Month: February 2020

Email Marketing 2020: A Guide on How You Can Properly Use Email Marketing

Steven on February 20, 2020

Without a doubt, email marketing can do wonders for your business. So, if you are quite new to it, you will need a guide to email marketing to know how it all plays out.

But first, let us explain why email marketing is important.

Importance of Email Marketing

Email marketing harnesses the power email to create meaningful relationships with your audience.

This also allows you to capture important information from your audience by letting them subscribe to your email list. That way, you can send exclusive content and easily build rapport with them.

When done right, email marketing will not just let you build a relationship with your audience. You can also use email to compel to make a transaction with you. Hence, email marketing can be a viable stream of income for your business.

Mind you, there are tons of tips and guides online that lets you learn how email marketing can generate a return on investment.

Types of Emails

Now that you know why you need email marketing for your business, it is time to get familiar with various types of emails:

1. Marketing Emails

These are either promotional or informational emails sent out to users who asked you to keep them updated.

Marketing emails are usually sent in the form of newsletters, announcements, sales promotions, follow-ups, press releases, surveys, and so on. Check out these email copywriting tips in order to write high-converting email copy.

2. Transaction Emails

Transactional emails are usually automated and sent out based on site visitors’ activities. Examples of these are order tracking, welcome messages, received payments, registration confirmation, and so on.

If you have sent a transactional email to a user and they have at least completed one action, then they will likely want to engage with you again.

Usually, these are considered as trusted emails and have higher open rates because they provide a lot of opportunities for engagement and cross-selling.

3. Operational Emails

This kind of email provides important data about your business. Examples of these are maintenance plans, holiday closures, changes to the availability of your services, and so on.

While you might think that operational emails don’t have much impact on your sales, you still have to be consistent on it for trust and engagement purposes.

There’s likely a hidden value in these messages. Although most of them tend to be informative, they help improve your sales and the value of your image.

Let’s say your site will be down for maintenance, informing your subscribers about it and describing the updates you will perform is a great way to remind them of the kind of value that you provide.

Strategies for Email Marketing

As mentioned earlier, email marketing can bring in ROI for your business as long as it is done properly. That said, we have listed down eight tactics that can help you build a successful email marketing campaign:

1. Know Your Audience

According to Kevin Urrutia of VoyMedia Marketing Agency NYC, having a deep understanding of your target audience is one of the important things that you have to take into consideration before you start sending emails.

Ask yourself these questions:

How and when do they prefer to be communicated to?
Is there a specific language or slang that would resonate with them more?
What kind of action or activities make them stand out from the rest of the population?

2. Personalize Your Emails

Nowadays, neither blast nor batch emails will not work and would lead to high conversion or engagement rates.

Personalization is not a new concept but it is still picking up traction, which makes it increasingly important.

3. Think Quality Over Frequency

Email marketing is an excellent tool for communicating digitally. But you should also prioritize quality over quantity.

For instance, sending too many emails to your subscribers cannot help you achieve your desired results. Worse, they will unsubscribe the moment they feel overwhelmed with the emails that you send.

Worst, they might even mark you as spam.

4. Make it Easy to Unsubscribe

Although on the surface, you look like you are providing clients with an easy way to opt-out, if users want you to remove your name from their list and they could not easily do so, they will flag you as spam.

This can pose problems for you later on.

5. Find the Perfect Time

Knowing what’s the perfect time to send your emails is no easy feat. But although there is no silver bullet answer to that, having an audience insight could come in handy.

For instance, you can try sending out emails during “off times.” For example, in the afternoon when people are less likely to open their inbox because they are busy having lunch. You can also try sending emails in the evening when everyone’s having dinner or they are fast asleep.

Sending emails on top of the hour increases the chances that your email will be delayed, and will not reach your recipient as you originally intended it.

6. Make Emails Mobile-Friendly

What is the first thing that most people do in the morning? Well, most of them reach for their phones.

In relation to this, do you know that 66% of email opens happen in phones and tablets? If your email is not optimized for these devices, then you could be missing out on a higher open rate.

7. Keep it Out of Spam Folder

If you send out poorly constructed emails and are flagged by users as spam, then your emails are less likely to see the light of day.

Poorly formatted emails will hurt you in the long run. Also, note that every spam filter works differently.

An email might pass through one filter and then flagged and caught up in another. To learn more about this, check out MailChimp‘s guide for a comprehensive explanation of how those filters work.

8. Always be Testing

Do not send out anything if you are not sure that it is working properly.

Double-check your emails and see if you want them to look the way you want them to be before you send them out.

View them first on Gmail, Yahoo, and Outlook, and different mobile devices before you decide to finalize your drafts.

Over to You

Email marketing can be a powerful tool to drive more sales and revenue to your business. It also has proven itself to have a greater reach and ROI than any marketing channel out there.

So, follow the tips we have outlined in this guide so that you can easily get your hands on email marketing.

Local Branding

Brilliant Water Softener Maintenance Tips You Should Follow

Steven on February 20, 2020

For starters, if you have a water softener in your house, you deserve a hand because this is probably one of the best and the wisest things you’ve done so far. A lot of people out there think that hard water isn’t really a big deal and that there’s no need for any water softener, but guess what? They are all wrong. When someone has hard water running in his main pipeline, the hard water is dangerous for hair health, for skin, and it’s not even good for consumption.

If you’ve got hard water issues in the house, you do need a water softener. However, a water softener isn’t cheap, and you need to make an investment in it at least once.

If you really do care about the money you’ve earned and spent, you need to take care of it. To help you with water softener maintenance, here are some tips that can really come in handy to you.

Important Water Softener Maintenance Tips

1- Check The Salt Level

When the saltwater decreases, all you get is hard water, so keeping the right salt levels is necessary. Checking the hard water issues regularly means that you will be controlling all the hard water issues in the house. There’s this rule of thumb that you are supposed to use here in which you should be checking the salt level of your water softener at least every 4 to 6 weeks. The frequency will vary depending upon the equipment, but even if you have to check frequently checking is easy.

2- Use The Right Salt

Checking the salt level is important, and at the same time, you should ensure that you are using the right salt. We’ve seen a lot of people using old salts for their water softeners which isn’t the right thing to do. For water softeners, the right kind of salt is the one that comes in cubes and crystals, so do take notes about it. If you want to be more careful, just check the manual of the water softener that you get and then opt for the type of salt the manufacturer recommends. Make no mistakes.

3- Flushing The Resin Bed

You should know that the resin beds regularly get charged because of all that salt. But don’t worry because you can always flush that resin bed with the help of the water softener cleaner. There are heavy metals, iron, and different organic compounds due to which the water softener loses its efficiency. Now in order to maintain that efficiency, all you have to do is to keep the resin bed clean, and that is it.

Learn more about salt-free water softening

4- Inspecting The Purifier Regularly

You should inspect your water softener every now and then and check if there are any issues with it. This is important, especially if you don’t want your hard-earned money to go to waste. Just keep a check of the equipment you have, and all the things will fall into place for you.

Conclusion

These are some of the most important things to consider if you want to make water softener maintenance easier for yourself. Now, without wasting any more time, if you own a water softener, do all the things we have mentioned above and ensure that your softener is working just fine.

Digital Branding

Apt Use of Directional Cues in Designing Great User Experience for your Target Audience

Steven on February 20, 2020

For web designers, making sure that they are one step ahead in creating the next great web design, they have to think out of the box. But sometimes that is not enough; they need to think about how to use the User Experience (UX) to their advantage. For designers, making users act upon their design can make a design work big time. For this, they need to make the users read the content of the website, follow the directional cues and click on the call to action buttons.

If you are not sure about the directional cues aspect that I mentioned in the last paragraph, don’t worry as this whole blog post is about how directional cues can be important in making a website work. And especially the design aspect can use the directional cues to make a website work. But why does a website have to offer directional cues in the first place? I will try to answer this question and other aspects in detail, so read on.

Directional Cues: The Basics

UX is one of the best ways for designers to make sure that they are on top of their game. By making a visitor get hooked on a website is no mean feat. There are virtually billions of websites out there on the internet, and on average, a user visits thousands of websites in his lifetime, if not more. But we like only a few dozen of them and visit them frequently. So, what can make a website tick? It is the directional cues through UX that can make the difference and is one of the most happening trends in design.

For all the businesses working in Dubai and other regional cities, they need a website so that they can attract the target audience. Thus, the role of the designers is one of the most important ones for the success of a website and, eventually the business it is representing.

A directional cue is not something that we usually don’t come across. Pointers call to action buttons Curves and lines all can be a directional cue as they can offer a cue to the user as to where we must go or use the website accordingly so that the website owners can benefit from it. First of all, let us talk about content and how it influences the choice of a website visitor.

Content to Die for

We all are aware of the famous phrase “content is the king”. The design can surely get the attention of the visitors of a website, but it is the content that can make all the difference. Right from the CTAs to special discount offers, there are many ways in which you can make content work for you big time. The use of directional cues in content is one of the best ways in which a positive result for the business can be achieved.

Let me explain what the directional cue in this context can be of great use.

Think of directional cues as something that will offer your visitors an option so that they can use your website in an easy uncomplicated way. You need to offer visitors the use that they can use to get along with the website without thinking about what will happen if we click on the icon power button. The visitors don’t have to predict what will happen next as you need to use queues so that they know where they are headed.

Everything mentioned above is very important for your future as a business. You are investing much time and money on your website, and so is the visitor on your website. He is also investing is time to find the product that you are selling. If you want him to become your customer and also offer a positive word of mouth in social circles, you need to use directional cues smartly.

So how can you do this? Let me explain.

Getting Along with Directional Cues

The use of arrows and single points is one of the easiest ways to offer your visitors an option to choose what he is looking for. For example, if you are offering a flight booking on your website, you need to offer a functional and accessible search button. In this way, you will be able to offer your visitor I cleared optional so that he can book a flight in an easy and hassle-free way.

The art of offering directional cues can be mastered throughout a period. For designers, it isn’t easy because they have to work with different industries and businesses, and they have to find how they can create a design exactly according to the requirements. Observing direct marketing is one way to make things better in this concern.

Let me offer you an example so that you can understand my viewpoint easily.

Direct marketing professionals base their sale campaign so that they have every chance to get the attention of their target market. The use of print media in this concern is what makes them truly effective. The use of brochures and flyers is one effective way in this regard as word of mouth can play an important role. And print advertising for direct marketing is one easy way to get the job done effectively and within their budget.

The use of visual guidelines for tracking the target market is one easy way that works for them.

Use of Colors in Directional Cues

Most of my readers will not understand how directional cues can be mastered with colors, so here it goes. Your color palette is a powerful tool to make your reader aware of what you are offering them. It can improve the user experience far better than any other technique. The use of red color, for example, in a text, can make a visitor stop and notice what’s the message. This is just one of the ways to use colors to your advantage.

If you are nor comfortable with the use of color schemes or color the buttons in a specific way, you can always get the support of a website design dubai firm having the expertise in this concern. In this way, you will be better off in reaching your ultimate goal, that is, good traffic on your website and ultimately good sales.

Over to you

Please offer your valuable feedback for this blog or ask any question by using the comments section below.

Digital Branding

Visual Marketing: The Most Compelling Conversion Tool

Steven on February 18, 2020

Content marketing is an unusually compelling marketing tool for modern trades. However, a piece of written content that lacks visual appeal can be highly disengaging for your readers. So, what do you need to include in your content marketing strategy?

Evidently, you should include visuals to your content for increased audience engagement.

However, there are varying opinions on the type of visuals that one can pair with the written pieces of, often bland, content.

In this piece, you shall come across some of the most effective visual strategies, including which can enhance the overall returns on your investment.

But, before we get to the types of visuals that you can use, it is vital to learn a bit more about visual marketing.

Why Visual Marketing?

“Visual memories are the strongest memories!”

Various statistical data shed light on why visual content is more effective in improving the conversion rate. Some of them include:

The human brain can process ‘visuals’ 60,000 times faster than text-based content. This is because visuals can make the user feel like they are communicating with the author face to face.
Out of the total information that human brain processes throughout a day, 90% of them are visuals.
Although only humans can communicate verbally, still most of the communications are bland in the absence of tone. Visuals, on the other hand, are amazingly efficient in communicating a piece of information without using tone.

These facts might not make sense to you. But, if you consider the conventional marketing tactics, you can acknowledge the effectiveness of visuals in converting sales.

For instance, TV commercials are still the most effective tool when it comes to earning loyalty for brands. Simply because these short visuals can appeal to the viewers emotionally, as explained by https://c-istudios.com/video-film-production-services/, professional filmmakers. There’s no surprise to it that visual content is spreading across other platforms including Facebook, TikTok, and Youtube that have promising returns on investment, especially in the modern marketing mix.

By now, you might have decided to include visuals into your content marketing. But, knowing what type of visuals you can include can simplify the efforts for you. Thus, bringing in better returns for your investment.

The 6 Types Of Visuals That You Can Tap Into

Choosing the right type of visual can affect the overall effectiveness of your content on your audience. It all depends upon your target audience, their interests, and their expertise with the language. However, you should create your content that can easily tap into, at least, 80% of your audience.

Here are the types you are looking for.

1. Images are the easiest visuals

Some marketers opine that content with images receives 94% more views as compared to the one that lacks visual appeal. The key here is to break your content into short parts and fill the gaps with high-quality images.

More importantly, you’ll need to keep the images as relevant to the part as possible. Since a majority of online user taps into information using small screens (the mobile devices), the time a user pays heed to content is shorter than ever. Therefore, putting up long blocks of content can buzz off your actual reader that can potentially be converted into sales.

So, if your target audience is precisely mobile users, including images into your content can be highly fulfilling. Since these are the easiest form of visuals that you can tap into, you may not even require any expert mediation.

2. Videos can promote face-to-face interaction

If you intend to offer your audience with solutions to any problems that relate to your products, videos can come handy. For instance, you can search Youtube for common issues associated with your motorbike. And surprisingly, the solutions offered in these videos really work.

Usually, such videos are put up by individual bloggers and influencers. Imagine if you can tap into such schemes and offer your patrons with solutions to some common troubleshooting and that too under your brand name. Your brand is sure to earn the trust of your customers.

Moreover, such tactics can also help penetrate new markets. Since online users prefer content that can connect with them emotionally, and offer solutions to their problems, tapping into video content can improve returns for your marketing efforts, exponentially.

3. Infographics can help with minimalistic content

Although several marketers suggest creating highly informative content, and that too over 1000 words, often it can be difficult to curate such a lengthy piece of content. Mainly because of the shortage of information available in the relevant context.

In case, you are also struggling with the same problems, you can tap into infographics. These are incredibly effective in communicating maximum information without using many words. But, there’s a catch. It requires a lot of expertise and creativity to develop such images that can convey the information precisely, in the shortest forms.

However, once you are habitual to the basics of infographics, and the practices involved, you may steer through, effortlessly. As the name suggests, these visuals easily provide information through graphic illustrations. Thus, it is most suitable for the type of audience where time is of the essence. Short and precise information delivered in a minimalistic form.

4. Memes are great for entertaining your audience

Particularly, if you are leveraging your audience over social media channels such as Facebook and Instagram, the entertainment aspect of your content is of prime importance. Since most of the social media users tap into the channels for getting rid of routine monotony, if your content is traditionally promotional, you can expect your audience to ignore your content.

This is where creating memes can be highly beneficial. Several leading bloggers and web marketers suggest that memes receive more impressions on social media as compared to any other form of content.

Therefore, if your audience is preferably engaging with entertaining content, you should include memes into your marketing plan.

5. Presentations for communicating Intricate Info

It is needless to say, statistical charts are highly effective in giving elaborate information in a short and easy-to-understand manner. However, such intricate information is usually sought by users that belong to a highly skilled and expert niche.

For instance, if your business is a supplier to retailers, then you should cater to your audience with highly accurate data. Especially, the kind of data that provides them insight into the modern trends of your trade.

This is where presentations can come handy. Ideally, your presentations should include bar charts, pie charts, and graphs with statistics related to your trade.

6. Screenshots to simplify the process

In case, you are planning to provide your audience with a step-by-step guide, you may need to explain the process in as much detail as possible. But, no matter how much detailed content you put up, it may still fail to provide the users with a clear idea of the process.

Including screenshots can simplify your content. The key is to break your content in simple steps and provide with as many screenshots as you possibly can retrieve. This would not just help your user understand the content, but also simplify the follow-up for them.

For instance, if you are creating a blog post to help your audience troubleshoot a software, you should include the steps, explaining where to click and after what steps, in chronological order.

In the end, it all boils down to the audience that you are trying to target. No matter, how detailed verbal content you put up before your audience, unless it intrigues their interest, they are very likely to bounce back from your content. So inevitably, including visual content to your marketing strategies is only beneficial for the effectiveness of your plan.

Digital Branding Legal Branding Local Branding

Self-Driving Cars – The Future of Transportation?

Steven on February 17, 2020

Self-driving car technology has been a dominant point of discussion with regard to the future of transportation in the world. The imagination of a driver-less automobile in the streets, and buses available for efficient transport devoid of human error becomes inevitable. The most highlighted points touch on both the safety, and the intelligence of the new technology, but rarely on accessibility.

In truth, to the old and the disabled, transportation can be a real challenge as it offers near zero independence, and generally lowers the quality of life. The inability to drive or the fear of the same is limiting, as access to food and medication becomes a nightmare. That results in social isolation, and eventually, mental health effects. With the US government buying cars for citizens, and with the self-driving technology highly mooted, we could see changes in the near future.

But if indeed the dream of self-driving cars becomes a reality, what could be the immediate benefits to the general population?

Greater sense of independence and ultimate freedom

The most exciting aspect of this technology is that it is bound to bring a greater sense of freedom and independence to the masses. Where the old and the disabled have had to rely on family members and caregivers to access some basic facilities, the autonomous car technology will solve that once and for all.

The ability of the self-operating automobiles to accelerate, brake, turn, and perform basically all other functions without human direction makes them ideal for individuals who are not able to operate a car.

However, the main challenge, and probably the only foreseeable one, lies in accessibility, where accessibility in this scenario means a number of things, including;

Providing self-driving services to the elderly and disabled persons who may be operating on limited budgets.
Providing for passengers who are confined to using mobility aids to get around, or persons who travel with medical devices.
Taking the autonomous technology to persons in rural locales that may be poorly served in terms of infrastructural development.

The plight of the disabled and the elderly needs redress

The population of the disabled and the aging is growing rapidly, with the numbers expected to grow significantly in the next few years. With lifestyle-related diseases also on the rise, more people will be in dire need of the above-mentioned services. For the growing population to find any benefits from the autonomous vehicle technology, issues that directly affect them ought to be considered.

The potential in the emerging technology cannot be disputed, but there is a need for proper planning. Research and the input of stakeholders in the industry is paramount in the efforts to make the dreams of millions of people a reality.

Conclusion

The self-driving vehicle technology is a universally acceptable move, and the concerns over the challenges it is likely to face going forward should be utilized as the basis for new developments in the technology that is currently in its infant stages. These issues raised will form a strong basis for research, and there is some widespread optimism that a solution will be found, eventually.

Local Branding

Best Rated CBD Oils – What to Look out for

Steven on February 17, 2020

It has been several years since the first boom of CBD oil but we are still seeing ever-increasing growth within the industry. The market has now got so big that it is now worth just under $22billion in total. This is an incredible figure for a market that was so small not so long ago. Yet, the investment that suppliers and manufacturers have put in has driven consumer demand to a point where there is a whole host of CBD oil products to suit every consumer need within the market place. This does come with a drawback, however, in that new emerging consumers that wish to enter the CBD oil market and purchase CBD oil products are struggling to wrap their heads around what products are best for them. The sheer amount of choice is so great that it can be hard to identify what is there number one priority. As such, this article is here to alleviate some of these consumers for new and existing consumers as it will answer some of the key questions with regards to what to look out for in terms of the top-rated CBD Oils out there. If you are interested in knowing more about Lazarus Naturals coupon, or some of the top-rated products then click here.

Price is a vital factor for which consumers should be aware of

For new consumers, it can be difficult to identify a good deal from a bad one in the CBD oil industry. This can be down to the fact that there are just so many suppliers or retailers in the marketplace that there are constant price wars occurring. As such, prices of CBD oils can fluctuate on not only a daily level but potentially even hourly. Therefore consumers are right to be aware of false prices that can improve if you shop around. We are big advocates of making sure you pay the right price for the best rated CBD oils and as such implore you to not only shop around but utilize price comparison tools to do so. There are plenty out there that will ensure that you are not getting ripped off for the price you are paying for a top product and will compare and contrast. This is a great resource for those that do not want to beat around the bush with finding the best CBD oil products and want to gain and get the information quickly rather than doing the leg work themselves.

Forums – A great resource for those wanting more in-depth information about CBD oil

CBD oil specific forums are great for those wish to gain further information about CBD oil products. They provide information on what to look out for in a top-rated product and how the quality of a CBD oil product can differ dependent on the manufacturing process. As such, quality is a big factor for them and a lot of reviewers see this as an important thing to be aware of in the purchasing process for new and existing consumers.

Digital Branding

The New GeoIP Extension Taking Over The Expanding Businesses

Steven on February 15, 2020

Introduction

Ecommerce businesses have been on a successful trend over the past few years. People have started considering them as the ideal option for their shopping purposes. This has been very helpful for the businesses as a whole. While there are amazing benefits to business with increased customer interaction, there are some increased responsibilities too. To be able to cater their customers, businesses often have to expand their courses of operations to different countries. This can be a tricky experience.

Why is expansion difficult for businesses?

Although some people might disagree but expanding to other countries is seen as one of the most critical steps in the business survival. Yes, it is a definite requirement when the customers demand, but it has its downsides too. There are a lot of things that a business has to consider while they are at it.

They need to keep track of the language the clients are willing to communicate in. Furthermore, the time difference also plays a huge role in maintain contact with the customers. The currency factor also comes in to play as the business will need to keep a track of the latest rates at which the currencies are exchanged. So how can the business tackle such scenarios arising?

The new Magento extension

The increasing problems in no way mean that the business should stop considering the idea of expansion. Instead, the business must look for solutions to these issues. The new Magento 2 GeoIP extension helps the admin to assure that they keep their customers satisfied at all times. This new tool will help in redirecting customers in accordance to their preference. It will maintain the switching of currency, language as well as the time as per the customer’s requirements. This will ensure that the business can expand the business with ease.

Functions of the GeoIP extension

The best part about this new GeoIP extension is that it will automatically detect the customer’s location. This way the business does not need to worry about these small issues. Instead they can focus on other matters of strategic importance. The clients will be redirected to the preferred IPs in order to ensure that they receive the best customer experience.

The tool also helps in mentioning the prices in the currency that the client uses. Before going ahead with any given function, the new extension will give a pop up window for the client to consider. The language change will also be done automatically making sure that the customers do not have to go through the hassle of translating. The tool also helps in restricting the noisy customers away from the website. This automatically makes sure that there are no free riders.

Advantage of GeoIP extension

As we have discussed the function of the extension above, it is a real asset for the business if they use it efficiently. This can help them in having the ideal customer service that will increase their customer loyalty overall. The customers will also feel that they are being respected and given attention. The ignorance of social barriers is a real plus for the business and it will help them in making their mark in the market.

Digital Branding

SEO & Branding: How To Increase Branded Traffic

Steven on February 14, 2020

Shoes. Cosmetics. Beverages. The chances are a few brands came to your mind instantaneously as you read the categories. Whether it be Nike, Chanel, or Pepsi, there are certain brands that have managed to become synonymous with their categories. That is the power of branding.

According to research conducted by Marketing Profs in 2015, over 77 percent of marketers believe that creating a strong brand is essential for the growth of a company. Furthermore, according to Forbes, consistent branding efforts help raise the revenue of a business by a whopping 23 percent!

One thing is for sure- branding is a must for the success of your business. While generally, marketers tend to focus on the benefits of brand awareness and recognition in revenue generation, there is another critical benefit branding provides. It helps in boosting your online presence!

What is SEO, and why it matters?

Before we delve into how branding can help SEO and vice versa, it is vital to understand why SEO matters to begin with.

Well, it is because in today’s online world, getting your target audience to visit your website is not easy. A few statistics will help you in gaining a perspective.

• According to Internet Live Stats, over 75000 searches are done on Google per second

• Advanced Web Ranking found out that over 67 percent of clicks go to the first five organic search results

• Ahref’s study discovered that over 91 percent of content online does not get the organic reach it needs

SEO helps in gaining a high organic search engine ranking. It uses various techniques and methods to boost your ranking and thereby increase the chances of people visiting your website. Remember, only when people visit your site then only you can actually leave an impact on them and convert them into customers.

How does branding help?

Considering Google is quite vague about its ranking algorithm, it is hard to achieve success in SEO if you focus on short term goals like achieving a high rank.

SEO without a purpose won’t help you in gaining a high ranking. This is only so much you can gain by creating backlinks and including high ranking keywords in your content. You must also take steps to build an authentic and trustworthy online brand.

According to different studies and SEO service experts, Google, along with other search engines, tends to encourage websites that feature a strong brand presence. Such sites can get a better ranking despite having fewer backlinks!

This is why branding and SEO must go hand in hand. Creating an SEO branding strategy can help you genuinely leverage the online world.

How to increase branded traffic

Here is how you can combine SEO tactics with branding efforts to reap optimum conversion rates and brand awareness.

1. Identify and use branded keywords

Apart from high ranking generic keywords pertaining to your category, you must also find and include branded keywords in your online presence.

What is a branded keyword?

A branded search is a query that includes the name of your brand. By adding these keywords into your content, you target users who are already aware of your brand, thanks to your branding efforts. These users have a higher chance of purchasing from your business than other people.

The more branded searches are done regarding your business, the higher you will rank organically. Now, there are different variations of the branded keyword that you must cater to. Some users might be looking for reviews about your brand, while others would be comparing your business with other similar options.

Make sure your content is optimized for all such branded searches. This ensures that users get information about your brand from you.

2. Use local SEO

Did you know that over 46 percent of search queries on Google use local keywords? Any user with a high commercial intent will then go to Google to find whether your brand is near them or not. If you are a local brand, it is essential to leverage this consumer behavior by implementing local SEO.

Focus on geo-targeting. Optimize all local business listings present on Google to ensure that you can drive traffic to your site from Google directories and Maps. Conduct link building with a special focus on getting links from other websites that are present within your local area.

Each of these tactics will allow you to optimize your website for local SEO. If you are a known brand locally, you will automatically be able to reach users that are already convinced of your branding efforts.

3. Build your authority

A great way to increase branded traffic to your business is by focusing on building an online brand. A lot of times, marketers tend to focus on abstract branding methods. This includes creating a logo, a tagline, and positioning. While these methods are critical to the success of a brand, branding merely begins with such techniques.

The next step is to build a robust and credible image online. As you do so, your ranking will automatically improve. You can use optimized content to build your brand and its authority.

It is essential to publish content that would matter to your target audience and the industry. This helps in reinstating your position in the sector as being an expert and trustworthy brand. It also helps in boosting your brand awareness and reaching a wider audience than before.

So, when it comes to publishing content, look beyond your website. Contribute to the online world by demonstrating your expertise via Guest posts on authority websites. The better the sites are, the more credible you will seem.

Not to mention that this is an excellent way to leverage the credibility and following of other established websites to boost your brand’s ranking!

Verdict

The objective of increasing branded traffic is simple- ensuring that your online and offline branding efforts don’t go in vain. By appearing in a top position for the right branded keywords and by establishing your image as a credible source of information, you can help increase the right traffic to your website.

Now that you are aware of the connection between SEO and branding, you are more than ready to outstrip your competition and emerge as the best brand within your category, both online and offline!

Do you think there are other ways you can boost branded traffic to your site? Let us know.

Author Bio:

About Ashley Rosa: Ashley Rosa is a freelance writer and blogger. As writing is her passion that why she loves to write articles related to the latest trends in technology and sometimes on health-tech as well. She is crazy about chocolates. You can find her at twitter: @ashrosa2.

Digital Branding

SEO Trends You Should Watch Out For in 2020

Steven on February 12, 2020

With the end of the decade, Google had introduced a completely new algorithm, which started certain trends for the coming year. Keeping an eye on these trends will help any and every website owner to improve the ranking and stay ahead of their competition, without observing any drop in ranking. 2019 saw important changes like mobile-first optimization because most of the internet users started using mobile devices along with Google Assistant, Siri, and Alexa. Few trends will remain important this year while some others might not be as significant. Let us consider the ones that are listed below.

Voice search

With the rise of virtual assistants, voice search has also started rising. This is going to be one of the biggest trends of 2020 and this is also going to affect search engine optimization greatly. You might be asking how, and here are the answers.

Voice search is different from the text and they are extremely conversational. Apart from that, search queries are longer, which means that the websites are targeting long-tail keywords.
When voice searches are being targeted, keywords have to be replaced with phrases, which make the work easier for Google. Users will also be able to find whatever they want easily.

Local search

According to https://www.inc.com, if you are not using due diligence for local SEO, you will start losing out in front of competitors. According to several studies, 9 out of every 10 searches are normally for products and services that are present nearby. 50% of the searches are going to result in actions to visit physical locations or place an order. This is not going to die in 2020. Rather, it is going to become even more popular.

The success of a local search is possible because of using mobile devices, which will help you to easily locate a coffee shop that is present near you.
Local search is also drawn by reviews, which are associated with products and places. You will be able to view recommendations from the reviewers before you are going to any business.

To get more information on this, call the professionals of New York SEO organizations.

Search intent and keyword content

Google released an important algorithm in the previous decade, which provided more priority to search intent. This is going to become one of the biggest trends this year because SEO experts are constantly discovering new ways of optimizing keyword context and search intent.

For several websites, it is visible that searchers are searching for at least three kinds of results.
When content is being created, the three categories are going to determine the structuring of the content and how they are going to be used. Search intent is going to carve out important trends in the manner in which the keywords will be used.

Structured data

This is going to be one of the most popular SEO trends of 2020.

It is no more a secret that Google loves structured data and any website owner would like to gain that position. Structured data include snippets and frequently asked questions.

Conclusion

It is important to understand all the SEO trends of 2020. This is going to help businesses to outrank their competitors and gain success without struggles.

Legal Branding Local Branding Personal Branding

Money-Saving Tips When Starting a Warehouse Business

Steven on February 12, 2020

No matter how enthusiastic and hard-working you are, starting your own business is never an easy feat. There is much more than just coming up with an idea one day and opening your store/office/startup the next. Starting your own warehouse rental business from scratch means that you will have to think about a million seemingly irrelevant things but also that you will have to invest a significant amount of money. If you would like to become an entrepreneur and a warehouse business owner, here is what you can do to make sure you don’t break the bank in the process.

Try to optimize space

In the warehousing business, land cost happens to be one of the largest contributors. Your main goal should be to optimize all your warehouse functions in order to utilize the space to the fullest, but also to ensure maximum efficiency. This means that you have to double-check to make sure that the cost per pallet stored is optimal. If your warehouses have high ceilings, make sure you bring plenty of sturdy shelves and racks too. As for isle space, ensure that the equipment you use is right: for example, hydrostatically powered forklift trucks would do wonders for such narrow spaces. You can even find great used forklift trucks at MLA Holdings and get the best machine for a fraction of the cost. Remember that not all of your equipment has to be brand new to get the best results.

Safety should be your priority

Sadly, every year people lose billions of dollars in warehouses, whether it happens because of a mistake in placement, theft, or plain old stock damage. If you want to stop this from happening, you should invest in proper packaging from your items first, a state-of-the-art alarm system as well, but also ensure that you have good storage procedures, which will then help eliminate any unintentional damage. All your employees should go through extensive training as well. At the doors, you should have security guards, and there should also be guards for employees and as well as visitors who are entering and leaving the warehouse. This might seem like a huge investment at first, but you will be protecting your property and your inventory this way.

Mind the electricity bills

Heating and lighting use the most energy in any warehouse, which is why it’s up to you to try to find a way to save money and energy while still keeping your warehouse well-lit and warm. You should try focusing on long-term energy saving, so by spending a bit more in the beginning, you will ensure that your bills don’t go through the roof in the future. It’s imperative to turn off your lighting and equipment when you don’t use them, so it’s not a bad idea to get occupancy sensors and timers. Also, when you don’t use your office equipment and computers, they should be turned off as well. Energy-efficient lighting is also a great idea, as LEDs will give you a much better value for your money. Not only that but they are also more efficient and such bulbs last longer too.

Don’t shy away from new technology

In the UK, almost half of SMBs (small and medium-sized businesses) either use manual methods to track their inventory or don’t track it at all. As a result, they are falling behind not only their competition but the time too. A good Warehouse Management System (WMS) will save you a lot of time and effort because there will be fewer manual errors, and you will have a better insight into your stock levels. Do a bit of research first to find out exactly what WMS would work best for your storage – you don’t want to spend a fortune on one only to discover that it’s suitable for another kind of warehouse business.

Infographic created by WSI, a 3pl distribution company

Utilize cross-docking

Cross-docking is removing the middleman by transferring the product from the supplier directly to the customer. This will also reduce your costs across several different points: you will spend less time and money on storage, product management, delivery, and labor, and you will also get a better grip on on-demand desire and trend with customers. With so many different types of products on the market, there are also different forms of cross-docking, and you will have to find the one suited for you. The main aim is to ship out the inventory exactly how it was received, and not have to make any changes whatsoever. To make sure the process is seamless, you will definitely need a first-class WMS.

Lower labor costs

A huge chunk of pretty much any warehouse operating budget is labor. You will need people to work in your warehouse, and that will cost money. You don’t want to start paying people less, but you also don’t want idle workers either, so you have to come up with a good solution. Try reducing their dwell time in the warehouse first, as it will significantly improve your overall profits. Also, do whatever you can to retain your employees for as long as possible. Training inexperienced workers cost money as well as time, and keeping experienced employees is a much better option. Do whatever you can to keep people close: offering cross-training is a good idea, as is providing continual training seminars whenever new procedures are implemented will improve productivity.

In order to start your own warehouse business, of course, you will have to invest a certain amount of money, but it doesn’t mean that you aren’t allowed to try to save some in the process too. You should do the math carefully and try to come up with new ways to save money without compromising your budding business in the process. After all, you have to know which areas of warehouse business need hefty investments and which ones can work with less.

About the author

Ron Wolf is a hobby designer and a DIY enthusiast, and, above all, a very blessed father of two. Besides that, he has a strong passion for writing. He is a featured blogger at various blogs and magazines in which he shared his research and experience with the vast online community. If he is not working he enjoys being outside with his family. Hiking, bike riding, and BBQing are always a thing for him. In the evening, he likes to watch documentaries or build something with kids in their lego corner.