AuthorCollin Sayre, Web Design Associate  Just like traditional media, a call-to-action (CTA) is an integral part of digital marketing—guiding potential customers down the sales funnel and increasing your organization’s revenue. This is especially true in today’s market where websites are viewed as necessities and are an extension of your traditional marketing collateral. Websites are no longer just nice to have, they’re a must-have if you want to foster growth and sustain success. Why is it Important to Have a Strong Call-to-Action? A successful CTA should promote a quality experience for the user, allowing the user to easily navigate through the site to find what they need quickly. Don’t make users guess what to do next or where to go, give them the answer in a brightly colored button and guide them to the next phase. Website users like to be told what to do, they like a bit of direction. What better way to do that than with a strong CTA? More importantly, lead generation mechanisms (i.e. newsletter sign-ups, phone calls, form submissions, etc.) and revenue all depend on a strong CTA. There are tons of ways to use a CTA when wanting a user to take action. Some common types of CTAs include:
Where Should CTAs Go on a Webpage?
Example 1  The backstory: This particular client wanted to focus on getting potential customers to book an appointment. He knew that if he could get users to his website it meant that they were already interested in working with him. Having the CTA right away in the header nudges visitors to “schedule an appointment today,” pushing users further down the sales funnel. Note: When thinking about where to place your CTA, consider how users will view the placement on both desktop and mobile devices. Example 2  The Backstory: This particular CTA uses a full section on the homepage right above the footer. According to crazyegg.com, a user will only stick around on a website for about 15 seconds before bouncing to another site if they aren’t intrigued by the content. If the user makes it to the bottom of the page, chances are they are at least skimming the site as a whole, so why not throw in one more CTA at the bottom of the page? In this example, we did it in a colorful way and used color contrast to our advantage, telling the user to “Contact Us Today” for a free consultation.
Does Your Website Have a Clear Call-to-Action? Whether you’re using your CTA to guide users to other pages of the website such as a contact form, or gently steering them to the check out page—every CTA should be clear, concise and drive the user to take action! This is your opportunity to motivate users to complete a transaction or push them further down the sales funnel to convert at a later time. So, the next time you’re refreshing your website or embarking upon a complete website redesign, take the time to think strategically about what actions you want your visitors to take. Read our website design case study, ‘Popular Consignment Boutique Website Creation’ to discover how a modern website can take your business to the next level.
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 Research shows that 77% of patients conduct an online search before making an appointment with a physician. Does your website, social media profiles and blog accurately reflect what you do and offer to your patients? It’s no longer enough to have a tepid social media presence and a website that reads more like a brochure. Consistency and engagement are crucial to creating a positive experience with current and future patients—sometimes before they even walk in the door for the first time.
If you are in the healthcare industry, forming a comprehensive digital marketing roadmap is more important than ever. Here are four key components to help form a successful digital marketing strategy. 1. User-Friendly Website As you now know, many individuals will be visiting your website before making their first appointment. Your website is your first impression, so you’ll want to make sure the user can quickly and easily find what they’re looking for. If they can’t find this information, they are likely to search for a different provider. Users expect when they visit your website that they will locate contact information, medical information and be able to make an appointment online. In an effort to decrease friction or barriers to booking, your website should offer these options either on the home page or in the main navigation allowing quick access to the information they need the most. 2. Active Social Media Presence Take some time to review the ‘about; sections of your social media profiles.
Social media is now the preferred method of engagement for many users, so it’s important to keep track of these conversations and respond to them in a timely and thoughtful manner. 3. Proactive Review Strategy Users are interacting with their social media accounts to talk about everything in their lives, including health and medical information. Many people will visit Facebook or Yelp to read reviews about medical practice professionals. It’s an easy and fast way for people to get an idea of what your practice is all about before they make their first appointment. It’s important to keep track of these reviews and respond as necessary. If someone is forming a first impression based on these reviews, you’ll want to make sure you engage with your followers as often as possible. Healthcare is all about trust and this relationship begins at the first impression. Current and potential customers want to see if your organization is active, informative, helpful, and genuine through its online communications. Respond to both positive and negative reviews within 24-48 hours and have a plan moving forward to garner additional reviews from patients. 4. Informative Blog According to a study by WEGO Health, over 40% of consumers say information found on social media affects how they take care of their health. An active blog is one factor that allows a website to be found when a potential customer conducts an online search. If you’re regularly posting on your blog and including pertinent keywords, you’re one step closer to reaching that potential customer that’s looking for answers. Relevant blog content captures people’s attention and encourages them to visit your practice or hospital for their healthcare needs. Digital marketing is especially important in today’s market and allows for local private practices to compete with larger hospital systems. Whether you’re selling a product or providing a service, there are several digital marketing tactics for maximizing the reach of your healthcare organization (we’ve just named a few). If you’re interested in learning more about how you can improve your online presence and expand your digital footprint, contact us—we’d love to hear more about your business! AuthorSteve Ryan, Founder & CEO  After interacting with our social squad and reading through the content calendars they create on a weekly basis for our clients, I decided it was time to step up my personal social media game, especially after reading this Business Insider article about CEOs on social media earlier this summer. As a digital agency, we should practice what we preach to our clients and as I heard more and more that Twitter is a valuable B2B tool, important to humanize an organization, and it takes a lot of time and effort, I knew it was time to jump right in. So, I spent some time thinking about my Twitter strategy, what I hoped to achieve, why was I doing this, and then began implementing my plan. I had to start with updating my Twitter bio to make it more about me, who I am, and reflect my personal and professional life.  What did I find out? Let's dive right in. Interested in learning more about Twitter? Read, “How to Get More Twitter Followers.” More to Say As I thought about and defined my Twitter strategy, I realized that I had more relevant content to share, more individuals in which to engage, and more thoughts than I had originally thought. I could share personal stories, content that was relevant and I found interesting/applicable, share updates about our company, retweet others, and become part of different conversations. Engagement is Key While I was engaged within Twitter and sharing regularly, I also found myself looking through my Twitter feed more regularly throughout the day, jumping into conversations by replying to others, and reading tweets around specific hashtags. For example, I spent more time reading about the latest hurricane on Twitter than I did in regular news outlets online or on television. I was consumed by the content that was coming out. Creating Lists To further my engagement opportunities, I spent time creating different lists on Twitter so that I could ensure that I took the time to engage with various groups. I created a list of the nonprofit organizations which we support or I serve on their board of directors. I edited a list of current clients with whom we work to stay on top of their messaging. I developed a list of RyTech team members so I could see who was using their Twitter accounts as brand ambassadors and amplify their messages. Getting Personal People want to see the human behind the Twitter account. I took this very personally, and I'll admit was slightly nervous at first. I have a public Twitter account -- do I really want to share personal insights, photos of my kids? I wasn't sure at first, but my family is an important part of who I am and I needed my Twitter account to reflect it in order to fully implement my strategy. I quickly found out that my personal tweets were the ones with the highest engagement, so I continued to be personal on Twitter. Hashtags and Tagging As a means to amplify my tweets, I explored how to share with a larger audience aside from my followers. I made a concerted effort to look at hashtags that were relevant to the content in the tweets and that had a larger conversation. I also made sure to tag individuals who I thought might be interested in the content, originally wrote the content if it was curated, or was a follow up to a previous conversation. These tags brought tweets in front of others - it was interesting to see who responded, who didn't, and what their engagement was with the content. While I had some significant takeaways, there were also some challenges to kickstarting and continuing this Twitter strategy. There were only one or two days when I thought to myself late in the day that I hadn't said anything on Twitter and rushed to find something relevant to share or retweet. I needed to ensure I balanced the content - it couldn't all be about marketing RyTech. So, I started using Sprout Social to pre-schedule certain tweets that I knew I could share on specific days or times. In 60 short days, my tweets were seen more than 57,000 times, I had nearly 3000 engagements, and I increased my followers by almost 7% (thanks Sprout Social for tracking my activity within Personal Mode).  Of the 145 tweets I sent (that's more than 60, just saying), it is interesting to look back and see the types of tweets, as I relied heavily on photos as part of my strategy. I also wanted to develop conversation and not just be posting to post - that's something we advise our clients to think about as part of their strategies, so I took it to heart. An area that I can continue to work on is engagement with new contacts. I want to expand my messaging aside from those who I follow and who follow me, so what can I do next to focus on new contacts?  I'm going to continue my Twitter strategy, refine it, and see where it takes me professionally and personally. If you want to follow along and see if I keep up with my posting, you can find me @sjryanjr. My next project? My personal LinkedIn profile. Stay tuned!
Are your leadership team members on social media? Do they have an active social media presence? If not, it is time to get them on social media, engage with their followers (even your customers), and share their thoughts within their industry conversations online. RyTech can assist with strategy development, analytics, training, or management. AuthorRobin Brown, Graphic Design Associate  Your company’s visual identity should evolve overtime to ensure that your brand is up-to-date, looks modern, and is relevant. But, how exactly do you know when it’s time to change your company logo? First, you have to determine if your logo is timeless or if it’s starting to look a bit out of date. Think of a few companies whose logos have remained stagnant throughout time, Nike, Google, Apple, and Starbucks may come to mind, but if you pay close attention you’ll notice that even these logos have changed and morphed slightly over time. Google’s first logo featured a bit of beveling along the edges to give it depth, while their present-day logo now features flat letters and a slightly different color scheme since a lot of modern online UX design encourages flat design elements. This is just one example of how you may subtly update your logo every few years to keep up with ever-changing design trends.  (Google makes sure to update their logo to match design trends and best practices as the years go on) Not sure how to tell if your logo is timeless? When in doubt, turn to the five principles of logo design. It should always strive to be:
Your logo should be an accurate depiction of what your company does in the simplest, most easy-to-digest form possible. If you’re unsure if your logo will withstand the test of time or if you need a brand refresh, reach out to speak with a designer about improvements that could be made.
Connecting with Customers Online: The Importance of Strategic Customer Care on Social Media8/15/2019 AuthorSteve Ryan, Founder & CEO 
Brands have flocked to social media and social media advertising as an extension of their brand, showcasing product, telling their story, and trying to increase conversions; however, they are still struggling with high-level customer service. According to the Q2 2017 Sprout Social Index, only 1 in 10 messages receives a response from a brand on social media, taking an average of 11 hours to respond. Social media is not a one-sided conversation and brands need to realize that as they push content into the feeds of consumers. Brands need to be listening and responding to the conversations.
According to the 2019 Hanapin State of Paid Social report that was recently released, "97% of marketers are investing in social advertising, up 10% from last year." If you're paying for social media advertising, you should be investing in customer service on these channels as well. Customers who have questions, positive reviews, or complaints found you on social media and likely want to communicate with you directly from that channel. Customers want to speak with the brand from the channel they're on - Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat. SPOTLIGHT
If you're looking for a brand that does customer service and engagement well on social media, look no further than Southwest Airlines. They must have a behemoth social team - actively responding to customers (happy and not so happy) every hour of every day. Each team member signs their responses with his/her name and adds a slice of humor or personality with each engagement. Their customer service social strategy is done right.
DISSAPOINTMENT
Let's talk about a real life experience, turned social media experiment. A brand that runs a sale for two weeks. The day after the sale ends a follow-up email goes out to their database extending the sale and sweetening the deal by adding free shipping on all orders placed that day. Nice thought, but what about all of the customers that bought during the sale and paid the shipping cost?
Unhappy customers turned to social media to express their frustrations. Customers commented on the post announcing the extended sale and free shipping expressing their displeasure without a response from the brand. As a fellow unhappy customer that was charged shipping, I tried to resolve the issue privately by DMing the brand on Twitter. 24 hours later, I didn't have a response and my frustration was growing. I followed up with a DM on Instagram. Same situation - no response. I followed up with an email. No response. According to the Sprout Social Q3 2017 Index, consumers take action when a brand does not respond to their social media message. Nearly 40% of consumers will move along to the next social channel, as illustrated above, to seek resolution. 
While trying to resolve the issue privately, a friend publicly tweeted at the brand directly expressing her frustration and almost immediately had a DM from the brand offering to refund the shipping cost.
POINT
This brand cares more about the public outcry than those that tried to handle it privately. Their email marketing team might have messed this one up a bit, but their social media team took an even bigger hit by leaving their disgruntled customers without a response.
What do consumers really want? They want to be heard and have some sort of resolution to their issue and often times a simple response will go a long way. A brand is going to answer the phone when someone calls (during normal business hours when the next available agent is ready), so why wouldn't you respond on social media? Show your customers that you care and are willing to respond to their needs it will turn into real dollars. 
If your team doesn't have the time or bandwidth to have a dedicated social media customer service team member on staff, you run the risk of losing important customers and business. Partnering with a third party social media company allows you to focus on the day to day of your business operations while they handle the customer service responses in an effective and timely manner.
Still not convinced? Read Why You Need a Social Media Customer Service Plan from our friends at Sprout Social. FOLLOW RYTECH ON SOCIAL MEDIA! You've done your research. You've seen the articles on how content marketing can boost website authority, drive traffic and get eyes on your products and services. You sit down and meticulously type up a blog article about your new service, post it on social media, sit back and wait for the orders to roll in...except they never do. Where did you go wrong? The article is engaging, provides hard data and explains why your service is better than that other company's service.
It sounds like you need help improving your content conversion rates. Consistently producing relevant, interesting content is no easy task. Getting potential customers to convert on that content is even harder. Between doing keyword research, analyzing what's already being said, and then figuring out not only what to say, but how to say it, you'll have your work cut out for you. On top of that, you need to figure out how to get people to buy what you're selling. But this process doesn't necessarily have to be immediate. In fact, since around 98% of customers won't make a purchase during their 1st visit to your website, compelling content acts more as a long-term strategy by building brand awareness, establishing authority and bringing a unique perspective -- all of which play a significant role in customers' minds when it comes time to convert later on. By producing unique content, you're sowing the seeds of a good reputation. Now it's time to figure out how to harvest it and improve your content conversion rates. Note: while "content" is an all-encompassing term for many types of media, for the purposes of this article, "content" refers to web pages. Consider Tangential Content Tangential content: articles, videos, podcasts, infographics, etc. that delve into a topic that's...well, tangentially related to your products/services/brand, but isn't intended to encourage an immediate conversion. For instance, let's say you hypothetically own a small taco restaurant called Let's Taco 'Bout Tex-Mex. You could consider writing an article about the essential kitchen equipment necessary to create delicious tacos because it's interesting and informative, it may gain social shares and even an influx of organic traffic; however, it probably won't do much to bring foot traffic to your doorstep. But that's not the goal of tangential content, anyway. It's supposed to be different from your typical, branded, here's-why-you-should-buy-my-product articles because frankly, those articles often struggle to get viewership. Tangential content is more shareable because it isn't a sales-oriented pitch. It strives to improve website authority by link building, establishing a voice, solidifying your reputation and reaching a wide, top-of-funnel audience. Branded content is great to have, but if you're a small business with little clout or if you work in a boring industry, it's going to be hard to gain conversions without that authoritative reputation; and tangential content is the opportunity to build that foundation. Clear, Prominent, Consistent Calls-to-Action (CTAs) If you're producing branded content that's sole purpose is to drive conversions, make sure to optimize on-page user experience. Make your intentions clear and make it as easy as possible for users to take whichever action you desire -- make a purchase, register for an event, call, etc. If you don't explicitly and consistently communicate what you want your customers to do after engaging with your website, they won't take those actions. It may sound in-your-face or cheesy, but multiple, clear and prominent CTAs scattered throughout the page will attract and guide users to click through the rest of your sales funnel. CTAs should be short (just a few words), to-the-point, and attention-grabbing. Something as simple as "Call Now", "Request Sample", or "Start Free Trial" will suffice. Analyze the Customer's Journey One way to truly understand how potential customers interact with your website is to become one. Start your journey with a Google search of your product or service and see the ways in which users are able (or unable!) to convert. Ask yourself these questions:
Mobile Optimization As search engines become more and more sophisticated, they adapt to user behaviors. One of the largest trends currently is the advent of mobile-first indexing. In this high-tech world of interconnectedness, just over half of Google searches are now done on mobile devices. That's not to say that desktops aren't important anymore -- they still are. But as more and more users use their phones to conduct searches, the importance of mobile optimization grows. While Google has stated that mobile responsive design doesn't directly affect organic SERP rankings, it sure does affect on-page statistics like bounce rate, time on page, and overall user experience. Have you ever visited a site on your phone and you had to keep zooming in and out because the text is too small? Or have a hard time clicking on correct menu elements? Yeah...not fun. But while mobile conversion rates tend to be low and bounce rates remain high, this can be attributed to a number of factors, such as:
Despite these points, mobile bounce rates are trending downward as users become more comfortable with using their phones for day-to-day web browsing. So you may as well get ahead of the curve while you can.  Do you get tired of liking the same photo on Instagram that you already saw on Facebook or vice versa? Do you find yourself wondering if you already liked that photo as you are about to double tap on Instagram? Do you have social media fatigue? YES .... I DO .... Pick Me! This doesn't mean throw in the towel and shut down your social media accounts. It means it's time to start being strategic about your social media activity and leveraging it for your bottom line. According to the 2019 Sprout Social Index, 77% of consumers said they are more likely to buy from a brand they follow on social media. Read our blog post, 'How to Tell Your Story on Social Media.' We regularly talk to businesses and business owners, marketers, and communications directors about their social media strategy and hear similar pieces of feedback, which typically fall into two different camps: Too Hard/Not Enough Time
Super Easy
Time is always going to be a constraint (and not the topic of this post!). For those struggling with finding the time, consider outsourcing a component or hiring someone to help you develop a strategy. You can also spend a few minutes each day or block out a few hours each week to devote to your social media strategies. For those of you thinking that it's "super easy" because you can post the same thing everywhere, THINK AGAIN. While the functional task might save you a minute or two, you run the risk of alienating some audience members and causing a lackluster response on at least one channel. YOUR AUDIENCE CARES ABOUT YOUR BRANDIf you're humanizing your brand, your audience becomes brand ambassadors to help you share your story. You want to encourage them to follow you on multiple different channels so they can further understand your company, share your message, and engage. This can lead to user generated content through audience involvement. By posting the same piece of content on all channels, your audience does not have a reason to follow you in more places than one (and if they already do, they'll likely unfollow). YOUR AUDIENCES ARE LIKELY DIFFERENTBy thinking strategically about your social media strategy and leveraging your accounts, take into account that the audience demographics will vary by channel. Social media analytics will quickly inform your strategy by identifying what your audience is looking for on each specific channel. Your Instagram followers are likely younger and looking for something that is completely different than your Facebook followers. If you post the same content at the same time, you'll see engagements plummet and little return on investment. THE MECHANICS ARE DIFFERENTOn Twitter, you don't want to see an Instagram link that takes you to Instagram to see the full post. A business or person that you tag might be on Facebook but not on Instagram and then it looks like you do not know what you're doing on social media. If you're not taking the time to post different content, you aren't maximizing the potential reach and engagement on each post and each channel. As you look to refine your social media strategies, make developing each social channel and audience its own top priority. You don't have to be on all social media channels to be successful with social media. Your primary audience might only be on Facebook and the rest of your efforts might be lost completely. Be strategic. Do your homework. And spend the extra few minutes to generate content that is unique to each channel. connect with rytech AuthorAshley Anderson, Social Media Associate “It’s no longer a matter of discussion whether a nonprofit organization should be active on social media networks—because they should. That is, if they want to keep up.” A 2018 study done by Donorbox concludes that nonprofit organizations need to keep up with social media trends in order to connect with their audiences in a way they never have before. A few social media tactics that nonprofits should be using include keeping consistent with messaging, making sure to showcase the impact of their organization, and making sure they connect with their audience. However, many nonprofits struggle to keep up with the changing social media trends. In this article, we lay out a few social media mistakes that every nonprofit should avoid. 5 COMMON MISTAKES NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS MAKE ON SOCIAL MEDIA
CONNECT WITH US!Follow RyTech on social media to stay current with new social insights and trends for your industry! AuthorEd Peabody, Content Specialist  All experienced content marketers have been there -- you spend time doing research, properly cite your sources, write your content, post it for the world to see aaaand...nothing. Crickets. Nobody notices and nobody cares. But why? Don't they know how hard you worked? Don't they appreciate your fun, yet informative, writing style? It can be downright discouraging to see your articles or posts receive little to no attention, but don't lose hope. This, dear reader, is an opportunity to take a step back, look at the big picture, do some introspection and most importantly, reflect on today's word of the day: relevancy. Here, we'll go over some common problems that we've seen from content marketing strategies that wind up falling flat. YOU POST TOO LITTLE, TOO OFTENPost frequency matters and can vary based on the industry in which you operate, especially if your content team is small. For example, if you're a singer, comedian, or other entertainer, putting out unique content on your website and social media every other day is probably in your best interest to build a following. However, if you work for a large organization and want to foster engaging conversation or offer a unique perspective, a more long-form, informative and in-depth approach is necessary. All-too-often we hear organizations say, "we've decided to put out one blog per week", or something along those lines. For most industries, this is inherently a bad idea. The reason? Quality trumps quantity. Especially if your objective is to rank well organically in search engines. Search engine algorithms are constantly evolving to find relevant (hey, there's that word again) content that matches specific user intent. Adhering to a rigid, frequent content schedule often sacrifices quality to meet arbitrary deadlines, when in reality, you should be spending more time doing a deep dive into whatever topic you write about. Many organizations believe that they'll lose relevance if they don't upload new content every week. But in the long-run, a weekly hastily-thrown-together, 200-word post that regurgitates widely known information will not help you as much as a monthly, well-researched deep dive with your unique twist. Dig a little deeper into the topic, brainstorm your points, find out what's already been said and you can even throw in an infographic for some flair (infographics make great social media sharing opportunities, too!). Take your time with content pieces to ensure they are well-researched and fully informative. Otherwise, you'll be churning out bland content with no unique perspective -- regurgitated talking points that your competition has already covered and probably already ranks well in search engines. YOU POST CONTENT IN THE WRONG PLACESMost businesses these days have a website and social media accounts on many platforms in order to rank in search engines and engage with current and potential customers. We've all seen how content goes viral and how social media can truly lend a voice to businesses, giving them a boost in exposure. Many people may think that the more social media accounts they have, the more exposure they get. However, you don't need to be on every platform out there. Is it truly necessary for your insurance company to have a Snapchat account? Are audiences on Instagram actually interested in seeing office pictures of your law firm? There are always exceptions to every rule, so kudos to you if your insurance company's Snapchat is truly groundbreaking and viral, but realistically, you need to sit down and ask yourself these questions:
Spending time planning and posting content to platforms that aren't optimal for your industry is, frankly, a waste of resources. Instead, concentrate on posting original content to both your website and to platforms on which you may thrive -- if you run a bakery, it would be ideal for you to post pictures of your scrumptious creations on Instagram or Snapchat. If you work for a staffing company, posting job notices on LinkedIn and Facebook is your best bet. If you work for an insurance company, creating informative and helpful long-form content pieces on your website might have the biggest impact. You get the idea. YOU POST IN THE WRONG MEDIUMIt's not just important to think about where you express your message, but also how you express it. This will be largely dependent not only on your industry, but also the message itself. Well-optimized blog posts and articles tend to dominate much of the conversation when it comes to content creation and search engine optimization (SEO). But with the aforementioned search engine algorithm updates that more accurately target user intent, search engines are beginning to feature various forms of content on search engine results pages (SERPs). These days, you're likely to find Google Posts, Twitter feeds, timestamped videos and more when conducting day-to-day searches. So if a written content piece can be better expressed in image or video form, do it! You're more likely to gain traction through an instructional video for "how-to" or DIY content than you are with an article about it. YOUR CONTENT IS POORLY OPTIMIZEDWhen we refer to content optimization, keep in mind that we are specifically referring to written content for SEO. We can't tell you the number of times that we've been hired to take on a website optimization project only to find basic, yet crucial, information missing on important web pages (services pages, cornerstone content, etc.). Even when creating web pages in easy-to-use content management systems such as WordPress or Squarespace, it's important to pay attention to the fundamental aspects of technical SEO. This means providing keyword-researched title tags, meta descriptions, headers, etc. All of these elements come together to signal to search engines what the page is about and what type of page it is.
But these elements shouldn't be filled in arbitrarily. By using SEO tools, you can see what users are searching for, how often they search it and how your competition ranks for any particular search query. This can allow you to make more informed decisions when it comes to content creation both in terms of topics to discuss and ways in which you discuss it. For instance, if you find that government agencies dominate the top search results within a given search term, you should probably shy away from writing about that topic if the objective is to rank in the top positions organically with it. Because search engines rank organic results based on authority, your article is more-than-likely not going to outrank an official government entity. Instead, find a different way to insert yourself into the conversation and be sure to bring something new to the table. If your insights are helpful and relevant to the user, your content will naturally become more authoritative, thereby giving you more exposure by ranking for more keywords and appearing higher in SERPs. At the end of the day, the real lesson is that you need to be creative, original and strategic with the type of content you produce, the voice you give it and the places to which you upload it. By more intimately understanding your audience and what they're searching for, you can find ways in which to enter the conversation at large and, in the end, become more authoritative. But if you don't have the time, energy or experience to tackle all of this alone, RyTech is here to help. Give your brand a facelift and produce meaningful, helpful content to reach new potential customers. Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to stay in touch with the latest trends and insights in search marketing! AuthorShannon Lucas, Email Marketing Manager  When you open your email in the morning, what do you open first? Think back to the last email you opened, did you open it because you were expecting it or because the subject line piqued your interest and you wanted to know more? Email subject lines act as a gatekeeper, will yours invite subscribers to open and indulge in your message or prompt them to swipe left and delete it? When you first meet someone, you probably make the effort to put your best foot forward and the same should hold when emailing your list, whether it be the first correspondence or your final newsletter of the year. Don’t let your first impression be the reason for unopens and unsubscribes! DETERMINING THE BEST SUBJECT LINEWriting subject lines doesn’t mean you have to reinvent the wheel, but you do have to trigger something within the reader that either sparks interest, asks a question, or makes them eager to learn more. 1. Reflect on email subject lines you’ve recently opened. A good exercise to determine the best subject lines is to write down specific subject lines that have prompted you to take action and open an email in your personal inbox. What was interesting about it and why did you open it? Tracking what you like and what you responded to is a great first step in writing subject lines that are going to resonate. A well crafted subject line will entice your target audience to open the gates and welcome your message. 2. Ensure your subject line is timely and on brand. Once you’ve tracked your favorite lines, think about how you can tailor and incorporate them into your messaging. Do you have an upcoming event you can leverage? Do flash sales from your favorite online retailer trigger you to make a purchase?Try a flash sale of your own! If you couldn’t resist reading the “4 Tips for For Better Networking,” incorporate a numbered list into your strategy. Subject lines give you the flexibility to be as broader descriptive as you’d like. 3. A/B Test and Tweak Messaging. Next, if you’ve been playing around with subject lines, but aren’t sure which route is best for your subscriber base, A/B test them. With many email platforms, including MailChimp and Constant Contact, A/B testing is a free feature and can help determine which language and structure your audience responds to best. Since there is no limit to the number of emails you can test, repeat testing can help ensure you’re successfully connecting with your customer base. AVOID MAKING THESE MISTAKESOn the other side of the coin, there are some techniques that may seem trendy and popular, but can negatively affect open rates. The first mistake, heavy product or service pushing in the subject line. Customers don’t necessarily want to be sold to before they have even opened your email. Milennials particulary don’t want to be sold to, they want you to be genuine.
It is important to include thought leadership, company updates, and other elements in your email that can be highlighted in the subject line. Cherry pick little segments that will entice subscribers to open the email and welcome the opportunity for a sales pitch. Lastly, be cautious of using emojis. Although they are fun and can spice up an email, they should only be used when the nature of the email is fun and lighthearted. You probably wouldn’t open an email announcing the resignation of a longtime employee with the peace sign emoji next to it. Bye Karen. ✌️Well, you might actually open that, but it certainly won’t be well received. Keep current with the latest email marketing updates by following RyTech on Twitter! |
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