Short-form vertical video content is exploding today, thanks to social media platforms like Snapchat Stories, Instagram Stories and Facebook Stories. Over 500 million users engage with these Stories formats daily.
Seeing this shift in consumption patterns, Google has introduced Web Stories – a new visually rich content type optimized for mobile. Positioned as the digital format of the future, Web Stories bring you the best of both worlds – creative storytelling of social media combined with the SEO advantage of websites.
As per Google’s tests, adding just 5 Web Stories on a site can boost its mobile traffic by 12% on average! With such potential, it‘s crucial for digital marketers and content creators to better understand what Web Stories are, types you can produce and how to leverage them effectively.
This comprehensive guide will take you through everything – from their features and benefits to step-by-step instructions for beginners to build Web Stories easily including top tools available today. Let’s started uncovering why Web Stories need to be an integral part of your 2021 content strategy!
What Are Google Web Stories?
Google Web Stories allow you to connect with audiences in a fun, visually engaging way tailored for mobile devices. They look similar to the popular Stories format on Instagram and Snapchat focussed on full-screen vertical viewing.
Web Stories load super-fast using Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) technology and can feature videos, gifs, images, graphics and text spread over multiple slides with cool transitions between them. You can add interactive elements like tap buttons, quizzes and polls to boost engagement.
When users discover these Web Stories in Google Search feed or Image results on their phones, they are drawn into tapping/swiping through them easily. Each story slide can have tappable links which then direct readers back to your site or shopping carts.
Earlier known as AMP Stories, Google launched Web Stories in February 2020 and is promoting it heavily as the future of mobile content discovery.
Benefits of Adopting Google Web Stories
Here are 5 compelling reasons why Web Stories need to be an integral part of your 2021 digital marketing plans:
1. Discoverability & Incremental Website Traffic
With over 90% market share globally, Google Search rules how users discover content online. Given Web Stories appear prominently across key Google properties like Search feed, Discover feed and Image results, they give your brand a way higher visibility than regular articles.
As per insider search expert Danny Sullivan, based on initial publisher tests, adding Web Stories caused their overall mobile search traffic to jump 12% on average! So you enjoy extra exposure plus drive targeted visitors to your site too.
2. Viral Social Distribution
These visually immersive stories are inherently shareable across social channels. Users love passing along entertaining and informative content to their friends and followers on platforms likes Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and WhatsApp.
So you benefit from increased organic reach as readers spread brand stories wider across their social circles, triggering viral effects and word-of-mouth traction.
3. Monetization Potential
For media publishers and content creators who rely on advertising revenue, Web Stories open up additional high-value real estate to insert native ads without hampering user experience.
Industry estimates peg the per thousand (CPM) rates for Web Stories to be around 30-50% higher compared to traditional display ads. So they hold significant financial upside.
4. Lead Generation Leverage
Ecommerce brands can now drive product discovery and direct sales leveraging Web Stories using embedded ‘Shopping Tags’. As users view and swipe stories showcasing your latest clothing line or electronics range, they can instantly tap to visit your product page or checkout cart without any friction.
Such friction-less paths from discovery to transaction enabled by Web Stories are a conversion rate optimizer’s dream!
5. Creative Storytelling That Stands Out
Lastly, the Web Stories format sparks creative innovation for brands to connect with audiences in immersive ways not possible with conventional blog posts and social updates. You can leverage photos, videos, music and text with slick transitions and captive graphic animations to narrate visual stories that grab attention and stick in memory.
Types of Web Stories To Explore
You can produce Web Stories across an endless range of topics and themes. Some formats that work very well:
Behind-the-Scenes
Give audiences a sneak peek into processes through photos, videos and captions showing employees in action across locations like factories, kitchens, workshops, office culture or customer events.
Brand Storytelling
Narrate your origin story or evolution over the years using a mix of old images, milestone visuals, memorabilia and videos. Insert fun facts during the timeline.
Educational Tutorials
Create useful how-to guides and share pro tips around using specific products, creating crafts/DIY art or mastering software applications.
Lookbooks / Product Launches
Showcase catalogs for new clothing lines, accessories collections or electronic gadgets using videos and images capturing their utility across contexts and usage occasions.
Events / Contests
Share highlight reels of recent conferences, webinars or college festivals using photos and snaps from attendees with interactive polls, trivia questions and competitions thrown in.
Quizzes / Polls
Insert fun personality quizzes, fan trivia on entertainment properties or interactive polls on current affairs to spark high user participation.
The creative possibilities are endless once you identify what resonates best with your audiences! Maintain brand consistency across story assets and inserts.
Google Web Stories vs Social Media Stories
While obviously inspired by ephemeral Stories on Instagram and Snapchat, Google Web Stories differ in some fundamental ways:
- You own and host Web Stories on your website instead of social media platforms
- Full control over Web Story curation, design and ad integration
- Appear prominently across Google’s vast ecosystem
- More personalization options with Web Stories
- Additional opportunities for monetization
So in a way, Web Stories combine the appeal and virality of social formats with the ownership and monetization perks of websites – offering brands the best of both!
Step-By-Step Guide To Building Your First Web Story
Creating Web Stories is now super easy even for non-designers thanks to handy templates and guided editors in tools like MakeStories, Web Stories Plugin for WordPress and more. Just follow these steps:
1. Craft a Storyboard
Start by drafting up your story arc. Outline the storyline highlighting key messages per scene, transitions, visuals and text you‘ll use across 15-20 slides. Having this content blueprint will make production way smoother.
2. Source Creative Assets
Compile the graphic assets you‘ll need based on the storyboard – high quality photos, custom videos/GIFs, catchy illustrations, logo stickers etc. Stock media libraries are a great option for sourcing. You can also leverage existing brand assets from past campaigns or shoot custom images and footages.
3. Pick a Web Story Tool
You have several options today to generate Web Stories rapidly without coding including Newsroom AI, MakeStories, Tappable or the Web Stories plugin if you use WordPress. We have compared top contenders below. Import the visual assets gathered into the tool.
4. Bring Your Story To Life
Now start arranging the content pieces using the editor‘s drag-and-drop timeline, inserting animations and transitions between slides. Overlay text snippets wherever necessary to convey key messages. Have a compelling headline and color scheme unifying the story.
5. Enhance Engagement
Look for ways to make the storyline more captivating using interactive elements – maybe a fun personality quiz in the middle or shopping tags linking to products. Enable key functions needed like links, buttons and stickers.
6. Preview & Publish!
Preview end-to-end before you publish to catch any glitches. Fix them if any. Hit the Publish button and your Web Story will be live on site and visible across Google!
Tracking Performance
Like any other content format, you need to closely monitor metrics revealing how each Web Story performs.
Key parameters to track using Google Analytics:
- Impressions
- Story starts vs completions
- Average view duration
- Button / links clickthroughs
- Content resonance (save to bookmarks etc)
- Traffic referred to website
- Viewer geography
Based on early publisher data, a ‘good’ Web Story gets over 600 impressions and 40 link clicks daily. Benchmark yourself likewise.
4 Best Web Story Tools For 2022
We have curated top 4 online Web Story makers rated highly for their usability, features and value.
1. Newsroom AI
Trusted by leading publishers like Forbes, South China Morning Post and Independent UK, Newsroom AI makes it very easy to produce Web Stories at scale complete with detailed analytics.
It comes packed with a real-time editor for teams to collaborate on, 3570+ free Getty Images assets and one-click Google Discover optimization.
Newsroom AI also seamlessly handles hosting, distributions across devices and helps monetize using high-paying ads. Some major customers include Hearst Publications, Mediahuis, Singapore Press Holdings, MSN and Ladbible.
Pricing starts free forever for individuals while business plans unlock additional capabilities.
2. MakeStories
MakeStories allows you to create Web Stories using a simple yet flexible editor even without any graphic design experience.
Drag and drop images, videos, stickers and text elements onto an intuitive storyboarding canvas. It loads up rich animations, transitions, fonts, color tools and 100+ free illustration options to spice up your storyline.
Other key highlights are direct embedding on websites, WordPress integration, custom analytics and handy mobile apps for on-the-go Web Story creation.
Some big brands leveraging MakeStories are Product Hunt, Forbes, FedEx and Kraft Group.
It comes with a forever free Basic plan while Pro and Business tiers enable publishing and analytics capabilities.
3. Web Stories Plugin for WordPress
Plugin retailer giant GoDaddy has launched an easy-to-use Web Stories plugin for all WordPress site owners to tap the new storytelling format.
It seamlessly integrates Web Story creation features right inside the WordPress editor that bloggers and media publishers are very familiar using already. Just pick a template, drag-drop design elements like images, stickers and text – then preview or publish with one click!
The plugin also supports adding animations, transitions and intro music along with site analytics. As adoption increases, Google may also potentially start sharing ad revenues with those using its WordPress plugin to spur content innovation.
It is free to download and start using. The only catch is published Web Stories will feature Google AdSense ads which brands may want to avoid.
4. Shoppable Stories by Tappable
Ecommerce brands must check out Tappable which allows you to directly sell products from within Web Stories using their integrated commerce capabilities.
You can easily add polling questions, lead generation forms, email collection popups and product links inside stories. Viewers can then opt-in for offers or directly add items to cart while engaging with the story!
So if you are looking to not just drive awareness and engagement but also sales through Web Stories, then Tappable is the perfect fit.
They offer a Free version for personal use while Business and Enterprise plans help take custom ecommerce stories to market at scale by unlocking detailed analytics, richer features and expert support.
Ready To Jump In?
There we go! Now you should have a complete understanding of what Google Web Stories offer, why they need to become an integral part of your 2021 digital strategy, formats you can design, step-by-step production tips and some handy tools available today to develop them rapidly.
As short-form vertical video consumption grows across platforms, early movers leveraging Web Stories have an opportunity to leap way ahead – both in captivating audiences more creatively plus enjoying the SEO advantage of higher visibility on high-authority Google properties.
So what next? Sign up for a top Web Story tool listed above using our exclusive coupon code WEBSTORY to get attractive discounts. Then start building your first stories using some ideas shared here. Shift gears and think progressively around not just engaging visitors but also converting them!
Stay tuned for more Web Story inspiration and digital marketing tips here. Feel free to reach out with any questions in comments below.
