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Pumpkin spice is reappearing on menus and fantasy football is now the hottest hallway topic – fall is finally here. With the change in the leaves comes the inevitable countdown to Cyber Monday for ecommerce marketers.

In 2015, one out of every six dollars spent over the holiday season was spent online. To capture your share of that revenue, you need to plan early (and often). To help you get started, we’ve put together a three-part guide to help you succeed this holiday season. The first part, 1. Before the Season, kicks off the series by helping you reflect on 2015 and start putting together a plan for 2016.

The guide covers:

• How to learn from 2015
• How to develop key goals and metrics
• Guidance to build a holiday marketing plan
• Holiday campaign inspiration
• Systems to audit before the holiday rush

Download The Guide to Ecommerce Holiday Success: 1. Before the Season to get started on holiday 2016 (and stay tuned for parts two and three of the guide).

When you wear white, do you inevitably spill something all over yourself? 

I do. So when I had sushi at work last week, it wasn’t long before I was frantically yelling, “Siri, how can I get soy sauce out of white pants?”

Thank goodness for voice search, am I right?

Although, here’s the thing about voice search: According to the 2016 State of Inbound report, a huge number of marketers are making SEO their #1 priority. That’s great. But how does voice search fit into that strategy? Are marketers even thinking about it yet?

While it’s certainly gaining popularity — the search engine Bing, for example, says that 25% of its queries are voice searches — it’s clear that this technology is still a work in progress. But that doesn’t make it any less important.

As people use voice search differently, the way they search in general is evolving. So how should marketers be thinking about it — especially when information and research are still limited? Let’s figure out how we got here, and where we are now.

A Very Brief History of Voice Search

Voice search, as we today know it, dates back to the early 2000s, when Google first began to tinker with how voice recognition could be applied to their products. A patent was filed by Google in 2001 for a “voice interface for a search engine” — and in 2004, the search engine rolled out what the New York Times called a “half-finished experiment.” That was a primitive version of voice search in which users called a phone number provided by Google, asked a question, then opened their desktop browsers to reveal the results.

Luckily — and obviously — that technology progressed, seeing many modifications that led to what is now Google’s Voice Search. And until 2013, that technology powered Apple’s Siri.

And although Siri is strongly associated with Apple iOS, it actually began as its own independent app. It was operated by a startup — also aptly named Siri — that was eventually acquired by Apple. In 2011, the technology was built into the iPhone 4s.

But in 2013, that all changed, when Apple began using Bing’s search engine technology to power Siri. It was a predecessor to Cortana, which launched in 2014 as Microsoft’s — which owns Bing — “voice-activated assistant.” (Fun fact: Bing also powers search engine results that are requested through Amazon’s Alexa Voice Service, or AVS.) Cortana is largely marketed as a full-service virtual assistance platform, which some say is what differentiates it from competitors in the voice recognition space.

So, today, we have four major pillars of voice search:

The Dawn of Voice Search: What To Know Now

How Has It Changed Over the Years?

As we saw from the story about the earliest version of Google Voice Search, speech recognition technology is improving. And because it’s getting better, more people are adopting voice search.

Source: Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers 2016 Internet Trends Report

Google Voice Search queries have seen a 3400% increase since 2008. And of the current user population, the second-highest reason for using voice search is to get a faster result.

Those numbers, says my colleague Matt Barby, show how voice search “is changing the way people find information.” A main point of voice search is to get an answer immediately, without actively searching for it. And Victor Pan, HubSpot’s SEO senior marketing manager, echoes that trend, noting that there’s a “higher intent” behind voice searches than conventional ones.

That makes sense — just look at my soy sauce tale of woe. When it comes to voice searches, people are trying to do something, and they want to do it quickly. Those are things like layering appropriately for the weather, getting somewhere, or removing a stain from their clothes.

But that made us wonder: What else are people looking for when they use voice search?

Luckily, an app called Hound has been paying attention to what its users are doing. To shed some light on what people are using the app’s voice search features to uncover, check out this chart:

What Are People Searching For?

Source: Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers 2016 Internet Trends Report

In its analysis of these categories, Search Engine Land broke down the different searches that took place within each of them:

• Personal Assistant: Reminders, shopping and to-do lists
• Fun and Entertainment: Searching for and playing music and video, social media interactions, sports and TV schedules
• General Information: Miscellaneous web searches for things like recipes, news, banking and travel
• Local Information: Local business listings (like restaurants and shops), food delivery, weather and traffic

It’s that last one — local information — that really set the stage for vocal search as it was first pioneered. And when it comes to SEO, that category might have the greatest implications.

What Does This Mean for Marketers?

First, let’s make one thing clear: At present, “there isn’t really a way to plan and rank for voice search,” Barby says.

The only exceptions to that are businesses that offer localized services. Figuring out what’s nearby is one of the chief reasons people are using voice search. But it also shows the way vocal search queries differ from conventional ones, Barby says. When you use voice search, you might ask, “Where is the best sushi in Cambridge?” That contrasts from a conventional search, where you might type something like “Best sushi Cambridge,”  (P.S. It’s Thelonious Monkfish. Just saying.)

That’s an opportunity for local businesses to optimize for voice search. As we covered, that doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with SEO, but it does have to do with how these businesses package themselves elsewhere. Business aggregator sites are linked to different voice search platforms — for local searches, for example, Amazon’s Echo uses Yelp listings. So it’s important, writes Search Engine Land’s Wesley Young, for businesses to make sure their listings on those sites are “comprehensive, accurate and optimized to be referenced” within a third party site.

But let’s go back to how we phrase these queries. Voice searches for local businesses reveal how much we’ve strayed from the way we were originally trained to search. Before this technology was available, Pan says, “we were trained to search by piecing different phrases together.” Think:

• soy sauce stain
• remove soy sauce stain
• soy sauce stain removal

“Voice search changes that,” he explains. “It becomes a conversation.”

Read: “How can I get soy sauce out of white pants?”

But there’s a bit of a problem. At the moment, there aren’t very many tools available to see what people are searching for via voice. While voice queries are definitely becoming more popular — Google is reporting that 20% of searches performed through its mobile app are vocal — voice-specific metrics and analytics aren’t currently provided by most platforms.

But there’s a hack …

And that, Pan says, is paid search.

That can be used, Pan explained, to create something called a “broad match modifier,” in which an ad is only triggered when a certain set of words — dictated by the marketer who creates the ad — appear in a query.

From there, you can analyze the impressions and metrics of the paid search campaign, and filter those results down to see which queries were mobile. And while there’s currently no way to isolate which of those were voice queries, you can examine the way they were phrased, and make an educated guess on which ones may have been vocal.

Paid search is really its own beast, though — luckily, we’ve covered it before. Check out our beginner’s guide to pay-per-click, or our catalogue of blogs about it.

But until there’s an official tool or analytics platform to measure these things, Pan says, marketers have to create hacks like these to find the data they want.

“Until these numbers become official, we don’t have exact numbers, and therefore, we don’t have exact tools,” he continued. “And without exact tools, we don’t have an exact methodology on how to tackle this.”

Planning Ahead

Here’s the thing: According to ComScore, at least half of all searches will be made via voice query by 2020. That’s not so far away. And it doesn’t mean that we should ignore traditional SEO, either.

But it does make us think that, as adoption rates of voice search continue to rise and the technology continues to improve, search engine analytics will have no choice but to start providing the tools that aren’t currently missing. Google, for example, is certainly no stranger to algorithmic changes that improve the user experience. And with data indicating that more users are turning to voice query, that experience will have be optimized, too. With those changes, we hope, will also come more precise data available to marketers on these usage rates and voice-specific queries.

In the meantime, it doesn’t hurt to think about what you might do to start preparing. In addition to what we’ve covered thus far, Moz’s Rand Fishkin put together a helpful guide to the types of keywords he predicts will be in a “safe” versus “danger” zone for voice search — have a look here.

What do you see for the future of voice search? Let us know in the comments.

 

I recently read that 45% of Millennials want to travel more for business.

Are they crazy? I mean, I get it. Travel is an opportunity to do something different — to have an experience. But as someone who spent considerable time in seemingly endless business travel, I understand the frequent (non-recreational) flyer’s lament.

While it’s necessary in moderation, it takes its toll — studies show that frequent business travel makes us age faster, not to mention, more prone to cardiovascular disease. And as if that weren’t enough, constant flight exposes us to what the Harvard Business Review calls “pathological levels of germs and radiation.”

It doesn’t have to be that bad — there are ways to stay healthy on the road. By turning these tips into habits, you might not only decrease your chances of getting sick, but business travel can even become an exercise in prioritizing effectively, sleeping better, and learning to make time for yourself.

(Note: These tips are not intended to be substitutes for medical advice — they’re for educational purposes only. Consult your healthcare professional before making any health, medical, or other decisions based on the data within these tips.)

Why Business Travel Is Making You Sick (And What You Can Do About It)

You’re not eating healthily — which is trickier than it looks.

While your brain might require more calories during these intense periods of travel — and want to reward itself with airport junk food — you have to feed it the right kind of sustenance. That means consuming healthy snacks, and not the salty, sugary ones that we usually find on the road.

HubSpot’s VP of Marketing Meghan Keaney Anderson recommends packing healthier options for yourself. “They don’t take up much room,” she says, “and will get you through those long trips.”

Back when I had to travel nearly every week for work, if I didn’t have any meals planned with colleagues or clients, I would bring homemade freezer meals: Portable containers with grilled chicken strips, green beans, and sweet potatoes that I would freeze and throw in my carry-on when it was time to leave.

Make-ahead meals like that are especially helpful if you’re going to be on the road for several days — just call your hotel ahead of time and ask if there’s a refrigerator or microwave in your room. If there isn’t, you can request one — hotels are usually happy to oblige.

You don’t know what’s nearby.

To piggyback on the importance of healthy eating, it helps to know what’s near the place you’ll be staying. That might not be up to you — it’s often up to your client and boss to dictate lodging, especially when you have to stick to places that have a specific corporate rate.

However, with the help of sites like Yelp and Google Maps, it’s easy to make a spreadsheet or list on your phone of what options are available near each hotel you stay at.

If you are able to pick where you stay, “book hotels in downtown areas,” Anderson recommends. “It might be tempting to book the hotel closest to the airport, but staying downtown will minimize your reliance on cabs and let you see the true city.” 

You’re not working out.

The benefits of exercise aren’t exactly a secret. Not only can it help you stay healthy on the road — especially if you find yourself tempted by food that you wouldn’t normally eat at home — but exercise can even mitigate the effects of jetlag.

Depending on how early your day starts — and any evening obligations you might have — that could mean getting up at 4:00 a.m. to fit in a workout. That can be tough if you’re out the night before, trying to impress your boss and schmooze with clients.

But there are ways around that. Try to sneak in a workout after dinner, especially if you just can’t bring yourself to get up so early the next day. (Don’t like going to the gym? Toss some 2-lb dumbbells into your suitcase and find some short exercise videos online that you can do from your hotel room.)

These workouts can be quick — my colleague Lindsay Kolowich has some tips for effective spurts of exercise that add up when you do them throughout the day, even if you’re stuck at a desk (and won’t make you look weird).

Finally, try not to drink too much with dinner. Not only can alcohol derail your efforts to eat healthily, but it’s known to impair your sleep quality by messing with your sleep cycles, especially the REM (Rapid Eye Movement) stage — that’s crucial to things like learning and balancing your mood.

(And if you’re being pressured to get boozy with colleagues or clients, maybe it’s time consider a career change.)

You’re not sleeping enough.

This step can be tough — see above.

Some people just don’t sleep well in hotels, and that’s completely normal. It’s actually the result of what researchers call the “first night effect,” and it results from a tendency of mammals — like dolphins and whales, for example — to sleep with just one half of their brains at a time, while the other half stays awake and alert.

Humans do this, researchers believe, when we’re in a new environment — we’re more alert, so we can respond to unusual stimuli, or “signs of danger.”

When I noticed that was starting to happen to me, I found it helpful to do something completely unrelated to work before turning in for the night. It can be hard to step away — after all, that’s why you’re on the road. But as a start, don’t look at any of your devices, as that’s been known to disturb your circadian rhythm and keep you awake.

Instead, take advantage of the hotel’s free HBO, or read something relatively mindless — for me, that was usually a home and garden magazine. At the very least, it distracted me from any stress leading up to my commitments the next day, like a big meeting or presentation. And since stress often leads to sleeplessness, as it does for 33% of adults, that helped to mitigate the “first night effect.”

You need to chill out.

We’ve already covered how important stress management is when it comes to your quality of sleep. But remember all those healthy eating tips we shared? Stress can seriously hinder those efforts, too.

There’s a reason why phrases like “stress eating” and “comfort food” are common in our vernacular — in the period of one month, nearly every two in five adults admits to overeating or indulging in unhealthy foods as a result of stress. Combine that with being in a less controlled environment — where there’s a stocked mini-fridge, for example — and we’re much more likely to turn to unhealthy snacks for relief.

But between packing your own food, getting a workout in between client obligations, and getting enough sleep, how the heck are you supposed to find time to even breathe, let alone relax?

Well, here’s where you might have to switch around some priorities. If healthy eating is more of a priority to you than fitting in exercise, then you can use that time to unwind. Maybe the hotel has a pool where you can decompress for a bit, or even a spa that you can use to your advantage.

Otherwise, fit in the relaxation where you can. It might sound impossible, but studies have shown that even 16 minutes of relaxation exercises can help people more effectively cope with stress.

Plus, there are several stress management apps that make it possible to take a mini-relaxation break anywhere. Check out our rundown — a lot of them are free.

You’re not planning your time wisely.

We’ve all heard about the benefits of time management — and I don’t know about you, but I feel better when I have at least a rough idea of what my day will look like.

I use a technique called time blocking, which means I put appointments in my calendar for my own time — things like working out and taking a coffee break, for example. According to some studies, writing down your goals like this can actually improve the likelihood of you actually achieving them.

So while our plans might go awry, scheduling things in advance, at a minimum, gives us a better idea of how much time we have to get them done.

That’s why time management is so valuable during business travel. There’s a lot to fit in during a condensed period of time — by planning these items out on a calendar, you can better prioritize what’s most important to you, whether that’s exercising or using that time for relaxation.

And if you’re having trouble setting priorities, try this two-minute test that will help you determine them.

Time to hit the road …

It might seem like a long list. And it might seem like way too much to take care of when your time is already limited. But it’s okay if you have to pick and choose different tips here, and that’s why we keep harping away at prioritizing. If you have to skip a step, don’t beat yourself up for it — when it comes to correcting less-than-desirable habits, self-forgiveness is much more effective than guilt.

Before you head out, know what’s available to make your trips a little easier. Find out if your hotel offers things like laundry service, in-room yoga, or something as simple as an in-room coffee maker. Having those resources on hand will reduce the amount of time you have to spend looking for them or retrieving them elsewhere.

Happy trails! We’re here to provide tips wherever we can. Do you have a favorite business travel hack? Share it in the comments.

Most marketers have one goal in common: increasing the amount of traffic to their website. There are various tactics for accomplishing this goal including search engine optimization (SEO), pay per click advertising (PPC), blogging, social media marketing, etc. The problem is that SEO takes times, PPC is expensive, Google is becoming oversaturated with blog content, and social media has always had a problem proving ROI.

One often overlooked tactic that can potentially have the greatest impact is referral traffic. So, what is referral traffic and how can you use it to generate more leads?

What Is Referral Traffic?

Visitors that come to your website from sites other than the major search engines are considered referral traffic. When someone clicks a link on a website or social network and is then taken to another site, tracking software, such as Google Analytics or HubSpot, counts that visitor as referral traffic. The originating website is called the “referrer” since it refers traffic from one website to the other.

Why Is Referral Traffic Important?

Referral traffic is important to inbound marketers because it sends potentially qualified visitors to your website from trusted websites. This in turn gets your content in front of new people, giving your website the opportunity to convert that visitor into a lead and your sales team the opportunity to convert that lead into a new customer.

But that’s not all! Referral traffic also has SEO benefits. When someone visits your website from another site they are usually clicking on a link or completing some type of social activity. Google and other search engines consider these links and social signals as positive ranking factors as long as they are coming from trusted websites.

Sounds pretty good, right? Well, let’s get started on getting you some juicy referral traffic so you can brag about all the hot leads you have rolling in.

7 Steps To Generate More Referral Traffic

1) Publish Your Website To Online Directories

Submitting your website to online directories is one of the easiest ways to get referral traffic but you don’t want to publish your website to every directory out there. Instead, focus on the ones that are most relevant to your industry or generate the most traffic. Whether you’re a veterinarian in St. Louis or an assisted living facility in Daytona Beach, Moz has you covered. They offer a free resource for finding the top directories by category and city.

Once you’ve submitted your website to the top directories for your city and industry, I’d focus on finding directories that can generate some serious traffic. How do you know which directories will accomplish this? It’s as simple as performing a Google search. The directories that appear at the top of the search results should, in theory, generate the most traffic. For example, if you do a search for “personal trainer in los angeles” there are 4 directories that show up on the first page of the search results: Yelp, YourTrainer, IdeaFit & Thumbtack.

You can’t use SEO to pass up these directories in the search results overnight. What you can do, however, is list your website on these directories in order to generate quality traffic and get some free SEO juice. After all, if someone is looking for a personal trainer in Los Angeles and they find your website via Yelp, that referred visitor is just as valuable to you as them landing directly on your website.

2) Get Published On Review Websites

Review websites are a great source for getting more referral traffic. These visitors have already gone through the awareness and consideration stages of the buyer’s journey. They’ve now reached the decision stage and are comparing vendors or products. What better time to get your product or service in front of them for consideration?

Getting listed on a review website can vary depending on whether you are a B2B or B2C company. If you perform a search for “st louis roofing company reviews” there are 3 websites that you would want to be listed on if you were a roofer: HomeAdvisor, BBB & AngiesList.

By adding your website to these 3 directories you are increasing the likelihood of your website being found during the decision phase of the buyer’s journey. If you are operating a respectable roofing company that treats customers fairly you should have no problem standing out from other roofers that have not so positive reviews.

B2B businesses will find that it is more difficult to get featured on review websites. A lot of times you have to “pay to play,” meaning you will basically have to pay to be featured towards the top of the review listings. For example, if you do a Google search for “top mobile app developers” the first search result is Clutch.co. They showcase a list of mobile app development firms with reviews but if you look closely you’ll notice that they are “sorted by sponsor.” Essentially these companies are paying to have their website and reviews featured first. It’s a slick way for Clutch to make money but also maintain it’s reputation as a respectable source for reviews.

3) Publish Guest Blog Posts

Guess what? You’re currently looking at step 3 of the 7 steps for getting more referral traffic to your website. That’s right. You’re reading a guest blog post by Leap Clixx, a HubSpot Partner Agency. Guest blog posts create numerous opportunities to get referral traffic to your website. External links (like the two in this paragraph), author bios, and call-to-actions (like the one at the bottom of this post) are typically present on most blogs. If you can get a post featured on a well-know industry website you’ll benefit from the referral traffic and links coming to your site. It’s best to focus your efforts on websites that are considered thought leaders in your industry. Since we’re an Inbound Marketing Agency, HubSpot is the perfect place for us to post a guest blog post. Can you think of a more respected website when it comes to the topic of inbound marketing? I mean, HubSpot literally coined the term inbound marketing.

Here are a couple tips to keep in mind when guest blogging:

1. Focus on websites related to your industry – No one wants to read about Fall fashion trends on a blog about guns & ammo, unless you’re talking about camo.
2. Keep the target audience in mind while writing – Most blogs have strict guidelines in place for guest bloggers.
3. Write content under your own name – After all, you don’t want someone else getting credit for your work.
4. Link to influencers – They will notice and might even help promote your guest blog post, which in return will increase the referral traffic it generates.

4) Leverage Social Media

According to Social Media Examiner, a whopping 89% of marketers indicated that social media generated more exposure for their business. Additionally, 75% found their website traffic increased as a result of their social media efforts.  Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google+, Instagram, and Pinterest were the top 7 social media platforms used by marketers. Being active on social media isn’t just trendy anymore; it’s a tactic most marketers are using to get more traffic, leads, and sales.

Everytime you tweet, share, like, or pin a piece of content you are creating an opportunity to drive referral traffic to your website. Plus, you’re increasing the likelihood of your content showing up at the top of Google. 58% of marketers using social media reported improved search rankings. Like I said before, referral traffic not only brings more potential customers to your website, it also helps with SEO.

5) Comment On Blogs

A question that comes up a lot is “Does blog commenting help SEO?” It not only can help with SEO but it can also generate more referral traffic for your website. According to Neil Patel, his 240+ comments on blogs have generated close to 4,000 visitors to his website. Commenting on blogs will definitely increase your referral traffic; just make sure you’re not filling the interwebs with more spam. Here are a couple tips for the newbie blog commenters out there:

1. Make sure your comments are valuable – No one likes a complainer or bragger. If your comments are negative or promotional in nature just keep them to yourself.
2. Focus on blogs that allow links in the comments – Remember, you’re trying to get more traffic. In order to do that you need to add a link to your website
3. If you aren’t first, you’re last. – Just like search engines, if your link is at the top of the comments list you’re more likely to generate more clicks and traffic.

6) Be Active On Industry Forums

Online forums are a great source of potential leads and customers but are often overlooked as a marketing tactic for generating traffic. Similar to blog comments, you should focus your efforts on forums in your niche and always be trying to add value without sounding too promotional. I’ve outlined a couple steps and tips below for getting the most out of forum marketing:

1. Make sure the forum is active – Don’t waste your time on a forum that hasn’t had a new post for a month.
2. Register using your brand name – You want to make sure people associate your comments with a memorable brand name.
3. Create a signature with a call-to-action link – This is how you’re going to drive traffic to your website.
4. It’s time to participate – You’ll want to participate in the areas of the forum where you have the most expertise.
5. Use real life examples – Don’t just offer your advice. No one likes a know-it-all. Try to provide value using your personal experiences.
6. Share your resources – Start a new thread with a link to resource you think could benefit the group. If you’re proud of a particular piece of content it’s likely others will enjoy it too.  

7) Publish Infographics

When asked to select the single most important form of content for their business, 37% of marketers picked visuals. The reason is pretty simple. Humans have attention spans shorter than goldfish and it’s easier for the brain to consume an image than a bunch of text. Plus you’ve probably noticed that an image of a cute puppy gets liked and shared more than a 100+ page industry report.

The great thing about infographics is they can help people understand complex data with simple visuals. The goal is to get your infographic shared, liked, and pinned on social networks and have others embed it in their articles (like I’ve done above), thus creating links to your website.

In addition to your own website, there are several websites where you can post an infographic. One of my favorites is Pinterest. After all, Pinterest is responsible for around 5% of all referral traffic to websites, second only to Facebook. Pinterest gives you the option to link your infographic to your website and makes it easy for it be shared on other’s boards.

Next Steps

Once you start receiving additional referral traffic, you’ll want to make sure your website is ready for these new visitors. In this FREE eBook “Turn Your Website Into A Lead Generation Machine,” we go over some best practices for ensuring your website is setup to convert visitors into leads for your business. Download it now by clicking on the link above or on the banner below.