wordpress Archives - Barbara Genest

Google web stories is a feature that allows you to publish content in a different format than your blog that is highly attractive and shareable to mobile users. This format is similar to what you see on popular social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. It uses video, graphics, text, and other features to tell a story that your audience is interested in or needs through a more attractive and engaging format to your audience.

Using features that attract more mobile users is more crucial than ever, as nearly seventy percent of those using the internet to shop use their smartphones. What’s even more important is that the Google Discovery feature, where your stories will be placed, attracts around eight hundred million views every single month. To use this feature, you must be aware of the tools required to get it going. Let’s look at some.

The following are the three Google web story tools to know about and important tips on how to use each:

Web Stories for WordPress

This is the main plugin to use that started the launch of Google web stories. This plugin offers a unique editing interface, tools, and templates to create powerful and beautiful stories — making it your best bet if you want to get maximum value out of your stories. Of course, if you have a WordPress blog, this will work better since it’s designed to work with self-hosted WordPress (WordPress.org). However, since it is a Google product, you will likely have success using this feature. Third-party options can still make things better and easier to use, especially as time goes on.

MakeStories

This third-party tool takes Google’s Web Stories technology to the next level and makes it easier to use. It also provides more tools to host your stories, turn your stories into Instagram style carousels on your website, and offer a workspace to design and collaborate with your team.

Newsroom AI

Another powerful Web Stories tool that builds on a more immersive and intimate experience with your audience. Newsroom offers a freestyle functionality web story builder that lets you add shapes, media, or text layers however you want. Newsroom also gives access to over three hundred million Getty Images to upscale your content with free images and use the advanced publish settings to Connect to Google Discover to get more views.

Get to know each of these different Google web story tools to find the one that works best for you. While many of these 3^rd Party tools are useful, it is always a good idea to learn the one that was developed first to get the most out of this new feature, as it is likely to be the most compatible. However, it is only natural for more tools and resources to become more beneficial and valuable as time goes on.

When you think about building an email list, it can get overwhelming thinking about all the technology you need to work together to make it all work. Keep in mind that some of the systems are redundant, and you may not need all of these, but you will need the following:

A website – What platform will you use to build the site? You can choose self-hosted WordPress, or you can build your website another way. Know how all the technologies work together. For most needs, self-hosted WordPress will work great.

A website host – Pick a website host that will work with you based on your needs. Remember that bigger is not always better. But you want the host to have a good reputation and provide excellent customer care. If you’re a newbie, you may need hand-holding – in that case, a good choice is a host called Mom Webs.

A social media presence – Create social media accounts on platforms your audience likes to use. Update it often with relevant information and content for your audience. Choose at least the top three that your audience likes to use. Consider using automation via software like Hootsuite.com too.

A targeted and compelling freebie – You may need or want more than one freebie that you create based on where your targeted audience member is in their buying cycle.

A landing page or sales page – Treat your freebie as you would any product you’re going to sell to your audience. Create a sales page for it so that your audience knows the benefits of getting it. While you can build a landing page using a standard WordPress new page, using software like HBA Funnel Builder is also very helpful and makes it quick.

An email autoresponder service – You must have an autoresponder such as Aweber.com, Drip.com, or Get Response (or others) to deliver the messages to your subscribers. Don’t be tempted to use your own website and private email because these services are more secure and work better.

A place to store downloads – You may want to use your own server, or you might want to invest in a better system that is more secure like Amazon S3 to store your freebies and products safely.

A way to deliver the freebie – You don’t want to attach your freebie to the email. Instead, you’ll want to create a download page or use an automatic system to help deliver it, track it, and segment your audience with it.

An email marketing sequence of messages – You’ll want to create an email sequence to welcome your subscribers based on the freebie they download or the product they buy and add information to guide them in their choices in the future.

To choose which technology you’re going to use, it’s essential to understand what your business stands for, what your budget is, and what you plan to do in the future too. Choosing systems that can grow with you is important.

If you missed yesterday’s Blog Post you can read it here: Choose Your Email Marketing Technology Carefully