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To fit into the global market, as a business owner, you must adjust and be diverse. One way in doing so is getting your website translated into the global language which is the English Language or a multilingual website that depends on your target customers.

Based on the article written by Patrick Regan, there are ten (10) great reasons to translate your website and these are the following:

1. You want to expand your brand reach.
Targeting multilingual and global markets is a great way to sustain company growth, and localized websites are the best way to reach them. They’re key for:

• Drumming up brand awareness
• Educating potential customers, distributors, or partners about your brand and its offerings
• And providing engaging customer experiences by serving new customers in their preferred languages

2. Your brand is gaining popularity abroad.
Sometimes your reputation precedes you, and your brand takes off in a new market unexpectedly. If you discover an unexpected overseas interest in your products or services, keep the momentum going by translating your website. This shows your appreciation for your new customer base and gives them a platform to directly engage with your brand.

3. You already do business abroad.
If you’re already conducting business beyond your domestic market, it’s a best practice to provide localized information and support for international customers. Customers are far more likely to do more business with your brand when they can read product descriptions, understand shipping and payment options and transact in the language they’re most comfortable in.

4. Your competitors aren’t doing it—yet.
Having a translated website can differentiate your brand from the competition. Entering into a new market before your rivals can help you gain market share faster, and empowers you to set the standards for quality and services that your competitors will have to meet later.

5. Your competitors are already doing it.
Your competition may already be serving online customers in their preferred languages. To be relevant in those markets, you should translate your website, too. Luckily, there are translation solutions that get you in new markets fast, with brand-perfect translations that can give you an edge in UX and customer experience.

6. The law demands it.
Sometimes translation is more than just a best practice. In some markets and industries, it’s a legal requirement. Failing to meet these regulations won’t just result in lost business, but in penalties and fines, too.

7. The data suggests it.
Examine your website analytics. Besides your domestic market, where else is visitor traffic coming from? Are global visitors spending time navigating your site, or are they bouncing? Are they converting? Can they convert? Answering these questions with analytics data can reveal untapped markets that can be better served with multilingual websites.

8. You want the SEO benefits.
Your website is more than a platform for customers to engage and transact with your brand. You also reap SEO benefits from online content, which boosts search rankings and organic traffic. Multilingual websites multiply these benefits. The translated content is full of SEO-rich keywords that greatly help with discovery when users search in their preferred languages.

9. You want a boost in traffic and revenue.
Global users who can’t read your website won’t find you, and if they don’t find you, they won’t convert.

Making your content available in new languages will attract new customers, grow your website traffic, and ultimately lead to conversions. Conversions need not be limited to on-site transactions. Even non-transactional websites benefit from translation in the form of completed contact forms, informational downloads, and phone calls to sales reps.

10. You want to deliver a world-class customer experience.
Giving your multilingual and global customers an authentic online experience is the best reason to translate your website and can incorporate any or all the reasons above.

When you want to make new customers aware of your brand, support offerings you already provide, or do a better job of serving a market than your competitors, you do so by giving customers a CX that’s just as good as your origin websites. Your customers don’t just deserve that stellar experience—they expect it. Don’t let them down.

If you need help with digital marketing services such as website and mobile development, SEO, Lead generation, and other IT Services, Shourai can help. Send us a message here or email us at info@shourai.io

For more articles, click here.

Reference:

>https://www.motionpoint.com/blog/10-great-reasons-to-translate-your-website/

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An article from Thought Leadership enumerated some benefits as well as challenges of cultural diversity in the workplace. These are the following:

Benefits:

1. Diverse cultural perspectives can inspire creativity and drive innovation
2. Local market knowledge and insight make a business more competitive and profitable
3. Cultural sensitivity, insight, and local knowledge means higher quality, targeted marketing
4. Drawing from a culturally diverse talent pool allows an organization to attract and retain the best talent
5. A diverse skills base allows an organization to offer a broader and more adaptable range of products and services
6. Diverse teams are more productive and perform better
7. Greater opportunity for personal and professional growth

Challenges:

8. Colleagues from some cultures may be less likely to let their voices be heard
9. Integration across multicultural teams can be difficult in the face of prejudice or negative cultural stereotypes
10. Professional communication can be misinterpreted or difficult to understand across languages and cultures
11. Navigating visa requirements, employment laws, and the cost of accommodating workplace requirements can be difficult
12. Different understandings of professional etiquette
13. Conflicting working styles across teams

1. Benefit: Diverse cultural perspectives can inspire creativity and drive innovation

Our culture influences the way in which we see the world. A variety of viewpoints along with the wide-ranging personal and professional experience of an international team can offer new perspectives that inspire colleagues to see the workplace—and the world—differently.

Diversity of thought has been shown to breed creativity and drive innovation, helping to solve problems and meet customer needs in new and exciting ways. For example, cosmetic giant L’Oréal attributes much if its impressive success in emerging markets to its multicultural product development teams.

Multiple voices, perspectives, and personalities bouncing off one another can give rise to out-of-the-box thinking. By offering a platform for the open exchange of ideas, businesses can reap the biggest benefits of diversity in the workplace. A recent study from Forbes echoed this notion, concluding that “the best way to ensure the development of new ideas is through a diverse and inclusive workforce.”

2. Benefit: Local market knowledge and insight make a business more competitive and profitable

A multicultural workforce can give an organization an important edge when expanding into new markets. Often, a product or service needs to be adapted to succeed overseas. Understanding local laws, regulations, and customs, as well as the competitive landscape, can help a business to thrive. Moreover, local connections, native language skills, and cultural understanding can boost international business development exponentially.

And being more competitive ultimately means being more profitable. DiversityInc annually recognizes the top 50 most diverse companies and measures their success against the broader market. Recent research from McKinsey also underscores the fact that diversity is good for a business’s bottom line. In fact, ethnically diverse companies were shown to be 35% more likely to have financial returns above the national industry median.

3. Benefit: Cultural sensitivity, insight, and local knowledge means higher quality, targeted marketing

Cross-cultural understanding, along with local market knowledge, lends itself to the production of more effective marketing strategies and materials. For example, high-quality and culturally sensitive translations of websites, brochures, and other assets are essential. But these can be overlooked without the input of a native speaker.

Even brand taglines can get badly lost in translation. A frequently cited example is from KFC in China, whose chicken was marketed as so tasty, you’ll “eat your fingers off!” (A poor translation of their brand tagline, “Finger lickin’ good.”)

Market-specific knowledge and insight are invaluable when it comes to imagery and design, too. What might work well on a billboard for a British company could fail or offend elsewhere. A memorable McDonald print ad in Finland may have been considered clever locally, but it was seen as confusing and even grotesque by foreign audiences.

The danger of making a serious marketing blunder, which can cause irreparable damage to a brand or business abroad, can be mitigated by employing a diverse workforce with local marketing savvy.

4. Benefit: Drawing from a culturally diverse talent pool allows an organization to attract and retain the best talent

According to a Glassdoor survey, two-thirds of job hunters indicated that diversity was important to them when evaluating companies and job offers. In a competitive global job market, demonstrating that your business is invested in fostering a multicultural and inclusive environment can make you stand out to the right candidates. Making diversity an important part of the recruiting process will broaden your talent pool of prospective employees.

Not only does hiring from a more diverse talent pool makes your business attractive to ambitious, globally-minded candidates, it also helps you to keep them on board. Diversity, including diversity of gender, religion, and ethnicity, has been shown to improve retention and reduce the costs associated with employee turnover.

In a diverse workplace, employees are more likely to remain loyal when they feel respected and valued for their unique contribution. This, in turn, fosters mutual respect among colleagues who also value the diverse culture, perspectives, and experiences of their team members. An inclusive atmosphere of cross-cultural cooperation is an excellent way to bond colleagues and teams across the business.

“One of the main reasons I chose Hult was the incredible diversity of students and the international element we possess here. Studying and sharing a campus with students from different nationalities has been an awe-inspiring experience. Diversity and international exposure have always been important to the decisions I have made in my career.”

Vishnu Subramanian, Hult MIB Class of 2017

5. Benefit: A diverse skills base allows an organization to offer a broader and more adaptable range of products and services

By drawing from a culturally diverse talent pool, companies benefit from hiring professionals with a broad range of skills that are often not accessible when hiring locally. Globally oriented companies can add to their service range by leveraging the skills and experience their international employees bring to the table.

A broader skills base and a more potentially diverse offering of products and services can help your business to have the competitive advantage of adaptability. In today’s volatile and uncertain global business environment, nimble and adaptable organizations are the ones that thrive.

Adaptability means faster and more effective planning, development, and execution. A company with cultural and cognitive diversity can be quicker to spot a gap in the market. It will also have the global (or market-specific) insight and experience to help a new or adapted product to meet changing consumer behavior—and succeed.

6. Benefit: Diverse teams are more productive and perform better

The range of experience, expertise, and working methods that a diverse workplace offers can boost problem-solving capacity and lead to greater productivity. In fact, studies have shown organizations with a culture of diversity and inclusion are both happier and more productive.

Where working in homogeneous teams can seem easier, it can cause a business to settle for the status quo. Diversity, on the other hand, can breed healthy competition, stretching a team in a positive way to achieve their best. This atmosphere of healthy competition can lead to the optimization of company processes for greater efficiency. As a recent article in the Harvard Business Review argues, the challenges of working in a diverse team are one of the reasons why diverse teams perform better: “working on diverse teams produces better outcomes precisely because it’s harder.”

7. Benefit: Greater opportunity for personal and professional growth

Fundamentally, an inclusive and culturally diverse business will attract talented, ambitious, and globally-minded professionals who will appreciate the opportunity for personal and professional growth.

Working across cultures can be a truly enriching experiencing, allowing others to learn about perspectives and traditions from around the world. Bonding over similarities and differences can help you to become a global citizen, abandoning prejudices or an ethnocentric worldview—something that is increasingly valuable.

A diverse set of colleagues can be professionally enriching too—exposing you to new skills and approaches to work, and developing an international network that can take your career in exciting new directions or abroad.

8. Challenge: Colleagues from some cultures may be less likely to let their voices be heard

However, the presence of diverse brain power alone is not enough. It’s also critical to create an open and inclusive workplace environment, so all team members feel empowered to contribute.

This can be particularly challenging for colleagues from polite or deferential cultures. For instance, professionals from Asian countries such as Vietnam or Japan may feel less comfortable speaking up or sharing ideas, particularly if they are new to the team or in a more junior role.

Conversely, assertive colleagues from the U.S. or Western Europe, or those from Scandinavian countries who emphasize flat organizational hierarchy, may be more inclined to speak up meetings or negotiations when others don’t.

9. Challenge: Integration across multicultural teams can be difficult in the face of prejudice or negative cultural stereotypes

While local expertise is an invaluable asset, it’s also important to foster integration among teams to avoid colleagues from different countries working in isolation and limiting knowledge transfer.

This can be a challenge to overcome, particularly if there are underlying prejudices between cultures, making them less inclined to work together. Negative cultural stereotypes can be seriously detrimental to company morale and affect productivity. For instance, the centuries-long antipathy between the British and French, or the Polish and Germans can sometimes creep into the workplace.

Although not all stereotypes are necessarily negative—like the notion that Americans are confident or Asians are intelligent—all are simplifications that can prove limiting or divisive in the workplace. And while outright prejudice or stereotyping is a serious concern, ingrained and unconscious cultural biases can be a more difficult challenge of workplace diversity to overcome.

10. Challenge: Professional communication can be misinterpreted or difficult to understand across languages and cultures

While quality translations are key for effective marketing, there can also be a real risk of communication getting lost in translation among multicultural colleagues. Language barriers are just one challenge. Even in an office where everyone speaks English, comprehending a range of accents, or understanding a native-speaker’s use of idioms, can be difficult.

Moreover, effective cross-cultural communication comes down to much more than just words spoken. Non-verbal communication is a delicate and nuanced part of cultural interaction that can lead to misunderstandings or even offenses between team members from different countries. Things like comfortable levels of physical space, making or maintaining eye contact, and gesturing can all be vastly different across cultures.

Even something as simple as a greeting or handshake has cultural implications that should be considered in a work environment. Business Insider put together this useful infographic to highlight the differences in handshakes and professional greetings around the world:

11. Challenge: Navigating visa requirements, employment laws, and the cost of accommodating workplace requirements can be difficult

Despite the clear benefits, hiring talent from overseas can present an HR challenge. Not least among this is the complicated process of navigating employment laws and visa requirements for international workers. Requirements and regulations are different in each country and between countries and can change frequently.

Beyond visas, further accommodations for recruiting and retaining a culturally diverse workforce should be taken into account. For instance, providing a quiet space for prayer can make a workplace more welcoming and inclusive for employees with a range of beliefs, as can taking into account different cultural or religious holidays. Of course, these considerations and accommodations can sometimes be an added business cost as well as a logistical challenge.

12. Challenge: Different understandings of professional etiquette

Colleagues from different cultures can also bring with them different workplace attitudes, values, behaviors, and etiquette. While these can be enriching and even beneficial in a diverse professional environment, they can also cause misunderstandings or ill feelings between team members.

For instance, the expectation of formality (or relative informality), organizational hierarchy, and even working hours can conflict across cultures. Where a Japanese colleague may not feel it appropriate to leave work before their manager (or, indeed, anyone else), a Swedish professional may be used to a 6-hour working day.

Additionally, different approaches to punctuality, confrontation, or dealing with conflict can prove an issue.

13. Challenge: Conflicting working styles across teams

However, working styles and attitudes towards work can be very different, reflecting cultural values and compounding differences. If not recognized and accounted for, conflicting approaches to work can put the brakes on productivity.

For instance, approaches to teamwork and collaboration can vary notably. Some cultures, including many in Asia and Central America, value collective consensus when working towards a goal. Whereas others, such as Germany and America, put emphasis on the independence of the individual. Likewise, emphasis on order, rigor, and organization in the workplace versus flexibility and spontaneity can also reflect underlying cultural values.

For another article from Shourai about cultural diversity click here.

Reference:

https://www.hult.edu/blog/benefits-challenges-cultural-diversity-workplace/

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People have switched to online business most especially with the pandemic situation that started last year.

So, let’s talk about e-commerce which is one of the technology trends that is being used more often these days.

To be able to help your business grow with e-commerce, here are some keys from MoEngage:

1. Mobile is on Move

Mobile is not the future of the e-commerce world, it’s the present now. With each passing day, the number of smartphone users is rising, and the role of smartphones in e-commerce traffic is getting crucial, as customers in a large number are using smartphones for online shopping. The number of smartphone users for online shopping has crossed more than half of the world population. The desktop still is the primary method for customers for their e-commerce shopping. However, it won’t last long, as global trends in the e-commerce sector disclose that mobile devices will be the primary technology utilized to find out, conduct research, and buy goods/services.

In a nutshell, smartphone users will be the center of your business operations. Mobile optimization has a direct influence on the rank of your online store on any search engine, and mobile-friendliness is now a prominent factor in the ranking algorithm. You can comprehend it with one example that 40% of mobile device users will look for a competitor after having a bad experience.

2. Mobile Wallet and App

Only optimizing your e-commerce business for mobiles isn’t sufficient now. You need to integrate the functionality of a mobile wallet into your business website. Besides, you should think about the launch of a mobile application for your online business. A user-friendly mobile app is one of the essential technology trends for e-commerce in 2019. As the number of online shopping customers is rising, the buyers comprehend the advantages and add the security of using a mobile wallet for the payment of their online shopping. It means that your mobile patrons expect to use a wallet to give a final touch to their online shopping. Integrating a mobile wallet into your e-commerce will increase your sales.

It is more convenient for shoppers to purchase online using a mobile app, as it gives a more mesmeric atmosphere for them. Your mobile app is like a departmental store while the website is like a pop-up shop.

3. Voice Search

In the current world, we have a large number of virtual assistants such as Google Voice Search, Amazon Alexa, Cortana, Viv, Google Home, and Siri. These virtual assistants have been training customers to use their voice for their search on search engines. With time, voice search will be one of the significant innovation drivers for e-commerce. Google has marked that more than 20% of mobile device queries are based on voice. Besides, more than 40% of millenarians do their searches via a voice assistant.

You can term voice search technology as a crucial step to ensure customers’ loyalty. The use of AI (artificial intelligence) is meant for comprehending the search query well and serving the customers with the most appropriate answers/results.

4. Product Customization

The importance of allowing customization of the product is increasing, and it is becoming one of the crucial components in the e-commerce world. Additionally, product customization is one of the emerging technology trends for the e-commerce business as well. As product customization makes customers’ purchases convenient, it has the potential to remove the hassles of online purchases and caters to the needs of today’s buyers.

Automation is playing a pivotal role in the customization of products/services. For instance, YouTube offers a recommended video playlist as per the behavior of a user. The service gets more customized for the customers with their usage pattern.

Several different businesses across the globe are using the same process. From the choice of entertainment, clothes, furniture to furnishing, product customization has become more one than a trend. Businesses are customizing the products to make their customers’ purchases convenient and comfortable for them.

5. ROPO / ROBO will rise

ROPO (Research Online, Purchase Offline) or ROBO (Research Online, Buy Offline) has been a noteworthy trend for the last few years. However, it can’t be taken as the evolution of the e-commerce business world. It can be viewed as the pinnacle of the online shopping technologies of the last decade.

With ROBO or ROPO, customers find it more convenient to search for products/services at the best probable prices. On the other hand, ROPO helps e-commerce business owners to track their offline conversions.

As a business owner, you need to strengthen your digital marketing strategies around the trend of ROBO. Backed by several metrics and techniques such as CRM, consumer shopping history, mobile payment, and social integration, you can individually fulfill the need of ROBO shoppers.

Apart from the trends mentioned above, trends like subscription-based services, product visualization, augmented and virtual reality, adoption of big data and analysis, and dropshipping are the ones that will revolutionize the e-commerce world.

E-commerce technology has been greatly improved compared to the past years and that does not stop even up to this day. It is still improving and will even grow in the next years to come.

If you need help with digital marketing services such as website and mobile development, SEO, Lead generation, and other IT Services, Shourai can help. Send us a message here or email us at info@shourai.io

Topic: E-commerce Technology Is Your Best Bet To Grow

For more articles, click here.

References:

https://www.moengage.com/blog/5-e-commerce-technology-trends-that-will-shape-the-future/

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Anyone can succeed at marketing strategy. all you have to do is understand your market and its methods and put your plan into action.

These 10 marketing strategies from an article on Entreprenuer website will help fuel your business growth.

1. Use social media.

You can’t ignore social media. That’s where all the so-called magic is happening. Some businesses have been built solely on the backs of social media. It can be intimidating at first. Sure. But as you build momentum, you’ll find posting on social media to get easier and easier over time.

Of course, you could also hire a social media manager if you have money to burn. But if you don’t, just be yourself. Be authentic. Post your thoughts. Post your products. Post anything that you find relevant and useful that would help your audience either learn more about you and your business or about the industry that you’re in.

Use direct messages on platforms like Instagram and even Snapchat or Twitter to reach out to other successful businesses or even to communicate with potential customers who might be looking for your products and services. This is very powerful marketing.

2. Create video tutorials.

One of the most effective ways to get the word out on your business is to create video tutorials. Teach people something useful. Walk them through it. Hold their hands. Step-by-step tutorials are all the rage. The better you are at this, and the more value you provide, the quicker you can boost your visibility, and ultimately, your sales.

Today, YouTube is the second-largest search engine in the world behind Google. Whenever someone wants to learn something visually, they head there. You’ve likely done it yourself countless times. So just ask yourself what you could teach in your business that would help consumers solve some pain point? What got you into business in the first place?

3. Start blogging now.

Sure, you could start a blog. If you don’t have a blog for your business, then you need to start one immediately. But you don’t just have to blog on your own blog. Most people find blogging mundane because they lack visibility. The truth is that your blog is going to be like a barren desert unless you know what you’re doing.

But this isn’t just about posting your ideas on your own blog. You should start authority blogging. Use platforms like Medium to post content. Answer questions on Quora and Reddit. Or get out there onto LinkedIn’s publishing platform. These are all authority domains that anyone can post on, which have massive audiences, giving you instant and immediate reach right now.

When you do blog, ensure that you blog effectively. Don’t post thin content. Think about adding value. Worried about revealing all your business secrets? Don’t be. Give away the farm. Give people so much value that you instantly become an authority in their eyes. This is one of the most powerful strategies you can use to market any business.

4. Understand search engine optimization. 

This is an area of marketing that I’m incredibly passionate about. But it’s also an area that many people are deathly frightened by. Yes, SEO can be frightening. But it can also be powerful. And when you learn to leverage it and you learn SEO the right way, the sky truly is the limit.

There are companies out there who teach you how to use shady PBNs and other link schemes to “trick” Google. It might get short-term results, but in the long term, you’ll land in hot water. You can’t take shortcuts with SEO. Just like in business, you have to put in the work and the time if you want to see the results.

Some tips for doing this the right way? Don’t spam keywords. Hands down. This is one of the biggest mistakes most people make. Create your content for humans while also paying homage to search engines. But more importantly, ensure that whatever it is that you’re conveying is insightful, engaging, unique, and adds a tremendous amount of value.

5. Leverage influencers.

Want to get the word out there and boost your visibility on social media without taking years to build the audience? Then you should certainly leverage influencers. But the key is to find the right influencer. You don’t have to go with influencers with millions of followers. You could opt for micro-influencers with tens of thousands or even a hundred thousand followers.

The trick? Find the right influencer in your niche so that you’re targeting the right audience. It’s not just about spreading your message. It’s about spreading your message to the right consumer base. If you can do that properly, then you can likely reach a sizable audience for not much money invested when you think about the potential profit it can return.

If your sales systems and products are in place, then this makes sense. If you have an offer that’s clearly converting, and it’s simply about more visibility, then this is likely the right marketing strategy for you right now. Assess the situation and reach out to influencers and gauge their pricing. Do small tests and see what works, then scale.

6. Build a great lead magnet.

So much effectiveness in marketing really does boil down to creating a great lead magnet. I’ve found that the right lead magnet presented to the right audience can have explosive results. The best way to do this is if you can identify the right pain points and present a solution in your lead magnet, then you’re well on your way.

What problem are consumers facing in your niche? What made you get into business in the first place? Ask yourself these questions before building out your lead magnet. The better you identify the problem or pain points at the outset, the better you’ll be at actually addressing that with a solution in your lead magnet.

What type of lead magnet should you build? That could either be an ebook, a cheat sheet, a checklist, a video, and others. Of course, it’s not just about the lead magnet. You have to have a squeeze page with sizzling sales copy to get people to drop into your funnel. But it all starts with a great lead magnet. The better it is, the more effective you’ll be at reaching your audience.

7. Use Facebook ads with re-targeting.

One of the most powerful methods you can use to market just about anything these days are Facebook ads. With Facebook, you can reach a very specific audience and you can do it very easily. You can target by interest, age, relationship status, geographic location, and so much much more.

But the trick here to getting great results isn’t just about click-traffic. You have to focus on conversions and re-targeting through pixels. If you don’t know how to install the Facebook Pixel on your site, then you absolutely must learn how to do this right now. Even if you’re not running Facebook ads, you can build your audience with a pixel.

Pixels track everyone who comes to your site, and you can build custom audiences around them. For example, if you post content about how to learn to drive a semi-truck, and you track visitors with pixels, you can then market truck driving certification to people who have already shown an interest in that already because they visited that specific page. And your conversions will skyrocket.

8. Use LinkedIn the right way.

Do you have a video on your LinkedIn profile? Did you know that you can easily add one? Why not take the time to introduce yourself and your business. Link that to your profile description. This is an easy way to passively market your business, and when it’s done right, it can lead to shocking results.

If you have lots of connections on LinkedIn and you’re not really posting on there, start immediately. You can reach a large audience, especially when your posts go viral. This is a great place to convey the entrepreneurial journey. Talk about your challenges and tell stories. The more effective your stories, the larger your potential reach when you go viral.

9. Create an affiliate program.

Most people don’t understand the power of affiliate marketing. Affiliates can provide massive fuel for growth. But approaching the right partners isn’t always that easy. You have to have good conversion if you want the bigger affiliate to take you seriously.

I’ve found that navigating the affiliate minefield can be tricky. It takes persistence and it takes true grit to make it through. Most of us get discouraged after a few setbacks, but you can’t allow emotions to get in the way when it comes to affiliate. Build an affiliate program and start reaching out to potential affiliates who can assist you.

There are loads of websites you can use as well such as E. Brian Ross’s JVZoo, or Tim and Eileen Barber’s ClickBank and Commission Junction to get the word out.

Related: The Affiliate Marketing Model: A Blueprint for Success in the Gig Economy

10. Use Email Marketing Sequences

Part of any good sales funnel is going to be an email marketing sequence. These are the automated messages that go out to users once they subscribe to your list. Use your email sequence to build a relationship with the subscriber. Be authentic and transparent. And convey your journey.

Use the email responses and clicks to segment your list. For example, if someone clicks on a specific link, they’ve clearly shown an interest in something. Tag that subscriber to market to them later. If someone buys, tag them as a buyer. Identifying your buyers and the interests of your subscribers is huge for segmenting.

When you do send broadcasts, split test. Split test everything, in fact, You never really do know what’s going to be the most effective until you pull the trigger and really test it out. This will help you understand what your audience responds to better, making you a better communicator, and better able to sell to your customers.

Here is another source from Coschedule that provided 10 Examples of Different Types of Marketing Strategies:

1. Social Media Marketing Strategy: This may encompass both organic and paid social strategies across platforms.
2. Email Marketing Strategy: Email marketing can quickly become complex. Having a plan is essential.
3. Inbound Marketing Strategy: This encompasses strategies that pull customers in — rather than using disruptive tactics, such as traditional advertising.
4. Content Marketing Strategy: Closely associated with inbound marketing but more specifically focused on the creation of content that pulls audiences in.
5. Editorial Strategy: For brand publishers, an editorial strategy, like what a news or media organization would have, maybe essential.
6. Marketing Communications Strategy: A strategy focused primarily on your brand messaging.
7. Digital Marketing Strategy: Could encompass all digital marketing (e.g. PPC, SEO, paid and organic social media, email — all things digital).
8. Internal Marketing Strategy: Large organizations may have internal marketing needs as well, like persuading internal stakeholders to support initiatives or just keeping staff informed and brought into the company’s mission.
9. Public Relations Strategy: PR strategies can often be complex, and in addition to customers, must consider building relationships with the publics and stakeholders, like the media, government decision-makers, and other influential entities and institutions.
10. SEO Strategy: Organic search is one of the most important traffic drivers for any website or business on the Internet. Success requires, you guessed it, a strategy.

No matter which type of strategy you plan and execute, they all follow the same basic principles:

• Who are you trying to reach? These are your target customers or audiences you need to buy a product, make a donation, persuade to support an idea, or take another action that supports your objectives.
• Where will you try to reach them? These network and channel-specific strategies put an emphasis on this area.
• How will you inspire them to take action and buy from you? Your branding, channels, and tactics come into play here.
• Which ways will you measure success? If you can’t measure it, then it didn’t happen. You must prove your strategy drives results.

If you need help with digital marketing services such as website and mobile development, SEO, Lead generation, and other IT Services, Shourai can help. Send us a message here or email us at info@shourai.io

For more articles, click here.

References:

>https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/299335
>https://coschedule.com/marketing-strategy/

The post Marketing Strategies: An Incredibly Easy Method That Works For All appeared first on Shourai Ltd..

In order for your business to survive and to drive profits during an economic downturn, here are some tips from an article by Strategy Beam:

1. Audit & Analyze Past Performance

You and your team need to invest a limited marketing budget into initiatives that deliver results. There is no room for error, and the only way to know what is working is to look at past data and analytics.

The good news is that you can review performance data from Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and other marketing platforms to determine what you should cut and what you should keep.

This data helps you make smart business decisions, plus this information can help you discover what your customers are looking for so you can guide your marketing strategy forward.

Top tips for using audits and analytics in a marketing strategy during a tough economy:

• Invest in channels and content that resonate with your customers.
• Use Google Analytics and other data points to understand what channels and types of content your customers engage with the most.
• Direct your marketing strategy around the questions that your customers ask.
• Build personas and unique content to improve your marketing strategy during an economic downturn.

2. Email Marketing

Email marketing is one of the most cost-effective marketing channels because it can build loyalty and trust for your brand.

Building a list of customers and prospects should be a priority for your business at all times because you can use this information to speak directly to your customers.

You can deliver relevant content right to your customers because you know who your audience is and how they engage with your business.

Be sure to personalize your emails and segment your email list based on the types of products, services, and demographics of your customers. You can generate a lot of sales during tough economic times by using an email marketing strategy that addresses the needs of your customers.

Top tips for using email marketing during a recession:

• Organize your customers into different groups based on the type of products and services purchased.
• Automate as much as possible, but make sure your email messages are personalized and only include relevant information for your readers.
• Use follow-up “drip campaigns” to engage with customers who do not take action with your initial emails.
• Always include a clear Call To Action (CTA) in each message. This will direct your customers to the next steps for your business goals.

3. SEO Marketing

SEO marketing is a valuable part of your company’s marketing strategy during a recession because SEO helps position your company as a leader as customers go through the Buyer’s Journey.

SEO is a long-term marketing strategy, and if you build a strong foundation and invest in smart SEO, you can actually lower overall advertising costs. While this marketing channel requires ongoing investment, SEO marketing can position your business above your competition in a recession.

People will continue to need your products and services, and you can use SEO marketing to outrank your competition for specific keywords used in Google and other search engines. Since demand is reduced during tough economic times, you will need every option available to attract more sales and boost your online presence on search engines.

Top tips for SEO marketing in a recession:

• Focus on keywords used by your customers as they search for your product or services. Invest in long-tail keywords since people who use these terms are more likely to buy at that time.
• Build content with a clear goal in mind. Don’t waste time or resources, building lots of content without a larger plan. You can create a content calendar and use research strategies to understand what your customers are searching for.
• Be sure to distribute your content on relevant sites to reach your customers. Content that does not serve the needs of your customer or drives business goals is wasted time and resources.

4. Gather More User Reviews & Testimonials

Customer reviews are an essential piece of any local SEO marketing strategy, and this is especially true when marketing your business in a recession. Customer reviews have the power to influence a purchasing decision because they strengthen your company’s reputation.

As we have already discussed, a recession means that your business is facing a time when customer trust and confidence is down. Not only are fewer people looking for products and services, but they are also even more worried about making the wrong decision with their limited resources.

This means that you need to do everything you can to build trust with prospects. Your team should put more time and energy to increase the number of user reviews from past and current clients, and then use these reviews in all content to power your marketing strategy in a recession.

Top tips to maximize user reviews in your economic downturn marketing strategy:

• Reach out to past and current customers to ask for a review on Google, Facebook, or Yelp. You should contact all customers in your book of business who have not left a review in the past.
• There are plenty of Reputation Management programs that you can use to contact customers, but you can also email individuals with a request to leave your business a review. Be sure to check the Terms of Service on different review sites to understand what you can and can’t do when requesting a review.
• Get the most value out of your customer reviews by using reviews across your business marketing strategy. Place reviews on your website near CTA buttons, and include testimonials in your email marketing campaigns.

5. Content Marketing

Content Marketing is one of the best ways to educate, influence, and close sales during an economic downturn. This marketing channel goes hand-in-hand with SEO marketing, and you can use different types of content to help customers along the Buyer’s Journey.

You will need to write lots of blog content and other forms of media to get the most out of this marketing channel for your business.

There are different types of content that you can create based on your industry, the needs of your customers, and your business goals. Regardless of what content you create, you will need to invest all Content Marketing efforts into building information that builds trust and confidence with your audience.

It’s important to note that Content Marketing requires time and resources to execute correctly, so you should take time to review your analytics (see point #1 of this list) to make sure your content meets the needs of your customers.

Top tips for Content Marketing strategy in a recession:

• Review analytics and develop a more extensive plan before creating content. This is important because your content needs to address the questions and needs of your customers.
• Integrate content across different channels, like email marketing and social media. This approach allows your content to live on different channels and reach a broader audience, which makes your Content Marketing efforts even more valuable.
• Track content performance in tools like Google Search Console, Google Analytics, and other analytics platforms to learn what is working.
• As you learn what works, you should commit to developing more content that performs best and meets your business goals.
• Create content around the needs and questions of your customers. Tough economic times create fear and uncertainty, and you should build content to address these new variables.

6. Focus Your Budget On Google Ads Marketing Campaigns

While you may reduce your marketing budget during tough economic times, it’s crucial to only cut costs that don’t generate direct profits. This means that you should focus spend on marketing channels that drive revenue for your business.

The great thing about PPC is that you have a lot of control over who, when, and what people see, so you won’t spend money talking to an audience that won’t buy from you. In addition, you can also track everything within Google Ads, so you can optimize campaigns based on past and current performance.

One of the most effective marketing channels for any business looking for direct sales during an economic downturn is through Google Ads. This platform allows your business to reach qualified leads, and you can generate sales once you properly optimize campaigns around the needs of your customers.

Instead of spending a reduced marketing budget on initiatives that won’t drive direct sales, you can optimize PPC campaigns to reach qualified prospects that will turn to pay customers.

Top tips to maximize PPC marketing during an economic downturn:

• Turn off campaigns that have not performed well in the past.
• Tighten targeting options on Google Ads campaigns that you keep running. This will result in less engagement, but each engagement will be
• more qualified and lead to more sales.
• Run A/B tests on select campaigns to see how to maximize each click and write compelling ad copy to drive more engagement.

7. Remarketing Campaigns On Facebook & Google

You will likely have to reduce your marketing budget during a recession, and this means that you need to make every dollar count. Your business can boost sales if you remarket to people who visit your website with Google Display Remarketing and Facebook Remarketing.

Remarketing campaigns are simply initiatives that tag browsers whenever someone visits your website. Since someone visited your site, you can assume that they are qualified and interested in your products or services.

Instead of letting prospects forget about you, you can use remarketing to engage with your audience once they leave your site. This channel is essential because you need to convert every prospect and close every sale if you want to survive an economic downturn.

Facebook remarketing campaigns are some of the least expensive and more effective marketing campaigns because you can show ads on Facebook to people who have visited your site in the past.

Top tips for using remarketing in a marketing strategy in a recession:

• Create specific ad groups for different pages on your site. Each ad group should have unique creative and ad copy based on the type of content that your prospects visit on your website.
• Keep a close eye on how much you spend for each click on remarketing campaigns. You can adjust spend preferences on Google and
• Facebook and you should set this amount based on your marketing budget and the value of products/services sold.

If you need help with digital marketing services such as website and mobile development, SEO, Lead generation, and other IT Services, Shourai can help. Send us a message here or email us at info@shourai.io

For more articles, click here.

Reference:

>https://www.strategybeam.com/blog/7-cost-effective-marketing-strategies-to-use-in-a-recession/

The post Secrets To Promoting Business Online – Even In This Down Economy appeared first on Shourai Ltd..

Nick Schaferhoff of Websitesetup.org provided the 27 quickest & easiest ideas for an online business for beginners and these are the following:

1. Start a Blog and Monetize it

In 2021, it’s easier to start a blog than ever before, and your blog can also be a big potential source of income (if you know how to monetize it).

Keep in mind that you don’t just start a blog and expect the money to roll in. You need to create content consistently, and it also needs to be content that educates, informs, or entertains people. In other words, it needs to capture their interest in some way.

What’s more, you need to sell something through the blog. This can be ad space, products, digital products, sponsored posts, coaching, ebooks, etc.

But if you’re willing to put in the work and you’re in it for the long haul, blogging can be extremely profitable (some bloggers make $50k per month or more).

Here are some resources to help you get started with your first blog:

• How to Start a Blog
• How to Increase Blog Traffic
• How to Monetize a Blog

2. Get Started With Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is basically the process of earning a commission by promoting somebody else’s product.

There are two main ways most people do affiliate marketing:

• Information products. You promote products like ebooks, membership sites, video series, etc. This type of affiliate marketing can earn you up to 50% or more in commission, has relatively low barriers to entry, and it’s easy to find products to promote.
• Amazon partners. Many affiliate marketers have success with Amazon. There are literally millions of products to choose from, and it can be quite profitable. For more information, you can check out the Amazon Associates Program.

Quick side note: Before you start affiliate marketing, it helps to have at least a basic knowledge of SEO and copywriting (more on each of these later).

That being said, you can read a few copywriting books and look through the beginner’s guide to SEO from Moz to help you get started.

3. Set Up an E-Commerce Site

One of the best ways to earn online income is by setting up an e-commerce store.

Here’s the plus side: if you try to go the route of affiliate marketing, the best affiliate marketers are focused on 3 main niches; dating, weight loss, and making money online. You would have to compete with the best of the best, and it’s not easy.

With the e-commerce route, in many markets, you’ll be competing against old-school business people who may or may not have any internet marketing experience. Many of them have glitchy, out-of-date websites, which leaves you a lot of room for improvement, and you can capitalize on their shortcomings.

It’s still not easy by any means. It requires hard work, and you need to stand out amongst the hundreds of thousands of e-commerce websites and online stores. But by filling a unique niche and executing the right marketing techniques, you can make your e-commerce store a profitable success.

Here are some tips to help you get started with your e-commerce store:

• Find a profitable market. Brainstorm some ideas, do keyword research, and try to get as specific as possible. For example, there is probably a lot of competition for selling surfboards. But if you narrow it down to surfboard racks, you may have a better chance of standing out in the market.
• Ask yourself, “Is the product expensive?” There are costs associated with manufacturing, distribution, reselling, etc. If your product isn’t expensive (at least $50 or more), there may be no profit left by the time you sell the product.
• Ask yourself, “Is the product in a growth market?” If your market has already passed its peak (i.e., the VCR market) and is on the downslope, you probably don’t want to get involved. Instead, you want to get into an industry that’s on the upswing – that’s where you’ll have the most profit and growth potential.
• Consider building a Shopify store. Shopify is a system built for e-commerce. With some basic web knowledge, you can set up a good-looking store very quickly, with a low-cost investment and with no coding needed. Shopify has a 30-day free trial too, so you can get started without spending a dime.

Here are some additional resources for creating a successful online store:

• How to Start an Online Store
• How to Build an Online Store using WooCommerce
• Best eCommerce Platforms

4. Self-Publish a Book on Amazon

Have you ever thought of writing a book, but didn’t know where to get started? All the publishing nonsense, editing, and formatting, marketing, etc.?

With Amazon, you can self-publish a book fairly easily, and really make money from it. There are some simple and inexpensive guides to help you write your book AND have it generate consistent income.

Here’s the secret sauce: If you can launch your book and get a few hundred sales in the first week, Amazon will take over and start promoting it for you. This way you can make some real money from it. It’s actually easier than it sounds, but we’ll get to that in a minute.

Here are a few tips for writing a book:

• Validate the book by giving a survey to friends, an email list, and/or survey sites like PickFu. By validating your idea before you write the book, you’ll improve the odds of people willing to buy your book (and you’re not wasting your time by writing it.)
• Create an outline and stick to it if possible.
• Set aside at least 30 minutes to an hour each day to write.
• Format the book according to Amazon’s standards.

Once the book is written and formatted, you can head over to KDP.amazon.com. Log in with your Amazon account, then under “Create a New Title”, select “Kindle eBook.”

Here’s a good strategy for your book’s launch week (to get 100+ sales):

1. Set the price at 99 cents for the first week.
2. Run a 99 cent promotion with sites like Buck Books and Robin Reads.
3. Post a book excerpt on a relevant subreddit and link it to your book page at the end.
4. Post 1-2 guest posts during the launch week that link back to your book page.
5. Blast your email list multiple times.
6. By the end of the week, hopefully, your book has eclipsed the top 5,000 or 10,000 overall paid ranking. From there, raise the price to $2.99, and continue raising the price $1 at a time every few days until it stops selling (then, lower it back by a dollar). This will tell you the optimal price for your book.

(Here’s a case study of a book that used this strategy to launch successfully and consistently bring in $3-$4K a month in profit.)

5. Create a Digital Product or Course

Creating a digital product or course is similar to writing an ebook. You’re monetizing your expertise by teaching it to others.

That being said, you don’t have the benefit of Amazon promoting your course. You have to do the promoting yourself through your own website, your email lists, and possibly through affiliate partnerships. You also need to create a compelling sales page that will convince visitors to buy from you.

If you don’t already have an audience, it might be better to self-publish on Amazon first. That way, you can validate your course idea, grow your email list (just make sure to have an email opt-in at the front and back of the book), and more or less create a rough draft of the course (since it will probably be similar to the book).

Here are some additional resources to help you with an online course creation:

• TheRiseToTheTop.com – David Siteman Garland’s website that’s helped thousands of entrepreneurs launch profitable online courses.
• Monetize Your Expertise Podcast – Helpful episodes by online course expert Grant Weherley to help you start your first online course.

6. Become a YouTuber

Videos are becoming more and more popular. From Instagram and Snapchat Stories to Facebook Live videos, videos will only continue to grow. If you’ve always loved the thought of being behind the camera, now is the time you can take advantage.

Whether it be starting a vlog and getting ad revenue/selling products to your audience, or building a YouTube channel to drive more traffic to your website – 2021 is a great time to get started.

Not only will making YouTube videos help you tell better stories and provide more valuable content to your audience – it can also help you get profitable speaking opportunities.

The best part is, you don’t even need to go out and buy an expensive new camera – as long as you have a smartphone with a quality camera lens, you can start filming your first video right now!

7. Start App Development

Mobile apps are getting more and more popular by the year. If you have an idea for a cool, useful, and/or fun app for a phone or a tablet, this may be the way to go.

It helps to have some coding knowledge, but it’s not an absolute necessity. There are plenty of software developers looking to collaborate with people on app creation.

Word of caution: the app market is saturated right now, so make sure you validate your app and do your research before investing lots of money in your idea.

Here are some resources to help you in the app development process:

• How to Build Your First Mobile App by Entrepreneur
• How to Find and Hire the Best App Developers by Yalantis

8. Learn Facebook Advertising

Facebook continues to expand and grow. Therefore businesses are spending more on Facebook ads. But here’s the problem: a lot of old-school businesses don’t know what they’re doing when it comes to Facebook ads. Even newer companies don’t have the time it takes to learn the ins and outs so that they get the most return on their Facebook ads investment.

Consequently, they’re looking for Facebook ad specialists to step in and do it for them. Luckily, this is something you can learn fairly quickly. Once you do, you can reach out to businesses and offer to help create profitable Facebook ads.

Here are some Facebook Ad resources you can learn from:

• How to Create the Perfect Facebook Ad in Minutes
• The Beginner’s Guide to Facebook Advertising by AdEspresso

9. Learn and Master SEO

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) refers to getting a website to rank higher for certain “search terms” in search engines like Google. When a website ranks higher, it gets more relevant traffic and in turn, can make more revenue.

This is another highly valued skill in the internet marketing world. That being said, it can be a bit difficult because Google is always changing its algorithms. With it, some of the rules of search change. You always have to be on the leading edge, learning, and testing new strategies.

If you can master SEO, companies will always be willing to pay you for your help.

10. Become a Copywriter

Copywriting is the art and science of strategically delivering words (whether written or spoken) that get people to take some form of action. It can range from anything to sales pages, to email marketing, to even quality blog content.

If you have a natural inclination and passion for writing, copywriting may be your ticket to earning online income.

It’s a great way to achieve freedom in your life. Not only does copywriting allow you to work remotely, but it also allows you to control your schedule. Plus, learning the skill itself will help you in many areas of online business (i.e. building a blog, affiliate marketing, etc. – when you can write in a compelling way, all of these become much easier!)

11. Skype Coaching

Do you have expertise that you’d like to help people with? Then Skype coaching may be a potential option for you. Basically, you hop on Skype and provide assistance to your coaching clients. This can come in the form of daily, weekly, or monthly calls.

There are Skype coaches for just about everything – life coaches, health coaches, dating coaches, etc.

Note: It’s much easier to market your coaching services when you also have a blog on your coaching topic.

12. Buy and Flip Domains

You’ve probably heard of people who buy and “flip” real estate, right? They buy a house for a relatively good price, fix it up a little bit, and then resell it for a nice profit.

It’s the same idea for buying and flipping domains. Whether it’s your own domain, or whether you’re looking to buy somebody else’s site and flip it, this can be a good source of online income.

You can use resources like Empire Flippers to both buy and sell your domains.

13. Start a Podcast

A podcast can be a great revenue generator.

As you grow your podcast, you can offer paid sponsorships and sell your own products and services. Through the podcast, you’ll be able to earn the trust of your listeners, which makes them that much more likely to buy what you have to offer.

14. Dropshipping

Dropshipping is when you create an online store to sell other people’s products (i.e you don’t do any of the manufacturing or shipping). Then, you get a commission for each sale.

The benefit here is that you don’t have to risk buying up stock in a product and losing money if it doesn’t sell. The entry barrier is lower and you don’t have to invest nearly as much to get started.

If you’d like to learn how to dropship, Drop Ship Lifestyle is one of the best resources to help you get started.

15. Freelance Pay Per Click Consulting

(These are PPC ads)

You ever saw those sponsored ads at the top of your Google search results? That’s Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising in action.

It’s a form of internet marketing in which advertisers pay a fee each time one of their ads is clicked. Put simply, it’s a way of buying visits to your site.

If you can master this skill, you can offer the service to other businesses.

16. Sell Products on eBay

Sure it’s a bit old school, but people are still making lots of money on eBay. To start selling, you can do something simple like head to a local clothing store and buy some clothing on sale.

Then, you can list it on eBay for a higher price, and if it sells, you can reinvest the profit in more clothing and continue making more profit.

It requires some strategy and planning but is surely a profitable way of online business.

17. Become a Web Developer

A web developer is someone who knows how to build a website from the bottom up. In order to do this, you need to learn coding, which will take time and hard work. But if you’re willing to put in the effort, it can pay quite well.

Here are some tips for learning to code and getting started with web development.

18. Invest Your Time in Graphic Design

Ever saw a beautiful sales page or a website design that really jumps out at you? That’s all due to a graphic designer.

Graphic designers are basically visual communicators. They design web pages, sales pages, logos, and really anything else that needs to look sharp.

To be a great graphic designer, you don’t need to be great at drawing, you don’t need a college degree, and you don’t need to buy a fancy expensive computer. But you do need to be a visual thinker, you do need to specialize in something, and you definitely need a portfolio.

19. Build Niche Sites

The idea behind a niche website is to target a specific niche (for example, a specific kind of photography), rank on Google for the keywords related to that niche, and then turn that traffic into earnings through affiliate offers or through selling your own products.

A lot of research goes into this – you should be ready for a bit of workload. If you create a good niche site, it can bring you an extra $500 a month or more.

For further reading, check out this post from Sean Ogle: How to Build a Niche Site that Brings in $500 a Month

20. Start a Consulting Business

Do you have tons of knowledge in a specific field? Then you may have what it takes to be a highly paid online consultant.

As a consultant, you simply must apply the knowledge, skills, and experience you have in a specific field to help clients solve a problem or issue they have in that field.

For further reading, check out this post from USA Today: How to Become a Highly Paid Consultant

21. Start a Paid Private Facebook Group

A paid private Facebook group provides you with the chance to create a highly engaged community.

It gives you a place to deliver your content, allows your community members to interact with each other, allows you to limit access to qualified members, and also allows you to moderate and control the group.

Note: If you already have a website and an email list, it’s easier to create a paid private Facebook group, but it’s not an absolute necessity.

22. Assist with Lead Generation

Businesses are always on the lookout for ways to create new leads. Leads, after all, are the lifeblood of businesses.

When you assist with lead generation, you basically play the matchmaker. You connect business with the leads for whom they can solve the problems.

23. Instagram Sponsorships

Do you love taking photos and dream of building up a great Instagram following? As you grow your following, more sponsorship opportunities will become available. For example, if your account is focused on fitness, you may be able to sponsor products like protein powder, supplements, etc.

24. Create SaaS (Software as a Service)

Google Apps, Dropbox, Leadpages – these are all SAAS.

SAAS is any kind of online software that you pay to get access to.

For this, you first must brainstorm/find an online service that people are willing to pay for on an ongoing basis. Once you create it, the challenge is to maintain it, which is not an easy task. That being said, it can be quite profitable if you can make it work.

25. Technical Writing

Ever wondered who wrote the instruction manual for that new TV? That’s the job of technical writers.

If you have a love for writing and like the technical side of things, then you may have what it takes to be a technical writer.

Here’s a resource that can help you get started: Starting a Technical Writing Business from Scratch

Here are some sites where you can find work:

• Freelanced.com
• Upwork.com

26. Resume/Cover Letter Writing

People will always be looking for jobs – they’ll need help with their resumes and cover letters.

That’s where you can come in and help them create a stellar resume to get them hired.

27. Tech Support

With online tech support, you basically offer your skills as a tech whiz. You can work with bigger companies or even one-on-one clients.

Tech support jobs can also regularly be found on Upwork.

If you need help with digital marketing services such as website and mobile development, SEO, Lead generation, and other IT Services, Shourai can help. Send us a message here or email us at info@shourai.io

For more articles about SEO, click here.

Reference:
>https://websitesetup.org/online-business-ideas/ 

The post The 27 Quickest & Easiest Ideas To Online Business appeared first on Shourai Ltd..

Sean Si from SEO-Hacker enumerated some truths and myths about SEO. He also provided his insights about it and these are the following:

Myth: On-site optimization is just a small part of SEO.

Truth: On-site optimization plays a big role.

There are very few blog entries about on-site optimization. Perhaps because it is closely tied to having a technical background. On-site optimization can just as easily deal with keywords as much as it can with coding. And with all the new coding required stuff coming out like Schema Markup, Responsive design, Site speed optimization, etc., it’s easier to just go and do off-site and outreach to try and improve rankings.

That being the case, SEO specialists who know how to do on-site optimization well are easily at the best strategic positions today. Lots of people and blogs are talking about link building, link outreach, co-occurrence, co-citation, etc. Some don’t even know what they’re talking about.

Shift focus to on-site optimization. You’ll thank me for it.

Myth: You don’t need technical SEO. Content is king.

Truth: You have no Frikin’ idea what you’re missing.

Technical SEO is just a small part of on-site optimization. However, please realize that Google is a technical engine working a technical algorithm that reads your (technical) website.

Remember, your website is made up of a bunch of codes in the back-end. Whether you realize it or not, having a website is already technical in nature. If you neglect technical SEO as unessential because you can write like Seth Godin, you’re wrong. (Well… maybe not if you can really write like Seth Godin.)

A hard tweak here and there, an update on your structured data markup, a canonical to some duplicate pages, and voila!

Technical SEO is where the magic is.

Myth: Linkbuilding is dead.

Truth: Linkbuilding just got a lot more natural.

Any news that something in SEO died is a lie until proven with solid data. Or at least, until Danny Sullivan and Bill Slawski says so.

What really happened is that link building shifted to a more ‘natural’ way of evaluation. Artificially built links are seen as a taboo – and are deemed to get devalued or penalized.

Of course, building naturally earned links is encouraged. Who are we kidding? It’s way harder to earn links than build ’em up-front.

However, if naturally earned links make it harder to game Google’s algorithm, then it’s going to have to be the way to go.

Myth: Content marketing is the new link building.

Truth: Not really. You can still go with diversified Linkbuilding.

Content marketing has been built up and up and up and up. So many blogs wrote about it – even claiming it to replace link building.

I think you can never replace link building.

People tried social signals. People are trying co-citation. And so on and so forth.

However, links are still one of the main fundamentals of how Google sees the web. An influx of relationships between one website to another.

Links make up the web. Deal with it.

There’s another article entitled “Top Google Ranking Myths” written by Amanda Hoadley of Northwoods.  The content is as follows:

Myth #1: Keyword Targeting is Irrelevant

Truth: Keywords still matter! Just not in the same way they once did. Keywords are still showing on search engine results pages (SERPs), and every Google algorithm update is intended to further hone in on search intent. You should still include keywords in your content, but any efforts by content marketers and bloggers to hit a certain keyword ratio became obsolete with Google’s Hummingbird update.

So, keyword ratios are out, but a focus on creating content based on search intent – knowing the motivation behind why particular keywords are being searched – and naturally incorporating relevant keywords in your copy is critical.

Myth 2: Meta Tag Keywords Don’t Matter

Truth: Meta tag keywords DO matter. Meta tags are used in HTML documents to provide structured metadata about a website and appear between the opening and closing <head> tags on a page. The three elements of metatags are:

1. Title tag
2. Meta description
3. Meta keywords or phrases

Google doesn’t use the keyword meta tag for ranking purposes; however, meta tag keywords are still relevant as they indicate to Google what your content is about. Meta tags can also make your search results more appealing, which attracts more clicks from searchers.

Myth #3: Target Keywords in Anchor Text Don’t Matter

Truth: Link building has become a crucial part of SEO strategies; however, there is a debate in the content marketing community about whether you should use keywords in your anchor text. Anchor text is the clickable text in a hyperlink that takes a user to another page.

The main reason why content marketers debate the value of keywords in anchor text is that overoptimization is penalized by Google. Keyword stuffing is seen as a red flag, which negatively impacts site rankings. To say keyword-rich anchor text doesn’t help your site isn’t accurate because anchor text helps Google understand page content and helps determine relevancy when it comes to link building.

So, instead of avoiding keyword-rich anchor texts, just change your approach by diversifying your anchor text to avoid overoptimization.

Myth #4: Having More Links is Better than Having More Content

Truth: There was a time when it was better to focus on creating more links than it was to develop more content, but that time has officially come to an end. Now, it’s all about the quality of links rather than the number. Creating a natural link profile with amazing content is what will help improve your search rankings.

Why the change? In the past, webmasters and SEO pros started to take advantage of link building by creating chunks of links that had no valuable content just to improve rankings. As Google caught on and its focus changed to search intent in order to serve up better content to its users, having relevant, trustworthy, and authoritative links became the name of the game.

Myth #5: Too Many Keywords Will Result in Poor Organic Rankings

Truth: SEO experts and bloggers are always asking themselves how many keywords are considered too many and if Google will penalize a website for over-optimizing. The simple answer is that as long as your keywords are used naturally and your content is helpful, the number of keywords you have doesn’t really matter.

The key to avoiding over-optimization is to make sure you include a variety of keywords in your content, including:

• Branded keywords
• Product keywords
• Long-tail keywords
• Short-tail keywords
• Market-defining keywords
• Customer-defining keywords
• Latent semantic indexing (LSI)
• Geo-targeting

The bottom line? Focus on creating natural and helpful content for your website visitors instead of counting keywords.

Myth #6: Social Doesn’t Impact SEO

Truth: While it’s true that a “like” or comment on a social post doesn’t directly influence your Google rankings, they do have a positive impact on shares and engagement.

And shares and engagement create social signals, which can have significant SEO value. Sharing on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social channels has been shown to increase social impressions and organic click-through-rates (CTR). Check out this social media study on SEO influence for more information.

If you’re successful at creating engagement on your social accounts, then your chances of attracting a larger audience via organic search and also of driving ideal traffic to your website increase – in turn, improving your CTR and impressions.

Myth #7: Local SEO Doesn’t Matter Anymore

Truth: When a user is searching for a product or service in their local area that you provide, you want to show up in those search results. But if your site isn’t optimized for local search, those users may not find you. That can mean lost conversions and potential lost business. In fact, 46% of all searches are conducted by searchers seeking local information, and that’s a significant amount of searches!

To make sure your business is showing up in local searches if you haven’t already done so consider visiting Google My Business (GMB) and creating a GMB page to help promote your business profile on Google search and maps.

Myth #8: Images Don’t Need to Be Optimized

Truth: Google uses file names and URLs to understand images, which makes optimizing your images a necessity. As a rule of thumb, it’s a good idea to use images that are supported by Google, including these file types:

• JPEG
• PNG
• WebP
• BMP
• GIF
• SVG

Your images also need to be accessible, which requires the addition of alt text. By adding alt text, your images will be accessible and understandable to those with vision impairments or other disabilities and will help Google understand them. (Learn more about website accessibility and WCAG 2.1 accessibility standards.)

Your alt text should be as descriptive as possible without any spammy attempts – for example, “waffles” versus “chocolate chip waffles with powdered sugar and syrup.” The more descriptive your alt text, the better understood your image will be and any chance of being penalized for overoptimizing reduced.

Additionally, to make sure your images can be discovered within Google’s image search,  consider using an image sitemap and HTML markup to help Google understand your content.

If you need help with digital marketing services such as website and mobile development, SEO, Lead generation, and other IT Services, Shourai can help. Send us a message here or email us at info@shourai.io

For more articles about SEO, click here.

References:

https://seo-hacker.com/bitesized-truths-myths-seo/

https://www.nwsdigital.com/Blog/SEO-Myths-and-Facts-2020

The post The Truth and Myths About SEO appeared first on Shourai Ltd..

There are several factors that help businesses grow. Digital marketing is just one of the many. The role of digital marketing is vital to your business and is an essential way for business growth in today’s age.

No matter the size of your business, these simple points will broaden your mind about why you need a digital marketing strategy.

According to an article from Digital Marketing Philippines, the 12 reasons why digital marketing can help you grow your business are the following:

1. Because Digital Marketing Levels the Online Playing Field

Gone are the days when business owners still welcome the notion that Digital Marketing is only for the likes of multinationals and large corporations that have the sufficient resources required to mount an online marketing campaign. Digital Marketing actually levels the playing field, providing small and medium enterprises the chance to compete against the big boys and attract their share of targeted traffic.

With digital marketing, small companies now have the resources to perform sales and marketing processes that were previously available only to large corporations. Without a call center, small businesses can engage effectively with multiple customers, even to customers from any part of the world even if they don’t have physical stores or branches in these locations.

2. Because Digital Marketing Is More Cost-Effective than Traditional Marketing

Small businesses have very little resources and even capitalization. This is why Digital Marketing provides them with a better and much more cost-effective marketing channel that delivers results.

3. Because Digital Marketing Delivers Conversion

Businesses marketing products and services online measure success by the percentage rate of incoming traffic gets converted into leads, subscribers, or sales, depending on the intended purposes of your website. Without conversion, all your traffic would mean nothing and all your marketing efforts will simply go to waste. That is why business owners are streamlining their digital marketing campaigns towards conversion optimization, making it a top priority above everything else.

4. Because Digital Marketing Helps Generate Better Revenues

Higher conversion rates generated by effective digital marketing techniques will deliver loads of profitable benefits for you and your business in terms of better and higher revenues. Google confirms this in a study with IPSOS Hong Kong, claiming 2.8 times better revenue growth expectancy for companies using digital marketing strategies than those who do not.

With better revenue growth expectancy, small and medium enterprises using digital marketing techniques will have 3.3 times better chances of expanding their workforce and business – opening their doors to better, larger, and farther reaching markets both locally and abroad.

5. Because Digital Marketing Facilitates Interaction with Targeted Audiences

One of the reasons why digital marketing is taking over traditional marketing channels is the ability of Internet marketing tools to interact with targeted audiences in real-time. Engagement in any form is what your customers expect to receive when interacting with your brand or business. How your business handles such engagements and interactions will spell the difference between business success and failure.

Interacting and providing your customers with proper engagement points can give you an insight into what your targeted audiences want. This vital information will steer you towards making the right set of next moves, provide your customers with an even better experience, develop good relationships with them – gaining their loyalty and trust that you will need when your business begins to grow.

6. Because Digital Marketing Caters to the Mobile Consumer

Undoubtedly, the mobile internet will be the next wave of information dissemination and communication channel, brought about by the rapid proliferation of smartphones, tablets, and other internet-enabled devices. These mobile devices have become a central part of American life that 91% of adults in the United States always have their devices within reaching distance.

Now would be the best time to have digital marketing campaigns intended towards mobile consumers, paving the way for them towards achieving better growth and faster expansion. Mobile gadgets have evolved from being mere alternatives for laptops and personal computers, into something that is influencing their purchasing decisions as confirmed by another report from eMarketer.

7. Because Digital Marketing Builds Brand Reputation

The power of digital marketing lies in its ability for attracting targeted traffic. These types of audiences for your content are most likely already ready to know more about your brand, products, or services and may be interested enough to purchase what you have to offer. Delivering on what you promised will help you develop a better relationship with your targeted audiences, help them transition into paying customers that will go back and interact with your site some more – on a regular and continuous basis.

This will prove beneficial for your brand reputation, as satisfied customers will most likely tell other people about their experience with your brand, product, or service. Your brand reputation will go viral as expected, further opening new doors of opportunities for reaching bigger markets and attain business growth.

8. Because Digital Marketing Provides better ROI for Your Marketing Investments

With better revenues and better branding, Digital Marketing can provide a better Return of Investments (ROI) than traditional media and marketing channels. With traditional media, the cost is too exorbitant for small and medium enterprises to leverage on, and the results received are somewhat vague and difficult to measure.

Digital Marketing on the other hand can easily be tracked and monitored, with results immediately realized and measured as soon as targeted audiences provide contact information, subscribe to a newsletter or training program, or make a purchase. The key to success in Digital marketing, however, is to generate a steady flow of targeted traffic that converts into sales and leads. The more your business generates this kind of traffic, the faster you can realize your ROI.

9. Because Digital Marketing Earns People’s Trust

Digital Marketing rides on the current online trend that focuses more on social media signals resulting from direct and more personalized interaction between a brand or business and their targeted audiences. In the Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey that involved 25 thousand consumers coming from at least 50 countries, 90 percent of respondents claimed they would trust information about a particular brand, product, or service if the data comes from people they know.

Digital Marketing leverages social media signals, social proof, and testimonials from actual consumers who have previously purchased, joined or availed of a product or service marketed by a particular brand or business. The more reliable these social signals are, the higher the trust rate it can generate from targeted audiences – most of which can be potential customers.

10. Because Digital Marketing Entices People to Take Favorable Action

While social signals and testimonials help earn trust from targeted audiences, Digital Marketing makes use of effective strategies that will entice people to take a favorable action your brand or business intends them to take. Conversion to leads or sales is still initiated and under full control by the website visitor. They are not compelled to do so but digital marketers can make use of clever and innovative ways to entice conversion using Calls-To-Action.

Calls-To-Action specifies what your web visitors should do next – either to sign up, like, download something, call or buy – specific steps that will entice them to perform a favorable action. Innovative forms, buttons, and texts are optimized according to copy, color scheme, graphics and even positioning on the page to generate the best results in terms of generating favorable action.

11. Because Digital Marketing Makes You Ready for the Internet of Things

The “Internet of Things” is a global ecosystem of interconnected devices – tablets, smartphones, gadgets, appliances, and more – that can interact with each other through the Internet. Sounds like something from a Sci-Fi thriller, but this is what the projected 24 billion gadgets by the year 2020 will actually head to. Digital Marketing will prepare your business for this eventuality, an interconnected ecosystem that will permeate through every aspect of people’s lives. Survival for your business in the era of the “Internet of Things” means inclusion in this interconnected grid – giving you an access window to reach out to targeted audiences belonging to this online grid.

12. Because Digital Marketing Ensures Business Survival Online

It is a normal occurrence for brick-and-mortar business establishments to encounter visitors entering their store, skimming through and inspecting products, then leave without buying anything. Many kinds of people like these come and go, but a targeted few will actually make a purchase and if satisfied, will come back for more on a later date. If you get less of the later and more of the few, sooner or later your brick-and-mortar business will cease to exist.

If you need help with digital marketing services such as website and mobile development, SEO, Lead generation, and other IT Services, Shourai can help. Send us a message here or email us at info@shourai.io

For more articles, click here.

Reference:

>https://digitalmarketingphilippines.com/12-reasons-why-digital-marketing-can-help-you-grow-your-business/

The post 12 Points Why Digital Marketing Will Drive Your Business Higher appeared first on Shourai Ltd..

An article from Top Floor provided 4 digital marketing trends that are occurring during this pandemic as well as the solutions for these:

The Trend: In-Person Store Visits Nearly Eliminated

Since the start of the virus pandemic, businesses have seen in-person store visits drop 90% within just a month’s span. This unexpected limited foot traffic, that most businesses rely on, has been affecting the way advertisers and businesses are handling their digital needs.

The question that arises from this is, how will you respond? Now is the time you should be focusing on your digital marketing strategy, and how you are portrayed to your customers. You want to make things as easy as possible for them while also making sure you are positioning yourself for the highest level of success.

Solution 1: Website Maintenance
This is the foundation of your online existence, and what ties all things digital together. That being said, you want to make sure your site is optimized properly and running smoothly. Such optimizations include making sure your site speed is up to standard, and your landing pages are refined which in turn will directly affect your PPC efforts since this is where your ads are leading to.

Solution 2: Google My Business
You want to make sure you get your business listed on Google. With the physical visit either being eliminated or altered, you need to make sure your updated business hours, address, any posts, or photos as well as reviews are properly and accurately displayed. With most of these attributes being modified, it is important to make sure you are getting the right information to your customers.

Solution 3: Social Media
The effectiveness of social media is almost more prominent now than ever. You want to make sure you are staying active and strategic and using social channels as a tool of communication with your customers. This is where the bulk of your digital marketing strategy will be altered. Being active on these channels builds a level of trust in your customer and lets them know that you are still open or conducting business in other ways.

Solution 4: eCommerce
To put your business in the best position for success, think about adjustments you can make to meet your customers’ new needs. One way to keep sales coming in is by adding eCommerce to your website if it makes sense for your customers and product lines. Stay proactive and have options available to your customers.

Solution 5: Promote Yourself Online
Once you have all the foundation pieces in place, get to promoting! Make sure you do your research and take advantage of all available PPC avenues. Areas to look to for promoting yourself through paid ads are Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, and Facebook as well as other social media outlets such as Instagram and LinkedIn.

The Trend: Online Searches Dominated By COVID-19

The COVID pandemic has had a major impact on what we are seeing in users’ online behavior. Anything related to COVID is dominating searches which means you need to look at adjusting your paid search strategy. What is developed from this is we are seeing a lot of new searches that we’ve never seen before such as more questions being asked, and topics that we have never encountered. So, if you are already established in paid advertising, the question is, how do you respond to this new activity?

Solution 1: Search Query Reports
First, you should make sure you adjust your paid search campaigns for these new search terms and volume that is coming in. Make sure you are reviewing search terms regularly in order to understand what sort of traffic you are getting.

Solution 2: Negative Keywords
Along with running more frequent search query reports for your campaigns, you should make sure you are adding the right negative keywords that could have a damaging effect on your campaigns. With the new type of traffic that is coming through, there are also more irrelevant terms within those queries. You want to make sure you are flushing those out, so you are not spending budget on terms that do not apply to your business.

Solution 3: Follow Trending Searches
You can use Google Trends as an effective tool to dissect and understand how people are searching. Trends include a new hub specifically related to Coronavirus search trends. Here, you can review on a regular basis to see how people are prioritizing within their searches, which will help when filtering through your keywords in your PPC campaigns.

The Trend: Declining Mobile Traffic

This is where there’s more detail in your paid search strategy. Besides what we are seeing in new traffic, we are also seeing new places this traffic is coming from. In the month of March, Google saw paid search mobile search traffic cut by nearly 25% due to the pandemic. What is usually traffic we can always count on, is now suddenly beginning to dissipate. Besides people being physically less mobile, they are also being less mobile in their online behavior.

Solution 1: Device Bid Adjustments
An area you can capitalize on this within your PPC account is by revisiting device bid adjustments. Generally, you would make this type of adjustment based on specific data with your campaigns, but now due to the pandemic, you need to take into account that more users are going back to their desktop.

Solution 2: Smart Bidding
Secondly, you could consider implementing smart bidding in your campaigns. With PPC strategy being altered during the pandemic, it is going to become more difficult to know how search behavior will change abruptly. Smart Bidding may be a potential avenue as it will allow you to be able to digest data that is changing and adjust CPC bids in real-time.

The Trend: Have An Open Mind To New Opportunities

It is important to note that overall internet use is still up 50%, and the good news is that you can still reach your customers. The difference is that they are just looking in different places than usual, like YouTube and social media, which is why it is crucial to advertise across multiple networks rather than just Google Search. This where you can look to make the most effective changes to your paid search strategy.

Solution 1: Advertise In Multiple Areas
With Google search traffic in a downward trend, it will be important to blend your PPC advertising across multiple networks and platforms. Some effective examples of this are combining Google search with Microsoft Ads, or Google search with Display.

Solution 2: Google Search Partners
Google Search Partners is a network of sites that partner with Google to display PPC ads. By using Google Search Partners, you are not only hitting Google search traffic but also many more search engine sites that are included within this network. This will help expand your reach and brand by not solely relying on Google search traffic.

Solution 3: Remarketing
Although a new business might be difficult to bring in at the moment, you can still focus on your past customers and website visitors by nurturing those leads and bringing them back to your website. Serve ads where those users are now spending their time, like YouTube and social media, using display remarketing ads. You’re likely to see more conversions on those return visits.

If you need help with digital marketing services such as website and mobile development, SEO, Lead generation, and other IT Services, Shourai can help. Send us a message here or email us at info@shourai.io

For more articles, click here.

Reference:

>https://www.topfloortech.com/blog/digital-marketing-trends-during-a-pandemic-how-to-respond/#gref

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