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In today’s tech-driven world, it’s crucial for all businesses to have a functional website. Those who don’t launch a site will have no chance of staying in competition as a business. But launching a site can be stressful, frustrating, and overwhelming, to say the least.
But whether you are launching a personal blog or a professional business website, there are several essential things you need to do. Not only is it important to follow certain compliance regulations and laws, but it’s also crucial that website users can easily access your website from their smartphones.
So, we’ve listed the ten most important things you must do when launching a business website. Beyond crafting a professional website, you’ll also need to consider all of the following vital factors for a successful website launch.
Research Accessibility LawsIn certain regions, accessibility laws must be followed by all website owners, whether personal or for business reasons. You must consider AODA compliance when setting up your website.
Image content must include descriptions that explain images to assist anyone using the site that might be visually impaired. Moreover, consider header issues, color contrast issues, and other issues that visually impaired individuals might experience when visiting the site.
Include Essential Website PoliciesYour business website will also need certain essential policies, such as terms of service policy, a privacy policy, a disclaimer policy, a returns and refund policy, and a delivery and shipping policy.
These policies will protect your business website from a variety of legal implications. Instead of leaving these policies till the last minute, be sure to include them when your website launches.
Develop A Pre-Launch PageOn your pre-launch page, include a striking sign-up box that will allow visitors to be notified of the site’s launch date.
Create 3-5 Pieces Of Engaging ContentMost promotional strategies rely heavily on content; without content, you’ll find digital marketing tactics challenging.
Whether your business retails unique products or helpful services, include at least three to five pieces of original, engaging content. Be sure this content complements your business’s specific niche.
Consider how-to posts, expert opinion articles, tutorials, or even industry FAQs and definitions.
Include A Sign-Up Option For NewslettersNewsletters are an excellent digital marketing strategy. With this, you will need to include a pop-up box that allows site visitors to sign-up for upcoming newsletters. It’s also essential to include an unsubscribe option for customers and site visitors.
Moreover, you will need to create content for newsletters that’s informative, engaging, and compelling.
Activate Online Alerts For Your BlogWhen promoting your website, you will need to stay in the loop and up to date with regard to how often your site is being mentioned online. This data can help you gain clarity into the success of your outreach efforts while also helping you focus on strategies that yield the best results.
It’s relatively straightforward to activate online alerts for your blog name. All you must do is simply sign up for Google Alerts.
Learn SEO BasicsSome essential components to include for this are keywords, original content, and backlinks.
Use keywords in strategic areas of site pages like your navigation bar, title tags, header tags, post titles, and alt image tags. Remember to be consistent and original when creating content and building links to your site. In addition, make sure your website is mobile-friendly.
With this, it’s also wise to rely on an SEO expert if you’re experiencing difficulty with the basics of Search Engine Optimization, even though it’s not mandatory.
Implement Google AnalyticsThere’s no doubt you’ll be investing a lot of time and effort into building your website and promoting it, so it’s crucial to know what kind of traffic your site is seeing.
With Google Analytics, it’s easy to gain insight into traffic numbers and other beneficial data points. Moreover, Google Analytics is free and relatively straightforward to use.
Add Your Website To Google Search ConsoleOnce your site is verified with these tools, you can get access to a list of links to your website, manual penalties against your website, and others.
Keep Adding Fresh ContentLastly, it’s also essential to maintain your website to keep traffic numbers flourishing. The best way to do this beyond digital marketing tactics is to keep adding fresh and engaging content to your website.
Even though you’ve already added a few pieces of content, it’s crucial to build on these efforts with the help of a content writing team or agency. As you add more content, you’ll keep your audience engaged.
You can also consider using AI tools for content writers to create high-quality content on your own.
Launching a business website might require a lot of work and attention to varying details. But even so, these efforts will pay off in the long run. A business website will form and strengthen your online reputation, which is essential for all businesses in the modern era.
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Seo Freelancing: 10 Things You Need To Know To Be Successful
Freelancing is often romanticized and seen as an escape from an annoying boss who doesn’t value you.
But often, when people start working for themselves they quickly realize that they ‘quit 9-5 to work 24/7’.
This can have detrimental effects on your self-worth and mental health, but it doesn’t mean freelancing is not worth it.
It can be a fulfilling experience if you get to it with the right mindset.
In this column, you’ll learn SEO freelancing tips that will help you find more (and better) clients, build a sustainable business, and truly love what you do.
But first, let’s take a look at why so many people choose to go freelance.
Pros Of A Freelance CareerI mentioned a few cons of starting an SEO freelancing business above. So now it’s time to balance it out with the pros of this journey.
When you are a freelancer…
You have more control over your time and life.
You don’t need to ask for permission to go to the dentist during the working day. You can even take a full weekday off, if your projects allow. Your schedule is your own.
Your salary can grow quickly.
Search Engine Journal research shows that 60% of SEO professionals earn the same or more than the U.S. median while working full-time.
But growth is often limited by the years of experience one has plus it’s hard to substantially increase your salary within one company. You would often need to change jobs to get a bigger increase.
But when you’re an SEO freelancer, you don’t need to wait for a ‘3% yearly increase’ in your salary. You can make more faster.
I made my previous full-time job salary within the first year of freelancing, and I more than doubled it in the next year.
That’s not a unique result, there are many other success stories from fellow SEOs who decided to start their freelancing careers.
Moreover, there’s literally no limit to how much you can make since you can grow your freelancing business into an agency or something else.
Working with clients directly.
It was one of the most important pros for me as I wanted to have a bigger impact on my clients’ success.
You understand your clients better.
Being a business owner, you understand your clients better as you now know more about prioritization and estimating effort vs impact.
It helps you concentrate on the most meaningful recommendations instead of trying to fix all SEO issues.
I started my company two years ago without any business or freelancing experience, so I had to learn everything quickly.
Here are my 10 most valuable tips that I hope will help you get your SEO freelancing business up to speed (and keep you sane while doing it).
1. Talk To Other FreelancersNo matter where you are at, there are people who have already been there. They have experience and insights you can benefit from.
Be respectful of their time.
Don’t just DM your list of questions or something vague like ‘please help me.’ If you build relationships instead, people will be happy to help you.
Ask specific questions.
The answers you get depend on the questions you ask. So make sure you ask specific questions that would really move the needle for you.
You’re responsible for your decisions.
You ask people to get help, not to put responsibility for your business on them. So use common sense and see what’s working for you and what’s not.
2. Build Your Online PresenceYou can be the best SEO ever. But if nobody knows about it, it’ll be hard to succeed.
We live in the world of so many voices on social media, and your voice should also be heard.
You can use LinkedIn to build your presence. You can use Twitter, start a newsletter, or do everything at once. The choice is yours.
But trust me, it’s much easier to talk to prospects if you have a great digital footprint.
I started building my LinkedIn and Twitter presence two months before I quit my job. It did help me get first clients and first students into my SEO course.
3. Treat Yourself As A BusinessWhen you start your own business, you are now an accountant, a salesperson, an account manager, a legal department.
And you also pay your taxes (yes, that’s frightening at first).
You need to account for this when pricing your services. It’s not enough to just calculate the hourly rate you had at a day job. You’ll need a few times more to cover all other expenses.
4. Learn To Price Your ServicesNow you know that you’re a business, even if you’re currently the only person working in it.
The main goal of any business is to make a profit. So the next important thing is to embrace it and stop underselling yourself (it might be easier when you see your first tax bill).
A few tips here:
Don’t work for free.
Use project-based pricing over hourly billing.
Constantly improve and up your prices accordingly.
5. Learn How To SellWhen I started, I heard people saying “you’re not in the business if you can’t sell.” It would make me cringe every time.
I did not want to sell; in fact, I was afraid to do it.
Also, there’s a common misconception that if you’re good at your craft (in SEO in our case), you’ll automatically have many clients lining up to work with you.
That’s not true. In reality, selling and SEO are completely different skills. And you need them both to succeed.
Everything changed for me when I accepted this truth. I started learning to sell.
I’m not talking about door-to-door sales or sending annoying messages to your contacts on LinkedIn. It’s much more subtle.
Whenever you jump on a call with a potential customer, you’re selling.
Even when you’re just talking or sharing your past wins, you’re selling.
You’re selling ideas, results, yourself as a professional, your agency. Any conversation with a prospect is a sale.
The sooner you understand it, the better.
See also: How SEO Professionals & Agencies Win New Business [Survey Results]
6. Create Processes And SystemsI hear so many people saying that they still don’t have a clear path they follow for an SEO audit or similar repeatable tasks.
It’s okay if you don’t have processes or systems right now. But it’s time to start building them.
Creating processes will help make your freelancing business more efficient and improve margins. Processes are also valuable for the delegation at later stages if you decide to hire someone else to help you.
You don’t need to create anything fancy. A process can start in the form of a simple checklist that you can expand over time.
7. Build AssetsWhen I started my freelancing business, I simultaneously started building a course.
While I would not recommend everyone doing something big like that (as it’s exhausting), it’s still valuable to start building some kind of assets (for example, an ebook or a paid membership).
I truly believe that selling products in addition to services makes you a much better SEO as you learn a lot of marketing skills.
You start seeing audience research differently, learn copywriting, and understand your SEO clients much better.
Moreover, assets bring you passive income and they also keep you busy when there’s not a lot of client work. They can also grow into something bigger in the future – who knows?
8. Set Yourself Up For A Long JourneyStarting a freelancing journey is not easy. You’ll need to figure out many things quickly. It can also be lonely.
All this can lead to constant overworking and issues with mental health.
In fact, according to this poll I did on Twitter, work/life balance is one of the 3 hardest things in freelancing:
So it’s better to take care of yourself and your work/life balance before it’s too hard to remember who you are in life outside of your business.
Here are some tips:
Have a support group who would cheer you up (your spouse, friends, fellow freelancers).
Have a hobby that is not connected to your work (and ideally doesn’t involve a computer, too).
Schedule your leisure time.
Set clear boundaries with yourself; don’t work 12 hours a day in your pyjamas.
All these small things will ensure you’re running a marathon, not a sprint (yes, it’s an allusion to SEO).
9. Know Your ‘Laws’ And Stick To ThemYou can’t work on every type of SEO project out there. You can’t work with all types of clients who come to you.
Trying to help everyone will only burn you out.
Instead, you need to have clarity on what you do (your strengths), how you help (your services), and who you help (types of clients you work with).
You will find it hard to say ‘no’ to potential projects at first. But it will pay off in the long run.
10. Help People Throughout The WayYou’re valuable. No matter where you are in your freelancing journey, you can help someone who is a few steps behind you in something.
You can help in any way that suits you: writing a blog post, tweeting your tip, answering someone’s question in a Slack group, etc.
Just know that your experience matters and one day (very soon) you’ll be the one helping someone who’s just starting.
Final BricksLife is too short to stay at a job you don’t like or work on projects you don’t enjoy.
When you open a freelancing journey for yourself, you’ll have no limits.
I believe in you.
Featured image: Shutterstock/Harbucks
9 Things You Should Do Before Selling Your Old Ipad
If you’re ready to sell your old iPad, you should ensure that you wipe all personal data from the device before you sell it. This guide will make your transition to a new iPad smooth by erasing all content from your old iPad before you sell it or give it away.
1. Ready To Sell Your Old iPad? Back Up NowThis checklist is the same for all models of the iPad, such as the iPad mini, iPad Air, or iPad Pro. You should first back up all your essential data. You can consider using iCloud for an online backup or Finder or iTunes for a local backup.
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Note that Apple stores iCloud backups on its servers only for 180 days. So, if you’re planning to switch to a new iPad more than six months after backing up the old one, you could lose all your data on iCloud. That’s why a local backup on your computer is better for those who don’t immediately plan to switch to a new iPad.
First, let’s learn how to back up your Apple device to iCloud using a built-in backup feature on iPadOS.
When the process is complete, you’ll see a message below the Back Up Now button telling you that the last backup was completed a short while ago.
If you don’t want to use iCloud, use your Mac or Windows PC to take a full backup of the iPad. If you have a Mac, connect the iPad to your Mac using the USB cable. Next, open Finder on your Mac, and you’ll see your iPad under the Locations section in the sidebar. Select the name of your iPad in the Finder sidebar.
ITunes backup is the best method for anyone using an older Mac or a Windows PC.
You can also protect the backup with a password if you wish to add an extra layer of security, but be sure to use a password manager or an equally reliable tool to save this password. If you forget the iPad backup password, you won’t be able to access the data or use it to restore to a new iPad.
2. Sign Out of iCloud, App Store, and iMessageThe next step requires you to sign out of iCloud and other Apple services. This will ensure that the new owner of your old device can sign in to their Apple ID successfully and use the iPad without trouble. iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 have an anti-theft feature that doesn’t allow people to sign in and use the Apple device if the previous owner hasn’t erased it.
First, you should check if you need to continue using iMessage. This service works on all Apple devices, including your iPhone, iPad, and Mac. If you plan to use any other Apple device, you don’t need to deregister iMessage, but if you don’t use any Apple device, you should disable it.
Apple will ask you to confirm if you want to log out. Tap Sign Out again.
3. Unpair Bluetooth AccessoriesBe sure to unpair accessories such as AirPods, gaming controllers, Bluetooth keyboards, etc. Open the Settings app on your iPad and go to Bluetooth to check which accessories are paired. Tap the i button next to each accessory and select Forget This Device.
Remember that you cannot pair your Apple Watch with any device other than the iPhone, so there’s no need to worry about unpairing it from your iPad.
4. Erase Your iPad 5. Remove the SIM cardOnce your iPad is restored to factory settings, don’t forget to remove the SIM card in the device. This applies only to the cellular version of the iPad, so if you’re using a Wi-Fi only iPad, there is nothing to worry about.
6. Remove Your iPad From the List of Trusted DevicesIf you’ve enabled two-factor authentication on your Apple ID, your iPadOS or iOS device receives two-factor authentication codes. So, when selling or giving away your iPad, you should remove it from the list of trusted devices that receive these authentication codes too.
7. Find All Accessories and the BoxWith all the basics covered, it’s time to hunt for the accessories shipped with the iPad and the box it came in. This includes the USB cable, charger, earphones, and manuals. Depending on the model of your iPad, some accessories may not have come with the device.
If you have the box and all accessories, the resale value of your iPad may go up on sites such as eBay or Amazon. In case the device is under warranty, you should look for the original invoice to help out the new owner of the iPad. It may come in handy if they have any warranty claims. The paper invoice is useful, and so is a soft copy that arrives in your email.
8. Trade In Your iPad or Sell ItYou should also check the Apple Trade In site to check if you can get a better price from Apple.
9. Transfer Data to Your New iPadFinally, if you bought yourself a new iPad, you can pick up where you left off by transferring your data to the new device. There are three main ways to do this.
If you have both your iPad and the new device with you, switch on the new iPad and bring it close to your old iPad (before erasing the old one). You’ll see a prompt on the old iPad asking if you want to transfer data to the new one. You can follow the on-screen prompts, and all data will be transferred to the new device.
Alternatively, you can restore from an iCloud or a computer backup during the setup process for the new iPad.
How Targeted Do You Need To Make Your Ppc Landing Pages?
When is the time and effort of creating dozens — or even hundreds — of ultra-targeted landing pages worth the trouble and expense?
Admittedly, the answer will differ for every AdWords campaign.
But recently, we walked this path with a client in a big way, and we discovered that sometimes the trouble and expense of creating ultra-targeted landing pages is more than justified.
In this article, I’m going to present our findings to you as a mini-case study. And our experience may encourage you to create landing pages that are much more targeted than ever before.
Building Geo-Specific Landing PagesThis case study is for a client who came to us in 2010. The client’s business is organizing and facilitating special corporate events.
At the time, they were providing services to about 10 metropolitan areas. So we set up geo-specific landing pages, with one landing page per city.
Over the next while, we stayed laser-focused on these city-specific landing pages, using tight keyword terms that helped us boost the client’s quality scores as they had been extremely low at the start of our engagement.
In 2011, our client suggested adding videos to these landing pages, and we agreed to test them. We discovered that the landing pages with videos declined in performance, so we removed the videos from them.
As performance remained strong, the client wanted to develop the account to target many more cities, to eventually triple — and even quadruple — the number we had started with.
Moving From Geo-Specific to Service-Specific Landing PagesWith the prospect of the number of landing pages increasing significantly, creating so many city-specific landing pages — and managing them — seemed daunting. So, we switched from city-specific landing pages to landing pages that focused on service offerings.
We felt confident in doing so because quality score was no longer an issue and performance remained strong. It was also standard industry practice at the time.
Our confidence was justified as performance remained strong after the switch.
Here’s an excerpt from one of these landing pages:
We were now using one national page that covered the events offered.
We stayed with this strategy for the next four years, testing little adjustments along the way. Results remained solid.
Moving From Service-Specific Back to Geo-Specific!But in 2023, we disrupted this approach again!
We decided once again to test city-specific landing pages and give videos another try.
So we created a few city-focused landing pages, including city-focused videos.
To our amazement, we saw a 60 percent lift in the cities tested!
The improvement was too large to ignore. So, with our client’s agreement, we created city-specific landing pages — with city-specific videos — for every metro area the client served. That’s 50 landing pages!
In this excerpt from the landing page for Boston, for example, we’ve used city-specific imagery and copy — using “Boston” as a modifier throughout:
Creating these videos was a big task for the client, as they had to make about 50 of them.
It was a lot of work. It took the client and my team a year to complete everything and get the landing pages live.
The ResultsWe were very pleased with the results. Overall, the client’s performance is up significantly YOY, and the new landing pages are a big contributor.
But we didn’t stop at landing pages. In addition to testing campaigns for the new landing pages in isolation, we also tested other changes and updates in isolation.
Once we saw the positive results of our tests, we eventually rolled out these changes to all campaigns. And the account’s performance skyrocketed as a result.
The LessonsSo what lessons can PPC pros draw from this case study? Quite a few:
1. Landing Pages Are Important 2. Keep on TestingThe world of paid search is rarely static. And of course, technology changes and businesses evolve at the same time.
As a result, things you’ve tested previously — and that didn’t perform well — shouldn’t be written off forever.
When you hear someone say, “We tried that before and it didn’t work,” ask exactly what was tested and when. Because it never hurts to test again. And you may find you get very different results.
This was certainly the case in this example. When we tested landing pages with videos before, they performed worse than pages without videos. But when we tested them again, several years later, the reverse was true.
3. Don’t Underestimate the Power of ‘PPC 101’One of the most encouraging things about this case study is that it’s not fancy. We weren’t using revolutionary PPC strategies to get these results.
Rather, we were using PPC basics. There’s nothing in this strategy that couldn’t be replicated by any PPC pro with the necessary resources.
4. B2B PPC Can Be ExcitingSometimes, there’s a general feeling in paid search that B2B PPC is boring as compared to B2C PPC. But that’s not true! And this case study proves it.
How Targeted Should Your Landing Pages Be?So how targeted should you make your landing pages? Based on this case study, I think the answer can only be this: As targeted as you need them to be.
More Paid Search Resources:
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Is Seo Dying? 4 Things You Need To Know
Google has changed a lot in the last few years. It’s not just about the 10 links that come up on the search results page anymore. Now there are Google Ads, Maps results, Google My Business listings, knowledge panels, and rich snippets all taking up real estate on a search result page.
With so many different ways to get your business on Google, people have started to wonder, “Is SEO dying?” But the truth is that SEO is alive and well and is a key component of a healthy marketing strategy. Why? Let’s explore.
1. Search Overall Is on the RiseAs long as people are using search engines to find businesses, information, and entertainment, SEO will continue to be important. And, more searches are happening now than ever. With the ease of searching on desktop, mobile, and through voice search (which we’ll talk about more later), we can assume that searches will continue to rise. So, it’s important to make sure that your business has a presence on search engines, and SEO is one of the most important ways to do that.
2. SEO Is Bigger Than Organic SearchLike I mentioned above, Google has added a lot of features that seem to be crowding out organic search results. In reality, though, the businesses that Google decides to feature in things like Maps results or rich snippets are those that have taken SEO into account.
Google is a business, too. Their customers want answers to their queries, and the way for Google to provide the best search results is to ensure they’re featuring the companies that are most relevant to the search terms. And how do they do that? By analyzing what a business has done to up their SEO game.
If you’ve put in the legwork to create an SEO-friendly site with strong internal linking, solid content, and a high trust, Google feels confident that your site is likely to provide the answers their customers are looking for, so they’ll be more likely to feature your business in one of their many formats.
3. Appearing in Map Search Results Is KeyBecause of the increase in mobile search, performance in Maps results is becoming increasingly important. Searches with the phrase “near me” have grown astronomically over the past few years. In 2023, Google found that searches about making a purchase that included “near me” increased over 500%.
If proximity is important to consumers, you can bet they’re using Maps to see which business is the closest. And because so many searches are happening on mobile devices, people who aren’t familiar with your neighborhood might be finding your business as they drive through by searching with the “near me” phrase from their phone or tablet. I know I personally conduct most searches for businesses directly in my Google Maps app ““ I don’t even go to my internet app because I want to get all the information about the business right there so I can call, get directions, and read reviews in one easy place.
How your business appears in map results is influenced by your SEO approach and listings management. Be sure you’re giving yourself the best shot at appearing in these types of searches.
4. Alexa & Siri Rely on SEOVoice search has also been on the rise in recent years. Thanks to Amazon Echo, Google Home, and Siri across Apple products, we’re seeing people turn to voice assistants more frequently.
When you ask Siri, “What’s the best coffee shop nearby?” she’s providing you with one answer. Of course, if you’re a coffee shop owner in the neighborhood, you want to be sure that your business is the one Siri responds with!
The best way to ensure that is to adhere to SEO best practices. Ask customers to leave positive reviews. Manage your Google My Business profile, and make sure all of the contact and location information listed is correct.
Even though the Google landscape is changing, SEO remains as important as ever. Thinking about SEO when designing your site and managing your online assets will give your business the best shot at being found by consumers. We know a lot goes into SEO, which is where we come in! Our SEO experts can help you get your business seen on search engines. Contact us today to learn more.
Related ArticlesUnderstanding How Search Engines Work
What’s the Difference Between Organic SEO and Local SEO?
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Stephanie HeitmanStephanie is the Associate Director of Content for LocaliQ and WordStream. She has over 10 years of experience in content and social media marketing and loves writing about all things digital marketing. When she’s not researching the latest and greatest marketing news and updates, she’s probably watching reality TV with her husband, reading, or playing with her two pups.
Other posts by Stephanie Heitman
Do You Need A Chief Digital Officer To Manage Your Digital Transformation?
Study from PwC shows the need for Chief Digital Officers in larger organisations
The digital revolution is transforming all business departments. Marketing, HR, Sales, Finance & IT all have massive opportunities and considerable challenges thanks to the rapid pace of digital change. Whole industries are being disrupted with newer, faster and more efficient ways are doing things emerging. Many businesses are responding by creating a digital transformation programme – our new research shows the number of businesses adopting digital transformation programmes is increasing with around one-third having a programme in place and a further third planning a programme within 12-months.
Managing digital transformation is a herculean task, but one that needs to be done well if the business is going to continue to grow in a world forever changed by pervasive technology.
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The challenge of digital transformation has led to the creation of a whole new category of business executive; the Chief Digital Officer or CDO. McKinsey has described the CDO as the Transformer in Chief.
A new report from PwC charts the rise of this position, and suggests it’s importance will continue to grow over the coming years.
How many already have a CDO?Only 6% of companies have a chief digital officer, which in part is explained by the fact many businesses are too small to require such a position. Contrast this to the proportion of businesses with another type of CDO, the Chief Data Officer, which Gartner estimates will reach 90% by 2023.
Larger companies generally are ahead of the curve in appointing CDOs. The proportion of companies with more than 10,000 employees that have appointed CDOs is between 5 and 9 percent, but this falls to between 1 and 3 percent for companies with fewer employees.
The more consumer-oriented industries were more likely to have CDOs. 13% of media companies had them, whilst 31% of travel and tourism companies had them. This reflects how much digital has transformed those industries, so as we see technology disrupting a whole new set of industries in the coming years, such as healthcare, finance and law, so too will we see the growth of CDO positions.
I would conservatively predict that within five years the levels of CDO penetration across the board will be as high as it is in the travel and tourism sectors.
European companies lead the way in terms of CDO positionsEuropean companies are considerably more likely to have CDO positions than other regions. This may, however be the result of different cultures towards digital transformation, as many American companies may feel that they already have digital in hand, with experienced executives that lead technological changes.
Which departments are CDOs recruited from?Being a ‘chief digital officer’ you might expect a lot of CDOs to have a tech background, possibly leading IT departments. Not so. In fact, the most common background for CDOs of marketing, and 2nd is sales. This is probably down to the extent to which marketing has been disrupted by digital, giving marketing officers strong insights into managing digital transformations.
Where do CDOs sit in the organisational structure?As the ‘Chief’ in term name would suggest, the most common ways CDOs are integrated into an organisations structure is at the C-suite level, which is a testament to their importance within major organisations.
Do you need a CDO?The answer to this question will very much depend on the size of your business and the sector it operates in, as well as its current state of digital development. Digital officers are required when the business is going through digital transformation, but are a transitional role. Once all aspects have fully embraced and optimised the use of digital technologies, the need for a chief digital officer will evaporate. Railway companies don’t need chief diesel officers to manage the transition away from steam trains, because they don’t use steam trains any more. Therefore whether or not your business needs a CDO will also depend on whether digital is the norm or not in your organisation.
For more insights on the current state of the role of chief digital officers, download the report from PwC. For a contrarian look at the future of CDOs, see this article from Forbes.
It quotes Rob Preston, Editor-in-chief at InformationWeek forecasting that by 2023 the CDO role will disappear. He says:
“…once business leaders understand that the Chief Digital Officer is a role born from the apparent need to fulfil responsibilities that are accountable and delivered by each of the C-suite separately in their own duties”.
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