Week 7: Trends and Relevance

Keeping up with trends can be a huge advantage for content creators because it can generate more traffic as well as keep the content relevant. Here are a few simple ways to stay updated on trends:

• Follow/Subscribe to other content creators
• Use industry tools (ex. Google trends) 
• Read up on large brands 
• Network and communicate with peers in the industry

As I have mentioned in previous posts, Google Analytics offers incredible data to answer nearly every question regarding your website. You can even change date ranges to see the influence of change over a certain period if desired. This allows you to see trends within your audience, but it is also important to look "big picture". 

Investing time into keeping up to date with trends helps creators make the adjustments needed, and also provides a little direction of what content is relevant. Additionally, using tools such as Google Analytics or optimizesmart.com are great for answering any question regarding your website such as exit rate. Trends can be tricky depending on the audience, but staying ahead of the trend curve is a huge competitive advantage!