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Black Friday: origins and strategies for commercial success

Black Friday is one of the most anticipated days of the year by consumers and traders around the world. It consists of a real day of sales, born in the United States and exported globally, in which it is possible to make really profitable deals.

In fact, no one can miss the opportunity to buy products at very low prices, so that discounts can reach up to 70%.

This year the appointment is set for November 23rd, but it will be possible to do business for the whole week before this date and, in many cases, even a few days later. And this is precisely why we often talk about Black Week.

What is Black Friday?

The Black Friday consists of one day, set for the last Friday of November, in which many companies offer very high discounts on some of their products so as to attract customers to their store or e-commerce with the aim of record an important increase in turnover.

Although the function of Black Friday is purely consumerist, both parties are benefiting from it: on the one hand, traders are able to get attention and boost their sales volumes in a period that is not yet characterized by the race for gifts of the imminent period Christmas and other consumers have the opportunity to take home products for their profits that, if purchased in another period, would have entailed a much higher economic expenditure.

Black Friday: why is it called that?

The origin of Black Friday is American and tradition has it that it always falls on the last Friday of November, or the day after Thanksgiving.

It is said that the origin of the name was born in the city of Philadelphia to describe the huge traffic congestion due to the shopping frenzy that usually occurs on the streets of that city, as in all the United States, right on that date , which has become a real “Black Friday” for motorists.

Another version, however, wants Black Friday to be called this way because of the huge earnings of the traders, who, instead of registering them with the red pen (used to indicate losses) used the black one, thus signaling a positive voice.

Black Week and Cyber ​​Monday

The economic power of Black Friday has also convinced many European states, including Italy, to make this anniversary their own, which over time has also had an important evolution.

The discounts, in fact, are now made not only in stores, but also in e-commerce. This makes it possible to extend the time period of the sales to the week preceding the “Black Friday”, but also to a few successive days. Consequently, the expression Black Week has become a frequent use, coined to indicate this time span, which is generally concluded with the so-called Cyber ​​Monday, the Monday following Black Friday entirely dedicated to special offers on electronic products only.

Black Friday and marketing

From a marketing point of view, Black Friday has become one of the moments of the year in which to focus strongly on the design of strategies aimed at introducing consumers to the products and discounts offered by each brand.

An important role is played by digital technologies, which make it possible to carry out both paid and organic campaigns. It will be easy to notice, for example, the numerous sponsored ads on Facebook journals or between Instagram stories. Socials are a powerful tool, as they allow visual, creative and extremely targeted communication.

Statistics on search volumes in the main engines reveal very interesting numbers. In the chart below you can see how much interest in Google has increased for the Black Friday keyword in the last five years near the end of November.

Crescita dell'interesse per il Black Friday su Google dal 2013 a oggi.
Crescita dell’interesse per il Black Friday su Google dal 2013 a oggi. Fonte: Google Trends

The increase in the search for information on this event in the last few years is evident and therefore it is necessary to integrate the paid campaigns with accurate SEO strategies.

Every brand should care about it, trying to provide information content that can redirect, also thanks to an accurate internal link building, to sections of its site that are more commercial and capable of real conversions.

 

 

Mobile-first Indexing: optimization for mobile devices a Google priority

Mobile-first indexing is one of the most important updates of the Google algorithm. It came into force in July 2018 with the aim of responding to a need that has now become a priority: guaranteeing users an increasingly efficient use experience on mobile devices. The use of smartphones and tablets is always increasing and Google, as a result, tries to adapt its methods of evaluating websites based on how people browse on the Internet.

This change will greatly affect the work of the professionals who work in the web field, as they will have to get used to a different way of thinking and content. Who does not adapt to the logic of mobile-first, is likely to suffer the negative effects that can cause this update to Google thus benefiting the competition.

What is Mobile-first Indexing?

This implementation consists of a new methodology for indexing sites and web pages. Google, from now on, during the crawling phase will give priority to sites optimized for mobile and to the quality of their optimization.

Even sites that have not been updated according to this logic will be clearly indexed and scanned by the Googlebot, based solely on their desktop version, but risk being outclassed on SERPs by competing sites updated according to the mobile-first logic.

Mobile-first indexing can be considered as a revolutionary change by Google, as it will no longer be sufficient to meet all on-page optimization requirements to aim to improve its web reputation and positioning.

Developers, web-designers and web-copywriters during the creation or revision of a site, will also have to pay close attention to the aspects that allow a quick and efficient use of the contents of a simple smartphone from the point of view of displaying the contents.

Why did Google opt for Mobile-first Indexing?

The implementation of Mobile-first Indexing is a logical consequence of the evolution of users’ habits of using web content.

The use of mobile devices is already very high and continues to increase. This is confirmed by the data of Audiweb, according to which only in July 2018 the Italian users who accessed the Internet via smartphone were 28.9 million, against 12.9 million desktop accesses.

Considering Nielsen’s statistics (dating back to April 2017 but very significant) it is clear that Italian users have spent – on average – almost 80% of their time on the Internet on a smartphone and only 20% on a computer.

The graph below shows more details about the time spent on mobile and fixed devices by men, women and different age groups. In all cases, the percentage of time spent on smartphones and tablets clearly exceeds that on the computer.

Mobile-first Indexing: grafico che mostra la distribuzione del tempo totale trascorso online dagli utenti del web
www.nielsen.com/it

Even on the basis of a more global vision, values ​​do not differ much from those in Italy. A Zenith study (data from 2017), in fact, calculated that 73% of the time spent on the Internet by users in the 52 countries considered for the analysis was spent on mobile devices.

Google has always worked to provide its users with quality content that is easy to use and, in accordance with the data just mentioned, has understandably decided to give priority to all web portals capable of adopting the mobile-first logic.

How to optimize a site for Mobile-first Indexing

The precautions to be taken so that a website is perfectly optimized for mobile are of different types, some more technical and others more linked to the display of contents.

One of the main aspects is the loading speed. It is in fact known that the average user when using a smartphone generally does not have the time – or patience – to wait for a page to load: if it opens slowly it is easy to leave it. PageSpeed ​​Insights is a free tool from Google which, following the insertion of a url in the appropriate space, allows you to understand what is the speed of a web page, its state of optimization and the elements on which it could intervene to increase the loading.

To increase browsing speed it is suggested not to include in the mobile version of the site pop-ups that cover the main information and useless animations. These elements could slow down the loading of the page and its contents, with the risk of discouraging the user to remain there. A mobile-fiendly web page must therefore be clean and free of superfluous elements.

Optimization of images and videos is also essential. Entering the title and the alt tag allows faster loading. For these elements, their quality, format and size are also fundamental, which must not be too heavy.

As for the less technical aspects, it is essential to think about the contents in such a way that the user can easily enjoy them. The font must be legible and not too small. The organization of the text is also important; we must ensure that it is ordered, subdivided into paragraphs and, if possible, also in bullet points, as they help reading.

All these little tricks help the user of the web page in reading its contents, so that it remains as long as possible on it without being tempted to leave it prematurely.

How to know if your site is mobile-friendly

A very useful tool to understand if a site is adequate to the Mobile-first Indexing parameters is Google Mobile-Friendly. It indicates its level of optimization, also showing the graphic representation of how it is seen on a smartphone screen.

The first step, however, is to pay attention to the mobile optimization of a web page at the very moment in which it is constructed, at least for its graphic and textual parts. There are several themes for cms that allow you to evaluate what would be the aspects of the page displayed by desktops, smartphones and tablets and to make any appropriate changes during the work.

 

Mobile first banner

 

Web consulting @Datev Koinos Srl

Datev Koinos Srl, a company that creates and distributes a suite of applications for accountants and manages the ” Concerto ” platform for distance learning, has chosen to make use of our web consultancy.

Starting from the optimization of the landing pages in accordance with the keyword strategy shared with the customer, Digitools attention has focused on improving the digital strategy of the company and on providing useful tips to improve the ROI of the campaigns.

Constant monitoring of data becomes an indispensable element for sharing the results of the actions undertaken with the marketing staff and for taking decisions on how to modify and optimize campaigns in accordance with business objectives.

This is why Digitools consultancy cannot do without a careful analysis of the numbers as the ever-changing market often requires sudden changes of direction.

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