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Conference Calls And How To Use Them In Your Business

Never before has online communication been so integral to how businesses go about their day to day functions, and fortunately for us, applications like Zoom, Skype, and Microsoft Teams are available to make things easier. Whether your company has used any of these video conferencing programs before, or if you have just started using them after the pandemic forced us into lockdown, it is important to know their potential and how to use them effectively. Below are a few tips on how to efficiently use conference calls in your business.

Use virtual meetings

For the vast majority of your team communication, you will likely be using virtual meetings and the video aspect available in online conference calls. There are, however, a few differences between online and physical meetings that will impact both your preparation and your planning. While in physical meetings, attendees will play off each other fairly easily and spontaneously, but this is much harder in a virtual environment. Therefore, holding virtual meetings typically requires a stricter code of conduct and more thorough preparation to keep everyone on track.

Go back to basics

Since you will need to be more organized, it is worth going back to basics and creating an agenda for any virtual meeting you host. These agendas can be time-sensitive or not, but should at least include the purpose of the meeting, the topics you want to cover, and the overall goal you want to achieve by the end of it.

It may also be worth including a shortlist of guidelines and sending the agenda out to any invited participants ahead of time. The guidelines will act similar to a code of conduct in an office, and sending it out ahead of time allows everyone to have a rough idea of how they should prepare, as well as go over said guidelines.

Be aware of your employee’s mental health

The phenomenon known as ‘Zoom Fatigue’ is a very real thing and occurs when someone is forced to sit through many long virtual meetings each day. It leads to a drop in productivity, lower quality of work, and most importantly it can seriously affect mental health. To avoid this, try not to book too many meetings each week and whenever possible keep them around 30 minutes. In the event that you are forced to hold a meeting that goes over 45 minutes, be sure to take plenty of breaks during it to allow participants to stay fresh and focused for the duration.

Additionally, try to keep up with things like your employee’s birthdays and life events, and check up on them individually each week to hear how they are doing and if there is anything you can do to help. While it may seem like an insignificant and time-consuming gesture, it really shows that you care and your team will appreciate you for it.

Mix it up

As well as organizing your virtual meetings well, it is also important that you use the tools that are available to you in order to keep your team engaged. Instead of having the same old background of your home office, use one of many professional zoom backgrounds to both hide distractions that could be caused by people or things behind you, and to also add some variety to each meeting. There are hundreds of backgrounds to choose from and you can either go with a serious one, or a sillier one to get a laugh from your team.

It is also a good idea to use other tools like screen sharing and virtual whiteboards during your virtual meetings as they are a great help in brainstorming, discussing ideas, and efficiently sharing information.

Record them

Last but certainly not least, one of the features available in virtual meetings that is usually absent from physical ones is the ability to record the meeting at the push of a button. This is incredibly useful because it not only allows you to take more accurate and better notes but if anyone is unable to attend your meeting, they simply need to watch the recording to stay up to date on current events without having to rely on someone else filling them in.

SEO vs. SEM – 4 things you need to know

If you are new to digital marketing, you may be wondering – what is the difference between SEO and SEM? Search Engine Optimization (SEO) involves using specific techniques to bring in organic traffic to your website through search engine results. For example, if you sell vegan makeup products in Singapore, you should use SEO tactics to rank high in the search results when one searches ‘vegan makeup products Singapore’ in Google, or other search engines.

SEM is Search Engine Marketing and it involves using paid tactics to bring eyes to your page through paid search. This is most often done through Google Ads, but Yahoo, Bing, and other search engines have their own advertising platforms that may be beneficial to your business.

When you google something, you may notice the first results that come up at the very top are sponsored (advertisements).

Those advertisements are a result of SEM strategy. The organic search results after those are showing up near the top due to good SEO techniques.

As a business owner, tapping into SEO and SEM in a combined plan can result in more traffic to your page, and if you’re selling something, it can result in more sales. There are amazing and innovative digital marketing consultants in Singapore that can help you maximize both SEO and SEM in your business. We will get to that soon.

First, let’s begin with 4 things you need to know when considering SEO vs. SEM.

1. Both SEO and SEM require you to know your target audience well.

A quality Search Engine Marketing campaign will include SEO strategy in addition to pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. It’s important to create a comprehensive marketing plan that will organically bring traffic to your website while using PPC methods to bring in traffic through google ads or other search engine advertising opportunities.

A good strategy will include both SEO and SEM. For the strategy to work effectively, you need to really narrow down your target audience. Get to know your customer, demographic, location, and what they are looking for when they search. When it comes to SEM, your target audience and ability to identify them accurately, will determine the success of your campaign. The more targeted your SEM campaign, the better the results. If you’re having trouble narrowing down your target audience and customer, take the time to meet with a digital marketing consultant in Singapore.

They will help narrow your target audience to ensure both SEO and SEM tactics are reaching your target audience – the ones likely to buy or stay on your website.

2. SEM costs money – SEO is free.

This is an obvious differentiator between SEO and SEM. SEO is completely free. There are hundreds of free techniques you can use to improve your organic traffic through search engine results. Typically, SEO techniques are grouped into 3 categories:

On-page SEO (optimizing web pages to improve search results – involves tactics including HTML tags, headlines, publishing high-quality informative content)
Technical SEO (improving the technical aspects of your page so it performs well – faster website ranks higher)
Off-Page SEO (what happens off your website to improve ranking – link building is an example)

By incorporating all 3 categories into your SEO strategy, you can see results over time that do not cost you anything. When done correctly, your organic traffic will increase, and your website can slowly rank higher in search engine results without spending a dollar on advertising – that’s a pretty great strategy!

SEM on the other hand, requires an advertising budget. SEM is usually Pay-Per-Click, which means you only pay when someone is interested and clicks on your link. Traditional marketing/advertising techniques would mean you pay for anyone who hears or sees your ad (such as radio or television), and not just those that are interested.

This is why SEM is such an effective strategy that all businesses can benefit from, even with a small budget. Only those interested will click on your link, reducing your overall spend.

Businesses small and large can benefit from working with a digital marketing company in Singapore that will work with you and the budget available to create a comprehensive strategy that includes both SEO and SEM.

3. SEM can bring results quickly – SEO takes more time.

SEO is a long-term strategy that takes time, consistency, and effort. It is not an overnight solution to drive traffic to your website. SEM is an option if you’re looking for fast-results and a way to drive traffic.

A successful SEM campaign can result in an increase in traffic nearly immediately. To create a comprehensive SEM strategy that will drive traffic, and ultimately increase sales, we recommend that you consult with a digital marketing company in Singapore. A digital marketing consultant Singapore firm will meet with you to understand your website, product, and customer and create an amazing campaign that is cost-effective and produces the results you are looking for.

4. SEM can be time-consuming and your SEO may suffer

Search Engine Marketing strategies can be time-consuming. You need to thoroughly research, test, and evaluate your campaigns. When you are paying for advertising, watching your campaigns closely and adjusting accordingly is important when looking to achieve amazing results with little spending.

If you are running SEM campaigns, it can take away time and resources from your SEO strategy. This is important because SEO contributes to the long-term success of businesses by providing organic traffic for years to come without requiring an advertising budget. By hiring a digital marketing company in Singapore, you will have the necessary support and resources to ensure both SEO and SEM strategies are maintained for short-term and long-term success.

In Summary

The important thing to take away is SEM and SEO should be a combined effort. Both strategies bring value and can be leveraged to provide immediate, paid traffic and long-term, organic traffic to your website.

By hiring a digital marketing company in Singapore, you will make the most of your time and advertising budget. Too often businesses seek out immediate results through SEM, while forgetting the long-term and free benefits of SEO. Hiring a professional digital marketing consultant in Singapore will provide you with resources and the know-how, leading to better results, more targeted campaigns, and can ultimately improve the success of your marketing strategy.

Digital Solutions is a full-service digital marketing company in Singapore. Set up a free meeting with their digital marketing experts to understand how they can help you create a working strategy that will bring your business to the next level. They are committed to delivering data-driven results to their customers by using SEO, SEM, and social media marketing.

By working with Digital Solutions, you can expect to work with talented digital marketing consultant Singapore specialists that take the time to understand your business. They are there to support you and your business every step of the way. If you’re ready to grow your business through effective marketing strategies, contact us today for more information!

Mark Zamuner and The New Style Virtual Pitch

For CEOs like growth consultancy agency CEO Mark Zamuner, one of the biggest challenges of the lockdown which we have been through over the course of the last 5 months has been not being able to meet clients and customers face to face, which has had a big impact on pitching. The inability to take clients out, showcase the business through events or simply to have a chat in their offices has forced ad and media agencies to get creative and to switch the focus around what they are doing when it comes to pitches, and here is how they have adapted.

Back to Basics

The ad pitch has become incredibly creative over recent years and more and more agencies are trying to be as novel as possible in order to get the better of the competition. As Mark Zamuner rightly puts it however, businesses aren’t looking out to be entertained and as he has stated “There is a greater focus on specifics, deliverables, case studies, capabilities and providing examples of output”.This has seen ad agencies take things back to basics with less razzmatazz and more focus on action and high speed performance.

Touches of Sparkle

Some ad agencies are still recognizing the need to add a smattering of creativity with their pitches, be it changing the background on their screen or sending a drink to the client which they can share on the call. The important stuff is what Mark mentioned but many agencies are still aware of the fact that there is a competition on their hands. There is a need to do something to make up for the lack of body language and feeling which you can convey when you are in a room with someone, something that just doesn’t come across through a computer screen.

Graphic

More and more companies are looking to create great content such as pre-made videos which they can use as part of their pitch, and this has now taken on far more importance than it ever has. Previously videos and graphic displays were still used but not in the way that we are seeing them presented at the moment. This now forms a far larger percentage of the pitch.

Sentiment

The conditions around how we go about getting more business has changed, much in the way advertising has with regards to the sentiment and the mood of any pitch. The last thing a struggling business which has just furloughed staff needs is a pitch which is trying to make light of the situation, so gauging mood is something far more important than it has ever been. A slight misjudgment and the essence of the whole pitch could be lost, this requires more careful planning and more empathy within the pitch than anyone would normally have considered.

Sentiment analysis is contextual mining of text which identifies and extracts subjective information in source material, and helps a business to understand the social sentiment of their brand, product or service while monitoring online conversations. There are many sentiment analysis website out there.

The changes which have been made around pitches could very well be something that we see continuing into the future, rather than a click of the fingers and everything back to normal, as the truth is there is no definitive end to all of this.

Brian Ferdinand: What You Should Know About Extended Stay Hotels for Traveling Employees

Your new assignment is to head to a new market to build relationships and boost sales there. And although you’re excited by the opportunity, you’re wondering where you’re going to live for the next several weeks. According to a recent article on travel, multiple housing options are available for today’s business traveler, with extended stay hotels being one of them. This housing option poses some challenges, according to business expert Brian Ferdinand, but it also offers a number of perks worth considering.

Extended Stay Hotel Challenges

If you choose an extended stay hotel for your next business trip, you should be prepared to deal with areas featuring high levels of foot traffic by fellow guests. These areas include elevators, fitness centers, laundry rooms, vending areas, restaurants, and hotel lobbies. During the global COVID-19 pandemic, this can unfortunately increase your risk of developing COVID-19, according to Brian Ferdinand.

Another drawback to extended-stay hotels is that they may not be as comfortable or feel as luxurious as furnished apartments are. So, if you value comfort over efficiency during a business trip, an extended stay hotel may not be the best option for you.

Extended Stay Hotel Perks

A major benefit of an extended stay hotel is that you will receive convenient housekeeping services each day if you need them. In addition, this type of accommodation comes with reasonable rates, according to Ferdinand. You also don’t have to worry about signing a lease.

Another reason to consider extended stay hotels is that they can often be found in prime locations. You may have a hard time securing short-term rentals near downtown or mall areas. However, extended stay hotels generally offer wonderful locations. As a result, when you’re taking a day off from work, you can easily paint the town red, as you’ll be right where the action is.

Extended stay hotels additionally offer the perk of providing rewards programs. Therefore, you can earn valuable points for your business trip stay. You can these use these points toward a vacation in the future. You can’t take advantage of this type of program when you’re renting an apartment during a business trip.

Final Words

All in all, extended stay hotels do present some real challenges for business travelers, according to Brian Ferdinand. However, an extended stay hotel still offers the key comforts you depend on to maintain a healthy and balanced wellbeing during even the most chaotic business trips. And the additional perks that come with them are like icing on the cake.

Will Smart & Non Touch Appliances Be the New Norm?

The pandemic has changed every aspect of our lives quite considerably, and with new restrictions in place to keep our health and wellness intact, it’s imperative we continue to adhere to the social distancing rule, to wash our hands regularly and to limit contact with people who aren’t in our ‘bubble’. However, as pubs, bars, restaurants, and your favourite local shops re-open, sometimes it becomes very difficult to strictly follow these rules. If you’re treating yourself to a nice little Italian, the waiter has to deliver food on your table, and the 1m and 2m rule is obsolete. The cutlery laid out on the table must be clean for use, and you are placing your faith and trust in this particular establishment to have followed the rules given out by the government. While these situations may sound daunting and increase our racing thoughts of anxiety, the one positive to come out of the pandemic, is the introduction of new products and new technology that has been demanded of covid19.

Delivery robots to deliver your Hawaiian pizza from Pizza express to limit physical touch and contact? Sure. You no longer have to travel 1 hour and 35 minutes to one of your biggest marketing clients, and therefore use Zoom for virtual meetings that go even better than the real thing and are better for the environment? Who would’ve thought – brilliant!

The question is, will non touch appliances be the new norm, as we try to navigate through this pandemic. We know where possible, we need to reduce physical contact with our friends, family, and objects too. With advanced technology in the market, it’s no surprise we have appliances that require no touch, from our cars locking system, to our kitchen refrigerator, bathroom taps, showers, and plenty more. While it may seem like we live in a technological advanced world that seems to be only digital, non-touch appliances work in favour of the covid19 pandemic, because we don’t need to use our touch to operate an item or object.

The most important place in our homes, and in public, are washrooms. They are home to plenty of bacteria and fungi that can contribute to our overall health and wellness. The bathroom should be the most hygienic room in the home, and residential and commercial property owners have now decided to invest in hygienic, non-touch solutions to promote health and hygiene, while at the same time promoting green tech and sustainability.

Sensor Taps

The elite of all the taps to ever exist. Many bathrooms and washrooms across the UK, have the ordinary, average taps where you twist them and water comes rushing out. Well, as we work towards climate change and global warming goals to reduce our carbon footprint on the planet, this means one way to do this, in conjunction with other things, is to reduce our water usage. Manual taps mean we use more water than we actually need. Do you leave the tap running while you brush your teeth and walk around the bathroom? Do you switch the shower on 5 minutes before you get in it for it to ‘warm up’? We are all guilty of these things, but for modern bathrooms and washrooms now, automatic sensor taps are kings. Thy are activated by the user, and they are amazing for saving on water and energy.

Although those are the two main selling points: they save on water and energy – another is that they are more hygienic. How so? They reduce the spread of germs around the washroom, because you don’t need to touch them for water to be released whenever you wash your hands. Pretty neat, right?

Paper Towels

We won’t get into the paper towels vs hand dryers debate, we think this feud will go on for the rest of time, but anyway, the majority of public and workplace washrooms will use paper towels, or have a hand dryer (hopefully not an old, clunky one). If you are using a hand dryer that still has a button you need to push to activate it, you should really consider. Remember the purpose of sensor taps which was to not have to touch the taps in order for it to be activated? The same applies with however you dry your hands too. Non touch electric hand dryers are proving to be popular, but they deserve to be widely adopted across the globe because of their hygienic and UV-C technology.

As we all start to head back to work, it’s our mission to minimise contact points and to only touch and use what is necessary. Washrooms are of course hotspots, because this is something we have to use, but there is plenty of solutions to tackle this issue, with the use non touch technology, such as sensor taps, non-touch dryers, paper towel dispensers and of course, regular sanitation and disinfectant cleaning.

Sensor Soap Dispenser

You don’t need to touch a soap bottle again! Soap dispensers that have a sensor, allow you to put your hand under the sensor, and dispenses the soap for you. It prevents bacteria from spreading all over your room, whether it’s the bathroom, kitchen, bedroom or anywhere.

Benefits of Implementing a Hybrid Cloud Strategy for your Business

Hybrid cloud refers to a cloud-computing infrastructure that merges a public cloud environment with a private cloud system by facilitating seamless sharing of data and applications between them. This allows businesses to scale their on-site private cloud infrastructure to the public cloud to manage the additional data processing and computing demand at any point in time.

Using a hybrid cloud allows companies to make use of the flexibility and computing power of the public cloud environment for non-sensitive and routine tasks. At the same time, they can continue managing their business-critical applications and data on their private cloud infrastructure secured by a robust company firewall. From superior control and flexibility to better cost savings, there are a lot of advantages of choosing a hybrid cloud strategy. Below are 10 benefits that make the hybrid cloud a productive solution for businesses across all industries.

1. Business Continuity

Business continuity is one of the vital aspects of a company’s business operations. Having a reliable business continuity plan not just means backing up all the company-sensitive data on the cloud servers, but also adopting the right measures to ensure that the data management processes will not be affected in any way in case of an emergency. A hybrid cloud can help not just to keep the critical data safe, but will also allow you to run the operations as usual by using the public cloud resources in case a disaster hits your business operations.

So, how can businesses make the move to the hybrid cloud for business continuity?

Determining which applications will bring the most value in a move to the cloud should be the starting point. From there you move on to address the technology trade-offs, such as selecting the best approach to migrate the application and deal with important issues such as security, governance, and disaster recovery. In this way, you can modernize your application development processes and technology to make the most out of your newly deployed hybrid cloud.

This is where businesses have to pay a custom software development team providing cloud services for a while.

2. ecurity

Many businesses are still skeptical about implementing a 100% public cloud strategy and cite security concerns as the reason. A hybrid cloud environment can help to bridge the gap here by allowing you to keep the sensitive data on a dedicated private cloud infrastructure. However, major players in the enterprise cloud industry employ high-end security measures to protect their servers in top-tier facilities. So, you can also go the other way around and keep your sensitive data on the public cloud, while running routine business operations using the private cloud resources.

3. Network Performance

Latency and network issues are common cloud computing problems that often lead to slow and inadequately performing applications. This can have a severe effect on the user experience and harm the reputation of your business. In most cases, finding and fixing the network and latency problems can be quite difficult as well. Adopting a hybrid cloud strategy keeps you free from such issues by allowing you to enjoy enhanced network performance. As a hybrid cloud balances the load, distance-based latency can be reduced as well by delivering services from a location that is close to the end-user.

4. Scalability

Scaling on-premises cloud infrastructure can be very difficult for rapidly growing businesses. Aside from addressing the current situation, you will need to project your resource utilization for future endeavors and make the right investments to meet those demands as well. This can be very expensive, and sometimes, inefficient too. By choosing a hybrid cloud environment, you can scale the computing and data processing resources on your own terms to deal with your growing business needs. You can even implement automation rules within the cloud infrastructure to scale the resources up and down as required by your business.

5. Control

Another advantage of implementing a hybrid cloud strategy is that it gives you more control over all the aspects of the IT infrastructure. You do not need to entrust everything to a third-party cloud service vendor as it is with public cloud solutions; instead, you can customize the private end of your hybrid cloud model to meet your specific needs and modify the rules as required to fit your business demands. You can also have your internal IT staff continue managing the critical operations as well as routine maintenance and updating of the servers and other infrastructure.

6. Reduced Costs

A hybrid cloud strategy can be a cost-effective solution for businesses looking for robust security and scalability options to meet the rising operational demands. As migrating to the hybrid cloud option allows you to continue running the core operations and business-critical data on your private servers, it does not require investing any huge capital to expand the current IT infrastructure. Off-loading day-to-day business tasks and non-sensitive data and applications to the public cloud helps to keep the costs manageable, as you only need to pay for the cloud resources you use.

7. Increased Agility

You need to be able to respond quickly to the changes in demand to remain competitive in the market. A hybrid cloud model can help your business to boost the speed to market by optimizing IT performance and ensuring that you have the agility required to meet the changing industry demands. As you are not limited to your on-premise infrastructure, you can easily extend your workload on the cloud when there is a spike in demand. This helps you to quickly develop, test, and deploy new applications and services in the market.

8. Risk Management

A hybrid cloud gives you the best way to test your business capabilities around different kinds of workloads and plan your cloud strategy effectively. It is known that the cloud environment can be a bit complex to navigate at times, which is why you should plan your risk management policies well to make sure that things will always remain in the favor of your business. You can test non-sensitive workloads on the cloud environment before moving more critical applications. This way, you can understand how to make the most of deploying the hybrid cloud model.

11 Effective Ways to Increase Instagram Followers/Engagement Organically

Instagram is the second most commonly used social networking site (in the U.S.) behind Facebook. Of a billion monthly Instagram users, 63 percent log in on average 28 minutes per day. Of 500 million users watching Instagram stories every day, a majority are from corporations. There are 22 steps for your brand to thrive and get more followers on Instagram and boost engagement here.

1. Create a dynamic Plan

Take the time to brainstorm creative ideas for ads that fit with the seasons, holidays, future activities for your company. You should also be creative, and post as ideas come to you randomly. Having a content library and a (temporary) timetable will hold you ahead of the curve, rather than looking for anything to write.If you are stuck on how to make a plan then you should check out GetInsta to solve your problem for Instagram followers.

2. Only Post Good Images+Videos

When uploading to Instagram, use only high-quality images and videos. Instagram is a visual medium. No place for fuzzy images or photographs which have cut off part of the background. Low-quality material is not going to get attention However, you can get 1000 free Instagram followers trial

3. Experiment with Different Filters & Dimensions

With Our Free Guide, quickly find places to refine your advertisements on Microsoft Ads. The more artistic, unique, and captivating the pictures are, the higher the probability of people viewing and following the account. Check yourself the proportions, to see what’s right for you. The dimensions are not confined to the square, even make use of the landscape and portrait possibilities.

4. Use Instagram Analytics to Feed Your Persona Research

Instagram gives you insights into the breakdown of your audience’s age, gender, and place. It can be a starting point for persona analysis.

5. Tag People in Your Photos Who Interact with Your Brand

If you own a fitness studio and you take a group shot after a Zumba session, tag each of the people in the picture. If you’re a wedding photographer, marking the vendors from a wedding in your images is the best practice. For eg, a reception photo could theoretically tag a DJ, cake maker, wedding planner, and wedding venue, all tagged in the same photo. Each gets additional exposure and leads to more discovery as brides-to-be search for vendors.

6. Optimize Your Instagram Bio with Branded Hashtags & CTAs

Your bio should feature a call-to-action, promoted hashtags, and a connection that is a major deal. Do not contain, for example, “Ignore People who Support Me! “You want people to know who you are, and why they should be following you.

7. Ask Questions in Your Posts & Include CTAs

Have a simple call-to-action at the end of could message, or a question to improve participation. For eg, let’s assume you own a yoga studio, and you share a short video in which an instructor teaches you how to go into a specific pose.

8. Add a Link to Instagram in Your Website & Email

Use a plugin to automatically stream your new Instagram posts onto your website. This will be a perfect way to advertise your new brand to users who visit the site daily. You may also attach your email signature to your brand’s Instagram account.

9. Cross-Post Your Instagram Content to Facebook & Twitter

Cross-posting to Facebook and Twitter will push users back to their Instagram profile. Users who didn’t know you were on Instagram and following you on other platforms will then discover that you’re on Instagram this is a good way to get Instagram likes free

10. Run Contests & Campaigns to Increase Brand Reach

Host competitions and campaigns that can draw more traffic to your website. You may either invite users to rate, tweet, use a particular hashtag, or ask a friend to add your fans. It’s a successful way to boost visibility and scope for your brand.

11. Look At What Your Competitors Are Doing

Researching their profiles might uncover hashtags that you haven’t known of. Notice which of their articles do the best – it will serve as another hint as to what can function on your own website.

What are the ranking factors involved in Google(SEO)?

SEO requirements keep changing, and it can be hard to keep up with the latest developments. But if you want your Google rankings to go from unseen to the top of the list, you have to be in the know.

Well-optimized sites get more and more traffic over time, and that means more leads and sales. Without SEO, searchers won’t be able to find your site, and all your hard work will be for nothing.

In this guide, we’re going to answer the question “what does SEO mean” and share the essential SEO ranking factors you need to dominate search results.

By the end of this post, you’ll have a well-optimized site that brings you more business.

Exclusive Bonus: Download the SEO Ranking Factors Cheat Sheet to boost your search engine rankings quickly.

We’ve created this handy table of contents if you want to skip ahead to the SEO ranking factors that are most interesting to you:

What Are the Most Important SEO Ranking Factors?

A Secure and Accessible Website
Page Speed (Including Mobile Page Speed)
Mobile Friendliness
Domain Age, URL, and Authority
Optimized Content
Technical SEO
User Experience (RankBrain)
Links
Social Signals
Real Business Information

Recommended Resource: Need more website traffic? Learn how to rank #1 on Google with our Ultimate Guide to SEO in 2020.

At the very end of this article, we’re going to finally answer the question that plagues most beginner SEO learners: which is more important, pleasing Google or pleasing my audience?

Before we get into the details of each ranking factor, let’s take a quick look at the basics of how search engine rankings work.

Understanding SEO, or “How Do I Rank Higher on Google?”

Many people wonder how Google rankings work. So before we get into the actual search engine ranking factors, let’s get started by answering some of the basic questions most people have about SEO.

What Is “Ranking” in SEO?

As you may know, SEO stands for search engine optimization, which simply means making the web pages more likely to get ranked on a search engine. But let’s be honest: at this point, that really just means Google.

And how exactly does that work? Let’s break it down.

In SEO, ranking refers to your content’s position on the search engine results pages (SERPs). A #1 ranking means that when people search for a particular term, your web page is the first result (apart from promoted results, featured snippets, and answer boxes, which we’ll talk about later in this guide).

Appearing in the top 3 results is excellent because your click-through rates skyrocket. According to research from Safari SEO in Brisbane, the #1 position in Google enjoys more than 45% of all organic clicks. The closer you get to #1 the more clicks you can expect, as shown in the image provided by Backlinko below:

Appearing on the first page at all, within the top 10 results, is also useful. That’s because 95% of people never make it past the first page.

Hence the famous joke in the Google SEO world: where’s the best place to hide a dead body?

On page 2 of Google.

What Does Google Look for in SEO?

Google’s stated purpose is to “organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” Delivering relevant search results is a huge part of that. Here’s how they work:

First, Google’s search bots (pieces of automated software called “spiders”) crawl the web. Sounds creepy, we know. But all that means is they visit web pages.

Second, they add correctly optimized and crawlable pages to Google’s index and catalog them.

Third, when people search Google, it shows what it thinks are the most relevant results based on the search terms they enter (out of the trillions of pages in Google’s index).

Google has various and deeply complex algorithms to decide which content gets displayed and in which order. But we’ll get into all that fun stuff later.

Once your page lands on the SERP, though, you have to rely on your page titles and meta descriptions to get searchers to click your link and visit your site. Submitting a guest post technology can also help you rank your keyword on Google.

How Do Google Search Rankings Work?

When people want to find information, they type or say words related to what they’re looking for. Those are called keywords, and we’ll look at those in the content optimization section of this guide.

But keeping your website ranking on Google isn’t just about making the most out of competitive keywords. It’s also about the quality of information.

According to Google’s own search quality ratings, when it indexes the main content of each page, it checks factors like:

Purpose of the page
Content quality and amount
Website info and info about the content creator
Website reputation and content creator reputation
User interaction with the page (time on page, bounce rates, and so on)
Expertise, authority, and trustworthiness (E-A-T)

In just a moment, we’re going to explore that last one (E-A-T) in more detail because it’s become very important.

For now, it’s enough to know that all the factors listed above go into Google’s algorithm and help to determine SEO ranking.

Based on the rating guidelines above, Google shows searchers the most relevant, high-quality results related to what they’re looking for. The most relevant are shown first, with the rest shown over successive pages.

One of the goals of addressing SEO ranking factors is to let Google know when your pages on your site are relevant to particular search queries, so people will click the links and visit your site.

Before getting into two different types of SEO, let’s explore the concept of expertise, authority, and trustworthiness in greater detail.

How do users perceive push notifications?

If you have got a website or an app you might have considered using push notifications due to their potential value in your marketing strategy. Users show a 190% higher retention rate when they receive push messages in the first 90 days.

Does your customer engagement strategy include the smart usage of push messages to make sure your users stay on your website or app.? However, most users consider push notifications as spammy messages with a high potential for ignorance.

While push notification has dramatic effects on your website’s ability to engage users, you must consider how your customers really feel about push notifications.

Most surveys point out the fact that over 50% of users find push notifications annoying. The main reason for this attitude is the lack of personalization. Most businesses don’t pay enough attention when crafting push notifications resulting in push messages being general messages rather than personalized messages.

In this blog, let’s explore a bit deeper on how users perceive push notifications.

What do your users feel about push notifications?

When it comes to how users feel about push messages. there are two sides to the coin. While some 50% of users feel push messages annoying, the rest find push notifications helpful. People find push notifications from brands helpful either because the messages are about things that invoke their interest.

After all, the content offers valuable information. So the trick in is making sure about the relevancy of push notifications and are helpful to users in some or the other way. The very first step is to stop considering push messages as an extension of email. Use push notifications as a separate entity and offer personalization to engage your users.

Tips to create push notification that your customers won’t be able to ignore

Unlike emails and other marketing techniques, push messages are permission-based services. As with any permission-based marketing tools, it is critical to respect the privacy of your users and leverage your messages wisely.

Your customers can even turn off your notifications if you misuse or do not use the opportunity the right way. But when implemented with proper planning, push messages can help build valuable and trusted connections between your customers and your brand.

Here are some effective tips on creating compelling browser push notifications your customers won’t be able to ignore.

Know what your audience needs

With any type of business communication, it is important to understand who your target audience is and what they want. Only if you have a clear understanding of their real requirements, you will be able to tailor your offerings and determine what type of push messages they are most likely to respond to.

Instead, there is no point in sending random push messages your customers won’t even be interested in. If you miss out on this aspect, you won’t be able to effectively communicate your offers and sales via push notifications to your customers.

Get to know why your customers have opted to subscribe to your push messages and that they are interested in hearing from your brand. While they might be interested in sales notifications, they would get frustrated if that is all you send to them.

Make sure you send an interesting piece of information or an informational service that will likely prove more valuable.

Know when your audience wants to receive your push notifications

The next important aspect you need to pay importance to when sending out push messages to our customers is the best timing to reach out to them. Push messages sent at the wrong or inappropriate timings will go unnoticed and might even annoy your customers and possibly lead to them unsubscribing to your notifications.

When sending push notifications, make sure you schedule start and end dates and establish specific times relative to the local time zone of your customer base. This becomes really important if you have a diverse customer base spread across the globe.

Do some research to understand when your customers are most likely to be active and respond to your messages.

Personalization is the key to success

Personalizing your push notifications is really important as we discussed earlier. When you communicate with your customers through push messages that are exclusively sent to them, it becomes a very personal thing. It is a valuable opportunity to communicate directly with them, by instantly grabbing their attention.

Do you think sending general messages will help you to catch the attention of your users? Customers have to be treated with priority especially during communication with a brand. Hence, taking the time to add a level of personalization to your messages can make a significant difference in your response and engagement rates.

Personalization of your push notifications is not just about addressing your customers by their name. What you must be focusing on is customizing the message.

Segmenting your user with the data you have is great to reach the specific sections of your customers with messages relatable to them. When they click on the link you provide in your messages, take them to the pages they visit often and show them the deals most relevant to them.

Understand the engagement

If you are not utilizing the analytics data, you are not doing it right. If you are sending the same push notifications again and again to all your users, that would result in poor response and engagement.

Using data analytics, you can check the user activity and actions in response to your push messages. Based on the data you get through analytics; you can fine tune your messages to optimize the results. Test different types of messages by sending them at different times to find what works great for your customers.

Monitor what works for your competitors as well to understand the needs of your target audience if you share the same audience. The only way you can accurately measure the performance of your push notifications is through your analytics.

Determine what is working well and improve wherever you can. It is recommended to use a push notification service to unleash the limitless possibilities of push messages to the fullest capacity.

Pushmaze is one such powerful self-hosted web push notification service with which you can increase your reach and CTR’s effectively.

Don’t overdo it

As a business focusing on marketing activities, it is quite natural to overdo something that works great. If you find your push notifications reaping great results, there can be a tendency to use the same strategy again and again.

However, no matter how great your push messages are, you must make sure you don’t overdo it. Nothing will push your customers away than overdoing the act of sending notifications. Notification tolerance differs among different types of websites and apps and with individual users. To understand the right threshold, you need to test your push notifications.

Conclusion

Push notifications offer a heap of opportunity in reaching out and directly connect with your customers. However, you need to craft and send out push notifications the right way to maximize their effect. The most significant thing when sending your push notifications in a way it appeals to your customers instead of what you want to tell them.

Again, it is important to gather the appropriate user data so you can tailor the timing of your notifications when your customers appear to be more active and likely to engage. Keep in mind that you will be on your way to reaping success with push notifications when implemented properly.

Author Bio

Marry Ann

I’m the Marketing consultant, Self-driven budding entrepreneur, Work together with the clients by implementing different marketing strategies in their businesses.

https://twitter.com/MarryAnn854

Currently marketing consultant at https://www.pushmaze.com/

5 Tips on Using Localization to Enhance Your Digital Marketing

There is no doubt that the COVID 19 pandemic is a crisis. It has stricken the economic world deeply and adversely impacting the financial markets and changing the way customers shop, work and play due to the impending economic recession. Should the world of marketing take an active role in addressing the pandemic or simply be reactionary to trending topics? Marketing in a pandemic is a different world, but the rules of the game remain much the same.

What are the best ways to determine the opportunities hidden in a crisis? Marketing is all about needs and fulfilling those needs. During a time of crisis, address how the audience will be impacted and how the products and services being marketed offer a solution. Then it will become possible to deliver the resolution that they require, and perhaps increase sales even during the current global pandemic and “imminent” economic recession.

Digital Marketing During The Coronavirus Global Pandemic

Much of the battle against the COVID-19 global pandemic is taking place behind closed doors. A translation agency somewhere has certified medical translators and others, working from home and translating documents, to ensure that scientists, academics, and medical professionals around the world have the latest data immediately after publication.

While a translation company working in a traditional office may be failing, language service providers offering services online have record levels of work due to the COVID-19 pandemic. These remote translation agencies online are seeing a major increase in business because they do not have to limit their operations at the risk of exposure, despite the ongoing global pandemic.

As more and more of the world continues to move online, the detrimental impact is felt even during a global pandemic such as the current COVID-19 crisis. Digital marketing during a pandemic is an excellent opportunity to push sales online, ultimately creating a new business-consumer paradigm and offering new, exciting and potentially profitable opportunities for enterprises.

Digital Marketing and Localization Services in the age of the Coronavirus

Marketing is in a large sense about focusing on the needs of people, and addressing them by offering meaningful solutions. In times of global crisis such as with the global pandemic, people are going to be focused on the crisis at hand.

Marketing during a global crisis should focus on getting meaningful information out to the people, which requires providing meaningful solutions to the audience. What is a language service provider if not a translation agency that can provide affordable language services including resonant localization strategies to stimulate a more meaningful reaction from the audience? The cost of translation from an agency that also provides localization services is small in regards to the potential return from a larger global audience.

It’s worth taking a moment to examine localization in more detail here. What is the concept of localization? It is shaping and moulding a translation, a website, a product or anything else that needs to be altered to fit with the cultural expectations of a new audience.

In the case of marketing translation, localization means taking account of the expectations, emotive responses, values, traditions and beliefs of the local audience to whom you are reaching out. Doing so can involve a range of tasks, including:

Localizing your brand name, strapline, logo, and colours to better suit the target market.
Adapting your social media strategy to reach customers at a personal level in new, more culturally appropriate ways.
Updating your SEO to better fit local consumer search habits.
Redesigning your website and other marketing materials to fit longer texts, new imagery and/or a different writing direction.

There comes a point when localization involves changing so much that it tips over into transcreation. This is an almost complete overhaul of marketing templates and strategy, but with the same intended outcomes as the original plan.

Successful digital marketing strategies can be boosted through the use of a translation agency that specializes in localization strategies. Successful long-term digital marketing strategies must explain the correlation between the crisis and the audience, and how the product or service being marketed will directly address or resolve the global crisis for the larger audience. The inclusion of language and localization services will ensure that the message remains empathetic and effective towards the target audience.

Digital Marketing in Response to the Pandemic

Conducting a successful digital marketing campaign during a time of crisis makes it very easy to get caught up in the hyperbole and begin focusing on the crisis itself, the global pandemic in this case. The anxiety levels of the audience will already be high during a global crisis. A digital marketing campaign filled with simple stats and statistics may get a higher click-through rate or more attention, but it is not going to generate any long-term marketing success stories.

Digital marketing during the COVID-19 pandemic, during a global recession or any other global crisis, should explain to the audience how the crisis relates to them, and provide a sufficient level of information to allow the audience to infer that a solution is at hand.

Why such a subtle marketing approach?

First; if all the answers are provided in the marketing, what is left to generate the desired response? Second; the members of the audience that are looking for that particular solution will be more inclined to look, and ultimately, more likely to provide the desired response, whether it be clicking the “buy now” button or merely generating leads. Subtle digital marketing strategies, especially when marketing during times of crisis will tend to be more effective.

Successful digital marketing strategies using localization services means that the marketing will more directly target the audience, in the local vernacular, to ensure the audience that the marketer is empathetic and understanding from a local perspective. A language services provider implementing localization strategies can make that happen.

Split Testing and Digital Marketing Strategies During a Global Pandemic

Split testing or A/B testing is virtually always a good idea with very rare exceptions. However, it is especially important for marketing campaigns during times of crisis. During these times, the audience is going to be much more attuned to whatever the crisis may be. As a rule, however, the audience will want to know more than “just the facts” at any given point in time.

The audience must be informed of how the crisis will impact them, the problems that will arise, and the provision of a resolution by engaging in the desired response. However, a global pandemic or an economic downturn may change at a rapid rate. As the trends change, the marketing strategies will also evolve. This continues until the time the marketer is in a position to establish trends instead of just reacting.

Not only should split testing be a part of any marketing campaign during a time of crisis, but consideration should be given to the extent of the crisis. What happens if the economic downturn improves? Or if the COVID-19 global pandemic worsens? Are marketing plans in place and ready to be implemented or is a last-minute rush going to be needed to change strategies every time the crisis moves?