Part of the forthcoming Contentus module designed to simplify your content creation strategy is our Related and Series module. The module provides a facility to create and manage global blocks of related content, or a series of connected articles.

We've long struggled with the various ways in which to return related content to a page, with the last block of code provided around 5 years ago. With support provided by Yabber, and a vasty improved website architecture, the method of delivering related content is far more usable now that it ever was in the past, and this article introduces the current methods for returning related or series content into an accordion-style format.

Keep in mind that the blocks of related and series content we're demonstrating on this page are assigned blocks of content rather than content that is resolved, with the latter feature working in a similar manner but not introduced in this article (related articles are rendered under each of our posts by default, and this is now the primary mechanism to deliver related reading material to all client websites).

We've determined that in-post related content and series-based content reliably improves website funnel conversions by at least 23%. The importance cannot be overstated; the content provides relevance, manufactures website funnel pathways, and retains the attention of your website visitors. Consistent with our obligation to provide all the tools necessary to improve organic conversions, we've developed a super-simple way in which to create collections of objects quickly and easily, and more importantly, the integrated tool means that changes in Yabber are applied to all occurrences of a website collection with a single update.

  The Result

An example of a collection of Related Posts is shown below. Shown is a small series that contains child articles that connect to our Blocks module.

The 'square' icon to the left of the text shows if the post is the current page, and the icon shades to a very light grey if you permit draft articles in the series (handy for the purpose of notifying clients of scheduled content).

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The example video series sources those videos from Round 1 of the Banking Royal Commission hearings.

The video link launches a modal that serves the tracked video in a customisable container (discussed shortly). In a moment we'll also introduce how the video click will contribute towards a conditional understanding of the users borrowing objective.

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An example of a collection of Related Downloads is as follows:

Of course, all download details are recorded at the user level so optional triggers may be applied.

  Creating and Editing Related and Series Blocks

Creating the series for any resource is made in Yabber by dragging and dropping the posts, videos, or downloads, into the appropriate order. These rules then become available in Elementor or in shortcode.

  Pictured: Pictured is a section of the panel to create a series post. In the first instance posts are dragged into the order you would like them to appear on your page, and then they're saved. When editing 'next' they'll appear under the 'Selected' title in your preferred order. For posts we return most post types, such as posts, FAQs, pages and so on, and they're all indexed in the creation panel. Videos are listed under YouTube and Wistia, and Downloads shows all download options in their relevant categories.

Editing any series is made via selecting the applicable collection via an Edit panel, or you may alter the series or remove items from any collection from the 'Review' panel

  Pictured: The review panel is comprehensive in that provides a snapshot of all created collections, but it also permits the reordering of posts and the deactivation of any post in a series, or the full edit. Clicking on the green icon returns applicable edit options, and selecting the 'Edit' icon returns the primary edit page. The 'Send Log' is truncated from the screenshot for brevity.

  Settings and Styles

The presentation of the related collection or series can be customised for each occurrence of a block. most of the time you'll generally use a single style globally making updating easy by updating a single style option. The styles are created in a new module simply called "Styles" (with a plan to replace all styles with a single repository of data), and general settings and modal styles are updated via the 'Settings' icon.

  Pictured: The Settings Panel with an accordion style panel inserted. Most of the options relate to the video modal (such as the background and optional text above every video). An option is provided to limit the number of posts returned when creating related article blocks.

  Related & Series Triggers

A website is borderline pointless if it doesn't apply pressure to a marketing funnel. All resources on your website that have the capacity to contribute to your escalation of commitment strategy should apply that funnel pressure, and each of the modules we've introduced allows you to create optional triggers that launches an email, changes a subscription, course-corrects and email sequence, or sends a text message. The video modal trigger system is integrated with the 'Series' module while Downloads and Post collection triggers are managed via their own standalone modules.

  Pictured: The video series modal panel is a simplified version of our standard Trigger System. The trigger may be applied to all occurrences of the series video modal link, or it may be limited to those on specific pages. As many rules may be applied for any single video link.

You may apply a trigger to every single occurrence of the series video modal, or just those on specific pages. If you're wondering why you haven't seen this functionality in the past it's because it doesn't exist anywhere else - at least in the finance space.

The modal is an effective way of applying 'actions' to YouTube videos (a standalone system applies to Wistia videos and may be used in company with the basic trigger feature)... and it's a ridiculously effective way at improving upon nested funnel engagement within or downline to the top-of-funnel subscription.

  Elementor Integration

As with most of our primary modules, we provide three Elementor blocks that allow you to drag-and-drop your defined collections onto any post or page. You simply select the series, apply an optional style profile, and the series is returned to the page. You may optionally user a shortcode referenced via our WP shortcode editor panel.

  Pictured: We provide an Elementor block for each of the three primary 'Related' types. The widget is dragged into any position on a page and returns a number of options. You select the applicable series, select a style, and the block is rendered to your page. It's a seriously simple way of creating content.

Each Elementor block includes similar basic options, such as the feature to disable the accordion panel (meaning that the description is hidden), or to return numbering for those occasions where the block represents a true series of sequential articles.

  Series Statistics

There's not a single piece of data relating to the interaction with a series or related collection that we don't record, and these insights are returned back to you in a manner that allows you to gain a deeper understanding of your marketing efforts. Marketing without data is like driving with your eyes closed - it's pure guesswork. Having data available to you, and then having systems that allow you to quickly respond to trends in consumer interest, is a marketing imperative that many choose to ignore.

The series data isn't the most important data we collect, but it does contribute towards the temperature of a user, and our BeNet system starts to gain a deeper understanding of specific individuals. It's unlikely you'll refer back to series statistics very often but you will routinely check back on the aggregate information gained from hundreds of interaction types.

  Note to Clients

Clients should review the module occasionally to review the changes and new features. As a revised feature please keep the following in mind:

• Some of the statistical data isn't returned in graphical format just yet... but data is referenced in the Prospect Temperature tables. We're testing various integrations so we're holding off on some features until the second week of September.

• The tool should be considered an early version. In the course of writing this introduction we've picked up on a few changes that we'd like to make, and we would also like to introduce a facility to alter the presentation in more significant ways.

• When creating content in the new Contentus module you'll have the option of including series blocks in those articles with a single select menu. This is particularly important for us as we mirror a large number of BeLearn sections on our this website.

• Consider showing a block of 'Featured' posts on your Blog's archive page. Your important articles are often buried under a pile of history making them difficult to find if you don't feature them in some way. We'll be creating a grid-style panel for this purpose.

• There are advanced features not discussed on this page, such as the facility to assign interests to Videos (for the purpose of guiding conditional understanding).

The blocks have an extremely powerful impact on your nested funnels so we're obligated to improve upon the feature. If you encounter any bugs, or you see a need for a specific feature, please let us know.

  Conclusion

It's important to understand what integration means, and how it streamlines the content creation process. For example, let's consider the download series; your document is uploaded via Yabber, assigned to a Series, and then referenced on your website via the Elementor Widget or with shortcode. The download is then automatically tracked and triggers are optionally applied (in seconds). The same integrated framework is provided for videos and posts - it's just easy. Unlike competing solutions we've integrated your website with your broader funnel marketing efforts because it has to be, and because it returns more business.

Series collections are one of over a hundred significant modules designed to make your website and marketing funnel deliver far more conversions than competing options.

  Featured Image: George Street, Sydney, 1938. The Bank of NSW is shown to the right. The Bank of New South Wales (BNSW), also known commonly as The Wales, was the first bank in Australia, being established in Sydney in 1817 and situated on Broadway. During the 19th century, the bank opened branches throughout Australia and New Zealand, expanding into Oceania in the 20th century. It merged with many other financial institutions, finally merging with the Commercial Bank of Australia in 1982 and being renamed to the Westpac Banking Corporation on 4 May that year under the Bank of New South Wales (Change of Name) Act 1982. The photograph also shows a sign for McDowalls Ltd at centre, and the Dome of Queen Victoria Building (QVB) can be seen in the distance. A photograph taken from the same location in 1936 is featured on our article introducing the Quotes module (recent comparison photograph ). [ View Image ]