#is there even a point to tagging that when this is a transformers-centric blog

[double-u-qed]

having a top x number of favorites for transformers is bogus because you'll wake up one day and suddenly find yourself inexplicably fond of a character you've never thought twice about before

[clownrosary]

My stonathan fic for @strangerthingsbigbang is up! I was partnered with @karadanverss for this project, who made an incredible moodboard (and the banner above)! Her art is linked both on her blog, and in the fic notes- be sure to check it out!

Tags (and a snippet) below the cut:

Jonathan Byers/Steve Harrington, Steve Harrington & Female OC(s), Past Tommy Hagan/Steve Harrington, Past Jonathan Byers/Nancy Wheeler, Past Steve Harrington/Nancy Wheeler, Jonathan Byers & Joyce Byers & Will Byers & Eleven | Jane Hopper, Jonathan Byers & Female OC(s)

Early 2000s, Light Angst, Slow Burn, Coming Out, Domestic Fluff, Aged-Up Character(s), Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Jonathan Byers-Centric, Parent Steve Harrington

-

The next Thursday, there’s a blip in their routine.

Instead of offering the usual coffee and tea, Steve sheepishly brings out a few pints of ice cream. They all sit back and begin to wind down, and he turns to Paloma, fingers drumming anxiously against his bowl.

“Did I ever tell you about how I met your aunt Robin?”

Paloma rapidly shakes her head, eyes shining in anticipation.

He begins telling an abridged version of the story. One without Russian spies, or any mention of the supernatural. Jonathan watches them with quiet satisfaction, smiling around a spoonful of vanilla while Paloma and Joyce listen to the tale. Steve flushes deep red when everyone laughs at the mention of his old sailor uniform.

Jonathan turns to Paloma during Steve’s blushing to reveal, “You know, I think I’ve got a photo of it lying around somewhere.” He adds, “Buckley might be somewhere in the background, too.”

Steve’s head whips around. “Wait, really?”

Paloma squeals with excitement, clasping her hands together. “Oh my god, this is the best news I’ve heard all week- you have to show me!”

Joyce helps him dig through old boxes the next day, sorting through yellowed photographs. An old Beatles record keeps them company in the background, a shared favorite of he and Joyce.

It’s the most normal he’s felt alongside her in a long time.

She coos at the photos of everyone all tiny and baby-faced, especially Will and El. It takes them a while to find what they’re looking for, enough that Jonathan fears he may have made it all up. But there it is, tucked away in an envelope labeled Summer ‘85.

A quick snapshot taken in Starcourt Mall’s food court, focused on Will and Dustin, both doubled over in laughter. Dustin is not-so-discreetly pointing in the direction of Scoops Ahoy, where Steve is attending customers, completely unaware. He’s fully decked out in his sailor uniform, stupid hat and all, leaning over the counter with a charming grin. A group of women are gathered in front of the waffle cone display, unimpressed. Robin stands nearby, out of focus and only halfway in the picture, but she’s somehow glaring directly at the camera.

That Sunday, Jonathan quietly places the photo into Paloma’s unexpecting hands. The gasp she lets out is loud enough to have Steve jumping in his seat, on edge until he sees what she’s holding. Panic fades away into an embarrassed groan, his face once again flushing red at the attention.

“Dad, these shorts are short.” Paloma sticks the photo in his face, tapping at it emphatically. “You’re standing behind the counter and I can still see your thigh- it looks more like you’re selling your body than the ice cream!”

Steve squawks at her comment, and the rest of them fall into laughter. It feels warm, bright. And even through Steve’s embarrassment, Jonathan can see the happiness pouring out of him in waves.

It’s a good look on him.

[verobatto]

Destiel Chronicles

Vol. CXXVIII

It was a love story from the very beginning

I Love You and Goodbye

(15x18)

Hi my friends! We are finally in episode 15x18 "Despair" or "The Truth". The episode in which Destiel went canon.

So, let's grab our napkins and let's start with this.

Remember this meta is a summary from my metas from season 15 with some new additions now that the show ended.

You can find my metas from 15x18 following these links: X, X and X.

The last Destiel mirrors

I want to start this meta summary with the last two destiel mirrors from episode 15x18. Both of them were foreshadowing the big lover separation at the end.

Charlie always mirrored Dean, so it's very interesting to hear her talking about how her relationship with Stevie started.

She mentioned she didn't want to try that love thing again, it's a parallel of Dean's past with Cassie earlier in the show. It started as a game could be also related to Dean first attempts of flirting with Castiel in season 4 and 5.

I'll go with you...

One of the most iconic Destiel quotes has to be recalled in this episode too. Loyalty, love and abnegation from Castiel to Dean.

Because I Love You (Romantically)

This whole description from the scene it had been taken from my meta, I want to transcript the whole analysis here just because the moment I wrote this I was still hoping Dea would rescue Castieo, and I was crying and laughing hysterically, so... I wanna share that to all of you:

This love confession was beautiful, and Castiel made it clear he was talking about ROMANTIC LOVE, because the whole prelude in his wordings were perfectly clear. There's not doubt he was confessing his romantic love for Dean. He even mention THE ONLY THING I CAN'T HAVE is the thing that will make him happy.

It's canon he was asking himself what happiness could be!!! It means CAS THOUGHT ABOUT HOW COULD IT BE TO HAVE DEAN NOT JUST AS A FRIEND!!!!

He says too FROM THE MOMENT HE TOOK THAT BURDEN! FROM THE MOMENT HE RESCUED DEAN FROM HELL!!!!!! 'It has always been you', Dean!'

I'm gonna stop here just a little to point out why the quote "IT HAS ALWAYS BENN YOU" said by Billie takes a huge significance in here. Because Dean is not just the centric problem of a Cosmic entity, like Death, but the centric topic in Castiel's confession.

The love confession from 15x18 was a recalling of the first Destiel scene in the barn. In which Castiel saw a broken soul, a man that thought he didn't deserved to be saved, and immediately he took that challenge in his arms. The challenge was to make Dean BELIEVE HE WAS WORTHY. That he deserved to be saved AND LOVED. That's why from this moment on, Dean will change the way he sees himself.

When Castiel says he understood HAPPINESS IS NOT ABOUT TO HAVE IT, BUT IT'S ABOUT TO SAY IT (FEEL IT) immediately after saying he couldn't have that thing (Dean) is marking to all the audience that knowing HE CAN'T HAVE DEAN, HE IS HAPPY JUST FEELING THAT LOVE FOR HIM. LOVONG HIM AS HE DOES IS WHAT MAKES CAS HAPPY, AND CONFESSING THAT LOVE TO DEAN, RELEASE HIM.

Because Death gave a speech that became a summary of all the villains through this show, Castiel is the one purifying each mean word by transforming them into Dean's virtues.

While naming Dean's sacrifices and protective behavior, and showing him HE DID IT FOR LOVE, Castiel is trying to make Dean to see himself as CAS sees him.

Love yourself, because you are precious, because I LOVE YOU. You are not a monster, you are all this good things I see on you.

Gif set credit @mugiwara-lucy

Castiel crying, loving Dean with all of his self, and Dean in shock (or silenced by the network and the writers).

All the foreshadows of Dean gagging, vomiting, swallowing, eating... all of that was for this moment here. Dean's silence. Dean eating his words, Dean being silenced.

We could try to find other explanation, or live forever inside Jackie's magnificent acting options (giving us that swallow and mouth shut, as if he was trying to speak... as if he was trying to reply to his angel...) but truth is... C*W and the writers silenced him.

And then Castiel was swallowed by black goo, again. And that was Misha's last apparition. The ultimate sacrifice for love. Again.

Castiel Love's confession word by word

I'm gonna talk about specifically of the Destiel scene. Word by word, as I wrote in the third meta on the top of this volumen, with some new additions.

“I always wondered, ever since I took that that burden, that curse, I wondered what it could be, what...what my true happiness could even look like. I never found an answer. Because the one thing I want...it's something I know I can't have."

It's canon now that Castiel was wondering what would it be to have Dean not just as a friend, but as a lover, and I'm.... Okay. (Internally screaming).

Pointed by @weird-dorky-little-d, the parallel here with Pamela (Dean's fem mirror in Rocky's Bar) in which she said DEAN ALWAYS WANTED WHAT HE COULDN'T HAVE. It means, both dumbasses in love thought their love were unrequited (in the worst scenario) but maybe to Castiel was the Sacred Oath? Perhaps...

"But I think i know...I think I know now. Happiness isn't in the having. It's in just being. It's in just saying it.”

This is such a deep thought and it talks about Castiel's maturity of character. He understood once for all, that loving Dean Winchester, feeling what he feels for him, and expressing that to Dean, is his true happiness. Because...

METATRON: "(...) You draped yourself in the flag of Heaven, but ultimately, it was all about saving one human. Right?"

Dean: "What are you talking about, man?

This question coming from Dean shows the audience Dean didn't know what Castiel was trying to say. So this could be a clue about Dean thinking his love is unrequited.

Cas: “I know. I know how you see yourself, Dean. You see yourself the same way our enemies see you. You're destructive and you're angry and you're broken. You're...you're 'Daddy's Blunt Instrument.' And you think hate and anger, that's...that's what drives you. That's who you are. It's not. And everyone who knows you sees it.

Cas: You know, ever since I met you, ever since I pulled you out from Hell...

I was hoping Dean to give us our angel back, but well. It was Jack. Hehehee.

Gif set credit @spnsmile

I recommend to go to the third link on the top of this meta and read @mrsaquaman187 amazing body language reading of this scene!

But now, about what Castiel is saying...

If you are still alive, i just want to point how romantic is this, because he is saying that Dean changed him for good. And he is naming all their family, Sam, Jack, and humanity, the world. Dean. So practically, Cas is saying, Dean showed Cas how to take care of others. Damn...

This is a call back to Castiel's talk with Ishim in 12x10:

ISHIM: The way you let those simians talk to you... Castiel, when did you get so gooey? You know why we're meant to stay away from them humans? Hmm? It's not because we're a danger to them. They're a danger to us. Case in point.

CAS: Well, my friendship with Sam and Dean has made me stronger.

Castiel rewording again, because he knows what Dean did on him, Dean changed him for good.

DEAN (quiet, resigned) Why does this sound like a goodbye?

CASTIEL: Because it is. I love you. (he smiles)

DEAN: Don't do this, Cas.

Dean's last words to Castiel... don't do this, don't confess your love for me and then die again.

It's painfully beautiful. Castiel was the light that touched Dean's life changing him for ever. He was loved and cared by this angel, and at the same time, Dean learned how to love Castiel in silence.

To Conclude:

The most beautiful love story ever told could've ended differently, happily, the way Dean and Cas deserved. But it ended up as a tragedy.

And we are here to fix it.

Destiel is canon and Destiel is forever.

Hope you like this meta. See you in the next one that will be the last one!

Tagging @magnificent-winged-beast @emblue-sparks @weirddorkylittlediana @michyribeiro @whyjm @legendary-destiel @a-bit-of-influence @thatwitchydestielfan @misha-moose-dean-burger-lover @lykanyouko @evvvissticante @savannadarkbaby @dea-stiel @poorreputation @bre95611 @thewolfathedoor @charlottemanchmal @neii3n @deathswaywardson @followyourenergy @dean-is-bi-till-i-die @hekatelilith-blog @avidbkwrm @anarchiana @dickpuncher365 @vampyrosa @authorsararayne @mybonsai1976 @love-neve-dies @dustythewind @wayward-winchester67 @angelwithashotgunandtrenchcoat @trashblackrainbow @deeutdutdutdoh @destiel-shipper-11 @larrem88 @charmedbycastiel @ran-savant @little-crazy-misha-minion @samoosetheshipper

@shadows-and-padlocked-hearts @mishtho @dancingtuesdaymorning @nerditoutwithbooks @mikennacac73 @justmeand-myinsight @idontwantpeopletoknowmyname @teddybeardoctor @pepevons @helevetica @dizzypinwheel @horsez2 @qanelyytha

@destielle @spnsmile @shippsblog @robot-feels @superlock-in-the-tardis @superduckbatrebel @belacoded @madronasky @anon-non2 @cea1996 @lisafu02 @asphodelesauvage @deancasgirl777

If you want to be added or removed from this list, just let me know.

If you wanna read the previous metas from this season, here you have the links:

Volume CXXI, CXXII, CXXIII, CXXIV, CXXV, CXXVI, CXXVII.

Buenos Aires, August 28 th 2021 9:03 PM

[unfolded73]

Schitt’s Creek fic masterpost

Complete list of all schitt’s creek fanfic I’ve written, listed in chronological order by the timeline of the show, not the order in which they were written. 

CANON-COMPLIANT:

Eyes Shut Tight (ao3) - Missing scene from 4x02. Rated Mature, 1300 words. (26 Jul 2020)

Boyfriends (ao3) -  Labels Part 1 - takes place around 4x03, Rated Explicit, 3400 words (14 Jan 2020)

Room Eleven *Part of the Sex Motel series; only posted on ao3* - David and Patrick decide to go to the Elm Glen motel for some alone time after Jocelyn's baby shower. Rated Explicit, 4800 words (01 Mar 2020)

“I Love You” (ao3) - Labels Part 2 - takes place after 4x12, Rated Teen, 2800 words (21 Apr 2020)

New Year’s Day (ao3) - A silly bit of fluff written on the 10th anniversary of the tenth Doctor’s regeneration. Rated Gen, 500 words (31 Dec 2019)

Electrical Storm (ao3) -  David takes the “How Electric Is Your Relationship” quiz (from 5x01) and happily reminisces, until he sees his score. Rated Explicit, 5900 words. (03 Jan 2020)

Stay Tonight, Stay Forever (ao3) -  David has a bad day, and Patrick tries to make it better. Set sometime after 5x05. Rated Explicit. 3000 words. (18 Aug 2019)

Partners (ao3) - Labels Part 3 - takes place after 5x06, Rated Explicit, 3267 words (24 Apr 2020)

What Love Should Be Like (ao3) - David x Patrick, post-”Meet the Parents”. Rated Teen. 3800 words. (05 Aug 2019)

Even the Orchestra is Beautiful (ao3) - Alexis and Patrick friendship, with a little bit of David x Patrick at the end. Set the day after the events of “Life is a Cabaret.” Rated Gen. 1900 words. (07 Aug 2019)

Kit Kat Girl Number One (ao3) - The story of the Schitt's Creek production of Cabaret told from the point-of-view of Kit Kat Girl Number One. Rated Teen, 4500 words (20 Jan 2020) 

If You’re Happy, I’m Happy (ao3) - 6x01 reaction fic, Patrick and the Roses. Rated Gen, 1500 words (09 Jan 2020)

Petrichor (ao3) - 6x02 reaction fic, David and Stevie. Rated Teen, 1250 words (16 Jan 2020)

Gifts (ao3) - 6x04 reaction fic, Patrick and Jocelyn talk about their relationships to the Roses. Rated Gen, 1300 words (31 Jan 2020)

Top Five (ao3) - 6x06 reaction fic, David and Patrick discuss the possibility of a threesome, and sexy time ensues. Rated Explicit, 3150 words. (13 Feb 2020)

Every Night (ao3) - 6x07 reaction fic, the final scene from Patrick’s point-of-view. Rated Teen, 1560 words (19 Feb 2020)

Fiancés (ao3) - Labels Part 4 - takes place after 6x08, David and Patrick visit the Brewers during their engagement. Rated Teen, 3823 words (28 Apr 2020)

Vows (ao3) - 6x13 reaction fic, Patrick works on his wedding vows. Rated Teen, 1250 words (04 Apr 2020) 

Today and All the Days that Follow (ao3) - 6x14 reaction fic, An exploration of David and Patrick’s relationships, both on the wedding day and in the future. Rated Explicit, 8800 words (15 Apr 2020)

Transformative (ao3) - Stevie-centric, background David x Patrick -  Stevie navigates being David’s Best Person at the wedding reception. This fic explores an idea I’ve been playing with that Stevie is aro.  Rated Teen, 3260 words (26 Aug 2019)

Decisions (ao3) -  Flashbacks to all the little decisions that brought David and Patrick together to their wedding night. Canon compliant through S5. Rated Teen. 5600 words. (25 Jul 2019)

Five Times Ronnie Was a Friend to David and One Time She Was a Friend to Patrick (ao3) - Rated Teen, 3877 words (06 May 2020)

_____________________________________

FUTURE FICS:

Just a Day (ao3) - David and Rachel have a talk. Post-marriage. Rated G, 2500 words. (01 Dec 2019)

Husbands: Two Years In (ao3) -  Labels Part 5. A year in the life of Patrick Brewer, about two years into his marriage with David. Rated E, 25,000 words.(20 Jul - 29 Jul 2020)

Profane Art (ao3) - Jake, Patrick, and David have a threesome, and David gets introspective about the symbolism of jewelry. Rated Explicit, 1667 words. (13 Aug 2020)

Kitchen Gossip (ao3) -  David stumbles into some girl talk with Marcy and her sisters. Rated Teen, 1452 words. (19 Aug 2020)

In Sickness and in Health (ao3) -  When Johnny is rushed to the hospital with more than just heartburn, Patrick has to try to hold David and the rest of the Roses together. Set in some future time after David and Patrick are married. Rated Gen. 3850 words (14 Aug 2019)

_____________________________________

CANON-DIVERGENT / AU:

How Do We Get Back (ao3) -  In a literal alternate universe where the Roses escaped financial ruin, David and Patrick struggle with loneliness and a sense that something isn’t right. A chance meeting in New York and a terrible tragedy drive them to question whether the timeline they are on is the right one. Rated Explicit, ~60,000 words. (14 Oct 2019 - 04 Dec 2019)

I Like You Enough to Stay - *Open Fic Night 2.0; only posted on ao3*  Canon divergence where David didn’t pick up on enough of the cues to kiss Patrick the night of his birthday. Now they’ve been in limbo for months, the sexual tension is thick, and Stevie and Alexis are sick of it. Rated Explicit, 16,300 words. (21 Dec 2019)

My Heartbeat Shows the Fear (ao3) -  A canon divergent story: Patrick gets into a car accident and it brings the Brewers to town sooner. Rated Teen, 21,000 words. (17 Aug 2020 - 24 Aug 2020)

The Things We Don’t Speak Aloud (ao3) -  What if Johnny got to Marcy and Clint's motel room before David did during Meet the Parents? Rated Gen, 2000 words (03 Feb 2020)

Near-Death Experience (ao3) - Patrick of the past is able to see what his future might hold if he can find the courage to seek it out. Rated Teen, 4600 words (19 Apr 2020)

To Come Out the Other Side (ao3) - David mourning the loss of his husband. That's it, that's the fic. Dead dove; do not eat. Rated Teen, 4600 words (25 Feb 2020)

(All the fics I’ve written since I’ve been on tumblr can also be found from the “my fic” tag linked in my blog description.)

[mikemarko567-blog]

How to Build a Business on Instagram Successfully | Mike Marko

Can’t find the right formula on how to build a business on Instagram?

You might be wondering how to venture your business with the use of Instagram. Particularly, when it comes to coping with its feed algorithm, growing genuine followers, and proper use of hashtags.

We’ve heard your stories, and it’s probably okay to feel a little bit fussy…

However, Instagram isn’t just for the fancy and aesthetic-perfect photo we often see on the feed. It could be an exceptional avenue for showcasing one’s business.

Today, I will share with you the proper ways on how to build a business on Instagram. We’ll go over detail per detail to attain your business’s success with Instagram’s unique platform.

Here’s How to Build a Business on Instagram

Instagram is one of the most booming social media platforms when it comes to marketing. However, you have to learn how to use Instagram for your business efficiently.

Instagram has more than one billion users across the world, with 80% of accountsfollowing a business on Instagram. With these vast numbers, you’ll be sure to reach your existing and potential audience through Instagram.

With an Instagram business profile, businesses of any size can get analytics about their followers and posts, and promote Instagram posts as ads.

But before jumping over to specific points on how to build a business on Instagram. Let us know first what Instagram is.

What Is Instagram?

Instagram is a free social-networking app made for photo and video sharing from a smartphone.

Just like other social networks, you can interact with other Instagram users by:

Following them,

Being followed,

Commenting,

Liking,

Tagging, and

Direct messaging.

Since Instagram is all about visual sharing, everybody’s main intention is to share and find only the best photos and videos. Plus emphasis on mobile usage and visual content.

Once you take a picture, Instagram filters – can transform images in a reminiscent of old polaroid-style prints and share your picture on your Instagram account and across platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.

Now that you know about Instagram, let us go over the step by step on how to build a business on Instagram.

Step 1: Set up a Winning Business Instagram Profile

Boosting your business in Instagram means setting up a winning profile for your business. Creating a business account is the first step you should do in building a business on Instagram.

Set up an Instagram Business Account to give people more information about your business with these 4 easy steps:

Step 1: Download and launch the app

Step 2: Tap Sign Up

Step 3: Set up a free business profile

Step 4: Post and follow users

When you set up your account, make sure you’ll be recognized as a business. Make your profile on Instagram a Business Account to get insights about your stories, posts, and followers.

With a Business Account you can:

Access Insights, it’s an Instagram’s built-in analytics tool to track your stories and promoted posts performance throughout the day.

A contact button to add your company’s email address, phone number, or address directions.

You can include your links to Instagram Stories.

Add a Recognizable Name and Photo

The thing is to stay recognizable. The name and photo is seen by customers when they interact with your business’ account.

Your Instagram profile photo should represent your business, make sure to use a brand logo and your business name that your viewer can instantly recognize your profile. You have to use a high-quality profile photo, not pixelated, and looks good on any device. Instagram’s dimensions for a profile picture on mobile are 110 x 100 pixels. However, because profile photos are more prominent on the desktop, upload a larger pic, which Instagram will resize automatically.

Include a Link to Your Website

Switching to a business profile gives owners the privilege to add their website link. Which can also help boost traffic. If you have over 10,000 followers, you can put your website link in Stories and drive traffic from there, but this tactic doesn’t work for smaller accounts.

However, for small account owners, your Instagram bio is your opportunity to drive traffic to your domain or special offer organically, then add a CTA above your URL.

To add a URL to your bio, click the Edit Profile button and add your URL in the Website field. You can also use Emojis to make your CTA stands out. Most people opt for the down-arrow emojis to emphasize where users should click.

Write an Informative and Interesting Bio

Your website’s link is placed in your bio. Which makes it a good point to also include an interesting “about” to drive visitors’ attention. Make sure that it’s not only interesting but also informative.

Drive your visitors’ interest by showcasing a concise description of what your business does. Also, the tone must be crafted to appeal to Instagram’s community.

Add line breaks in your bio, so that your follower can quickly scan through your business information. You can also add emojis to split the text into parts. Emojis can visually highlight specific keywords and make your bio even more scannable. But don’t go wild with too many emojis! Stick to the ones that visually communicate vital information about your business.

Step 2: Create Content Strategy and Goals

Creating strategic content is a big YES! YES! Success for brands on Instagram isn’t just about taking and publishing attractive images. It’s the product of thoughtful strategy, a well-defined brand identity and effective community management.

To help you develop an Instagram marketing strategy, follow this comprehensive guide S.M.A.R.T. strategy in setting Instagram goals.

Which means:

Specific – Determine Your Objectives

Measurable – Determine Content Medium & Ratio

Attainable – Curate User-Generated Content

Relevant – Build Content Themes

Timely – Set a (Flexible) Content Calendar

Creating a solid marketing plan is essential to see results, including:

Frequency and schedule of posting,

Guidelines for brand style, and

Instructions for engagement.

Take note that visual consistency establishes brand identity.

Step 3: Post Creative and Professional Visual Elements

Instagram is a visual-centric platform, attractive photos, videos, and GIFs must be essential to the user.

Once you post anything profile, make sure that it should be catchy, attractive, consistent, and valuable to both users and visitors. You also have to make use of appropriate editing tools and filters to create professional-looking posts.

You’re building a brand, so make sure your photos come out presentable and professional.

Step 4: Grow Your Following

More followers on Instagram means a wider audience reach for your business.

Instagram is brand-friendly and equipped with business tools to help grow your account’s following. Know that a large Instagram following may mean more sales, more blog views, and a stronger brand community.

Some tricks to help grow your followings are:

Posting at the right time,

Steal your competitor’s’ followers,

Use the right filters,

Use of sponsored posts, and

Invite influencers for product reviews.

Use Hashtags

Adding hashtags to your photos makes it easy for people to discover your brand. Make sure that these hashtags are relevant to your business.

A branded hashtag is a hashtag that has your business’ name or anything that is related to your business. Examples of these are #TheIMConsultantServicesWay or #IMConsultantServices. Brand hashtags encourage your followers to share their posts using hashtags that you’ve created.

These hashtags help you widen your audience. Create a hashtag specifically for your brand. It might be your company’s name or a phrase with your company’s name.

One advantage of using hashtags is you can easily track your engagement and curate them.

Offer Exclusive Promotions and Events

Social Media Today stated that 41% of Instagram users follow a brand to take advantage of perks and giveaways. Now, your goal is to give those followers that incentive. Promotions and sales must be up-to-date in your profile.

Loyal followers can also be rewarded. It can be done by exclusively updating them first hand of upcoming events, products, and services.

One way of updating them is by creating teasers to build curiosity and interest of the audience for new releases and openings.

Utilize Your Instagram Stories

Instagram Stories is a new Instagram feature. It displays photos, videos, andBoomerangs that only go live for 24 hours.

The Instagram users usually pay attention to what you also post on stories. Theseposts don’t have to be as high-quality as the posts on your feed.

You can use Instagram Stories for behind the scenes, quick updates, and more personal posts.

Step 5: Keep Track of Your Instagram Metrics

Accounts of loyal followers can be tracked as those who often like, comment, and share your posts. Keeping track of those can help you get hold of your account.

You can optimize your posting schedule at particular times and days when followers engage with your posts the most.

Final Thoughts on How to Build a Business on Instagram

Today’s post, I talked about how to build a business on Instagram successfully. Take note that making a sensible business profile requires effort.

Remember that there are key steps to follow. These are:

Setting up a winning business profile,

Creating content strategy and goals,

Posting creative and professional visual elements,

Growing your following, and

Keeping track of your Instagram metrics.

By following these steps, you’ll be able to create a strategic plan for building your business on Instagram. Just make sure that your business on Instagram contains clear marketing goals.

Once you are all set up and ready to level up, you may also check out my blog post about Instagram 101: Can You Advertise on Instagram to learn more about how you can increase your sales on Instagram.

[lucyariablog]

Is Your Marketing Ready for 2018?

After you put away the champagne flutes and flip the calendar to 2018, what will you set your sights on to take your marketing to the next level in the new year? What has 2017 taught you?

One place to look for lessons is CMI’s two conferences – Content Marketing World and Intelligent Content Conference. As I review the blog posts I’ve written this year about the talks at those conferences, I’m struck by one big takeaway: Marketers need to expand their view of their role and their sense of how they can contribute to the business.

Marketers must expand their view of their role & how they contribute to business, says @MarciaRJohnston. Click To Tweet

This post touches on some ways, according to 2017 CMWorld and ICC speakers, you might do just that.

Keep creating possibilities with technology

Chances are, you and your colleagues are feeling inundated with the marketing technology your company invested in. It may be hard to fathom how to even think about the other 5,000 martech tools you could be using. How do any of us get our heads around 5,000 of anything?

Image source

Here’s the good news: Doing your job well doesn’t necessarily mean adding more technology to the mix. What the new year requires is that you keep creating possibilities with technology.

Make tech decisions that serve the business

Peg Miller, co-founder of B2B Marketing Academy, gave an ICC talk called Your Next Marketing Technology Implementation: How to Survive, Thrive, and Keep Your Job. She emphasizes that marketers must make technology decisions that serve the business – decisions that have little to do with the tools themselves.

Marketers must make technology decisions that serve the business, says @PegMiller. Click To Tweet

Peg’s three main messages include:

Prioritize people and process over technology. The people-process-tech model, which puts technology at the end of the decision-making process, has been around for decades. Still, companies often rush into marketing-technology decisions before they understand their processes or lack of processes. In many cases, the changes companies need to make don’t even require new technology.

Seek the simplest solution possible. Plan no more than one year ahead. Look for tools that require minimal central administration. Find tools that work for the loudest naysayers on your team. Avoid overanalysis.

Ask questions from multiple perspectives. When you’re creating RFPs or otherwise researching martech vendors, look for a vendor that fits your need. Ask lots of questions, but don’t necessarily look for set answers. “You want to know what you’re getting into,” Peg says.

For details on each point, including a list of questions to ask vendors, see What to Consider When It’s Time for New Marketing Technology.

Experiment with artificial intelligence

Any discussion of marketing technology must mention the potentially seismic impact of artificial intelligence. Few marketers have experience or expertise in this fast-evolving realm. All of us need to pay attention to it.

The time is now. But how?

Try #artificialintelligence in your B2B marketing and don’t wait, says @PaulRoetzer. #intelcontent Click To Tweet

Thank goodness, Paul Roetzer has walked onto both ICC and CMWorld stages to fill us in with presentations such as Machine-Assisted Narrative: How to Transform and Scale Your B2B Content With Artificial Intelligence.

Paul, founder of the Marketing Artificial Intelligence Institute, has developed a framework of five Ps related to AI for marketers, outlining ways that you must avail yourself of AI today and in the future:

Planning

Production

Personalization

Promotion

Performance

For more on Paul’s AI framework for marketers, see Scale Your B2B Content With Artificial Intelligence: Ideas and Tools Marketers Can Try.

Consider chatbots

Chances are, you’ve interacted with a chatbot online even if you didn’t think of it as such.

In his ICC talk, Engineering Content for Chatbots, AI, and Marketing Automation, Cruce Saunders, founder and principal content engineer at [A], describes chatbots as software ­– machines – that respond to people’s basic requests in real time, “freeing up humans to do more creative problem solving.”

Chatbots, Cruce says, are an “increasingly interactive and vital way to get at content.” In other words, for many companies, chatbots represent the opportunity to create a competitive edge.

Chatbots represent an opportunity to create a competitive edge, says @mrcruce. Click To Tweet

For more on what Cruce has to say about chatbots, see How and Why (or Why Not) to Build a Chatbot.

Keep developing partnerships beyond your immediate team

As content marketing matures, marketers need to develop more partnerships. Among the new friends that marketers need to make are what Cruce describes as the “three amigos of content marketing”:

As #contentmarketing matures, marketers need to develop more partnerships, says @marciarjohnston. Click To Tweet

Content strategist– someone who plans for the creation, delivery, and governance of useful, usable content (definition from Kristina Halvorson)

Content engineer– someone who structures content for publishing and sets up an organization’s content systems, that is, the technologies that store, deliver, and enable governance of content assets (definition from Cruce)

Data scientist – someone who “can demonstrate the special skills involved in storytelling with [complex] data, whether verbally, visually, or – ideally – both” (definition from Harvard Business Review)

For more about these three roles, see New Tech Friends on the Marketing Block, which is based on conversations with Cruce and Buddy Scalera.

For more about data scientists, see Why Marketers Need to Think Like Data Scientists (And How to Do It), based on Katrina Neal’s talks at ICC and CMWorld.

Keep getting savvier with images and video

It’s not news that marketers need to make smart use of images and video. What’s new for 2018 is that you need to make smarter use of images and video.

Provide images that work on any device

When it comes to your web-based visual content, you must do more than choose which images to use; you have to make sure that those images work for screens of all sizes. If the same image works for all screen sizes, great. Upload one file, and you’re good to go.

Not all images make your life that easy. Sometimes it’s worth your while to provide versions of an image to give people what they need from the image on any device.

In his ICC talk, Creating and Executing a Visual Content Strategy That Scales, Buddy Scalera, senior director of content strategy at The Medicines Company, says he’s all for single-sourcing … except when he’s not. He advocates for what he and others call “COPE mostly” (COPE-M), especially when it comes to images. (COPE stands for “create once, publish everywhere.”)

Create Once, Publish Everywhere (COPE) often is wrong way to go with images, says @BuddyScalera. #intelcontent Click To Tweet

For more on Buddy’s advice, see When Not to COPE With Your Web Images.

Learn to create videos people love

Amy Schmittauer Landino, a consultant in video content marketing and author of the book Vlog Like a Boss, spills her secrets in her talk How to Create and Repurpose Video Content for More Attention from Content Marketing World. Here’s her nine-part formula:

  Create #video that is going to trigger a human emotion & get shared, says @schmittastic. Click To Tweet

For a full description of each part of Amy’s formula – including links to her videos that reinforce each point (I dare you to watch without getting hooked), see What to Do After You Press Record: A Formula for Videos People Love.

Keep learning about your customers’ world

You’ll never flip the calendar to a new year in which you don’t need to keep learning about your customers’ world. This timeless theme, presented through endlessly fresh perspectives, comes up over and over at CMI conferences. Here are summaries of two talks that touched on this topic in 2017.

Supplement your product-centric content with a customer-centric framework

A few years ago, Red Hat’s content team took a hard look at the company’s content and found it was heavily oriented toward what the company sells (IaaS solutions, PaaS solutions, Linux solutions, and so on). The team discovered loads of diverse content that was hard to find, disorganized, difficult to reuse, and, “most importantly, not customer-centric,” says Red Hat’s marketing content curator and librarian, Anna McHugh.

After the team looked at the content through the customers’ eyes, the path became clear. It created a framework around the audience’s challenges, reorganizing and tagging the content accordingly. It then decided which content to retire, which to refashion, which to create, and which not to create.

The content now better serves people inside and outside the company.

Here’s what they did:

Identified the business challenges that keep the customers up at night.

Adjusted the content framework to reflect those challenges.

Tied the metrics to the adjusted framework.

Audited the content for gaps and then filled those gaps.

Identify customers’ top challenges before organizing #content in customer-centric ways. @amchughredhat Click To Tweet

Anna shares details in her CMWorld talk, Beyond Traffic Reports: Using Data, Organizational Messaging, and Passion to Reinvigorate Your Content Strategy.

For more on how the Red Hat content team did all this and how you can too, see How to Adopt a Customer-Centric Strategy for Your Content.

Get inside customers’ heads by studying what they search

The next best thing to climbing into people’s brains and listening in on their thoughts is looking at what they type in search bars. Search engines are getting good at understanding what content people want and what content they find disappointing.

The good news for digital marketers? Search engines lay out, for all to see, much of what they learn. Your task is to know what you’re looking at – to make use of clues that have been “staring us in the face,” Wil Reynolds tells us in his ICC talk, Optimizing Search User Experiences.

Search engines lay out much of what they learn for all to see, says @WilReynolds. #SEO Click To Tweet

For details on exactly how to let Google tell you what people want and other tidbits of wisdom from Wil, see What Are Your Customers Thinking? Search Secrets Hiding in Plain Sight.

Conclusion

As a marketer considering how you want to grow professionally in the new year, you undoubtedly see the need to do everything this post suggests: create possibilities with technology, develop your partnerships, get savvier with images and video, and constantly learn about your customer’s world.

All it takes is willingness to get out of your comfort zone. It’s uncomfortable out there where growth happens.

Here’s to a 2018 that’s uncomfortable in all the best ways!

Get an in-person experience and hear the best experts with helpful presentations to educate you and make your content marketing program a bigger success. Register today for Intelligent Content Conference March 20-22 and for Content Marketing World 2018.

Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

The post Is Your Marketing Ready for 2018? appeared first on Content Marketing Institute.

from http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2017/12/marketing-ready-2018/

[adamstuckerma]

22 Unique SEO Tips Backed by 22 Renowned SEO Experts

How great would it be if we could gather all the awesome SEO experts in just one room to talk about search engines ranks with a focus on the best SEO tips available out there? It would be glorious! Since we don’t have a room big enough to gather all the best experts in one place, we took advantage of the online “meetings” and gathered all the up to date SEO tips into an awesome expert roundup post. That is how we got the idea of interviewing 22 renowned SEO experts and how we found out 22 awesome and unique search engine optimization tips … the best of them.

 We’ve got answers from some of the brightest minds about the most actionable tips from the digital marketing world. We’ve found interesting news, insights and really helpful tips and guidelines about mobile optimization, metrics, qualitative content marketing, testing, technical SEO and customer centric websites. These 22 tips are some of the best for small businesses or large enterprises. Make sure you get the best of them.

 Grab a coffee, sit comfortably and start reading the next list with 22 unique SEO tips backed by 22 renowned SEO experts that will make your search traffic bloom. 

 Understand That SEO Is Not Just About Rankings by Phil Frost

Optimize Your Content for Your Customers and Not for the Search Engines by Omi Sido

Understand How Your Site Is Actually Performing Away From Vanity Metrics by Danny Denhard

Don’t Underestimate the Power of Creative Technical SEO by Paul Shapiro

Have Content Deliberately Written to Be Highly Linkable by Sujan Patel

Do Not Underestimate How Important “Branding” Is to SEO by Dixon Jones

Build Your Website on a Solid Foundation of Data and Keyword Research by Trond Lyngbø

Spend the Time and Money to Have Your Site Analyzed in Terms of Its Existing SEO by Julie Joyce

Make the Best Page on the Internet for Your Topic by Andy Crestodina

When It Comes to Link Acquisition You Need to Be Looking for Trust by Tim Grice

Invest Time and Effort into Developing a Link Earning Strategy by Caleb McElveen

If Everyone Else Is Zigging, Then Zagging Is a Strategic Opportunity by Greg Jarboe

Invest More in Content by Eric Enge

Run Your Own SEO Tests Across Different Search Categories by Carl Hendy

Perform an In-Depth SEO SWOT Analysis by Marcus Miller

Understand What Your Targeted Audience Might Be Looking For by Bill Slawski

Test Longer Strategies over Tactics and Measure Each Step of the Way by Bill Sebald

Make Sure Your Site Is Mobile Friendly by Andy Drinkwater

Create Your Own Websites and Experiment Things Risk-Free by Mark Porter

Focus on Content Quality by Rishi Lakhani

Find a Way to Create Attention by Patrick Hathaway

Hone Your Technical SEO Skills as Much as Possible by Dan Leibson 

 We need to mention that all our cool experts had to answer just one-question interview:

 If you were to recommend just one SEO tip, what would that be?

1. Understand That SEO Is Not Just About Rankings

I’ve talked with many business owners that think ranking high in Google is all you need to be successful.  The reality is that SEO is just one of many tactics to drive prospective customers to your website. Sure, ranking high in Google is great, but it’s also worthless if you don’t have a website that is set up properly to convert that traffic into leads and sales.  Plus, you won’t rank high for long unless you have proper tracking in place and a process to monitor and analyze your SEO efforts.  As you can see, SEO is not just about rankings; it’s also about website conversion rate optimization and website analytics and tracking.  That’s important to understand before you start to invest in SEO.

 2. Optimize Your Content for Your Customers and Not for the Search Engines

 Producing content that’s irrelevant and insignificant to your audience’s wants and needs leads to only one thing – people stop taking you seriously. People click on your links in the SERPs but they do not interact with your website and leave quickly – wasted opportunity to turn visitors into customers.

  So how do I find what my buyer persona (not to be confused with ‘buyer profile’) is looking for?

 Glad you’ve asked, so let me give you some actionable tips. Finding questions that people are asking about your products or services.

 A very good place to start is Quora. I just went there and typed something very uninspiring like “carrots” (Writing content for a boring industry? No Problem).

 Some of the questions I get:

Why are carrots good for your eyes? Does eating carrots improve your eyesight? How?

How many carrots should I eat a day?

What else besides carrots can help your vision?

Another favorite place to go would be Answer The Public.

Last but not least, take data from your internal Site Search. All you have to do now is to align a question with a keyword that would bring traffic to your website. To do that just drop a question in the Google keyword planner and you will be presented with an opportunity.

Note: Stay focused and only choose the keywords that answer your original buyer’s persona question.

 I am sure you already know where I am going. You’ve got the question and you’ve got the targeted keyword. All you have to do now is give an answer in the form of a blog article or video.

 We’ve started with the customer in mind and ended up with a content that’s relevant to YOUR audience and, at the same time, well optimized for the search engines.

  3. Understand How Your Site Is Actually Performing Away From Vanity Metrics

 If you track for the right KPIs, auditing will supply you with ongoing changes and help you focus on making the highest priority changes for you to hit KPIs and plan for the future.

4. Don’t Underestimate the Power of Creative Technical SEO

People often neglect testing in SEO, mostly because it’s not easy, but optimizing CTR is a way to get some huge wins. Check out how Etsy is doing it or this recent look at approaches from Wayfair and their learnings.

 I’m talking about coming up with novel ideas and analyses that help move the needle but are less about copywriting and more about technical proficiency. A couple examples: digging deep into semantic keyword research and data mining or dynamically populating title tags using the Google Search Analytics API.

5. Have Content Deliberately Written to Be Highly Linkable

Highly linkable content is content written on a broad enough topic that you can work it into guest posts and other link opportunities naturally, without the article having to be directly related to the content you’re linking to.

 For example, I wrote a big piece on customer delight – a thorough guide on how to make your customers happy at every point in your relationship. I’ve been able to link to this piece within articles on topics ranging from marketing and sales to operations and employee management. Having a few of these kinds of pieces means you’ll never miss an opportunity to link to your content.

6. Do Not Underestimate How Important “Branding” Is to SEO

Do not underestimate how important “branding” is to SEO.

7. Build Your Website on a Solid Foundation of Data and Keyword Research

Your goal should be to build a customer-centric destination that works 24/7 at attracting fresh business.

 My company, Search Planet, specializes in E-commerce SEO. I often see even large e-commerce Web shops leak revenue and profit because they’ll mirror their own needs and organizational structure online, instead of focusing on their customers’ needs. So the best prospects don’t find them in search results. Or when they do, they won’t buy from them – but go to their competitors instead.

 By transforming your online presence to be entirely customer-focused, you’ll cut through the clutter, dominate search engines, draw a flood of targeted traffic to your website, and make more sales.

8. Spend the Time and Money to Have Your Site Analyzed in Terms of Its Existing SEO

  You could have all kinds of issues that you aren’t aware of and rather than just trying to throw links at the site or find someone to write better content for your home page, put some focus on doing a thorough SEO audit.

 9. Make the Best Page on the Internet for Your Topic

 So here’s how I think about SEO:

If you made the best page on the internet for your topic …there are 2000 Math PhD’s trying to HELP you;

If you didn’t make the best page on the internet for your topic …there are 2000 Math PhD’s trying to STOP you.

 Of course, it’s not enough just to make a great page. But it’s step one. Combine this effort with a clear understanding of off-site SEO, links and basic understanding of how to increase your domain authority and everything is going to work out well for you.

10. When It Comes to Link Acquisition You Need to Be Looking for Trust

The landscape has changed so much, we’re seeing a lot more weight shifting towards user experience, and link building has become a game of trust.

SEOs need to forget about them; there isn’t a metric out there that gives a true reflection of the value of a link, we have come across so many links with good domain authority or domain trust that we would class as toxic websites. When it comes to link acquisition, you need to be looking for trust, and you can only do this through a manual review; is this website the kind of website Google would trust and want to pass value through, is it a trusted source of information? You should then focus on how your links appear on that site, links that look like ads, in the footer or sidebars are going to be less likely to pass value in the long term.

 We’re seeing a huge increase in the influence site speed has on rankings. We have run a few tests now with clients and are seeing a direct and almost immediate correlation with speed improvements and an uplift in rankings. Make it a priority, work with the development team and ensure your website is as fast as possible.

11. Invest Time and Effort into Developing a Link Earning Strategy

 Do not take any shortcuts to buy or build low-quality links. While links are still a ranking factor, that is no longer their sole purpose. An effective link will provide the opportunity to improve three things; your traffic, your brand, and build trust. These are the links that should be your focal point. These types of links are found in building relationships with relevant websites and companies, creating valuable (not just quality) content, and a consistently having a giving mentality. Though it takes times, the reward will be worth it.

12. If Everyone Else Is Zigging, Then Zagging Is a Strategic Opportunity

  If you just want one SEO tip, then let me share the insight that led me to co-found SEO-PR back in 2003. Hundreds of SEOs optimize web pages hoping that they will get a high ranking in Google search results. And many of them do a great job. But only a small handful optimize news stories, blog posts, or press releases hoping that they will get a high ranking in Google News search results.

Now, the Google News algorithm is similar but different than the Google algorithm. Why? Because inbound links aren’t as strong a signal of the importance of a story. This puts a premium on relevance. But, the big mistake that many SEOs make is assuming that the popularity of keywords used on Google is the same on Google News. They often aren’t. You can see this for yourself by using the Google Trends Explore tool. The default result for any keyword will be web search interest. But you can use the drop down menu to see news search interest. And the trends are often different.

 In addition, Google says that 16% of searches that it sees every day are new. Well, ask yourself: “Where do baby search terms come from?” And you’ll discover that the stork doesn’t bring them. They are generated by the “news.” So, these are search terms that your competitors haven’t been optimizing their web pages to get high rankings for 15 years. So, you have a better shot of getting your news stories or blog posts (if you’re a news source) and even your press releases to get high rankings for than you would for yet another web page.

Now, admittedly, your ranking in Google News may only last a day or two. But, for near term news and events, this is the opportunity to drive traffic to a relevant landing page on your website. Now, the links in press releases are no-follow, so there is no “link juice” in them. But, they can still drive visitors to a page with more information — if it’s relevant and important. We used unique tracking links in four press releases for Southwest Airlines to generate $2.5 million in ticket sales. And when the CFO asked how we knew that they came from the press releases, we showed him that the tracking parameters on the links weren’t used by any other element of the company’s marketing. And when he suggested that we were merely harvesting interest that had been generated by the company’s excellent TV advertising, we showed him that the releases were for new service to cities where Southwest Airlines had never run an ad. He asked what else we knew. Well, we’d analyzed the database of people who had purchased tickets and found that two-thirds had never flown Southwest Airlines before and that they were generally purchasing round-trip tickets for two people.

 Now, here’s the punch line: Part of why we got such strong response was the use of the term “low airfare” in the headline and lead paragraph of the press release. But the other part was the actual price of a one-way ticket in the headline — which actually was a “low airfare.” So, it isn’t just about putting a keyword in the headline and lead paragraph.

13. Invest More in Content

 Here at Stone Temple, we have built up numerous case studies of work we’ve done where we have more than doubled traffic to the pages we work on, simply by making improvements to the content on those pages.

  14. Run Your Own SEO Tests Across Different Search Categories

 15. Perform an In-Depth SEO SWOT Analysis

It is always tough to provide a generic yet actionable SEO tip that folks have not seen a million times before. What is right for a local business is not right for a national business. What works for a B2B company won’t work for a B2C eCommerce store.

If you create a basic SWOT grid and start to detail your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, you can start to get a better idea what kind of SEO you need. This is exactly how we work at Bowler Hat and even our SEO service page details how you need to identify what kind of SEO is right for you.

 As an example. If a weakness was domain authority, then you can focus on that area. Often businesses will have competence in one area or another. They may be great on page SEO but lack keyword research skills. You may have all the content you need but lack authority. It is very easy to focus on your strengths – this approach forces you to confront your weaknesses.

 So my tip – identify your current situation and focus on your weaknesses.

16. Understand What Your Targeted Audience Might Be Looking For

A lesson I learned from one of the highest level corporate law judges in Delaware was to “be responsive” – Make it as easy as possible for people to answer you and to say yes to something that you are asking. This lesson translates well into SEO also. 

What words they might use when they search for it, how they might construct their query and what words they will expect to see on your pages. Also what questions they might have about the goods or services offered on that website; and the answers to those questions, so that you can provide answers, and begin the journey towards having them become customers of your site.

 Being responsive means building a website for your audience that makes it easy for them to learn about what you are offering, and easy for them to purchase from you. Being successful at SEO means building websites for your client’s audience.

17. Test Longer Strategies over Tactics and Measure Each Step of the Way

If I were pressed to give just one SEO tip, it’s to not expect a quick return today (generally speaking).  

  Try testing longer strategies over tactics, and measure each step of the way.

 Google has made huge changes that altered the way SEOs do their work.  Many of the historic, quick-hitting tactics we wrote into our playbooks have either been devalued by Google or have little weight today.  SEO isn’t for the weak-hearted – expect that it could take a while to move into a position that starts to hit your goals.  It takes diligence, trial and error, and patience.  

 Google wants to rank the sites that earn their users’ satisfaction. Google isn’t as easily influenced, thanks to new search models and AI that are designed to truly understand the value of a page the way a user would.

18. Make Sure Your Site Is Mobile Friendly

Google is testing a new algorithm called Mobile First and as long as tests go well, expect this to be rolled out. The reason it is so important is that it will change how Google ranks websites.

At the moment, Google uses your desktop site to rank you on desktop searches – Mobile First turns this on its head because it will base your desktop rankings on your mobile site.

 So if your mobile site is very poor, or even if you don’t have one, expect mobile first to cause you problems.

19. Create Your Own Websites and Experiment Things Risk-Free

When I started out in the industry I was obsessed with consuming every SEO article that was published, but ultimately things really took off when I started launching websites. None of them are particularly successful, but they allowed me to try things risk-free without jeopardizing a client’s campaign. I was able to freely dive into onsite SEO, and I also dabbled in the ‘dark arts’ of link building which of course led to one of my sites being penalized..all fun and games!

 In order to truly understand how a website works I think it’s important to have some hands on experience, and getting that is easier than you might think. WordPress websites are simple to set up, and building up a bit of traffic can also allow you to experiment with advertising, log file analysis and more!

20. Focus on Content Quality

 It seems that the Google algo is getting better and better at pulling out content and really starting to understand how that content answers a query.

 Traditionally we used to talk about “content” and used to hammer in content in areas where really there was no structure, for example on product category landing pages in eCommerce websites. That used to be good enough to dominate the short, mid and long tail of queries as long as you had a decent volume of links.

 My experiments have shown that although you may be able to dominate these queries by link volume alone, you can actually rank better with fewer links if your content quality is decent. And quality means ease of reading, supplying specific answers, breaking it down into digestible pieces, and even semantically layering it. Some of my small affiliate sites are dominating spaces where traditionally massive e-commerce sites used to occupy.

21. Find a Way to Create Attention

 22. Hone Your Technical SEO Skills as Much as Possible

While SEO is a relatively broad discipline, the technical aspects of it are relatively opaque to many, and there is no shortcut for. On top of that, it is a skill that will likely always be in demand.

  Conclusion

On the long run, search engine optimization will always work, it is just metamorphosed into different forms and approaches. The SEO experts involved  in this article said that every business owner should focus on the customer, valuable (not just quality or unique ) content, testing, in-depth analysis, link earning, mobile responsiveness, creative technical SEO while keeping an eye on the ranking signals and the quality backlinks. There are a lot of Youtube videos or “ultimate guides” to improve your SEO.  The truth is that some grass-root pieces of advice directly from the professionals in the field are always the SEO tactics you can learn from. 

 The best place to hide a dead body is page 2 of Google search results. Because nobody might go to the second page in SERP when they look for something. That’s why, from time to time,  you need take into account these kind of actionable SEO tips (directly from SEO experts) and rank higher in Google. Lots of people want to receive organic traffic, write relevant fresh content, have fast loading speed, earn quality links, have authority sites and no Google penalties. Having an SEO strategy, get registered with Google Search Console, Google Analytics, Google Adwords, and other digital marketing tools might help you outrank your competitors and become number one. But it depends on you to do the things right; if you follow these SEO techniques backed up by experts you might have bigger chances of success. 

 Make sure you pay attention to these more advanced SEO tactics but don’t forget about the basic SEO tips for your website, such as an internal link strategy, increasing social shares for brand awareness, building relevant links for your website optimizing anchor text, crawling your site to fix broken links, get keyword ideas, create valuable and relevant content on your site, easy to read blogs with popular content, onpage SEO optimization for long tail keywords, image alt text, compelling meta descriptions and unique titles and descriptions. Also bear in mind to integrate social media into the whole SEO strategy, because it is an important piece of the pie. This blog post is a collection of actionable SEO tips for beginners but also for professionals and we hope you will take full advantage of them. 

  https://cognitiveseo.com/blog/13605/seo-tips/

On – 26 Apr, 2017 By Andreea Sauciuc

source https://andlocal.org/22-unique-seo-tips-backed-by-22-renowned-seo-experts/ from ANDLOCAL http://andlocal.blogspot.com/2017/05/22-unique-seo-tips-backed-by-22.html

[lucasparkerco]

22 Unique SEO Tips Backed by 22 Renowned SEO Experts

How great would it be if we could gather all the awesome SEO experts in just one room to talk about search engines ranks with a focus on the best SEO tips available out there? It would be glorious! Since we don’t have a room big enough to gather all the best experts in one place, we took advantage of the online “meetings” and gathered all the up to date SEO tips into an awesome expert roundup post. That is how we got the idea of interviewing 22 renowned SEO experts and how we found out 22 awesome and unique search engine optimization tips … the best of them.

We’ve got answers from some of the brightest minds about the most actionable tips from the digital marketing world. We’ve found interesting news, insights and really helpful tips and guidelines about mobile optimization, metrics, qualitative content marketing, testing, technical SEO and customer centric websites. These 22 tips are some of the best for small businesses or large enterprises. Make sure you get the best of them.

Grab a coffee, sit comfortably and start reading the next list with 22 unique SEO tips backed by 22 renowned SEO experts that will make your search traffic bloom. 

Understand That SEO Is Not Just About Rankings by Phil Frost

Optimize Your Content for Your Customers and Not for the Search Engines by Omi Sido

Understand How Your Site Is Actually Performing Away From Vanity Metrics by Danny Denhard

Don’t Underestimate the Power of Creative Technical SEO by Paul Shapiro

Have Content Deliberately Written to Be Highly Linkable by Sujan Patel

Do Not Underestimate How Important “Branding” Is to SEO by Dixon Jones

Build Your Website on a Solid Foundation of Data and Keyword Research by Trond Lyngbø

Spend the Time and Money to Have Your Site Analyzed in Terms of Its Existing SEO by Julie Joyce

Make the Best Page on the Internet for Your Topic by Andy Crestodina

When It Comes to Link Acquisition You Need to Be Looking for Trust by Tim Grice

Invest Time and Effort into Developing a Link Earning Strategy by Caleb McElveen

If Everyone Else Is Zigging, Then Zagging Is a Strategic Opportunity by Greg Jarboe

Invest More in Content by Eric Enge

Run Your Own SEO Tests Across Different Search Categories by Carl Hendy

Perform an In-Depth SEO SWOT Analysis by Marcus Miller

Understand What Your Targeted Audience Might Be Looking For by Bill Slawski

Test Longer Strategies over Tactics and Measure Each Step of the Way by Bill Sebald

Make Sure Your Site Is Mobile Friendly by Andy Drinkwater

Create Your Own Websites and Experiment Things Risk-Free by Mark Porter

Focus on Content Quality by Rishi Lakhani

Find a Way to Create Attention by Patrick Hathaway

Hone Your Technical SEO Skills as Much as Possible by Dan Leibson 

  We need to mention that all our cool experts had to answer just one-question interview:

If you were to recommend just one SEO tip, what would that be?

1. Understand That SEO Is Not Just About Rankings

I’ve talked with many business owners that think ranking high in Google is all you need to be successful.  The reality is that SEO is just one of many tactics to drive prospective customers to your website. Sure, ranking high in Google is great, but it’s also worthless if you don’t have a website that is set up properly to convert that traffic into leads and sales.  Plus, you won’t rank high for long unless you have proper tracking in place and a process to monitor and analyze your SEO efforts.  As you can see, SEO is not just about rankings; it’s also about website conversion rate optimization and website analytics and tracking.  That’s important to understand before you start to invest in SEO.

2. Optimize Your Content for Your Customers and Not for the Search Engines

  Producing content that’s irrelevant and insignificant to your audience’s wants and needs leads to only one thing – people stop taking you seriously. People click on your links in the SERPs but they do not interact with your website and leave quickly – wasted opportunity to turn visitors into customers.

  So how do I find what my buyer persona (not to be confused with ‘buyer profile’) is looking for?

Glad you’ve asked, so let me give you some actionable tips. Finding questions that people are asking about your products or services.

A very good place to start is Quora. I just went there and typed something very uninspiring like “carrots” (Writing content for a boring industry? No Problem).

Some of the questions I get:

Why are carrots good for your eyes? Does eating carrots improve your eyesight? How?

How many carrots should I eat a day?

What else besides carrots can help your vision?

Another favorite place to go would be Answer The Public.

Last but not least, take data from your internal Site Search. All you have to do now is to align a question with a keyword that would bring traffic to your website. To do that just drop a question in the Google keyword planner and you will be presented with an opportunity.

Note: Stay focused and only choose the keywords that answer your original buyer’s persona question.

I am sure you already know where I am going. You’ve got the question and you’ve got the targeted keyword. All you have to do now is give an answer in the form of a blog article or video.

We’ve started with the customer in mind and ended up with a content that’s relevant to YOUR audience and, at the same time, well optimized for the search engines.

  3. Understand How Your Site Is Actually Performing Away From Vanity Metrics

If you track for the right KPIs, auditing will supply you with ongoing changes and help you focus on making the highest priority changes for you to hit KPIs and plan for the future.

4. Don’t Underestimate the Power of Creative Technical SEO

People often neglect testing in SEO, mostly because it’s not easy, but optimizing CTR is a way to get some huge wins. Check out how Etsy is doing it or this recent look at approaches from Wayfair and their learnings.

 I’m talking about coming up with novel ideas and analyses that help move the needle but are less about copywriting and more about technical proficiency. A couple examples: digging deep into semantic keyword research and data mining or dynamically populating title tags using the Google Search Analytics API.

5. Have Content Deliberately Written to Be Highly Linkable

Highly linkable content is content written on a broad enough topic that you can work it into guest posts and other link opportunities naturally, without the article having to be directly related to the content you’re linking to.

For example, I wrote a big piece on customer delight – a thorough guide on how to make your customers happy at every point in your relationship. I’ve been able to link to this piece within articles on topics ranging from marketing and sales to operations and employee management. Having a few of these kinds of pieces means you’ll never miss an opportunity to link to your content.

6. Do Not Underestimate How Important “Branding” Is to SEO

Do not underestimate how important “branding” is to SEO.

7. Build Your Website on a Solid Foundation of Data and Keyword Research

Your goal should be to build a customer-centric destination that works 24/7 at attracting fresh business.

My company, Search Planet, specializes in E-commerce SEO. I often see even large e-commerce Web shops leak revenue and profit because they’ll mirror their own needs and organizational structure online, instead of focusing on their customers’ needs. So the best prospects don’t find them in search results. Or when they do, they won’t buy from them – but go to their competitors instead.

By transforming your online presence to be entirely customer-focused, you’ll cut through the clutter, dominate search engines, draw a flood of targeted traffic to your website, and make more sales.

8. Spend the Time and Money to Have Your Site Analyzed in Terms of Its Existing SEO

 You could have all kinds of issues that you aren’t aware of and rather than just trying to throw links at the site or find someone to write better content for your home page, put some focus on doing a thorough SEO audit.

9. Make the Best Page on the Internet for Your Topic

 So here’s how I think about SEO:

If you made the best page on the internet for your topic …there are 2000 Math PhD’s trying to HELP you;

If you didn’t make the best page on the internet for your topic …there are 2000 Math PhD’s trying to STOP you.

Of course, it’s not enough just to make a great page. But it’s step one. Combine this effort with a clear understanding of off-site SEO, links and basic understanding of how to increase your domain authority and everything is going to work out well for you.

10. When It Comes to Link Acquisition You Need to Be Looking for Trust

The landscape has changed so much, we’re seeing a lot more weight shifting towards user experience, and link building has become a game of trust.

SEOs need to forget about them; there isn’t a metric out there that gives a true reflection of the value of a link, we have come across so many links with good domain authority or domain trust that we would class as toxic websites. When it comes to link acquisition, you need to be looking for trust, and you can only do this through a manual review; is this website the kind of website Google would trust and want to pass value through, is it a trusted source of information? You should then focus on how your links appear on that site, links that look like ads, in the footer or sidebars are going to be less likely to pass value in the long term.

We’re seeing a huge increase in the influence site speed has on rankings. We have run a few tests now with clients and are seeing a direct and almost immediate correlation with speed improvements and an uplift in rankings. Make it a priority, work with the development team and ensure your website is as fast as possible.

11. Invest Time and Effort into Developing a Link Earning Strategy

Do not take any shortcuts to buy or build low-quality links. While links are still a ranking factor, that is no longer their sole purpose. An effective link will provide the opportunity to improve three things; your traffic, your brand, and build trust. These are the links that should be your focal point. These types of links are found in building relationships with relevant websites and companies, creating valuable (not just quality) content, and a consistently having a giving mentality. Though it takes times, the reward will be worth it.

12. If Everyone Else Is Zigging, Then Zagging Is a Strategic Opportunity

  If you just want one SEO tip, then let me share the insight that led me to co-found SEO-PR back in 2003. Hundreds of SEOs optimize web pages hoping that they will get a high ranking in Google search results. And many of them do a great job. But only a small handful optimize news stories, blog posts, or press releases hoping that they will get a high ranking in Google News search results.

Now, the Google News algorithm is similar but different than the Google algorithm. Why? Because inbound links aren’t as strong a signal of the importance of a story. This puts a premium on relevance. But, the big mistake that many SEOs make is assuming that the popularity of keywords used on Google is the same on Google News. They often aren’t. You can see this for yourself by using the Google Trends Explore tool. The default result for any keyword will be web search interest. But you can use the drop down menu to see news search interest. And the trends are often different.

In addition, Google says that 16% of searches that it sees every day are new. Well, ask yourself: “Where do baby search terms come from?” And you’ll discover that the stork doesn’t bring them. They are generated by the “news.” So, these are search terms that your competitors haven’t been optimizing their web pages to get high rankings for 15 years. So, you have a better shot of getting your news stories or blog posts (if you’re a news source) and even your press releases to get high rankings for than you would for yet another web page.

Now, admittedly, your ranking in Google News may only last a day or two. But, for near term news and events, this is the opportunity to drive traffic to a relevant landing page on your website. Now, the links in press releases are no-follow, so there is no “link juice” in them. But, they can still drive visitors to a page with more information — if it’s relevant and important. We used unique tracking links in four press releases for Southwest Airlines to generate $2.5 million in ticket sales. And when the CFO asked how we knew that they came from the press releases, we showed him that the tracking parameters on the links weren’t used by any other element of the company’s marketing. And when he suggested that we were merely harvesting interest that had been generated by the company’s excellent TV advertising, we showed him that the releases were for new service to cities where Southwest Airlines had never run an ad. He asked what else we knew. Well, we’d analyzed the database of people who had purchased tickets and found that two-thirds had never flown Southwest Airlines before and that they were generally purchasing round-trip tickets for two people.

Now, here’s the punch line: Part of why we got such strong response was the use of the term “low airfare” in the headline and lead paragraph of the press release. But the other part was the actual price of a one-way ticket in the headline — which actually was a “low airfare.” So, it isn’t just about putting a keyword in the headline and lead paragraph.

13. Invest More in Content

 Here at Stone Temple, we have built up numerous case studies of work we’ve done where we have more than doubled traffic to the pages we work on, simply by making improvements to the content on those pages.

  14. Run Your Own SEO Tests Across Different Search Categories

15. Perform an In-Depth SEO SWOT Analysis

It is always tough to provide a generic yet actionable SEO tip that folks have not seen a million times before. What is right for a local business is not right for a national business. What works for a B2B company won’t work for a B2C eCommerce store.

If you create a basic SWOT grid and start to detail your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, you can start to get a better idea what kind of SEO you need. This is exactly how we work at Bowler Hat and even our SEO service page details how you need to identify what kind of SEO is right for you.

As an example. If a weakness was domain authority, then you can focus on that area. Often businesses will have competence in one area or another. They may be great on page SEO but lack keyword research skills. You may have all the content you need but lack authority. It is very easy to focus on your strengths – this approach forces you to confront your weaknesses.

So my tip – identify your current situation and focus on your weaknesses.

16. Understand What Your Targeted Audience Might Be Looking For

A lesson I learned from one of the highest level corporate law judges in Delaware was to “be responsive” – Make it as easy as possible for people to answer you and to say yes to something that you are asking. This lesson translates well into SEO also. 

What words they might use when they search for it, how they might construct their query and what words they will expect to see on your pages. Also what questions they might have about the goods or services offered on that website; and the answers to those questions, so that you can provide answers, and begin the journey towards having them become customers of your site.

Being responsive means building a website for your audience that makes it easy for them to learn about what you are offering, and easy for them to purchase from you. Being successful at SEO means building websites for your client’s audience.

17. Test Longer Strategies over Tactics and Measure Each Step of the Way

If I were pressed to give just one SEO tip, it’s to not expect a quick return today (generally speaking).  

  Try testing longer strategies over tactics, and measure each step of the way.

Google has made huge changes that altered the way SEOs do their work.  Many of the historic, quick-hitting tactics we wrote into our playbooks have either been devalued by Google or have little weight today.  SEO isn’t for the weak-hearted – expect that it could take a while to move into a position that starts to hit your goals.  It takes diligence, trial and error, and patience.  

Google wants to rank the sites that earn their users’ satisfaction. Google isn’t as easily influenced, thanks to new search models and AI that are designed to truly understand the value of a page the way a user would.

18. Make Sure Your Site Is Mobile Friendly

Google is testing a new algorithm called Mobile First and as long as tests go well, expect this to be rolled out. The reason it is so important is that it will change how Google ranks websites.

At the moment, Google uses your desktop site to rank you on desktop searches – Mobile First turns this on its head because it will base your desktop rankings on your mobile site.

So if your mobile site is very poor, or even if you don’t have one, expect mobile first to cause you problems.

19. Create Your Own Websites and Experiment Things Risk-Free

When I started out in the industry I was obsessed with consuming every SEO article that was published, but ultimately things really took off when I started launching websites. None of them are particularly successful, but they allowed me to try things risk-free without jeopardizing a client’s campaign. I was able to freely dive into onsite SEO, and I also dabbled in the ‘dark arts’ of link building which of course led to one of my sites being penalized..all fun and games!

In order to truly understand how a website works I think it’s important to have some hands on experience, and getting that is easier than you might think. WordPress websites are simple to set up, and building up a bit of traffic can also allow you to experiment with advertising, log file analysis and more!

20. Focus on Content Quality

 It seems that the Google algo is getting better and better at pulling out content and really starting to understand how that content answers a query.

Traditionally we used to talk about “content” and used to hammer in content in areas where really there was no structure, for example on product category landing pages in eCommerce websites. That used to be good enough to dominate the short, mid and long tail of queries as long as you had a decent volume of links.

My experiments have shown that although you may be able to dominate these queries by link volume alone, you can actually rank better with fewer links if your content quality is decent. And quality means ease of reading, supplying specific answers, breaking it down into digestible pieces, and even semantically layering it. Some of my small affiliate sites are dominating spaces where traditionally massive e-commerce sites used to occupy.

21. Find a Way to Create Attention

22. Hone Your Technical SEO Skills as Much as Possible

While SEO is a relatively broad discipline, the technical aspects of it are relatively opaque to many, and there is no shortcut for. On top of that, it is a skill that will likely always be in demand.

  Conclusion

On the long run, search engine optimization will always work, it is just metamorphosed into different forms and approaches. The SEO experts involved  in this article said that every business owner should focus on the customer, valuable (not just quality or unique ) content, testing, in-depth analysis, link earning, mobile responsiveness, creative technical SEO while keeping an eye on the ranking signals and the quality backlinks. There are a lot of Youtube videos or “ultimate guides” to improve your SEO.  The truth is that some grass-root pieces of advice directly from the professionals in the field are always the SEO tactics you can learn from. 

The best place to hide a dead body is page 2 of Google search results. Because nobody might go to the second page in SERP when they look for something. That’s why, from time to time,  you need take into account these kind of actionable SEO tips (directly from SEO experts) and rank higher in Google. Lots of people want to receive organic traffic, write relevant fresh content, have fast loading speed, earn quality links, have authority sites and no Google penalties. Having an SEO strategy, get registered with Google Search Console, Google Analytics, Google Adwords, and other digital marketing tools might help you outrank your competitors and become number one. But it depends on you to do the things right; if you follow these SEO techniques backed up by experts you might have bigger chances of success. 

Make sure you pay attention to these more advanced SEO tactics but don’t forget about the basic SEO tips for your website, such as an internal link strategy, increasing social shares for brand awareness, building relevant links for your website optimizing anchor text, crawling your site to fix broken links, get keyword ideas, create valuable and relevant content on your site, easy to read blogs with popular content, onpage SEO optimization for long tail keywords, image alt text, compelling meta descriptions and unique titles and descriptions. Also bear in mind to integrate social media into the whole SEO strategy, because it is an important piece of the pie. This blog post is a collection of actionable SEO tips for beginners but also for professionals and we hope you will take full advantage of them. 

  https://cognitiveseo.com/blog/13605/seo-tips/

On – 26 Apr, 2017 By Andreea Sauciuc

from ANDLOCAL SEO Services https://andlocal.org/22-unique-seo-tips-backed-by-22-renowned-seo-experts/ from ANDLOCAL https://andlocalorg.tumblr.com/post/160710858371

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SharePoint evaluated as a Leader in latest edition of The Forrester Wave™: Enterprise Content Management

We are very pleased to see SharePoint evaluated as a Leader in The Forrester Wave™: Enterprise Content Management—Business Content Services, Q2 2017. As Forrester noted:

Microsoft instigates content-in-the-cloud with a focus on SharePoint Online. Microsoft’s launch of SharePoint 2016 and ongoing investment into Office 365 and SharePoint Online has proved to be a significant catalyst in enterprises’ decisions to move their enterprise content to cloud services. Support for hybrid deployments continues to be an area of focus, supporting firms adopting cloud in a phased approach, or for specific use cases. Microsoft’s FastTrack migration program, as well as its partners, provides a range of options for customers that want to move documents out of their own in-house data centers or on-premises SharePoint sites. Microsoft has a clear cloud-first vision, and has invested in eliminating the scalability barriers that challenged older, on-premises SharePoint editions. Microsoft continues to work to improve one-stop governance tools, such as common eDiscovery and legal holds across the Office 365 stack. Collaboration, including analytics and social graphing is a major area of focus and investment.

These are interesting times for enterprise content management (ECM). Industry thought leaders have noted the shift from archives for decades-long content retention, to agile collaboration-centric cloud toolsets that also empower security and reuse.

Forrester has been tracking this shift from traditional ECM to what they call business content services. Business content services emphasizes content creation, policy and reuse—but remains distinct from transactional, high volume content services (like those that support credit card processing). Microsoft, through Office 365 and SharePoint Online, has also been at the forefront of the charge.

We’re excited about Forrester’s report, and encourage you to browse and download the full report.

SharePoint Virtual Summit—May 16, 2017

Join a free, online event where you’ll learn how to create a connected workplace in Office 365 with OneDrive and SharePoint and hear the latest product innovations and roadmap.

Reserve your space now and invite others

Introducing SharePoint content services

Our pivot to content services began at Ignite 2016 in Atlanta, where we presented a breakout session on SharePoint ECM. You can watch the entire session below:

Shaping and controlling content from creation to final disposition means many different things. We think it’s important to define our terms. Enterprise content management needs to adopt a holistic approach to managing the entire lifecycle of document creation, sharing, consumption, reuse, knowledge and records management, archiving and disposal.

That’s why we believe it’s time to reflect the changes in how content is created, shared, sustained and reused. Content services reflect a more focused suite of empowered capabilities than traditional ECM, and represent the next wave in ECM.

Content services is people-centric, allowing for personal management (copy, move, hashtag) and organizational management (knowledge management, record retention, information lifecycle management). Policy and security protects content at all phases of its life. It’s a core tenet that content should supply business value throughout, instead of after-the-fact management of dormant assets.

What happens when all that content comes into SharePoint? A common, incorrect impression of SharePoint has been that it’s a great tool to manage team content, but you need an “old-fashioned ECM system for scalability” or “true records management.” Neither of those are true today, with SharePoint having incredible scalability of up to 30-trillion documents and up to 12.5 EB in a single SharePoint Online tenant. OneDrive and SharePoint also inherit our Office 365 capabilities to create record and retention policy tags that can be applied to any content (interactively or by matching a known set of content fingerprints).

Principles of content services—create, coordinate, protect and harvest

Content services is as much about document creation as consumption. In many cases, content has become less about static images and reports, and more about dynamic documents that are created and edited many times in their lifespans. This trend is something we call content velocity, where the content picks up velocity as it is created, edited and reused, becoming more valuable, instead of becoming a dormant archive of little value, as was traditionally the case. We view this as an evergreen cycle of authoring, collaboration, control and reuse.

Create

Content velocity means documents need to be “born” managed. Newer SharePoint and OneDrive capabilities are designed to support this:

Creating a document using Office Lens to share to OneDrive for Business and SharePoint.

Using the Copy/Move functions to publish that document to a SharePoint team site and its group members.

Using SharePoint Content Types to assure that new documents are “born” with templates, rich metadata and retention policies.

OneDrive for Business is the best place to store and manage your documents, giving you the “My Documents” concept on any device. As you share and collaborate with others, content evolves and picks up velocity. When final, you can easily bring it to SharePoint for publishing and permanent storage.

Coordinate

Content in SharePoint is maintained in modern document libraries, making it easy to structure graphically rich, dynamic views of content and metadata. SharePoint’s managed metadata service provides a centralized way to tag and classify information. Tagging and customizing the view can all be accomplished from the library home screen, eliminating multiple clicks to open a property editing screen.

Documents in libraries can be easily shared to Office 365 Groups, and reused in other collaborative apps like Microsoft Teams. In addition, Microsoft Flow can be used to automate common actions, like collecting attachments from email or distributing documents for team review.

Protect

SharePoint already builds on a long tradition of capabilities supporting information lifecycle governance, records management and eDiscovery. Newer capabilities, developed as part of our ongoing engagement with the entire Office 365 suite, include:

Information Rights Management—Files can be encrypted using Azure Information Protection/Rights Management Service and can still be used at supported endpoints, including browsers, rich clients and mobile Office clients.

Office 365 document retention tags—This new capability offered across Exchange, Skype, OneDrive and SharePoint allows an administrator to centrally define a policy tag in the Security & Compliance Center to enforce document retention and deletion policies. Tags can be set through code, default settings or user actions, and can be auto-applied based on sensitive information types or keywords.

Data loss prevention (DLP)—The Security & Compliance Center provides a central point to define policies for 81 predefined information types, such as EU Financial data, and/or create other custom information types. When these types are detected, users can be advised about the policy, or even automatically blocked from sharing or distributing sensitive information based on the dynamic policy definition.

Auditing—When combined with unified auditing in hybrid deployments of SharePoint 2016, Office 365 can provide integrated logging of user and administrative actions on content for both on-premises and cloud-based SharePoint and OneDrive locations.

Learn more about our approach to content security in SharePoint and OneDrive by downloading the white paper “File Security in SharePoint and OneDrive for Business.”

Harvest

Content shouldn’t be saved and stored and managed just to fill up storage space. Traditional ECM often concludes with document disposal or retention. We believe that modern content services are cyclical. Content exists to support a future business purpose, such as providing information on a related decision, explaining a historic context or seeding the next cycle of content creation.

Summary

We recognize that effective adoption of SharePoint content services takes some time. At Ignite, we also presented a section on best practices for traditional ECM and modern content services. Please see today’s blog post on the Microsoft Tech Community for more details.

We appreciate the consideration given to our tools by analysts—like Forrester—and are honored that many enterprises are choosing SharePoint as the foundation for content services and digital workplace transformation. We’re already at work planning our next generation of SharePoint content services solutions, and can’t wait to share more with you later this year at our SharePoint Virtual Summit in May 2017 and at Ignite 2017.

SharePoint has long been a strategic platform for collecting and servicing all sorts of content across the enterprise. As part of our ongoing reinvention of SharePoint started in 2016, we’ve begun rolling out enhancements to optimize use and management of content throughout the entire information lifecycle.

We’ll have many more exciting innovations throughout 2017.

—Chris McNulty, senior product manager on the SharePoint team

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