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What Sprocket Clients and Colleagues Read During the Past (Weird) Year
The Sprocket Report
December brings out the analyst in all of us as we look over the past months to plan for the coming year. Our Sprocket Report research reveals that the most-read articles of 2020 were a very mixed – and representative - bag.
We make an effort to note what people are reading because it suggests good topics for future articles. In 2020, the year we can’t wait to leave behind, folks responded to posts that were different from our usual discussions as well as perennial marketing favorites.
The intended audience for the Sprocket Report is current and future clients, but we also have a good number of colleagues and competitors in the industry who follow us – just like we follow them! While we appreciate folks keeping abreast of what’s happening in our business community, it can skew some of the analytics. For instance, a topic of interest to a fellow web developer is often not as interesting to the website’s owner.
On the other hand, as small businesses, we share a lot of the same concerns and challenges. We’re all just trying to learn how to be better business owners and better people. So here’s a quick look at what caught our readers’ attention during the past year:
COVID-19
When everyone was sent home to work, shop, and go to school online, articles like How Do You Reach Customers When COVID-19 Interrupts Your Business? got a lot of eyeballs. Even more widely read – and a testament to our readers’ business intelligence – was the post on How to Capitalize on the Huge Progress Coronavirus Is Forcing Us to Make. It’s encouraging to know that folks were stepping up their game to pivot now while planning for the future.
Representation and Inclusion
“Business as usual” was scrutinized when protests and marches during the summer highlighted inequalities that still have not been properly addressed. Continued Discussions on Marketing Inclusion and Becoming Better Humans received a lot of attention as well as our article on The Rewards of Sharing Your Expertise to Help Your Industry’s Community. It seems many small biz folks are actively looking for ways to grow professionally as well as personally.
SEO
With everyone and their grandmother online, it’s never been more difficult to get attention for your own organization. Search Engine Optimization is a bigger deal than ever to claw through the competition and Find Better Search Terms for Your Website with the Google Keyword Planner was one of our most-read posts. Did You Catch the SEO Mistake from Warner Bros Last Week? was also popular and a good reminder that none of us get search engine optimization right all the time.
Website Business Goals
The article with the highest number of readers, however was Look over Last Year’s Google Analytics to Plan this Year’s Website. Google’s is still the game small biz owners must play and the rules are only getting more complicated. Google Analytics just implemented a bunch of changes again that offer more information, but which will require more effort to understand and implement. Of course not everything Google offers makes sense for smaller businesses. More important for small biz owners is clear-eyed planning and we were happy to see that How Can You Achieve the Web Success You Want with Wishy-Washy Goals? was such a popular post.
What 2021 will bring is anyone’s guess, but we’re hoping for in-person communication like networking events, browsing in shops, and gathering at local watering holes. Even if our dreams come true, it seems certain that working and buying online will continue in a big way and small businesses will need to keep up that trend. Sprocket Websites is ready to help you keep up and get ahead. Just give us a call. And best wishes for the year ahead!
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Kate Gingold
I have been writing a blog with web marketing tips and techniques every other week since 2003. In addition to blogging and client content writing, I write books and a blog on local history.
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I have been writing a blog with web marketing tips and techniques every other week since 2003. In addition to blogging and client content writing, I write books and a blog on local history.
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