Pinterest Freebie - Possibilities Planner 2018

Pinterest have created a wonderful Possibilities Planner for businesses, which is essentially a free calendar to help you implement your marketing strategies. "This is your go-to guide for audience insights, keyword recommendations and timing tips — download a copy to dream up a year of possibilities."

Screenshot of a wee section of Pinterest's Possibilities Planner

The planner is designed to "help you understand what moments matter to Pinners and how your brand can be a part of their journey as they discover, save and do." Use the calendar to see when Pinners start saving Pins for each moment, which you may discover can be surprisingly early! Download Pinterest's Possibilities Planner PDF here.

Thanks Pinterest!

How to use Pinterest trend predictions to grow your business

Pinterest publishes an annual categorised list of data-backed emerging trends, and last December they shared their list of 100 trends to know for 2018.

The Pinterest list of 100 trend predictions for 2018

To begin with, have a read of Pinterest's blog post list: 100 trend predictions for 2018.
You can also download a PDF of the complete report with additional insights and metrics here.

You may be wondering how to use these trend predictions for the benefit of your small business. It's all very well to look at the list and think 'ooh, statement ceilings are gonna be big this year, how interesting!' but as businesses, we can actually use the data as actionable insights and make this information worthwhile to our brands. What can we do with essentially a free guide to what will be searched for and salivated over in the near future?

The Pinterest trends list is a vault of unlocked ideas. From a creative perspective you could use some of these to inspire what you make, how you market your business/products, and even aspects such as what to post on social media. You may not see any obvious connections with your own products/services, but some of the trends are transferable and linked in un-obvious ways!

Using Pinterest data to inspire and adapt what you make

Example: you're a bookbinder, and Pinterest predicts that 'unique keepsake guestbooks' are on the up. You could think about creating your own version of keepsake guestbooks. People are specifically searching for unique keepsake guestbooks, so be sure to design something original, perhaps even combining this with another trend, e.g. 'boho baby showers'!

A post shared by Stacy Koo (@doraecyscraps) on Jan 11, 2018 at 11:15pm PST

Using Pinterest data to inspire your marketing

Example: you make scented candles and are planning a photoshoot. Pinterest predicts that the colour 'sage green' and 'patterned plants' are gaining momentum. These could be used as a theme for your photograph backgrounds and props to keep them fresh and on-trend. You could even incorporate these elements as a theme for social media cover images, branding, etc, and tailor towards your target audience.

A post shared by vtwonen (@vtwonen) on Feb 3, 2018 at 1:37am PST

Using Pinterest data to inspire your social media posts

Example: you're a leather worker, working from your garage. Pinterest predicts that 'garage workshop' is a rising trend, with a specifically targetable interest of 'craft storage'. Now imagine you organise that workspace a bit and take gorgeous pictures of it. Include some close ups of details, images of you working in your 'garage workshop', photos of your 'craft storage', videos of you speaking about your work, etc, and then release these as a series of posts on Instagram and Pinterest, along with explanations and your story, and blog about it too, why not! Further the reach of your posts by researching hashtags relevant to workspaces, home studios, work in progress, maker portraits, etc to target your ideal audience, and bingo! 

A post shared by Kingsley Leather (@kingsleyleather) on Apr 12, 2015 at 8:21am PDT

Other examples of incorporating trends:

• Use popular themes for your packaging, e.g. street art, patterned plants, herringbone tile patterns on gift wrap and tags.
• Start Pinterest boards with your own curated collections of the trending items and ideas.
• Write a DIY tutorial blog post with instructions on how to make something related to a trending style.
• Write a blog post featuring your favourite trend. (Then pin that to Pinterest!)
• Start a project of documenting one of the trends e.g. 'colourful doors' and post a series on your blog and social media.

Bear in mind that the insights are from Pinterest, so we shouldn't make the assumption that these will be trends across all platforms and audiences. The data these trends are based on is analysed from search and save patterns of Pinterest users/shoppers so may not representatively reflect what a Facebook user is interested in, for example.

Are you thinking of incorporating future trends into your business strategy? Or is this something you already do? How is it working out for you? We'd love to know!

Share your thoughts: copywriting - words you would retire from product descriptions?

Copywriting product descriptions can be a tricky yet essential part of running your own business. Could it be time to refresh some overused, tired, filler words, and brainstorm words/phrases that are more imaginative and fresh?

Once upon a time I worked in the office of a major online fashion retailer in London. I worked next to the copywriting team, and at the time didn't realise quite how valuable an experience that would prove to be for writing my own product copy in future. 

On the wall beside the team was a whiteboard with seemingly random words scrawled upon it - but upon closer inspection, these were lists of words they had retired and must not use. Tired words, overused words, boring words, gimmicky words, cringeworthy words. Phrases like 'on trend' and 'this season's must have'.

Having these restrictions in mind later aided my self-critical approach to writing copy for Etsy's social media posts. 

This is a post to get you thinking about the words you may choose, or have already used that should probably be retired. From the point of view of shoppers, have they seen it all already e.g. when browsing Etsy? Which words could be replaced to make your product descriptions imaginative and fresh? Make a list (& share in the comments!)

My copy bugbears (only my opinion of course) that immediately spring to mind are:

• Quirky: overused for crafts/design, and whimsical - in an old fashioned sense. 'Unusual' is much better.
• Funky: I see this word as how an older person describes something 'hip' and 'cool'. Having said that, young people roll their eyes at me when I say 'cool' because I'm in my late 30s, thus apparently 'old'.
• Perfect for/perfect gift for: we're all guilty of it, but it's so overused it hurts! The entire sentence could be turned around to accommodate a similar intent e.g. 'X-person will find it useful because...', 'kids love the way it...', 'X-product complements modern furnishings', 'X-person finds it helps them..', 'it will fit in effortlessly with a contemporary theme', etc.

Think about incorporating the benefits and features of the product while telling a story.

Now brainstorm alternative words to replace your redundant ones. The thesaurus is your friend! I'd be interested to see your 'retired words' list - share your thoughts in the comments below!

Want more tips for making the most out of your products? Click here for my post about getting your products featured in gift guides!

The Ultimate 2017 SEO Checklist for Small Businesses - Guest post by Victoria Greene.

Brand Marketing Consultant and Freelance Writer Victoria Greene of Victoria Ecommerce shares her SEO expertise in this article for small business owners and Digibloom readers! Read on for 'The Ultimate 2017 SEO Checklist for Small Businesses', and do let us know what you think in the comments!

The Ultimate 2017 SEO Checklist for Small Businesses

Every small business with an online presence needs an SEO strategy, regardless of what you do, sell, or provide. It doesn’t need to be expensive or over-engineered, but it does need to be consistent and varied to give you the best chance of visibility. For some, the concept of SEO can feel daunting, and if that applies to you, start by reading this beginner’s guide: How to Explain SEO to Your Mom.

Others may already have a working knowledge, and what you’re seeking now is a plan to get you started. In previous posts, Digibloom has covered how to optimise your Etsy shop; now we will look at how to optimise your own independent business website or online store to ensure that you are discovered by the right people online. Small businesses: here is your ultimate SEO checklist for 2017.

Start with research

As with so many things in business, good SEO starts with thorough research. Don’t rush through this stage, as it’s what will form the basis of your strategy. Your initial research should include:

• Market research – discovering what’s happening in your industry and uncovering popular trends and untapped requirements
• Niche research – taking your market sector and filtering it down into the subsection who will really go crazy for your products or services
• Keyword research – finding out what your target audience wants to know, and what they are searching for online
• Competitor research – figuring out who your primary competitors are and observing their own strategies online
• Data gathering – collating all of your data in one place to help you spot any trends and see where your own business currently fits in

This is also a good time to conduct an audit of your existing website (if you have one) to see where quick fixes and improvements can be made.

Set up your Google Analytics account

Get started with Google Analytics as soon as possible so you can start keeping track of your data. To get set up you will already need a website and a Google account. Google will ask you to confirm that you are the legitimate webmaster of your domain. You will then receive your tracking ID, which will enable you to attain all of your website’s data, such as site visits, bounce rate, and average time on site.

Refine your on-page content

Content is one of Google’s most important ranking factors and should form a central part of your online marketing strategy. Consider this a long-term process; one that will stand you in good stead for the future. Here are some simple adjustments you can make to your existing copy that will improve its ranking potential:

• Ensure that your name, address and phone number are clearly visible on every page. You should also include this information on your social media pages
• Give each page a unique meta-title and meta-description containing localised keywords
• Add relevant meta-data, headings and subheadings containing your key search phrases
• Upload and optimise images using alt-text, which enables Google to ‘read’ them

Invest in content marketing

Providing consistent, fresh content is one of the best ways to rank for your top keywords and keyword phrases. A good way to start is by attempting to answer frequently asked questions about your business and your industry. You should have a list of top questions from your keyword research – if not, try using Answer The Public.

Your content must be unique (you shouldn’t plagiarise from other websites) and it should offer some value to your readers. User-generated content is very valuable, if you can get it. Running a blog on your business website is the ideal way to get pieces of content that rank individually for your primary keywords and naturally accumulate backlinks from other websites.

Set up your local listings

It’s not just about your own website – plenty of people still look to find local businesses through directories such as Yahoo, Yelp, Foursquare and Angie’s List. Go through each of the online directories that are popularly used in your area and add your business to their listings, being sure to include your business name and address, your phone number, and your opening hours (if applicable). This will help to give you a boost in local search results, which comprise just under half of all online searches.

Start building links

Link building is the process of getting other websites to link back to a page on your own website. Each link acts as a vote of trust from that website and helps search engines to figure out what you do and whether you are a good source of information. A website with a strong backlink profile will have a higher domain authority, which is a score developed by Moz to predict how well a website will rank. The higher your domain authority, the better.

It’s important to go after organic links by promoting your website to influencers in your niche and making sure that you share high-quality, relevant content that others will naturally want to link to.

Optimise your ecommerce listings

If you run an ecommerce business, it’s important to ensure that your products are unique, correctly categorised, and free of duplicate content. You should also aim to make all customer reviews visible to other website visitors, as this builds trust.

Look at the URL structure of your products – what you want is for the focus keyword to also form that focal point of the URL structure, like so: www.domain.com/shop/keyword. As a rule, every product should be accessible from the homepage in no more than three clicks. If it takes more than that, then your navigational structure is likely too convoluted. (Store builders allow you to quickly tweak your URLs, so take advantage of this).

Check out this guide to writing ecommerce product descriptions.

Solicit reviews

Customer reviews can work wonders for your local SEO. Many businesses curate their own online testimonials, but of course, all visitors are aware that this is a biased process. No business in its right mind would include negative testimonials.

Reviews from websites like Trustpilot boost your recognition and (as the name implies) are more trusted by users. Try asking your best customers to leave you a review next time they shop with you – and offer incentives if need be. Negative reviews, if they occur, should also be embraced as an opportunity to show your dedication to good customer service.

Have an email marketing strategy

Regular newsletters, whether weekly, fortnightly or monthly – are a great way to keep your business in the forefront of your customers’ minds. Programs like MailChimp work wonders for automated email marketing campaigns, and some ecommerce builders have their own inbuilt email marketing tools.

Email marketing can help to boost your website’s SEO by increasing on-site engagement, promoting your best content and potentially generating inbound links. It’s also an ideal tool for building brand recognition, especially when you’re just starting out.

Make sure you’re mobile-friendly

Have a mobile-friendly (or responsive) website is key if you hope to make it as an online business. The majority of today’s consumers are multiplatform –  they may even be multi-screening as they access your website. Therefore, a consistent experience is crucial.

When a query pops up in a user’s mind, it is often to mobile that they first go. If your website isn’t fast, responsive and easy to navigate, then even with the best SEO in the world, your visitors are not going to hang around. To help your local SEO, make sure your contact details are clearly visible in the top right corner of every page. It’s also worth making yourself aware of Google’s guidelines for mobile to avoid being penalised for providing bad UX – or you could find yourself losing traffic.

Which of these items have you already ticked and which have you yet to check off? As a new business, it can sometimes feel like there’s an endless amount to do and never enough time to do it. Take things step-by-step and you will soon start to notice the results. What’s worked well for you?

Victoria Greene: Brand Marketing Consultant & Freelance Writer.

I work with new ecommerce businesses and entrepreneurs to create targeted content marketing strategies that yield strong results. I am always happy to share some of my SEO knowledge with others to help them get their startups seen.