What is SSL & Why Your Site Needs it!

You wouldn’t want hackers gaining access to personal information or business data, which is exactly why you should buy a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificate today.

Leaving everything to chance is never a good idea. Businesses often overlook security concerns, but you shouldn’t. Keep reading to find out exactly what SSL is and why your site needs it.

What is an SSL certificate?

Have you ever visited a website, only to be treated to a security alert claiming that the website is not secure? Maybe you even saw the big red cross sign right next to the URL.

Websites without an SSL certificate will show up as HTTP, while websites with an SSL protocol in place show up as HTTPS. This ‘s’ makes all the difference. The padlock icon tells you that the website is secured, while the big red cross warns you about potential safety issues.

This security protocol provides you with a secondary authentication as information between the web server and the web browser is secured.

Since 2017, Google started flagging websites that were not secured by SSL, meaning that users would instantly know that the website in question may be prone to cyber attacks.

 

 

Why Do I Need One?

You may be looking at digital certificates as yet another cost. What are the chances that out of all the websites on the Internet, yours will be the one hackers will target?

That’s one way to look at it. What if we told you that SSL certificates have a direct effect on search engine ranking?

Google strives to provide users with the best user experience possible. Making sure that users know that their information is safe makes for a better user experience.

HTTPS is, therefore, seen as an SEO ranking factor. Google gives preferential treatment to websites that can establish a secure connection and keep their users safe.

It’s not just a matter of security, then. This is exactly why the SSL protocol has become an industry standard. There is no reason not to use one. Converting from HTTP to HTTPS might take some time, but it doesn’t have to be that hard. You’ll need to:

 

• Purchase an SSL certificate. There are hundreds of SSL certificate providers out there. We’re not going to list all of them here but know that cheap certificates often come with a lower certification authority.
• Get the certificate installed. The hosting company may be able to do this for you, otherwise hire a professional to install it for you and make sure everything works properly.
• Remember to update all the necessary pages. Identify all the pages where sensitive information is submitted. You don’t have to target a page if it doesn’t hold sensitive information (in fact, doing so may slow your website down).
• If you’re using Google Analytics or similar page tracking tools, make sure that you probably update the URLs of the now secured pages.

 

Make a Name for Yourself

A secure website screams professionalism. In some cases, an SSL or TLS protocol is necessary to do business (e.g. if you’re running an e-commerce website).

Even if you’re not, you could still benefit from establishing your website as safe and secure. No one wants to browse a website if Google says that it’s not safe.

A few years ago, no one really knew anything about SSL certificates. The increase in awareness should be attributed to Google. Today, many of us recognise the need for heightened security. You can show users and customers that you value security by installing your SSL certificate today.

If done correctly, you could have your secured website up and running in less than two days.

One Protocol to Rule Them All

Contrary to popular belief, HTTPS websites load much faster than HTTP sites. Improving page speed is crucial to ranking higher in Google.

The HTTP vs HTTPS website puts encrypted website protocols to the test. During each test, 360 unique, non-cached images are loaded. Depending on the browser and connection, the difference in speed can be tremendous.

The margin between HTTP and HTTPS is slight, but the new HTTP/2 protocol makes all the difference. When people talk about HTTPS, they’re basically referring to the new HTTP/2 protocol that was introduced in 2015.

As of June 2019, more than 35% of the top 10 million websites supported HTTP/2.

More than 50% of all desktop page loads are HTTPS connections, but less than 1% of all websites are actually secure. What can we make of this? Well, firstly, we can safely assume that the Internet is huge, and secondly, that users really don’t like visiting unsafe websites.

It should have become evident by now that a secure SSL connection will bring more traffic to your website. You wouldn’t buy anything off a website with a big red cross and a ‘Not Secure’ sign next to it so why would the average user behave any differently?

SEO Okay

One of the arguments used against switching to SSL has to do with SEO. Website migration can cause crashes, increase the number of uncrawled pages, and even result in penalisation due to content duplication (when both copies of the site exist at the same time).

After installing your SSL certificate, you need to add 301 redirects to redirect HTTP requests to HTTPS. This will basically ensure that users are redirected to the secure version of your website, even when they type in its HTTP version. This requires some coding experience so we recommend you just ask for professional help.

You also need to check for any non-HTTPS links that may still be present on your pages. You can do so by navigating to your website’s pages, looking for any HTTPS pages that may be flagged as ‘Not Secure’ by Google.

Once you’ve identified your flagged HTTPS pages, use Chrome’s developer tools to find the affected links. Just right-click anywhere on the page and select inspect. Click on the console tab and look for any highlighted errors. While you’re at it, check for any broken links to improve user experience and rank higher!

As business owners, it’s our duty to ensure that all sensitive information is stored securely. Contrary to popular belief, proper implementation of SSL certificates does not hurt SEO. In fact, HTTPS websites tend to rank much higher in Google.

Implementation of HTTP is easier when done through a website builder. Check out our Beginner’s Guide to the Best Free Website Builders of 2019 now!

Article first published here: What is SSL & Why Your Site Needs it!

5 Best Practices for Facebook Ads

Advertising on Facebook has never been easy. Due to recent changes to Facebook’s algorithm, reaching your target audience is more difficult than ever. To help you set up effective Facebook ads, we’ve compiled a list of the 5 best Facebook advertising practices.

 

 

Know Your Marketing Objective

When creating a new ad campaign on Facebook, you’ll be asked to clearly state your marketing objective. This is an extremely crucial step that you shouldn’t ever overlook. It really can make or break your Facebook ad campaign.

Facebook advertising is not just about likes and clicks anymore. Facebook can help run different marketing campaigns based on your brand’s goals and needs.

Is your target audience in the awareness stage of the digital marketing funnel or are they ready to convert? Perhaps you’re just building on your brand identity. Here’s how Facebook can help:

Awareness

This stage is all about producing content that will spark your audience’s interest. Maybe this is the first ad campaign that you run or perhaps you’re on a quest to increase brand awareness.

 

 

• Brand Awareness. Choosing this option lets Facebook know that you want to reach people that are more likely to be interested in your products or services.

• Reach. The reach option will offer maximum exposure by showing your ad to as many people as possible.

 

Consideration

This stage begins once you’ve grabbed your audience’s attention and must now position your products or services in a way that highlights their key benefits. People are aware of your brand, but now you need to convince them that you are indeed their best choice.

 

 

• Traffic. Choose this option if you want to consistently drive more traffic to your website.

• Engagement. Arguably what Facebook ads do best: Getting people to see and engage with your post or Facebook page.

• App Installs. Creates ads that aim to send more people to the App or Play store to download your app.

• Video ads and views. Aims to increase video views and promote your brand through video ads and video marketing.

• Lead Generation. Helps collect information on leads and prospects so that you can better monitor your marketing campaign to target the right people.

• Messages. Advertise your customer support services to generate leads, drive transactions and answer questions.

 

 

Conversion

Conversion lies at the end of the funnel and is where the magic happens. You’ve convinced your audience of your product’s value, but now you need to make sure that they actually convert.

 

 

• Conversions. Conversion ads aim to drive more traffic to specific purchase pages on your app or website.

• Catalogue Sales. Showcase your products with ads designed to specifically target interested audiences.

• Store Traffic. Choose this option to promote your store to people who are nearby.

 

 

We know it sounds like a lot, but if you want your ad campaign to succeed, you need to explore your targeting options and pick the one that best aligns with your current marketing strategy.

 

Utilise Placement Optimisation

This one’s tricky. It would make sense to think that a broader placement option would offer better results, but that’s not always the case.

Facebook recommends that you activate all placements when running campaigns. This effectively means that Facebook users will be seeing your ads on their News Feed, Instagram feed, stories, and yes even on Messenger.

 

While it’s true that providing Facebook with more ad placement options may help with your marketing efforts, things aren’t always that simple. If you’re focusing on engagement, for example, it may be more cost-effective to skip showing ads on Messenger altogether.

Customising and utilising the Placement Optimisation functions will give you more marketing freedom.

Consider Campaign Budget Optimisation

This one’s a bit controversial. Again, Facebook asks permission to manage your budget for you, promising to find the best opportunities for your objective across your ad sets and prioritise budgets accordingly.

All you have to do it set the minimum and maximum amounts that you’d like to spend on a specific campaign and you’re good to go. Well, we wish that was the case.

As marketers, we can’t help but look at such automated procedures with a bit of suspicion. With new policy changes that will take effect in less than four months, Facebook will essentially be stripping marketers off the little budget control that they currently have.

Being able to only adjust the minimum and maximum spend limits may work for most business, but the truth will be in the results.

Optimise for Mobile

Don’t know if you’ve noticed, but mobile phones are pretty big these days (pun intended). According to statista, expected mobile traffic for 2019 will account for approximately 63.4% of all traffic. Keep this in mind when creating new Facebook ad campaigns.

User experience can vary greatly from device to device, which is why you should always make sure everything shows as it should across all platforms and devices.

 

• Make sure that the ad format is consistent.
• Your ad copy should be short and to the point, making it easier for mobile users to read and navigate through it on their small screens.
• Consider eye-catching visuals when designing banners to capture the user’s attention. Social media are heavy on the visual side of things.
• Include a clear call to action button to guide users to your store or landing page.

 

Your ads should look great on mobile, but remember to optimise your website and landing pages as well. Improve user experience to drive more traffic to your website and increase conversions.

Realise the Potential of Broad Targeting

Marketers have avoided broad targeting in the past. We’re taught to be very specific with our targeting to generate leads and increase conversions.

It may be a good idea to switch things up a bit every once in a while and actually let Facebook do its own thing. When you’re targeting a specific audience over and over again, you’re battling with other advertisers that are also targeting the same audiences.

What if you could generate leads from a multitude of audiences? Specific targeting can drive up costs pretty quickly and may not carry significant results if the competition is so fierce.

Alternating between broad and specific targeting when you run ad campaigns on Facebook can reduce costs and help you identify your brand’s own unique custom audience. Switch things up and keep your options open!

These were our 5 best practices for Facebook ads. Next up: Facebook video ads. Our beginner’s guide to Facebook video ads covers everything you need to know about video advertising on Facebook. Check it out here!

Article first published here: 5 Best Practices for Facebook Ads

SOCIAL MEDIA IMAGES – FREE TOOLS TO USE

Each and every day, hundreds of millions of images are posted across social media platforms.

And from these hundreds of millions of images, just a small fraction grab the attention of social media users.

What is it that makes these images stand out?

With the majority of images being boring, unappealing or low-quality, those that aren’t have more of an impact.

If you are using social media as a marketing tool for your business or brand, the last thing you want is people thinking your imagery is unprofessional.

Today we are going to look at some awesome free tools you can use to create stunning social media images… for free.

So if you’re ready to begin, let’s get on with it.

Canva

Canva is perfect for both beginners and experienced designers. This online tool makes creating stunning social media images as easy as 1 2 3!

One of the best things is that everything is done from within your browser. No need to download any software at all.

While Canva does have a premium account, the free account is just as good!

The only difference between the two is that with the free account you have to resize your images manually for use on different platforms.

Canva literally has thousands of ready-made templates for you to use.

These templates can be customized with your business or brand colours and logo.

Upload your photos and to drag-and-drop for automatic placement and resizing to fit the template.

From social media images to infographics, everything you need to create professional-looking content can be found here.

Top Tip: the majority of elements and photos provided by Canva are premium. Meaning you have to pay for them, even when you have a pro account.

Simply head over to Pixabay to find and download the vector graphics, photos and PNG’s that you need. Then upload them on Canva! Free means free.

Creative Market

Creative Market is pretty much the same as Canva. This site has a huge collection of ready-to-use templates created by thousands of different creators.

Everything from mock-ups, photos, website themes, fonts and graphics can be found here.

Need a new theme for WordPress? Find it here! Looking for a professional social photo template? You got it!

The great thing about Creative Market is that all of the elements are created by design professionals.

Think of it as a giant online portfolio showcasing the amazing work created by industry experts… free for you to use.

Every week, you can download up to 6 free templates or packs. These packs can help you create fantastic photos for social media.

Find your perfect font template, grab an awesome frame template, download Patterns, graphics, and clipart and start building your own collection.

BeFunky

Another Canva-esque type of online social media image editing tool, BeFunky is a noobies dream!

You don’t need to know how Photoshop works. And if you haven’t got an eye for placement, not a problem… Be Funky has it for you.

Pretty much everything is automated, and the style can be switched up at the click of a button.

Looking to make the colours pop? Easy as pie! Want to create a collage but don’t know how to arrange it? Everything is pretty much automated.

And just like Canva, Be Funky is an online image editing tool that doesn’t need to be downloaded to your computer.

On the free plan, you have access to 125 free digital effects… more than enough to get started with.

The entire creative process is done in your browser, meaning the only thing you need to download is the finished image you created.

Finding Free Stock Images to Use

If you don’t already have your own HD images to use when creating social media images for your business or brand, you can use stock photos.

While many stock photo websites don’t let you download images for free without a watermark oh, there are a couple to use that are amazing!

But we have got you covered as always!

Here are a few 100% free stock photo websites you can download images from to use online.

Pixabay

Pixabay is the go to stock image website for designers around the world.

Everything from high resolution photos to video and vector graphics can be found here.

The site comes fully loaded with just about everything you could need for building social media marketing photos.

The best part is that every photo on Pixabay is 100% free.

Once you have found what you are looking for, simply download it to a folder on your computer.

It can then be uploaded and edited on one of the above photo editing tools to create awesome social media images.

Unsplash

When it comes to free stock photo websites, Unsplash is the undisputed king of them all!

Millions of professional, high-quality images can be found here. Everything is user-submitted and free to use without attribution.

You are free to download, modify, edit and use any way that you want to!

The thing that makes Unsplash truly shine is the quality of the images available to download.

These are not only comparable to paid stock photos. For the most part, they are superior!

If you need HD stock photos for free that scream professionalism… this should be your first port of call.

Free Photoshop Alternative

If you prefer to manually create your social media marketing images but don’t have or can’t afford Photoshop, Pixlr is worth a visit.

This browser-based image editing software comes with all of the features of Photoshop without the price tag.

There is no need to register. No software to download and install on your computer. And no plugins to import.

It is a fantastic free Photoshop alternative that lets you create and design online.

You can also create images using one of the many built-in templates, speeding up the entire process.

Once you have finished and are happy with the end result, you can download your file as transparent PNG, JPEG, PDF and more.

The only thing you will ever need to download with Pixlr is your finished photo!

Super fast online image editing that is not laggy or full of annoying ads. Perfect!

Final Thoughts

See. You really don’t need to pay to create professional social media images and infographics.

In the past, you needed a degree in design to be able to use the software that was available. Today you don’t really need any knowledge at all!

When it comes to downloading and using free stock photos, choose your images wisely.

Remember, a million others will be using the same photos so try to make them stand out in a unique and fresh way.

Don’t be afraid to edit them to switch up the colours, blur backgrounds, and add elements into them.

Being creative is fun, so enjoy the process!

If you want to know when the best time to post on social media for maximum impact is, check out our recent blog.

Article first published here: SOCIAL MEDIA IMAGES – FREE TOOLS TO USE

The Best SEO Tactics to Use in 2019

Digital marketing and search engine optimisation tactics change all the time. If you want to rank on top, then you’ll need to familiarise yourself with all the recent trends and popular SEO tactics.

Achieving high rankings is not as easy as it used to be, but it doesn’t have to be difficult either. Keep reading to find out how to drive organic traffic to your website in 2019.

Keywords Make the World Go Round

You probably know this already, but ranking without making proper use of keywords is nearly impossible. There are hundreds of free tools that can help you with that, but here are the ten best that we love and use all the time.

Finding the keywords is only the first step. To create engaging content that will rank high you need to know your audience and write for them. Keywords are great but they mean nothing if you don’t know what your target audience is searching for.

Think of questions that your target audience might ask. Then answer them in small chunks. By breaking up content into smaller, more manageable chunks, you increase your chances of taking the highly sought-after featured snippet spot.

 

 

Better User Experience

Google is sworn to provide users with the best user experience possible as they strive to meet the user’s intent with every query. Google does this better than any other search engine in the world.

More time spent on a website and a reduced bounce rate are good indicators of user satisfaction. Google rewards sites that have low bounce rates with higher page ranking.

That all sounds great, but how do you actually improve user experience?

 

Work on Your Writing

Everything you write needs to serve a specific purpose. Fill the page with promises, or just write about your favourite ice cream. Whatever you do, make sure that you always optimise for readability.

You want to engage people and captivate your audience with interesting blog post titles and exciting content. The better the content, the more time users will spend browsing through your pages.

Of course, it’s not just about the content itself. Formatting also plays a crucial role and you should aim to get it right. Generally, you want to keep paragraphs nice and short, while consciously alternating the length of sentences. Content that flows better reads better, simple as that.

The truth is that people don’t really read content, they scan through it. The average person spends just 37 seconds reading content online. Make it easier for readers to scan through your website by formatting properly: headings, sub-headings, bullet points, and images; anything that pleases the eye!

Don’t forget that you’re a marketer. Unless you’re running a charity, we suppose that your goal is to maximise sales. Your marketing strategy may be spot on, but the copy on your web page needs to be perfect too. That means no spelling errors, no grammar mistakes.

You want to engage people and captivate your audience with interesting blog post titles and exciting content. The better the content, the more time users will spend browsing through your website.

Work on Page Design & Speed

Good page design improves user experience. The most important things are big and pop out whereas the rest sit quietly in the background. Anything that’s not necessary or is cluttering the user’s screen needs to go.

Analysis of data from thousands of website shows that users are more likely to convert on a website when all the required information is clearly visible. Your products and services should be accessible at all times, preferably never more than two clicks away.

Your landing page should be designed to impress. Think beautiful navigation bars and captivating visuals. Focus on one single idea and stick to it throughout. Will the page promote your brand as a whole, or will it be used as a means of promoting a new product or service?

Needless to say, your page needs to run fast too. No one will wait 30 seconds for your super-slow website to load. You have 2 seconds, if that. An online tool, such as PageSpeed Insights can identify underlying speed issues and come up with suggestions to improve speed.

It’s usually just a matter of minifying unnecessary code and compressing large images. You should also enable browser caching to make sure regular users don’t have to wait more than a few seconds for your page to load.

Optimise for Voice Search

Did you know that 40% of adults use voice search at least once per day? Voice search is fast and convenient, and its success is a testament to our laziness. Jokes aside, voice search matters because it largely affects SEO.

The big giants designed voice search assistants that reply to our queries like a friend would. As a result, voice searches directed to them are often longer and much more conversational than regular searches.

This is why you need to make sure you use natural-sounding language when producing content. It’s also a good idea to form queries into question phrases and target long-tail keywords.

Most voice searches are carried out on mobile devices. Effectively, this means that your website needs to be optimised for mobile.

Voice-based searches performed using a mobile phone are 3 times more likely to be location specific, which is exactly why so many SEO strategies today focus on local SEO.

Size Does Matter

Gone are the days when you could rank number one with a 400-word blog post. Studies show that size does matter as long-form content tends to rank higher on the SERPS.

We know what you’re thinking. You may not have the time to write 2,500-word articles, but the stats don’t lie. That is not to say that you absolutely cannot rank with shorter blog posts.

Yes, statistically longer-form content tends to rank higher on Google, but at the end of the day, rankings still reflect the satisfaction of user intent. It all depends.

For example, if you’re writing a quick start Google Analytics guide, you’d want a post that’s at least 1,500 words. An in-depth guide would have to be at least 2,500 words long.

More specific ‘how to’ queries may be easily answered within a few hundred words, which is probably exactly what the user’s looking for anyway.

Link building

Once upon a time, backlinks ruled the SEO world. Even today, they are still the number one ranking factor according to Google. It’s actually extremely hard to rank high without a proper link building strategy in place.

Keep in mind that not all links are good links. You should avoid linking to websites with low ratings as that can affect your own ratings too. If you really want to link to a questionable source (maybe you’re trying to prove a point), you can use a no-follow link with your anchor text.

The real challenge, however, is getting high-quality sources to link to your content. Focus on filling the gaps, offering new and original content. Think fresh and stay unique.

Technical SEO

You may get everything right and still struggle to rank high on the search results. If you’ve tried it all but your website still ranks low, then you can probably blame it on bad technical optimisation.

Technical SEO optimisation takes time and effort (which is why we always recommend that you leave it to professionals), but there are some things you can do right now to improve your ranking:

 

• Switch from the old HTTP web protocol to HTTPS. Google warns users when they attempt to enter a website that doesn’t make use of an encrypted connection.
• Implement AMP for mobile. Accelerated Mobile Pages takes care of HTML tags, javascript and caches, allowing publishers to create responsive and mobile-optimised content.
• Correct your semantic markups. Key information on your website should be clearly visible with proper HTML tags.
• Fix 404 errors. Tools like Monitor Backlinks can help you detect and redirect dead links. There’s nothing more frustrating than landing on an error page, that much we can tell you!

 

Are you ready to put these tactics to the test and take the SEO world by storm? Head over to our blog for more awesome SEO tips and tricks that will help you rank today!

 

Article first published here: The Best SEO Tactics to Use in 2019

10 Best Content Marketing Tools of 2019

Want to keep your audience interested and engaged? Content creation helps you better connect with people and generate leads as a result. A content marketing strategy can help you build an active following and increase sales over time.

Getting started with content marketing can be a challenge, but you shouldn’t worry. There are hundreds of online tools that can help you get organised and come up with amazing content ideas. Here is our list of the 10 best content marketing tools of 2019.

 

 

SEMRush

SEMRush really is an all-in-one marketing toolkit. It’s one of the most popular marketing tools on the market, and for a good reason.

Its main strength lies in its ability to quickly identify high-ranking keywords and keywords that your competitors are ranking for. If it has to do with keywords, then SEMRush can do it (probably better than anyone else).

Use SEMRush to pull ahead of your competition by identifying high ranking keywords that will drive more traffic to your website. You can also use SEMRush to perform backlink analysis of your own or your competitors’ backlinks.

BuzzSumo

You shouldn’t concentrate all your content marketing efforts on finding new content. If you don’t know what’s currently trending in your industry or want to know more about what your competitors are doing, then you should definitely check out BuzzSumo.

BuzzSumo is the perfect tool for analysing topics and finding influencers to promote and market your brand.

You can track your competitors’ content and even compare their results using the built-in tool. The software also comes with its own keyword research tool, which can display a list of top-performing content for a specific keyword. Use BuzzSumo to plan ahead and create high-quality content.

Evernote

You’ve probably heard of Evernote before. Evernote is all about planning. If you’re looking for a tool that can help you and your marketing team stay organised, then look no further.

Evernote is accessible and convenient. It’s extremely easy to use on desktop and the app runs well too. There’s nothing groundbreaking about the notion of note-taking, but Evernote takes it all to a whole new level.

Evernote works great as an editorial calendar. You have access to your notes even when offline and can easily annotate images and sync notes across your devices.

Kred

Organising your ideas and writing great blog posts is one thing, but getting people to read and engage with your content is a whole different challenge.

What do you know about your online influence? Kred can enhance your online presence by analysing your Facebook and Twitter activity. It then helps you connect with those influencers that can effectively market and promote your products or services.

Trello

Trello is the ultimate collaboration tool. Content marketing is a combined effort and Trello is one of the best online tools when it comes to organising teams.

With Trello, you spend less time going through things and more time working. The card system is intuitive and easy to use. You can set up new boards thematically and create cards that clearly outline the tasks at hand.

Tweriod

If you have an online presence, then there’s a high chance that you use Twitter to market your content. To create leads, you need to make sure you tweet and share when your audience is actually online.

Tweriod is all about timing. It will analyse your tweets and tweets that you’ve been mentioned in and will provide you with useful charts that will tell you more about the best times to post and share on the platform.

With such valuable information available to you, it will be easier to get people to engage with your content.

Canva

Social media posts are dominated by beautiful imagery. The reality is that any type of content that’s posted online can benefit from a beautifully designed social photo or infographic.

Photoshop does it all and works great for professionals, but we don’t all have a degree in graphic design. Imagine if there was a way to create amazing designs without having to spend thousands of dollars.

Enter Canva. This neat online tool comes with thousands of pre-built free templates that you can use to create engaging content that will definitely create a buzz. A number of different layout makes it extremely easy to create perfectly sized designs.

After choosing a template or background, you can start working on decorating your photo with some eye-catching elements and popping text. The easy drag and drop function can help you create beautiful designs within minutes!

Premium membership will grant access to most templates and elements, but keep in mind that you may need to buy specific assets separately.

MailChimp

We can’t talk about content marketing tools and not mention MailChimp. Email marketing is old business, but still incredibly important to your online marketing strategy. MailChimp can help you manage it all, across several devices.

MailChimp comes with countless features, but its list and metrics functions stand out as the best. You can create lists of subscribers that are actively engaging with your content so that you can directly target them with future content.

You also have access to multiple metrics, such as average open and click rate. Information about the number of people who have subscribed or unsubscribed to your newsletter is also readily available on your profile page.

MashShare

For your content to do well, it needs to be shared on social media. Setting up social share buttons is a fail-proof way to drive more traffic to your website and increase engagement.

The MashShare plugin creates buttons that look good and work well. MashShare also comes with a ‘select and share’ feature that allows users to share any text that they highlight on your website.

Grammarly

Good content should be free of spelling errors and grammar mistakes. You may be confident in your writing, but it’s always good to have a second pair of eyes on you.

Traditional spell checkers don’t take context into account but Grammarly does. All you have to do to receive feedback on your writing is paste your text onto the platform. Filters make it easier to set different goals and receive different recommendations based on your selected industry and target audience.

Now that you know all about the best content marketing tools in 2019, you may also want to give our 2019 guide for the best keywords tools a read too

Article first published here: 10 Best Content Marketing Tools of 2019

THE BEST SEO PACKAGE FOR A SMALL BUSINESS

Digital marketing is no easy business. With millions of brands and websites battling it out every day, it’s easy to see why a small business might struggle to stand out. When it comes to SEO packages, you should only settle for the best.

To ensure maximum traffic and sales, your new website needs to be properly designed and optimised. Your online presence is crucial to success. As a small business owner, you also need to invest in a search engine optimisation package that will have an impact.

Managing it all by yourself can be time-consuming. The best seo packages are adaptable and place particular focus on constant optimisation.

SEO Today

A long time ago, in a digital marketing universe far, far away, SEO was pretty straightforward. One only had to decide on a few keywords to produce short-form content, repeating those few keywords throughout the content. Back then it was even possible to reach number one in less than 12 months.

Constant changes to Google’s algorithm have complicated things. There is certainly more to SEO than just picking the right keywords.

To rank high in 2019, you need to be able to understand what your audience needs and adjust everything with their intent in mind. Google cares about great user experience and you should too.

When deciding on an SEO package, you need to make sure that your digital marketing agency can help you build a website that:

 

• Is both SEO optimised and largely free of technical SEO errors.
• Focuses on great user experience.
• Comes with captivating and engaging content.

 

Your SEO package needs to also promote your brand and make sure that you’re always ahead of the hundreds of changes made to Google’s algorithm every year. It needs to come with a clear content marketing strategy and always be flexible and tailored to your individual needs.

Proper optimisation is a time-consuming process. But you have to keep at it, if your goal is to reach the first page of Google.

When planning for the long term, you should only settle for the best.

Here at Talk, we work closely with our clients to build long-lasting relationships. We tailor our packages based on your needs, making sure that every last web page is optimised and is driving traffic.

SEO services

We want you to keep evolving and growing your business. Our goal is to provide you with SEO services that will bring consistent results.

Identifying the underlying issues is the first step to success. Did you know that our marketing strategists can conduct a digital audit for free?

Custom SEO strategy

To succeed in the ruthless world of digital marketing, you need to have a clear and outlined SEO strategy in place. Our SEO specialists will guide you through this rather strenuous planning process, identifying key areas of improvement along the way.

Working from three offices, spread across four continents, TALK team members are experts in their chosen fields. We have the experience, and we know we can help take your small business to the next level.

Technical SEO

It’s no secret that Google gives preferential treatment to websites that display certain technical characteristics. Our technical SEO experts will ensure that all technical aspects of your website are taken care of. Your website will run better and load faster, ranking higher on Google as a result.

Keyword Research

Google’s algorithm may be constantly changing, but some things do not. One of those things is proper keyword research. Keywords are the backbone of any successful SEO campaign. Identifying and targeting ideal keywords will help you rank higher and faster.

We perform competitor analysis to ensure you’re not missing out on any valuable keywords. By analysing your competitors’ strategy, we can help you come up with a better, more effective strategy that will outperform your competition.

Content SEO

Once we’ve identified and produced a list of ideal keywords, we’ll provide you with quality content that will drive more organic traffic to your website. Our team of expert writers can produce great quality content to cover all your needs.

Needless to say, any content piece that you receive from us will be optimised and structured, with proper tags and headings. To maximise traffic, we can also provide you with social content (e.g. social photos, infographics, videos).

On-page SEO specialists will optimise the content to ensure that your pages rank high on Google: meta descriptions that entice users to click on your page; link building that connects and associates your website with other high-quality and authoritative websites.

Local SEO

With more and more corporate giants building on their digital empires, it’s easy to see why small businesses struggle to make their way in. The market is fierce and now, more than ever, competition is brutal.

However, the reality is that you, as a small business owner, have something that others don’t. By focusing on digital marketing, you can more easily target local audiences. SEO does work for small businesses.

Corporate giants may spend thousands upon thousands on extensive digital marketing campaigns but when it comes to local searches, Google would still rather promote your products or services.

We can help you pull ahead of the competition with local SEO that will yield tangible results.

Beyond SEO

Of course, there’s more to digital marketing than just SEO. We strive for perfection and offer digital marketing services that go beyond website ranks. Most SEO companies and agencies focus solely on SEO, but we take a holistic approach to digital marketing. We also take care of:

 

• • Digital Advertising and SEM: Methodical and thorough analysis to propel your small business towards success.

 

• Website Designs: Creative designs that engage users and maximise performance.

• Social Media: Careful management that will help you earn, grow and speak to your audience with strategic social engagement.

• Application Development: Cross-platform marketing that will effectively connect customers to you.

• Marketing Automation: Custom content flows tailored to fit the customer’s digital behaviours.

 

Our affordable SEO packages are tailored to the needs of your small business. Take your online presence to the next level with digital marketing services that make a difference.

Article first published here: THE BEST SEO PACKAGE FOR A SMALL BUSINESS

Best Word of mouth Marketing Strategies

Word-of-mouth advertising is all about creating a buzz around your brand. Word-of-mouth marketing can be targeted or occur naturally, but in both cases, customers need to share their satisfaction with a product or service.

The stats don’t lie. Word-of-mouth marketing (WOMM) converts. 92% of consumers around the world trust recommendations from friends and family, but only 47% of people trust television ads.

It’s easy to see why. Businesses want to increase sales while friends and family would probably only recommend a specific product or service if they genuinely thought it was worthwhile.

But why exactly is Word-of-mouth marketing so important, and what are some of the best word-of-mouth marketing strategies? Keep calm and keep reading.

Word-of-mouth Marketing Benefits

Organic WOMM occurs naturally and is almost always the result of an incredible product or service that consumers love. Amplified WOM refers to marketing campaigns that may target or look to amplify and encourage WOM in specific communities.

Needless to say, WOM is extremely important for brands and businesses. It can grow sales for much less. Of course, amplified WOM still costs money, but the goal here is to build a community of loyal customers.

A community built around a specific product or service is a community that will likely remain loyal for years to come. WOM marketing at its early stages is not free but costs drop as a buzz is created around your brand.

Loyal customers are every brand’s lifeline. Happy customers will keep coming back for more, which makes for a healthy business. As a result, you’ll be receiving more angel and venture funding.

Every word-of-mouth marketing tactic aims to either: create a buzz or build brand loyalty and trust.

Creating a buzz involves social media marketing. Ultimately, you want people on social media and social networks to be talking about your product. If users are spreading the word about your product, then you’re doing something right.

Brand loyalty and trust don’t come easy. Consumers will not just trust in your brand or product because you told them to. To receive recommendations, you’ll have to provide customers with something incredibly valuable and worthwhile.

 

 

Customers First

Needless to say, you’ll have to create an amazing customer experience. As you probably already know, people are not always fair and objective in their judgement of products and services.

Customers are more likely to talk about your brand in a positive light if they’ve had a great customer experience. One poor encounter is enough to lose a customer.

WOM is a double-edged sword. It could take your brand to new heights or damage it beyond repair. You can spend thousands on marketing campaigns, but at the end of the day, people will still speak their mind.

This is why it’s extremely important to focus on the product or service itself first. Sounds simple? If you’ve got something good on offer, chances are you’re putting your customers’ needs first. Your number one priority should be to provide consumers with something of value. Referrals and recommendations will likely follow.

Your e-commerce site and ordering process should work perfectly. Spending the time to create a flawless website with great user experience is well worth the effort. In this case, everything matters: visuals, page speed, ease-of-use, and functionality.

You also need to make sure you’re running a tight operation after a sale has been made. The last thing you want is for people to start talking about slow delivery times and bad service. Mishaps will occur; the goal is to resolve issues as fast as possible.

Build Your Word-of-Mouth Strategy

Hoping to earn referrals and praying that people will talk to friends and family about your products is just not enough. You need to actively invest in amplified word-of-mouth marketing that will encourage people to refer.

Word-of-mouth triggers do just that. They offer customers something they can’t get anywhere else. WOM triggers and referral programs promote WOM advertising through special promotions and exclusive rewards.

You could, for example, send an email to customers who seem loyal (e.g. have purchased something more than once), asking them to promote your product or service using a unique referral link.

You could offer them rewards for every 10, 20 or 100 people that sign up by clicking on their unique link (or you could come up with something more fresh and original); you could offer discounts and bonus gifts; you could offer gift cards or give access to exclusive content. The possibilities are endless!

Whenever you can, you should also try to push for ratings and rewards. Even if people are not recommending your brand or product for one reason or another, they can still contribute to WOMM if they leave behind positive feedback. Collect reviews wherever possible: on your website, through email, and on social media.

Incentivise and encourage user generated content by offering rewards or discounts to those who mention your brand on their posts.

Try to think out of the box and don’t be afraid to try out new things. Find new ways to market your product or service. Steer away from industry cliches and carve your own path. Evoking and eliciting strong emotion is another great way to get people to talk about your brand or business.

WOM and Influencer Marketing

We can’t talk about word-of-mouth marketing and not mention influencer marketing. Influencers have large followings and can really help spread the word about your product or service. Send out free products or samples so that influencers can review and write/post about them.

If you’re willing to delve into paid influencer marketing, make sure you spend enough time researching your industry. Just because an influencer has a lot of followers, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they’ll be the best choice for your brand.

Do some research and identify influencers that you know will be interested in your product. If their views and beliefs align with your brand’s values, then reach out to them and make an offer.

Quality products and great customer and user experience are a must. If you want to turn your happy customers into loyal fans, then you must always put their needs first.

Serve quality, seek out reviews and try to get influencers involved. Influencer marketing and WOMM go hand in hand. Learn more about the benefits of influencer marketing here!

Article first published here: Best Word of mouth Marketing Strategies

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You have to manage marketing campaigns, social media campaigns, email campaigns; the list goes on.

Without a clear plan in mind, digital marketing can quickly get out of hand. And the worst of it all: Your SEO strategy usually pays the price.

Search engine marketing is a vital part of any successful digital marketing campaign. Still, while most brands are eager to invest in SEM and many forget the importance of consistently good SEO.

Start thinking about SEO early and you won’t regret it. If you want audiences to find your content and brand in the future, you need to invest in SEO now.

Google’s algorithm is changing all the time. Website optimisation techniques change too, so make sure you’re keeping up by going through this updated out our 2019 SEO checklist.

 

 

☑ Competitor Analysis

If your competitors are ranking higher but you’re not certain why, then perhaps it’s time to get to the bottom of it all. Why do they get their Google SEO right, but you still seem to struggle (even when you’re offering better deals)?

You’re probably already familiar with your competitors’ websites, products and content. But SEO marketing is more than just that. Just taking a look at their website will just not cut it. You’ll have to look at the overall site optimisation.

The first step in your competitor Google SEO adventure is to identify your competitors. There are many SEO tools that can help you with competitor analysis, but we recommend either Ahrefs or SEMRush.

Generic keywords are not always your best bet when it comes to identifying competitors. Another thing to keep in mind is that just because another brand ranks for the same keyword, it doesn’t mean they are necessarily competing with you. To narrow down the list, search for long-tail keywords or use the competing domains function in Ahrefs Site Explorer.

☑ Reviews

The power of reviews is extremely underrated in SEM and SEO marketing. First, the obvious: Good online reviews are valuable because they show visitors and other potential customers that your product is worth their money. Great customer service does really go a long way.

The not-so-obvious: Google SEO is heavily affected by customer reviews. Google’s clever bots can tell whether a product or service has received positive feedback from customers. Positive reviews on your website basically tell Google’s bots that your website has authority and up your Google ranking goes!

Remember that Google has sworn an oath to provide customers with exceptional user experience by leading them to authoritative and high-quality websites that will satisfy their needs.

Do you ever buy something online without looking at real customer reviews? No matter how much you spent on SEM, SEO marketing or Google SEO, nothing screams value more than the approval of the product/service by other consumers.

Reviews matter so make sure you reach out to recent customers and kindly ask that they review your product. Instead of bombarding customers with questions right after they’ve made a purchase, try to approach them at a later date. You could, for example, send out thank you emails that link back to your customer feedback form on your website.

☑ Seo Tools

The perfect SEO marketing strategy simply doesn’t exist. Just like in any other marketing strategy, there are just too many variables that you need to keep track of. However, being able to properly monitor your SEO marketing strategy will certainly increase your chances of success.

If your goal is to increase traffic, then you’ll have to invest in the right SEO marketing tools. SEMRush is often quoted as the best SEO tool and rightfully so. It does what most other tools do but comes with a handful of extremely helpful extra functions.

SEMRush offers an SEO analysis and site audit tool that can tell you exactly what doesn’t—and what does—work on your website; web page optimisation made easy! It will help you with internal links and backlinks, titles, broken images, error pages and so much more.

Ahrefs can also perform SEO analysis but is mainly used for its unparalleled ability to build quality backlinks as it is considered to be the biggest and most accurate database of live backlinks. Both SEMRush and Ahrefs offer free trials, which means you can try them both and stick with the one that works best for you.

Several keyword research SEO tools are also available online for free. Of course, you should always be taking advantage of Google’s extensive library of free SEO tools, including Google Keyword Planner, Google Analytics, Google Trends, and Google Search Console.

☑ Local SEO & Marketing

Always in line with its user-first approach, Google strives to provide users with the most relevant and ideal information available. If someone’s looking for a specific product or service, chances are Google will recommend local solutions.

46% of all Google searches are local. Surprisingly enough, only 44% of retailers have claimed their Google My Business listing. If you own a local business but have not yet claimed your listing on Google My Business, then now would be a good time to do so.

People looking for local businesses are often on the road, which means they’re most likely searching on their phones. This is exactly why you should focus on Google SEO that’s mobile-friendly. Many of these searches are also performed through voice search so you might want to optimise for that too.

Always include a Google map of your business on your main website and don’t forget to use keywords that focus on location (e.g. near x, near me).

That’s all for now! The only way to consistently drive more traffic to your website is to be consistent with SEO as well. Website optimisation techniques change all the time and if you want to succeed, you’ll have to be able to adapt quickly. Let’s go over everything one more time. Your 2019 SEO checklist consists of:

 

• The proper tools necessary to perform SEO and competitor analysis,
• A plan in place to increase positive reviews on your website,
• An increased focus on local SEO,

 

If you’re looking for more tips and ways to rank, then we recommend you check out our 2019 SEO Google Ranking Guide!

Article first published here: YOUR SEO CHECKLIST – 4 STEPS TO SEO IN 2019

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A GUIDE TO GOOGLE SEARCH CONSOLE 2019

If you’re familiar with SEO, you may know Google Search Console as Google Webmaster Tools. If you have a website and are looking for a way to monitor and optimise it, then you should be using GSC.

Google Search Console is a free platform that offers information on site and mobile site performance, displays rich search results and allows you to view the highest traffic queries and pages.

You too should be benefiting from this amazing tool right now! This guide will guide you through Google Search Console step-by-step, from adding your website to more advanced uses of the platform.

Why Bother?

Google Search Console will help you monitor how your website appears in Google search results. You can also use it to gain access to other important data, including information on search traffic, information on the specific queries that show your pages on SERPs, information on backlinks and more.

Monitoring your website’s traffic and optimising the way it shows up on Google’s search results means you can easily identify errors and drastically improve your rankings.

GSC is an extremely useful tool that can help execute more effective marketing analyses when used in conjunction with other tools (such as Google Analytics, Google Ads and Google Trends).

 

 

Adding and Verifying Your Website

First of all, make sure that you’re signed in to the right Google account. Head over to the Google Webmaster Tools page and click on ‘Start now’.

Google will then ask that you select a property type. The new Domain feature will let you input all URLs across all subdomains and all URLs across https or http. Domain input requires DNS verification while the URL prefix option allows for multiple verification methods.

Google Search Console offers access to confidential information about a website’s performance, which is why you need to have your website verified first.

There are many other verification methods available. You can upload a verification HTML file or use a Google Analytics tracking code. Keep in mind that websites hosted by Google (e.g. Blogger) are automatically verified.

Performance

The performance tab will tell you which pages do best on your website and what keywords you’re currently ranking for. You can see the data up to 16 months, but the data only becomes available once you set up your account (i.e. you won’t have access to metrics and data gathered before you created your account).

Keep an eye on this tab to quickly identify keywords or pages that look like they might require some more optimisation. If you click on the performance tab, a list of four items will appear in the middle of the screen: ‘queries’, ‘pages’, ‘countries’, and ‘devices’. You can sort each one of those sections by clicking on ‘clicks’, ‘impressions’, ‘average CTR’, or ‘average position’.

Clicks clearly indicate the number of people who clicked on your website in the search results. This mostly depends on your position. The Impressions tab offers information on how often a specific page on your website appears in the search results. Average CTR (click-through rate) will tell you the exact percentage of people who clicked and made it to your website.

Index Coverage

This tab may be a bit more technical but provides users with valuable information that shows how many pages have been indexed, how many have yet to be indexed, and what went wrong with the pages that were not indexed.

The goal is to have all the pages on your website indexed. Errors are caused when a page redirects users to dead or non-existing pages or when broken code and errors are found in your theme. If you click on a specific link, you’ll be able to find out more about the affected URLs. Fix any errors and click on ‘Validate Fix’.

When creating new content, the number of indexed pages on your website should increase rapidly, and the stats should reflect that. Any sudden drops usually mean that Google is having a hard time indexing your pages. Unexpected sudden spikes are not a good sign either. They may point to duplicate content issues, automatically-generated pages, or even hacks.

AMP, Job Postings & Events

If you’ve setup AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) for your website, you’ll be able to check for errors in Google Search Console. You can see which URLs are affected and test whether they’ve been fixed. Click on one to receive more information about it.  Try to get everything fixed and then click on ‘validate fix’ on the right-hand side of the screen.

The Job postings tab lets you track the performance and stability of your job postings website function. You can also gain useful feedback on your structured markup for events by keeping an eye on the events tab.

Sitemaps

You want Google’s bots to be able to crawl your site effectively. If Google crawlers can properly identify and follow linked pages on your website then you’ll surely see a big difference in ranking.

To help Google with crawling, you should submit a sitemap of your blog or website via GSC. You can also still use the Google Webmaster Tool to submit your sitemap.

Once on the Google search console main menu, select your website and click on Sitemaps, located on the left sidebar. Add your sitemap URL on the input box that will appear on the right side of the screen.

A sitemap is not necessary to rank but will improve your site’s crawlability and is especially useful if your website’s big. The more pages your website has, the harder it is for Google to track minor changes or additions.

A sitemap is also extremely useful if your website is relatively new. Newer websites have fewer backlinks, and it is difficult for crawlers to discover them.

Links

Google Search Console also provides users with a detailed list of all the external and internal links on your website. You can see what pages you’re linking to and what pages are linking to you.

You can use the links tool to find out if any important pages are not linked to enough. Remember that you want new and high-ranking pages to get the most internal links.

Missing Features

Google Search Console may be one of the most useful tools around, but some tabs are missing from the new version of the platform. There are some things that you still can’t do in the new GSC, which is why it’s good to keep the old version of GSC handy, just in case:

 

• • Search Appearance tab. ‘Structured data’, ‘rich cards’, ‘data highlighter’, and ‘HTML improvements’ are all missing in the new version.
  • International Targeting tab. Offered easy optimisation to pages who targeted audiences from all over the world.

 

• Crawl Stats tab. The new crawls tab doesn’t seem to display every single error.

• Security Issues tab. Users used to receive notifications every time their website had a security issue.

That’s all for today! We’re sure that Google will soon add these missing features to the new version of GSC. In the meanwhile, keep the old Google Webmaster Tools handy, and make sure you check our blog regularly for any updates or changes.

Article first published here: A GUIDE TO GOOGLE SEARCH CONSOLE 2019

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