An online marketing report is a handy tool for any marketer or SEO specialist, and can be used to track the results of your efforts. The format can vary slightly from one project to another, but there are several elements you need to include. The following are the essentials of a professional online marketing report:
Executive Summary
The first paragraph of your report should include an executive summary. It’s often a good idea to start with a headline that draws the reader’s attention to the essential points of the article. For instance, “The 10 Biggest SEO Trends for 2019” can be a useful guide for 2019, when planning your content strategy. The summary should only contain the most essential points of the article. The goal is to give the reader a brief overview of the whole report while keeping the article succinct.
Overview of the Report
Your overview should contain a short description of the report. For instance, you can write:
“This report studies the current state of SMM (social media marketing) and SEO (search engine optimization) for marketers. The aim is to provide marketers with an essential guide to both strategies, highlighting the most critical concepts, tools, and techniques. The report also examines how businesses with different marketing objectives and strategies can benefit from a deeper understanding of SMM and SEO.”
Whatever you put in the overview, make sure that it’s comprehensive enough to be useful and that you cover all the important aspects of the report. If you’re writing for a general audience, you might want to include some technical details to make the report more accessible. For instance, if you’re writing for a marketing team or a business audience, you can include a few buzzwords and phrases from digital marketing and SEO to make the content more relevant to their needs.
You also need to include the total weight of the report in the overview. This will be useful for those who need to get an overview of the whole report while sitting in a meeting. For example, if you’re meeting with a team of marketers and you want to give them a quick overview of the paper, you can write:
“This report weighs in at a solid 7,500 words, using 12 different metrics to assess the health and performance of social media marketing and search engine optimization in 2019. The key takeaways include…”
Introduction
The introduction should consist of a short but comprehensive overview of the topic. Include some background information about the topic, and include a few relevant quotes from experts. The introduction should also include a hook, something that will draw the reader further into the article. This could be a statistic, a case study, a research question, or a succinct definition of the topic.
You should include your assumptions and the methodology behind your approach. Define the target audience, and explain why you’re interested in the topic.
Overview of the Main Ideas and Concepts
Your report should contain a short overview of the key ideas and concepts. Start by defining these terms, then explain how they relate to the topic at hand. Make sure that the information you provide is both relevant and concise. You can use the defined terms in your report, but make sure to also provide additional clarification if the terms seem a little bit vague.
Research Methodology
Your report should include a section on research methodology. This is where you’ll describe how you reached your conclusions. The methodology section should contain a short explanation of the theory and science behind your approach. The section should also contain a description of any limitations or assumptions you made in your approach. A good research methodology section will always have a flowchart or a graph that visually demonstrates the major steps of your research.
Limitations
Your report should include a section on limitations. This is where you’ll discuss any issues you foresee with your approach, and how you intend to deal with these. Be as objective as possible, consider all the possible issues, and identify possible solutions. The limitations section does not need to be lengthy, but it should contain a short description of each limitation and an explanation of how it might affect the reliability of your results. Remember: the more you put in the limitations section, the more credibility it will have.
Bibliography
Your report should include a section on bibliography. This is where you’ll list and provide credit for all the sources you used in your research. If you chose to do extensive research, then you’ll have to include several references. Make sure to include the author’s and the publication’s full name, the title of the article, the abbreviation used, and the page number on which the information can be found. You should also add an author bio with a link to your website or social media accounts.
Metrics Used
Your report should include a section on metrics. This is where you’ll list and provide credit for all the metrics you used to determine the success of your campaigns. If you used several metrics to determine the success of your campaigns, then include a graph or a table with all the relevant metrics next to each other. Make sure to include the source and the definitions of all the metrics you used. There should be no metric that is not defined or explained in the report.
Key Takeaways
Your report should include a section on key takeaways. This is where you’ll list the main points or lessons you learned from your report. The key takeaways should be relevant and concise, and should include something that will enable the reader to apply your approach, or take your findings, and immediately put them into practice. Make sure to write these points in a way that is easy to understand for your audience. If possible, include a sample, or a link to the webpage or a downloadable file containing your key takeaways.
To wrap up, here’s an example of a good research methodology section from a real report:
“For the purposes of this report, we will be monitoring and analyzing the top English-speaking social media platforms (e.g., Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook) as they relate to the video content marketing segment. We aim to answer the following questions:
How is the video content marketing segment performing in 2019? What are the next steps for video content marketers?
To determine the current state of video content marketing, we will be using the Web content analytics tool Hootsuite’s Platform to collect data from all the platforms we’ve listed above. We will be using the Web content analytics tool Hootsuite’s Platform to collect data from Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook, as these are considered the core social platforms for video content. Our data analysis will focus on metrics such as video views, video engagement, and video activity (e.g., clicks and plays).
How to Write an SEO Guide
An SEO guide is like a Swiss Army knife of the online marketing world. It’s a versatile tool that can help you with a variety of tasks, from online store optimization to email marketing and social media marketing. It’s a one-stop-shop kind of resource for all your SEO-related needs. The following are the essentials of a professional SEO guide:
Overview of the Report
As with an SEO report for a marketing agency, the overview should contain a short description of the report. The difference is that this section will usually include important information about the guide itself. You can write:
“This guide is made up of three separate parts: Part one discusses SEO basics, including what it means, why businesses use it, and how to get started with SEO for your own site. If you’re just starting out, this is a good place to brush up on your knowledge of SEO and digital marketing.
Part two examines specific areas of SEO such as content strategy, keyword research, and link building. Each of these areas is covered in-depth, with practical advice on how to improve your process, as well as specific examples of top performing content.
Part three includes a collection of tutorials, where you’ll find a variety of tools, tricks, and tactics for performing SEO tasks. These can all be used independently or in tandem with one another to create the perfect SEO profile for your site.”
Introduction
The introduction should consist of a short but comprehensive overview of the topic. Include some background information about the topic, and include a few relevant quotes from experts. The introduction should also include a hook, something that will draw the reader further into the article. This could be a statistic, a case study, a research question, or a succinct definition of the topic.
You should include your assumptions and the methodology behind your approach. Define the target audience, and explain why you’re interested in the topic.