out our website, blog and Facebook – do your homework and get to know the company you want to work for.

Paraphrase Online Group does not have a formal dress code, so everyone you meet at the interview will wear jeans and a T-shirt rather than a suit.

Feedback

After each stage of recruitment, we return to the candidates with feedback.

If it is positive, that’s great – we will contact you to confirm the terms of cooperation. The next step will be to sign a cooperation agreement. For this purpose, a person from our Administration Department will contact you.

However, if we decide that your experience and competences do not fit into the profile of the candidate we are looking for, you will receive information from us about the reasons for such a decision. We usually come back with feedback within a few days, but if the recruitment process has to be extended, we will let you know. If the answer does not come on time – be sure to remind us.

What should you bear in mind when talking online?

At the time the meeting is scheduled, click on the Google Meet link we sent you in the email and join the conversation. Below are some tips to keep in mind before meeting online.

– Familiarize yourself with Google Meet if you haven’t used this tool before.
– Check the quality of your internet connection.
– Check that your headphoness and microphones are working.
– Find a quiet place where you can talk (preferably with natural light shining directly on your face).

Offer

Everything was okay? Cool! Welcome to Paraphrase Online Group!

Before we introduce our readers to the world of Machine Learning, Data Science and databases, please tell us briefly about who you are and what the Paraphrase Online Group does?

John Wallace: Hi Susan, thank you for inviting me. I hope readers will find value in this interview.

I have been dealing with data and their professional processing for over 15 years. I worked in American companies, as well as in a British pharmaceutical concern, where I was responsible for the maintenance of the website consisting of over 9500 database systems in the “follow the sun” model. Working in the USA and UK, I watched the digital transformation look like and pursued the company’s goals. I thought then that it would be worthwhile to pursue my own. This is how I decided to join the Paraphrase Online Group. Today, our company is a dynamically developing organization that maintains database systems in the 24/7 model. We currently support over 8,500 bases. At the same time, we have built a BI department that creates data warehouses that constitute the central data set in the organization, the so-called “One source of truth” and reports that allow you to visualize everything that the company’s systems collect. Finally, we have a great DEV department, dealing with the development of applications constituting data interfaces, as well as their integration between systems. The DEV department is also developing our own product. As a team, we ensure the security of systems and their availability, as well as analyze and report data collected by our clients.

The unique value of our company is the guarantee of access to data and its adequate analysis.

SP: Why is the Paraphrase Online Group concerned with data?

JW: The purpose of the activity is due to several reasons. One of them is my passion for database systems, which I translated into the company when it was created. Another very pragmatic reason is that there is an increase in data in the world. Every two years or so, their number is multiplied. Which means that as a society that develops on the basis of knowledge, we need data and we will certainly need it in the future.

SP: How important is a well-structured database to a company?

JW: The structure of the database, or better, its structure, is the foundation of the system, including the method of data recording. Correct design of the system is a prerequisite for the data to be saved in such a way that despite their large increase, the system will be able to quickly respond to our inquiries.

SP: Why do you think data analysis is one of the most important trends recently?

JW: Data is said to be oil of the 21st century. In fact, those who know more and faster are able to achieve better results, i.e. a competitive advantage. Today, in a knowledge-based economy, in my opinion, data analysis is the greatest value.

SP: Based on the experience of the Paraphrase Online Group, do more and more companies decide to implement such solutions (data analysis, automation)? If so, in which areas especially?

JW: We see the demand for our services, i.e. the maintenance of database systems, as well as analysis and reporting in each of the business areas, regardless of the industry. Our clients come from the financial, commercial, manufacturing as well as governmental sectors.

SP: What does Machine Learning give us?

JW: Machine Learning, or machine learning, is the use of models based on artificial intelligence (in our Paraphrase Online Group, which brings together many departments from various fields, we also have a text paraphrase tool, which is based on artificial intelligence), which are trained to automate the process and, consequently, transferring responsibility for the decision-making center from man to machine. The implementation of machine learning in processes allows for their automation and exclusion of the human factor where it seemed impossible to us so far.

SP: How does artificial intelligence help with data processing?

JW: Artificial intelligence algorithms are implemented in machine learning. Years ago, when I was dealing with AI (artificial intelligence), we focused on neural networks, the proper preparation of which, the so-called “Training” meant that the network made automatic decisions, for example as to the classification of data sets. Today, these algorithms have been implemented in machine learning, so we do not have to explore the scientific issues related to neural networks, but only deal with the “training” of the system. This kind of simplification allows us to achieve our business goals faster.

SP: How can companies use Machine Learning to build competitiveness?

JW: The obvious benefit of ML is the aforementioned automation of processes and the exclusion of the human factor, which allows to perform data processing on a larger scale and with a shorter response time.

Let me give you an example from our area. Today, Paraphrase Online supports over 8,500 database systems. In order to provide our clients with an adequate quality of services, we must monitor and configure these systems to meet the expected standards. As you may have guessed, the more systems, the more people needed to support them.

But if you look at our product through which we automate the process, you will notice that thanks to new technologies, we can transfer some of the issues related to monitoring or the change recommendation system to the system and relieve people. As a result, our clients receive a significantly better quality of service than the competition.

SP: What are the benefits of Machine Learning, not only for the companies themselves, but also for their customers?

JW: It depends on how you define the customer concept. For example, if we assume that our client is Paraphrase Online, which, using advanced data analysis and machine learning algorithms, provides its clients with a new quality of services. Paraphrase Online automates the process of managing an SEO campaign in such a way that it is the machine that selects the appropriate parameters and makes the campaign even more tailored to the needs of the end customer.

Perhaps, from the customer’s perspective, it does not matter whether we use ML or other technologies. However, the results are important, i.e. the speed of decision-making and the quality of the service, and thanks to the technologies discussed, it is simply better.

SP: And last, what knowledge is worth expanding and what to learn in the future in order to be ready for such solutions?

JW: Fascinated by this area, he is carrying out his doctoral dissertation in the field of building autonomous database systems. I try to use technological innovations and add something to this field of knowledge from myself.

POCM – what is it anyway?

First, however, a short piece of information for those who have not come across this system so far. POCM is our tool that helps in improving the results of campaigns conducted in Google Ads. It is based on statistical models and self-learning algorithms that collect data about campaigns 24 hours a day and automatically optimize them so as to maximize the probability of achieving previously set goals.

When designing POCM, we especially had in mind that the platform should be simple and intuitive to use and that it would enable effective campaigns using the latest and most effective technologies, also for people who do not have specialized knowledge in the field of online advertising.

What’s with bidding strategies?

It sounds specialized and may sound complicated, but choosing a bid optimization strategy is not a plan for the Battle of Waterloo. Strategies are simply used to achieve a selected business goal that we want to achieve through a campaign. These goals may be different. At various stages of marketing activities, we may, for example, want as many people as possible to see our advertisement, to convert as many users as possible, or simply to reduce the costs associated with advertising as much as possible. A different strategy is used to achieve each of these goals. Its choice determines which parameters of the campaign the system will focus on the most in the optimization process.

As already mentioned, we currently have over 50 such strategies. We will not describe all the available options here, but we will focus on explaining what can be achieved with the most popular ones.

Maximize conversions based on your budget

In this strategy, the system uses the available budget in such a way that it appears evenly and as efficiently as possible. This means that if there is little money left, it goes first to the key phrases that generate the most conversions. Therefore, this strategy is a good solution for people who cannot afford large advertising expenses – thanks to it we minimize the likelihood of a budget constraint.

Maximize your income

If we choose a strategy to maximize revenue, the algorithms will focus not on individual key phrases or advertised products, but on entire campaigns. When we run many of them, they analyze the effectiveness of each of them (of course, provided that we have this strategy set for all of them), and then distributes the budget so that the total income from all of them is as high as possible. This strategy works best when the system has a lot of data, so it is intended for people with a large advertising budget and who can afford to run a large number of campaigns.

Target ROAS

Target ROAS is that the system aims to achieve a return on investment as determined by us. Let’s show it with an example – for example, we can assume that we want every dollar spent on advertising to bring us $ 3 profit. In this model, algorithms use data to identify key phrases or products that have yielded a large number of valuable conversions in the past. They set higher click rates for them, while other phrases / products have a lower rate. The danger with this strategy is setting an unrealistic, high ROAS, because it can lead to a budgetary constraint. Therefore, it is worth entrusting the determination of the return on investment to a specialist – he will set the achievable return and will gradually increase it, if the campaign produces satisfactory results.

Target CPA

In the target CPA, we define the rate that we are willing to spend on acquiring one user. However, this does not mean that each conversion will cost exactly the same. The system will analyze the behavior of users and on this basis it will reduce or increase rates on specific devices, at given hours, etc. However, it will always strive to ensure that the average cost of acquisition is at least as agreed. In this way, it will provide us with the greatest number of conversions at a given cost-per-acquisition. This strategy works especially when the specific cost of customer acquisition is important to us and when the algorithm has a lot of data on the basis of which it can predict user behavior.

Maximize clicks based on your budget

As you can guess, the goal of this strategy is to get as many clicks as possible within your budget. It’s similar to budget-based conversion maximization, and is an alternative when we don’t have conversion tracking implemented. It also works well when we have a very small budget, and thus few conversions – then there may be too little data for the system to correctly predict which phrases / products will bring the most of them. In addition, it is not always possible to determine a conversion action, and we often want to get as much traffic as possible on the page – then maximizing clicks will be a great solution.

Target Impression Share

This strategy allows you to achieve the assumed percentage of views – algorithms automatically set bids at such a level to win a certain number of auctions. When choosing this option, we have to decide which ad display place we want to fight for. There are three options here: first result on the page, displayed at the top of the results page, or displayed anywhere on the page. Here you can limit the maximum bid that the system can set, but for the campaign to work properly, it cannot be too low. Then it would be impossible to win the appropriate number of auctions.

Improved CPC

As part of the Enhanced CPC, we set a click bid for your ads ourselves, but the system may automatically increase it if it determines that there are conditions under which the likelihood of conversion has increased, or decreased when the chance of conversion is low. With Enhanced CPC – aka eCPC – you can optimize your bids to increase either the number of conversions or the value of your conversions.

A solution tailored to your needs

POCM users can use many other strategies available within the platform. After signing the contract, the customer is contacted by a specialist from the Support Department, created specifically to support the users of this particular platform. It proposes the best strategy and ad formats in a given industry and budget, choosing from the options available in the package selected by the client.

After accepting the plan, he sets up a campaign and optimizes it manually for a month, while the algorithms collect data in order to adjust the rates independently in the future, implementing the assumed strategy. After the first month, the company no longer interferes with the campaign, but the customer has the option of updating or adding new keywords, ads, etc. He can also view ad statistics and compare the results from different periods. Therefore, it is a platform that gives the client a lot of freedom, while providing advanced algorithms, and this in total gives a tool that allows you to create modern, constantly optimized campaigns with any budget.

Multi-level marketing – what is it?

Multi Level Marketing or network marketing is best known for its short name MLM. Most of us have ever met with this name and probably know, more or less, how people involved in it work. Let us, however, bring its definition a bit closer: the premise of multi-level marketing – MLM – is the sale of products and services through direct marketing. So it is based on relationships with people and WOM (Word of mouth) or viral marketing. What, on the one hand, completely differentiates multi-level marketing from other forms of marketing is that every buyer who wishes to do so can be involved in sales. Then it gains not only discounts on given products, but also a commission on sales (both its own and sales representatives taking place below in the structure). On the other hand, some issues are relatively similar to other forms of marketing, e.g. in internet marketing, where customer references and WOM opinions are equally important.

How does sales look in multi-level marketing?

The quintessence of sales in multi-level marketing are commands and a large part of business is based on them. Distributors purchase products from the company and then sell them to others. Nevertheless, sales representatives, i.e. people involved in the operation of a given MLM, can reach their clients in very different ways, using both more traditional forms and more often, they are leaning towards online solutions, for example by acting in social media.

Nevertheless, according to a report carried out for the global MLM association in 2018, direct contact still plays the largest role. As much as 74% of distributors rely on such contact, and the majority of sales are made via traditional channels (61% by phones and 50% during product presentation, e.g. at distributors’ homes). Unlike most prosperous businesses today, companies based on multi-level marketing only make limited use of sales through their website or social media.

Products or services are therefore sold by people who have often tested them on their own and want to recommend further. Everyone involved in multi-level marketing can earn in two ways:

– by employing more people who also become distributors (earning a commission for each sale),
– by selling yourself.

People involved in sales decide themselves how they want to acquire new customers and increase their network. According to the MLM report (2018), distributors contact potential customers and sell through:

– contacts with relatives (family, friends or neighbors),
– business contacts (work friends, conferences, business events),
– social media activities,
– meetings at home and during product presentations,
– phones calls,
– email
– other unplanned occasions,
– own website or blog,
– door-to-door sales.

Structure in multi-level marketing

A company operating in the form of MLM sells its products to distributors, also known as consultants or ambassadors, at much better prices. Discounts reach up to 60% and depend on the sales volume of a given consultant. Not without reason, multi-level marketing is also known as network marketing – because each of the distributors can encourage sales to more people, thereby benefiting from commissions and increasing their profits. Each subsequent person can also involve others, thus building a network and moving higher in the entire pyramid.

What is the most common way of recruiting new people to MLM?

First step
For many people, joining the group of consultants and starting sales seems relatively easy. Most often, it is enough to purchase products of a certain value and register on the website of the company selling in the form of MLM. There is no obligation to set up your own business or other requirements that could make registration difficult at the beginning.

Second step
A new consultant is required not only to regularly purchase products of a given brand, but also to increase their sales in subsequent periods in order to be able to receive further discounts and take advantage of additional sales opportunities (e.g. during specially organized events or meetings).

Third step
Expanding your network of contacts and recruiting new people. A consultant can also make profits from the sale of people he recruited himself and who will be lower in the hierarchy. Additional bonuses and bonuses are dedicated to those who have extremely fast increases. By increasing their earnings and expanding the network, a given consultant has the opportunity to further develop.

Seemingly, MLM recruitment seems to be a simple path to success and high cash. Nevertheless, very often people involved in the sale of products have to resort to aggressive licks to increase their shares, which is negatively assessed by many consultants (especially beginners). Character traits play a key role here, and whether a person likes the product they are selling. According to the report, those who liked the product they sold and believed in a given product were more willingly involved in and more satisfied with working at MLM.

Multi-level marketing – working time and consultant’s duties

According to the analyzed report, over 60% of people operating in MLM have another job in full or part time, and MLM is an additional form of income, for which 45% of people devote on average 1 to 8 hours a week. Less than 30% treat work in MLM as the only form of income and very often devotes more time to it, i.e. from 8 to 30 hours a week.

The responsibilities of distributors include both acquiring new contacts and recruiting new people to the network, as well as taking care of regular customers. According to the report, distributors offer their regular customers free samples of new products, additional discounts and loyalty bonuses as well as product catalogs or special meetings to discuss current issues and help build their network.

Sales motivations in multi-level marketing

There are many reasons why more people start working as a consultant at MLM. The study participants most often agreed that working in direct sales at MLM gives many opportunities to meet new people, improve their communication skills, manage themselves over time and learn sales techniques. This type of business was also a great solution for those who work full or part time, and thanks to MLM they could earn extra money.

Respondents equally often stated that working at MLM allowed them to develop their confidence and courage.

Multilevel marketing companies motivate their distributors in various ways and encourage sales growth by offering, among others:

– cash rewards (e.g. for reaching a given sales ceiling)
– material prizes (and prizes in the form of meetings and events reserved specifically for people who have achieved a given level or reached a given level of sales),
– commissions for the sale of persons who have been awarded recruited persons,
– greater discounts on products or services.

About the controversy around multilevel marketing

Multi-level marketing has both its supporters and opponents, who spread their opinion among the closest people, thus creating an opinion on the operation of MLMs. Around the activities of companies based on multi-level marketing, there are also many controversial rumors related not only to the issue of financial pyramids, but also relationships or activities of distributors to increase sales. In the history of MLM we will encounter several cases of total fraud and unlawful activities. This is often associated with the inability to regulate the obligations and manner of work of distributors.

MLM is also often associated with the use of sales techniques that are unethical and based, for example, on the consumer’s ignorance and tricks that they simply manipulate. It should be emphasized that not every company that uses multi-level marketing has resorted to such methods, but it is something that – especially in recent years – consumers have paid special attention to.

It is estimated that most people involved in MLM lose money. Only a few people who have been operating for a relatively long time are able to build their network and profit from these activities. Therefore, many people who have tried to start their career in a company based on multi-level marketing, but have not managed to develop their network, have a very skeptical approach to the operation of such companies. The problem is also repeatedly the lack of transparency in such companies, which makes it difficult to simply calculate profit and loss.

Summary – is it profitable to develop a multi-level marketing business today?

Nowadays, it is impossible to rely solely on one marketing channel. It turns out that despite the fact that some channels do not sell directly, they play an important role in the entire purchasing process and direct the customer towards the final decision which is to buy or use the services of a given company. What’s more, focusing all your activities on direct sales may not bring the fast and pre-planned results that the entrepreneur is waiting for. Especially in times when most companies move their activities to the online world and completely give up offline sales – such as multilevel marketing. An entrepreneur who wants to develop his company and invest in additional marketing activities must consider many channels and forms of communication with customers and sales. More and more companies are leaning towards omnichannel marketing, which uses different channels to reach the recipient (both online and online).

At Paraphrase Online, we support over 500 online stores, so it’s not the time to flirt with modesty. We just know what works in a given industry and at a given scale of activity. Google Analytics does not lie. That is why in this post we will focus on what to focus on in online store marketing.

Online store marketing – what budget?

What budget will be ideal to launch effective online store marketing? I probably won’t be surprised by giving a Solomon answer that … it depends.

We have clients who have invested several dozen or even several hundred thousand dollars in their own online stores, but have forgotten that they still need to inform customers and at the beginning they had $ 3,000 or $ 4,000 for advertising. An in-depth investment in the website itself makes sense if it takes into account, for example, the delivery of interesting content at the entrance or seo optimization. However, if the technology and graphics and programming games cost us a lot, and at the same time we have not secured funds for marketing, then we may have a problem with getting the right traffic to even the most beautiful store under the sun.

Many customers are wary of online advertising because awareness of how different advertising systems work is simply low. The most important points that reinforce the belief that this is a real investment, not just an expense, are:

– by advertising your online store, we can accurately measure the effectiveness of each campaign or advertising channel,
– you can choose any time you want to broadcast your ads in response to market changes or specific events,
– you can flexibly manage your budget and seeing that it “works”, spend more money on advertising,
– you can and even need to test new solutions that have sales potential,
– you can easily determine how much it costs you to acquire a customer and optimize the campaign in this respect. Anyway, this is the most interesting piece of the puzzle – many entrepreneurs who apply to Paraphrase Online do not know how much they can actually spend to acquire one customer. For some products it will be hundreds of dollars, and for others it will be cents.

Considering the above, one conclusion emerges immediately. Too small a budget at the beginning will make the test less reliable and you can alienate yourself with a given advertising tool. Let’s say you have an online store with a lot of competition that spends $ 10,000 on advertising only in Google Ads. However, you have $ 500 a month for this environment. This amount will result in insufficient traffic in a given category. Because what if basically acquiring a client in this category costs e.g. $ 250? Too small a sample will make you randomly burn $ 500 at random.

In order to draw the appropriate conclusions, it is necessary to determine at the beginning – preferably in consultation with a specialist in a given field – how much it must be spent for the “trial” to give us the actual size of the potential profit.

When advertising on the internet, the matter is simple – too small a budget for a given area will be a simple waste of money that we still don’t have. Is there such a thing as too big an advertising budget? Yes! At a certain level, with a given targeting of advertisements, it may turn out that we can not spend more on advertising indefinitely because the converting traffic will remain at the current level and the expenses will increase. This will make getting customers just more expensive.

That is why it is so important to balance the investment in advertising and its supervision over the timeline.

Well, what if you have $ 3,000 for advertising, but you know that there are companies in your industry that spend $ 20,000? Then the most reasonable solution is to focus on the advertising channel that best converts for the industry. Sometimes it will be Google Ads text ads, sometimes cooperation with micro influencers or affiliation, and sometimes relying on YT advertising video views. It all depends on the store, target group and your goals as well as several other factors.

So, if you have a limited budget, my advice would be to consult the topic with a specialist or even in a public forum (e.g. groups on Facebook) and find out where to invest in the first place to obtain resources to expand advertising activities.

The more you have an advertising budget, the more holistic advertising you can take and give you the comfort of looking at your business in the long term and, for example, investing in online store positioning (if it makes sense in your industry).

Below are the basic forms of advertising for online stores that work.

Online store positioning

I start from the end. Positioning an online store will bring benefits – depending on the industry in which you operate – after a long time, and therefore many entrepreneurs do not pay attention to the first thing, because they want to quickly monetize their fresh store. Positioning, however, is worth considering because you do not want to operate on the market for 3 or 6 months, but many years. That is why it is worth knowing that positioning an online store is the cheapest method of acquiring potential customers in the long run. So if you have an extra budget for this type of investment, it’s definitely worth it.

What does it mean to position an online store? In the simplest terms, it will make sure that the user searching for a given phrase in the search engine first hits your site. In practice, this means that you must be on the first page of search results and as high as possible. Of course, the trick is to position yourself on phrases that convert, i.e. in the case of an online store they just sell. There is a higher probability that the user who specifies his query – e.g. product – is closer to purchase than the one who enters a search query with a high degree of generality. It is also worth knowing that often attractive phrases are occupied by strong brands and competitors, which means that it is often worth considering long tail positioning, i.e. key words and phrases that are less frequently searched, but at the same time – on an appropriate scale – will bring caloric movement .

Organic results – that is, those that “naturally” shows Google in the search engine, are characterized by a high degree of credibility with potential customers. A positioned phrase will work for you in the long term, and keeping it in a given position will require care, but not as much as just “pulling” it to the first page of search results.

Google Ads for online store

Google Ads – once Google AdWords – is the Google advertising system and currently the most widely used tool for internet marketing. Many channels, many targeting options, lots of advertising formats and amazing measurability. First of all, it is on Ads that you should direct your attention if you want to start earning quickly.

You can do a lot with Google Ads, so I will discuss areas that will be particularly valuable “at the entrance” and worth exploring.

Google product ads

Online store marketing is in many cases based on Google product ads, i.e. Google Shopping. Enter any product query in Google – e.g. men’s watch – and you will receive on the top or right side photos of product data that are advertised by given online stores and matched to your query and whether you are in a given interest group.

This type of advertising is very effective for three reasons. First of all, we buy often through the eyes. Secondly, we immediately get the price of the product. Thirdly, however, such advertising – if it is well optimized – is well suited to my intentions, i.e. it responds to my needs.

It is difficult to imagine a better product presentation, already at the stage of browsing the search engine by a given user.

Text Ads

Google text ads usually appear above organic results. Since they do not differ from “natural” results in anything but the small inscription “advertisement”, many Google users simply treat them as the result given by the search engine. Behind the text ad – there is also an advertiser. A properly optimized advertisement will download caloric traffic to your website, which will eventually turn into real buyers. Text advertising is usually the best associated tool in the Google Ads family (previously it was even synonymous with the Google AdWords brand). There are also various other names, such as sponsored links.

Youtube

You know YouTube, and this already means something, and even if you treat it purely entertaining, this platform has many more uses. Youtube is the world’s second internet search engine, which serves us not only as a music player, but also to help in many matters – from searching for recipes for cooking, and ending with reviews of cars or paints for painting. Of course, it is also a place where companies build their own content and decide to cooperate with creators. Video advertising works on many senses, but also has the chance to engage the recipient on a completely different emotional level. All this means that ads on Youtube are more and more often used by advertisers and of various scale of operation – starting from millions of budgets and ending with limited campaigns for several thousand dollars.

For reasonable money, you can build a really good reach and number of views of your videos, thus resonating in the perception of potential customers.

Remarketing

Remarketing is a way to reach people who have already been to your online store’s website. The system collects a list of such people, which you can later use in various ways. For example, you can reach people who have abandoned the cart with already added products or dropped off at the payment stage. Proposing a small discount or a reminder of a sad, abandoned basket can make them return to unfinished shopping. You can also apply remarketing extensively – to everyone who just visited your store and at a different time horizon. You can target remarketing banners to people who were 500 days ago, as well as to those who left it yesterday or a few minutes ago.

Remarketing is widely used not only in the Google Ads system but also in social media. In today’s world something is still chasing us and we have a lot of distractions around. We also add products or watch on smartphoness, and then forget about them because just … our bus stop has fallen out and must go on. Hundreds of situations distract us from finalizing purchases. Remarketing cleverly and relatively cheaply reminds you of your store and therefore nicely supports online store marketing.

Social Media and online store marketing

Facebook, Instagram, and even LinkedIn, Snapchat or TikTok – all social media platforms are pretty good, and sometimes even the first choice for online store marketing. Each of these portals requires a different approach. However, due to the “proximity” of potential content recipients and the possibility of interacting with them, social media is a valued marketing channel.

Facebook offers the widest group of users and also the best-designed for targeting. As an agency, we have defended ourselves for a long time against the introduction of this type of service, but ultimately customers forced us to do so. And very well. We see that the combined campaigns in the Google and Facebook environment intertwine wonderfully and we have also gained a broad picture of where and how to invest funds for given industries. For example, it may turn out that Facebook remarketing works better for a given store, and Gmail ads work well again for another one. We have on board a team of specialists who have recently been certified in the Facebook Blueprint program, which guarantees our clients top-class care.

Facebook offers various advertising goals as well as formats tailored to your specific needs. Thanks to the installation of Facebook Pixel, there is also an option to measure the effectiveness of our campaigns to the penny and to approach the marketing of the online store on Facebook flexibly in time and budget.

Summary

Consider the examples above and choose which method will be best for you.

What is SEO audit?

Audit is control. In enterprises, this wording is used primarily in the financial and organizational context. By adding “seo” to it, we signal focus on this sphere, so: AUDIT SEO – controlling the adaptation of the website to the guidelines of search engines; assessment of the solutions and technologies used and the keyword strategy adopted; assessment of the effectiveness of actions to increase the level of visibility on the web.

A comprehensive audit aims to assess existing efforts to increase visibility. It can be carried out regardless of whether they were taken or not. The task of the auditor is not only to analyze specific solutions or to place keywords in a given headline, but also to look from a broader perspective, taking into account current trends in search engine guidelines.

When SEO audit should be carried out?

In the company’s life cycle, audits are performed at several strategic points. It is similar with a seo audit. Three moments can be distinguished here in particular:

A. start of the page or its redesign, combined with a change in some functionalities – a change in the page often introduces confusion in brand visibility, especially if it is not carried out under the watchful eye of a specialist. Changes in URLs, page layout, content modification or limiting them … a look with a trained eye allows you to overcome this chaos and identify places that could potentially delay ranking in positions. In the case of starting the page (we mean not only starting from scratch but also refreshing it, connected e.g. with a change in CMS), it is worth handing it over to the positioner before it becomes available to the public. Earlier evalsuation of solutions and introduction of modifications during work on the site will facilitate activities not only for positioners, but also developers who build the site.

B. a sharp decrease in visibility, no traffic from the search engine – at the time when such a dramatic change occurs, it is necessary to determine its causes. While the fluctuation is not caused by a modification of the algorithm of a given industry (such as high-profile changes in the medical industry that caused turbulence in traffic even on the largest health portals), which will be easier to track, drops in one domain will require deeper analysis and observation.

C. launching the campaign on other platforms and expanding marketing activities in the media – why is an audit necessary in such a situation? Let’s say you start activities and sales in an online store. Because of the products, you focus primarily on social media activities. Not every customer will go to the page directly from the Instagram bio link – some will look for the company in the search engine. Some will not remember the brand name and will search for terms associated with it or, e.g., hashtags, which they use on Instagram. Good visibility built around these slogans and proper presence in SERPs does not allow “clients” to be “lost” and will help direct them straight to the product card.

A comprehensive assessment of activities, made at a strategic moment and by an independent observer, is a great basis for organizing further work. Thanks to the knowledge contained in the audit, work planning and necessary time and financial expenses will be much easier.

To provide a full answer to the question of when it is worth performing a seo audit, it is also worth mentioning the necessity or need to check the activities of the positioning company. The subject may seem quite controversial, after all, “non-binding and free” audits are one of the methods of taking over customers. However, if we manage to abandon negative associations, we can easily see that the audit can help “look fresh” at the site and it is possible that we can see the potential for action in new places. More on how to look at the audit will be provided later in the text.

What gives a site audit for over $ 2,000?

How to start here without clichés … paid audits allow for an individual approach to the site. The price of a comprehensive audit is made up of many factors, primarily the time, knowledge and experience of the positioners who carry it out. Added to this is the cost of paid tools, which we support when evalsuating a website or site.

Packet audit – this is the solution for those who prefer to have full clarity and all information in one place. The audit in the package covers everything that is smaller than it. The information contained in the document is expanded, however, with further elements that broaden the scope of data on visibility in the search engine and deepen their analysis.

Let’s discuss the following elements of the audit:

A. meta tag analysis – checking the elements contained in the <head> part of the page, which are displayed in Google search results. Properly prepared title and meta description will contain relevant keywords and encourage you to enter the website. The audit will provide information on whether these items are saturated with keywords, have the right length, and appear throughout the entire domain. Duplicates will also be indicated.

B. analysis of the page in terms of the lack of duplicates – the audit will indicate all possible copies of the page – whether they are non-redirected versions of http and https, or copies created on subdomains or created during the process of building the page and available to network robots.

C. content analysis on the site – a comprehensive content study will allow you to evalsuate the content – its usefulness for the user, keyword saturation and comparison with competitors.

D. head section analysis – in addition to title & meta description, <head> also contains other elements important for positioning – meta robots, some canonical links.

E. correct structure of subpages – control of access to pages, convenience of use and finding information on pages, as well as internal linking – elements important both because of the orientation of web robots on the page but also because of the user’s convenience.

F. correctness of subpage code – indication of errors in the code, incorrect use of html, css, js or broken parts that may interfere with the correct loading of the page or prevent the use of some of its functionalities.

G. analysis of page indexing capabilities – controlling exclusions and bans on web robots that may prevent data collection.

H. analysis of website mobility – not only whether the website is responsive, but also whether the speed and solutions used enable proper use of the website on smaller screens of mobiles devices and with a weaker Internet connection.

I. display speed analysis – the issue of page rendering speed also applies to the desktop version; tests allow you to specify elements that delay pages loading and find solutions to eliminate these problems.

J. analysis search console – data collected in Google Search Console allow you to determine the status of the page in the Google index. Audit of older domains without GSC analysis will not be complete – the console provides detailed data on how crawlers crawl, how Google really sees pages and what errors it encounters. In the case of a new, new site and new domain, complete GSC analysis may not be possible – the data collected will be residual.

K. standard link profile analysis – similar to GSC analysis – for a domain with history. The analysis allows determining if and which pages contain links leading to a given domain.

L. detailed analysis of the link profile – a more detailed study of links allows determining the dominant sources of links and assessing their value.

M. detailed analysis of keyword potential – assessment of the selection of keywords based on the number of searches, click-through rates and Google search engine trends specific to a given industry.

N. examination of the substantive content of the page – in the extended version of the audit we also provide information on whether the site contains the necessary data, enabling users to find the necessary information. Deficiencies in product or service descriptions and the need to add additional technical information will be indicated.

O. Crawl Budget – an important element for large websites that provides information on how many pages in a given domain are able to scan the Google search engine.

P. detailed competition analysis – what are they doing better, what makes them higher and / or have better visibility in the search engine? Competition analysis allows you to see solutions that work in a given industry.

Q. detailed analysis of website visibility – during the audit, a wide visibility test is carried out, which requires the use of several independent tools. Analysis of the collected data allows you to get a full picture of the visibility of pages and tips for further development.

R. indications of changes – the extended version of the audit also allows you to include dedicated domain guidelines, whose introduction is aimed at improving the results of the website in Google search. The guidelines apply to all the elements listed above – the selection of keywords, their placement on the page, the number and quality of texts, the speed of the site. The audit also suggests places that allow increasing the diversification of incoming link sources or pointing places for links necessary for a given industry.

How long does it take to audit the website

The time of conducting the seo audit and receiving its final version will depend on the scope in which it is to be performed. This “high-end audit” also contains guidelines and may take up to two weeks to prepare.

The size of the website also has an impact on the duration of the seo audit. Sites with several dozen tabs, due to smaller working material, are analyzed much faster. Larger websites usually require more work. If it is necessary to provide extensive guidelines, deadlines are usually set individually.

What does the positioner do at this time? He prepares at this time an analysis of all the previously mentioned points. The work on some is facilitated by the provision of Google Search Console and Analytics – the data collected by Google robots allows you to quickly outline the main problems and areas where corrections need to be made. During work, other tools are also used to analyze traffic, website statistics and Google search engine data.

How to read a website audit?

Automatic audits, which some agencies use to take over clients, usually highlight all the negative elements that the auditor was able to find. They are dominated by a narrative emphasizing deficiencies and shortcomings – often without indicating specific places where they were noticed. In most cases, it comes down to a critique of the actions of other positioners.

A professional audit will focus on all aspects of the site – it will indicate correctly carried out work and places where the site does not stand out from the competition and does not deviate from Google guidelines.

By analyzing, for example, an online store’s website, the positioner is aware that the store’s engine does not allow changes. Therefore, information on this subject will be included in the audit, with an annotation that the X engine on which the store is located does not allow making the required changes. These types of remarks should be considered when planning the reconstruction of a website. If the CMS used is a niche solution (e.g. proprietary solutions), and the positioner does not have full access to the site, he will not have knowledge about whether given technical solutions allow the introduction of suggested changes.

How do you get started with the suggested changes?

A. Technical issues
By analyzing the page, the positioner indicates problematic places in the code. Some of them result from old solutions that should be replaced by newer ones. Others may require changes and, for example, shifting some snippets of js code, which will allow the website to load faster. In the case of popular CMS and templates, some code fragments are permanently embedded in the solution and their change requires advanced actions on the part of the developer. The introduction of some suggestions may involve additional costs, hence our attention at the beginning of the text – changes on the website should be consulted with the positioner already in the development phase.

B. Content
Some of the sites audited have poor content. Building a text database takes time, but creating content suitable for the user and web robots will pay off in many fields. The comments included in the audit will help determine the direction and prioritize the addition of certain content.

C. Site Links
The audit will contain information on the number and quality of links and compare them with competitors’ links. It will also indicate places where the owner of the page can add a link himself – e.g. by asking contractors to update the data on their page and supplementing them with their link to the page.

SEO audit – positioning game

SEO audit is a great start to website positioning. Having all the knowledge about the current status of the page in one place, you can easily plan changes. Note – performing point-by-point optimization is a persistent task! Preparation and updating of the code, followed by supplementing the content is a process that only in the first phase can take several weeks. It is also worth considering further cooperation with the agency – optimization work and all activities related to it will not disturb the normal work in the company, and the effects will appear faster!

1. A negative approach to marketing in social media itself

If you think social media is not suitable for your industry and its associated demographics, then you are probably wrong. Many people still think that social media is only interested in teenagers and technology fans. However, this situation has changed a long time ago. For example, one study found that the fastest-growing Twitter age group is between 55 and 64 years old. In turn, the fastest-growing demographic group on Facebook is in the range of 45-54 years. Social media has penetrated all layers of our society. That’s why you can use them to reach virtually any target groups that are relevant to you.

2. Lack of goals and target group arrangements

Knowing who your audience is can be the biggest challenge you face. When creating a campaign, it is important that you identify your target group and tailor your activities to it:
– Who did I create this product for / I offer the service?
– Do I try to reach adults, adolescents, men or women?

All these questions are important from the point of view of identifying the target group, so you can set your initial campaign goals. Once you have defined your group, you should determine how to measure the success of the campaign. To do this, set parameters and define your goals and KPIs:
– How many customers do you want to reach and with what commitment?
– Is your attention just focused on increasing brand awareness or do you want to direct traffic to the company website?

The more you specify your goals, the better!

3. Lack of measurement of results

Social media marketing is a powerful way to promote your brand. In addition, you can track all your activities and progress in real time. This allows you to make strategic changes to your campaign over time. You can stop inefficient advertising to save your budget until it is re-optimized. Expecting amazing results from the first post or campaign is a bit too optimistic. To succeed, you’ll always need a series of patches and tests to get the results you want.

4. Vague and overly general actions

Should you be on all social platforms? Probably not.
If you want to conquer all platforms, it will be rather difficult for you to create unique and high-quality content on each of them. The mere handling of profiles and interaction with the target group also takes time. You also need to choose your marketing channel accordingly. If you operate on one platform, but your target group is on another, you won’t do much. You can choose to choose only one or combine several. Remember not to overdo it and consistently generate good content for selected platforms.

5. Avoiding, deleting and counterattacking negative comments

Negative comments give you the chance to improve the quality of services and build trust in your brand’s community. When a customer is dissatisfied with the service and makes a sharp negative comment, many brands decide to ignore it, and some even try to remove it or respond with even harsher statements. Look at it from a different perspective.

This situation is an opportunity to turn a complaining customer into a satisfied customer – one who will remember your culture and patience.
Therefore, take negative comments seriously and try to solve the problem the client is facing. Reply directly to the comment, and then move the matter to a private channel.

6. Too many self-promotion

– Buy it.
– Download it.
– We were here.
– Wait for our latest offer.

Imagine you are following a brand that publishes only this type of content. Each individual post is self-promotional – it adds no value to you. Nothing fun, nothing motivating, no interaction with customers.

Would you be honestly interested in such a brand?

Social media is a fantastic place to build and develop your community. This is where you can get feedback and establish long-term customer relationships. Therefore, follow the 20/80 rule, where 20% of your posts are self-promotion, and the remaining 80% is a specific added value for your recipients. This balance will help you subtly promote yourself while not overwhelming with your messages.

7. Not using different content formats

Is your fanpage not like a boring history book?
Large blocks of text without graphics make the content monotonous. The text itself is not engaging enough. If you want to effectively attract attention, in addition to text, place photos, infographics and videos. Facebook users watch over 100 million hours of movies a day. Individual content formats also have different results in terms of engagement. In a survey prepared by Paraphrase-Online, marketers determined which forms of content brought the best results:

– 40% – original graphics (e.g. infographics).
– 23% – movies and presentations.
– 20% – charts and data visualizations.
– 12% – stock photos.
– 5% – gifs and memes.

People love graphic content because they are easier to learn than just reading text. Therefore, try to combine it with photos and videos.

Summary

Promoting your company on social media is an activity that will definitely bring benefits. Therefore, avoid the mistakes listed here, and you’ll see the results you want much faster.