The Power of the Workplace Uniform

How do uniforms benefit the company and its employees? Is it a must for your company?

You’ve seen them everywhere – your local Starbucks, your nearest Apple Store, on your favourite sports team, and even your mailman. They’ve been around for at least 2,000 years. So why, in this day and age where anything can go out of style in mere days, are workplace uniforms still relevant?

Believe it or not, uniforms are there for multiple reasons. They enforce safety regulations, boost brand awareness, and boost employees’ productivity and morale. In this article, we’ll find out why that is so, and how you can incorporate that into your company.

LOOK GOOD, FEEL GOOD

If you’re like most people, you probably have a certain outfit that you look really good in. And if you’re like most people, wearing it makes you feel more confident or focused. As it turns out, the clothes you wear don’t just make you feel better, they make you perform better as well.

A 2012 study from Northwestern University found that wearing clothes with a certain meaning attached to them affected the way they think. This phenomenon, which the researchers termed “enclothed cognition”, had quite noticeable effects. In one experiment, they found that the group who were given lab coats to wear performed better on a selective attention test than the group who were not given lab coats. However, the researchers also found in a separate experiment that the group who were given coats associated with painters did not perform as well at a sustained attention test as the group who were given coats associated with doctors. This meant that wearing the clothes alone does not have an effect, but wearing them while associating them with certain positive qualities does.

How, then, can a company apply this? As an employee it might help to look at your uniform in a more positive light and associate them with positive emotions. As an employer, it might help to design your employees’ uniforms to evoke an emotion that you want to express to your employees, and in turn, your customers. Knowledge of color theory might help in this regard – for example, purple is often associated with royalty or luxury, so it might be advisable to work that color into the uniforms of spa employees.

UNITED WE STAND

The uniform, as the word implies, promotes a sense of unity. Even the origin of the word (Latin unus “one” + forma “form”) suggests the same meaning. Uniforms in a workplace encourage collaborative effort and teamwork among employees, and that contributes to better productivity overall. In contrast, casual dress codes can cause social barriers to arise – for example, employees might find a co–worker harder to approach because of the way he or she dresses. In most companies, then – particularly in the food industry – uniforms are a great way to get your team working more cohesively.

PRESENTATION IS EVERYTHING

Branding is one of the most important aspects of any company – logos, slogans, and visuals leave the most lasting impression on the customer, after all. That is why the way we associate scarves worn over corporate attire with flight attendants and a yellow and purple colour scheme with the Los Angeles Lakers is no coincidence. Uniforms are themselves a form of marketing, and employees wearing them effectively become walking billboards. That perpetuates the brand in the customers’ minds; when customers see them, they recognize the brand; when they recognize the brand, they remember it; and when they remember the brand, they can share it with others.

Some of the largest companies in the world utilize uniforms as branding, to great effect. The blue shirts worn by Apple Store employees are simple and to the point, giving the impression that they are easily approachable. Starbucks’ green aprons work in tandem with their brand colors and their cafe designs to create a relaxing atmosphere. And your company can put this to their advantage, too, with a uniform that is easily recognizable and memorable. It doesn’t even have to be a top–to–bottom outfit either, as even a shirt with your company logo on it can give the same results.

SEPARATE WORK AND PLAY

Uniforms also create a boundary between employees’ work and personal life. Company dress codes – particularly casual ones – have a detrimental effect on workers’ productivity as they do not have a definite line between the clothes they wear to work and the clothes they wear everywhere else. At work, employees might be inclined to feel relaxed since they are wearing clothes they usually wear at home; at the same time, employees might be more stressed at home since they are wearing clothes they usually wear at work. Implementing company uniforms separates work and play, improving their productivity at work and removing stress outside of it.

THE RISE OF “STARTUP CASUAL”

A uniform may have a lot of benefits to bring into the company, but does your company really need it? Let’s say you are the owner of a small software development firm, with only an office and with no retail outlets. From the get–go, some of the benefits of company uniforms – particularly the branding – are immediately taken away. Since your employees are not always seen by customers, they won’t be able to remember the uniform as part of the brand’s image.

With the digital age comes startup companies – companies founded by young, progressive entrepreneurs, often with a few employees. The increasing number of these startups have given rise to what is called “startup casual”, a dress code with an emphasis on employee comfort and adherence to the “hip” atmosphere of the company. Startup casual is not that much different from outright casual wear, which blurs the line between work attire and everyday clothing, and it allows employees to express themselves through the way they dress. It goes against many of the principles that make company uniforms effective, and yet they provide their own benefits as well.

UNIFORM VS. DRESS CODE

So what is best for your company – uniforms or dress codes? One thing to keep in mind is that larger companies or those in the retail or restaurant industries tend to incorporate uniforms, while startups and office–based companies tend to have dress codes. Despite this, there is no definitive answer for everyone, as every entrepreneur has a unique vision for what they want their company to be. Furthermore, the benefits of uniforms do not apply to all industries and all people; some people might work better wearing clothes they are comfortable with.

If you want to start your own company (or are in the process of starting one) it is therefore very important to put that vision into detail. What kind of image do you want to project to your customers? Do you want them to see your company as trendy and fun, or stable and clinical? What kind of atmosphere do you want your employees to work in? Knowing the answers to these questions will give you the best possible answer for your company and your employees.

Group of workers – stock image

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source https://tweakyourbiz.com/business/workplace-uniforms

6 Psychology Aspects You Should Know for Effective Marketing Strategy

With the increasing use of advanced marketing strategies and smart modes of internet marketing such as SEO and email marketing. One might be tempted to say that marketing has become easier and more effective. On the contrary, effective and productive marketing is now more challenging than ever before. In fact, as of 2018, 40% of salespeople claim that it is getting harder to receive a response from prospects.

You may be wondering what could be the reason for this trend. The reason is not far-fetched, it has more to do with customers’ behavior. Their evolution in response to the marketing strategies they encounter regularly. This is why it is imperative for you to understand and apply the psychology of marketing. Only if you really want to get the very best out of your marketing strategy.

You need to know that as marketing strategies are getting more advanced, prospective customers’ behavior is also becoming more sophisticated. The prospects want to ensure that your state-of-the-art marketing strategies do not take advantage of them. That is why they tend to be more difficult to convince. Therefore, the need has arisen for you to understand and apply the following psychology aspects in your marketing strategy.

#1 Powerful Visuals Can do The Trick

Did you know humans remember 65% of visual contents they have seen, even after 3 days. Visual contents are more appealing to prospects and you can easily relay multiple messages faster via visual contents than text. Product videos have also helped to increase the purchase of many products. The use of visuals in your content marketing can give you an edge in your industry. Why do you think more than 50% of adults in the United States use YouTube?

The marketing benefits of rich visual content cannot be overemphasized. All over the world, various individuals roll out tons of contents every day, all in the name of content marketing. How do you want to make your content stand out of the multitude? The answer lies in powerful visuals. Powerful visuals are very important for increasing your CTR which will, in turn, increase your sales.

#2 One Good Turn Deserves another

Naturally, people tend to give at any slight opportunity after receiving. Prospects will be naturally willing to offer you their patronage after receiving a little gift from you. Who says you can’t offer professional advice or accessories for free and in turn win another customer?

This is the concept behind inbound marketing and content marketing. You offer a valuable and enlightening content to your prospects and whenever the need arises for them to utilize a product or service related to your content, they will naturally feel obligated to patronize you. Business owners who always employ this technique have profitably won more customers.

#3 Appeal the Emotion

Research has shown that it is a desire that makes prospects to go for any product or service, not features. Even when your product can boast of overwhelming features, you may not appeal the prospect by flaunting the product features especially when it can’t meet the prospect’s needs. Some gadget marketers often get it wrong by flaunting how the gadget works rather than illustrating how the gadget can help customers. This is one of the biggest sales mistakes that salespeople make while trying to draw prospect’s attention

Prospects always attach their emotion to how your product or service can solve their problems. Therefore, in your marketing, you should emphasize how your product and service can solve customers’ problems. When you are able to unequivocally demonstrate the problem-solving aspect of your product or service, your prospective customers will naturally desire it. Your ability to identify customer’s need is extremely relevant here as it plays a major role in helping you connect with your customer’s emotion.

#4 Anchoring

This technique is very common among store owners, especially online stores. You can sometimes decide to sell your products at a low price. However, customers who are not aware of this low price may just take it as being the regular price and this price might not spur them to purchase your product if they don’t see a price comparison. By using the anchoring technique, you will display the low selling price next to the crossed-out initial price of the product. This will prompt customers to buy as many as possible, knowing that the price is unusually cheap.

Using this technique, you have successfully applied psychology of marketing because you have gainfully utilized your knowledge of customers’ preference for cheaper products. You can use the anchoring technique to achieve a fast sale of products. You can also use this technique when you have competitors who sell a price higher than yours. Customers will find it difficult to resist a price difference such as $25 $20. It is worthy of note that; in order to effectively use anchoring technique, you have to display both prices boldly enough.

#5 Social Proof

People commonly use social proof in fashion and in selling other prestigious products. Studies have shown that people tend to behave in line with the opinion of other people or a group of people they like or admire. When prospects see the people they like using a particular product, they tend to feel safe using such product as well. This predictable behavior provides a wonderful opportunity for you

This is often the concept behind some contracts where celebrities act as brand ambassador for some companies. Once people see celebrities using some products, they already have the social proof that such product is good and that is the way a celebrity decided to use it. Therefore, they buy such product based on the social proof they have about its authenticity.

In your marketing strategy, using social proof shows you understand who can influence your prospect’s behavior. Once you prove that such a person is using your product, the prospect is more likely to buy as well. Social proof will sometimes help you to eliminate the prolonged quality check which customers carry out on your product before they decide to purchase. Social proof will help you to achieve your prospect’s trust without prolonged quality check.

#6 Decoy Technique

Decoy technique is one other smart way of making customers appreciate the price of product or service. In this method, you will cleverly limit your customers to few options making the option you want them to choose to look very attractive. For example, a store can put up a cup for $8, teaspoon for $4 and a combination of cup and teaspoon for $8.

Naturally, a wise customer will go for the combination, thinking that it is very cheap to purchase both a cup and teaspoon for $8. And the exact intention of the store owner is to actually sell both products for $8. Decoy technique utilizes the desire of customers to get the most benefits with the least amount possible.

Decoy technique is very useful in selling accessories and making a good profit out of some products which customers usually overlook. You just have to simply combine such product with a more desirable product and offer an attractive combination price like the one illustrated above. Decoy technique requires a deep understanding of customers’ response to price and you should know how to appropriately distribute price among the available options.

Marketing– stock image

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source https://tweakyourbiz.com/marketing/marketing-strategy/psychology

Social Media Localization: Why Your Business Needs It

As more and more people are using the internet, the need for localization on social media keeps increasing. Companies which want to increase their sales and reach new markets should keep in mind that the best way to do that is by having direct contact with all potential customers.

Social media platforms offer a great way of quick promotion of your services online as well as communication between your company and the foreign markets you are trying to expand to. A multilingual website might be a basic necessity if you wish to make your company international, but social media localization is just as important. Here are some reasons why.

You can increase your website’s traffic

Running your social media accounts in English will help drive some traffic to your website and it can even have some non-native speakers give it a try. Even though your website might be translated in a large number of languages, the people who speak them won’t be able to know about that unless you promote it through your social media accounts.

Localizing the content you upload in all the languages you have chosen to support will help your followers and potential customers know that they will be able to use your website too, in their native language. Even if a customer speaks English, it is highly likely that they will not feel comfortable in using a website which is not in their native language. They could easily misinterpret things and make mistakes.

By translating the content your social media accounts you will be able to attract more people to your website by letting them know you support their language. On top of that, they will know that no matter what they come across while using your services, they will be able to get all their problems solved in their language. That can truly help establish trust and a feeling of security on their side and it will help you attract more visitors to your website easily.

You can interact better with your customers

It is no secret that every customer wants to know they will be able to come in contact with a company when they are buying their products or services. A business that has a strong online presence and responds to the customer’s questions and messages will gain more ground than others who are not as responsive.

Being able to interact with your customers from all around the world will have a number of benefits for your brand. First and foremost, you will be able to understand what each individual market needs and work towards providing services and products which will cover them. You will only be able to learn about these needs though when you are able to directly speak to your audience in their native languages.

Along with that, you will also be able to better understand your customers’ expectations from your business. By localizing your social media accounts, you will start receiving many messages on your posts and your customers will also have a chance to interact with one another. Through all interactions that take place, you will easily be able to gather information about what they like and what they don’t. This can help you understand the needs and preferences of every single market you have expanded to and it will eventually help you design better offers and services for each specific country.

You will gain free advertisement

Social media localization means that your customers will be able to interact on your posts in their native language. As we mentioned earlier, the number of comments you will receive will start growing. So will the number of shares. You can even test this out with just one language in the beginning with the help of a professional translation service such as The Word Point, and see how it will start happening in a very short amount of time.

Localized content is a lot easier to share for your customers and it is also a lot easier to understand for their followers. Since your content will make sense to their friendly environment, they will be way more likely to share it on their profiles. At the end of the day, what you will achieve is free advertisement on the social media platforms you have chosen to be present on.

This will help drive more traffic to your website and offer you a bigger following on your social media accounts. On top of that, your customers’ followers will be a lot more trusting towards your brand as they will have seem your posts on profiles of people they are familiar with.

You can customize and design better promotions

Each market you expand to has different customs, behaviors and needs. By creating and sharing generic messages simply translated in many different languages, you will not be able to achieve much in regards of the satisfaction of your customers.

Each and every customer like to feel like they are unique in your eyes and by localizing your social media accounts you will have the chance to customize the messages that you share on your platforms. By creating special offers and promotions for each market, you will be able to reach out to more locals who will be interested in them.

Your brand will look more customer-focused

Many big companies fail to understand that the reason why social media localization takes place is because it is crucial for the customer to feel important. A business which takes their customer’s experience seriously will go the extra mile and make sure all their customers are able to understand everything they have to share or announce online.

By localizing your content on your social media accounts, you are making sure that every follower feels involved. By providing content that has specifically been created for a particular market, you are showing your customers that their needs are your top priority.

In Summary

Localizing your social media accounts can offer a large amount of benefits to your business. Not only will you be able to better connect with your customers and solve any problems that might come up, but you will also be able to better adapt your products and services to each individual market’s needs.

While it can be a little too much to handle at first, you can start with only a few languages and work your way up as the response from your customers keeps growing too. At the end of the day, you will come to see that a localized websites definitely needs to be paired with the right localized social media accounts.

The post Social Media Localization: Why Your Business Needs It appeared first on TweakYourBiz.

source https://tweakyourbiz.com/business/social-media/localization

SEO For Small Business

Every business needs to be popular within its target market, this is the only way to generate leads and traffic to its website. But, this is easier said than done, especially in this age of online marketing where visibility is largely determined by search engine rankings. So how can small businesses achieve this kind of visibility?

 The answer lies in having an SEO strategy in place.

What is SEO?

SEO is the process of increasing online visibility of a website or web pages in search engine’s unpaid results. It involves creativity and technical know-how in improving brand awareness, rankings, and traffic in search engines.

Marketing statistics show that SEO is of utmost importance for the success of any business. One research found out that a great number of consumers (72%) visit a business within their locality after doing an online search.

From a different research, 28% of searches led to purchases from a nearby business. These statistics just go to show how a small business can benefit by ranking high on search engines.

Implementing SEO Strategy for Small Businesses

While SEO can be a bit complicated, it’s possible to implement a more targeted and cost-effective strategy with a small budget. Such a strategy should focus on the main factors of SEO;

•      Keyword Search
•      Content Optimization
•      Link Building
•      Local SEO

Keyword Search

Keywords are phrases or words that your customers are most likely to search for in search engines. As a small business owner, it’s upon you to ensure that your website is optimized for these keywords.

 Any photo, video, or article can be scaled down into a number of words or phrases that gives it a chance of being found when searched; those are keywords. You will have to figure out which keyword combination will attract sufficient traffic.

A good approach is studying what your completion is doing to remain relevant for such searches; this could be both on-site and off-site efforts.

To start off, use Google Keyword Planner to find out which keywords are ranking high for your products or services. The tool also comes in handy in narrowing down the phrases not only by volume but how their search trends change with time.

This will enable you to tailor your content to fit these keywords. It will also help you to go for the phrases that are likely to have a longer ‘shelf life’.

Keywords searches are not limited to what is popular; there are some long-tail phrases that people could be searching and ending up with little or no results. Your business can capitalize on this pool of prospective customers by optimizing content for such keywords.

Content Optimization

One tip that you are sure to encounter in your SEO efforts is that ‘content is king’.  The reasoning behind this is how search algorithms work; they rank quality and relevant web pages higher.

Great content also goes beyond search visibility. While your keywords could land visitors in your site, it’s the content that keeps them interested.

• Strive to ensure that your web pages are populated by unique, factual and easy-to-digest information
• Content should be made up of 2 to 4 line-paragraphs
• Use infographics, images, and videos as part of web content.  
• Go for relevant ‘how to…’ tutorials in both written and video formats. These are more search-friendly.

The above tips will bring you out as an expert in your field – which is a big factor for conversions to happen.

Link Building

Link building as an SEO strategy is a two-pronged approach; internal and external links.

With internal links, you are able to distribute equity to pages that may otherwise have low rankings. This can be done by using anchor text to direct search engine bots to old and unique content that may not be available from your competitors. Internal links also help in directing visitors to other useful content within your site.

External links, on the other hand, are as a result of great content and off-site marketing of your website. Let friends and complementary businesses know about your website; if they are satisfied with your work, they will link to your web pages. Expert-level content will also see other writers link their content to yours.

The don’ts of links: Guest blogging for links; paying for links; excessive link exchanges; use of automated services to generate links; use of links as part of your Terms of Service.  

Local SEO

As earlier noted, a small business needs to first attract the local community before setting sights on out-of-town customers. Optimizing your site for those who live or are near your business is known as local SEO.

One of the best approaches for this kind of optimization is by listing on Google My Business. By doing this, your business will be visible on Google Maps, Google+ and Google search.

Apart from being visible, your business will reap the benefits of reviews; potential customers can view these from your business listing on their phones without the need of visiting your website.

Unlike traditional search results if a business is searched with a map listing, local business features above the other search results. The platform also allows you to include several categories; this increases your visibility for possible relevant searches.  

For every category that you choose to go with, you can add several images to further enhance your online appeal. While most people are likely to use Google, there is a possibility that others will opt for Bing, which ranks second on search engines popularity.

With that in mind, you can increase your local SEO by listing your business on Bing Places for Businesses. This portal is also free and offers similar services to Google’s.

Conclusion

From the above strategies, it’s clear that even on a limited budget, small businesses can optimize their websites for high rankings while increasing their conversion rates at the same time.

Avoid underhand practices which can lead to penalties from the search engine companies.

Of importance is preferring quality over quantity in your SEO strategies; go with high-quality content for all your pages. You should also keep an eye on what your competitors are doing as well as keeping up with different SEO trends.  

The post SEO For Small Business appeared first on TweakYourBiz.

source https://tweakyourbiz.com/marketing/seo/small-business

6 Benefits of Having a Website for Your Business

From improving your visibility, empowering your customer services to generating leads, here are the key benefits of having a website for your business.

 

Did you know? 97% of customers look online for local businesses.

If you run your business without having a website, you may be missing on those large numbers of consumers. Gone are the days when people used to pull out the bulky Yellow Pages to find your business.

A website is your web address over the Internet. It is something like online counterpart to your physical address. It is true that many businesses are building mobile apps that are less expensive when made with software like app prototype tool. But website has its own importance as it helps you reach more customers than a mobile app.

If you don’t have a website for your business, it simply means that your business don’t exist for those 97% Internet users.

Website not only provides information about your business, but it also improves credibility and boosts your sales.  Moreover, you can have the Multilingual website, so that people visiting to your website can see the content in their own language and you do not lose your potential customer.

Here’s a rundown of benefits of having a website for your business.

Helps Establish Business Credibility:

A website represents your online business address. This is the place where your clients, customers and associated visit to find you on the web.

Your “HOME PAGE” stands for your branded value proposition while the About Us page gives information about your business. The Contact Us page shows your locations and contact numbers.

This way, it proves to the online customers that your business exists, thereby improving your credibility.

Having a business website makes your business more credible than online directories and social media pages. According to one survey, 84% customers considered company’s website more credible than social media pages or online submission.

Improves Your Online Presence:

A website takes your business beyond the local boundaries to the potential customers worldwide. Simply put, the website will make your business visible across the world. Making your offerings available worldwide can expand your business and revenue as well.

There are 3.5 billion people or 47% people are online every day, accounting for the world’s half population. They are seeking for information, sharing on social media or using e-commerce websites. This number will be on the rise due to the ever increasing dependability on the technology. You can easily imagine what you could lose if you don’t have a website for your business.

Moreover, you can improve your online presence by hiring a good online marketing company which not only help in bringing your business in front of targeted audience but will also manage the online review on your business.  Also, the digital marketing companies know How to Effectively Manage Online Reviews to Grow Your Business.

Read Also: 7 Awesome and Free Business Tools

Provides 24/7 Accessibility to Your Customers:

You are likely to turn customers away due to your closing time. Right?

But this is not the case with your website.

The website can be accessed 24/7, meaning that your customers can visit it anytime, anywhere. They can buy your products, or research your services without having to wait until your physical store is open. You will be accessible to them all the time. Moreover, quick response to the customers queries with the help of Live Chat option actually increase the trust of the audience on your business as they know, you will be there for them whenever they have any query and they will surely get the required solutions.

Read Also: 4 Smart Ways to Help Legally Safeguard Your Website

 Supports Your Analytics:

With a website, you can track everything that is taking place over it through the use of analytics tool. You can look how many people visit your site a day, or how many users have emailed you. It helps you know the demographics or origin of your customers.

You can create better marketing strategies on the basis of this data and increase your sales or chances of achieving the targeted goals.

Empowers Your Customer Service:

Customers can send you email or post query via online forms available at your websites. Many websites have FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) section to provide basic information to the users. Getting instant respond saves customer time and hassle, encouraging them to post a positive feedback. On the other hand, websites help you reduce customer service costs and time.

Minimizes Operational Costs:

You can use website to sell your services and products directly to consumers. In some cases, website eliminates the need of “brick-and-mortar” stores that involve operating costs associated with staff, rental and utilities. And it is really useful when you have to operate multiple stores across the city. Removing these overheads costs help you save prices. Besides, website acts as an internal forum so that you can interact with your employees, eliminating the need for meetings and travel costs.

Bottom Line

So you must have understood the benefit of having a website for your business. It helps you generate leads; increase sales; and improve your brand value.

To gain maximum benefits from having a website, you need to work on the points given below…

• Link your website to Google My Business
• Make your website load faster
• Use relevant keywords in your meta descriptions, URLs and page titles
• Create backlinks to your website
• Feature social media icons on the website
• Make your website mobile responsive as more customers search online using their smartphones. Or you can build a mobile app (if your budget allows). Mobile prototype tool lets you create interactive designs and mockups.

What do you think? How did having a website benefit your business? Or do you have any suggestions? Please share by commenting below…

Social network user login– stock image

The post 6 Benefits of Having a Website for Your Business appeared first on TweakYourBiz.

source https://tweakyourbiz.com/business/6-benefits-of-having-a-website

6 Effective Conversion Optimisation Hacks For Online Businesses

After spending months creating and implementing an SEO strategy to try and make an online business visible in the search results, the next most common problem entrepreneurs face is translating that traffic into something meaningful.  Once businesses start getting visitors, they want to look at converting them into sales and profit. This is where conversion optimization comes in to maximize that return on traffic. Conversion optimization is a tricky business as a simple change can literally make or break a websites balance sheet. Making poorly thought out changes can result in higher bounce rates, lower page views and reduced visitor sessions which can ultimately tank a website’s ranking and undo any SEO progress made. Attempting to identify and tweak the cause of a poorly optimised website for improved conversion can also be a bit like finding a needle in a haystack. A change you thought would increase conversions could actually hamper them if not properly thought out.

These 6 simple and proven conversion optimization quick wins below can help you improve your returns.

Website Performance

How fast a website loads up has been identified as an SEO ranking factor and more visitors means more potential for conversions. It is also common knowledge that a website’s speed determines if a visitor hangs around and browses or exits right back and searches elsewhere.  A conversion rate of 2% on 1000 visitors equals 20 sales while 2000 visitors would double to 40 sales. If you’re working in a high-end niche (say law for example) those 20 extra sales could be thousands in revenue you could be optimizing for. To find out how Google judges your website performance you can enter your URL on Googles page speed tool and see what recommendations it makes. This tool is useful as not only will it identify if the website speed is ok (or not), it will also highlight a host of other issues it thinks you could improve on. If your images, for example, need to be optimized, it will highlight this but also provide you with optimized versions of the images too ready to upload at the bottom. Websites deemed friendly by this tool will benefit from a ranking boost, which means more visitors and thus more conversions. This is a great place to start with conversion optimization.

Push Notifications

You would be surprised exactly how many websites are still not using push notifications. So, what are these? Educational startup Learndojo uses them effectively with a picture of a cute panda (see below).

As soon as you land on the website, a drop-down box appears at the top asking if you would like to receive push notifications. There’s a cute little waving panda too which makes it seem friendly and you can’t help but accept. Once a user clicks “allow notifications”, they can then be sent a browser notification for every single post published from this point. This is a really effective way to keep bringing back visitors for increased sales – think coupon codes, lightning deals or announcements. This works well to drive customers to new posts and encouraging drive an instant spike of returning visitors. These notifications even work well on mobile devices.

So how do you set these up? Head over to Onesignal.com and sign up to create one for your website. The best part? It’s all completely free to do and the instructions require zero coding experience.

Email Marketing

Every website you probably visit has pop-ups asking for your email address and this is because they convert so well for the price. Email marketing is a fantastic way to keep your visitors engaged with what’s happening with your site or business. There are a number of ways to set up email marketing but I’ll give you by far the simplest and cheapest to get you up and running. Head over to Mailchimp and sign up for a free account.

You can have up to 2k subscribers and send 12k emails per month for free which is more than enough to get you up and running with your email newsletters. As your subscriber list grows, you can look at alternative email marketing providers quite easily by simply exporting your subscribers over. Once you get a substantial following, simply work on your content and copy in the emails and see what works well with split A/B testing different ones.

Setup a Facebook Pixel

You may be wondering what a pixel is or how it works having heard about it, so here’s a really simple explanation. It’s a piece of code you input on your website that tracks your visitors which you can then analyse and re-target on Facebook with adverts or campaigns. The thinking here is if you have user’s that are quite well engaged with your website already and naturally finding It via search, you can segment them and re-target them for better conversions on Facebook. It works exceptionally well if done right giving a huge return on investment with the right ad campaigns on Facebook.

Facebook has over 2 billion active users which means its captured about a third of the population on the globe. This is pretty huge considering there are many developing countries yet to see its benefits, so the people who are on it, are the people businesses will want anyways (potential paying customers). To set up a Facebook pixel, simply follow this guide. The picture above is a small example of just some of the stats you can pull.

Frictionless Checkout

The longer a checkout process is, the more time users have for doubt to creep into their minds about their purchase and disband the whole checkout process. Amazon knew this, in fact they knew it so well, that in 1999 they even patented the 1-click checkout process. Other companies have had to wait until the patent expired because impulse buys have a massive impact on sales. An overview from the Amazon dashboard that demonstrates how it works is below.

Like Amazon, ideally, you’re looking to create a simple, streamlined checkout process where they don’t need to enter their details every time they visit you. Also, you don’t want anything more than you need for new customers (think GDPR for European customers but also simplifying the checkout process for better sales). Notice also, how difficult it is to go back from this page too. The only clickable link leading you back out is the Amazon logo itself. There’s no buttons to go back or anywhere else which all influence people to progress forward and purchase which means increased conversions.

Freebies*

Everyone loves free stuff. One effective way to start collecting email addresses (which you can then try and convert using the tactics outlined previously) is to give something of value away for free. This doesn’t necessarily have to be something that costs you huge amounts of money either*, it could literally just be an informational product you’ve spent a few hours creating. Brian Dean from Backlinko demonstrates a great example of this.

As soon as you land on Backlinko, a popular marketing blog, the first thing you see is a luring invite to enter your email address. It’s a full- page CTA (call-to-action) thats screaming at you to take a second to fill this in and get something fantastic back. In return, users are offered some exclusive free tips on increasing traffic. We don’t necessarily know what these are but the copy is luring and will convert well. You can quite easily create something similar if you wished. Once users have signed up, you can target them with email newsletters or even export their email addresses onto Facebook’s advertising platform to run custom audience campaigns. Custom audience campaigns allow you to run a adverts that targets only the email addresses you’ve exported. As they are people already interested and engaged with your website (and thus you have some form of relationship) the science and psychology behind this suggests they have a higher chance of converting.

So what are your thoughts? What top tips have you used or would recommend for other TYB readers? Leave a comment below and let me know.

Young businessman working– stock image

The post 6 Effective Conversion Optimisation Hacks For Online Businesses appeared first on TweakYourBiz.

source https://tweakyourbiz.com/marketing/digital-marketing/conversion-hacks

5 Things to Look Into When Choosing a New Business Laptop

Buying a new laptop is always quite a task to tackle, as it’s not always a straightforward choice of a brand or build quality, but rather quite a few different things to be considered. For different types of users, and then there is no one laptop that is best for a specific type of users as a lot comes down to personal choices.

Hence, when we are faced with questions like what laptop should I buy? Or suggest me a good laptop. Our answer always tends to be, to first think and explain what exactly you need from your laptop. When this question has all the answers, only then one can go out shopping a laptop that fits that very criterion.

But coming down to some of the most important things you will want in a laptop, here is a list of a few that you should consider.

1. Size of the laptop/screen

Size of the laptop or the size of the screen of the laptop to be more precise is what matters a great deal, and helps define what particular type of usage you will be able to extract out of this laptop. At the same time, it’s one of the things you can’t change later, while at the same time being one of the most important things to look into.

There are laptops that are as small as 11.6 inches and as big as 17.3 inches. And of course, the bigger the screen the bulkier the laptop will tend to be, allowing the manufacturer to add more power circuitry inside. While the laptops that comes with smaller screens usually are meant for lighter tasking and more portability, hence carrying lighter and lower end processing power and limited RAM and storage options.

2. Quality of the Display

This is the second most important factor to consider because of course, the display is what you will be staring at for hours, and if it’s not up to the par and lacks in certain areas, then your time spent looking at it won’t be as enjoyable or well spent as it could be. Besides the clarity and definition on a screen can really make a difference on what type of a task and how much of it you can do. For example, if your tasks involve reading a lot of text, or looking at variations on graphics and images with involvement of micro details, or if you’re a gamer and you like to enjoy the quality of the visuals, then a lower end screen can definitely disappoint you. While having the right kind of display can help make your multimedia experience a very enjoyable one.

3. Quality of the Keyboard

The keyboard on your laptop is one of the most important things you want to look into, as it can make or break your experience, especially when it comes to the experience of typing. Most of us will end up writing something through the laptop, which can be very small amounts of texts just to search something in Google or YouTube, or texting and posting updates on social media. Everything comes down to having a good and responsive keyboard. Then the next thing you want to keep in mind for the keyboard is to check if it’s typing friendly and makes it a good experience or is it designed in an awkward way where you might get tired easily if you are a person who has to type long texts or pieces of content. Which is of extreme importance if you are a writer or a student/researcher. How loud the keystrokes are and also if they are backlit for using in the dark or not is also something people would like to know before making their choice.

4. The processing power of your laptop

The laptop’s ability to process information and how quickly it can is what you want to be looking at next. This does not only depend on the CPU, but also depends on other factors like the amount and speed of RAM, the processing of graphical elements through a dedicated GPU, and the amount and type of storage.

CPU or the central processing unit is the central core for processing all information, hence how quickly you can carry out specific tasks and how quickly the data will be processed or which types of games you will be able to play on your laptop all come down to the CPU. A good modern CPU can make a lot of difference in the type of tasks and how efficiently you can do them, as opposed to an older CPU, even if the speed stats of the CPU’s are same or even if the older generation one clock better than a newer.

If you are looking for a decent laptop that can handle the multimedia and offer some light gaming then you are good with having a middle tier i3 or i5, however for more intensive tasks and more gaming you want a CPU that is a minimum of a higher end i5 or i7.

RAM or Read Only Memory helps the CPU process that information quickly by storing it in the RAM and letting the CPU have quick access to it, instead of retrieving and constantly writing data to the fixed storage which tends to be very slow to access, read, and write. 8GB of RAM is pretty much the minimum standard these days while having a RAM of 16GB helps with the more intensive tasks and gaming.

5. The Storage

The type and size of the fixed storage device on your laptop, which can be a standard access optical hard drive, or a quick access SD drive. It is recommended to at least go with an overall size of at least 500GB nowadays, while 1TB seems to be becoming the standard. Most laptops come with optical hard drives with slow reading and writing speeds, while more and more manufacturers are adding SD storage options along with the optical drives as they provide a high-speed access to the data, and hence speeding up the entire performance of your laptop.

Images: pixabay

The post 5 Things to Look Into When Choosing a New Business Laptop appeared first on TweakYourBiz.

source https://tweakyourbiz.com/technology/new-business-laptop

7 Tips to Successfully Strive in Affiliate Marketing

With the advent of technology, it has become easier than ever to understand customers’ needs and mindset. The browsing history, time spent on every website and the behavior, in general, are easily obtainable, thanks to cookies and terms of service for almost every website.

If that didn’t make it easier for a seller then thank the affiliate marketing where you literally earn by profit made by others in return for giving them a promotional space. Needless to mention about numerous affiliate tools that make everything look very easy. In spite of this entire regime, there are businesses that suffer in affiliate marketing and fail to profit from the advertising they make. There are many reasons for the same and we are going to offer seven tips to successfully strive in affiliate marketing.

#1. Don’t fall prey by associating yourself with multiple affiliates

It may sound lucrative to get associated with more and more affiliates and saturate your site with URLs to promote various products but it is in reality very tricky. Why so you may ask? Well, firstly you must remember that often people don’t accidentally land on your web page. They come to your website for a purpose. They don’t want to get diverted to a totally unrelated website.

If you are more inclined to focus on affiliates than your user’s cause to be on your site then soon they will start finding your website as a doorway to spam. That’s what unrelated content and redirections are for them. So if you are into travel business you may want to affiliate with a hotel booking website but adding anchors to a hair specialist’s website in such context would be unrelated and chances are users will find it annoying.

#2. Start making use of affiliate tools

If you are into affiliate marketing and you don’t use affiliate tools to the degree of usefulness they offer then you are probably not doing it right. Affiliate tools help you understand your audience and more importantly you are competing against everyone and there are tools that tell you what your competitors are doing. Many such tools are available for free and are very easy to use and understand.

#3. Learn from experts

It’s okay to not know but lack of willingness to learn leaves you nowhere. In a time where everyone is reaping the benefits of affiliate marketing, there ought to be many top-notch performers and Samaritan who are willing to share their knowledge and experiences with the newbies. You can find endless tips on the internet itself but many will be misleading and leave you disappointed in the end due to lack of the degree of correctness or sometimes due to difficult explanations which go overhead.

There is an easy option to contact and gain knowledge from veterans via many affiliate marketing forums where you can ask your questions like “Is Wealthy Affiliate Worth it?” and understand the nitty-gritty of affiliate marketing. Not only you will be able to clear your doubts but you can also innovate more by reading the discussions on current trends and strategies your competitors are already using.

#4. Do proper planning and have a vision

So what are your plans with affiliate marketing anyways? If you see it as an easy method to earn money after adding affiliates and then considering that the job is done, you are probably mistaken. You cannot afford to be complacent to successfully strive in this business. You must have a plan to lead you where you want. A vision of what you really wish to achieve. Let’s say you affiliate with some partner and your analytics tool says a huge number of users who reach affiliates via your website then you should focus on offering them some services which can be done by strategies like coupons or a subscription. This can lead to a tunnel building and would be beneficial for both you and your affiliate products.

Hence having a vision about how you would be handling your users and taking advantage of their patronage to your site can in long term. Lay out your plans to yourself first. It doesn’t need to be hundred percent accurate but it should lead you to your goal. To track the progress you can use many affiliate tools available in the market.

#5. Using social media

Don’t leave any stone un-turned to capture more and more traffic. Nowadays almost every small to big businesses have made their presence in social media. Use this wonderful opportunity to increase your user base! There are many visitors who are attracted via emails and posts on social media platforms. If you integrate the user bases of your affiliates from their sites and from other platforms you will end up with more user base.

The next step would be to target those newly added set of users and convert them into your consumers. The integration of contacts is now an easy task with import options available in affiliate tools.

#6. Be honest and transparent

Users are smart enough to soon judge your affiliation strategies and determine your relations with a particular product. Sometimes a user may consider the advertisement you add as genuine but if your redirects are done without a thought then it can do more harm than good. For example, a user will understand the vested interest you have and thus as per his reasoning he may doubt your opinions and targets. Hence it’s better to be transparent and state the obvious partnership and affiliations beforehand.

#7. Have patience

Last but not the least, you need to be patient. Things will not start working right away. Sometimes there will be payment delays and sometimes your strategy might not work. If people who have invested themselves in affiliate marketing don’t start getting success for a little prolonged period of time they tend to lose faith and often quit too. If you want to succeed first you must have faith in yourself and your strategies. It’s all about learning from experiences and having vision oriented approach rather than getting driven by money alone.

In conclusion, if you are focused, organized and work with a vision you will succeed. The above seven tips can act as your commandment. Take a deep dive into the wonderful world of affiliate marketing and start learning from experiences. It’s never too late to start and you have more time to succeed than to think you are left behind because affiliate marketing certainly has a good future.

The post 7 Tips to Successfully Strive in Affiliate Marketing appeared first on TweakYourBiz.

source https://tweakyourbiz.com/growth/7-tips-to-successfully-strive-in-affiliate-marketing

Give Me 2 Minutes, I’ll Give You The Truth About Vpns and Privacy

Do you still use a VPN for your Internet connections? Did you know that with VPN, you can access the Internet privately without being tracked? Protecting your identity on the internet can be very important, and there are very few tools that help you safeguard your privacy. VPN can be used to encrypt all the information and traffic of your browser through a secure private network which is very easy to install and configure.

The advancement of technology in recent years has allowed the emergence of new needs and new online tools. VPN has been around for a while. It is the perfect tool for those people who seek tricks to overcome geographical barriers.

When this kind of private connection was made visible, the entertainment services company “Netflix” blocked several VPN accounts for having altered their limitations to watch their movies and series. It is important to make it clear that a VPN (Virtual Private Network) is a security tool that adds an extra layer of security to any private network (LAN) or public (Free Wifi) to which you connect. Apps developed by top mobile app development companies can integrate this features into their app to make the users have access to more contents.

What is a VPN and what is it used for?

A VPN is a computer network technology that enables a secure extension of LAN (Local Area Network) over an uncontrolled or a public network. It permits the computer to receive and send data over a public or shared network using the management, security and functionality policies of a private network. This is done by establishing a point-to-point virtual connection through the use of dedicated connections, encryption or the combination of both methods.

Many specialists define a VPN as the device capable of allowing the connection of various devices as if they were physically in the same place (as a way to simulate the establishment of a local network). It has a “Virtual” part which is the one that allows the connectivity of 2 physical networks which finally become private since only the computers that are part of the network have direct access (the rest of the users do not even know that such exists).

In essence, your device (Mobile, PC, television and other devices) connects to another device which connects you to the Internet. The usual thing is to have more than one device connected to the same access point (or router), where each one is assigned a local IP address (this data is not visible to other Internet users.) It is a local network or a set of connected devices capable of sharing files and printers without the need to be connected to the Internet.

The primary function of a VPN network is related to security, and it is the main reason why many companies have taken advantage of them to give their employees remote access to the internal network.

Reasons to use a VPN to surf the Internet

When using a VPN, it is essential that you know that all traffic that passes through that private connection is completely secure. Beyond the security benefits, a VPN can also be used to provide another series of benefits to users, since it has been the most effective method that Internet users in different countries have used to overcome the limits or restrictions imposed by some governments. Here are some of the main reasons to choose a connection through a VPN network:

• Access an internal network of a corporation from anywhere in the world: This has been one of the main characteristics since its inception and the explanation of why the use of the VPN for a long time was reserved exclusively for corporations (especially large corporations. Employees of any company, despite being away from the office can access the company’s private networks. This means unlimited access to shared resources and the intranet (among other functions). Nowadays, it is also possible to use this tool when you are away from home and access your personal or professional files through it.
• Hide navigation data: VPN encrypts the data circulating on the Internet. If you use a VPN when using a public Wi-fi network, it will be difficult for someone to track your activity or appropriate your data.
• Access to geographically blocked websites: This feature allows you to view the content that is being offered in a domain in a specific country. A very clear example of this situation was Netflix when hundreds of users chose to use private connections to access the content offered by the content application via streaming (taking advantage of this point and making illicit use of it).
• Overcoming Internet censorship imposed by some countries: In recent years, this tool has been an effective ally in the fight for freedom of the press and expression. Through it, many users have been able to overcome the censorship imposed by certain governments. Simply connect to the VPN of another country to start navigating the forbidden.

In the market today, there are hundreds of options. The business model of most providers is paid or freemium, which allows you to use your VPN service (a basic part) for free. If you want to use all the potentials or have more data and access to all countries, you have to pay a monthly or annual subscription. After making a very thorough selection, these are the best free and paid VPN providers:

Virtual Private Network Acronmy

The post Give Me 2 Minutes, I’ll Give You The Truth About Vpns and Privacy appeared first on TweakYourBiz.

source https://tweakyourbiz.com/business/software/vpn-privacy

How to Use Content Marketing to Build Your Personal Brand

The internet is a great leveler between huge brands and the average joe. Even if you don’t have a hefty marketing budget, you now have the opportunity to build a formidable personal brand.

What does personal branding mean, anyway?

In essence, it’s how people perceive you and your work. Corporate businesses still play the aggressive advertising game. It means building a personal brand has become even more important. You earn the trust and respect of people around you and invite better opportunities in your life.

Content marketing is the perfect strategy to establish an impressive brand identity. You win the attention of your target audience by serving relevant and valuable content with consistency.

Without further ado, here are the three simple steps that you can emulate to build your personal brand through content marketing.

Step 1: Target a narrow audience

Many content creators suffer from the fear of missing out. They don’t want to lose out on building a massive audience. Hence, the strategy they resort to is creating content on a zillion different subjects.

Sure, casting a wide net might lend you with many followers that “like” you and your content. However, it won’t earn you any diehard fans.

In the beginning, as Paul Graham would say, it’s about “doing things that don’t scale.” It’s about getting feedback from your early followers, serving them value continuously, and retaining them.

And isn’t it better to build a following that absolutely LOVES you and your brand?

They will buy and promote your every value-offering.

Author Kevin Kelly emphasizes the importance of building a tribe of 1,000 true fans for all kinds of creators.

Image source: kk.org

Here’s how Kelly defines a true fan.

A True Fan is defined as someone who will purchase anything and everything you produce. They will drive 200 miles to see you sing. They will buy the super deluxe re-issued hi-res box set of your stuff even though they have the low-res version. They have a Google Alert set for your name. They bookmark the eBay page where your out-of-print editions show up. They come to your openings. They have you sign their copies. They buy the t-shirt, and the mug, and the hat. They can’t wait till you issue your next work. They are true fans.

These “true” fans will refer new readers. Their word of mouth will act as your unpaid PR to scale your brand and increase your content’s visibility. Your aim is not to appeal to everyone, but building a die-hard audience of a handful of people.

Hence, don’t start with associating your personal brand with “WordPress websites.” Rather, start with a narrower subject like “WordPress websites for lawyers.”

A great example is Tim Ferriss. He didn’t start with writing on business, productivity, internet marketing, and Stoicism together.

As he mentions in his video on creating content that sustains a career, he started in a narrow niche. His initial super fans expanded his personal brand and recruited his casual readers.

Step 2: Document your content marketing strategy

Merely 37% B2C brands and 38% of B2B brands document their strategy. This is despite knowing that documentation tremendously increases the chances of your success.

What should your content marketing strategy include?

Well, you have already identified your target audience in the first step. Now, you need to specify the kind of content that you plan to create and include dates mentioning when you will publish your articles.

Depending on where your target audience hangs out and their preferences, you can include the following kinds of content in your strategy: blog posts, social media updates, videos, and podcasts.

If your audience seeks education, then blog posts are a great strategy to add value to their lives and stay on the top of their minds. When done right, they have long-term relevance and will keep driving leads for your brand.

To get started, you need to perform some good old keyword research. You can also use a tool like Buzzsumo to reverse engineer the popular content in your niche.

If you’re a creator that specializes in entertainment, then YouTube and Instagram are the ideal platforms for you. In fact, visuals and video produce a higher emotional connection with consumers.

Gary Vaynerchuk has built a powerful personal by publishing high-quality video content. He regularly publishes attention-grabbing videos on his YouTube channel.

Gary has a nifty way to squeeze the most out of every episode. He repurposes his cornerstone piece of content into micro-content. Here is an outside view of his content pyramid.

Even if you don’t have a 16-person team like Gary Vee, you can win the social media game by staying consistent and authentic. Remember to commit to a regular schedule of publishing, even if it’s a few content pieces per week.

Step 3: Snag a special appearance where your target audience hangs out

Creating high-quality content and hoping your audience will “discover” you is not a smart strategy. You can do one better.

Research relevant publications where your “true” fans hang out and that accept contributors.  By writing a high-quality article for these websites, you can recruit a few relevant audience members.

While guest posts are still effective when done right, my personal experience with interviews is much better. When Writers In Charge interview me, I landed with 30+ subscribers without a lead magnet.

However, my guest posting efforts at 11 decent-sized websites landed me about 10 subscribers.

Text interviews and podcast appearances are a quicker way to scale your authority. Also, most podcasts are published with relevant links to the guest’s website and social media profiles. They offer you SEO benefits of backlinks along with expanding your online influence.

For instance, Ryan Robinson recently interviewed Grant Cardone for his podcast. He included links to his websites (as visible in the screenshot below).

Conclusion

The reputation you build used to vanish as soon as depart from a company. And you had to start afresh at a new job. However, the internet has changed that. Now, you have tools to build your portfolio public and reinvent your public image.

Hopefully, the three steps have uncomplicated building a personal brand through content marketing for you.

What’s your experience of building a personal brand? I would love to hear your experiences in the comments below.

The post How to Use Content Marketing to Build Your Personal Brand appeared first on TweakYourBiz.

source https://tweakyourbiz.com/growth/personal-brand/content-marketing

The Top 6 SEO Ranking Factors of 2019

Wondering why your website is not ranking on the top of search engines?

Are you worried you are not getting enough traffic and conversions?

Part of the reason for this scenario is that you are still implementing outdated SEO techniques. It’s about time you kept yourself up to date with the latest marketing techniques. Let me share some important search ranking factors with which you can get a strategic advantage over your competitors.

Without a further ado, let’s talk about the SEO trends of 2019. These are some important factors you should be keeping your eyes on:

Mobile Friendliness and Mobile-first index

The use of smartphones is rising significantly around the world. As per Statista, around 5.7 billion people will be using mobile phones in 2019, which means they will easily surpass the desktop users. Search engines respond to websites that are more mobile friendly. In 2015, Google rolled out an advanced algorithm that required “mobile friendliness” as one of the key ranking factors. According to a study by Statista, in 2018, 52.2% of all website traffic worldwide was generated through mobile phones, up from 50.3 percent in the previous year.

Recently, Google has released an update on the mobile-first index, which will help rank websites based on ranking signals from the websites’ mobile version. However, if your website does not have a mobile version or responsive, Google’s ranking algorithms will fall back to the desktop version of the website. Mobile content is indexed and used for showing listings to both desktop and mobile users. So you have to keep your website mobile friendly to increase your chances of ranking well online.

Web Page Speed for Better User Experience

Would you like to waste your precious time waiting for a slow running website to load up? You likely won’t. Nobody would prefer to, really. Therefore, it is imperative that your website does not consume more than 5 seconds to load up. To this effect, hosting a website on a reliable cloud hosting server like Hostpresto is not only helpful in terms of search engine rankings, but it provides a better user experience and improves the website speed. Google has implemented a tool that you can use to review your website’s loading speed, called  Google PageSpeed Insights that you can use to help your cause, here. You can also use other tools such as Pingdom, Getmetrix, Webpagetest etc. Page load time has been a major ranking factor for a long time, but in 2019, Google will focus even more on it.

User Experience and Usability

Do you know that your website’s usability and performance is affecting your ranking on search engines? Google has been using  artificial intelligence , Hummingbird and RankBrain algorithm to analyze the behavior of users and considering bounce rate, click through rate, re-visit, conversion, sharing etc. This advanced algorithm sorts through the billions of pages it knows about and finds the ones deemed most relevant for particular queries.

In the first two points, we tried to highlight page speed and mobile friendliness as part of the user experience. Google will give more importance on them in 2019, especially in terms of website user interface design, website bounce rate, user query related content, links, website structure, functions and much more. A significant part of user experience is linked to your web site’s usability and performance; which means a good user experience will increase the chances of people engaging with your website. It also encourages sharing, bookmarking, return visits and improves sales. Furthermore, you can use extensions to improve your website’s user experience such as Magento and WordPress. Hence, by improving both user experience and visibility you can considerably improve your ranking on search engines.

Quality Links

Natural linking and high quality content is the key for link building, which in turn is extremely crucial for SEO ranking. If you have backlinks from high authority websites that are relevant to your industry, it is beneficial for your website. One of the major factors Search Engines uses to determine the credibility of a website is through its linking structure. The fact also is backlinks are Google’s internet navigation tool, building a bunch of them to your website helps to boost the average time it takes for SEO to work. 2019 will emphasize more on developing powerful links that will be beneficial in a longer term. Guest posting and influence marketing are two of the best strategies for content marketing and branding.  I would prefer to use tools like Ahrefs, Semrush etc. to find out best link building opportunities by analyzing competitors’ link building strategy.

Business Listings or Local SEO

Are you targeting local audiences or running area specific marketing campaign? You need to understand the importance of local SEO. According to a study done by Forbes, 95% of smartphone users have used their device to perform local searches, out of which 61% called the business and 59% visited. This clearly shows that leads from location-based searches are a major avenue for potential customers, and the numbers will only keep growing.

Google has a local search algorithm that shows results for current location and any other specific city, country or places. For example, if you are searching restaurant from your mobile phone or desktop, Google will show local business listings of nearby restaurants. This will appear like below:

Creating and optimizing your business listings on Google is the best way to get rank on the local searches. If you are not ranking then you need to consider the following points:

NAP

Business name, address, and phone number should be similar on all listings. Even this information should be included on your website too with Schema.

Improving customer reviews and ratings or Google local listings and on relevant directories like Yelp and others will help you.

Voice Search

Mobile and mobile apps are transforming the face of online business. Voice search is deemed as the future, and 2018 is already turning a big year with virtual assistants like Alexa making its way into hotel rooms. According to Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai, 20% queries on mobile are coming from voice searches through mobile apps like Siri, Google Now, and Cortana. By 2020, voice searches are expected to account for 50% of all online queries. I don’t think so everyone is ready to face voice search but its popularity is significantly growing. We might witness a huge list of search queries through voice command in this year and it would be game-changing for the every marketing campaign.

SEO CONCEPT on screen– stock image

The post The Top 6 SEO Ranking Factors of 2019 appeared first on TweakYourBiz.

source https://tweakyourbiz.com/marketing/seo/2019-ranking-factors