• the best online marketing professionals and experts - WHO WE ARE

All Articles

World Wide SEO

The Most Effective Methods of Promoting Your Business Online On A Global Scale

Taking it International: Beginner’s Tips For Worldwide Marketing

The internet has allowed businesses to connect with patrons personally. We understand just how vast the internet can be and understand that reaching beyond the local market can be intimidating. The following are just a few tips that may help a business owner understand how to reach an international audience online.

Crossing That Cultural Divide

One of the most important aspects to consider before attempting to reach international audiences is to understand cultural divides. A company may be the most tolerant person in the world, but that does not excuse the possibility of cultural barriers, which may not be apparent. For example, disrespecting certain holidays in countries is a big red flag like China and the Quingming Festival, which usually lasts about three days.

Having a good grasp on holidays, customs, and other similar aspects of a culture is important.

Language is Also Important

Sure, installing a good translator to help other countries read content is a good idea. One bit of information to keep in mind is that English is just the 3rd most spoken language in the world, meaning that English does not take precedence at all.
This is why a translator is important.
One successful international online marketer–Neil Patel–said that traffic to his site increased by 47 percent by translating his page.
“I thought it would be a good experiment to translate NeilPatel.com into 82 different languages. Within three weeks of doing this, I saw a 47% increase in my search traffic—as you can see from the image above.”

But we also know that certain innuendo and passive cultural remarks may not play well in other countries. This is something that might be easily overlooked, but it is very important to pay attention to. For example, a company owner should pay attention to expressions used. For the most part, we encourage our customers to avoid using expressions because they may not translate well into another language or culture.

The Importance of Worldwide SEO

Another important aspect that needs to be addressed is a webpage’s SEO, which needs to be put through an international lens. One thing that may be helpful is tagging content with multilingual tags like “es,” which targets Spanish speakers. A business should also be aware of geotargeting marketing tools that allow the business owner to create multiple versions of their webpage based on a visitors region.

Do a Little Market Research

A business should also understand that their product or service must be desired in other countries before attempting to launch a campaign to attract certain regions. One question that needs to be asked is if a specific region has a good conversion rate in regards to a particular business.

Another tip that might be helpful is a business should check what their competitors are doing. Chances are high that a competitor has already checked conversion rates and is seeing some success with the regions that they are targeting. All one has to do is take a look at the source code and search for the hreflang tags that they are using.

0 999
Plumber

Why Plumbing Services Need SEO? Read Plumbing Company Success Stories

Is It Worth Spending Money on SEO for Plumbing Services?

In the past, customers used contacts given in the last sale to contact service providers. Companies relied on direct marketing, advertising, and sales promotions strategies to increase their visibility and remind clients of their services. Today, customers turn to the internet for immediate answers. If they cannot find a solution to their problem, they will call the services whose contacts are readily available online. The shift to online services has forced companies to combine their traditional marketing strategies with online marketing. Most companies now have websites with all information about their services and contact details. Read more

0 2125
General, Trending

Forbidden Staff Choices That Can Kill Your Business. Watch Out!

Hiring Staff with the Right Personal Traits is Crucial for the Organization’s Growth

Every business company is focused on hiring the right people that will help in achieving the business’s goals. Employers expect their employees to have great personality traits such as creativity, tenacity, and resilience. This article will take you through some of the character traits that you should put into consideration whenever you are hiring staff.
Each of the attributes discussed in this article will significantly impact the progress of your business.

1. Dishonesty

Honesty is an important aspect of any business when it comes to dealing with investors, clients, partners and fellow employees. Unlike in the past when companies used to get away with dishonesty, currently, an act of dishonesty gets to spread through the internet tainting the company image. As the owner of business, you need to ensure that you hire impeccably honest staff members. Having a reliable team in your company makes it easier for you to win trust from investors, customers, and partners. Your business plans, negotiations, and proposals tend to proceed smoothly increasing the potential for your success. Ensure you avoid hiring dishonest staff members to escape the risk of tainting your organization from inside out. An Australian business person Kerry Stokes was quoted saying that:
“Ethics or simple honesty is the building blocks upon which our whole society is based, and business is a part of our society, and it’s integral to the practice of being able to conduct business, that you have a set of honest standards”.

2. Poor communication skills

An employee having poor communication skills inhibits the teamwork spirit in an organization. A staff member should be able to articulate his/her objectives clearly and ask the right questions. Employees should rely on the 70-20-10 rule which requires that in every conversation one should spend 70 percent of the time listening, 20 percent asking the right question and 10 percent summarizing and synthesizing information shared. The employees you hire in your business will be the future leaders of the organization, and excellent communication skills are essential for any leader. Gilbert Amelio, the president and CEO of National Semiconductor Corp. states that:
“Developing excellent communication skills is absolutely essential to effective leadership. The leader must be able to share knowledge and ideas to transmit a sense of urgency and enthusiasm to others. If a leader can’t get a message across clearly and motivate others to act on it, then having a message doesn’t even matter.”

3. Visionless employees

Every potential employee should have a clear vision of their future. An employee who knows where they want to be five or ten years later are the best people to hire. You can be assured that with such individuals in your organization, the goals and targets will never be missed. A good and clear vision is a motivational and inspiring factor to the staff members. Employees having tunnel vision, non-existent vision or visions that keep changing will not be in a position to realize the goals and objectives of your company. It is true that an employee with a personal vision will be committed to the vision of your organization.

4. Has the blame game character

A good employee should be able to take full responsibility for their mistakes without having to blame others. Most unsuccessful businesses are those ones whose employees only look out the window and never in the mirror. A staff member should be able to take a step back whenever something goes wrong and identify the aspects of their personality that are affecting the running of the organization. An employee should be capable of dealing with the mirror first before looking out the window and address other employees’ behaviors. Wayne Dyer, an American author, and philosophers, states that:
“All blame is a waste of time. No matter how much fault you find with another, and regardless of how much you blame him, it will not change you. The only thing blame does is to keep the focus off you when you are looking for external reasons to explain your unhappiness or frustration. You may succeed in making another feel guilty about something by blaming him, but you won’t succeed in changing whatever it is about you that is making you unhappy”.

Finding the right workforce for your organization can be a daunting task. Staffing firms play a very crucial role when it comes to finding the right talent for business organizations. Companies offering recruiting solutions to employers helps in saving time resources that could be spent on interviews. Also, the risk of ending up with the wrong person for a particular job position is evaded.

If you’re looking for a reliable executive recruitment company to work with, you can opt for Vertex Recruiting Solutions. The company has been providing its clients with recruiting solutions since its establishment in 1997. The company’s recruitment services have been tailored to meet the individual needs of clients. The company boasts of an excellent reputation having served some of the most innovative telecommunication, semiconductor, digital media, and Broadcast companies.

Some of the benefits of hiring staff from recruiting agencies include the fact they raise the quality level of every recruit. The people you hire from the staffing companies will be more superior to the ones your company will hire on its own. The reason to this is that recruiting agencies will cover both the passive and active talent market looking for the right people.

The staffing companies also have a vast network that helps them to locate talent fast. The agencies possess a sourcing and speed advantage enabling them to acquire the right people quickly. The top staffing firms also provide longer guarantee periods since they deliver robust and dedicated candidates.

0 1059
SEO Guide by MJournal

Best Practices To Promote Your Business On Social Media

Getting The Most Out Of Social Media Advertising

So you’ve spent countless hours, days, maybe even years building your businesses brand. Meticulously wording your website, creating brochures, and networking within your market in order to make your business known. You’ve created credible, professional content, but how do you really get this information seen?

According to the Content Marketing Forum hosted by Curata, 80% of marketers are sharing their content on social media. Why is this? It turns out that Internet users are spending 25% of their web time using social media platforms.

The most important guideline to follow is not just to promote but also to engage your audience. Finding a balance between these two actions can be challenging if you are new to using social media as a marketing tool. Consider social media platforms as a networking ground. Through applications like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram there is an opportunity to interact with your followers and potential partners.

If the interaction were taking place in real life you wouldn’t simply try to sell a service or product, you would engage in conversation. Look at social media from the same perspective. Write and post interesting videos, relevant articles, fun facts, and photos while leaving room for conversation. Don’t just sell, but build relationships first. In an article posted to LinkedIn by Shafaat Ayub, a marketing professional, he suggests that every 1 out of 7 posts should be solely about business promotion while the other 6 should be valuable content.

Allow for variations in your posts.

It is great to utilize multiple social media platforms for successful Internet marketing, but if you put out too similar of posts to multiple platforms then you may send out a phony or generic demeanor. If there is a message you want to share through more than one platform then make each post about the topic unique. Do not simply copy and paste the same post multiple times.

Responsiveness is key.

Social scientists have defined “responsiveness” as one of the biggest factors in whether or not someone is likeable. This theory can and should be applied to your business as well. Adcetera, a 33-year old advertising company, advises that interacting with consumers will create a loyal following. If other companies are mentioning you online then do the same for them. You could make a thank you post, a post highlighting collaborations that may be under way between the two of you, or even a post promoting them. Building allies will advance your promotional success. Interacting with clients or fans will also boost your businesses popularity. In addition, make sure you are responding in a timely manner. Same day responses are ideal.

Creating thought-provoking engaging content is time consuming.

If your posts are successful then you’ll receive a lot of feedback and before you realize you’ll be spending a lot more time than you may have planned keeping up with it all. Use your time efficiently by organizing a social media calendar at the beginning of each month. Creating an outline for what you hope to release on the web will ensure you don’t lose valuable ideas and also cut down on posting time. Social media platforms like Facebook even give you the option of scheduling posts. This means you can write a post in advance and schedule its posting time.

Finally, simplicity is more in the world of social media.

Be brief with the content in your posts. Social media users consume information that is generated through a news feed. Consumers are skimming information as they scroll along and too long of posts may be off-putting. Be realistic with the length and depth of the information you share.

Releasing balanced and well-rounded information consistently will create a positive reputation for your business’s online reputation. People will look forward to your posts. They may even repost your posts themselves! Furthermore, if you are incorporating calls-to-action in your content then facilitate each CTA organically. Avoid cheesy language like “Flash Sale: 50% Off, Buy Now!” Instead make each CTA fun and interactive. Involve consumers in their experience by incorporating contests and photo sharing. CTAs allow supportive consumers to participate in the advertising process and let you reward their loyalty!

0 925
Trending

Say Hello To Allo

The Future is Here with Allo and AI

Recently Google has announced its brand new messaging app which is called Allo. One of the main conveniences is that it has Google built right in. This app is designed to become available this summer and will be absolutely free on both Android and iOS devices. The result of this will be that Google’s other messaging app, Hangouts, will be able to work in concert with the new app. The communication division of Google really started from scratch in creating a new way for the masses to communicate with each other. This is a new more advanced text system with integrated AI qualities.

New Integrated Search

The interface of the app will be familiar to users, so there isn’t going to be a large learning curve. The difference is that Allo has Google search integrated into it completely. It will provide AI technology to read a text, see images and watch video coming through your messenger system. It will help predict and interpret how the user might reply which enhances the speed with which responses can be made. It is the next logical step in messaging apps. Right now you can pre- register for the app through Google Play Store. Clearly this app is going to be at the forefront in Trending News / Marketing for the next year as the technology becomes more available.

The Goal of Allo

This app is designed to allow communication to become easier and to be able to express yourself more clearly through text. It will help its users get things done, find vital information without having to leave your conversation, so business and personal conversations will have all the context that a Google search can provide.

Some Great Features

Allo also includes some innovative AI features that will change the way that you are communicating with others.
The Smart Reply will allow you to respond without typing a single word. It learns many of your most common responses to similar comments over time and offers them to you instantly. It will respond to texts, pictures instantly and keep your conversations going with no effort from you at all.
Ink is another great creative tool that allows you to send a picture by doodling on it. This will become the quickest and most convenient method for sending images to other people that have ever been devised.
There is also a new feature called Whisper Shout which makes typing in all capital letters unnecessary as you can manage this by simply speaking in a louder tone or by using a quick swipe of the finger.

Stickers are another feature of this app which is the next step in emojis. They are going to offer stickers which are exclusively designed by artists from all over the globe to express almost any thought or emotion completely.
Finally, there is something called Incognito Mode which provides complete encryption and private notifications will keep your messages protected from someone peeking over your shoulder.

What the Future Holds

The long-term effect of Allo is going to be a richer and more intensive chat experience on your phone. It is the natural progression in a format of communication that has become most preferred for most people all over the world. This will make texting a more valuable, deeper experience, which will inevitably lead to more AI technology in the near future.

0 989
Social Media

Photos and Links No Longer Included In Twitter’s 140-Character Limit

Tweet Dreams: Coming Changes in Twitter’s Tweets

“A strength uncontrolled can be a person’s greatest weakness” states the ancient proverb. This maxim certainly describes the social media giant Twitter. While its concise nature (which was once necessary for the technology of a decade ago) has made it perfect for real time communication with the masses, it also served to be the most vexing problem with Twitter.
As Verge writer Nick Statt observed:
“Working around Twitter’s limitations makes it difficult and obnoxious to use.”
This month Twitter took a step that it hopes will solve this issue and vault it ahead of its rivals in the social media world. Word has leaked out that soon the third largest social media platform will no longer count URLs and photos as 23 characters of “tweet.”

When it debuted in March 2006 with the first “tweet” Twitter stood out from the crowd of other social media contenders with its 140 character limit. The reason for this particular character count was rooted in 2006 mobile phone technology. In order to fit a “tweet” into a single SMS message, users were required to limit their message to the 140 characters which left room for Twitter to attach a 20 character user name to the message and fall within the 160 character limit for a mobile text. The creators of Twitter Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams, Noah Glass and Biz Stone did not foresee the main use, much less the impact of their creation. “With Twitter, it wasn’t clear what it was. They called it a social network, they called it microblogging, but it was hard to define…,” remembers Williams.
Who would even expect that it would reach 310 million active users in 2016?

Their ambiguity notwithstanding, Twitter was soon making social media news. It became popular across the globe, eventually registering over 500 million users and “tweets” climbing into the statistical stratosphere. By 2012 users were logging 340 million “tweets” daily. It influenced popular language, introducing the term “trending” into pop culture lexicon. The number of followers a person collected on Twitter became a status symbol, with Katie Perry’s more than 88 million followers topping the charts in 2015.

Yet for all of its milestones and success, Twitter has faced difficult times since becoming a publicly traded company in 2013. Its advertising revenue has declined, growth in users has plateaued, and it is more often not see as a networking or information platform but rather as a virtual “boxing ring” where celebrities and politicians conduct very public fights. Those issues have helped to hold the company back from a brass ring it wants–and badly needs–profitability.

This difficult period coupled with calls from some for losing the 140 character has perhaps motivated the announcement of last week, where photos and URLs will not be counted as 23 or 24 characters. This will allow users a full 140 characters to tweet, but are a far cry from the 10,000 characters the company was considering earlier this year. In that instance, Twitter discovered the tight rope it is walking between its faithful base and business interests. The faithful love the enforced conciseness by Twitter’s 140 character limit and strongly opposed the larger limit. Yet, the business world, who hopes to capitalize on Twitter’s popularity to communicate their products’ messages, desire more room to “tweet” out the benefits of their goods and services. Only the future will tell which way Twitter will go.

0 942
Tech News

Instagram Now Allows Longer Videos and More Ads

Instagram Changes Forever with New Video Length

If you love posting videos on Instagram that inform the world about what you are up to, then the latest news from Instagram is going to make you very happy. Those who thrive of posting images and videos on this platform can now post longer videos that last up to 60 seconds. This is a huge step up from the previous high of 15 seconds. Users will be able to share more of their thoughts and share and learn about more of what they like.

Challenge of Change

This change is going to revolutionize the way that users are going to use Instagram forever. It has been a site that was convenient for posting selfies, images of food or quick pictures of what events you are attending. Now the focus is going to be shifted to unique video content and that is going to provide a more friendly location for this than Youtube. Their new feature is basically enhancing their explore feature except that it is focused on videos. It will be interesting to see if the changes are going to truly enhance the user experience or hurt what they already have.

This new video format has existed for advertisers for a few months and now the availability to all is the next step. In fact, Instagram is the 3rd most used social platform by advertisers.

Bringing the fun, creativity and flexibility of video to the users of Instagram was the goal of the new video features. Creativity has always been a hallmark of the picture posting phenomenon and it will be interesting to see how the users will make use of this. It is big Tech News because the ability to post longer videos allows for more in-depth stories and thoughts coming from those that you love, or at least tolerate. The involvement will be interesting whether it is your Aunt Minney from Idaho showing her garden or Taylor Swift hanging out with her friends. The opportunity for engagement and entertainment has grown exponentially.

A Minute is Key

Instagram chose 60 seconds for several reasons. The people behind Instagram feel that this amount of time is going to allow the viewing experience to be optimized. With a longer video, attention will wander and they will move to something else. 60 seconds is about equal to the attention span of the average person today. Instagram wants to keep its viewers in the feed and not jumping around from video to video like a user commonly does on YouTube. They want their viewers to finish the videos.

In research of YouTube metrics, they found that in all videos up to four minutes long, the viewership is always highest in the first 60 seconds and then falls off dramatically after that as attention wanes. On Facebook, the average video is about one and a half minutes. It made sense to Instagram, not to risk losing viewers after that time, they chose the 60-second cutoff. They feel this will guarantee consistent user participation. This is a great way for people and advertisers to be more creative in the messages that they are sending. It should affect the audience one way or the other, either they will love it and follow the posts more closely or they will be put off by the changes.

0 951
Local SEO

Debunk The Most Common Local SEO Myths

The 5 most common SEO myths exposed

SEO may seem as a foreign term to some people, mostly amateurs. We have come across people who have the weirdest myths about using SEO, some to an extent of believing it doesn’t work. Over the years, SEO has changed with several updates rolled out each year. For this reason, we have decided to expose the most common misconceptions about SEO.

  1. SEO can be done in one click

The truth is anything that can be done in just one click is probably a slow brewing scam. To achieve good SEO, webmasters have to dedicate their time, money, and effort because working on SEO means keeping up with; technological changes, looming competition, and constant updates. The site therefore needs to be managed and monitored closely by professionals in SEO.

  1. The more the backlinks, the better the SEO results

Cramming up a website with backlinks may have been a solution around six years ago. But today, the type and quality of links is what matters. Search engines change their algorithms so often that backlinks are no longer valued as before. In fact backlinks that are from non-authoritative or spammy sites can be penalized. Webmasters should create a site with an appealing design, great content, and user friendly; this will help in creating natural backlinks and its relevance. Sites involved in linking schemes such as paid links, mass linking, and anchor text rich links are automatically devalued by search engines.

  1. Optimizing for local search is not important

The opposite is actually true and here’s how: Take for instance one runs a restaurant in their local and they have just created a website for the business, they need to reach people near them and here is where local SEO plays part. It leads people in the locality to this particular business. Search engines consequently chip in more efforts in improving their local search results proven by the release of Google’s new Pigeon algorithm that improves how the search engine treats local search rankings.

  1. Content is everything

Great content is good and yes it is a part of SEO, however, it is not good enough. Webmasters can update their site with new content regularly but if they ignore other SEO factors, very few site visitors will return for a second time hence increasing the site’s bounce rate. Content becomes effective when it is helpful to your audience. In fact, in LinkedIn Technology Marketing Company’s report, 58% of people says that audience relevance contributes to online marketing success.

Building up a complete SEO plan and having a holistic approach that intertwines with the content quality, contributes more in creating a top ranking site. Remember in SEO, quality is better than quantity hence avoid spam content at all costs.

  1. Meta tags help with ranking

Meta tags are tiny pieces of code that give search engines a list of keywords and description on a site. Search engines got smarter meaning they will analyze the site on their own and therefore Meta tags do not affect ranking in any way.

There are several more other SEO myths than the ones we have mentioned however, these are the most common misconceptions people have about SEO.

0 959
Mobile SEO

Accelerated Mobile Pages – The Next Big Thing In Mobile Search

The Next Big Thing: AMP Mobile Searches

Google now supports what’s called Accelerated Mobile Pages. It’s for your website and the experience that users are having. As its name implies, AMP enables great features for optimizing the speed of browsing. This is browsing on mobile devices to be exact.

Just imagine your site or another loading up to 85 percent faster on mobile. This is in comparison to a traditional site that doesn’t have AMP HTML features. The additional feature is for the user. In the end, there is only a bit more work on the developer’s end, but the efforts will be worth it for news articles.

Accelerated Mobile Pages was launched in 2015. You’re looking for a combination. One that pleases the user and a component that impresses the search engines with speed. The AMP HTML input will enable you to satisfy both. It happens with ease. The result is better optimization and front page relevancy. This could be the way of the future.

 A Quick, Technical Overview

But the input of AMP isn’t for the faint in heart. There are three parts that it’s made of. They are: AMP JS, AMP CDN and AMP HTML.

– The AMP HTML is nothing but an HTML subtype. The task won’t be difficult for those competent with HTML already. The usual HTML tags are left out or replaced when using AMP HTML. You do have to learn the new commands of AMP HTML though.

– The AMP CDN or Accelerated Mobile Pages Content Delivery Network enables an AMP site to be automatically optimized and will even cache it for you.

– The AMP JS component is an application in JavaScript. It’s specifically used for mobile sites.

 Are AMP The Future for Mobile SEO

The ability to load mobile pages is in demand within most tech companies as we know it. There are similar attempts as seen through Apple News and Instant Articles by Facebook. WordPress has also jumped into the fray by offering an AMP plugin. The demand for faster mobile features is apparent and growing each day.

This feature is the future of mobile HTML, but Google limits where it’s currently active for searches made through their engine. The AMP HTML settings are only active when news enquiries are made in searches as of now.

How They Work

You still own the rights to your published material, but search engines will better cache it. This makes it a step easier to increase the speed at which your media is uploaded and found in searches. It’s achieved through HTML subsets and caches in a cloud. That way, time is reduced when finding media through mobile devices.

Find your way now, and start considering AMP as an option.

0 956