What type of social media marketing should I choose? Organic or paid

What type of social media marketing should I choose? Organic or paid

Hubspot, one of the most popular websites on Digital marketing has recently conducted a survey on social media marketing entrepreneurs and has published its results: 63 percent of the companies who are using social media have said that it has increased marketing effectiveness among other benefits. There is no doubt today, that using the social media definitely contributes to an improved digital marketing. But the leverage lies in doing it correctly. In this context, people are often confused between the two kinds of social media marketing: the paid form or the unpaid form. The latter is often called the organic form. First, it is important to understand each of these forms correctly.

The salient features of Organic social media marketing are:

1. You do not pay the social media network
2. You will have a web page for your company in that particular media network.

• Your social media presence is assured; but your social media popularity will depend on your content quality, interaction and relationship building capability and your capability to tackle multiple leads simultaneously.

1. It is content driven just like organic SEO
2. Engaging, informative, relevant, non-repetitive posts, visuals like image, video storytelling may help to build contents that bring in quality web traffics.

The salient features of paid social media marketing are:

1. It is form of paid advertisements that will appear on your selected social media network as sponsored ads.
2. It is just like paid SEM.

• Your visibility or ad impression is assured.

1. Your targets will be more focused.
2. To drive in a click, text ads as well as the display needs to look appealing. It should be able to seek attention of the social media
3. Strategies need to be built so that a large percentage of your Click rate actually converts into customers. This needs to be checked frequently; otherwise you might end up spending on some ads which does not yield benefits. Optimization techniques with continuous monitoring of the ad performance need to be done.

Now the question is how to choose between these two forms. Following are the controlling factors:

1. Your immediate purpose to be on the social media If it is to build better customer experience, the organic form will be a cost effective approach.
2. Do you need to achieve any immediate business targets through this social media platform? For example, your current target is to generate 15 leads in 30 days’ time. In that case, an immediate visibility is required. The paid form of social media marketing should be advisable in this aspect. Giving an ad does not mean that it will surely generate web traffic. You need work on your resources and ad appeal for that. But a paid ad, definitely improves the chance of being visited.

• Your budget is another controlling factor in this aspect.

1. The industry sector you are dealing with is also an important factor.

Some prefer to improve their visibility with paid marketing in the initial stages. Then they switch to the organic form.

Link building in SEO: the white hat way

Link building in SEO: the white hat way

You need to know SEO if you have a website. It is basically the technique to be searchable and visible within the first few ranks of a relevant search. It is very important to be ‘searchable’ because there is tough competition in the free limitless world of web. Just writing good quality content may not help you to be present in the higher ranks of a search query. You need to know how the search engine searches contents and follow the footsteps. Of course, you should do these in an honest way. Deceptions in this case are very tempting with so many companies on the internet trying to help you. But it is better not to follow those unwise methods. They are risky because they carry chances for your website to be penalized and completely barred from the search engine database. Honest methods approved by the search engines are called White Hat SEO.

Link building is a very common and popular method of SEO. A search engine regards links to a website present on another external website to be a parameter for good internet content. Links given a third party is like a reference. He must have read the content and is placing his recommendation as website link in his content. Following are some tips that can help to make link building a success in a White Hat way:

1. Who is placing the link? This means that if the search engine finds a link to your website in a questionable or a newly uploaded page or a page which does not have authentic content, then that link will be less preferred as compared to that link which it has found in the page of trusted, authentic, reputed, old but active website. Thus who is recommending you matters.
2. What is in the link? The words used in the link matters. Simply putting the website URL as a link will not gain you that higher order ranks. The link should contain keyword phrases that describes or is highly relevant to your website. For example, if you sell sports shoes, then the link the external page uses should be: trendy sports shoes or something more relevant and exact. Google will reward this type of keywords better. These keywords are called anchor text.

• Which page to link at? The external website should link to the exact page in your site. The usual custom is to create a link to the home page. The home page seldom contains the main useful content. In case you are selling sports shoes, it should be directly linked to the relevant page where there is a display of various kinds of fashionable sports shoes.

It is to be noted that building external links is important by making good quality text, asking friends to put up links for you in their website if relevant and other techniques. But building internal links is easier and a method you can control by using relevant keywords in the anchor text, linking to the exact page and of course creating a web page with enriched in contents and keywords.

3 SEM related blogs and software you should know about

3 SEM related blogs and software you should know about

SEM is the acronym for Search Engine Marketing. Businesses that expect to get online buyers through their website need to know about SEM.  It is the prior step of internet marketing. It is the art of being the chosen one who will make it to the top ranks on a search engine result page. Being on the top in a popular search engine page means your website is one of the most relevant for a particular string of search query or keywords. SEM has various techniques and categories. It can be divided broadly into two categories: the paid SEM and the unpaid ones. The unpaid SEM which is also called SEO is tougher than that of the paid SEM. It takes time to show results but it brings credibility the website. Paid SEM can help your website to gain initial visibility; but popularity and sales depend how well your website tackles web traffic and impress them. Paid SEM may lead to a poor ROI if you are not conscious with your basic internet marketing strategies. There are several blogs and discussions that can help you with the concepts and techniques of an effective SEM. Following are some top companies who help you to be visible in the internet in front of relevant users. You can forget being that needle in the haystack. Following are some blogs and their softwares:

1. Google AdWords: This blog requires no introduction. You are dealing with a website from the masters themselves. Since most of our searches are ensued in Google, it is vital to consult them. Both business websites as well as blogging websites are bestowed with its benefits. The websites using Google Adwords software are reaping of excellent profit being advised correctly by this blog. You can go for various forms of paid SEM through this software. PPC or Pay Per Click, banner ads, remarketing, display on YouTube and others. With Google Adwords you can really make a difference and be ahead of your competitors. The ROI of most of the business have improved by using this platform.
2. Wordstream: This website is a great assistance in the field of SEM and online marketing. They allow a PPC program to their users. Also they provide various free SEM tools in this aspect. They call it PPC campaign grader. They have a very helpful customer care even with their free content. You can place social ads with Wordstream also. They assist in Facebook advertisement. You can use this product to place a perfect ad with Facebook. It makes it extremely cost effective. You can organize and manage your PPC and social ads with the help of Wordstream Advisor software. This is definitely a wonderful tool for time management in the context of online advertisements.

HubSpot:  This is a very reputed and recommendable blog with a multiple of paid software assistance. Beginners as well as advanced users can be benefited by HubSpot. HubSpot Marketing has already made its place in the field of digital marketing and advertisement management.

The power of remarketing in the world of internet marketing

The power of remarketing in the world of internet marketing

Remarketing will definitely help you to reach your destination in case you choose it as one of your internet marketing strategies and plans. Few lines about remarketing before we begin:

1. It is posting ads of your website to certain visitors and leads at different websites without being actually called in a search.
2. This is an attempt to be visible to those whom you delineate to have a good potential for conversion.

People often refrain to put more ad budget into the remarketing procedure. Following are some good reasons why remarketing at least to some extent is advisable as a good internet marketing policy:

1. Market research has proved that larger the number of times a lead sees an ad impression more is his likelihood to convert into a customer. This is usually applicable for those leads that have already registered in your website and have shown quite a bit of interest in your content or product. Giving promotional offers to old customers in the form of remarketed ad has been one of the sure shot ways of further sales. It is to be noted that Click through rates decrease after a certain duration of time but those who clicks will surely become your customer. Thus some amount of remarketing to these leads or visitors should be accommodated.
2. As against the popular belief, people are less prone to get tired from remarketing ads than those form new non-remarketing ads. Market statistics have also proved this. The theory is simple if the surfer has visited your website, spent some time and clicked on some CTR then he should be fatigued by your remarketing ad. In most cases, these remarketing ads act as reminder tools in internet marketing. The greatest benefit of remarketing is that you can choose your visitors from the web traffic whom you want to send these ads. An optimized remarketing is always beneficial since the list of visitors and the type of ad you sent are cleverly construed based on visitor behavior and interaction on your website.

• Remarketing gives you the option for Display ads or ads with images like those we see on Facebook. This gives you the unique opportunity of brand building that is not possible on a Search Engine Results Page. A Display ad always brings more impression on the clients mind when compared to mere text ads. People remember a visual more than a catchy line considering so many web pages any surfer visits to satisfy his search query.

1. Remarketing ads help in trust building among your leads and users. Advertisements that are shown frequently always have a positive impact on human psychology. Being visible on various pages, that the user surfs through the day may help your company build that trust. In this context, it is to be noted that the average surfers know very little about internet marketing strategies and concepts. He might consider your website to be really popular when he sees your remarketing ads everywhere he visits online.

2 simple ways to buy organic web traffic to your website

2 simple ways to buy organic web traffic to your website

Organic web traffic means those surfers who search for content on an unpaid or organic search engines like Google or Bing and land on your website being directed by the search engine itself. Organic web traffic is the most important when compared to paid traffic. The latter might only increase web traffic and display you as a recommendable website. But the organic web traffic, if you can acquire, might convert them into direct customers or people who are looking out to post advertisements on your blog. In both the cases it means revenue and profit via direct sales or through ads or through affiliate programs.

Buying organic web traffic simply means pleasing the search engine; in other words making your content searchable and appropriate for a high rank among the hundreds of results per search query in popular un-paid search engines like Google. This technique or set of methods is popularly called SEO or search engine optimized. Following are five simple ways by which you can buy organic web traffic in an honest way and according to methods approved by search engines:

1. Content marketing: This is another useful tip to generate web traffic. If you are a blogger, then try to write contents on those which a large section of people might be interested in. For example, if you are trying to write a cooking blog, then focus on some easy breakfast menus, healthy breakfast, oil-free cooking, and delicious recipes with low calorie ingredients. You need to understand social issues and problems related to your niche. You can also find out some target keywords by using free online tools like that from Google. Then you can get an idea about trending topics in your category of writing. Focus on using the right keywords in a well distributed fashion in your content. Also consider other parameters in this aspect like the most important location for keyword placement in the content. Your heading should contain the keyword and should be catchy enough to attract visitors as well as the search engine. Try to consult the recent trends in SEO for this purpose.
2. Link building: Links to a web page in your website are read as votes of trust by Google. External links as provided by other websites are the most important in this case. The website which recommends you should belong to the same category of sites as yours and also should be a reputed one. Active websites that have acquired a significant internet age or websites that already have an established business and reputation should preferably post these links. Links posted by less known or new or websites that have content not relevant to your website or those which are not so trust worthy will not be considered much by the search engine. There are several types of links like outbound links, reciprocal links, backlinks and others. There are several discussions about link building techniques in the internet that you should consider.

10 common mistakes that we make in social media marketing management

10 common mistakes that we make in social media marketing management

Social media has evidently become one of the greatest platforms to do internet marketing. With the huge popularity of Social media like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and others, it is thought to be a huge mistake not to use these sites to place your advertisement or fan page.  But you need proper techniques and strategies to manage social media marketing. Error in any of these can cost your campaign.  Following some common mistakes that people make in social media marketing management:

1. Where is the commercial perspective in your social media page?

You are creating a fan page for an organic reach on the social with the target of making more business. This is not a profile page where you bluntly give all details of your contacts. Your fan page should be created for company promotion; like for example how you are unique, what kind of additional services you provide, what is new in your product category, the success rate of your company, current event that you are hosting and all other interactive contents. A social media fan page should contain interaction possibilities besides relevant information.

1. Have you decided on any streamlined activity with your social media platform?

Small to medium size business as well as bloggers and celebrities often think that just by creating a social media page will make them popular. It is not so. You need to listen, discuss and measure. You need adequate resources and skills to coordinate, measure, scale, track, analyze and predict your ROI through this platform. This is possible and this should be the target. In fact, social media is hub for generating leads. If you are creating a social media page then this should be your target.

• Have you thought of building a relationship with your leads or consumers? Build relationship with your leads: your primary vision for social media Of course, all roads lead to Rome! This is a strategy for an effective promotion and sales. Social media gives a unique opportunity to create trust building among a pool of visitors or leads or consumers unlike any other platform. You can utilize it for relationship building on a massive scale with lesser effort. Initiating open discussion forums about relevant topics like your product or an event you hosted creates a kind of illusion on the customer’s front that they know this brand or company. Every one prefers and feels safe to buy from a retailer who discusses his product.

1. Is your content suitable enough for a social media platform?

People, who use social media, look out for some entertainment, fun, inspiration or interesting contents. Serious tags lines and contents targeted for company promotion will not make your web page popular on this kind of platform. If users are searching for serious business they will use the search engines. Your social media content should have a magic to it like catchy images, a video telling your story in a fun way, something useful and extra to your users like a free download. Your content type will entice them to visit your website.

How to optimize keywords in a SEO?

How to optimize keywords in a SEO?

Keywords in internet content are the most vital elements by which a website can be made searchable. For example you sell antique clocks and you specialize in the manufacturing as well as repairing field. People who are interested in these items will most probably search Google or Bing with phrases like ‘antique clock dealers’, ‘antique clock manufactures’ and others. If your website contains these exact phrases then there is an opportunity for your website to be placed in the higher ranks in this search query. People usually restrict themselves to the first few search results. A keyword phrase is considered to be of maximum utility or Search Engine Optimized if they have been constructed with certain qualities and rules.    The rules for a keyword that will enhance the SEO of the website:

1. Keyword Quality: Keywords needs to be very specific and descriptive. It should be able to describe your purpose on the internet with a high degree of relevance to your content. Finding the correct keyword for your website can be done by judging your content and thinking like a visitor in need of your products. You can use Google Keyword tool that can be accessed online. You can consult web pages from other dealers in the same field. Also you can get an idea from that ‘related top searches’ results of a popular organic search engine.
2. Keyword Frequency: This is also very important since SEO bots uses this as a parameter. More than three times and less than 10 times is the usual keyword frequency in the metatags. You need to be careful not to overspill your content with keywords. This is penalized by search engines as a Black Hat SEO trying to deceive the search engine programs.

• Keyword Placement: This is also vital. Placing keyword in the page Title, headings, link text besides within the content are rewarded by search engines as the most relevant content. Regarding content, keywords should be well distributed. But the first appearance of the keyword in the content should be within the first 10 to 20 lines of the first paragraph.

1. Keyword and word Ratio: This is often regarded as keyword weight. The latter is another parameter judged by the search engine bots to determine relevance. Relative position between keywords or key phrases is also taken into consideration.
2. Keyword proximity: These basically refer to the word distance between the key phrase present in the content and that being queried by the user. Smaller the word distance the more relevant and optimized it will be from SEO point of view. For example, the surfer types in a search with the key phrase ‘vitamins for hair growth’ and your content has keywords ‘vitamins for regeneration of hair’ while another internet page has key phrase ‘vitamins for hair fall’. The other page will receive more relevance. It is sometimes almost about the exact keyword. So try to place a variety of key phrases that depict the same meaning. This will increase the probability of getting a good SEO.

Cheap Web Hosting: A Bargain Or More Costly?

Cheap Web Hosting: A Bargain Or More Costly?

Should you be skimping money when it comes to web hosting? You might be thinking on these lines that after all, there are extremely cheap (and free too!) hosting sites out there so why cough up big money for something like this. That might work if you want a blog or a website with pictures of your recent travel adventures, but when it comes to business, it might not be the wise thing to do. If you have an ecommerce business or even if you are using the website solely for marketing purpose, you should be willing to spend on web hosting. Because in both these cases, even a second of downtime is a lost customer.

Is it All Bad? Cheap web hosting has some advantages as well, biggest being economical. And because features are little, the websites are simpler and easier to navigate. That is the end of the pros for going the cheap hosting way.

Why Cheap Hosting Is a Trap: Even though cost effectiveness is the most touted advantage of cheap hosting, it turns out to be more expensive in the longer run. Reasons why you should stay away from cheap web hosting sites are:

1. Limited Resources, Compromised Performance: When you go to cheaper route, you usually opt for shared web hosting where your website is sharing the resources with numerous other websites.
   • You are essentially compromising on quality, it might mean that you cannot upload high resolution images, or less amount of products can be uploaded.
   • Even if one of the other websites get higher traffic, it will result in server overload and boom, downtime.
   • More websites sharing the resources, slower load time for your page
2. Lack of Customization: You are not truly the boss of your website as options to tweak the interface of your website are usually limited. You might get a control panel with some options to change but most of the things will be on default settings. If you need more customization, you will need to pay extra for every feature.
3. Security Leaks: The world was recently rocked by various big companies admitting hacking of their websites resulting in release of confidential customer data. A cheap, shared server will not let you install your own security protocols or software. Even if one of the other website is under attack, your data can be compromised too. If your business is retail, be prudent and go for better options. A customer will think twice before visiting your website if he knows that it has been under attack previously.
4. Sham In The Name of Customer Service: Cheaper web host will mostly provide you with some customer support but usually it will be extremely poor or very late. It is one of the most important things because everyone runs into a problem now and then and you need someone to help you out.

Final verdict is that cheap web hosting might seems attractive now, but it has a hidden cost which makes it extremely costly. Stay safe, go for quality web hosting.

6 Things To Monitor In Website Traffic

6 Things To Monitor In Website Traffic

Every blogger or website owner out there who is in this for the long haul knows the importance of monitoring traffic. However, what exactly to track and how to track it can be confusing for most people as the amount of information available can overwhelm anyone.

What To Track? There are countless metrics that can be tracked but most of them do not provide valuable information, which can be improved upon. For most of the websites, the following 6 are the most important metrics to monitor for web traffic:

1. New Visitors: More important than the number of visitors visiting your website is, how many of them are unique, first time visitors. This tells you how many more people are you reaching with your marketing and content strategy.
2. Traffic Sources: It is important to know from where your traffic is coming, known as referrals. Figure out how much each source is bringing and how many of them are converting. Through referrals, you can track if your website is coming through a search engine or another website. Knowing where your traffic is coming from helps you in knowing what areas to target.
3. Top Ten Pages: Preference of website owners and users are usually poles apart. Pages which you might like may not be that well-liked by the visitors. By tracking the top pages, you can see what type of content the potential customers prefer.
4. Conversion Rate: The conversion rate is the most important metric to be tracked because at the end of the day, you are trying to achieve a certain goal with the website. The percentage of people who actually achieve the goal on your website is referred to as conversion rate. Even if you are attracting traffic in millions, a low conversion rate means you are getting the wrong kind of traffic. The way a new or a return customer interacts with your website is different and it is important to convert them.

A return customer will only return if they liked something on your website, figure out what it was and how to replicate it in other things which are not doing so well. Whereas, for a new visitor, you first have to make the right impression and then comes the conversion.

5. Bounce Rate: When a visitor clicks on your website and leaves without much interaction, that is call bouncing and you want to minimize it. A high rate could mean many things like poor design, overcomplicated process, or even unrelated traffic.
6. Exit Pages: People might not be leaving the website immediately but abandoning it on some other page. If more people are exiting on your check out page, maybe the process is too complicated or too little payment options are available. You need to dig a little deeper to work the problems out and fix them.

Final Thoughts: Start by monitoring a few stats then increasing them gradually as you get the hang of it. One of the most popular tools for monitoring traffic is Google Analytics and it is free. The interface is easy and it works with AdWords.

Don’t lose out on growing your website! 

Is it Time to Redesign Your Website?

Is it Time to Redesign Your Website?

Businesses do not usually want to think about redesigning their website often. They do update it seasonally but a full redesign is something which is a mammoth task. But like everything else in this world, website redesign is not an option but a necessity at times. A website redesign can mean any of the following:

• Structure & layout of your website
• Changing how users use your website

Your website is like your company’s ambassador who is working 24/7. You do not want the ambassador to portray the wrong image in the minds of the potential customers. Web redesign is not only time consuming but also takes money. When should you undertake the daunting task of redesigning a website?

1. Outdated Designs: One of the main reasons to opt for a redesign is if the website looks outdated. Color themes, design trends keep on changing and if your business website does not reflect the new in themes, it will hurt your business. A new website with latest features makes your customers feel that the company is in line with trends and not static.
2. No Conversions: has there been year to year growth in the sales brought by the website. Are your visitors actually buying stuff from you? Identify why exactly lower or no new sales are being bought and focus on them.
3. Do Not Exist In the World of Google: is your business website even showing up in the google search? Is your website SEO friendly? Are you using key words in your navigation? If not, you can make it more optimized for search engines so that the google bots can find you through headings, alt text etc.
4. Mismatch in Website & Your brand: As businesses grow, so does the vision and the list of products/services you offer. You might have started off as a small business offering one product and no clientele, but you have grown and now offer multiple services. It is also possible that the colors used on your website are no longer in line with the marketing materials used in offline advertisement. You want to present a concise single image to the customer.
5. Outdated Technology: If your shared content on social media website looks plain ugly, it is time for a redesign. Using old technology in your website can also lower your chances of being shown in searches and can slow your website down. Updating the website provides a smoother experience to the users.
6. Hard to Navigate: if your website seems to leave a bad taste in the mouth of the users because they find it hard to go through it and find what they are looking for, it is time to go for a redesign. It is always helpful to keep an eye out on what your competitors are doing because your potential customers will surely compare.

Benefits of Redesign: the fruits of a web redesign make it worth it:

• Better image means more sales
• Smoother user experience
• Powerful marketing by integrating various plugins
• Revamp your brand

What is internet marketing automation?

What is internet marketing automation?

The popularity and effectiveness of your website needs to be measured, analyzed and predicted to achieve a steady business growth. The world of web is a virtual earth; with dimensions so great the competition is tough and global; you need proper technology and strategies to manage it efficiently. Internet marketing automation is a series of software built to help you and your company to be successful in the web world. However, you can actually move all your sales via desktop, mobile or direct all into this one single platform.

The utility and functions of using marketing automation software is multiple:

1. Workflow automation: This is the basic function. Marketing on the web has a series of channels and functions. It is difficult to do these repetitive tasks manually. One concern is that one single error has a direct impact on your profit. Secondly, with sophisticated and appropriate software assistance, you will have more time in building sales strategy and your next sales or ad campaign. Any standard software in the category is equipped to process, store, analyze and report all kinds of marketing database and leads. Wasting precious labor on manual monitoring is no longer advisable.
2. Central database: Yes you can integrate data across all relevant departments since there is one single database. Sections like Customer Relationship, Sales, Marketing, and Finance are interdependent for data. With a common and central database, time is definitely saved and that too in a very sophisticated manner with the possibility for zero error.

• Monitoring marketing campaigns: This has never been easier. In medium and large businesses there are several simultaneously marketing campaigns. With internet marketing automation, performance of each of these campaigns is automatically notified along with analysis and predictive modeling. Web analytics section of this robust software has the capability to monitor your clients’ activity on your website and also advise you on the next logical step for sales. Data gleaning is a tough job with data input from so many web platforms. This tool box is like a conductor across several offline and online channels bringing you those inputs that are relevant for your growth. If you are expecting effective and optimized growth you cannot ignore this technological advancement.

1. Improved ROI: This is the automatic benefit of using marketing automation software. The ROI of your company has to improve with optimization on all fronts of marketing and integration of relevant workflow from various related departments.

The right customers for marketing automation:

1. It helps in both the category of transactions and business like B2B or Business to business and B2C or Business to Customer directly. Examples of B2B are manufacturing, technology developers and others. B2C business includes retail, financial service, entertainment and others.
2. Big enterprises where marketing occurs in several channels with a huge and growing database.

• Small and Medium sized business can also benefit from marketing automation software. In fact, SMB is the growing market for these softwares. There are software which are specially built to cater the needs of the SMBs.