Here’s how hundreds of other companies like yours are using social media to get leads.

1. Bigger Is Not Always Better – Or Is It

Ask a lot of companies what they want from their social media accounts, and most will say, “More Followers…,” and while they may add a few other needed improvements, “more followers” is considered a sign of success. Often times that leads them to hire growth freelancers or use bots to boost their follower numbers. Yes, you’ll get 100K followers in unreasonably short timeframes, yet you will find that you cannot cash out on any of those. You see, the trend has been to use fake followers, and  “follow for follow” or “likes for likes” methods to build social media accounts. These type of social media efforts always proves futile because you cannot convert fake followers or people who are not your target audience into real customers.

In contrast, companies on a more organic growth track often find more value from real engagement. They get more impressions and clicks directed to their landing pages – the very thing you should be striving for. It’s always best to focus on reaching and engaging with your target audience and then work on converting them into clients.

2. Be Human

We touched on growth bots ad fake followers in the previous section but let’s be clear. Perhaps the worst thing to ever happen since social media has to be growth hacking bots. Those tools that promise thousands of followers overnight. Not only does it prove pointless in the long run, but your account can also be locked and taken from you by whichever platform you tried plugging a bot.

Being human on social media timelines provides your potential customers the chance to connect with you emotionally. Given how nowadays people stay glued to their social media apps, particularly through their smartphones, being relatable goes a long way in getting genuine, high-quality leads.

Allow me to Share a Story

As I engage with my Instagram audience, I noticed that an individual with 134K followers moved from an average of 34 likes per post to approximately 330 likes overnight and so I decided to engage him about his strategy. He directed me to purchase his book. I thought to myself, “with 134K followers and 33o likes and no comments, that does not amount to any type of impressive engagement.” I suspected he was using bots so I continued to monitor his account to see how things would progress. Yes, I am the curious, analytical type (smile). Needless to say, after 2 weeks he was back down to an average of 34 likes per post.

See how these type of social media efforts proved pointless? I don’t doubt that Instagram caught up with him and he got a “slap on the wrest.” You see Instagram is actively working on Reducing inauthentic Activity on Instagram. So much for his sales pitch about his book! I suspect, he now needs a new strategy!

3. Spend Your Social Media Efforts In Starting The Conversations You Want

Perhaps the most important, yet overlooked objective on any social media platform has to be creating the connections that bring the results you need. A lot of companies create social media profiles and leave them to bask in inactivity – a sad sight. On the other end of the spectrum, many companies focus their social media efforts in actively creating working relationships and turning interesting strangers into either customers or worthy partners in business.

Starting the conversations you want on social media snugly ties the first two action points into a bundle. As such it would be pointless to use a bot for either growth or to spark conversations with other profiles.

What Then?

Just be real! Selling Authenticity and Personalizing Your Brand is key in showcasing your brand to your target audience. Engaging and building relationships with your potential clients will go a far way! Although this can be quite a chore to stay engaged with your audience, it’s better to hire a freelancer that will focus on organic growth through engagement than having a large number of fake followers for the optics of success and really amount to nothing in terms of conversion.

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Advantages of Following Social Media Trends

So, Let’s cut to the chase! What do you stand to gain by following news and trends in the social media space? First, let me just say that it’s important to maintain a social media presence to grow your business. The knowledge of news and trends in the social media world will help you and other social media managers move businesses forward. You see, nowadays, it is not enough to know the ins and outs of your business. If you cannot follow trends and recognize the opportunities they come with, it is only a matter of time before it tells on the success of your business.

Now, let me ask you what comes to mind when you see that by 2022 chatbots will save about $8 billion in the healthcare and banking industries? Note that this is an increase from $20 million in 2017. This tells you that investing in the use of chatbots now will give you a head start from your competition. This leads to an increase in your profit margin.

The bottom line is, getting information on the latest news and trends in social media, and then applying them to your business will also help increase your conversion rate. Your conversion rate refers to the number of visitors on your site that take desirable actions, and it is directly linked to the success of your site.

Now, let’s look at some of the current trends in social media and how you can take advantage of them.

Social Media Trends and What They Mean To Your Business

There are numerous social media trends around today it is almost impossible to cover them all. Therefore, we are looking at 4 of these trends and how you can take advantage of them.

Video Contents are Thriving

The year 2017 was a really big one for video contents, as we saw a remarkable increase in its use especially for social media marketing. This continued in 2018 and promises to continue in 2019 and beyond.  The proliferation of users on social media platforms like Instagram and SnapChat has also contributed to this boost in video contents. Since the launch of Facebook Live in 2015, its search popularity increased by over 330% in just two years.

What’s more? Research has shown that about 82 percent of consumers prefer watching live videos to reading posts. This tells you that your consumers are more likely to check out your video contents than the written ones. No wonder many social media platforms like Facebook that didn’t offer live streaming a few years ago now do.

Influencer Marketing is Picking up

“An Instagram user with 100,000 followers can command $5,000 for a post made in partnership with a company or brand,” (Clare O’Connor, 2017). This statement basically covers how influencers are affecting social media marketing. Using someone with a strong influence on social media is now quite an excellent strategy, as you can take advantage of the person’s large audience. An audience that you probably don’t have access to.

This trend is also directly tied to the fact that social media marketing is starting to move away from the “free promotion” that many once considered it as. Nowadays, you need to spend a bit of cash to maximize the potential of social media marketing. Jonathan Foley, the CEO of WULF Marketing and the founder of @Societyfeelings and @Positivity, opined that brands should start investing in building their own social network pages, to own as many audiences as they possibly can. “Today, Facebook and just about every social media platform have become pay to play,” (Jonathan Foley).

This is the Era of Chatbots

As stated earlier, the use of chatbots is now one of the biggest social media trends today. It is very popular because it helps boost customer relation management. Social media brings businesses to their customers, using chatbots is like adding enhancers to the mix. It allows you to make real-time engagement with your customers.

Chatbots can help provide around-the-clock service to customers, which is one of the key factors to customer satisfaction. Also, it is a lot more cost effective than hiring employees that will attend to consumers 24/7.

Social Mobile

Let’s do a quick survey. What are the chances of anyone reading this having a smartphone? Pretty high right? Well, Statista seems to agree with a forecast of the number of smartphone users rising from about 1.6 billion in 2014 to about 2.9 billion in 2020.

Mobile users should be your key priority because social media platforms are shifting their focus to this audience. There are even some social networks with mobile-only apps, so you can only reach their audience through their mobile devices.

Final Thoughts

I think it is quite clear that it is really non-negotiable for you to monitor social media trends and incorporate them into your business strategy. It doesn’t cost you much really, and you have numerous benefits to gain. Of course, there are many other current trends in this industry, so you should not restrict yourself to just these four.

It’s up to you to key your business into the benefits of following these trends, and then you can start reaping the numerous benefits.

The post Social Media Trends: Why it’s Important to Stay Informed appeared first on Strategy Nook.

Social Media as a Business Marketing Tool

Here’s a fact for you. According to Statista, the number of social media users has increased from a little less than a billion in 2010 to about 2.6 billion in 2018. Looking at this alone, it is easy to see the potential in using social media marketing to boost business growth.

According to a report from Social Media Examiner, about 97 percent of marketers are participating in social media, even though about 85 percent of them are not sure of the best social media strategy to use.

Having a social media presence has affected the business world in a remarkable way. According to Hubspot, about 92 percent of marketers claimed that social media helped their businesses gain more exposure. Also, over 50 percent of marketers using social media for at least 3 years have indicated that it helped them increase sales.

Importance Of Social Media Presence On Business Growth

Let’s face it, social media has come to stay, and if you have not joined the trend, you run the risk of being kicked out of the moving business train. Social media has long passed the point of being “the future” or “the next big thing.” It is now the in-thing as well as the future, so if you still think it is the next big thing, then your business is already at a huge disadvantage. Let’s look at some of the benefits social media will bring to your business.

Build Brand Awareness

The simple truth is that, if people don’t know about your business, then you can’t attract them as customers no matter what your package is. It is, therefore, imperative that you take advantage of every opportunity to increase the visibility of your brand. What better way to do this than using social media that is accessible to all and is currently being used by almost everyone?

In the US alone, about 81 percent of the population had a social networking profile as of 2017. Putting this stat into a more businesslike term, you can say that your business could be visible to about 81 percent of the US population if you use social media platforms for marketing. Impressive right? Wait until you see the other benefits.

Improve Customer Loyalty

Customer loyalty is one of the most important factors – if not the most important one – that affect the growth of a business. If you want to see a higher level of loyalty from your customers, then engage your business in various social media channels. If your customers follow your brand on different social media platforms, they are more likely to remain loyal to your brand. This is further reiterated in a study made by Convince&Convert that indicates that about 55 percent of Americans that follow brands on their social networks are more loyal to the brands.

Decreased Cost of Marketing

One of the biggest advantages of social media marketing is the decrease in the cost of marketing. You can start your marketing on any social media network without paying a dime. Yes, you read that right. You can multiply sales without having to pay anything. All you need is time to set up a profile for your business and then you can develop your content every day.

This is where you can decide to get a social media manager for your business; someone whose job is to manage the social media presence of your business and interact with customers if needs be.  Therefore, you can reach out to all your customers at a lower marketing cost than traditional marketing means.

Enhanced Search Engine Rankings

Social media presence has become a vital factor in calculating SEO rankings today. You cannot overemphasize the importance of a good SEO ranking – we will cover that on another article later – Nowadays, it is simply not enough to update your blog regularly or optimize your site, you need a social media presence that will give your brand an authority and validate its integrity.

Final Thoughts

Perhaps you don’t know this, but your competitors are already involved on social media, so they are currently poaching your potential social media traffic. Also, the potential losses are quite insignificant, as the amount of money and time you need to start reaping the benefits are minimal. The longer you wait the more you lose, so don’t stand idly by while your competition converts your potential traffic. Be vigilant and stay informed about social media trends and use them to use them to your advantage today!

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Every day billions of people search the internet looking for solutions. These might include booking flights, looking for products or services, catching up on the latest news or simply browsing for the fun of it. It’s been estimated that close to 70% of people spend approximately 5 hours per day online. It’s only logical for businesses to tap into this huge market. Let’s explore some of the reasons why internet marketing works.

So, what do you get from marketing online?

1. Saves Money, Time, and Effort

In contrast to traditional marketing, one reason why internet marketing works is that it is quite flexible when it comes to finances. You can easily forego printing, distributing and paying for ad space on radio and TV by using social media platforms. You can also tweak certain elements in your website to get a better search engine ranking at a fraction of the price that a newspaper ad would cost.

If you decide to invest a fair amount in your internet marketing campaign, you choose to do so because you want to provide the best experience for your customers. You may consider doing the same in traditional marketing and, in the end, you could find yourself investing in workers, papers, and other resources, only to achieve minimal results.

Here comes the cool thing…

The internet never forgets. Even if you reach a small audience at first, whatever you’ve put out is guaranteed to stay there until you decide to delete it. This places a significant value on the resources you’ve spent. On the other hand, they can vanish away in the traditional setting. Remember, internet content can remain forever on the internet if you so choose.

2. Better and wider engagement with your target audience

Another reason why internet marketing works is that, with the internet, the world is just a few clicks away. You get to distribute your message not just in your locality but also around the globe. The internet connects your business to people in places you may have never heard of. It’s like showcasing your business into a larger world that allows you to see your results.

Your next client could be anyone, anywhere, in any line of business. There is no telling where your wave of influence can go!

3. You Grow Relationships and Conversions

Now let’s consider what customers typically want from a business. Quality service; they want their needs to be met!

Internet marketing works because it offers you a platform to start a connection and cultivate a relationship with your customers. By liking a post and responding to a comment they’ve posted on your site, you can position your business as a go-to place in your community. You do it not because they can give you something in return, but because you have something that they can benefit from. You understand firsthand that they need it and that you are offering them something unique that they will surely love. After all, a business is not about the owner. It thrives because of the people that it serves.

Marketing online should help convert relationships to prospects and then customers. Conversions have a way of telling that a business is successful. When you have a high conversion rate that means you’ve tapped into a number of people who value the services and products you provide. You can have your eye on conversion rates, but for that to increase it requires you to establish and grow a relationship with your audience.

4. You Stay in the Loop

Every year we head towards new technology, new processes, and many other things that are new. The thing is…time flies fast and along with it come changes. Businesses also evolve with new trends. We’ve seen the rise in many new camera features, virtual realities, chat-bots, and even more tools and technology. All of them exist for us to use and come up with exciting new ideas to connect with others.

The good news?

Many of these tools are possible online. Yet another reason why internet marketing works! These forms of innovation help you stay current in your niche and, even more, empower you to transcend beyond imagination and stand out.

Overall, it’s important to keep up. You don’t want to be left behind the competition.

5. You Provide Better Solutions

Customer service stands at the heart of every successful business. At the end of the day, the one thing that people will remember is the kind of experience you provide.

Another good thing about marketing your business online is you get to see results in real time. You can measure it against the analytics, and witness conversations as they happen, especially on social media.

In its own peculiar way, the data you receive helps you understand your customers better — their behavior, their interests, even their geographic locations, and actual identities.

The numbers don’t just tell how many people you’ve reached, but also help you determine better ways to serve your clients. That’s what makes them happy. When clients are happy, you are happy as well. It’s totally a win-win situation.

What Then?

So, what exactly do you get from marketing your business online? Great savings, sustained relationships and better solutions for your business.

The post 5 Reasons Why Internet Marketing Works for businesses appeared first on Strategy Nook.

1. Content is Still King

Over a decade ago SEO evangelists went above and beyond educating us on how important content was for a website to get some genuine organic traffic.  They were right, and even more so today. Apart from any code and complexity that goes into making a website, content is perhaps the most important element of any website. Think of it as the cement that brings everything together.

With a good content strategy, your website can leap from being a poorly promoted show to a converging point for potential customers. You too can start bringing more value to your visitors almost instantaneously. Read Search Marketing Best Practices for more on the types of content that could engage your audience.

2. Spark Onsite Engagement

Assuming you already have a content strategy in motion, now comes the part you convert some of that traffic into leads. That means you need to start collecting contact details. First, this has to be voluntary on the part of the visitor. From there, following up on any provided information is  of critical utmost importance.

Since you cannot be online all the time, sparking conversations translates into setting up tools and widgets that open the table for conversations and inquiries. You need inquiries; sales grow from them. There are many such tools and widgets that make a website engaging and exciting for your visitors. The key to successfully using any of these tools is, first, knowing your audience and then choosing the right mix that will keep them engaged.

3. Test & Optimize Your Website Marketing

This section is what makes all the difference, literally. While most websites aim to be different from all others, either in design or just in what it is supposed to yield, your best bet is always morphing into a sharper tool for digging up leads from your traffic. This involves A/B testing and moving pieces around while looking for the most optimized version of your original website idea.

There are certain metrics that one would be keeping tabs on when running this phase. These often vary depending on what counts as growth to you. However, traffic conversion is by far the most important consideration on any website. You can look at traffic conversion as how many people land on the website and how many actually carrying out actions suggested by call-to-action cues. That should be your compass amidst all the commotion often associated with tweaking your website.

4. Other Tools Worth Mentioning

Below, are some other tools that have not been discussed in detail here but are still of great importance and should be included in your online marketing.

• Invest in retargeting,
• Build support for the website externally,
• Prepare the bridge between marketing and sales.

What Now?

Regardless of the kind of business you are in, at a minimum, be sure to include the strategies we have discussed to maximize your website’s marketing potential. While these are a few quick hits to help you with your website marketing, be sure to set some time to develop a full marketing strategy that will help you pitch your brand to your audience, wherever and whenever.

Read also:

Selling Authenticity: Personalizing Your Brand

The post How To Maximize Your Website Marketing Potential appeared first on Strategy Nook.

1. Stale Won’t Sell

A stale website can damage your online presence. So, even when all you have is a single landing page, your visitors need to experience the most convincing pitch each time they click a link to your web page. Since some visitors will need more than one session before reacting to a call to action, considering visits could easily be months apart, keeping your assets up-to-date makes conversion a more probable case.  Consider updating your content, themes, and everything that comes together to form your online presence.

2. Staying Relevant

You can try, but after a while,  you should realize that you cannot purchase relevance.  So, you have to stay on top of technology and stay connected with your audience while remaining true to your brand in order to remain relevant. By updating your website regularly, frequently showing your visitors how in touch you are with recent developments, you prime them to share your content with their friends and followers on social media platforms. This is one of the best case scenarios to keeping you relevant.

3. Improve SEO Ranking

With billions of websites now hosted on servers across the globe, you are lucky if thousands of visitors frequent yours. As usual, it is better to engineer your “luck” and keeping your website updated goes a long way in doing just that. The more you update your website, the higher your website ranks on search engines – and who doesn’t want that?

4. Study Your traffic

Just as your visitors should find your website easy to learn and navigate, you too should look to learn more about your audience as they go through your website. Consequently, make sure you stay on top of the best tools to help you do just that. Then, through continued updates such as retouching misplaced call to action cues and remodeling the journey through your website, you can optimize the experience along with the conversion rate.

5. Remove Unproductive Elements

In as much as you need to add tools and widgets to get needed functionality on your website, you should consider tearing it apart too, if it becomes necessary. I refer to this as “controlled destruction” because you get to decide what is no longer relevant to attract and convert clients. This requires removing features and functionalities that no longer serve your audience. With the use of CMS platforms like WordPress, this means decommissioning plugins that are not compatible with updates or intended objectives. Such objectives include security and speed.

Now What? – How to Update Your Website

We have established that updating your website is key in staying ahead of the competition, maintaining a robust website, and keeping up with the ever-changing search engine ranking rules. This should be enough to get you interested in updating your website more often than not. If you are not sure about what elements of your website should be updated or how to physically update your website, no need to worry. There are many website services with a wealth of ideas that will help get your website’s engines firing on all cylinders. Don’t delay, your audience is waiting to connect with you.

Read also:

9 Reasons Why You Need a Website

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As you may have guessed, defining a perfect website depends on what your business is. However, several attributes of a website make it a hit or a miss.  We break this down as a defined process flow, content, and appeal. At the very least, if your website looks good enough for visitors to stay and explore while captivating them with engaging content that is readily understood and easily accessed, we can say you have a good website. To achieve this, you should not just understand what developers need to create your website but also be able to deliver these things in a timely manner.

Never assume that the developer is as in touch with your business and goals as you are. Your biggest task is to communicate your objectives. Knowing what the website is supposed to do also helps the website developer optimize your website for conversions. So, here is what web developers need and will expect from you to create a perfect website:

Have a Website Strategy

Before you engage a web developer, you should have some idea about your website strategy, as well as the level of competency your developer needs to have. If not, take some time to think about what you want your website to achieve. This will help you to determine the type of web developer you need. If you are not able to work through your website strategy on your own, choose a web developer that will be able to walk you through the process.

As a guideline, the following provides 6 key questions you should consider along with some examples. Once you have completed this exercise, be sure that all your requirements and expectations are included in your web development contract.  The web developer will likely highlight his or her expectations and requirements for you to deliver so that the project can stay on target.

1. Why – There are many reasons why you may need a website but be sure to understand your own pain point.
2. What – Understanding why will help you determine what you will need your website to do and what you will need to include as requirements.  This will help you determine the features and functionalities you need.
3. When – Explore this area and determine, among other things, when you want the website to launch and when certain features on the site will activate and terminate, such as campaigns, etc.
4. Where – Be sure to understand where your content will fit to achieve your goals.
5. Who – It is important to understand who your target audience will be as well as who your competitors are. Who you choose as your web developer is also key here.
6. How – Here you can address how you see this addressing your pain point and how you will go about implementing your website.

Think About Your Brand

Since your website will be a representation of your brand, this should be included at the strategic level. Here are a few things to consider:

1. Company and domain names – These should be directly related.
2. Tagline – Choose a tagline that fully represents your brand
3. Colors – Be consistent with your brand colors throughout your website
4. Message(s) – Consider your brand message(s) when developing content
5. Hosting – Consider what features and functionality you will need and ensure you have proper web hosting to support your brand.
6. Email – You should consider a branded email that reflects your domain name.
7. Marketing – Consider the type of internet marketing your brand will need to be successful.
8. SEO – To deliver a good SEO strategy, you will need to decide who your competitors are and which keywords are relevant to your brand.

What Web Developers Need Most is Content

Once you have identified your website strategy, including your online brand strategy, provide the flesh of the website in the form of content.  It is important to note that the responsibility of providing content will be yours unless otherwise agreed.  The fact is most web developers do not have the time or level of copy-creation experience that convinces visitors to hang around landing pages and read through what you’re selling. However, some do and those that are not able to cover content creation usually work alongside content creators so do not hesitate to ask. You do not want to suffer delays in your website delivery because of a lack of content.

Below is an example of the type of content that you might be expected to deliver. While this is not a comprehensive list it should give you an idea of what web developers need to create a perfect website. Keep in mind that most visitors spend very little time on your website, so getting to the point should be somewhere up there on your list of priorities – right above the need to show visitors that you can write great essays.

1. Logo
2. Written Content – for each page such as
   • About us
   • Services
   • Contact
   • Testimonials
   • Blog
   • Privacy Policy
   • Terms of Use
3. Payment Gateway Information
4. Shopping Cart Details
   • Pricing
   • Product Description
   • Shipping Information

Images

The images you put up on your website get more attention than the words thereon; make that work in your favor. Sharp images carefully blended into the theme of the website make it easier to capture the attention of an otherwise preoccupied visitor. For product sales focused websites (e-commerce) investing in product photoshoots makes all the difference. There are likely many other websites selling the same product, therefore, your product must be presented with images that are sharp, clean and clear.

What Now?

So now that we have established what web developers need to create a perfect website you can plan for your website. You can also rest assured that, if delivered, the final design and features meet your objectives. From a web developer’s point of view, a client that provides these automatically adds motivation towards the completion of their website. While there are other things you can look up and provide, focusing on the things I have mentioned above gives the developer enough space to be creative with your project.

The post What Web Developers Need to Create a Perfect Website appeared first on Strategy Nook.

• Only 50% of small businesses have a website
• 60% of small businesses say they want a website but they don’t have the time to launch one

So how do we close this gap? By showing small business owners the value of having a website, in terms of ROI, and assuring them that they don’t have to carry the burden of a website build on their own. In this article, I will discuss some of the fundamental reasons ‘WHY’ entrepreneurs and small business owners need a website to survive in today’s technology-driven society.

First, let’s establish that having a website is not just about selling your goods and services.  It’s also about creating an online presence that will provide an enabling platform for improved customer services, as well as better means for every transaction. Here are 9 fundamentals on why a website is a vital necessity for every business, along with their limitless expectations and opportunities.

1. Your Customers Expect It

If this were the only reason on the list, it would be enough. Thanks to technology, we now have a culture where more people are opting to shop online because of easy access. This also saves time. Whether it’s to have their meals delivered by UberEats, groceries by Instacart or having Amazon deliver just about anything right at their doorstep, the reality of our technology-driven society is here to stay. As a result, most potential buyers now expect to find any and everything online.

• Six out of ten consumers expect brands to provide online content about their business on some form of digital property, and more than half head straight to the brand’s website for product information.
• If you don’t have a business website, today’s digital-savvy (and impatient) customers may look elsewhere. Recent studies show that over 60% of business startups with an active web presence have increased their annual returns on investments (ROIs) by over 150%. So, why not get on board.
• 63% of consumers in the U.S. use websites to find and interact with businesses (Digital Consumer Study).
• 48% of customers will stop considering a business if it doesn’t have a website. (Telstra).

2. Your Competitors have Company Websites

Now that we have established that customers expect brands to have a website, let’s understand that our competitors have already filled this gap. They have websites! They realize that consumers typically start their buying journey with research and/or recommendations from peers and social network connections. If you intend to compete, this is another reason why you need a website. What better way to position your brand for consideration than to be present, online 24/7. Otherwise, you’re giving the competition an edge and consumers a reason to buy from another brand.

• Studies show that once a consumer has an idea of what they need or want, they start researching, and 72 percent of them go online to find educational material, reviews, and testimonials, according to a recent report.

3. A Website Provides Social Proof

As potential buyers, we are often swayed by third-party experience and influence. In fact, a survey conducted by Dimensional Research indicates that 90%  of consumers claim that online reviews influence their buying decisions. Since potential buyers are already looking for you online, your website offers you the opportunity to also include customer testimonials. What a great way to impress potential buyers!

4. You Get to Control Your Brand Narrative

If you haven’t realized that it’s difficult to control what others say about you or your brand on social media channels, let me awaken you to the idea.  To tackle this, use tools that allow you to “listen” to what is being said about you or your brand on social media. You can then choose how to address them, but it’s also important to find a way to control your brand narrative. This will help to counteract what you may not be able to readily control.

Controlling The Narrative

An effective way to control your brand narrative begins with influencing public perception by creating your own story via a business website. This will help you get your message, mission, and personality in front of your target audience faster than print ads or snail mail brochures. It also lends itself to showcasing your brand authenticity. In addition, it’s good to include your social icons linking to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other networking platforms. This helps others to easily connect with and share your content for others to see.

5. You Get More Bang for Your Buck

Here’s a big bonus: Use your website as a marketing tool and position your company to reach thousands more of potential customers for less than you would spend mailing brochures by traditional mail. Combining your website with marketing tools, such as Blogging, SEO, Email Marketing, Landing Pages, Calls-to-Action, Analytics, Social Media, Lead Management and Marketing Automation are opportunities you should not ignore. They are designed to help you reach new customers and generate repeat business. See Easy Search Marketing Best Practices and Selling Authenticity: Personalizing Your Brand for quick tips on how to position your online brand.

6. Never Put up the ‘Closed for Business’ Sign again

Nobody wants to work at 3 a.m., but some people like to shop then. Having a business website or eCommerce store means that you can sell products or services all the time — not simply between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.

An online business can mean a dramatic boost in sales, especially when you factor in additional customers who are not restricted by geography. Your online presence also supports marketing campaigns, customer service, client relationship building, brand recognition, and almost every other element of the revenue stream.

7. You Get Increased exposure in Google Search Results

Consider this: 81 percent of consumers perform online research before making a purchase. That means they go to Google and type in one or more keywords, like “best leather shoes” or, if they know what they want, “handcrafted Italian leather women’s shoes in Los Angeles.”

If you don’t have a website for your business, the chances of showing up on the search engine results page (SERP) are zero. But if you have a site, you can optimize it for search engines, thereby increasing your chances of appearing at the top of Google’s results and getting more visibility with potential customers. Long-tail keywords, Meta descriptions, and titles are just some of the things you can customize on your site to improve your search engine optimization (SEO).

8. Create a Resource Center

In addition to providing products and services, your website can be used as a resource center by providing tools that benefit your customers or employees. This can take the form of informational or training videos and other instructional materials to help them learn everything they need to know in varied subject areas.

9. Showcase your Products and Services

Finally, not only can you display your products or outline your services in detail with beautiful images, but you can provide short video tutorials or downloadable PDF instructions to give hesitant customers no reason to go elsewhere to purchase.

So, unless you are not interested in growing your brand, you need to have a website. With the varied options available today, building a business website or e-commerce store is just at your fingertips so there’s really no excuse to keep putting it off… Besides, are you willing to give up one of the best means of free advertising?

Read Also:

Customer web Design vs. Website Template

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What is Web Hosting?

Before we delve further into the actual web hosting types understanding what it is, is vital. In simplistic terms, your web host provides a point of access and storage for your website.  Basically, it operates just like your computer.

When you use your computer you are able to store files and run applications. This is achieved with specialized hardware and software. The primary types of hardware are the hard drive and processor (CPU). Together these physical components provide the main functionality that enables your computer to work. Your hard drive and CPU are then directed by the operating system. A CPU is a complex piece of software that allows a user to perform various functions on his or her computer.

Your web host uses its own version of a computer. This is called a server. This server can be constructed in a number of ways but will provide, in all instances, the primary function of housing and distributing your website’s content. Like your computer, the server is also composed of a main storage unit and CPU. It also runs on an operating system (OS). The OS, more often than not, a Linux based system. Additionally, your web hosting may be modified to include important features like SSL, back-ups and malware scanning.

A web host is owned by a service provider who will offer various plans at different rates. There are 4 major web hosting types: shared hosting, cloud hosting, virtual private server, and dedicated web server. Each type may be worth considering depending on factors like website traffic, privacy and speed concerns.  All these different web hosting types should be carefully considered when planning your website launch.

Web Hosting Types

Shared Hosting

Shared hosting is considered the most affordable web hosting types. It involves the use of one large main server that is shared by multiple website owners. A shared hosting model is sometimes packaged with a free domain name and reduced rates for the first year of use. Additionally, the server is maintained by the service provider. It also comes pre-installed with an OS and an easy to use interface.

This type of hosting may not be ideal for a website that will have a high volume of traffic. Also, it will not be the best choice if you require a high level of security. Typically, a shared hosting model spreads the resources of a single server over hundreds of websites. This means that if a high traffic site exists on a shared server, the server will experience outages across all websites, not just the site that has expended the server’s resources. Additionally, website speeds will be slower.  There may be privacy concerns if the server is breached or hacked. While these issues may be a deal breaker for some website owners, shared hosting continues to be a viable option for many because of its affordability.

Cloud Hosting

Cloud hosting makes use of several interconnected computer servers to form a large reliable, secure server called the cloud. Read What Exactly is the Cloud. This cutting edge technology allows website owners the opportunity to purchase the exact amount of server space and CPU they need. This means that each owner is effectively compartmentalized into his or her own segment of the cloud. Therefore, they will not experience downtimes because of high traffic to other websites within the cloud.

The security that cloud hosting provides is one of its greatest selling points. As mentioned previously, the resources on the cloud are not provided by a single server. As a result, it is more secure because the information is not placed at one centralized point. Instead, it is distributed and configured in such a way that it is exceedingly difficult for the cloud to be compromised. Additionally, cloud hosting gives website owners the option to make some configurations to their server. However, these modifications should not be done without having prior knowledge of the requisite technology.

Some cloud hosting providers may offer plans that include additional features like SSL, site scans and automatic back-ups. The pricing for cloud hosting will vary and may be more affordable than shared hosting. This depends on space requirements, CPU and other additional features.

Cloud hosting has already become the go-to technology for many website owners. Amazon and Google are among the industry leaders who have long taken advantage of cloud-based architecture in delivering their respective services. This technology is ideal for both large and small websites that require reliable uptimes, better performance, scalability, and greater security.

Virtual Private Server (VPS)

A VPS makes use of a large single server that is split into many individual parts or virtual servers. Each virtual server is then sold by hard drive space and CPU.  This allows website owners to choose the amount of resources they need to run their website. Like shared hosting, a single server is shared among many, however, unlike shared hosting and more like cloud hosting the resources are effectively separated for each website owner. This type of hosting addresses the issue of possible downtime based on traffic from other websites. However, it is not as secure as a cloud hosting model.

A VPS is also configurable and allows each website owner the flexibility to make modifications based on their website’s needs. Typically a VPS will be more costly than a cloud hosting or shared hosting model.

Dedicated Web Server

A dedicated web server gives a website owner full control of an entire server. This type of web hosting allows the owner more freedom to fully configure and manage their server as they would like. This will, of course, require a high level of technical expertise. Some dedicated server providers may give the owner the option to install their preferred OS and complete the entire configuration of their server or they may offer a managed server model. The latter option will be more costly; however, it may be ideal for owners who do not wish to handle the more technical side of server management.

A dedicated server is typically used by website owners who prefer to have more control over their data privacy. However, the server itself would need to be adequately secured and properly configured. It is also ideal for website owners who expect a high volume of traffic. Dedicated servers tend to be more costly than all other hosting types.  This calls for more technical expertise to initially set up and maintain.

What Now?

How does one decide which of these 4 web hosting types is best? Choosing the right hosting plan for your website may come down to pricing, traffic concerns, security, and flexibility. If you are uncertain if you will have the support of a full time IT specialist or developer it is best to start off with a managed solution. Always consider whether or not your hosting provider offers easily upgradable packages and consider purchasing an SSL certificate to ensure your website securely processes your user’s information.

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One discussion I often have with clients is the different options for building a website along with the varied expectations and outcomes. Creating a website can be achieved in a number of ways, most notably using a DIY approach, which may include website builders/template sites, prebuilt or purchased themes/templates, and using the professional services of a competent web developer to create a custom designed theme/template. Current technology does give users the option to create their own websites, albeit with varying degrees of difficulty. The aim of this article is to only explore the general advantages and disadvantages of using a prebuilt theme/template and a custom designed theme/template.

Custom Website Development

A custom website is one that is built specifically to suit user requirements, which may focus on brand, service offerings, and online goals, including competitive advantage. Needs may also vary depending on other factors such as time constraints, budget and your immediate goals.

Advantages

Unique Design

Your website should be a reflection of yourself, brand or company. Custom web design and development ensures that you are getting a site exactly as you envisioned it, without the restrictions that are inherent in a mass produced template. A competent web designer/web developer will be able to craft a suitable end-product that, ideally, should engage audience, and present your content in an attractive layout that is user friendly and mobile compliant.

Get the Exact Features You Want/Require

There are some features that may not be built-in a template, and will likely require advanced custom coding that is geared towards functionality and website security. These may include features that extend e-commerce functionality, calculators/converters, custom animations, advanced forms, app like capabilities, among others.

SEO Focused

A website that is developed by a professional will, at its core, utilize integral Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques to increase website traffic and ensure your site is able to attract its target audience.

Focused on Branding and Marketing Your Product/Service

Intrinsic to custom web design/web development is crafting a design and story around your brand. This requires research, the right combination of graphical components, user experience (UX) design and content development. Each is important to building your brand’s identity and is critical to making your site stand out from the crowd. Read Personalizing Your Brand for more information on branding

Gives You More Time to Focus Your Energy Elsewhere

Having a seasoned web designer and developer craft your website removes the headache that can come with a DIY approach. Putting a few images and information in a website template may not seem difficult.  However, the results can border on abysmal if the content is not well written and the images are low quality or do not suit your brand’s message. A website is a sum of its parts and shortfalls in either its layout or content will take away from user experience.

Disadvantages

Requires a reliable web designer and developer

A custom design requires a web designer and developer you can trust to produce quality work within the strictures of a contract and pre-specified time frame. He or she should be able to detail what the expectations will be, what each stage of the process will involve and what you will be required to provide before development begins.

Should ideally use a content management system

A custom design that includes a blog or other dynamic content should be placed on a content management system (CMS) which allows you to make changes and updates without always requiring your developer’s expertise. Your developer would then create a custom template which differs from a mass-produced template, in that it is specifically tailored to your requirements.

Website Templates

A prebuilt website theme/template is a tool that allows a user to place content and images in a mass-produced predefined layout. This layout is connected to a content management system (CMS), which stores the information in a database for display on the site.

Advantages

Less Development Time

A website template allows you to create a website in a shorter time frame. You can place information and images in the pre-constructed layout that allows you to make changes and updates yourself. The end product will largely depend on your own eye for design and layout and content development, unless you hire a competent web developer to assist you.

Lower Cost

There are many affordable templates available on self hosted website providers or via open source content management systems. These will vary in terms of quality and functionality.

Disadvantages

All Templates Are Not Created Equally

Templates will vary in terms of how easy they are to use. Popular content management systems, like WordPress, are relatively user friendly yet may be difficult for a first time user to fully grasp the powerful tools at his or her fingertips. Getting familiar with a specific CMS may require some patience and may not be the quick and easy option you envision when you first start working with one, especially if you consider yourself technically challenged.

May Slow Down Your Site

Many website templates are built with extra components to accommodate a wide subset of users. This means the template uses additional website resources and may lead to poor load times, especially on slower internet connections.

May Break When Updated

Templates often require periodic updates and may occur without issue.  However, they may also cause the template to break, which will affect the layout of the website. The extent to which the website may be affected depends on the specific issue with the update. While these may be fixed by getting in contact with the creator/distributor of the template, this may come at an additional cost if it requires hands on technical support. I recall purchasing a popular WordPress template some year ago and finally abandoned it because the theme would break with major WordPress updates. I would then have to rollback the WordPress update and wait for the theme developer to push out their updates. Delaying WordPress updates created security risks and my site got hacked a few times.

May be Unsecure

Templates are hosted on third party websites which may be unsecure. This can sometimes lead to malicious codes being injected into the template structure, if the creator of the template no longer maintains it. Subsequently, when you download or update an unsafe template you may be exposing your website to a virus, which could corrupt your database and/or affect your website’s layout and other critical components.

Less geared towards branding and Extending Functionality

A template will often look generic and be used on multiple sites. You may also be limited to the types of changes you can make and the level of customization you can employ. While there are templates that may be extended to add extra functionality via plugins, these plugins may cause conflicts with the website architecture and break the layout.

May not necessarily be SEO compliant

A template is not guaranteed to be SEO compliant. Many affordable or free templates are created with mass production in mind. They are not primarily focused on any one site. Therefore it is up to the individual who uses the template to create his or her own SEO strategy. While this can be achieved with some patience, research, tools and time, this may not always be suitable for a novice who does not wish to delve into this territory.

Quicker is not always better. With the number of websites currently online, you should aim to stand out or ensure your website follows best practices with SEO and content strategy, UX design, and layout.  While you may save time putting together something rushed, you may end up with a final product that does disservice to your brand.

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