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Kerkida Gigantic Blogging Strategy – From The Best

kerkida cypriot magazine

Content Roadmap

Table of Contents

    Kerkida is an expert in the content strategy field. If you want to learn from the best and improve your skills, then this platform will be a great resource for you. Kerkida provides detailed news articles on various topics such as sports and Formula 1 racing.

    Latest Spart News From Kerkida

    Kerkida keeps focusing on content marketing.

    Regardless of what niche or industry your business is in, you need to keep the industry in mind when creating content for your website. Kerkida has an industry-focused content strategy. Understands the importance of the success of its online business.

    Useful content brings your website to the first pages of search results and addresses the right target group.

    Even if your business relies on PPC advertising, you need content related to your audience. Simply because paid search advertising is a bleeding wound for many businesses.

    Using Kerkida.net as an example, we show you the market price potential that lies behind the mask of the right content. Because there is more behind it than the well-known saying “Content is King”. Here we find out why your industry-oriented content advertising is better than original content.

    We can have a content designer dedicated to creating great masterpieces on our websites. But if it’s not targeted to the right audiences, we end up with visitors who bring little to no revenue to our business.

    What is Kerkida’s content creators’ main area of expertise?

    Kerkida gigantic blogging strategy - from the best
    Content creation focused on an industry relevancy

    Kerkida.net’s content adaptation is sports, not just one discipline, but all of them. Kerkida covers it all: football, basketball, tennis, volleyball and more.

    Although after a content analysis and marketing approach of the news portal we find that it focuses mainly on football. Knowing that Cyprus is a football-loving country, this is no surprise.

    What type of content is Kerkida portal creating?

    Kerkida is a web portal where we can find the latest sports news as a content format in their articles. Many consider it the ultimate sports portal of Cyprus and Greece.

    The content management of the kerkida.net website provides us, the sports fans in Cyprus and abroad, with trustworthy and up-to-date information about sporting events not only in Cyprus and Greece but all over the world.

    The sky is the limit when it comes to content marketing on Kerkida.

    Do you want your website on the first pages of search results? Then you need content writing services to help your website get there. We are here to help you. The Ultimate Cypriot Sports Portal Kerkida is not taking their content farm loosely. This is why they are one of the best, If not the best sports portals on the island when it comes to sports news.

    But how can we use their content strategy as a model for our websites?

    That is the crux of this article. We want to learn the basics of the online sports magazine Kerkida. But more than that, we want to derive from it a blueprint of a content marketing strategy that we can apply to our websites.

    There are 6 content marketing examples we can use to learn from Kerkida, but also do’s and don’ts. Because what works for them does not apply to you. So let us get started right away.

    6 content marketing strategies we can learn from Kerkida:

    1. Your target audience will appreciate information content that is interesting to them.
    2. Always design your website with mobile-users in mind.
    3. Your website is like an online newspaper, and the blog interface is one section of it.
    4. Keep your navigation simple.
    5. Allow website users to search for information.
    6. Show the right display advertising

    The above 6 content marketing strategies are the main approaches that every website should take. Note that they are not limited to any particular industry. But are considered the most commonly used methods for content marketing on your website.

    Therefore, we need to break down each of these 6 content marketing strategies and learn how to apply them to our website.

    If you don’t have anything valuable to say, your words won’t matter.

    We will start with number one and explain it using the Kerkida approach. Note that Kerkida.net is simply a fine example. But that does not necessarily mean you should copy their website, not only because that would be wrong. But also because the layout of Kerkida.net is not the best, although it is effective.

    For this reason, we will give you the Do’s and Do Not’s so that you have a foolproof guide with which you can work out your content strategy in the best possible way.

    1. Your target audience will appreciate information content that is interesting to them.

    Kerkida’s content strategy based on the interests of his audience is clear, that’s the one thing you need to learn now. Understanding your audience is one of the most important, if not the most important, things you need to deliver them the content they want to find.

    In search engine marketing, this is called search intent. But this strategic marketing approach goes deeper than just what the search wants to find. An excellent example Kerkida gives us here is that football rooters, more than wanting to know about their preferred team, look for information about the other football clubs they follow.

    Therefore, in the content management system of Kerkida, we find options when it comes to football clubs, not only from Cyprus but also from other countries. All this takes place under the umbrella of sport.

    Kerkida’s editors know their local audience and know, for example, that lengthy content is not what their readers want. Kerkida knows that its readership is looking for quick and consistent football information. For this reason, Kerkida editors publish more targeted content or content word, directly related to football news than anything else.

    5 things you should DO to keep your audience interested in your content:

    1. Address the messages directly and avoid filler words
    2. Always feed your news fresh
    3. Do your own research, be original and relevant
    4. Keep an eye on what’s going on in your industry and make sure you are the first to report the news. It’s not easy, but it pays off
    5. Keep it short, and sweet, and keep the readability at an appropriate level.

    5 Don’ts to avoid to keep your audience interested:

    1. Do not copy your content from other websites.
    2. Never hesitate to write a post that you know is topical
    3. You do not pause posting for too long.
    4. You do not post content that is not in the interest of your industry.
    5. You do not ignore the search intent of your readers.
    Worldwide percentage of web traffic from smartphones and tablets
    Statistics on the share of global data traffic originating from smartphones.

    2. Always design your website with mobile-users in mind.

    Online marketing has changed drastically in the last 10 years. Today, more than 50% of internet traffic comes from mobile devices.

    Amount of traffic of the internet coming from mobile devices
    Percentage of users who feel comfortable with a company whose website is mobile-friendly.

    This is a big win, but it can also be a huge loss. Web administrators, web designers, web developers, and even web owners tend to ignore the importance of a mobile-friendly website. Note that this has nothing to do with a fully responsive website.

    You need to go deeper and consider how the Internet of Things is moving towards a mobile-first environment. There are two main differences between a mobile-friendly website and a fully responsive website.

    Kerkida Network is not the only one doing a great job with the content, here are some other honourable mentions:

    🏆 Protathlima:

    A website that provides news and up-to-date information about sports in Cyprus. Sports fans will find in-depth reports on all the latest sporting events, including football, basketball, tennis, rugby and more.

    The website also includes a section with news about Cypriot athletes who have made a name for themselves abroad. Whether you want to inspire your content strategy or simply keep up to date with the latest sports news, this is a site you should definitely visit.

    🏆 24sports:

    A website that delivers news and sports news around the clock. We can clearly say that the website has a team of experienced editors who are dedicated to providing their audience with the latest news and updates from the world of sports.

    🏆 Sigmalive:

    Sigmalive website offers live news streaming. They were clearly looking for a way to provide people with breaking news faster and more immediately than traditional media. The website was successful and became one of the most popular destinations for live streaming news content.

    Differences between a mobile-friendly first website and a fully responsive or mobile-first website.

    Mobile-friendly first website:

    Percentage of user contacting businesses using their mobile devices
    Statistics on the percentage of global mobile users who contact a business directly.

    When developing a mobile-friendly website, the mobile phone is considered the main device for using the website. This prompts developers to avoid bloated code and unnecessary Java scripts so that there is little or no blocking of the display.

    Take a look at the Kerkida website. You will notice that the top menu of the website is the sort of menu we get on websites when we use our mobile phones. The reason for this is simple: they know that crowds of their visitors come from mobile phones, so they adapt to this need.

    Back on 7 October 2015, Google introduced a project called AMP, which stands for Accelerated Mobile Pages. This is an option that you can use to present a mobile-friendly first website to visitors landing on your pages while maintaining your regular 100% responsive web pages in parallel.

    Amp is a type of HTML coding, a variation of the old familiar HTML, but with specific modifications and restrictions to make web pages load as quickly as possible on mobile devices.

    Fully responsive website:

    A fully responsive website is a well-known method of adapting your web pages to any screen size. The problem with this method is that it uses all the elements of your web pages on mobile devices, so users sometimes have to wait too long to view and interact with your website, even at the best internet speeds.

    You can try opening your website on your mobile phone, and you’ll probably find your website loading fast enough, right? But not all phones are the same, not all mobile devices have a strong internet connection.

    Even if you have the same phone model, internet bandwidth varies from provider to provider, and when on the go, internet bandwidth is also affected by changing antennas for internet services.

    Meaning that a fully responsive website is no guarantee that the site will display as expected.

    Did you know that every second your website takes to fully load, you are losing money?

    • 11% fewer web page views
    • 16% less user experience
    • 7% fewer conversions
    Percentage of mobile users willing to purchase using the mobile devices
    Percentage of mobile users willing to shop via a mobile phone.

    Summary: A fully responsive website versus a mobile-friendly first website.

    Imagine you want to quickly deliver a delicious meal to a customer. You are the delivery person, and you have two options:

    A limousine with all the luxuries and things you do not need for the job (fully responsive website).

    A Bugatti Diablo (mobile-friendly first website).

    For digital marketing in both scenarios, your website will look neat. But only one will help you get where you want to go faster. Think of the internet of today as an anticipation of the internet of the years to come. All web design is moving towards a mobile-first approach. Do not go in the opposite direction.

    🏆 Pro advice:

    My website offers its visitors both options, the limousine and the Bugatti. And makes the most of both.

    Kerkida.net, on the other hand, relies on one option, the mobile-friendly first website option. The advantage of working with one version of your website is that you can manage all aspects of your website more quickly. But one of them is not particularly well suited to mobile phones.

    If you need to choose one option, choose the one that gives you more options for your business. Mobile-friendly first website option

    5 Things to Consider DO, to increase the loading speed of your website:

    • Consider a mobile-friendly first website option
    • Keep conversion rates as high as possible.
    • Sit down with your developers, designers, and managers and consider how you can increase the loading speed of your website on mobile devices.
    • Check the percentage of your target audience coming from mobile devices.
    • Keep image sizes to their best minimum, use a CDN and provide images in the formats that compress their quality best and work on all browsers.

    6 Important DONT when it comes to website performance in terms of loading speeds:

    • Never underestimate the power that loading speed has for ROI.
    • Do not ignore new technologies for website development.
    • Your CTR (Clicks Through Rate) is something you need to stop ignoring
    • Your CTR (Click Through Rate) is something you should no longer ignore
    • Do not prioritise design overloading speed. Because design looks nice, but sometimes it has a negative impact on sales
    • Do not add too many animations to your web pages, but focus on a reliable design with performance in mind.

    3. Your website is like an online newspaper, and the blog interface is one section of it.

    If you take our online sports news website as an example, you will notice that even though the admin(s) of the site maintains a blog-like layout, there are numerous ads placed on the website. Not AdSense ads or Google Adwords, but also private ads.

    Considering how much traffic this website generates, the revenue from online traffic should be ample. It gets even more interesting when we consider that organic traffic is around 570,000, according to Ahrefs.

    You do not wake up one day after launching a website and have that amount of traffic. Even considering that Ahrefs, like every other third-party SEO tool, gives approximate metrics that are sometimes far from reality. In our experience, these metrics are about 70% accurate.

    That still gives us fascinating search traffic coming from the search engine results pages.

    A blog interface is fine if you want to generate organic traffic. But the right layout for blogging is crucial if you want to be successful blogging. Every day, 7.5 million posts are uploaded to the internet, and all these blogs compete within their respective industries.

    Kerkida gigantic blogging strategy - from the best
    Speed SEO Online Advertising Services

    The sports industry moves a lot of money in online advertising, but also offline advertising. So if you want to be successful in this industry like Kerkida, you need to pay attention to the experts in blogging. Kerkida is a fine example.

    Of course, your industry can be payday loans, finance, art, real estate, or any other industry, but the methodology should remain the same: Provide consistent content and the right design on your blog area website, based on the trends of your target audience.

    An online newspaper does not have just one type of design, there are many designs, but what makes it a newspaper strategy is the way the articles, news, reviews, etc. are presented to the visitors. You need to understand that well.

    Because you will notice many websites that use something like “Newsroom” as the top menu name for their blogs, but also publish reviews, news, interviews, guides, etc. there. This approach will not help your readers understand what your website is about.

    You need to use these terms correctly:

    • Blog
    • News
    • Guide
    • List
    • Reviews
    • Article
    • PR (Press Releases)

    These are some of the main types of text content you can use to place important keywords or long-tail keywords for your website.

    Do not worry, we will now look at what types of text content you can use in the blog section of your website.

    7 types of text content all websites should use to be found better in search engines.

    1. Blog: A blog can be represented as a website, such as Kerkida, where we see that the website focuses mainly on sharing sports-related information. A blog can also be a section within a website. This practice is most common on the internet, as it gets used to drive organic traffic to a website.

      Of course, blog pages can also be used as landing pages (LP) for paid advertising, but the latter is neither common nor advisable. It all depends on the goal of this strategy. Still, there are better ways to advertise with paid traffic.

      A blog, whether a website or a web page, is a place where all the content published there is updated more frequently than on the other pages of a website.

      But it was not always called a “blog”. In the early days of the internet, in the 90s, there were times when it was called “weblog” or “web blog”, but after many changes and updates, we eventually called it “blog”. But what is the difference between a blog page and a website? An interesting question!

      Difference between a blog page and a website:

      A blog page differs from a website in the way it is presented and organised for the user. For example, when you create a blog page like Kerkida, you do not try to layout it so that your recently created pages are hidden. You just want the newly created pages to be at the top and the old pages at the bottom.

      This is called “reverse chronological order”, and is best practice if it is a blog page or blog website.

      A website, on the other hand, may include a blog section, but this is not mandatory and sometimes even necessary. It all depends on the business model or intent of the website. On a website, the pages are called “web pages” and do not have to be chronologically ordered or paginated.

      Web pages are simply placed in strategic locations so visitors can find them quickly. Web page websites do not change as often as blog pages, and their content can remain the same for a long time. You need to keep your website fresh and relevant to new changes.
    2. News: This is terminology that you need to understand at its core. Whether you are a writer/copywriter or content overseer because there is a clear difference between a news post and an article, review, guide or other formats.

      You don’t call a piece of news, an article, you don’t call a guide or a how-to post, an article, right? So it is confusing for some visitors to click on a newsroom section on a website and find a 5k words article or step-by-step guide to do something.

      That is not a news post. So, you should segregate your posts into the right category.
      Check this example of what a new type of post is:
      Sport news from kerkida | example
      Anatomy of news posts
      Infographic of the anatomy of an article to create a post like a news blog

      Above you can see the anatomy of a news article. You can save the infographic by right-clicking on the image and selecting “Save As”.
    3. Guide: Guide articles are similar to How-to articles, but they do not have to be identical. They are also not news articles, here you need a clear idea of what you want to write about. A Guide article is sought as a compass for something, just as you will not get instructions on how to get somewhere or do something on kerkida.net.

      Kerkida aims to spread the news about sport, not to guide people to the sport. The editors of Kerkida know that their audience is not looking for a guidebook to teach them how to play football. They just want their readers to be informed about what is happening in the sports industry.

      At this point, you need to think about the industry of the website you are writing for or publishing content for. This is crucial if you want your visitors to visit your website again and again, and if you want them to come with the right interest based on the content you deliver to them.

      There is confusion about what’s the difference between a guide and a how-to article, but luckily you are reading the best article on the subject right now.

      Difference between guide and how-to articles:

      Guide articles are usually basic information about how something works, or they are superficial. A fine example of this type of article is the instruction manual for electronic devices.

      Yes, a guidebook may contain some instructions, but it is not necessary that it contains instructions on how to operate the device, even though how-to instructions might be included in the guide.

      How-to articles are usually step-by-step instructions that tell us what to do when we have no experience. How-to articles should never be confused with news articles, as they are different in nature.

      Also, how-to articles need to form their own category or page within a website blog. How-to articles are usually short instructional articles. Do not overload how-to articles with words, as it is assumed readers are not experts but want to learn how to do something quickly.
    4. List: Also referred to as listicles or list posts, these content types differ from guides, how-to articles and news articles because they are mainly used to list items. An important feature of list articles is that they are not necessarily short.

      They can cover each listed item in more detail. A fine example of list articles is the listing of the 200+ ranking factors that the Google algorithm uses to determine the relevance of a web page. The list can get long, and you can explain each item if you feel it is necessary.

      Listicles or List Posts are terrific if you want to earn backlinks naturally. This is because they are highly sought after, and if you edit them well, your post can attract the attention of important websites like government sites and universities. Or even mature sites like Amazon, Google, etc.

      The most important thing when writing a listicle is to offer information that you can not find on the internet. Or there are few websites that have information on that topic. Yes, it is tough, but if you can do it, you will naturally get a lot of visitors to your website and earn a lot of backlinks.

      Individual application: you don’t find Listicles on kerkida.net, the reason is simple, they don’t need it based on their target audience. You see again how important it is to understand your audience and work your content posting around the interest of your audience.

      Something you have to ignore your wishes of writing something outside the interest of your public. You need to keep this in mind at all times your audience. Don’t go writing articles your target audience doesn’t want, or you will end up having a cemetery of articles/posts, not bringing value to your online business.

      Learn from kerkida.net, they’re mastering the art of giving the audience what they want to find.
      Explanation of what a list article is | template
    5. Reviews: Here is the best explanation about reviews of articles or websites. Reviews are an excellent source of information if you want to attract people’s attention. There are different types of reviews. You may already know that there are satisfactory reviews and bad reviews.

      But did you know that there are also reviews for information… not necessarily bad or good, but merely reviews? Reviews are terrific if you can trust them. If you write good reviews, you can help people avoid certain businesses or do something about them.

      So unlike news, reviews are not about informing, but also about persuading or dissuading your audience to do something. Reviews can work both ways, but most importantly, reviews need to be trustworthy.

      Here are five qualities your articles with reviews should have:
      • Valuable testimonials from previous users or customers who have used the service or product.
      • Testifies the reliability of a company, service or product.
      • The review should help readers decide between a yes or no
      • The article should show the best and worst-case scenarios for the reader’s decision.
      • Provide new or existing knowledge about the quality of the reviewed product or service.
    6. Article: All above are types or forms of articles, there are more, but to keep this text short. We will only cover the most commonly used ones. Article marketing belongs to the online marketing industry and is the main source of content that spreads traffic through search engines.

      The important thing here is to distinguish an article webpage from a static webpage on your website.

      Millions of articles are published daily on the internet. As websites strive to gain organic traffic through them. Web pages are less frequently changing pages on a website.

      As mentioned earlier, articles are also called posts. And in these posts, you will find news, lists, how-to’s, guides and other types of content. Such as videos, infographics, statistics, etc. Therefore, it is important to distinguish the type of articles on your website so that search engines and readers can navigate your website faster.
    7. PR (Press Releases): Press releases are official publications that contain information about a company or information texts. PR, as it is abbreviated, helps increase brand awareness. And this is its most important use.

      You should use PR when you start your online business. Or if you have had an online business for a long time. But need to generate interest in a promotion of a new product or service you are offering. Press releases are usually published in a network of news media. They should be short, concise and professional.

      In short, PR is a document addressed to the media, also called the press, announcing something important to your brand’s reputation.

      PRs should not be published on your website. Although you can mention them. They work better if you leave the publication to the press. There are six important features that every press release must have.

      6 important sections for creating a perfect press release:
    • Headline. Or a title that tells the reader what the press release is about.
    • Date & Location. This is where you put the date and location of your announcement.
    • Summary. This is the text where you elaborate on the most important elements of your press release. For example, Who, What, When, Where and Why.
    • Body. In this section of PR, you go into details of the press release and provide all the necessary information in a compelling, concise and professional manner.
    • Boilerplate. This is the “About Us” section of PR. Make sure it is 100% the same as the “About Us” page on your website, but never make them identical, but related.
    • End or Close. When you reach the end of the PR text in this section, it is important to declare the end with the following characters: – ### – you must centre them at the end of the page PR. So no further text should be published after these characters in your official company message or press release.

    4. Keep your navigation simple.

    Clear navigation allows visitors, bots and humans to find their way around your web pages. And the easier your website’s navigation is, the better your website’s metrics will be.

    Refrain from complex menus or overloaded menu items with images and effects, but keep it simple. Think about reducing click depth, but also consider where certain pages should be presented to visitors. These are the most important pages that every website should have in its top menu.

    5 most important pages on every website:

    1. Homepage
    2. About us page
    3. Contact us page
    4. Blog page
    5. Services / Products Page

    Let us say you run a website with a personal brand. In this case, you need to consider other important pages for this type of website. The 5 pages mentioned above are mandatory, but these next pages are for personal brand websites.

    3 Important pages to include in the top menu of websites for personal brands:

    1. About me
    2. Portfolio
    3. Case of studies

    There are these other types of websites that deal with finance, not like kerkida.net, whose audience is essentially more casual and less formal. But if you are running a finance website, there are other important pages that you need to include in your top navigation menu.

    Remember that the first 5 pages are the most important. And therefore, as the subheading suggests, should be on every website. But here are the three most important pages you should include on a financial website.

    The 3 most important pages a finance website should have in its main menu:

    1. Portfolio
    2. Filosofy
    3. Support

    Having mentioned the most important pages for the main menu, we cannot ignore the importance of the footer menu. If you look at the footer menu of kerkida.net, you will see how well elaborated the footer menu is. And how well the space and the last section are used to impress the visitors and encourage them to visit other pages of the website.

    (kerkida footer image)

    Best practices for a solid navigation structure on websites.

    The top menu or footer menus play an important role in the search engine optimisation of your website. Therefore, you should know which best practices are suitable for defining a navigation structure that benefits and does not harm the search engine optimisation of your website.

    These are the 7 best practices for website navigation:

    1. Do not use complex format-based navigation menus.
    2. Keep elements horizontal and no more than 7 elements
    3. Provide one menu for desktop computers and a different design for mobile devices.
    4. Arrange the menu items according to their relevance.
    5. Use descriptive keywords for menu navigation
    6. Avoid clicking to view the drop-down items in the menu.
    7. Do not include frequently changing web pages in the menu.

    kerkida.net, our inspiration for this article analysis, solved their navigation menu with a quick and user-friendly navigation solution for their website. They initially opted for a mobile-friendly solution.

    This is a superb solution if you want to reduce the loading time of your web pages. While they do not use AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) to display the elements on their website, they use an effective design primarily targeting mobile devices. But also serves visitors from desktop computers.

    As mentioned earlier, it is best to professionalise your web design by offering both normal HTML web pages and AMP HTML to take advantage of both environments.

    Below we explain the 7 best practices for website navigation in a little more detail, in the hope that you will better understand how important correct navigation is for your website(s).

    1. Do not use complex format-based navigation menus.

    Using videos, images or PDF files in your menu items shows your online visitors a format of your on-page content. But these elements consume a lot of bandwidth, which greatly affects loading speed. People hate websites that take forever to load. Because they are searching for answers and information. The faster you provide these answers, the better your website will be perceived online.

    2. Keep elements horizontal and no more than 7 elements

    This is a common erroneous practice. The navigation menus on your website should not be cluttered with hundreds of anchor text with hyperlinks, images and drop-down menus. This is harmful to the search engine optimisation of your website.

    If you limit the number of hyperlinks in the main navigation of your website, you will help search engine crawlers render your website faster. And your visitors will not feel overwhelmed.

    Search engine crawlers love organised menus

    The reason for this is that your website, whether old or newly created, has a crawl budget that the search engines allocate to it. If you overdo it with the links in your menus, they will send the crawlers to other internal or external pages, using up the crawl budget allocated to your website.

    If your website is old and gets a lot of organic traffic, this is a sign that search engines like the content on your website, which will undoubtedly give you a better or bigger crawl budget, so you could include a bit more links in your navigation menus.

    But what about a new website?

    Well, new websites have to earn the trust of the search engines, and if we narrow it down to Google, you have to convince Google that your content is valuable. That’s something that’s not going to happen in the next month or two. You have to earn trust in the eyes of the Google algorithm.

    Then there are two scenarios where crawl budget matters. You should not put too much of that crawl budget into the navigation settings of your website, but send crawlers and users to your important pages primarily through your navigation menus.

    The better your navigation is organised, as Kerkida have it, the more page rank or equity/authority will flow to and from each inner page of your website. Helping your inner pages increase their page rank.

    5. Allow website users to search for information.

    A search option featured on your website is not only an excellent way to help visitors find relevant information on your site. But a search option might also be an opportunity to earn a featured snippet on the Google search results page. (SERPs)

    kerkida.net is taking advantage of this feature and making good use of it. One good practice for search options on a website is to get the user to focus on the feature when it gets triggered by the visitor.

    For example, the Kerkida search option on-page overlaps and covers all view sections of the page, allowing the searcher to focus on what the search wants to find.

    These are the best practices you need to consider for your website.

    Top 5 best practices for a website’s search function:

    1. The search field should always be user-friendly.
    2. Pay attention to the permissible search data
    3. Have the search option ready for mobile devices.
    4. Support search with things like auto-complete, auto-correct, philtres and facets
    5. provide intuitive results pages that are helpful and stimulating

    For a website like Kerkida, which mainly offers news articles, a search function may not be as important as for an e-commerce website like Amazon, eBay or Alibaba. If you have doubts, go to Ebay.com, consider a product and guess which feature you will use. Yes, you guessed right, you need Ebay’s search function.

    If you run an e-commerce website where you sell sporting goods, then you know you need a search function. But you need to follow the 5 best practices for the search function described above. Let us explain them a little more.

    1. The search field should always be user-friendly.

    This headline is self-explanatory, but please do not think it’s user-friendly if every user perceives the search option and uses it. Think about the user experience and the user interface. These two go together and support each other.

    User-friendly does not always mean responsive or adaptable to all screen sizes. So look for usability in all areas of your website, including the search option.

    2. Pay attention to the permissible search data

    Here is a slightly more complex matter. Because the data on your website should be carefully filtered so that you know what your visitors can and cannot know. It is important that this data remains relevant and can be retrieved quickly. Keep your databases at the best performance level and remove irrelevant content from search results to users.

    3. Have the search option ready for mobile devices.

    In point 1, you read about the relationship between responsiveness and usability, but now you will read about responsiveness as a practice to be treated separately because it relates to design and development.

    The search option on Kerkida is overlaid in dark and covers all screens. So it looks good on both mobile devices and desktop computers. You can follow this example from Kerkida or use your own design, whichever is better. But either way, make sure it is responsive. Options are many, but effective options are not so many.

    So focus on a search option that works regardless of screen size. This will not only increase usability but also your rankings.

    4. Support search with things like auto-complete, auto-correct, philtres and facets

    The goal is and should always be to provide a user experience that encourages internal use of the website. There is nothing better to increase dwell time on the website than to help our web visitors do what they do on our website in an effective way.

    Auto-complete, autocorrect, philtres and facets on search options not only provide our visitors with a more professional function. But also reduce user frustration. After all, when your user uses the search option on your website, it means he or she is trying to find something that was not easily accessible.

    That in itself evokes a frustrating feeling, and it’s our job to alleviate that feeling. This is where these four functions – auto-complete, auto-correct, philtres and facets – play a role.

    5. Provide intuitive results pages that are helpful and stimulating

    This is one of the best features you can offer in your on-site search option. Your on-page search results should be clear to understand and anticipate the user’s needs. Never in an overwhelming way. Here are some tips to improve your on-page search:

    • Pique the user’s interest by displaying pop-up banners with the results.
    • Use bold and highlight the search terms in the results.
    • Never use a “zero results page”. Implement a synonym library to direct users to semantically related pages or products. This helps visitors convert or take action.
    • Use a grid layout for the images displayed as results.

    6. Show the right display advertising

    Websites that contain too many ads often take too long to load completely. Kerkida’s website is a fine example of how to use ads wisely. Something everyone who runs or manages websites should learn from.

    We can run ads from Google Adsense on our websites, but if our server or hosting provider is not powerful, this can affect the loading time of your website. Kerkida uses ads from Taboola, a native advertising platform with ads and traffic generation options.

    However, the most important thing is that Taboola does not affect the load speed of Kerkida’s website too much.

    Why should you place advertising on your website?

    The answer is simple: you need to use the potential of your website(s) to earn more with your marketing ROI. Placing ads increases your visibility and, if you do it right, offers the chance of profit if other companies in your industry perceive your platform as an opportunity to showcase their products.

    There are simple ways to attract advertisers to your website. If you look at Kerkida, you will notice that they are not only promoting their own brand there. But other brands too. They are leveraging the potential of their website. Read below five simple ways to attract advertisers to your website.

    5 ways to attract advertisers to your website.

    1. Make sure your website(s) have an attractive and professional layout.
    2. Create an “Advertise with us” page where you include your geographical data.
    3. Work with ad formats that fit with your web design.
    4. Add some affiliate products 100% related to your industry.
    5. Address your potential advertisers directly.

    1. Attractive and professional layout

    We have mentioned this before, but it’s important that you understand that a quick and mobile-friendly website does not necessarily mean it is professional or attractive.

    Is Kerkida’s website mobile-friendly? Yes, does it look professional? Yes. Is it attractive? Well, that depends on the industry, business goals, vision, etc. A professional website is a sine qua non for any website, regardless of its design. (If you need help with your website design, contact us, we can help).

    2. “Advertise with us” page

    As this page is dedicated solely to advertising the website, it should have a contact section exclusively for potential advertisers who might try to contact you.

    Another important feature you should display on the “Advertise with us” page is the available advertising space on your website. You should also indicate what advertising model you offer, e.g. CPL, CPM, CPA, CPI, CPC. Do not know what these online marketing acronyms mean? Do not worry, we will help you:

    • CPL stands for Cost Per Lead and means you receive a fee for each lead that successfully completes registration on the advertiser’s specified website.
    • CPM stands for Cost Per Mile (thousand). As you can see, the word “Mile” is necessary to avoid confusion with the acronym CPL. CPM works on a per thousand bases, i.e. for every 1000 views of an ad you receive a fee.
    • CPA stands for Cost Per Acquisition and works on a conversion basis, i.e. the fee you get when the lead converts.
    • CPI stands for Cost Per Install and is meaningful enough to understand that the visitor needs to install the software (usually an app) to get paid.
    • CPC stands for Cost Per Click and is the method used by all major advertising platforms. Such as Google, Facebook and Twitter. You get paid every time a single click on the ad is registered.

    3. Ad formats that fit your web design

    There are different formats for displaying ads. But not all work equally well on all websites. When choosing an ad format for your pages, you need to consider the design of your website. If you have an online platform where videos are the predominant content type, then video ads may be best for you.

    However, if your website is a news website like Kerkida, images are the right format for you. Not only do they fit perfectly into these layouts, but they are also lightweight and the most effective format when it comes to conversion rate.

    Ad formats come in different sizes and specifications, giving you the flexibility to adapt them to any website.

    However, do not overdo it with the choice of ad formats.

    Kerkida has chosen JPG, PNG and gift banners as the most common image formats for its website, and this fits perfectly with the layout of the website. (Do you need help choosing ad formats for your website? Contact us)

    4. Affiliate products related to your industry

    You might be tempted to put all kinds of ads on your website. But that might not bring any business benefit in the medium to long term. In the short term, it may well work.

    But if your advertisers find no leads coming from your website, they might move on to the next provider. You do not want that, you want to help your brand, not hurt it.

    That’s why you should advertise for companies that belong to your industry.

    Look at the Kerkida ads, they advertise sports-related products, services and online sports betting businesses. This is perfect for companies like Kerkida. Because they not only target the right advertisers, they also target the right audience.

    This is called targeted advertising. And is a huge advantage for both advertisers and publishers.

    If you use AdSense or Taboola, make sure you place your ads correctly. You would not want porn ads to appear on a sports website, would you? Do not answer!

    5. Address your potential advertisers directly.

    You are a competitor, and the online industry is a nest of competitors. Favouring those who take the right approach to reach their potential customers. You should be among those who use the right channels to reach your potential advertisers.

    These targeting strategies will not last forever, but first, you need to generate cash flow to keep the business going. And that’s what these 5 ways to target potential advertisers are for.

    Some advertisers may come via direct traffic or search engine traffic, which can include organic traffic. But email marketing is an awesome way to target your potential customers. This area is one of the many online opportunities we have a lot of experience in. We are ready for you.

    Jesus Guzman

    M&G Speed Marketing LTD. CEO

    Jesus Guzman is the CEO and founder of M&G Speed Marketing LTD, a digital marketing agency focused on rapidly growing businesses through strategies like SEO, PPC, social media, email campaigns, and website optimization. With an MBA and over 11 years of experience, Guzman combines his marketing expertise with web design skills to create captivating online experiences. His journey as an in-house SEO expert has given him insights into effective online marketing. Guzman is passionate about helping businesses achieve impressive growth through his honed skills. He has proud case studies to share and is eager to connect to take your business to the next level.