In my last post, I talked about the power of focusing on a niche, and here’s why: trying to learn everything at once leads to burnout. Instead, I’ve chosen a hybrid approach—exploring various aspects of digital marketing while positioning myself as an expert Salesforce Marketing Consultant.
My first role as a Marketing Coordinator helped me realize that digital marketing is both vast and competitive. It’s full of opportunities, but standing out can be tough in crowded areas like SEO, WordPress, or email marketing. That’s why I’ve chosen a niche that’s both valuable and rare: Marketing Automation. It’s a simple rule of economics—when something is scarce, it becomes more valuable. And in digital marketing, there’s high demand but fewer experts in automation, making it an ideal space to carve out a unique path.
For anyone looking to build a future-proof career, consider this approach: focus on a niche that’s in demand but underserved. Specializing in areas like automation doesn’t just help you stand out today; it sets you up for long-term success as the industry leans more heavily on data and personalized marketing. By finding a balance between broad knowledge and deep expertise, you’re building both flexibility and authority—two qualities that will keep you relevant as the field grows.
No matter how much I love to explore different skills and expand my knowledge, I always find myself coming back to the same conclusion: to truly excel, you have to specialize. Mastering a specific skill, trade, or industry gives you a competitive advantage. Though I was tempted to dive into the vast field of digital marketing and become a jack-of-all-trades, I realized that the market values specialists—those who have dedicated years to perfecting one area.
Finding the Balance: A Hybrid Approach
So, how do I satisfy my love for diverse skills while still becoming an expert? My solution is a hybrid approach. I keep learning across multiple areas to build a strong foundation, but I focus on mastering one skill—Marketing Automation using Salesforce Cloud Suite. This way, I get to enjoy the perks of being a full-stack marketer, with a specialization that makes me stand out. Some call this the “T-shaped marketer” model, where you have a broad range of skills but excel deeply in one.
Inspiration from Google’s Focus on Search Experience
I think of it like how Google started. At the beginning, Google focused on creating the best search experience. The search engine was simple and effective, with a clean, minimalist design that prioritized speed and relevant results—thanks to their innovative PageRank algorithm. By mastering search first, Google established a strong foundation before expanding into other areas like Gmail, Google Maps, and Google Ads. This focus on perfecting one core service helped propel Google to the global leader it is today.
How to Safely Experiment with Your Website Using a Staging Site
Today, I learned an important lesson: always use a staging site! When working on a live site, the stakes are high—every small tweak or experiment can impact the business, and not always in a good way. But here’s the thing: you don’t need to hold back your inner scientist. A staging site, an exact copy of your live website, is the perfect playground for trying new things safely.
Importance of a Staging Site
Testing on a staging site not only protects the company from unintended mishaps but also builds trust with your boss. No one wants a manager who’s anxious every time they see you’re working on the website. With a staging site, you get to trial all your changes without risking downtime or user experience disruptions.
Best Practices for Testing
The workflow is simple: develop, test on staging, then launch on production. Make sure to rigorously test every update, check across different devices (don’t forget incognito and cache settings!), and keep your team in the loop through quick status updates. And here’s a golden rule—backups are your best friend. With a backup plugin ready, you can always restore if something goes wrong.
Stick to these staging site best practices, and you’ll have all the room you need to explore without breaking a thing!
Website URLs are essential as they serve as the digital addresses for web content, impacting navigation, search engine optimization (SEO), and user experience. Clear, structured URLs enhance visibility and click-through rates, making it easier for users to understand the content they are accessing.
There are a lot of components in a URL, however, we will focus on the subdomain in this post. Here is a quick refresher of all parts of a URL:
Scheme: This indicates the protocol used to access the resource, commonly “http” or “https” (the latter being secure).
Subdomain: A subdivision of the main domain, such as “blog” in “blog.example.com,” which helps organize different sections of a website.
Domain Name: The primary address of the website, like “example.com,” which identifies the organization or entity hosting the site.
Top-Level Domain (TLD): The extension at the end of the domain name, such as “.com,” “.org,” or “.net,” which can signify the type or origin of the website.
Path: This follows the domain name and specifies the location of a particular resource on the server, like “/articles/2024” in “example.com/articles/2024.”
Query String: This optional part starts with a “?” and includes parameters for dynamic content, such as “?id=123&sort=asc,” which can help in filtering or sorting data.
Fragment: This optional section begins with a “#” and links to a specific part of the page, like “#section1,” guiding users to a certain location within the document.
Understanding Subdomains
Subdomains are subdivisions of a main domain that help organize website content. Specifically, they enable the creation of distinct sections, such as blogs or marketing pages, without altering the main site structure.
Moreover, subdomains are beneficial for content-heavy websites. They function as mini sites, which is ideal for individual landing pages in sales funnels or e-commerce sites on different platforms. Additionally, if your website covers multiple topics, subdomains can improve SEO since Google prefers niche sites over broader ones—unless, of course, you have a wealth of backlinks like Wikipedia.
Importantly, Google crawls subdomains in a similar way to subdirectories, recognizing their connection to the main domain. However, for bloggers and small businesses, subdirectories might be more effective for faster rankings, as they consolidate links back to the main site.
For instance, examples like Steam’s store (store.steampowered.com) and various Google services showcase effective organization and branding. To set up a subdomain, simply go to your DNS settings and add a new “A” record using your hosting IP address.
In conclusion, while subdomains enhance organization, they can introduce management complexities and linking challenges. Therefore, use them thoughtfully to maintain a smooth user experience.
If you are learning SEO, understanding follow and no-follow links is crucial for improving your website’s visibility.
What Are Follow Links?
Follow links tell search engines, “I trust this site, and I want to help it rank higher”. They are great for building your site’s credibility. For example:
No-follow links say, “I’m linking to this site, but I don’t want to help it rank.” Use them for sponsored content or when a site seems untrustworthy. Example:
HTML Code
<ahref=“https://www.suspicious-site.com”rel=“nofollow”>
Visit Suspicious Site </a>
Why Use Each Type?
Follow Links: Boost your SEO and referral traffic.
No-Follow Links: Maintain a diverse link profile and protect your site from spam.
This way, you can effectively manage how your website interacts with other sites and enhance your SEO strategy!
