Influence is subtle yet powerful and this quote by TemitOpe Ibrahim does make us understand the potential of it: "Influence is when you are not the one talking and yet your words fill the room; when you are absent and yet your presence is felt everywhere." Well, business does not work on strategies alone, in fact, business runs on the science of marketing and advertising too.
Today, the face of marketing has made the world more open to opportunities, however, the latest concept that business runs on is influencer marketing as the archaic methods of marketing are not delivering what they used to deliver earlier in terms of audience attraction and profit maximization. Also, we live in an era where people have more faith on self-help gurus, experts, and buyers who provide genuine feedback that is why people now value advice from third parties and influencers whether micro or macro depending on the dynamism of the business.
Various studies have shown that many business houses, whether startups or multinationals have increased their budget for marketing and are mainly focusing on the power of 'influencer marketing'. Since, ages we have seen cricketers and actors influencing the mass audience by endorsing various brands. Well, this is one perfect example of influencer marketing because as an audience, we tend to buy a product that is recommended to us by someone who is the face of the country and we have seen, otherwise, we know, there is no synergy between a cricketer and a toothpaste brand.
Why Does Your Business Need Influencers?
Any business works well when word-of-mouth is a part of it. In our daily lives also, recommendations play a great deal. Imagine yourself buying a product or a service online by just reading the reviews mentioned by some random people whom you don't even know. Well, mostly, we don't fall for it even if the product and services are great in reality. On the other hand, when the same piece of information comes from a reliable source then our brain automatically tends to believe it and gives a positive feedback if the influence is strong.
Influencers are great traffic generators, if influencers are ensuring to enlighten your brand amongst audiences then you ought to have a landing page as all this traffic will directly land to your website in order to generate good revenue.
However, now the smart customers do not fall for archaic marketing done via commercials or billboards, in fact, people now do all the research themselves and want to hear an honest feedback from someone they know and share a connection with and this is a major reason why various startups and multinationals are doing influencer marketing on various digital platforms.
Why Audience Matter?
Doing marketing on a larger scale has its own pitfalls if distinctions are not made. As a company, you must know what topics, blogs, and hashtags will your targeted audience follow and then play the influencer marketing card.
Every brand needs a different influencer marketing strategy as attracting the audience varies from brand to brand and if the influencer strategies are not distinctive then the end result will not be productive. Triggering the area of interest in the individuals will automatically let them follow you, share, or purchase your product or services.
How Influencer Marketing Works?
Specify Your Audience:
The first step to influencer marketing is identifying the online audience. Once that is done, understand the science behind their decision making, what impacts them the most, and what is the unique buying factor that they consider the most.
Think of An Apt Influencer:
After figuring out what the audiences need and how their decision making power works, implant a human magnet that attracts their needs in the right manner. If the buyers' decision-making power is not what is being targeted then the purpose of influencer marketing is not being fulfilled at all.
Track Influencers and Their Activities:
By tracking your influencers you get to know a lot about the activities they do to attract the audience. Always listen to the advice of your influencers. Watch them carefully; figure out what topics do they focus on, how and what do they share with the targeted audience, and how do they respond to the queries of the targeted mass audience?
Assessing The Result:
If you do not evaluate the outcome of the influencer marketing strategy you use, then it may suffer bottlenecks as and when it grows. Keep a close eye on your relationships. Develop a bond with them and then convert your targeted audience to your clients by providing a positive experience.
If the concept of influencer marketing is foreign to your brand still, then remember the saying; it is better to be late than never!
If e-paper has replaced newspaper in your home then don't feel guilty about it. You are not alone; in some years this will be a norm everywhere. It is primarily because of the penetration of internet services, high-end smartphones in remote corners of the world and cheap accessibility. Most of the action takes place in the online space and this is why it has become a common hunting ground for businesses at large.
Decoding Digital Marketing
Marketing is not merely an attempt to sell products or services but an integrated process aimed at creating a predefined impact. It is a strong influencing force that can transform a business. So, experts stress on the growing importance of digital marketing in shaping a business for maximum gain. There is a swelling number of internet users and this provides ample scope for a business - new as well as existing ones, for market attention and convert it to tangible gains.
Here's Why Digital Marketing Is Not An Option But Compulsory For Every Business
Digital marketing is a staple strategy for every business aiming to make it a noted venture in the respective industry. The process flows through several channels and uses a number of tools to accomplish the desired goal. It is specifically goal-oriented and you can see the results in lesser time than traditional marketing methods. Here are some of the most important reasons for relying on it for a successful business.
Concrete analysis and adaptation: In digital marketing, user activities are monitored to arrive on a concrete data about the targeted group. Real-time data that gets updated from time to time; it enables more accurate analysis. This makes it most effective in predicting market trends and adapting to the changes.
Unhindered communication: There are several barriers of communication, in traditional marketing processes which can hinder the transmission of messages to your target group. However, digital marketing communication does not encounter such hindrances because it is direct and engage customers for undivided attention.
Customized content: Based on the data, communication strategists decide on messages which can be easily understood by consumers, meet their demands or resolve their problems and direct them to purchase the products or services.
Customer tracking: Digital marketing services target individual customers by identifying them through the device they use and their demography. The analytics are used to predict customer preferences, behaviours and predict their actions. It tracks customers from their initial interaction to end sales.
Dynamic approach: It uses real-time data, reaches the maximum possible customer pool, provides an immediate workable solution and aids in easy sales. This dilutes the time-lapse between each procedure and encourages more consumer engagement and sales.
Digital marketing offers you easy and unmatched solutions to overcome some critical marketing challenges. This has become all the more relevant because of intensifying market competition and penetrating use of technology. Digital marketing services are leveraging business like never before.
Shyam Future Tech, being a renowned digital marketing company in Kolkata which offers it's customers best of services with regard to online presence in such a way that it captures the attention of the visitors, hence turn those visitors into prospective customers.
Although many are drawn to the idea of having their own small internet business, many budding entrepreneurs do not know how to start a small business online.
Have a Solid Business Model
The first rule of how to start a small business online is to have a solid business model. There is no secret 'push-button' model to generating income online. There are many hyped-up schemes on the internet that promise that you will make millions of dollars for doing very little work by just pushing a few buttons. But these are just not reality. Having a small online business is just like any other business.
However, a small internet business is scalable and enjoys higher margins and lower set up costs than a traditional 'offline' business. A solid business model for an online business has the prefect mixture of recurring income, affiliate income and high ticket income.
Take Action
You have to be willing to actually get started. The internet is a great resource and there a many articles, forums and websites that all provide information on how start a small business online. It is important to do research on the best business that suits you, but you have to commit and get started building a list of potential customers. This list of potential customers will become a valuable asset as you start to build a relationship with them. You need to provide valuable and relevant information to them to build their trust so that they will be willing to buy from you.
Provide Value
As mentioned above, one of the keys of how to start a small business online is to provide value. In the business world of the internet, if you give, you will receive. If you provide valuable information to your potential customers for free, they will be grateful for it and want more and will be willing to buy it. If you provide rubbish, they will think that you product is rubbish too.
Generate Traffic
A business online without traffic is like a shop in the back street of a old run-down town with no passers-by and nobody knows that it is there. If you really want to know how to start a small business online, you need practical skills to generate traffic to your website pages. Website traffic can either be free or paid for and they both have their advantages and disadvantages. But, with a skilled combination of both, you can have a long term stream of potential customers coming to your online business.
Invest In Education
As with any business, if you want to know how to start a small business online the most important skill you can learn, is marketing. There are many online business entrepreneurs who have gone before you. If they have had success with a business model that interests you, you can learn from their efforts. It is vital to have access to a community and mentors because learning from someone who's already successful online will make a big difference to your results.
The internet and the new digital economy has made it possible for many people to discover how to start a small business online. An online business does not require a bricks and mortar premises, staff, stock or large financial investment in inventory to make it a success. If you have a computer and access to the internet you can start straight away. You do not have to buy stock or worry about how to supply it to your customers and your online business can work for you whilst you are sleeping!
Whether you're running a large or small business, one of the things that can effects your success is getting your brand and voice right. If you're in a sector that's very competitive, it's vital that you know how to make your brand stand out and what you can do in order to get the most from your advertising and marketing, consumers and business in general.
Appeal To People's Feelings
People like it when they feel they can relate to somebody or something. This means showing the human side of your brand. If you're a one-person business then that might mean showing your personality. If you're a bigger organization, you can still add emotion and character to what you do.
Tell An Interesting Story
To make your customers more interested and engaged in your business, tell them an interesting story. It could be something to which people can easily relate, or you might want to tell a story that really pulls at the heartstrings and makes your brand and voice memorable. Despite the fact that people might not think of you as the most successful company in the world, they'll be able to remember you, and that can often be much more important
What Are The Strengths of Your Business?
Think about the strong points lie within your business. For instance, you might not sell the lowest priced type of your product or service when compared to your competitors, but perhaps you offer the best support to your customers. Or maybe you really shine in explaining things in a simple and easy-to-understand way. No matter what your strengths are, use them in your branding.
Product Differentiation
A strong brand can quickly be seen as distinctive from its competition. Know where to be competitive, whether or not it's on cost, support, or some other key elements. Be very clear on precisely what advantages your business provides over other businesses and communicate these elements in your marketing messages.
Be Consistent
You want your audience to see to your brand across multiple channels. Your brand needs to deliver them with the same basic message and experience. If your brand is different on social media than it is in your email messages, the end result is confusion. Confusion drives people away. That's not your objective. Consistency builds brands.
Show Your Passion
The joy and focus that your passion brings your product and service will support your business during both bad and good times. Your passion will also enable you and your team to provide top-notch customer care and continued product and service development.
There are billions of people who are using internet for professional purposes. It is called online reputation management. No matter what field of work you are in, online content is powerful in making and marring the image of a person. Though no specific rules define professional behavior online but it is advisable to follow some basic steps in order to look more like an expert and less like an amateur. Here is a guide to help you put your best foot forward on the Web-
The best stands out
The internet does not filter out items you don't want other people to see. If somebody key in your name into Google then it will deliver the most relevant results. So, load the web with professional content that reflects well on your name.
Maintain your reputation
Your privacy and reputation should be taken care of. This process is time consuming but try to dedicate some time to find out and remove dubious content. For e.g. If your friend an objectionable photo on Facebook, try and remove the tag yourself. Make sure, no questionable content should be available related to you on web. Though it is virtually impossible to entirely remove the content once published online but your best option is to keep negative materials from ever hitting the web at the first place.
Protect personal information
Protecting password and other vital information is of supreme importance on the web. If anyone gets access to your account, it may ruin things beyond repair. People get victims of identity theft, sometimes financial resources get stolen and other times computers are hacked. So, the password should not be easy-to-guess thing. Keep on monitoring all accounts on daily basis.
Branding is must
Maintaining online reputation is not just being safe about your data but think of your online reputation as a product that needs to be marketed continuously. Creating a business fan page on Facebook, joining professional sites like LinkedIn, writing a blog are some of the effective ways to manage your professional presence. It will be great if colleagues and clients review your services or goods. Honest reviews are powerful. Never forget smart web surfers can quickly spot fake reviews. Try to be consistent with messages and profiles. While writing content, make sure you use the same logos, slogan and even fonts. When anybody offers criticism, respond amicably and figure out the solution to solve the problem.
Cash your expertise
It is important to be online to pump up your reputation in unlimited ways. There is no better way to present yourself as a well-rounded, trustworthy professional than blogging about a topic that interest you. This initiative will help you establish as an expert on a relevant subject. Even you are not among world's top experts but putting a thought and value into online content is always appreciated.
The internet memory is accurate
Internet never forgets. If you put write anything online, it is there forever. So be cautious and vigilant what you are feeding it. Not everyone is happy with the internet's long memory but your vigilance is your best protection.
Reshali Balasubramaniam
Head of HR, HR Counselor and adviser at https://jobpal.lk and EFutureTech Systems. Submit your resume online and be contacted by prospective employers.
Reaching our goals helps us to believe in ourselves and setting goals is a great way to fuel our ambitions. It isn't just about creating a plan for our success in life, it's also to give us the inspiration we need to reach out and reap more than we ever thought possible. Goals focus our acquiring of knowledge and help us to set our time and resources in an order to get the very best for our situations.
In this article we'll discuss:
Guidance in your niche selection
What are niche goal projections and outcomes?
Are you busy or productive
Ninja productivity hack revealed
Video - Goal projections and outcomes
Guidance in your niche selection
What do you like to do? What are your habits, hobbies, or passions? There are a number of niche choices within any main topic when you break it down.
An example could be Baseball which is a very broad term with lots of competition. If we break that down there are many niche selections to choose from within that keyword: baseball teams, major or minor league, kids, uniforms, statistics, jerseys, caps, equipment, collectables, magazines, etc.
All of these baseball niche can be fine selections to build a website around and can be quite profitable. I have an entrepreneur friend that has a number of sites, one of which is a website about football snack helmets, which has been doing well for a few years now.
Niche - The topic or category that you've chosen for your site.
Goal - The end result that you are seeking.
Projection - An estimation of when the end result will occur,
for example:
First commission sale within 30 days.
>>>>By writing an article per day for 30 days.
First page ranking with my targeted keyword within 30 days.
>>>>By writing posts three times a week for four weeks, with each having an internal link to my targeted keyword page.
What exactly are you going to do to reach your goal? Or what are you willing to give up in exchange for the desired goal? Maybe turn off the TV for a few hours each day, or trade in some wasted time for, that same time being spent to reach your goals.
The law of sowing and reaping
There is a time for sowing and a time for reaping. The time spent sowing, or creating the business can be for years depending on the project and the desired result. Once the sowing time is up, the reaping time can start and be indefinite.
There are many tasks that need to be done with any set goal and each one takes time and effort to complete. I've heard that "excellence is a commitment to completion", so we need to be good finishers of each task and reach our goals.
The time spent sowing can be less depending on the effort given to it. If we sow little we will reap little also. If we are building a website and posting to it once a week it will take quite a while longer to reach our goals of filling it up with quality content, as opposed to posting 3-4 times per week.
Are you busy or productive?
The definition for:
Busy - actively involved in doing something, or having a lot of things to do.
Are we busy doing many things without a proper order or timely, continuous task completion?
Example: spending hours on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter and also additional hours on other things without making posting quality content for our viewers our #1 priority.
It's easy at times to get involved or over-involved in a project that ends up taking a lot more time than we thought but aside from that we'll be more productive and reach our goals quicker if we properly structure our time and always make posting fresh quality content a priority.
Create clear niche images
We need to do some internal and external research and visually see some other website businesses within our niche. This will give a look at how the other niche sites are presenting themselves and their products. The internal research is making a list, over a couple or few days, of things that we love to do, or what are we passionate about. It's best to select a niche that you would like to spend a lot of time and energy on, not one that you'll get bored with or become disinterested with. We can also choose to create a nice affiliate website setup to inform about and promote products, or have a non-profit or personal site (.org). Many website owners have multiple sites.
Create a vision board
Do you have any wall space at home to devote to a vision board? They're great to increase motivation and energize your efforts as you pursue goals.
Take a nice area of wall space and fill it up with goal related images and headlines and pictures that inspire every time you look at it. See, visualize, and feel the goal being reached as you look at the board and are inspired to move forward and achieve. Keep on adding and replacing inspiring images and text to keep it fresh, in sight and also in your mind.
Websites like Pinterest are great for creating vision boards and one can create as many boards as they want for fun, or to keep private.
Ninja Productivity Tip
I guess it doesn't matter what type of business that you are promoting but all have dozens of tasks that need to be done continually and properly. Many have multiple internet businesses and always have a list of things that need to be done asap. Well here's a great tip I've used and recommend to you.
Plan ahead and:
Remove all distractions or find a place where you can be uninterrupted.
Choose only one thing to focus on completely for an hour and set a timer.
Stop when the timer goes off and leave it for the next time. Don't think about it anymore.
Take a short walk or take a non-sitting break, unless you've been using a standing desk. Lying flat on your back might feel good too.
Start the next task and repeat the process.
If a little more than 60 minutes is needed go ahead and finish the task before taking a break. If it needs much more time to complete put it away until next time. After you've powered through a focused hour and taken a break to refresh, you can set the timer for another 60 minutes and continue where you left off or move to another task.
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In this digital age, the importance of data to a business/website should never be underestimated. In fact, without proper tracking of website traffic, a business is literally lost, especially when it comes to how to optimize the website and make full use of it.
Whether your website is run in the form of a personal blog, news portal, business or corporate page, ecommerce store, Google Analytics is considered an essential tool for every website. The more you use this highly powerful Google tool, the bigger advantage you have.
Google Analytics is a web analytics service offered by Google that tracks and reports website traffic. You can create goals and conversion tracking to get the most of your analytics information and use it to improve your website's content, user experience and optimization for better online sales.
Out of so many features in Google Analytics, I think the ability to identify the Source / Medium to your website is one of the best website tools. Based on the data shown, you can find out if your marketing efforts have been paid off or not. This can provide a solid reference for your next decision making in enhancing your website performance.
Google Data Studio
Trust me, for beginners, you might be overwhelmed by all the amount of data shown in Google Analytics. To be frank, sometimes you just need a simple report with chart, graph or pie to summarize the performance of your website.
Here is a free tool from Google called Google Data Studio, which gives you everything you need to turn your analytics data into informative, easy-to-understand reports through data visualization.
Analytics has always been a challenge for digital marketing, however, Google Data Studio allows you to create customizable data visualization and report. Besides, you can even share with your clients - a huge plus especially if you are working in a big group.
Quick tip: You can check out Google Data Studio Gallery to duplicate their samples and modify to your website use. After that you will be able to change and edit the metric according to your needs. Quite amazing, right?
Google Search Console
Previously known as Google Webmaster Tools, now rebranded to Google Search Console, this free web service is designed for webmasters. It allows you to check the indexing status and optimize the visibility of your websites.
This free tool is a MUST for Search Engine Optimization (SEO). The power to track your site's search performance is the most precious data to understand what the audiences want for your site.
Once the website is tracked by Google, you'll be able to view your organic search results right alongside the performance statistics for the organic search queries. This information helps you better understand how paid text ads and organic search results work together. If you analyse deeply enough, you will find many opportunities like identify relevant search queries that have low organic traffic volume and target these keywords in Google AdWords. This will increase your overall traffic, tailored to the objective of your website.
Google My Business
Are you operating a brick and mortar business? If you are, this free tools from Google is one of the most local SEO strategies to strengthen your website. Google My Business is a powerful tool for businesses and organizations to manage their online presence across Google, like Google Search and Google Maps.
As smartphone penetration in Malaysia approaching 100% by 2018, the majority of Malaysians are using smartphones for navigation, searching for instant answers or browsing social media platforms. Your business and brand need to be found online with the correct information.
Make sure all the listed information is correct, up-to-date and reflect your business. Remember, those info will appear when people search for your office or physical store via Waze or Google Map. We often see some of the business hasn't updated their address, phone number and business hours to the latest. Wish to gain my traffic to your website?
You should try the new the features from Google My Business called "Posts". The published content will display your image and short description with call-to-action link to your intended URL. For example, blog post "Should I hide or even remove client inquiry on my Facebook?" will appear at the bottom of our business info.
Google Keyword Planner
Building a website without keyword research is exhausting and time wasting in long-term. In order to reach the right customers with the right keywords, you should use Google Keyword Planner to discover relevant keywords. Inserting those keywords into your website will ensure your content remains relevant.
*To access Keyword Planner, you need to sign in to your Google AdWords account at http://adwords.google.com/KeywordPlanner. Create the account is free of charge and fast.
Yes, it's completely free, you can find new keyword ideas that are relevant to your product, service and target customers. Keyword planner will show you the search volume data in historical statistics which is one of the most important key factors for your website.
Furthermore, the data from keywords ideas is a useful tool for SEO to your website. Analyse the information and turn it to your next content marketing strategy. Based on the search terms data, you should have plenty of ideas what should can be inserted to your text to make it more relevant to your audience.
Google Tag Manager
This free tool helps you update tags and code snippets on your website and mobile app quickly and easily. You can insert JavaScript and HTML tags used for tracking and analytics on websites in Tag Manager without touching the back end of the website.
Many websites do not deploy tracking function or have unreliable data collection because of messy codes injection. To solve this, we highly recommend using Google Tag Manager to consolidate and manage all your tracking codes or scripts.
The best example of using this tool is to use Facebook Ads. While more and more businesses are spending on Facebook Ads, most of them do not install Facebook Pixel into their website for conversion tracking, optimization and remarketing purposes.
Facebook Ads is already integrated with Google Tag Manager for smooth and easy installation. All you need to do just click and follow the instructions given without any need for complicated coding.
Test My Site from Think With Google
In order to rank well in mobile Google Search, your website should have fast loading speed and a mobile-optimized website. Use the Test My Site tool from Think with Google to check your website score on mobile performance. After a few minutes, you will receive recommendations on improving website performance across all devices.
Nobody wants to wait for slow websites or browse non-mobile friendly websites. The suggested time is 3 seconds from Google, which means if your site doesn't load completely within 3 seconds, most people will most probably go elsewhere.
Just insert your email address and you will obtain the detailed analysis about your website. The content of the report is simple, but provides valuable insight into how Google ranks your website speed.
The report will become a crucial reference to your webmaster or web developer to further optimize the website. If you need even more in depth report about how Google renders and indexes your website, you should use the PageSpeed Insight tool.
Google PageSpeed Insight
If you have web developers or web designers that really want to understand the factors to increase your website speed, give PageSpeed Insights Tool a try and check your score on your website's speed and optimization.
The latest version now shows the data from your First Contentful Point (FCP), the measurement when a user sees a visual response from the page. DOM Content Loaded (DCL), as well as the measurement when HTML document has been loaded and parsed.
PageSpeed Insights is handy in providing insight on how Google indexes your website differently for desktop and mobile versions.
Here are some website speed optimization tips from PageSpeed:
Avoid landing page redirects
Eliminate render-blocking JavaScript and CSS in above-the-fold contents
Enable compression
Leverage browser caching
Minify CSS
Minify HTML
MInify JavaScript
Optimize images
Prioritize visible content
Reduce server response time
Google Trend
Wish to see the latest trends and data from Google? You can search anything via Google Trends and even narrow down to specific country or category. This tool is useful to identify latest trends or viral news in your location.
Ideally, once you identified a trend, you can craft new blog posts, new promotions or ideas that reflect the said trend.
Don't forget that you also can view the interest traffic of search terms using Google Trends.
With this, you can spot the best time to launch specific campaign. This is helpful for seasonal campaign or annual promotion because you can discover the best timing for your ad hoc digital marketing campaigns.
Google Alert
If you want to be aware of a particular topic and all the related information that bubbles up in the news, you can have them all automatically delivered to you with Google Alert and get notified every time when your keywords or phrases have new updates.
Google Alert is good for simple keyword monitoring, with updated on every mention of those keywords being sent to your email inbox for almost real time notification. Of course, you can choose the frequency at which you'll receive them - once per day, once per week or even get them as they just happen.
A useful tip when creating the Google Alert is to avoid using generic keywords but create alerts that are more unique to your website. The more precise the keywords, the more relevant are your alerts. For that, you should utilize the search filters wherever possible, such as languages, region or sources.
Summary
So, that's it, above are the 10 must-have free Google tools to improve the performance of your website. Make full use of all tools from analysis, research or monitoring to achieve the objective of your site.
What are your favourite tools from Google? Do you know any other Google tools that we should cover? Let us know in the comments below!
Original post if from https://www.exabytes.digital/blog/10-must-free-google-tools-websites-2018. Feel free to contact me anytime. Hope you learn something new from my list to improve your website.
There is a need to look at the what-should-NOT-be-done side of things as well. This is essential so that you do not fool yourselves into thinking that you are on the right path and keep wasting money without getting an ROI.
When you know that you don't know something, you can find out. However, when you don't know that you don't know, such a situation is risky. Here, is a list from my side to make you aware of some undetectable errors you might commit in your digital marketing pursuit.
1. Promoting Rather than Problem Solving:
Beating your own drum is something that doesn't go well with the internet-savvy people looking out for any product/services. They are bombarded with promotional information continuously, you don't want to do the same thing and get lost in the crowd.
Don't boast about how good your product/services are, tell them how it can help solve their problems. They have come to your site or your ad, looking out for a solution, provide them that and you will hit the bulls-eye.
While it is okay to display your achievements, stage even that to appear more for 'you-the-customer' rather than the 'I-me-myself' attitude. How? Show client testimonials! And let your audience think if you can solve the problem for your existing clients, then you can for them as well. Be customer-centric, portray your product/services as solutions and see the magic.
2. Relying Heavily on any one Marketing Channel:
Doing this mistake would not only throw your digital marketing budget out of balance, but can reverse slingshot your revenue. You may have implemented many strategies throughout your experience, out of which say one or two may have worked the best.
And its the digital marketing mantra that one should maximize efforts on what works best; relying too much on this mantra could be dangerous. What if this channel suddenly becomes ineffective? What if the organic traffic that you were so proud of drops overnight thanks to the unannounced updates search engines come up with.
Such a repercussion would cause serious damage to your bottom line revenue. Therefore, resist the temptation to pour all the efforts into one channel and create a robust well-rounded multi-channel based marketing strategy.
3. Ignoring some Marketing Channels:
This point is similar to the point above, yet different in the way that it proposes using every channel whenever the time is right for your business. It is understandable that a few channels like pay-per-click might instantly thrust you into the limelight, but you should not ignore the other seemingly slower channels.
While it important to leverage the high-ROI-producing channels at the beginning, at a later stage venturing out into the others should be the aim of your marketing strategy. Invest your due efforts in SEO, no matter how time-consuming. 6 months down the line, when the search engines would start paying you back with relevant traffic, you will thank yourself you did it.
Go social; get your name out there. But, select the social channels carefully. LinkedIn and Twitter works best for B2Bs and the famed Facebook is the go-to channel for B2Cs. As you progress, throw in email marketing into the marketing mix, you will be surprised with its potential.
4. Not Assigning Numbers to Campaign Goals:
"Isn't this basic", you may think! Well... we usually deep-dive into the advanced stuff and forget the basics most of times. So, set measurable goals for your campaigns! Say, you want to increase the number of leads generated for a B2B company, set a goal of +20% in a given month, then work towards it.
Don't just say, I want to increase the leads - that's just wishful thinking! If you define your goals in terms of numbers is when you'll be able to scale your efforts, otherwise you'll keep stepping in all directions without moving an inch ahead.
In addition, remember, you are investing money in your efforts; the person who is carrying out the campaigns doesn't come free. Moreover, if you are investing money in paid marketing, not setting measurable goals is sure-shot recipe for disaster.
5. Poor Data Interpretation:
If you have ever seen the analytics dashboard, you'll see how it shows different traffic channels like organic, direct, paid, referral etc. Now, direct traffic interprets into people manually typing in your website's URL and coming in.
However, you need to make sure that the direct traffic numbers doesn't consist of your internal employees. Ignoring this would result in data dilution and wrong interpretation of data.
Besides, choosing the wrong metric to define your data could be disastrous. For example, if you have a high 'pages per visit' or 'average visit duration', you may feel that your customer is spending more time on the site, whereas the reality would be your visitors are not finding what they are looking out for.
In conclusion, the 5 points given above are not about the tips or tricks of digital marketing, but more about its core. If you avoid these, you can make any campaign rock, while extracting the maximum bang for your buck.
When one hears "SEO," it's almost automatic to start thinking of technical matters such as links, website indexing, and so forth. One crucial element that people tend to overlook but has quite the impact is content and producing quality content that assists SEO.
Keywords are the most crucial factor in getting your page noticed by search engines. Given the process of users inputting queries when searching online, making sure your content matches their queries via the right keywords is the trick to appearing on the results of potential customers.
Targeting Your Audience
Whether you're aiming for local customers or an international audience, including the necessary keywords in your article or blog post should be done with as naturally as possible. For example, if you're a baked goods store in Toronto looking for a better presence among your local customers, you can't just place "bakeshop in Toronto" randomly within each paragraph.
It's not just a matter of not appearing spamm-y (and avoiding penalization), it's also about actually providing content that audiences will stop and pay attention to. Even if your ultimate goal is to advertise to users, quality should remain top priority.
Different Kinds of Content
SEO marketers and writers typically come up with different kinds of content to place the necessary keywords in. These are some of the most used types, and each one helps to contribute to a level of variety in terms of website content.
Articles
Almost every website is bound to contain a whole bunch of articles. Articles can literally be about anything - from informative pieces to features on an event. Also, they're typically lengthy and leave a lot of room for elaboration.
Similar to what you'd read in a magazine or newspaper, while they're not completely formal in tone, they're not to be overly friendly, either. Articles typically keep a sensible tone that helps introduce important keywords and even establish an air of authority as well.
Blog Posts
Another very popular type of web content is blog posts. These are typically a bigger hit with younger audiences because of the playful tone used as well as the shorter length of the posts.
If your branding allows for it, blog posts can be great for when you want to appear more casual and personal to your audience. They also make it easier to "naturally" incorporate keywords into the text.
Infographics
With infographics, meanwhile, you get to really start diversifying your content since images are now involved.
From serious statistics to quirky (but still educational, of course) comics, infographics allow you to present matters such as product information to your audience in a way that's easier to absorb thanks to the assisting images and introductory and concluding paragraphs containing the keywords.
Videos
Videos are the ultimate content diversifier - you move from just making the audience just look at/read something to creating a more dynamic experience thanks to moving images and even sound.
Videos don't have to be published as often, but when they are, they should come with a paragraph or two of explanatory/introductory/concluding points where you can casually slip in keywords.
Apart from providing your customers your pitch, it's important that you're actually giving them something to take away from your posts as well.
Remember, these are people and you're asking for their time. Respecting that, providing content that will be worth their while should be part of any effective site as it shows customers that you acknowledge them as humans and not as mere cash factories.
Domain authority is the top factor in dictating the ranking of a website. You can go to sponsored content (aka PPC ads) all you want, but that's all temporary. If you want a good ranking that actually sticks around, you'll have to work on your domain authority.
Links
The best way to boost your domain authority is with links that lead back to your site, and such clicks that lead back to your site are made possible by your content being placed on popular sites. These inbound links are best achieved with engrossing content that's well-written just for your audience and in accordance to their interests.
When your content is interesting and presents accurate information useful to your audience, you're well on your way to becoming a go-to site for users, and with a better volume of regular traffic with little bounce rate, your website's ranking is bound for better visibility.
Content is definitely more than just a website filler - it plays quite the significant role in getting you that increase in traffic.
This is why getting an SEO services agency with well-coordinated technical and content production teams is key in ensuring that your online campaign is geared toward a single goal, and that is building a presence for your site and better brand awareness for your company.
1. Most of the users click on top 5 search results:- According to the latest researches, 75% of the users click on the first 5 search results shown by the search engine. To be more precise, 32% users click on the topmost result compared to 18% users going for the second result. This stat very clearly shows that the higher your website will rank, the more visits it will get.
2. Users don't usually scroll past page 1:- Only a mere 20% of the users are persistent enough to scroll to page 2 of search results. So if your website is on page 2 then you must work on your digital marketing and SEO strategies.
3. Mobile Friendly Keywords are the need of the hour:- Around 50% of users start their searches on a mobile device. When people use their phone for a search, they tend to use different keywords. Also, when it comes to looking for local business, 88%of the searches are initiated on a mobile device.
4. Mobile SEO and Local Business:- As we mentioned before, users tend to search for local business on their smartphones. The number of smartphone users is increasing year after year, hence, it is very important to plan your keywords according to the rise in mobile searches.
5. Websites with more pages are likely to attract more traffic:- The number of pages on a website plays a direct role in determining the amounts of traffic it generates. It simply reflects the importance of relevant keywords.
6. Around half of the search queries are 4 words or longer:- It is a clear fact that short keywords will help you to show up higher in the search results. But at the same time, it is very difficult to ranks those keywords as short keywords are very competitive. So, instead of going for short competitive keywords, you should just use longer ones effectively.
7. Organic Search still trumps over Social Media Traffic:- Although social media traffic is increasing day by day, organic searches are still the way to go. Organic searches account for 41% of the total search which is 3 times the social media traffic. Hence, moving completely to social media platforms to generate traffic is not wise.
8. Quality Content:- Google adores rich and definite substance which gives per users esteem and answers questions. Whenever you're attempting to get a site on the first page of Google, ensure you incorporate a lot of substance.
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Whether you start a small Home Based Business, an Internet Business or a Network Marketing Business*... Owning Your own Business is The First Step toward Financial Freedom, however...
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Affiliate marketing business has gotten a lot of buzz in recent times due to advances in internet technologies and upsurge of social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc.
However, some affiliate marketers especially beginners struggle to earn profitably because they do not thoroughly understand the business.
WHAT REALLY IS AFFILIATE MARKETING?
Affiliate Marketing is the process of earning online commissions by promoting products and services. Your commissions are earned each time you get a lead (Potential customer) or sell products online.The interesting aspect of affiliate marketing business is that you can make a ton of money with a little monetary investment.
Furthermore, you can start the business without products or services of your own, work from home and earn passive income even while sleeping if you have an effective system in place.
HOW DOES AFFILIATE MARKETING WORK
Register under the affiliate program of reputable companies that have valuable products and services.
Decide on the niche products to focus on.
Get your custom affiliate tracking link for each product you decide to promote online.
Select the right traffic source to use in promoting the product.
Decide on the marketing strategy to use i.e Blogging, video or social media marketing.
4 MAJOR WINNING STRATEGIES TO INCREASE YOUR PROFITS ONLINE
Focus on a single niche at a time
You should choose a niche that you are both knowledgeable and passionate about. For example, Weight loss, Supplements, Nutrition, Pet training etc. This enables you to easily persuade your customers to buy your products. Also, this will allow you to learn and acquire new selling strategies that will increase your sales and multiply your profits.
Select traffic sources
It is recommended to focus on 2 traffic sources at a time. I will recommend focusing on one search engine and one social media traffic at a time. This enables you to properly track and optimize campaigns launched on each platform thereby maximizing your profits per product.The secret of super affiliates is their ability to focus on a traffic source, testing and tracking campaigns optimally.
Test marketing strategy to use
You can never know if either blogging, social media or video marketing will be most profitable until you test marketing strategies such as:
Blogging: You can write a blog post using well research keywords for search engine optimization. This attracts your clients to your blog and causes them to make a decision.
Video marketing; You can make a video describing the features of the product then you upload it on YouTube for people to watch.
Social Media Marketing: This is the commonest and the easiest method especially for beginners. Facebook is a very good platform because it has lots of groups/forums where you can find people who are interested in your product and service. You can easily send them a friend request and pitch your products to them.
Track the data/results gotten from each of the methods then you focus on the method that produces the greatest profit.
Select the traffic type
The traffic type can either be free or paid traffic.
Paid traffic involves using Pay per click or Pay per view advertising on search engine and social media platforms. This method is faster, associated with increased conversion and profits because it allows you to target your clients specifically based on interests and other features.
In the digital/online space, effective content is one that provides relevant and valuable information to individuals along the continuum of Visitors--Leads--Customers. This is what Inbound marketing captures.
What then is Inbound marketing?
According to Hubspot Academy, Inbound marketing is the process of attracting customers through relevant and helpful content which adds value to them. Online content can be in form of video marketing, social media marketing or blogging.
Blogging is one of the commonest methods of online content and can be used for all stages of Inbound marketing.
WHAT ARE THE STAGES OF INBOUND MARKETING?
The stages of inbound marketing are:
· Attract
· Convert
· Close
· Delight
HOW TO IMPLEMENT INBOUND MARKETING USING BLOGGING ATTRACT
Your goal is to use a blog post to attract strangers to your website and transform them into your visitor on getting to your website. Your blog post should contain relevant keywords and information that answers your visitor's questions, meet their needs and provide insights into helping them achieve their goals.
CONVERT
After attracting your website visitors, you convert these visitors into leads using website email forms and chat messaging channels where your prospects can submit their contacts such as email address or phone number. This provides a communication channel to continuously provide relevant information, build rapport and credibility with your prospects.
This is achieved by using automated email sequences to send your prospects messages in order to build credibility and to identify their problems and goals.
Subsequently, you can send them specific information about the benefit of your products and how it will solve their problems. This is called PRESELLING. Preselling increases conversion rate and the odds of making sales.
NB- Prospects buy only from marketers they trust thus do not sell your products to a prospect immediately you get their contact. Build rapport first and get to know them.
DELIGHT
This is when a customer has been thoroughly satisfied with your product/service and becomes a loyal customer. Also, your customers may even go the extra mile to refer friends and families to you.
HOW TO INCREASE BLOG POST ENGAGEMENTS, CONVERSIONS, AND SALES
Identify your buyer's persona
You need to clearly identify your ideal buyer's demographics, interests, needs and goals. This helps you to attract the right customer and increase your conversion rate.
Consider your buyer's journey stage
The content of your blog post should be determined by whether your client has knowledge about what your product/service is or not. If your target reader has no knowledge about your product/service then you have to simplify your information and educate them until they can make a buying a decision.
Organic traffic methods often do not attract visitors/prospects that fit your buyer's persona.
In contrast, paid traffic enables you to target the specific persona of your ideal buyer while setting up the ads campaign. This method increases your conversion rate and online sales when properly implemented.
If you want to build a passive income online, you're going to need to use automation. Passive income is revenue that you earn today (and tomorrow) through the efforts you put in yesterday and today. Of course, earning passive income does involve work up front but if you build your automation systems correctly, you'll be able to take breaks and do less work while your income continues to rise on autopilot.
Your Blog
There are plenty of blogging activities that you can set to automate your online business so you can focus on more important parts of running your business. Schedule posts to go live on your blog in advance. If you can work your business a quarter ahead, you'll find that you will make a lot more money due to being prepared.
Autoresponders
These are great email marketing automation tools. You can set up an automated series for all your products or services, whether paid or free, that will automatically go to the people who sign up to your email list.
Email automation allows you to do a lot of your email marketing hands-off. You don't have to manually do everything. You can schedule autoresponder emails to go out and set up a sales funnel that works for you night and day.
Publish an eBook
When you write your own eBook, it's a great way to do work up front and then use it to get more customers and clients by telling people about it. Writing an eBook is not as challenging as you may think. It takes nothing but time to write an eBook. Just write every time you have 10 or 15 minutes of free time. Plenty of successful authors, of both eBooks and physical books, do it this way.
Sign Up As An Affiliate
An affiliate earns a proportion of sales that are made through their link. Even if you have your own products, locate good quality affiliate products to promote to your audience too. Work with companies that provide life-long cookies to help build your passive income.
Use Akismet For Comment Moderation
Reading, approving and replying to your comments takes time. This is one of the tasks many bloggers know is necessary, but can quickly become irritating and disheartening. Use the WordPress plug-in Akismet to do much of the work for you. There are filters and settings you put in place to take care of the vast majority of comment approvals for you.
One of the keys to successful digital product creation is picking a problem you can solve. Too often, many new Internet marketers will choose to create a product they like, but that usually doesn't solve a problem that is currently in the marketplace. As a result, there is no real demand for that product.
The common result in this case is that the person will go to a great deal of time and effort to create his/her product, but when no or few sales comes through, the person becomes disillusioned by the prospect of making a profitable living online, calls it "a scam," and often returns to their dreary job, figuring it's the only way to "make it in the world."
To have an in-demand product, you need to create a product that solves a problem. If this problem is widespread throughout the industry, and you develop an effective solution for it, people from all across the industry will want to get their hands on your item, setting you up for some nice profits. Thus, it is critical that you find a problem you can solve, then develop a solution for it, whether it's an e-book with information of an effective solution for the problem, a software program that can alleviate the problem, a membership site with information and resources that can solve the problem, etc.
You may be wondering, "how do I identify a problem I can solve?" Here, you will need to do some observation and some research. Some of the best ways is to go to your favorite search engine, type in the industry or topic you are interested in along with "+ forums." This should bring up a list of online forums that serve the people in that industry or who deal with that topic. You can go to these forums and read about the current topics and issues being dealt with in that industry. You may have to register at these forums first in order to access some sections of them, but this is not the case at all forums.
If an issue or problem continues to be brought up by several members of a forum, chances are that this is a problem you can build a product around in an effort to solve or alleviate it. This is a problem that is demanding a solution, and you have the opportunity to provide that solution and make good profits by doing it, plus build your reputation as a problem solver and solution creator.
You can also read about various topics and information in online newsletters, magazines, and ezines related to your industry to find potential problems that you can build a product around. Oftentimes, there are statistics in publications regarding common problems people in an industry are facing; if the statistics indicate a great deal of people are struggling with that same problem or issue, you have a potential product idea to build around.
You probably interact with several different social networks. As a business owner, you are probably familiar with online marketing because you recognize the need for social media marketing. The reality is that since everyone else is doing it online, you need to do it as well. If you don't have that approach, you will be left in the dust and everyone else will move past you. However, what you may not realize is that there are several different types of social networks that may benefit your business.
The popular social networks and then some
The chances are that you are involved with the popular social networks, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. You may also be interacting using Instagram and YouTube. On the other hand, you may not even be aware of the other social networks and how amazing they may be for your brand and for your business. What you may not realize is just how much there is to social media and how much more you may be able to get out of it than you are aware of right now.
Social networks: The function and purpose of a social network are really simple. Social networks connect people to each other. That is exactly why they are called social networks. Social networks can benefit your business in several different ways, such as allowing you to do market research, generating leads, building relationships, etc.
Discussion forums: A discussion forum is a great place to get involved if you want to share your opinions with other people, hear their opinions, and really get a stimulating conversation going. All sorts of interesting nuggets of information can emerge as a result of a discussion that you have on a discussion forum.
Networks that share media: A network that shares media does just that. It is a network where people can share all types of media, such as photos, videos, and any other type of media that you can imagine. This type of network can benefit your business in similar ways to what happens with social networks. They can help you to build your brand and to build relationships, engage your target audience members, and generate leads, among a whole list of benefits. In many cases, these types of media are more effective than words (if used in combination, your content will be highly effective). It is important to remember that many people are visual, which is why they respond so well to visual content.
Content curation and bookmarking networks: If you are searching for new content, this is the type of network to do it. There is a good chance that not all of the content that you share is original content. You may be curating some of your content, which is an intelligent part of your online content marketing strategy. There are networks that can help you to get where you are going in this regard. This type of network can benefit your business in several different ways, including increasing your brand awareness, engaging your target audience members, and increasing traffic to your website.
Networks where you can leave product and/or service reviews: This is an important type of network because other business owners count on your opinion and similar opinions from other people. The fact is that everyone considers and buys a variety of products and services. Why not go a step further and share your opinion about what you have researched and purchased? It will certainly help the business owners if you do so.
Networks for publishing content: Content is the bread and butter of all businesses. No matter what you do and what you offer, the fact is that you will need to tell other people about those offering and your brand. Otherwise, the person on the other end will not know about you and if they don't know about you, you will not be able to establish a relationship with them and they will not buy anything from you at any point. Content marketing is a necessary approach for all businesses. The networks that specifically enable business people to effectively share their content for maximum impact are a critical tool to the success of those businesses (yours included).
Networks where people with common interests can get together: This type of network can apply to personal or professional interests. They are very effective and very successful on the whole. Because this type of network helps people to build relationships, that also means that you will be engaging the other person and build your brand.
Networks where people can shop for products: Since shopping is necessary and everyone does it, this type of network will be around for a very long time. Similarly to the other networks that have been discussed here, this type of network can also build brand awareness, enhance engagement, and sell products to other people.
Networks where people can trade: This one is probably obvious. If you have things that you don't want or need anymore, there is a very good chance that there is another person who does need and want it. It is a great way to clean up and build some sort of relationship at the same time.
Networks where people can be anonymous: One of the most attractive features of the Internet for many people is the idea that they are anonymous. Before the Internet, many people were reluctant or afraid to communicate using their own name. Now they can hide behind anonymity, which feels safer. Of course, it is not always the right approach to take but it is how many people feel.
Conclusion
Even if you don't get involved with all of the different types of social networks, it is important that you are aware of their existence and understand exactly what they are for and how they work. It is interesting to note that most of the different types of social networks have common threads: building brand awareness, engaging audience members, and establishing new relationships. It is only then that you will be in the position to reject them if you don't feel that they will work effectively for your business.
Michael Cohn is the founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of CompuKol Communications. He has over 25 years of experience in IT and web technologies. Mr. Cohn spent a significant amount of time at a major telecommunications company, where his main focus was on initiating and leading synergy efforts across all business units by dramatically improving efficiency, online collaboration, and the company's Intranet capabilities, which accelerated gains in business productivity. He also reduced company travel and travel costs by introducing and implementing various collaboration technologies.
His expertise includes business analysis; project management; management of global cross-matrix teams; systems engineering and analysis, architecture, prototyping and integration; technology evaluation and assessment; systems development; performance evaluation; and management of off-shore development.
Mr. Cohn earned a Master's degree in project management from George Washington University in Washington, DC; and a Master's degree in computer science and a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, NJ.
Mr. Cohn is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).
There are rules of thumb but there are no hard and fast rules. The 'things people do every day to become successful' in what they do has so many variables.
Some swear by morning coffees, others a 20-minute nap. Give or take, that's almost always the story. Like I said, variables.
Routine, or better yet, discipline is what makes people successful. I will never claim to be a 'successful person' but what I HAVE been doing is working from home for the past 18 years. I hope you can share YOUR story about how you soften the rough edges off of your everyday work week too because it helps. Every little bit of advice helps, actually, because most successful people listen.
1. No Emails - Most people start their days off by rolling off their beds with everyone screaming at them. Your alarm is screaming. Your boss is screaming, your kids are screaming, your email is screaming. So, one of the things that I DON'T do early in the morning is to check my emails. People who know me know not to expect an instant reply from me early in the morning. That's when I am trying to sort my shit together so that I can get stuff done for you throughout the day. So, no emails in the morning. Only coffee is allowed.
2. Stay Dressed - This one is for those who work from home. One of the things that I've noticed in nearly 2 decades is that I dress for work (even if I will be in my home office or living room) the whole time I am going to be working. I don't know about you but the moment I slip on my cutesy 'lil comfy clothes, my zest for life and roaring enthusiasm to get things done slithers off from me like a layer of dead skin cell.
3. Meditate -Oprah's said it. So did Deepak Chopra and Cameron Diaz. It's not the woo-woo-woo stuff, trust me. It's more like sitting there in complete silence or with soft music gently caressing my ear, or just sweeping the floor (the movement is meditatively repetitive, try it!). Instead of thinking of it as a 'new age fad', think of it as Loading Your Gun Ready to Kick Down the Doors of the World. Badass when reworded, huh? I use an app to 'help me along' - Insight Timer. It has music, guided meditation, and... well... complete silence.
4. Don't multitask - It's something I was really proud of and multitasking was the only way for me to move the needle forward when the list of things-to-do was just way too long. I don't do it anymore. Instead, I think doing things in spurts is far more productive. One example would be that if I found vacuuming the floor THE daunting task of the day, I would mindfully vacuum the living room and leave the rooms and kitchen for tomorrow.
Silly example, I know, but when applied to work, it's pretty amazing when you give the tasks at hand short bursts of active, productive attention. When I am tired, I will come back with a whole lot more to contribute AFTER I've dealt with my brain fog instead of muscling through it. I mean, who am I to argue with the chemicals in my brain?
5. Coffee - I am just going to leave this right here. Explaining it any further is going to make me angry if you don't understand it. It's my survival poison.
6. Laugh a Little - A sense of humor provides a buffer against the build-up of stress and anxiety in your system. So, occasionally, load up your Tumblr or Twitter (where you are encouraged to follow people like 9gag - just a personal preference, of course) and just laugh a little.
Experts say that humor provides a powerful buffer against stress and fear. "Humor is about playing with ideas and concepts," said Martin, who teaches at the University of Western Ontario. "So whenever we see something as funny; we're looking at it from a different perspective. When people are trapped in a stressful situation and feeling overwhelmed, they're stuck in one way of thinking: This is terrible. I've got to get out of here. But if you can take a humorous perspective, then by definition you're looking at it differently - you're breaking out of that rigid mind-set."
7. Being understanding - I know this doesn't fit into the normal mold of 'things people do to be successful' but I think it's pretty important. Because most of us work with others, whether in the office or remotely, we often assume that people are being evil of mean when they're being a little less than nice to us. Sometimes, it's because they're tired just like you, exhausted just like you, overwhelmed just like you, have to pay bills just like you, are worried about their kids/parents just like you, or simply had an argument with a friend/spouse just like you.
I think this point is particularly important in the digital world. With the digital divide, we sometimes forget that we're dealing with human beings. Just like you.
Marsha Maung is a mother, writer, social media consultant, internet marketer and human. Her mission, as far as her work is concerned, is to bring brands, products, services and companies exposure. Find out more about her life from her personal blog (cooking, life, sense, parenting, writing, etc) or her professional WordPress blog MarshaMaung.Me. Hope to see you and connect there.
