As a professional in Digital Marketing it’s always important to look forward and spot opportunities, not only so you can be more efficient and effective in your marketing activity but also so you can better serve the user.
In this piece we’ll take a look at some key thoughts for 2020 and consider how they could impact you, your work, your users and ultimately your business.
Create User Centric Content
Search engines have been telling us this for years if you read between the lines and it seems that Google for one is making big strides in this area. You're probably aware that search engines like Google often make updates to their search platform and while it might feel like they're out to punish websites, they're actually trying to improve things for the end user, after all if search doesn't return great results, users will go elsewhere.
You should absolutely be applying this logic to your own content and or many businesses this will mean re-thinking how, when and why they create content across their platforms. WIth the volume of searches being answered directly in the search results on the rise, you need to ensure that users get value from every visit to your website, helping to create engagement and a memorable brand experience so users come back to you directly either for more information or to make a purchase.
Get The Basics Right
This is something I've been saying for a long time and you could argue it's based on the old adage "don't run before you can walk". Getting the basics of any website right is fundamental to long term success, at a bare minimum you need to consider:
- Page title
- Page description
- XML sitemap
- Image alternative text
- Image file sizes
It may seem obvious and there may be lots of other things you need to do in order to help your website work really well for your users, but there's very little point doing the big ticket items unless you have a strategy which accounts for the above.
Consider Intent
User intent changes throughout the purchase, from research to consideration and finally purchase, this should be considered as part of your content strategy, users will need and want different information at the various stages of their purchase journey. Don't forget content strategy isn't just about blog posts either, your website may contain other content such as product descriptions, datasheets or tutorials.
Equally, you should also think about the user after their purchase, using CRM and great content to ensure your customers remain engaged with your brand, increasing the chances of a return visit and purchase.
Different Devices
While your potential and current customers may still use mobiles, tablets and desktop devices to find you via search, the landscape is changing with voice search usage continuing to increase. This trend isn't limited to B2C brands either, with many many who use voice at home also using it in the workplace.
The key point here is that voice search gives a single answer to the user so you should consider how best to reach this audience.
Further Reading
The above are just a few things that you need to think about as we move into 2020 and beyond, there's loads of further reading you can do on this subject and here are a few articles worth checking out:
