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Five SEO Strategies that Will Work in 2015

It seems that everytime Google announces an algorithm update, every site owner and SEO marketer would clasp their hands together and hope that all the time and hard work spent at ranking their sites up wouldn’t go up in smoke overnight. And before the year 2014 ended, that very same search engine provider gave everyone a Christmas present, in the form of one of its famous algo updates.

So, as Google continues to enforce their Content Creation Strategy, Content Marketing, Effective Content Strategy, Get Found Online, Off-Page SEO, On-Page SEO, social media marketinghold in search engine superiority, the site owners should also try to do their best to make sure they don’t get on its bad side. That’s why with the dawn of the new year, it’s time to make some new SEO adaptations as well.

These are the things you should look out for in your SEO strategies for 2015.

 

 

 

Broad Keywords Don’t Cut It Anymore

Using general one-word keywords have resulted in great traffics for sites that have successfully opted for them, however, the strategy of using them is slowly getting unconventional. They rank slow and take a lot of time, effort and money to do so. Now, long-tail keyword phrases are becoming the favored ones as they get the attention of the right traffic for one’s site. Ranking up these keywords will be much easier as they will obviously have lesser competition compared to short-tailed keywords.

Doing your research for the best keyword phrase before picking one will always be the optimal marketing strategy. Plan your moves ahead and try to determine which keywords will your consumers likely use when searching for your business niche.

ROI Metrics > Keyword Rankings

While showing up on the top of the rankings for relevant search queries does sound nice for your business, it won’t do anything good unless you get some cash flowing in. Focusing your efforts solely on strengthening your keyword rankings is a foolhardy move – instead, you should avert your efforts to determining how your return on investments are going. If anything else, knowing how many inbound links, leads and sales you’ve gained on your latest marketing efforts would definitely be better than hearing a report on how you’re doing on your keyword rankings.

Trying Out Other Search Engines

When it comes to search engine providers, Google is King. However, that doesn’t mean the others should just be tossed aside. There’s Yahoo and Bing to name a few major players in this game as well. The decision of Firefox to use Yahoo instead of Google as their default search engine speaks volumes of how the search engine industry might be undergoing an upheaval – this is further followed by the expiration of Google’s contract with Safari as well.

So while Google should remain as your main search engine focus, making sure your site is also visible on other search engines would also be very beneficial for you.

Organic Link Building

One truth that remained unchanged ever since SEO was introduced was the importance of links. On the first stages, a lot marketers and site owners alike managed to exploit these links to put their sites to the top of Google’s SERPs, but that only made Google pissed. When they released Panda, these unethical and downright spammy linkbuilding strategies also made their exit. Blackhat SEO still utilize the use of this, but if you’re discovered by Google, consider your site ranking gone.

What one needs to do is to build links naturally. Create posts and post them on popular sites or create great content for your viewers to link back to you. There are a lot of methods out there that you can use to those links honestly without having to get on Google’s bad side

Social Media Application

Facebook and Twitter aren’t simply sites where people interact with one another. These platforms have also become quite efficient tools when it comes to marketing. However, most of these netizens have finally wised up to various marketing strategies in social media. What you need to do this time is to make your approaches up close and personal.

Try to get to know your viewers and readers and interact with them. Don’t just shoot up some random post from your site and expect them to read all about it. Your social media outlets aren’t just a means to share your content easily – it’s an effective tool to get to know your clients better by interacting with them.

Google will continue to apply the necessary changes it sees fit in order to provide the best experience for their users so that they, in turn, will continue using them. And along with those changes, how we see and apply SEO will constantly change as well.

About the author:

Ruben Licera Jr.Ruben Licera Jr is a new media enthusiast and has written several articles on internet marketing specifically web design, search engine optimization and social media management. You can follow him via Google+ and Twitter .

 

 

 

 

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20 tips for Instagram brands!

instagram, instagram for brands, instagram tipsWhile it is undeniable Instagram has become an indispensable social network for brands, few of them are able to benefit from their digital communication strategy!

Whether through lack of content, ideas or time (or all that at a time), many brands on the social network decide to give up or abandon it in favor of more platforms generating benefits, such as may be a Facebook or Twitter.

But the app, which now has 300 million active users worldwide can prove to be a showcase of the DNA of a brand, allowing it to sublimate its products / services and create its own visual identity so instant and creative, to the delight of its customers and / or clients!

When we know more than 46% of its users follow brands, we can understand the interest and the need to read the following 20 tips. So here we go!

20 tips to optimize your use of Instagram:

  • – Publish Single & exclusive content: own your brand and and make sure that users will not see your content on other social networks or your competitors, for example.
  • – Your post must create the emotion for the user, to allow them to spent a time for their “preferred” brand that they could not live without you! (Well said like that, it may impress, but the idea is there)
  • – Think “timeless” do not add time indicators, users must be able to identify your vision no matter what time of day it is!
  • – Focus on one item: useless to capture everything dwell instead on an item you want to promote to your subscribers. One you want to make them remember!
  • – Crop your photos: center the elements and play with symmetries. These are very popular on “Insta”!
  • – Edit photos (sparingly) in addition to the filters, many settings are available in post-production (brightness, contrast, shadows, etc.) and you will get a unique look and quality, but do not overdo it, your subscribers might not like it!
  • – Avoid glare: some textures, such as shop windows for example, reflect the opposite view and disturb the final rendering. Try to take your photos in simple, natural environments.
  • – Do not rely on managers: some proposed frameworks can distract the user from the content of your photo, avoid them whenever possible.
  • – Be concise: Limit descriptions of your photos 4-5 lines maximum.
  • – Do not add any text or logo on your photos (point).
  • – Add hashtags: they generate 12.6% more engagement, but do not overdo it! We must stay consistent and not try at all costs to benefit from the popularity of a “word-pound” that had no connection with your content.
  • – Hire your customers: the pictures showing consumers using your products receive 30% more engagement, a bargain! But do not forget to ask permission to owners of pictures before re-published with the account of your brand.
  • – Choose a fairly broad term-back: you will get 29% of “likes” and more!
  • – Prefer publications on Wednesday (+ 1% of commitment) and Sunday (+ 6% of commitment).
  • – Post in the mornings: photos generate maximum commitment in the morning between 6 am and 11 am, depending Over-Graph.
  • – Choose wisely your filters: for example, the filter “Mayfair” gives rise 2% more engagement with the filter “Toaster”…
  • – Show your face: the pictures containing faces get more commitment and comments than others!
  • – See life in blue: publications where the blue color dominates are very popular and earn 24% of “likes” and more!
  • – Step into the light: the light shots get 25% of “likes” and more.
  • – Choose images rather than videos: these are less efficient than 26%. The question is whether the new Instagram of the week (auto loop playback videos in the news wire) will change the situation…

 

Bonus: You can get inspiration from these eight successful brands on Instagram (And no, there are no Starbucks and Coca-Cola)!

 

Authors bio:

Stephen KarschStephen E. Karsch was born and raised in Bern, Switzerland. Stephen is a technology geek and loves everything about tech, high tech, computers and programming. He graduated from Bern University of Applied Sciences with a bachelor’s degree in Business Information Technology. You can get in touch with Stephen on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and Instagram.

 

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An insight into 5 lesser-known HTML Elements

business website, business lead generationAs a core markup language, HTML5 has been used by web designers across the globe. The growing urge for including multimedia into websites has encouraged web designing professionals to use HTML5 programming language.

The sole reason behind using HTML5 is to design websites that are easily readable by humans and consistently understood by all internet-enabled devices including web browsers, parsers etc. HTML5 came into the limelight when handling media via plugins had become a tedious job.

With the inception of HTML tags and elements, it has been convenient for web designers to build websites that are compatible with all major web browsers including Apple, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome etc.

If you’re a web designing expert looking ahead to design a HTML5 website, there’s a range of tags and elements you need to be aware of. My aim behind writing this post is to make you familiar with some brand new HTML5 tags which you can’t miss out. So, let’s dive into these tags, demonstrating the function of each one individually.

1. The all-new HTML5 Form Input Types and Attributes

Recently, HTML5 has introduced 13 new input types and attributes for the already existing <form> and <input> tags.

Here, you need to remember that not all web browsers fully support HTML5’s new types and attributes. Some impressive features added to this amazing HTML5 form include the built-in placeholder, innovative input types and browser-based validation.

Here’s an example of the brand new HTML5 Form containing input types including email, url and number and HTML input attributes including required, pattern, min, max and placeholder.

<form id=”myform”>

Name: <input name=”name” required placeholder=”Your name” pattern=”[A-z]{7}” />

<br/>

Email: <input type=”email” name=”email” required placeholder=”email@inwebson.com”/>

<br/>

URL: <input type=”url” name=”url” placeholder=”Homepage URL”/>

<br/>

Age: <input type=”number” name=”age” min=”18″ max=”99″ />

<br/>

Description: <textarea name=”desc” placeholder=”Describe yourself here…”></textarea>

<br/>

<input type=”submit” value=”Submit” />

</form>

2. Brand new HTML5 Audio and Video support

Unlike the hassles associated with using a third-party plugin for embedding an audio or video file, HTML5 now brings you a new way to embed media using the <audio> and <video> tags. The only downside of this HTML5 feature is that currently it is being supported only by limited number of web browsers. Here’s an example of how using the <audio> and <video> tags can let you embed media files, without the need for installing any plugins:

Case1- When we intend to embed an audio file

<audio controls="controls">

   <source src="audio.mp3" type="audio/mp3" />

   <source src="audio.ogg" type="audio/ogg" />

   Your browser does not support the <audio> tag.

</audio>

Case 2- When we intend to embed a video file

<video controls="controls" width="400" height="300">

   <source src="movie.mp4" type="audio/mp4" />

   <source src="media.ogg" type="audio/ogg" />

   Your browser does not support the <video> tag.

</audio>

3. HTML5 Local Storage

The storage of web browser's cookies has always posed major challenges. HTML5 has introduced two new methods of storing data in the user's web browser. These methods are named as localStorage and sesssionStorage, explained below:

  • localStorage- This method allows you to store data with no time limit. In other words, you can access the data at anytime and via any window/tab even if the web browser has just been restarted.

<script>

   localStorage.variableName = "value";

   alert(localStorage.variableName);

   localStorage.removeItem("variableName");

   alert(localStorage.variableName);

</script>

  • sessionStorage- This method allows you to store the data just for a single session. In other words, the data gets deleted each time the user closes his/her browser window.

<script>

   sessionStorage.variableName = "value";

   alert(sessionStorage.variableName);

   sessionStorage.removeItem("variableName");

   alert(sessionStorage.variableName);

</script>

4. HTML5'S contenteditable attribute

Web designers have always been keen on adding content editing feature into their websites. HTML5 understands this concern of web designing experts and has hence come up with a trendy attribute called contenteditable. If paired with the HTML5 local storage feature, contenteditable attribute can turn to be much more useful. Here's the declaration code associated with HTML5's conteneditable attribute:

<div contenteditable="true">

   Any content here will be editable...

</div>

5. HTML5 Canvas

2D shapes, animations and graphics have become the most sought-after elements on a web page. With HTML5, you can choose to include the same with the help of JavaScript. Below is the HTML code that displays a simple HTML5 Canvas declaration:

<canvas id="myCanvas" width="200" height="200"></canvas>

 <script>

   var c=document.getElementById("myCanvas");

   var ctx=c.getContext("2d");

   ctx.fillStyle="#0000FF";

   ctx.fillRect(0,0,150,150);

</script>

Summing Up

This was just a hand-picked collection of tags and elements introduced by HTML5. There's a lot more that the markup language has got in store for you. It's up to you to explore the same for affirming 100% success in all your web designing ventures.

Thanks for reading. Please take out a few minutes to jot down your views/opinions/suggestions(if any) using the comments box below.

Sarah ParkerAuthors Bio:Sarah Parker is an experienced PSD to WordPress service provider, and a web designer. She loves to share her thoughts on web design and web development trends.  Get in touch with Megan on Google+ and Twitter.

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How Governments are Winning The War on Social Media and Content Marketing

content marketing, corporate blogging, whitepaper creation, ebook creation, social media content marketingWhen it comes to having an enormous amount of content online, local, State and US Federal Governments must rank high in the vast amount of information available on the world wide web. They even offer a website where you can assure yourself that social media sites advertising that they are from our government, are in fact, actually a part of the .gov family.

But these government agencies often struggle with social networking, similar to the medical and financial industries, they are bound by a completely different set of rules and regulations than the average business. Yet still, there are some notable successes when developing smart strategies for content marketing success.

Here are some examples of how our local, State and Federal governments are teaming up to keep us informed and well-educated, from sea to shining sea, during some very difficult times:

Major Construction Ordeal in San Francisco

Many years after repairs were made to the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge following the devastating damage from the Loma Prieta Earthquake, a massive project was launched to replace a huge, unsafe section of the bridge. The eastern span replacement was the largest public works project in California history, with an estimated cost at over $6.4 billion dollars, it took over eleven years to complete, eventually making it the widest bridge in the world.

This “Bay” bridge carries one-third of traffic from all the California state owned bridges combined and the resulting gridlock, traffic jams, temporary closures and detours were challenging to say the least. Although the bridge re-opened in 2013, during the decade long construction and transition, the City of San Francisco teamed up with CalTrans, Bay Area Toll Authority, California Transportation Commission, local news services and social media to keep the public informed during this harrowing process. Although minor repairs continue, it is a beautiful site on the SF Bay, comparable to many other great bridges in our nation.

The First Lady’s Nationwide Campaign

Mrs. Michelle Obama has been very busy promoting her “Let’s Move” campaign against childhood obesity and endorsing her platform for a more active, health-conscious, future for our nation’s children. Initially, upon launch back in 2010, she was quoted as saying, “The physical and emotional health of an entire generation and the economic health and security of our nation is at stake.”

The First Lady has been effectively utilizing Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to promote a healthier, more active lifestyle for our children. Posting recipes, videos and pictures from her campaign across multiple channels, Mrs. Obama has also gained celebrity endorsements from famous chefs, comedians and actors across the nation.

Federal Assistance

Our federal government is often there to lend a helping hand, especially during times of tragedy, but there are also over 120 agencies listed on the fed’s website that show their connection to social media, everything from agriculture to The White House. Here our nation’s citizens and small businesses can get assistance from a variety of different branches of our government and see which social media platforms they are utilizing:

  • Consumer Financial Protection
  • Consumer Product Safety
  • Energy Efficiency
  • Federal Housing Financing
  • Medicare and Medicaid
  • Minority Business Development
  • Securities and Exchange Commission
  • Small Business Administration
  • Veterans Health and Benefits

 

While awards are commonly given for big government contracts, perhaps the City by the Bay and our First Lady are worthy of consideration for their achievements with a different kind of recognition. They have both overcome tremendous challenges using content marketing and social media to reach their important audience and ultimately their goals.

 

Megan RitterAuthors Bio:

Megan Ritter is a proud graduate of Marketing from The University of California. Since then she has been working at various Marketing agencies while always submitting informative articles on websites, drawing from her research and experience. Get in touch with Megan on Facebook, Google+ and Twitter.

 

 

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Timing is everything: how quickly should you call sales leads?

Marketing technology research website Software Advice recently analyzed 6,000,000 unique visitors to their website to uncover when online B2B buyers perform research on the Web, when they covert on a website and when is the best time to get them on the phone.

If you are a content marketing, sales or marketing professional here are the top three findings to take away from their research:

1. You should call your leads very fast. When Software Advice called a called a lead within 5 seconds, their odds of qualifying them were 29 percent higher than if they called within 5 minutes.

2. The best time of the week to reach buyers is from Tuesday to Thursday. Leads that come during this time of the week were qualified by Software Advice at twice their average qualification rate of other business days.

3. Don’t forgot about the holidays. Their report also found that the week before Christmas is surprisingly active for qualification and conversion rates. There were also many other holidays that had surprisingly active sales opportunities.

As B2B Buyers increasingly research their purchases on the Web, it will become even more important for companies to understand their online behavior. Software Advice’s findings show that calling your sales leads right away can significantly improve your company’s ability to qualify online leads. It is also important for marketing and sales professionals to remember that there are specific times of the year, week and day where you are likely to have more conversions and qualifications. This is important to remember because you should plan your inside sales team’s schedule to maximize your website’s conversions and turn them into qualified leads.

According to Derek Singleton, the author of the report, “Of course, it’s also important to understand that not every buyer deserves a call right away. If a buyer contacts you indirectly—by completing a form to download a whitepaper, access video content, or view other gated material—then you should consider nurturing, rather than calling, the lead. As inside sales and marketing professionals continue to compete for the attention of B2B buyers on the Web, understanding their online behavior will be critical to success.”

To help showcase the key findings of their research, they decided to team up with Salesforce to develop this infographic below:

http://b2b-marketing-mentor.softwareadvice.com/files/2014/01/B2B-Buyer-Phone-Web-Channels-Infographic.png

 

 

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How the New Evernote App Can Benefit Your Business

Evernote is a great app to help you remember important information, keep track of appointments and other reminders. However, Evernote is more than just an app for personal usage; it can also help businesses and organizations maximize their efficiency. Here are some of the wonderful features and how they work for businesses:

Use It Everywhere

One of the most important features of Evernote is its ability for use on all devices. Write notes from your desktop or laptop at the office and access them on your smartphone while out with a client with ease and convenience. Fortunately, Evernote is compatible with both Mac and PC operating systems, allowing for an even broader base of users and further functionality.

 Image Courtesy of Mike Atherton of Flickr.com

Keep Your Notes Organized

Many times, people create numerous notes on a project or client that they need to keep long-term. Instead of trying to sort through a mass of paper or locate a random file on the computer, you can create and store those notes in Evernote. Separate each client or project into its own Notebook to help you stay organized and quickly retrieve the information you want.

You can take it a step further and organize your notebooks into what is called a Stack. Say you want to create a list of customers, you could put each one in their own notebook and put all of the notebooks for one sales representative in a stack. The sales rep would leave notes about, contacting the potential customer as well as when an order is placed.

Make It Easy to Find

By giving your notes Tags, you can make it easy to find the information when you do a search. Search by client name, project type, or various other options based on the tags you use. Not only can you use this when you write notes, but it is also helpful when you embed non-written content. One of the most important benefits of Evernote is that you can include PDFs, webpages, images, even audio: whatever format your media is in, Evernote more than likely supports it.

Collaborate

One of the main requirements of any app designed for businesses is that you can share your information with others, whether employees, vendors, or even customers. First, it is important to note that once you download the application to your device, you will have immediate access to all of your notes. In addition, Evernote automatically synchronizes your data every 30 minutes so that everything is updated.

You can also select certain notebooks to share with others, as Premium members can even allow others to edit their notes. For the basic membership, it is a read-only version.

Other Features

While Evernote is not a mainstream inventory control system, online retail sites like Shopify or even pop up stores can keep track of their various products with this app. Use it for basic pricing and even add photos of your most popular items to create a handy portfolio.

Image Courtesy of Flickr.com

Want to give someone access to information from an email? Simply email it to Evernote and it will become a note. Need to keep receipts for business? Just scan it or take a photo of the receipt and save it to your Evernote account. You can also follow this procedure for business cards you receive from seminars and networking events.

Evernote is a great way for small businesses and brand new companies alike to stay organized without spending a lot of money on fancy software programs. It’s simple and user-friendly while providing many of the basic functions a business person would need to thrive and succeed!

Camille How To Make It in the Blogging WorldCamille McClane is a blogger and web entrepreneur who enjoys writing on social media, online marketing and blogging trends. She hopes you enjoy this article and wishes you nothing but success in your online business endeavors! Connect with Camille  here on Google+ or Facebook.

 

 

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Joomla for Boiling Your Website with Features

WheJoomla for Boiling Your Website with Featuresn it comes to choosing the most reliable, and state of the art Content Management system, all fingers point to Joomla – and for a cluster of reasons.

A highly diversified blogging platform, Joomla helps website administrators boil their websites with the most hot and happening features to have made their way into the CMS realm.

This power-packed CMS has managed to zoom past the other incredible CMSes, riding on its undiluted fuel of brilliance and adaptability.

When we say adaptability, we refer to the even so unpredictable trends and user demands when it comes to hosting a website on a CMS. The website owners come with a diversified set of requirements for their endeavor and it is not quite possible to catch up if you belong to a herd of website managers who do not use Joomla.

For the Joomla-powered websites however, it is a breeze to stay attuned to the latest in the blogging world and meet the requirements with absolute élan.

Let’s look at why Joomla is a choicest CMS despite the availability of some amazing alternatives:

It is Hassle-Free

Joomla for Boiling Your Website with Features

A feature that towers above everything else is the user-friendliness of any tool – be it on the Internet, or be it a household item. Sophistication of a particular tool takes a backseat to how simply it can be adopted by the users. If the users of any tool find the adorned up features too hard to understand and handle, there is every possibility they would bounce off to some other alternatives.

This holds true to the last thread with CMSes as well. If the CMS of your website is built such that the addition of new features to it makes things complicated with your website to an extent that the visitors of the site find it extremely hard to navigate through it smoothly, you aren’t helping the numbers in any way. But when your website is hosted on Joomla, you have one less thing to worry about.

With clear-cut tools that are easy to use and apply, Joomla creates an interface that is advanced, and at the same time, does not encrypt things for the users. You do not need to be an expert to set up your website on Joomla. It has some straightforward procedures that are also self-explanatory, thus helping the novices to easily create their own blog.

Versatility Unrivalled

Everyone loves versatile websites. A website that gives visitors great many options to choose from, and interactive layout which facilitates easy navigation is most likely to stay at the top of their minds. With the intuitive Joomla tools and extensions, you can lend your website an incredible structure and layout, and adorn it with state-of-the-art design.

The visual appeal of the website can be enriched using the plugins that are specifically developed to reboot the website’s designs. You also are provided a huge suite of widgets so as to give you ample option in terms of the segregations you want to create on each page. the SEO Joomla features make it all the more worthy.

Responsiveness

Joomla for Boiling Your Website with Features

Responsiveness is a boon to any website. Unless a website is mobile-ready and compatible with all the browsers, it is of little value on the Internet. the Joomla themes are developed keeping this in mind. Any Jomla site is compatible across different browsers and do not throw up compatibility or loading time issues while opening them on mobile devices either.

The responsive websites are thus lapped up with greater confidence, and helps you improve traffic to your website to a good extent.

A Joomla website comes with these benefits, and some more. Choose wisely.

Author Bio:

edward jonesEdward Jones is a web developer by profession and a writer by hobby and works for OSSMedia Ltd. a Custom Joomla Development company. He loves sharing information regarding wordpress, Majento, Drupal and Joomla development tips & tricks. If you are looking for Joomla Programmers then just get in touch with him. Connect with Edward Jones on Twitter and Facebook.

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3 Social Media Marketing Goof-ups You Probably Have Fallen Prey to

b2b social media marketing, best social media marketing, define social media marketing, guide to social media marketing, inbound marketing, learn social media marketingI would be sounding too mainstream when I say social media marketing has transfigured the approach we had towards marketing the products of a brand.

The conventional ways to advertise the offerings of companies had become obsolete, to say the least. We needed a fresh approach that would reboot our stratagem and generate a curiosity and interest among our customers one more time. And this is what social media helped us to achieve, ever so seamlessly.

But with all said and done, there are a number of goof-ups that brands unintentionally fall prey to, which fail to bring in the results. While some page owners complain that their page and the corresponding posts fail to get as many likes and shares as they would want, others have complains of an altogether different, but much too common, nature. They are worried about that fact that even though they get some incredible response from their followers on social media in the form of Likes, Shares, Retweets, etc. they do not see much improvement in the sales.

Simply put, the number of hits on their social media accounts do not translate into buyers, and that is something that bothers them – justifiably so.

Smiley face

So, how do they go past these barriers, which in the first place, they don’t know the cause for being there? However, when your social media marketing endeavors is not bringing the desirable results for you, or for that matter, failing to make any impact, it is most likely that the problem lies within your strategies around it. Here are the 3 mistakes you might be making:

Being Too Fancy, Too Funny

Let’s say, if you are managing the page of a Cola brand, you have a target audience that mostly consists of youth. So, posting fancy and funny stuff might just do the trick. But when you are managing the Facebook page of a multinational automobile brand, there has to be more sophistication on the page. You can’t post jokes around Rajnikanth or Justin Bieber and expect more people turning up at your counter to buy cars. Posting funny stuff isn’t bad, but you should make it more attuned to the taste of your audience, which aren’t there just to like and share your posts.

They may have joined you on social media to keep themselves updated with the latest offerings and services by you. Make it a point that at least twice in a week you post something that creates a brand recall value.

Not Interacting with the Followers

Wasn’t that the purpose of the whole exercise? To create a platform that helps your customers interact with you in a more amicable environment? So, why are blatantly ignoring their comments when they enquire about certain products? Once you have created a brand page, you need to ensure that you get involved in one to one conversations and reply to each comment that pertains to your services and products. By doing this, you are only making your customers feel more welcomed. Otherwise, you aren’t making full use of the platform.

Doing Excessive Promotion

So, there is another extreme end of the spectrum. At this end, there are page managers who keep bombarding their followers with the strictly product-oriented posts. Agreed, that was the intention, but when every posts of yours is centered on product promotion, and there is no fun at all, the Unlikes will soon start pouring in. So, try to be on a balanced ground.

Drive these 3 mistakes out of your social media marketing stratagem and you just might have the results you are looking for.

About the auhor:

000860cMaria Mincey is a PHP Development expert who seamlessly delivers focus in her writings. She works for Xicom Technologies, a Offshore PHP Development Company. You can connect with Maria on LinkedIn, Google Plus, Facebook  and Twitter.

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Conversion Case Study: How I Made $7115 From 85 Unique Visitors

using social media for marketing researchOver the years, I’ve created and sold several “how to” information products online, but none have been as successful as The Million Dollar Case Study. Within days of launching the site I made $7115 from the first 85 unique visitors.

Since then, the site has continued to grow steadily. And I’m still amazed at the conversion statistics. Currently, the squeeze page converts at 67% and the video sales letter at 8.2%.

If you’re struggling to convert browsers into buyers, here’s the exact strategy I’m using. It works in any niche, but it’s particularly effective in competitive, popular niches like weight loss, make money online and relationship advice.

First Off, Your Product And Market Are Everything

Without a doubt, the #1 factor in my success so far is the product and market. The reality is, people in the “make money online” niche are ready and willing to spend money on products they like. Case studies are generally popular in most markets, but especially so in the internet marketing sphere.

If you have lots of traffic but very few conversions, I would take a good long look at your niche and product or service. Ask yourself honestly, “Are there enough interested buyers around?”

If you’re not sure, I highly recommend paying a visit to the ClickBank marketplace to find out. Simply find the category you’re involved in and see if there’s lots of products with a decent gravity (more than 20-30). If there are, you’re in a good niche; if not, that’s your basic problem.

Ignore The Crowd

The single most important factor in improving your conversion rate is your sales letter. If it works, you have a license to print money. If not, again, you’re fighting a losing battle.

The good news is, it’s very easy to get a sales letter or video to convert, but the key is to go against the grain. Most internet marketers copy each other and that simply doesn’t work anymore.

This is the simple process I use that works very well:

First off, I interrupt the same old, same old. Most people expect to hear a long boring sales pitch or a hyped up motivational success story. So I do the exact opposite. I get straight to the point and reveal exactly what my product does, and more importantly, who it can help and who it can’t.

I’m honest about my intentions. I have no idea why most marketers “hide” the sale until later in the sales funnel, when all you have to do is let people know that you’re in business to make money. Everyone knows that anyway, and it makes it a lot easier to ask for the sale.

Authority, customer advocacy and hope are my most powerful weapons. I’m not afraid to assert myself as a leader, let people know that I have their best interests at heart (because I actually do) and inspire them to take action.

My product is unique, different and interesting. If you’re just another “me too”, it’s very difficult to stand out in today’s marketplace. That’s why I created a case study; instead of teaching people how to make money online, like most people do, I’m just showing what works.

Finally, I use an ultimatum. This strategy is controversial, but it works. I force people to make a decision by giving them a deadline to buy. If they remain indecisive or on the fence when the time limit expires, I simply take them off my list.

The Real Money Is Made On The Back End

Membership sales have steadily grown since launching The Million Dollar Case Study, and it’s nice to have a regular, passive income, but the real profits come from coaching fees.

The truth is, your front end offer very rarely makes much money, especially if you’re paying for traffic. So the key is to offer a high ticket product or service on the back end to make up the difference.

As long as you’re providing genuine value to your customers, and you’re being open, upfront and honest about your expertise and how you can help them, it’s a fantastic way to earn a living.

One Other Thing – I’m Passionate About My Niche

I’m a firm believer in selling products and services you care about, that you’d personally buy yourself. If you’re not successful online, that’s something you should definitely think about.

In the past I’ve sold products in the weight loss and search engine optimization niches. They sold well, but it was always difficult to motivate myself during the tough times.

Once I started doing what I loved, and selling products and services I believed in, it made my job a lot easier. And besides, your customers can pick up on your enthusiasm, so I believe this is one of the most important factors in determining your conversion rate.

And That’s It

As you can see, it’s not hard. If target the right market and sell what people buy, that’s 90% of the battle. Of course, split testing different elements on your page is important (headline, sub headline, benefits, testimonials, the call to action button and so on), but at the end of the day, if no one wants your products or services, you’re fighting a losing battle.

 

About the author:

Marcus MacleanMarcus Maclean is the founder & CEO of The Million Dollar Case Study, a live, video case study detailing exactly how he’s building a brand new million dollar membership website from scratch. To watch the case study unfold.

He is also a professional launch jacker. Connect with Marcus Maclean on Facebook, LinkedIn and Google Plus.

 

 

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5 Critical Steps for Creating a Lead Generation Strategy

 If you want to make sure you reach all your lead generation goals, you need to make sure you have a good strategy in place.

The good news is that it doesn’t take a lot of work to make sure you’re doing the best job possible.

We have collected a list of the five critical steps you need to create a lead generation strategy that will work wonders for you and allow you to excel no matter what industry you’re working in. Keep reading if you want to learn how to make sure you see results.

Photo credits: CreateNWE – European Project

Creating a Lead Generation Strategy

Here’s a look at five specific steps you need to take to increase your lead generation numbers and get better results no matter what industry you’re in currently.

  1. Identify Target Market – The first step you want to take is to clearly identify your target market. Who are you going after? This can be further subdivided into smaller groups of people – and should be – but you want to start with a general overview of your target.

  2. Build Your List – After you know who you’re targeting, you’ll want to come up with a list of leads from various sources. This may entail researching online or learning about potential leads from people in your network.

  3. Offer Value – Before you approach people, it’s a good idea to think about how you’re going to be offering them value. If you skip this step, you’re going to find that it’s harder to get people interested in your pitch. Take the time to really think about how you can offer your different targets real value for their time or money.

  4. Create the Offers – Next, you want to make sure you come up with several different ways of pitching your offer depending on who you’re talking to on your list of potential targets. Having this information before you start trying to generate leads can make all the difference in the world. If you want to avoid wasting time, this is something that needs to be done.

  5. Target Demographic – Knowing as much as you can about your target demographic is important. For example, if you’re trying to generate leads for a six sigma green belt training class, you’re going to want to make sure you target the right people. In most cases, they’re going to fall into an age range that will make it easier to identify and target them online.

By using the five step process listed above, you’re going to have a lot better chance of actually converting leads into sales, which should be your main goal in the first place. No matter what industry you’re in, taking the time to come up with a proper lead generation strategy beforehand is essential for your success. If you have any tips or advice to add, feel free to leave a comment below and let us know what you do to increase your chances of converting leads whether they’re cold or hot.

About the author:

SEO in 2050: The Future is...Adam Prattler is a consultant for search engine optimization ny and has been working since the last 6 years. With a degree in engineering and a graduation in design, he believes he has the ability to look at from every aspect, be it technology, content or design. You can connect with Adam on LinkedIn, Google Plus, Facebook  and Twitter.

 

 

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How To Make It in the Blogging World

content marketing, corporate blogging, whitepaper creation, ebook creation, social media content marketingBlogging has become far more than just a passing hobby.

The functionality and relevancy of the blogging platform has grown to the point where it is so closely interconnected with internet retail and affiliate marketing, that it’s entirely possible for a well-built and maintained blog to become a full-time job, or even a company.

Darren Rowse of Problogger and Brian Clarke of Copyblogger are two excellent examples, as they’ve taken their websites and developed them into massively successful and influential blogs.

How did they do it?

If you find anyone who tells you that getting into blogging full-time is easy or fast, they’re absolutely lying to you. Blogging is a slow burn, requiring that you have the means to support yourself while you build your base of content.

We’re talking years, not months, and guys like Brian and Darren are testaments to that, having started their journeys over a decade ago before blogging was really even heard of or widely regarded as it is today. That’s not to say that it can’t be done or shouldn’t be attempted; but it does take work and consistency. Yet those who are able to support themselves while building a valuable base of content and designing a website without getting bored and giving up, have a tremendously rewarding light waiting for them at the end of their tunnel.

Let’s put it in simpler terms. Problogger and Copyblogger have seen success with a fairly basic formula that includes the following strategies:

  • Write high-quality and valuable content.

  • Be genuinely interested and devoted to your writing (don’t just do it to get something posted).

  • Take the time to design a clean and easily navigated website.

  • Be consistent and dedicated to your blog like you would a 9 to 5 job.

These are come of the primary ways that bloggers, Darren and Brian, made a name for themselves through media content.

You, on the other hand, might be wondering what you can do on a more practical level to take your blog from hobby status, to a genuine profit-turner, worthy of a 9 to 5 schedule.

How can I make it?

First, let’s look at a broad truth about professional blogging. You’ll have an extremely difficult time making it in the blogging world if you’re always focused on making money. The internet simply presents too many shortcuts and too many ways to quickly produce content to fight that temptation. Instead, you need to be interested in the topic you’re writing about and genuinely concerned with providing knowledge, you deem valuable, to people. So do your best to keep the dollar signs out of your eyes and focus your energy on writing helpful material. Once you’ve got that mindset down, the following areas are proven techniques for building both your site’s reputation and your own reputation as a writer and expert within your niche.

Image courtesy of Shuttershock.com

Social Media Presence

More than just posting your articles on a bunch of social media accounts, this needs to be an area where you’re active and engaged; not just with your followers, but with other professionals in your area of expertise as well.

If you’re impatient and looking to gain more traffic immediately, there is always the option of boosting your posts online.

Guest Blogging

Aside from writing and publishing on your own site, try to network with other bloggers in your field of interest and pitch guest posts to them. This is a great way to get traffic and gain exposure for your material with an established audience.

Forums, Commenting and Reviewing

This is a tedious, though effective strategy.

Simply go to the places online where people who are interested in your topic like to hang out. Forums and other online communities are great places to answer (or ask) questions and even do research on what people are interested in learning or hearing about.

Stay Focused and Don’t Lose Sight

The most likely cause of your downfall as a blogger will be a simple loss of focus and interest in what you’re doing. If you can stay focused and fight the boredom with writing so often and on such a regular basis, you stand a far better chance of succeeding than most of the people who start blogs now a days.

So don’t fret, you have variety of options to gain exposure for the world to hear your voice!

CamilleCamille McClane is a blogger and web entrepreneur who enjoys writing on social media, online marketing and blogging trends. She hopes you enjoy this article and wishes you nothing but success in your online business endeavors! Connect with Camille  here on Google+ or Facebook.

 

 

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The Perfect Photo Will Get Your Blog Shared

Two photo editors working on a computer in their officeFacebook posts with pictures receive 10 percent more engagement than posts without a photo, according to the marketing team at Webliquid. That’s a big difference in audience response. Are you sharing important visual cues with your audience?

Take the time to choose a photo

Whatever you do, don’t skip the photo. Ever go on to a dating site or craigslist to look for some furniture? Odds are you will only click on those posts that have a photo. You want to know what you’re in for. The same goes for blogging. Readers want to know what they are going to read, and your photo will do that for them, if chosen correctly.

Make it relevant

A picture of a cute dog might elicit interest, but if your article is about Internet security, then you lost your audience. Those interested in dogs will make a note to never read your blog, and internet security people will shake their head and wonder why they should read your blog at all.

If your goal is to get your blog read and shared, you need to have a professional and accurate representation of your subject. Consider photos not as decoration, but as visual aids to increase your audiences understanding. The University of Alabama at Birmingham reveals that visual aids, “help you to reach your objectives by providing emphasis to whatever is being said.”

Here are some tips and pointers to find and use the right photo that works for you and will get you more shares:

  1. Does it look professional? (not blurry or out of focus)
  2. Does it appear well composed? (there is balance in the photo)
  3. Does it directly relate to your article? (I.e. a picture of a beach with a blog about a beach vacation)
  4. Does the photo enhance your blog? If you are writing steps to complete a project, do you have photos of each step? Does it capture reader interest?

Finding a photo that works for your blog

  1. Search through Creative Commons. These photos generally require you to note the name of the photographer.
  2. Utilize high volume resources like iStockphoto.
  3. Consider reading photography articles and learning more about what’s out there, and how to use images.
  4. Use a photo of your own that can be used without too much editing.

Keep it simple

And, as a final note: Make sure to post your photos in a size appropriate for your blog. If you don’t compress your photo, it can take a long time for a large photo to load. This will cause readers to get impatient if they have to wait to read your blog and see your photos. Peer 1 Hosting reports that the “optimal load time for a web page was four seconds before users started moving on.

 

About the author:

RichardJohnson How Your Web Host Affects Search Engine OptimizationRichard Johnson is a veteran with over 8 years of service and multiple combat tours. He has multiple degrees in business and marketing from Arizona State University. Currently he is taking some time away from work to raise his kids and enjoy the outdoors.

 

 

 

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5 Things you must know before Buying a Web Content Management System

web cms, WCM, WCM solution, content management system, open source cmsBefore talking about how to buy a web content management system, let’s take a quick look at two important questions.

First question:

What is a WCM solution and how does it differ from a CMS? A WCM is a solution that makes it easy for your employees to make changes to your website, while offering templates and other features to maintain consistency.

 

 

There are fine points of difference between a WCM and CMS, but most solution providers offer a combination of both: every CMS has most of the features that you’d find in any WCM product.

Another important question: do you really need a WCM? Let’s take a quick look at the features and facilities offered by most WCM solutions to try and answer this question.

  • WYSIWYG editor
  • Drag-and-drop editing
  • Authoring templates
  • Collaboration capability
  • Scheduled publishing
  • Security and workflow controls
  • Site navigation and URL customization
  • Previewing and pre-rendering
  • Staging for separating content locally
  • Access control and permission for different users

 

Digital marketing and web analytics features

web cms, WCM, WCM solution, content management system, open source cmsIf you feel that these features will help you better manage your ecommerce store or business website, you need a WCM solution. The core function of a web CMS is to enable users with little technical knowledge to administer websites. Most WCM products have templates that simplify this task.

 

For example, Microsoft’s Sitecore or Sitefinity CMS come equipped with all the features that you’d find in a WCM solutions and a CMS.

Now, let’s take a look at what points you must consider while shopping for a WCMS (web content management system).

# 1. Central Features and Functionality

Let the choice of the WCMS be dictated by your wants. For instance, if you have a nice ecommerce website selling only a dozen types of products, you may not require too much customization with text or images. In such a case, a simple WordPress solution may be more than enough for your needs.

On the other hand, if you are managing a website with thousands of service or product pages – where you have different structure for different kinds of pages – you may have to invest in a high-end WCMS that offers more features. Other features like digital marketing, versioning, multi-website support and support for different languages also come into play in case of complex websites.

# 2. Communication and Collaboration

For large business organizations that have a large number of stakeholders, the following questions are significant:

  • Will your employees use the WCMS to collaborate and create documents?
  • Do you need a feature that enables a number of people to work on a document at the same time or at different times?
  • Do your sales people need a feature that allows them to communicate with different departments, employees and customers?
  • Will you be using it for email marketing? Do you need a feature that allows you to segment recoupments?

If you need all these facilities, you will have to shop for a system that provides modules for in-depth collaboration and communication.

# 3. Asset Management

While most web CMSes will have fantastic features of editing information, many of them do not offer enough facility for managing assets. If you are running a website that has a large number of images and other files, you need powerful asset management features. If the system is not designed to handle large quantity of web assets, it can lead to a lot of time waste and heartburn. Check what features a web CMS has for managing and displaying PDFs, images and other kinds of files.

#4. Access Control, Roles and Permissions

For smaller business, where just a couple of people are in charge of implementing web changes, there is no need for access control, but if dozens of people contribute to the website and make changes, you need to set up clear roles and permissions. So, it becomes imperative to choose a web content management system that simplifies the process of assigning roles and permissions to different sets of users.

#5. What kind of web content management system do I need?

The answer to this question will be clear after you have found an answer to the above questions. The most popular open-source systems –WordPress, Joomla, Drupal – pack a lot of punch, and these are good enough for most small business. However, if you are running a large ecommerce website, or require an enterprise-level solution, you may need to give it a little more thought.

You have two broad options 1) customize an open-source software and make sure that it is capable of fulfilling all your needs, or 2) Choose a propriety solutions that is most suitable to your existing website and your specific requirements (you may need customization here too). For instance, if you have an ASP.NET website and most of your employees are conversant only with MS tools and technologies, you might choose to go for Sitecore or Sitefinity CMS that offer a gentler learning curve.

Bottom Line

As you can see by looking at the above points, your choice of web CMS will be dictated by what your website and your employees need. If you are unsure of what is the right choice, it may be a good idea to consult your IT manager, or take advice from a friend whose business is already using a WCMS. After you have all the information in hand, it will be easier for your decide whether you want a simple a proprietary off-the-shelf web CMS, an open-source solution or a customized solution.

 

About the author:

928ecdb4d6de8d7d04a40d0a4bce19baKinjal is working as a digital marketer and blogger with 5 years of experience. She is full time employee with Cygnet Infotech expert in delivering complete ecommerce solution. She is always happy to share her passion for ecommerce and mobile technologies. Follow Kinjal on Twitter @adeshara_kinjal or connect with her on Google+, Facebook or Linkedin
 

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SEO in 2050: The Future is…

content marketing, corporate blogging, whitepaper creation, ebook creation, social media content marketing

Photo credits: Thos Ballantyne

Search engine optimization has been around since the very early days of the world wide web. Having said that, it’s gone through many changes over the years. In fact, SEO in 2014 may be unlike anything that has come before. While the basics still apply – like quality over quantity – there are a lot of other things that are necessary in order to compete. Rather than another boring 2014 predictions post, we thought we’d get out the time machine and make some long range predictions for the SEO industry.

SEO in 2050

This is not your grandfather’s SEO by any means. Here’s a peek at some of what might be happening in the SEO world in 2050 and beyond.

  • SEO Robots – While ‘bots exist online now, in the future Google and other companies will likely let real life robots loose into the world. Whether it’s their car that drives itself or something else they invent with all the robotics companies they’re buying up quickly, there’s a good chance that Google’s index will start to invade the “real world” before 2050.

  • Real Names – Anonymity on the web – truly being anonymous – is becoming more difficult with each passing year. By 2050, there’s a good chance that the only SEO that will work will be tied to a verifiable human. Perhaps Google’s army of robots will actually come to your house to make sure you are who you say you are online – and then rank you appropriately.

  • SEO Hobbyists – In the very early days of search engine optimization, it was easy for anyone who spent a little time studying to be able to see results on their own. That has changed over the years, however. Today, many SEO professionals have concentrated on one single area. The era of a jack of all trades SEO approach is over as it takes a team of dedicated people to get anything done.

  • Search Engine Wars – By 2050, there’s a good chance that the search engine wars will finally be over, with one company – probably Google – being the sole survivor. By this time, Google may have swallowed Microsoft and other companies to become a massive monopoly on a scale never before seen on the planet. Sound crazy? Wait and see what happens. Remember Demolition Man.

No one can know the future for certain, but it’s a lot of fun to make predictions – especially so far into the future. We’d like to get your input as well – something that will be very important for SEO in 2050. So leave your thoughts below and share your predictions with the rest of us. Depending on how old you are currently, you may be around long enough to come back in 36 years to see if we were correct or not.

When it comes to SEO, business professionals like Leonard Albanese are constantly learning about new methods and techniques. This helps him and others make sure their professional image online isn’t tarnished at all.

About the author:

5 Things you must know About BloggingAdam Prattler is a consultant for search engine optimization ny and has been working since the last 6 years. With a degree in engineering and a graduation in design, he believes he has the ability to look at from every aspect, be it technology, content or design. You can connect with Adam on LinkedIn, Google Plus, Facebook  and Twitter.

 

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