This page is a streamlined version of the resources and projects from the Digital Technologies class for anyone interested in doing digital marketing outside of the course.
The broad categories of digital marketing are usually categorized as follows:
Content Marketing
Marketing Analytics
Social Media Marketing
Search Engine Marketing
Pay per click Advertising
Search Engine Optimization
Email Marketing
Read
Create
Find a specialty product on Amazon. It’s better to find specialty products that are niche. Once you pick a product, create an affiliate account on Amazon and plan to sell the product through your site.
You can set up an Amazon affiliate account here: https://affiliate-program.amazon.com
objectives, sitemap diagram
Preparation
Read
Watch
Think
Plan your website
mood board
Mood boards serve as a fundamental transition between an initial thought and a first draft. They can be helpful for sparking inspiration and visually illustrating the style you wish to pursue.
use tools to make keyword list
The goal of this activity is to gain familiarity with keyword research tools and use them to create a data-driven list of relevant and effective keywords for use on your website. Your keyword list can contain page specific keywords.
Important note: “keyword” is used as a shortened version of “keyword phrase”. A “keyword” can be multiple words.
Preparation
Watch
Read
about seed words at the Moz Keyword Research Guide
about creating a keyword list at the Moz Keyword Research Guide
about keyword research tools and resources at the Moz Keyword Research Guide
Create
Create List
Ahrefs Free Keyword Generator
Google Keyword Planner
Google Trends
Moz Keyword Explorer
Use the Keyword Explorer to search some seed words and get additional suggestions. With the free plan, the number of searches you can do is limited so this resource is best to use after you have some good ideas.
You want high relevance, decent volume, low difficulty, high priority
Read about Prioritizing Profitable Keywords at the Moz Keyword Research Guide.
create empty pages in hosted site
Use information from the Website Development page and your sitemap diagram and mood board to make a website framework in your hosting service of choice.
You do not need to pay for hosting.
If you are creating your first site ever, choose a host with a CMS and WYSIWYG editor. If you don't need to sell anything, Google Sites is recommended. If you do want to sell things, Shopify is recommended
If you have some experience and would like to learn more choose a host that requires HTML & CSS, GitHub is recommended.
Check out what you can get for free at https://education.github.com/pack
keyword application in page names, title tag, meta description, headings, headlines, setup Google Analytics and Search Console
The purpose of this project is to start using your keyword list in your website for search engine optimization. You will incorporate your keywords on your key pages through:
URL: primary keywords (rename pages if needed to include keywords)
Title tag (in head): primary + secondary keywords
Meta description: primary + secondary + related/supporting keywords
Page title / Headline (h1 in body): primary + secondary keywords
Subheadings / Sub-headlines (h2, h3, etc.): secondary + question keywords
Body copy: primary + secondary + related/supporting keywords (in a later assignment)
Image alt text: primary + secondary + related/supporting keywords (in a later assignment)
Analyze
Enter your headlines into Headline Studio - https://coschedule.com/headline-analyzer
Read about the factors that contribute to a good headline score.
If you have trouble with Headline Studio you can try other SEO headline tools like https://capitalizemytitle.com/headline-analyzer/
Apply
Edit your landing pages and other key pages:
Add Headlines (using h1 tags on-page or set as Title in Google Sites) in a font you chose in your mood board
Add Sub-headlines (using h2 and h3 tags on-page or set as Heading and Subheading in Google Sites) in a font you chose in your mood board
Add Title tags (if you are able, Google Sites doesn't allow adding meta information)
Optional: Add Meta descriptions 50-160 characters
Host specific instructions
keyword application in body copy
Website copywriting is the process of writing digital content for landing pages, product pages, blog posts, and everything in between.
Read
Create a new document named Website Copywriting containing a heading 2 with the same.
Add a heading 3 for Body Copy Components and Considerations
Under the heading, add links to and notes from the following resources
Additional resources related to copywriting and blogging that you research
Research
Write
Open and review your Website Plan document.
Open your keyword list from your keyword research activity.
Add a heading 3 for Main Page Body Copy in your Website Copywriting document. In it, list the 3-5 landing pages or key pages you used in the earlier assignments and their published URLs.
For those pages, just in your document for now, write body copy in an active voice including primary + secondary + related/supporting keywords.
Include:
Call to actions (on-page)
Benefits (on-page)
Features (on-page)
If you are not a strong writer, you can utilize the FGCU Writing Lab for an in-person or online one-on-one appointment. https://www.fgcu.edu/academics/caa/writinglab/
Depending on your hosting platform, you may want to use your body copy with a landing page builder like unbounce
Analyze
Add a heading 3 for Body Copy Analysis in your Website Copywriting document.
Analyze what you wrote in the Hemingway Editor and revise as needed in your document.
You should have no sentences that are hard or very hard to read. (no red or yellow)
Ensure Readability is at a Grade 9 level or below.
The page should have valuable content without being too long. Reading time should be 10-30 seconds. (Click show more under the Readability score)
Pay attention to other recommendations from the app as well.
Screenshot the results and add it to your document. (100 points)
Optional: Use Wynter or another analysis tool as well
Apply
Add your body copy to your web pages.
Submit your document.
update content with images, video, and audio
Infographic - Create a flyer using Adobe Creative Cloud Express (formerly Spark)
When you don't know how to do something, check the - tutorials
Download the image as a PNG or JPG
Logo - Create two versions of a logo using the Logo Maker one square (1:1, e.g. 600 x 600), and one landscape (4:1 e.g. 1200 x 300). You can use the Free Image Resizer or use the "Custom size" button on the Adobe Creative Cloud Express home page. Transparent backgrounds preferred. You may need to change the aspect ratio after downloading and opening in another program, like Photos.
In Google Sites, upload your logo in Settings - Brand images. You can also set a Favicon here.
Marketing images - Create using Adobe Creative Cloud Express or other software like Canva (premium free for students) in two formats, one square (1:1, e.g. 600 x 600) and one landscape (1.91:1, e.g. 1200 x 628) that don't include your logo or text as this can be repetitive when used together, such as in certain ad layouts that will be created later. You can use the "Custom size" button on the Adobe Creative Cloud Express home page. Blank space should not take up more than 80% of the image. Your product or service should be the focus. Use single images. Collages are not recommended. At least one image in the two formats is required, 5-10 are recommended. More information
Save all images to a repository, like a folder on your OneDrive or Google Drive. Saving to Google Drive will make it easier to add the images to your website. Digital marketing professionals use Digital Asset Management Software
Add the images to your website. Add or edit text & images in Google Sites Add images using HTML
Add meaningful alt text that includes words from your keyword list. Alt text How to in Google Sites
Video
Create a video using Adobe Creative Cloud Express that is around 30 seconds long
Choose the “Promote an idea” template and watch the quick tips video
Use text and / or images to customize the slides for
Setting
Problem
What could be
Solution or idea
Reward
How you can help
Use the Theme link to choose colors that match your website palette from your mood board and a font that is at least similar to one from your mood board
Add at least two video clips that you create yourself using a tool like Shotcut or videos that you find on a site like Pixabay as new slides or on any existing slides that contain text.
Use the Music link to add provided music or music that you find on a site like Pixabay
Optional: record narration within Adobe Creative Cloud Express or import audio you create using a tool like Audacity
Customize the Credits slide to give credit for the video and audio used
Upload your Adobe Creative Cloud Express video to YouTube. You can leave it unlisted. You might want to use a different Google account than your personal one.
Optional: create additional videos in Adobe Creative Cloud Express or another tool
Embed the video on your website
Verify your site in Google Search Console, enabling you to see the results of your SEO efforts.
If you are using Google Sites, you will verify in Search Console using the Google Analytics method. Instructions
If you aren't using Google Sites, watch 7 ways to verify site ownership (13:58)
About Search Console "Search Console will help you monitor your website traffic, optimize your ranking, and make informed decisions about the appearance of your site's search results. You can use the information in Search Console to influence technical decisions for the website and do sophisticated marketing analysis in conjunction with other Google tools like Analytics, Google Trends, and Google Ads."
Search Console explained (and why you need it)| Search for Beginners Ep 6 (2:18)
Search Console Training Playlist
Bring up your performance report Performance reports in Search Console (8:20)
Check all your pages are indexed and fix any problems URL Inspection Tool (4:35)
Add Google Analytics to your website if you haven't already. See setup instructions.
Optional: add Facebook pixel. It will be very useful to have this when creating Facebook and / or Instagram ads later.
CMS specific instructions for adding Google Analytics
Wix (cannot use Google Analytics with a free account, you can use Google Analytics with their basic professional account)
If you choose to continue just with the free version of Wix, make use of the analytics reports in Wix for the document below.
Google Analytics for Beginners Certification course provided for free from Google.
Google expects the course to take 4-6 hours to complete, depending on your level of familiarity with the course content.
Complete the Google Analytics Academy courses including passing the required tests
Google Analytics for Beginners
Advanced Google Analytics
Google Analytics for Power Users
Getting Started With Google Analytics 360
Introduction to Data Studio
Google Tag Manager Fundamentals
Part 1: Access, visualize, share, and manipulate your Google Analytics data in Google Spreadsheets.
This requires Google Analytics data, preferably from your website. You should have set this up in an earlier assignment. If you don't have Google Analytics data for your own site, notify the instructor to be added to a demo site.
Read and watch the videos on the Google Analytics Spreadsheet Add-on Implementation Guide
Download and install the add-on.
Create visualizations for Users and New Users, This Week vs Last Week, This Year vs Last Year, Top Browsers, and Top Countries.
If you get a time zone error when trying to run the report, set your time zone in Sheets.
Optionally, create visualizations for avg. session duration (ga:sessionDuration), pageviews (ga:pageviews), exit rate (ga:exitRate), and bounce rate (ga:bounceRate). UA Dimensions & Metrics Explorer (try a different browser if it says "Loading dimensions and metrics..." at the bottom for more than a few seconds).
Schedule the reports to run automatically.
Embed your visualizations on a page in your website as a dashboard. You probably don't want this page to appear in the navigation menu or as a link accessible to regular website visitors.
13 Microsoft Excel Formulas Every Digital Marketer Should Know
Using Excel in Marketing: Spreadsheet Functions Marketing Hires Need To Know
Annual Marketing Budget Template - SCORE (more about SCORE below)
Cost estimator resources
Create Social Media Marketing Posts
Read:
About Facebook Pages
Write
Answer the following questions.
What problem are you trying to solve with this post? In other words, for what job-to-be-done would it be hired?
Who would be the target audience for your post? Why?
What are you trying to get them to do / what is your call to action?
What social media platform would be best to reach your target audience? Why? Support your choice with evidence, like citing the Social Media Network Reference Sheet.
Create
Review this guide regarding number of characters, emojis, and hashtags.
Use Hashtagify.me or all-hashtag or a similar tool
Reference The Ultimate Emoji Guide and / or Emojipedia (Be careful, check here)
Refine your posts based on the Coschedule Social Message Optimizer until you get all green, or at least no red, for the social media platform you chose.
Improve your sentiment score: 273 Winning Words for Emotional Copywriting (with Examples!)
Create a Facebook Page for your business idea or your personal brand. You can unpublish right after you make it if you want by clicking Settings at the bottom left then Page Visibility at the top right. (Optional)
Create a Instagram Business account for your business idea or your personal brand (Optional)
Create a WhatsApp Business Account for your business idea or your personal brand (Optional)
Create a Buffer Publish account, add some channels, and schedule some posts (Optional)
Go to channel, then Settings, then Posting Schedule to change your time zone.
social media marketing yourself
Apply some of the SEO strategies learned earlier to yourself. Remember to use keywords.
Create or update a LinkedIn profile for yourself using the instructions and resources on the Portfolio page
Create paid social media ads
Read:
Choose the Right Objective Facebook Business Help
About Custom Audiences Facebook Business Help
Best Practices to Make Your Ad More Engaging Facebook Business Help
5 Tips to Creating an Unbeatable Facebook Ad Campaign neilpatel
Optional: 9 Facebook Advertising Tools That’ll Save You Time and Money neilpatel
Think
What do you want people to do when they see your ads?
Write
The category of your ad objective / stage of the marketing funnel: Awareness, Consideration, or Conversion.
Your advertising objective (from the list on Choose the Right Objective - New: Updated Objectives)
Where you want to place your ads
The target audience for your ad (location, age, gender, demographics, interests, behaviors) Facebook Audience Targeting Guide
Ideally, your audience should be defined, meaning it's specific enough to reach the people most likely to be interested in your ad, but not so specific that your audience is difficult to reach.
Your call to action (from the list available for your objective as shown at Call-to-Action Buttons Available Per Objective)
Create
Create an ad using Facebook Ad Manager
Campaign - First create a new campaign. Choose the campaign objective you identified earlier.
In Name Your Campaign
Name this campaign something like Page Name – Item Promoted – Objective Category
Name this ad set something like Scheduling – Audience Targeted – Placement – Optimization
Name this ad something like Copy/Imagery Details – CTA Button
Review other options
Ad Set - click Next to go into the Ad Set
Set Budget & Schedule (you do not need to actually spend money)
In Audience, set the location, age range, gender, and targeting for at least one audience
In Placements, review Automatic Placements and if preferred, set Manual Placements
In Optimization & Delivery, review options and make changes as desired
Ad - click Next to go into the Ad
Create your ad with your objective in mind. Include text that complements the visual of the ad. People read quickly, so ensure your text is brief and to the point (limit primary text to 125 characters, headline to 40 characters). Pick an image or video that’s relevant and compelling. Use stock photos or videos from a site like Pixabay or create your own. Create your ad using one of the options below:
Facebook ads Templates on Canva or Adobe Creative Cloud Express
Instagram post Templates on Canva or Adobe Creative Cloud Express
Other than that, what you do in the Ad page depends on how you are creating your Ad Creative and the type of ad. You don't need to do anything on this page if you aren't planning on actually publishing your ad.
FYI: there is a mini version of this process available through the Promote button or Create New Ad link or Create Automated Ad on a Facebook Page
Certification ($99)
Read
A Beginner’s Guide to Email Marketing neilpatel
Email is the king of marketing channels
Write
A strategy you could use to build an email list. (choose one from this video)
An email service provider (ESP), also known as an email marketing platform, that you could use to help manage your email list.
A clearly defined goal for your email marketing including a CTA. For example, you can use email marketing to:
drive sales
boost brand awareness
generate and nurture leads
keep customers engaged
increase customer loyalty and lifetime value
Identify the audience segmentation you would send the message to. Reference the "How to Write Emails With Proper Audience Segmentation" section at https://neilpatel.com/blog/write-emails-that-drive-results/
Write a great subject line.
Identify which of the 12 tips to create good email subject lines your subject line exhibits.
Keep it under 40 characters or about five to seven words
Copy.ai has an email subject line generator
Write the body of a marketing email. Sell the benefits, not features. Spelling and grammar is very important. Use Grammarly.
Use a template from beefree.io. Toggle off the purple Pro ones on the left to only see Free ones.
If you are interested in going deeper into this topic and becoming an email marketing expert, utilize the following resources:
High-Converting Workflows & Sequences That You Can Copy, Paste & Send - Email Marketing Unlocked (7:10)
Send your email to the Mail Tester at Mailgenius and fix any identified problems.
Read
8 Considerations To Make When Designing Your First Online Survey
Market research survey templates surveymonkey
Write
Choose from https://blog.hubspot.com/service/free-survey-maker-software or do your own research.
Define your survey's purpose. What do you want to achieve and why? Choose one of the options listed in one of the three categories below.
Concept testing, like Product testing, Ad testing, Name testing, Logo testing, Messaging/claims testing, Package testing, or Price testing
Brand research, like Brand awareness, Brand conversion, Brand personality, or Brand performance
Customer profiling, like Typical customer analysis, Typical customer demographics, Employment, Firmographics, Target market analysis, Target market demographics
Identify who you are targeting with your survey.
Current customers or prospective customers? "Getting feedback from your current customers is valuable. But to identify new opportunities that ultimately grow your business, you’ll want to collect opinions from your entire target market." source
Unless doing a survey to learn typical customer demographics or target market demographics, include demographics of your target audience like age, gender, and income. To help you brainstorm other demographics, check out the questions from Survey Monkey's U.S. demographics survey template.
Google Ads Search Certification course provided for free from Google via Skillshop.
Create Google Ads
Read:
Write
What is the goal of your campaign?
Sales - Drive sales online, in app, by phone, or in store
Leads - Get leads and other conversions by encouraging customers to take action
Website traffic - Get the right people to visit your website
Product and brand consideration - Encourage people to explore your products or services
Brand awareness and reach - Reach a broad audience and build awareness
App promotion - Get more installs, interactions and pre-registration for your app
Local store visits and promotions - Drive visits to local stores, including restaurants and dealerships.
Where you want to place your ads (Websites, YouTube channels, YouTube videos, Apps, App categories)
The target audience for your ad
Read Rediscover your audience with Google ads including the playbook pdf and the video
Who they are (Detailed demographics) - gender, age, household income, parental status, marital status, education, homeownership status
What their interests and habits are (Affinity). What are they passionate about and what are their habits and interests? List
What they are actively researching or planning (In-market and life events) List
How they have interacted with your business (Your data and similar segments)
Website and app visitors?
Your existing customers?
New users with similar interests to your website visitors or existing customers?
Your combined audience segments (Combined segments)
Your custom audience segments (Custom segments)
Your call to action. (like purchase, call today, order, browse, sign up, or get a quote)
Ad headlines 7 Ready-Made Google Ads Headline Formulas to Make Your Life Easy
Short: Up to 30 characters. Include at least one of your keywords in your headline. Something simple like keyword + benefit is good for a short headline. You can have 5 of these per ad to make your ad more responsive. Use some of the different formulas.
Long: The first line of your ad, which appears instead of a short headline in larger ads. Long headlines can be up to 90 characters, and may appear with or without your description.
Ad description. Up to 90 characters. How to Create a Winner Description for Your Google Ads Text Ads The description adds to the headline and provides additional context or details allowing you to highlight unique details about your product or service. May appear after the headline and should support it. Could include a call to action. Add up to 5 descriptions that will be combined with any one of your headlines to generate your ads. Could include text about benefits, trust, awards, ratings, reviews. (10 points)
Your bid strategy. Determine a bid strategy based on your goals (5 points)
Create
First create a campaign.
Select the campaign goal and campaign type.
At the end of the campaign name, add the product, site, or event you are promoting
Review all campaign settings and make adjustments as you would like
In the Targeting section, segment your audience.
Enter a bid and budget.
Next, create an ad. For a real campaign you would want to add 3-5 ads per ad group. Remember that you are trying to provide relevant information and help people solve problems. Keep your goal and audience segment in mind.
Upload images, including a logo. Click "Edit description" for the logo image and click the radio button to "Use as" Logo.
Add a video.
Refine your ad until the Ad Strength is "Excellent".
If your ad strength is not improving, your checkmarks aren't appearing after adding headlines and other content, or anything else unusual seems to be happening, use Firefox as your browser.
Optional: add sitelinks, callout extensions, and structured snippets. Structured snippets highlight specific aspects of the products or services offered, while callouts highlight what makes a whole business unique.
Optional: add other extensions like location, call, app, price, promotion, and message
Additional Google Ads Certification courses
Google Ads Display Certification: 2.6 hours
Google Ads - Measurement Certification: 4.7 hours
Google Ads Video Certification: 4 hours
Shopping Ads Certification: 3.1 hours
Google Ads Apps Certification: 2.8 hours