The Best SEO Tools to Boost Your Google Rankings

No master can do the job without proper instruments. The same is true for site optimization and promotion. If you still think that good articles are enough for putting your resource on the first page of results, you are still living in the Stone Age. Implement modern tools to achieve maximum results. 

There are a lot of free options available, and they work well. But in most cases, the free version provides only limited functionality. For the most efficient and quality services, you’ll have to pay for the full scope of services. This article will describe the most interesting and useful ideas for resource optimization. We divided them according to the optimization direction.

Keywords

To implement the most effective keys, you need to know the most relevant words and the keys popular among the competitors. A good keyword rank tracker tool can provide valuable insights by helping you identify the keywords most relevant to your topic. Use Google Analytics or a similar service to determine the keys relevant to your topic. Place the most important words into the title and meta description; less popular variants can be spread evenly throughout the article. Don’t forget to check the rivals’ strategy regularly. It will allow you to correct your tactics in time and maintain your position.

Backlinks

Links leading to your site from other resources are an extremely effective method of raising your ranking. The rule of thumb: the resources where you place your links should be reputable and trustworthy. Otherwise, it can harm your site rankings or simply be useless.

You don’t have to surf the Internet and choose suitable sites manually; numerous instruments facilitate this task. You can read a detailed free backlink generators review. Select the tool that suits better for the skills and the goal.

Code and Internal Links

Do you know that the invisible part of your site has a major effect on the overall efficiency? Search robots analyze the information and the code of the resource, and you can use it for your benefit. Optimize the programming part to ensure successful indexation. You should revise and fix broken links, analyze the efficiency of meta titles and descriptions. To learn interesting details of code optimization, read this post. You can find a list of top SEO promotion tools for the best Google optimization.

Overall Site Performance

Check the traffic of all the pages you have. This way, you can determine the most effective parts of your resource and make necessary improvements for the sections with poorer performance. New platforms for SEO boost will show you the sources of the visitors’ flow. It’s extremely useful information; you need to find out the promotion methods you can get rid of and the effective tools worth additional investments. What is the best SEO ranking software that will show the most promising tactic? More interesting tips on improving your SEO methods you can find on lmspulse.com.

Your Current Position

To raise the site’s efficiency, you must determine its place among the rivals. The simplest evaluation method is to google your company using the most popular keywords. The results will present your ranks compared to other companies in this field. You’ll receive an approximate picture of the alignment of forces. To receive more exact information, utilize analytic tools designed for this job. For tracking the results of your rivals, such services as Ahrefs can be truly helpful. In a few clicks, you’ll receive a list of companies with detailed statistics data. You can utilize this platform for complex site audits and key research. ProRank Tracker is a useful tool for this part of site optimization. It has a great reporting option, remote access through a convenient web interface.

Content

The articles and posts you publish on your resource are vital for an SEO boost. The resource should contain only interesting, high-quality and proven information, and you’ll be surprised to know that modern tools can help with it. Screaming Frog makes data analysis easier and facilitates determining broken links and other reasons for poor content performance. It will easily spot duplications in your materials and build a site map for attraction to search robots. The platform has free and paid pricing plans, and best suits small and medium companies. The best SEO tools ensure a powerful marketing effect.

Serpstat can be extremely useful because of marketing suggestions and recommendations and a thorough audit of your materials. The service can quickly boost the performance and ranking of the site, but all the versions are paid-for. Four pricing plans are available, so it’s possible to fit them into your budget. This complex instrument is ideal for medium-sized enterprises. 

Now you have a complete picture of tools you can utilize for your site enhancement. They differ in price, functionality, and included instruments, so pick the most suitable variant for your tactic, company size, and goals. Using the wrong program can still be helpful, but it means a waste of money and resources, so choose wisely.

5 Quick Ways to Grow Your Small Business in 2022

When you first launched your business, your major aim was to establish your product and presence to develop a formula for consistent sales. Since then, the world has changed dramatically. We have entered the era of Everlasting Covid. The importance of your online and physical company visibility has surpassed that of your shop hours and employees.

In your endeavors to grow your small business, don’t overlook the importance of a solid foundation for your company. Consulting the best LLC formation service could ensure your business structure is firmly set for future growth and success.

If you want to see business growth, you will need to be creative, optimistic and resourceful.

Business people in a meeting

Growth is a continuous process that involves hard effort, patience, and commitment. There is no particular step or secret formula for outperforming competitors or achieving rapid success in the sector. Be sure to make the best use of experts for Marketing Small Business in 2022.

There are tried-and-true methods for achieving growth milestones that may propel a company to success. Here are some ideas to get you started in the new year.

1. Keep Your Website Fast and Effective

Last year, Google Page Rank prioritized website speed, mobile efficacy, and bounce rate. The focus of your website’s SEO should be on original content that people want to read. This entails hiring a content developer from another country or using click-bait headlines. In addition, quality information provided fast is required for a long-term Search Position (SERP).

Hiring a full stack development company that can manage your website’s technical demands is one way to stay top of the game. A skilled web development company can correct faults on your present website and add turn-key features to increase traffic to your website. Most developers will provide you with a free consultation session, so take advantage of it to plan your budget.

Whether it brings in business or not, every dollar spent on advertising is lost once it is spent. Every dollar you spend on web page creation becomes a lasting component of your online visibility for your small business.

2. View Customer Experience as the Customer Sees It

Customers’ impressions of your company may make or ruin it. They’ll scream your praises on social media if you provide them good experiences and goods; if you don’t, they’ll tell the world even quicker. Therefore, making your present and future consumers satisfied with their experience is critical to rapid growth.

In comparison to giant corporations, small firms can be more agile and better able to recognize, predict, and respond to their customer’s needs. If you concentrate on how your customers see you compared to your competitors, you can outpace them.

You don’t have to be a clairvoyant to try to figure out what your consumers want, need, or have gone through. You just need to pay attention to them, and there are several steps you can take as a small company owner to better understand your clients.

Your firm may be great, but you will only be genuinely successful if you understand the drivers of that success as a business owner. You may improve your business and expand to become even more successful if you know this.

3. Grow your Reviews

Your clients are no different. We’re all human beings who enjoy being addressed and recognized. If your consumers take the time to submit a review, the very least you can do is respond, demonstrating that you appreciate their opinion and take it seriously. Regardless of whether they post a favorable or bad review, you should always respond positively.

Listening to your clients’ evaluations is one approach to show that you care about them. You need to read your reviews and act on them – analyzing, modifying, and using them as constructive feedback.

Remember to pay attention to both negative and positive client feedback. You must become aware of anything that is causing your clients to be dissatisfied so that you can address it.

Utilize review databases such as Trust Pilot and Gartner, and ensure that pleased consumers are directed to these sites. Invite consumers to post a review or comment on another platform after they leave one on one. Review websites frequently give incentives for reviews, and you may do the same with a discount from our product range.

Negative feedback should not be avoided. Your consumer would not leave a review if they believed you were hopeless. Instead, reach out to the reviewer, listen to what they have to say, and offer to help if you can. You can typically turn around a negative review while learning more about your consumer.

4. Target the Future

If your company continuously responds to what happened yesterday, you are starting the year off on the wrong foot. Instead, you must look forward and plan for the future to achieve quick growth.

Examine the current state of your markets’ industries. Next, take a look at how technology is developing and what that means. Finally, take a look at how people’s lifestyles are evolving.

Nothing in our life has altered as much as the Covid Era and the Era of Stay at Home Jobs, Restaurant Deliveries, and the Restaurant and Concert Collapse. Those that adjusted rapidly became the beneficiaries of the crisis. Focusing on future adaptations now will put you ahead of the competition.

So, rather than grumbling about the challenges you’ve encountered, use the time to look for fresh chances. Eateries with good ordering and delivery systems have done well, whereas sit-down restaurants have struggled. People are substituting home entertainment for holiday travel, which has gained popularity. As individuals attempt to improve their lives within their Covid restricted shells, education and learning create new opportunities to fulfill.

5. Take Time to Hire the Best People

The job economy in 2022 is a shambles. Because there are fewer candidates, it’s tempting to recruit a lower-level employee. However, meeting the requirements of customers necessitates greater thought and responsibility.

Adjust your hiring process such that it takes longer to identify people who have the initiative and commitment to succeed on the job. Re-calibrate your job outreach to take advantage of new platforms like Indeed and Upwork. Take time to fully consider how the people you hire will be helped in their career by working for you.

The best people will create opportunities for themselves, and it is your job to provide the fuel for them to do so. Likewise, your small business is their fuel to advance in their careers. To keep a remote employee happy while serving your demanding consumers, you will need a Win-Win situation. Make this equation a reality by motivating your employees to develop and learn and satisfying their demand for constructive feedback and motivation.

With hardworking employees dedicated to your company’s success, your business will be better equipped for continued growth. In addition, delegating tasks to focus on important work will free up your time and energy, allowing you to perform at your best and cultivate a collaborative work culture.

Summary

Small Business needs to adapt to the era of Forever-Covid.  Take a clear look at the successes and failures of the past year. Cut ties with the failures; it’s ok, you tried hard, it did not work. Build on your successes. Your growth lies in new success.

With each successful project from last year, brainstorm new things to try in the current year. If you make up five new things to try today, and 2 of them are successful by the end of the year, your business will be growing and profitable.

Life comes not what you planned but from what you succeeded at. More tries mean more opportunities for success. These five ideas will give you a great start and make 2022 a successful year for your small business.

5 Tips to Boost Your Affiliate Marketing Performance

Blogging has been around for decades, yet many people are still not aware of the possibility of earning tremendous amounts of their posting online. If you love spending time researching and posting about something you love, then why not make it your primary source of income?

Blogging can be both fun and profitable. In 2022, millions of blogs will be built to act as affiliate marketing pages and make millions for their owners. If you want to do the same, you first need to choose the type of affiliate you will be.

1. Be an expert on the subject

The first and most important thing for all affiliates is providing quality content. When you have a blog on a particular subject, you must be an expert in it and provide an opinion that will be valuable for your readers. When they see that you can be trusted, they will consider your opinion and purchase through you.

If you already own a blog, it means that you’re probably already posting content on some of the stuff you’re skilled in. Always provide honest and punctual information because visitors will instantly recognize if you’re faking it.

2. Dedicate Yourself to SEO

One of the things that are highly important for becoming a successful affiliate marketer is SEO. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, and it is the best way to put your blog and landing pages out there for the world to see. Whether it be Google, Bing, or another search engine, you must optimize your blog for them if you want to get some organic traffic.

Optimizing is not easy, but at the same time, there’s so much information online that everyone can learn about it. If you want to learn more about landing page optimization, check out this link. You’ll learn everything you need to know about it and be more successful at SEO.

The science behind search engines changes constantly, and you need to stay updated on the latest trends and techniques to ensure your blog stays at the top of search results. Constantly learning about SEO and following the news closely, as well as working with an agency, can help you stay ahead of the competition. This will all help you devise a foolproof campaign that will increase your traffic and boost your affiliate marketing performance.

3. Advertise Yourself On Other Pages

When you have your blog published and have a lot of valuable content and links for the affiliate pages placed inside, all that’s left are visitors. However, no visitors come, or at least only a few of them are interested in checking out your offer.

That’s when you realize that you need ads on other pages. The options are endless, from PPC on Google to free social media posts. It’s easy to get lost in this ocean of options, and you might spend money without getting anything in return.

Luckily for everyone, there are tools available online that will do the job for you. One of the best solutions to be seen is creating pop-ups on other pages. 

4. Carefully Choose Which Affiliate Programs You’re Going to Use

There are roughly 11,400 affiliate programs in the US alone. That means you get to choose from thousands of options and use those that will work the best for you.

If you have a blog about cars, you don’t need to use the Amazon affiliate program as most people do but find something connected with your niche.

5. Use Tracking and Analyzing Tools to Improve Your Work

It is not easy to run an affiliate marketing blog, no doubt. There’s no one-size-fits-all that you can use for your affiliate marketing attempts. However, with enough dedication and work, you’ll find out that analyzing and tracking visitors’ behavior can be extremely helpful for making more profits.

There’s a ton of these tools. The best one for analyzing is probably Google Analytics. Yet, you need an affiliate marketing tracking tool that can tell you precisely how your link performs. Still, there are many equally useful, which offer even more information deeply connected to affiliate marketers’ needs. Don’t be afraid to use them.

Conclusion

These are some of the most important things you must know when you’re starting or already running an affiliate marketing campaign on your blog. Use these points for your knowledge and improve your blog. With enough dedication, you’ll easily make money and grow your affiliate marketing business. Know what must be done, find the right tools, and earn.

8 SaaS Marketing Strategies to Help You Grow Your Business

As a SaaS company owner, there is no such thing as too much improvement. With your competition launching new products or releasing new features for their existing products, you constantly have to be at the top of your game. Your marketing strategies should also be constantly evolving to keep up with market demand and audience tastes. 

Business people in a video call meeting

By working on your marketing strategies, you increase the number of new customers and reduce customer churn. With that in mind, here are eight SaaS marketing strategies that you can implement.

1. Content Marketing

Marketing SaaS products varies a lot from marketing consumer products. First, SaaS customers tend to do a lot of research before deciding to make a purchase. Second, the buyer journey often takes longer. Content marketing will help your brand position itself as a credible source of information, convince your target audience to give your products a try, and improve your website’s performance in search engine rankings. 

Your audience consumes content through a variety of methods, such as blogs, videos, and emails. To ensure that your content helps maintain your authority in your niche, you need to ensure that the content you produce is of high quality. Using a grammar check tool will help you avoid errors that erode your credibility and increase your articles’ readability.

Content marketing goes beyond posting just a few articles on your blog. You also need to create a link-building strategy that will get your content on high-authority websites and increase organic traffic to your own site. Creating different types of content will also increase your brand’s visibility across different demographics. Younger audiences, for example, prefer videos, while those aged 55 or older prefer receiving emails.

Understanding the impact of mass media strategy is crucial in tailoring your content to meet the diverse preferences of your audience, ensuring you effectively reach and engage with each segment.

To create effective content, you need to know the questions your customers are likely to ask as they search for solutions for their problems. Addressing these concerns will help you raise your search engine profile as well as convince potential customers that your solutions are based on solid research. 

Other forms of content that help generate leads include white papers, case studies, and ebooks. You can use those types of free content as lead magnets on your landing pages, allowing you to grow your email list rapidly. You can also use an email tracking tool to get insights into the performance of your campaigns.

2. Co-marketing

Collaborations between brands are nothing new. One type of inter-company collaboration, co-marketing, involves multiple brands getting together to create a product or set of products that carry the names of all brands involved. While co-marketing is pretty common among businesses that offer consumer goods, SaaS businesses are also starting to realize the benefits of this strategy. 

Co-marketing campaigns usually involve two brands that operate in different niches. For example, CRM company HubSpot and professional network LinkedIn collaborated on a book about social selling: 

Your business doesn’t have to be as large as HubSpot to engage in co-marketing campaigns. You may start doing it on a smaller scale by finding a small business that shares your corporate values or offers products that add value to yours. Once you find that business, you can start creating content together. You may publish a common blog, feature their content on your social media platforms, or mention them in your videos whenever you feel it’s appropriate. 

Co-marketing helps you increase your reach rapidly and exposes your brand to new audiences, especially those outside your industry. Collaborating with the right type of partner will allow you to maximize your gains, amplify your message, and generate more leads.

Co-marketing partnerships between same-niche companies with complementary product offerings can also be effective. To learn more, go now to this guide on co-selling.

3. Referrals and affiliate marketing

A good reputation is the best currency your brand can ever possess, and every time one of your satisfied customers recommend your product to others, they are sending potential revenue your way. It’s just right to reward your most loyal customers for promoting your brand to their contacts through a referral program

In a referral program, you offer rewards to customers who bring in more new customers. These rewards range from cash gifts to discounts on future purchases. You may also give them free products, such as extra storage or a few months’ worth of subscription to your product. 

Affiliate marketing runs on the same principle as referral marketing, which is to reward people or websites that help bring in new customers. However, affiliate campaigns almost always give your partners a cut of each sale that you identify as coming from their websites. Most affiliate marketing campaigns include either a code or a special product page that automatically sends a commission to your affiliate partners.

Through referral and affiliate marketing, you recognize your most loyal customers and encourage them to keep being advocates for your brand. 

4. Free trials

SaaS companies are known for offering free trials to potential customers. While this may seem like a total loss for your brand, the cost of offering a month’s worth of free access to your solutions is a lot lower than the cost of losing a potential customer to a competing brand. 

There are a few reasons free trials are popular marketing strategies in the SaaS space: 

  • They allow potential users to experience your solution for themselves before making a purchase decision.
  • Free trials are easier to convert into paid accounts.
  • They also present an excellent opportunity to collect user feedback that can help you improve your product.

Because your business follows a SaaS business model, giving your leads a free limited-time subscription won’t involve a lot of work or expense. Sometimes, it’s as easy as locating the user in your database and adding a few more months to their trial periods.  

5. SEO

Many Saas businesses struggle with appearing on search engine results for their niche, especially if it is crowded with multiple competitors or dominated by one or two large businesses. Search engine optimization (SEO) will help your business stand out and attract organic traffic to your site. You can also show Google reviews on website to increase your organic business.

Most people associate SEO with keywords. However, keyword usage is just one factor that Google and other search engines use to find and rank websites. The Google algorithm is too complex for a detailed discussion on this space, but it all comes down to how easily Google finds and indexes your content and how relevant your content is to your audience. 

For example, building backlinks from high-authority sites to yours will allow you to benefit from potential click-throughs. It also lets your website benefit indirectly from your guest sites’ domain authority score. You also need to do on-page SEO on your content. This involves adding internal backlinks within your domain to allow Google to crawl through your site and index it efficiently. 

The easier you make it for Google to look for your content, the easier it becomes for people to find it. Performing SEO on your web pages and content will not just improve your search engine ranking but also drive traffic back to your site, increasing your potential revenue.

6. Improve your PPC campaign

Aside from SEO, you may also use Google ads to push your content to the top of the search results. Most ads follow a pay-per-click campaign; that is, you only pay for the ad when a user clicks on it. Running a well-planned PPC campaign will allow you to maximize your ads’ visibility and increase the chances of users clicking through to your site. 

To make the most out of PPC ads, you need to target a good mix of short and long-tail keywords. Short keywords are often high-volume and high-competition, which means the cost per click is higher. Long-tail keywords, on the other hand, tend to have lower search volumes and high click-through rates, which lowers the cost per click. You need to use both types of keywords to maximize the number of people your ads reach. 

Aside from creating a list of keywords that you can use to reach Google users, you can also use a list of negative keywords or keywords that you don’t want to rank for. These are often keywords that appear heavily in your niche but refer to a product or service that you don’t offer. For example, if your business involves just selling houses in a specific area, you don’t want to appear in Google searches for property rentals.  

7. Tap into review sites

The growth of your SaaS company will not just depend on your marketing efforts, but also on your customers’ perception of your brand and products. Consumers tend to research their options before making a purchase, and online reviews play a major role in influencing purchase decisions. Embed Google reviews on your website to leverage positive customer feedback, enhancing trust and credibility among potential buyers.

Most users browse through review sites such as G2 or Capterra to find out what current and previous customers think of your products and services. If you are not encouraging your customers to post reviews on these sites, you need to start now. Positive reviews go a long way in convincing your leads to give your products a try as they are seen as more credible than branded content.

Aside from getting your customers to post positive reviews, responding to both positive and negative reviews will allow you to engage your customer base. Acknowledging and replying to negative reviews, in particular, shows that you value all types of feedback and are serious about putting out the best product available.

8. Easy registration process

Marketing doesn’t end when a user visits your site. Unless they’ve successfully completed the sales or registration process, you haven’t gained a new customer yet. In the SaaS industry, many customers complain that complicated registration processes have turned them away from otherwise promising products. 

The longer your registration process is, the more chances you give your customers to back out of the transaction or abandon their shopping carts. However, many brands tend to ask too many questions that don’t seem related to the product itself. Reducing the number of questions to just a few important ones will help streamline the process and increase conversions. 

You may also use the Google and Facebook APIs to simplify the user experience. Because your leads’ Google and Facebook profiles already have their personal and demographic information, your website can import that data instead of requiring new users to fill out registration forms. Better yet, you may also use dynamic QR codes to reduce the number of keystrokes, especially if you’re dealing with mobile device users.

In Closing

SaaS marketing is a bit different from other types of marketing. Your potential customers are less prone to impulse purchases. They will take their time looking for the best option and are not hesitant about doing research about your products. Your SaaS marketing strategies should adapt to this type of behavior and gently nudge them into making a purchase. 

Content marketing, SEO, and PPC, for example, help drive customer awareness of your brand, especially in competitive niches. Free trials, on the other hand, give potential customers a glimpse of what they can expect from your product and a positive experience will help convince them to switch over to the paid version. 

You may also use review sites, referrals, and affiliate marketing to boost your promotional campaigns and expand your audience. Finally, a quick and convenient registration process will remove the last barrier to entry for new customers. 

By constantly seeking and analyzing customer feedback, testing new combinations of content, and streamlining your processes, you set up your SaaS business for greater success ahead.

8 SMS Marketing Tips to Use to Avoid Annoying Your Customers

These days, it’s no longer a question of whether or not you should use SMS as part of your marketing, but rather how you should use it.

SMS marketing can be an extremely effective way of engaging your customers. However, if you want to create loyalty and engagement.

To avoid annoying your customers, there are certain best practices that you should follow like Klaviyo alternatives.

You can make it easier to send and receive SMS by adding an SMS API to your business app. This lets you send SMS messages anywhere in the world as long as you have a backup plan. The API makes text message communication cheaper to send and receive text messages because you can buy them in bulk and even set up a prepaid plan where your customers can send you feedback for free. People can sometimes think of SMS as a bother. So, you need to make content that is very informative.

Read the rest of this article to discover some of the most important SMS marketing trends that will help you get more from your marketing campaigns without getting on your customers’ bad side.

1. Get Permission First

I’m sure you’ll agree that there’s nothing more annoying than receiving promotional messages you didn’t sign up for – worse still, with informational offers that aren’t even relevant to you.

In fact, receiving texts without permission is not only annoying, but it’s also illegal in many states. Marketers need to comply with state and local regulations, as well as wireless carriers’ messaging policies in order to ensure that their messages are delivered to subscribers who are willing to receive them.

You must obtain consent first via an opt-in form to make sure that you only send messages to people who have knowingly agreed to receive your promotional texts. Remember, that marketing and finance violations are seen as some of the most serious offenses under U.S federal law with violators facing a minimum of 1 year of jail time and a $2,500 fine.

Once you have their express written consent, then you can proceed with your text message marketing campaign.

Using opting forms is one of the best ways to obtain consent from subscribers, but there are also other methods, such as using an SMS keyword or phrase that customers can text to subscribe to any future messages from your business.

In addition to getting permission, you must also provide your subscribers with a simple and clear way to opt-out of receiving your text messages.

This will help to keep everyone happy with your brand and avoid annoying potential customers who, even though they want to leave your SMS list, may still be interested in connecting with your brand and other channels, such as your blog, social media, email, etc.

So make sure your subscribers know they can unsubscribe anytime they want to. You can include this information in your auto-confirmation message, and you should also include unsubscribing instructions in any of your advertisements.

This can be as simple as adding “Text STOP to unsubscribe”, but it will go a long way toward helping you establish credibility and trust with your audience.

Only Send Messages to People Who Signed Up Organically

Some of the reasons subscribers might choose to opt into your SMS list include:

  • A flash sale or promotion
  • Weekly discounts
  • A “Back in stock” notification for a specific product/service
  • Customer support
  • An event reminder
  • Abandoned cart notifications
  • A launch of a new product/service

… and so on.

Whatever the reason, you can motivate people to opt-in to receive texts from your business. So you never have to send unsolicited text messages. 

2. Set Expectations Early

The next step toward avoiding annoying customers with your SMS messages is to set expectations on what they will receive – and then keep that promise.

Whenever introducing a new channel into your digital marketing strategy, you must always begin with proper channel management. If you start off by sending messages to people that haven’t signed up and don’t want your messages, then your SMS marketing campaign may be only causing harm to your brand’s reputation.

Begin managing your SMS marketing strategies effectively from the start by ensuring that all who are receiving messages have given explicit permission to receive those messages.

Once you’ve determined what recipients can expect, you must be consistent in the number of SMSes you send.

It’s true that you may want to do everything you can to avoid spamming your subscribers, but customers respond well to consistent messaging, and if you send too few messages, people might forget why they signed up to your list in the first place.

This means that when they eventually hear from you, it will seem like the text is coming out of the blue, which could potentially make your message unwelcome.

That’s why it’s important to set a regular schedule and maintain consistency with your texts.

The best practice is to send between 2 and 4 texts each month. But, your business might need to send multiple texts each week, or even daily. Find what works best for your audience, industry, and business.

For instance, an SMS marketing strategy for a church might include sending weekly reminders of when the church services take place. However, a marketing campaign for a Forex Signals Service requires sending multiple SMS messages each day.

You can experiment and test to find the optimal texting frequency for your business.

The most important thing is to be upfront with your subscribers so they know what to expect with regard to your SMS frequency – and then stick to it. For example, the team at im-a-puzzle asks their users if they would like daily or weekly notifications for their jigsaw puzzles of the day. This manages expectations and drives engagement.

3. Send Original Content

One of the main reasons why people unsubscribe from a brand’s text messages is the type of content being sent.

You need to keep things fresh and send original content that speaks your audience’s language in the right format if you want to retain and grow your subscriber list.

When using text messages as part of your marketing campaign, it can be frustrating having to deal with character limits, and you may be tempted to shorten some words in order to save space. But, this is often at the expense of clarity and professionalism.

For instance, take a look at the two text messages below:

  • Go2 Tom’s 2day 4 a gr8 deal! Sho this text for 25% off your meal. 
  • Visit Tom’s today for a great deal! Show this text for 25% off your meal.

Instead of getting frustrated with character limits, use them as a powerful tool to help you sharpen your marketing message.

And, if you absolutely must have more space, you can use MMS which allows you to use up to 1,600 characters!

Never Send the Same Message Twice

One of the reasons text messaging is so effective is that it often creates a sense of urgency. If you are promoting an offer, and the recipient of your SMS message knows that the offer is only available for a limited time, there is a high chance that you will experience an increase in sales.

But, if you keep sending the same promotional text, again and again, people will stop responding to your offers with enthusiasm.

Many of them will get bored, and even annoyed, and you may experience an increase in your unsubscribe rate.

That’s why you must ensure that each of your text marketing campaigns is creative and unique with engaging, original content.

4. Get Your Timing Right

Timing is crucial for bulk text messaging campaigns. There is no faster way to annoy customers than by sending promotional texts at inappropriate times – and when customers are annoyed, it’s all too easy for them to unsubscribe from your SMS messaging.

As long as your text messages are aligned with the subscriber’s expectations, you won’t go wrong by keeping them within reasonable business hours. To better manage customer information, you might want to invest in customer database software

Also, there’s no point in sending messages to your customers at a time when they cannot take immediate action or respond to your offer.

So, it’s in the interests of both common sense and common courtesy to schedule your SMSes at reasonable hours.

Here are some additional tips to help you send messages at the right time:

  • Don’t Text Too Early: If the person hasn’t had their cup of coffee, you’re not likely to get the desired response from them.
  • Don’t Text Too Late: If they are relaxing or already asleep, they will be annoyed by your interruption.
  • Don’ts Text During Peak Hours: Avoid sending messages when your subscribers are likely to be overwhelmed or doing other activities.
  • Don’t Text during Weekends: Studies have shown that sending messages during weekends leads to a higher unsubscribe rate.

5. Incorporate Personalization

Personalization is yet another common characteristic that forms the backbone of the most successful marketing campaigns, including social media, email, content, and text marketing campaigns.

One study shows that customers are 78% more likely to make repeat purchases if the brand provides them with targeted, personalized offers.

By incorporating personalization into your strategy, you’ll be able to improve your campaigns. You can leverage the use of mass marketing that SMS marketing provides, together with the advantage of one-on-one communication.

You can capitalize on this by including features like segments and custom fields to help you send more relevant texts to your subscribers.

It’s also easy-to-use platforms like Zapier to integrate your SMS software with your existing marketing tools to make it easy for you to send everything from SMS shipping updates to abandoned cart text messages, and much more.

There are a lot of really useful integrations that can help combine your SMS marketing with other parts of your digital marketing channel. Easily integrate SMS with social networks, email, and even project management tools.

In addition to integrations, you should also consider adding links to your SMS messages that can lead them to learn more about your brand and its offerings. You can use webinar hosting software to create short webinars that subscribers can click to via a link in an SMS message.

Then they might be brought to your business YouTube channel where they can watch the webinar to learn more about the brand, subscribe to your channel, or share your content on any number of social networks.

6. Comply with Legal Requirements

Getting consent from your subscribers isn’t the only legal requirement to consider. You also need to add in necessary disclaimers when sending SMS text messages.

Before the advent of smartphones, there was an all too real fear that text messages would incur charges. However, today’s subscribers are unlikely to receive charges for any of your text messages thanks to the unlimited data and texting plans currently available.

Having said that, it’s still best practice (and a legal requirement) to include this disclaimer anyway. So make sure you comply with industry regulations by including the following information:

  • The frequency with which you plan to send messages to subscribers (for example, “You may receive up to 6 messages/month”).
  • Text message and data rates may apply
  • Link to your Privacy Policy, as well as your Terms and Conditions
  • Information on how to unsubscribe (e.g. “Reply STOP to unsubscribe, or HELP for help”).

Most marketers overlook this, but it’s important to familiarize yourself with all applicable laws and regulations as this will save you a lot of stress down the line.

If you’re unsure about the requirements in the areas where you operate, it’s a good idea to consult with a legal professional.

7. Add Immense Value

The best way to ensure the success of your SMS marketing campaign (and avoid annoying your customers) is to focus on adding value to your messages.

In other words, make every text worthwhile.

So, instead of blasting subscribers with the same ad each week, do your best to focus on “SMART” marketing, which entails making sure that each offer is:

  • Specific;
  • Measurable;
  • Actionable;
  • Relevant; and
  • Timely.

You can share a wide range of content, such as discounts, sales, exclusive savings, event alerts, important announcements, and a variety of other useful information. Or you can add your sales proposal to really paint the picture for customers.

You might also consider layering in photos, videos, and other rich media to diversify your content offerings and maintain high audience engagement levels.

When sending images, make sure that they’re engaging and add real value to your email. You might consider transforming basic images into memes or using a graphic design to add a layer of professional quality that your competitors are lacking.

By adding lots of value in this way, you decrease the likelihood that your subscribers might want to unsubscribe from your SMS list. You may also want to watermark the images to keep competitors at bay.

Consider Adding Exclusivity

While on the subject of adding value, it may be a good idea to add an element of exclusivity to your SMS marketing campaign.

When someone subscribes to receive your text messages, they are giving you access to a direct and personal way of reaching them.

This means that rather than including the same old recycled promotions that are in your Instagram account, Facebook Page, email, and other marketing channels, you should rather try to create exclusive content for your SMS list to give them more incentives to sign up.

For instance, you might offer early access to specific discounts and sales only to your SMS subscribers, which makes it more likely that customers who want first dibs on such promotions will sign up for your SMS list.

8. Be Responsive

If you plan to offer two-way messaging for sales or customer service, then you need to make sure you’re responsive.

Remember, this communication platform delivers messages instantly. According to recent reports, up to 20% of people read text messages within a minute of receiving them, and 90% within 3 minutes.

As part of your effort to be more responsive, you might set availability for a specific number of hours each week to see how you and your team manage.

From there, you can work on expanding the hours. The point here is to not overcommit in the beginning so you avoid disappointing your customers.

Conclusion

SMS marketing doesn’t have to be hard. All you need is to follow the best practices outlined in this article and avoid the common mistakes that tend to annoy customers.

Also, make sure you use a reliable SMS partner that is trustworthy and affordable.

Armed with this knowledge (and the right SMS service provider company), you will be well on your way to running successful SMS marketing campaigns that boost engagement and create loyalty among your audience.

Over to you. Which of the marketing tips in this article do you find the most appealing? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Ron Stefanski is a website entrepreneur and marketing professor who has a passion for helping people create and market their own online business.  You can learn more from him by visiting OneHourProfessor.com

You can also connect with him on YouTube or Linkedin.

Web Designer vs Web Developer: What’s the Difference?

Web development and web design are two rapidly growing segments of the IT market. Designers are graphic artists who work on the visual side of websites — aesthetics, layout, and usability. In comparison, web developers build and maintain the underlying code. Does your company need to hire a developer or designer? Discover the main differences between their competencies in our article.

The Mission of Web Designers

To be successful, artists need a solid combination of technical and creative skills. Their work may include diverse tasks and responsibilities revolving around the visual aspects. For example, they may need to convert existing web design for better functionality, and code in different languages, such as JavaScript, Python, HTML, and PHP.

The goal of web design is to create a visually pleasing, user-friendly, and functional appearance. Their work is crucial for web development, as it creates a blueprint for the coding stage. Every business wants its website to attract visitors and prompt them to stay as long as possible.

Key Responsibilities

Designers do not only deal with the framework and layout. They must consider and create elements that generate conversion. Moreover, as mobile responsiveness is paramount, the website must ensure a smooth experience on any screen.

Professionals need to keep track of the latest trends in their industry and comply with specific standards. Their responsibilities often include work on brand imagery, fonts, colors, etc. Companies like Spotify also ask their designers to create style guides, so all of their websites look consistent. These specialists must be proficient in using different technologies and systems, such as:

  • HTML and CSS,
  • responsive and interaction design,
  • wireframing and prototyping,
  • conversion Rate Optimization,
  • user journey mapping,
  • branding,
  • color theory,
  • typography.

Designers need to do a lot of research and testing to make sure the product meets the client’s requirements and the expectations of the target audience. They also work with different resources. They may create, administer, and oversee documents like:

  • web design contracts,
  • site briefs,
  • website design questionnaires,
  • site proposals.

In their work, designers must make sure the result does not interfere with the coding. They create site structures and mockups, so the developers can get down to business. Finally, a part of web designers expertise concerns post-launch services. They may need to provide content and updates, maintain and monitor the site, and check its performance regularly.

Types of Web Designers

The industry of web development services is a broad field that includes different jobs based on the type of work required from the artist. There are three groups of experts, and all of them are in high demand.

1. UX Designers

These professionals make sure the structure of the website supports smooth navigation and a pleasant user experience overall. You can search for the best UX design websites for inspiration.  Or you can search for the best UX design websites for better understanding. All the best designs are human-centric, as they are based on the typical behavior patterns of users. UX designers make decisions based on research and solid data. They continuously check their solutions to collect and analyze data that helps their teams make informed choices.

2. UI Designers

The quality of user interface determines the quality of interactions with its visitors. These designers work on usability to make sure the visitors stay on the site, so they are more likely to become customers.

3. Visual Designers

As the job title suggests, these professionals are tasked with developing and perfecting the layout of a website, including all of its visual elements. This field overlaps with both UI and UX competencies. The two priorities for a visual designer are the aesthetic quality of the interface and user-friendliness.

The Mission of Web Developers

While designers deal with aesthetics and usability, developers create and maintain the website foundation — its core structure. This involves multifaceted technical work. For example, developers perform sophisticated coding and work with advanced programming languages. Based on the concepts and ideas proposed by the design team, hire full-stack developer, and they will build live and updated websites for any need.

Key Responsibilities

In a project team, it is the developer that constructs the website. This is a complex task requiring different types of expertise:

  • knowledge of programming languages like HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP
  • configuring the back end (server and databases)
  • integrating features and functions related to UX
  • testing and debugging
  • support, maintenance, and fixing of any issues
  • search engine optimization
  • work with content management systems

Web development may be compared to construction. Developers build new websites, just like construction companies build houses. The mission of a developer is to create a reliable and functional structure based on the architect’s blueprints.

Types of Web Developers

Developers may work with different programming languages, but they usually specialize in a handful of them. Depending on the type of work they do, these specialists may be classified as:

1. Front-End Web Developers

These are the experts responsible for the coding of all visual elements that users see. In their work, they collaborate with web designers closely. The experts may use JavaScript, CSS, HTML, or other common languages. In addition, they must be well-versed in using Content Management Systems like WordPress. This dimension of development is also referred to as client-side development.

2. Back-End Web Developers

Developers who work with the back and produce code for the server and database. This job requires knowledge of server frameworks and such programming languages as PHP, C#, Java, Ruby, SQL, and NodeJS. These professionals deal with the aspects of website functionality that remain hidden from the user.

3. Full-Stack Web Developers

This category of development experts deals with both the client-side and the server-side. They must have extensive knowledge of both front- and back-end systems, and an understanding of how they work and interact. In terms of programming languages, they often use javascript, CSS, and HTML. In addition, they are responsible for the setup and configuration of servers, coding of APIs, and more.

To Sum up

Web designers and web developers are responsible for two major aspects of creating a website. While the artists create the blueprints based on the desired aesthetics and user experience, developers turn their ideas into fully-functional sites and ensure their flawless performance. Both developers and designers are integral parts of any development team.

4 Benefits of Social Media for Business

Nowadays, your business depends on customers who are only satisfied with a brand when they have researched it thoroughly on social media. This means that social media is no longer an option, rather, it is a necessity. Social media helps in reaching out to your customers in your unique way. You don’t just promote your business on social media, you create a family where all your followers feel like they are a part of something big. Here are the 4 biggest benefits of social media for business. 

1. Business Analytics

You can learn the normal daily or monthly activity of your customers on social media platforms through the analytics that these platforms provide for businesses. With artificial intelligence, many of them have improved their analytics. Now they can tell you about which customers turned into leads, what’s your competition doing, and perform sentiment analysis. 

Sentiment analysis gives an overall analysis of how your customers are reacting to your posts. Social competition analysis lets you know how your competition is using social media to promote their business. If you notice that their Facebook ads are working better than yours, you could strategize a whole new campaign to get or stay ahead of them.

2. Brand Awareness

Social media is a great way to tell your customers what your business is all about, and what your values are. The first thing you want is for the customer to be able to identify you.  Create a unified look throughout all the social media platforms, and that consistency will make your brand seem familiar. Use the same logo, the same set of colors, and even the tone of your language in posts and stories, and it will create the look that everyone will identify your brand with. 

Follow a set of values and stick to them. You can easily fall prey to following trends on social media, but not all trends need to be followed. Social media is the best way to create brand awareness by being consistent on all platforms. 

3. Generate Leads

Social media generates leads way better than traditional marketing campaigns. Everyone uses social media! Someone checking out your social media ads or following a link from your story are all possible leads. The trick here is to work on the digital marketing strategies and ensure that all your promotions and advertisements are on multiple platforms. This way, you’ll be able to generate lots of leads because you are ensuring visibility. A good social media marketing campaign is one communicating directly with the followers, using a great hashtag, and creating a follow-up plan like posting testimonials.

4. Customer Service

Social media platforms help you address any queries your customers may have and resolve them. If someone has an issue with their product delivery and they post about it and tag your business page, you can communicate with them about mitigation strategies for the incident. In this way, social media also helps you inform a wider audience that you care about your customers. 

Social media platforms have designed their analytics around businesses. You can use their new features to your benefit and ensure that you use social media to attract new customers and engage existing ones. Social media provides you with a great way to make your customers into a community. When they interact with each other, and you, you will learn more about how you can improve your business.

What is Optimal and Targeted Media Buying: 4 Useful Tips

Media buying is more than just putting a couple of ads on a website. It requires you to look at your target audience and the media channels that will best help you reach them. Media buying is more than just throwing money at the problem. It may seem easier, but the truth is that there are so many great advantages to focusing on targeted media buying and dedicating your time and money where it really matters: reaching the exact people you want to speak with. These four tips will highlight why targeting your advertising can make all the difference in your company’s success.

Only Buy What Matters

If your goal is to have three million impressions for one month, then don’t just buy up all the cheap ads that are available for that time period. This isn’t targeting or optimizing – this is just wasting money because you’ve made no attempt to choose where your ads will run. Make sure you’re only choosing the most relevant ad placements possible so that you can receive optimal results.

Plan Properly Before Setting Up a Media Buying Strategy

Media planning is not just an important step in media buying, but also an integral part of any successful advertising campaign. The media buying agency helps with the arrangement of ads, purchasing airtime on various television programs, and buying space for print advertisements. This includes finding the right price per advertisement slot to maximize profit while still staying within budget. An efficient way that brands, telco, and data-driven marketing firms can leverage targeted media buying is through proper management of ad buys and having a plan for your target audience. Once the plan is set up, it is passed along to the media buyer, who places these ads on behalf of the company or marketing firm. Therefore, choosing an experienced media planner can make all the difference to help you achieve all your marketing goals.

Test Out Different Languages And Countries If Appropriate

Selecting the right language, especially for sites in foreign countries, can make all of the difference between great results and none at all. If you have the option, get your ads translated for other countries or regions to get targeted results that are relevant to your audience. Use Google Analytics to keep track of every site where your ads run. Sometimes digital campaigns can be so successful that they’re not monitored closely – which is the fastest way to lose money. Google Analytics makes it easy to monitor how many clicks were made on each ad placement so that you know whether or not it’s worth keeping an ad running in a specific area.

Just as important as proper planning is keeping track of where your ads are running so that you can determine what works and what doesn’t. Without monitoring your ads closely, you won’t know which networks give the best results, how much to budget for specific sites, or even where your ad will be most visible. 

You can use Google Analytics for this purpose by targeting a specific site and setting up an AdWords campaign that tracks all of its clicks. This will provide insight into how many people are interacting with each network, as well as the full reach of the campaign overall – which helps you figure out how much to spend on each area.

6 Tips for Booking More Customer Appointments for Your Salon

Want to improve your salon business’s marketing game but don’t know where to start? You’ve come to the right place.


While starting and running a salon business can certainly be profitable, you’ll still need the right strategy, patience, and hard work to guarantee success. Especially in these post-COVID-19 pandemic days where customers are more concerned about physical interactions (which are obviously common in salons!), it’s very important to rethink your marketing initiatives to attract more customers.


One smart way to start is by using a top salon management software to streamline operations and improve the overall client experience—freeing up more time to focus on marketing.


With that being said, here are six actionable tips for booking more customer appointments for your salon.

With that being said, here are six actionable tips for booking more customer appointments for your salon

1. Improve your local SEO game

Nowadays in this digital age, there are two primary ways people learn about local businesses, including salons: first is through social media recommendations (i.e. when their friends mention your salon), and through Google search via queries like “salons near me”, “hair spa near me”, and so on. Here we’ll discuss the latter.

To attract more people and encourage them to book your services, your business must appear on top of the search results for these queries. However, Google will pull results from Google Maps for these queries, so the answer is Google Maps SEO or local SEO

Although local SEO might seem like a daunting task at first, actually we only need to follow four main steps: 

  1. Claim and verify your salon listing on Google My Business
  2. Optimize your listing, focus on providing complete and accurate information for your potential visitors. Don’t forget to include high-quality photos of your salon
  3. Build local citations by listing your salon on relevant online directories (directories for salon businesses and your city’s directories)
  4. Get more positive reviews from your existing clients on your Google Maps listing


Do this consistently, and you’ll start climbing the Google Maps ranking, which will give you a sustainable source for booking more customer appointments. 

2. Focus on selling the customer appointment, not your service

A very common mistake when marketing your salon is to put too much focus on selling your service, forgetting to sell the appointment itself. Yes, you should communicate how your salon service is better than your competitors and how your service can help your customers, but don’t forget that the objective is to get them to book an appointment. 

Be concise and to the point. Quickly and clearly communicate their needs/problems and how your salon can solve them (i.e. valentine’s day package to help them prepare for their romantic dinner), then be definite about the next steps and tell them exactly how they can schedule an appointment

3. Make it as easy as possible to book your service

Attracting potential clients to consider booking your service is already difficult, and you wouldn’t want them to leave your site or social media profile just because it’s too hard or confusing to schedule an appointment. 

It’s very important to optimize the booking process so it’s as streamlined as possible:

  • Make sure you have CTA buttons for appointments displayed prominently on every single page of your website. Be straight and to the point “schedule your appointment here!”. 
  • Make sure it’s easy to find where to schedule an appointment in your navigation menu. 
  • Integrate the booking solution to your social media profiles when possible (at least, link to your website’s booking page).
  • Integrate an online salon scheduling and booking software that can sync automatically with your and your client’s Calendar app. So potential clients can easily view up-to-date available time slots. 
  • Make it as easy as possible for them to reschedule their appointments, this will also help in reducing no-shows. 

4. Build relationships in your local community

Again, with your salon as a local business, it’s very important to engage with your local community. 

This will provide you the opportunity to interact with your target audience and introduce your business. Personally interacting with prospective clients in your local events, for example, can help in raising brand awareness and also to establish your credibility as a trustworthy business owner. 

Join local events like trade shows and expos, and participate in social causes when possible.

Also, build relationships with other businesses in your areas, especially those offering complementary services to yours so you can do cross-promotion campaigns. For example, you can partner with nearby restaurants so they’ll promote your business and you can also promote their restaurant (i.e. offer discounts) for your clients. If you don’t offer spa or nail art,  you can also cross-promote with nearby spas in your area. 

5. Smart social media marketing

Everyone is on social media nowadays, so it’s quite obvious that you should market your business on relevant social media platforms. 

As a salon business, you should especially focus on Instagram as a visual platform. You can use your Instagram profile as a portfolio for your salon. For example, with the client’s permission, you can post your hairstylist’s best work on Instagram. This can help a lot in attracting new clients. 

Consider investing in paid advertising options, especially on Instagram, but also on other relevant social platforms. Also, partner with relevant local influencers so they can help promote your salon to their followers. 

6. Maximize customer retention and loyalty

Don’t solely focus on getting more appointments from new clients. Getting previous clients to come back is just as, if not even more important. 

You can start a loyalty program to keep satisfied clients coming back to your salon. Encourage them for referrals, for example by offering them a discount if they can bring more people on their next visit (group discounts). You can also offer a free service for every 10th visit or so. This will encourage them to keep cooking back. 

Maintaining customer loyalty is the key to success for many local businesses, and salon business is no exception. By keeping your existing customers happy, you’ll be able to convert them into advocates that will promote your business to their peers and family members. This is how you can naturally grow. 

What is Mobile DSP and Why Do You Need It for Your Programmatic Advertising?

If you work in the marketing industry, you’ve probably heard about mobile demand-side platforms or DSPs. However, if you don’t have a deep understanding of how this tool works and why you may need it for advertising, keep reading the article!

A DSP is used by marketing agencies and brands to manage ad and data exchange accounts as well as different supply-side platforms through one interface. This software is a great solution to quickly buy mobile and tablet impressions at auctions. You can do it in real time through private marketplaces or direct deals. Purchasing mobile advertising space becomes much easier for media buyers since they can make bids in bulk at lower prices. But this is not the only benefit of a DSP! Check the list of demand-side platform advantages and features below.

Advantages of advertising with a DSP

In-app tracking dsp mobile app

Since apps collect first-party data, they provide advertisers with lots of important parameters, such as user gender, age and geo-location. This data helps marketing experts identify right user segments and find the best-performing audience  Eventually, ads reach potential customers faster and drive better results.

Precise targeting

In contrast to a web environment that may become entirely anonymous in the near future, mobile IDs are really helpful in tracking user performance in the long run. Device IDs provide marketers with more accurate information on user engagement. Specialists can see the exact number of ad clicks and views in the app. This is extremely beneficial for advertising campaigns. Thanks to accurate targeting, your conversions can significantly grow with a DSP.

Engagement boost

As an advertising expert, you must realize that apps allow for highly engaging  and less disturbing ad formats. Users are less likely to be irritated by advertising because it appears during the pauses in their activity. Since they don’t come across boring banners, they may have a good and long-lasting impression from your creatives. Moreover, they may even like your ad if it provides some in-app bonuses for viewing.

High CTRs

Click through Rate is called CTR. The statistics gathered by popular brands shows that in-app ads drive higher CTRs than web ads. The Marketing Dive reported that the average CTR for apps is 0.58%, while for web it equals only 0.23%.

The difference is dramatic, isn’t it? Additionally, Appssavvy reported that a DSP mobile app performs nearly 11 times better than traditional banners. As you see, this type of advertising is simply more effective.

No ad blocking

Unfortunately, in-browser blockers disrupt the effectiveness of web advertisement.  Since the majority of people use blocking software, most Internet users are unreachable for your campaigns.  But luckily, in-app environment doesn’t  enable doing this. Hence, you can benefit from accessing various segments, including previously untapped groups.

Higher revenues

Since recently, there has been a dramatic switch from browsers to mobile apps. The eMarketer states that most people spend 90% of their time on smartphone apps, while the rest is taken by web. So no matter what business you have, you should take into account this behavioral change and make appropriate decisions. Consider the example of Facebook that increased its revenues from zero to over 40% of total earnings with the help of mobile apps.

Choosing a decent DSP

To pick the right demand-side platform, you should have a close look at the features listed below.

Software architecture

A good DSP must work well with different apps, browsers, operating systems and devices. As you might understand, huge amounts of data from numerous sources require a very powerful DSP technology. Therefore, you have to make sure that the platform you are going to use is capable of accommodating massive amounts of data and executing a big number of operations at the same time.  A DSP technology must be advanced enough to reflect actual information in real time.

Targeting algorithms

As mentioned above, reaching the right market segments with your ads is crucial for success. Because of that, you should opt for a DSP that has the following targeting capabilities: geolocation, mobile device type, OS, user behavior, context and demographics. If all of these categories are offered by your vendor, then it can be a great choice.

Ad formats

To ensure high engagement rates, you should test different types of ads. Your DSP must support a wide range of ad formats, including videos, rich media and dynamic apps. By analyzing what works best for your potential customers, you can increase your business revenues. Also, make sure that creatives you are using allow for interaction, such as  swiping, touching and expanding.

Safety

Before purchasing a DSP, ask a vendor about the security measures they take. To avoid troubles, your DSP  brand must be safe. That means that the software must have in-built multi-layered anti-fraud system. There also must be mechanisms that detect fake clicks and track the number of real user impressions.

Performance reports

Successful advertising campaign is impossible with tracking its performance. Reports can provide you with a better understanding of how to get more customers from your ads. So you should opt for a DSP that provides frequent reports on your statistics. Having an updated information gives you knowledge about different aspects of your advertising campaign so you can optimize it and maximize your ROI.

Final thoughts

The main value of DSPs is that they allow advertisers to make multiple bids in real time and manage lots of ads from a wide range of publishers almost effortlessly. It ensures great transparency and makes ad tracking and optimization much easier. Hopefully, this article helped you better understand what a demand-side platform is and whether you need it for your marketing campaign.

7 Reasons Why You Should Avoid Plagiarism in the Articles for SEO

Many bloggers and writers think that it’s very easy to write an article to run a blog and to earn a handsome amount every month by copying ideas and thoughts of other high authority websites. These types of bloggers and writers copy the content and by replacing few words think that they will win the game.

This is not the right approach to write the articles. If you are running a blog just to earn money by placing bulk plagiarized content, then you should not adopt this method to earn money. People on the internet will realize sooner or later that your website content is not worth their time and you will lose your integrity.

If you are trying to become over smart without giving enough effort and research, then remember that google crawlers are smarter than you, and plagiarized content will not be helpful for the long term.

By the end of this article, we will learn about plagiarism, how it can affect SEO and how you can avoid it.

What is Plagiarism?

Plagiarism means when you use someone’s work without citing the proper source, then it would be considered plagiarism.

It is the best practice to check plagiarism in your work and make it unique before getting live on the search engine. For this task, you should get an online plagiarism checker that can work properly to check for plagiarism in your content along with the source. So that the similarity could be checked.

However, if you are citing the proper source, and some writers credit the real owner by providing a link to that source. This is not considered plagiarism even if you are using the content of other writers. When you pretend someone’s, work is your work, then it is plagiarism.

Reasons Why You Should Not Use Plagiarized Content:

Whenever we are visiting any social media platform, we come across a lot of content. The content creators put their effort and their creativity to bring genuine content in front of the audience. In the same way, the writers, bloggers, and website owners are content creators as they amuse the audience with the written content.

The words when written in certain symmetry and style can impact the audience deeply. But all writers are not content creators as some people do a terrible job by copying the content of other writers and bloggers by replacing few words in the content.

The content uplifts by the audience due to the uniqueness and adding value to the life of other people. If you are only interested in making money from your blog by uploading cheap and plagiarized content, then the audience will never come back to your blog or website.

The plagiarized content has many consequences in terms of google ranking, SEO, and other reasons that we will discuss later.

1. Plagiarized Content Does Not Rank on Google

The bloggers who start a new blog generally need to upload bulk content on the internet so that website crawlers can recognize the content of the website. The bloggers who want to become an overnight millionaire by writing few pieces uploads plagiarized content.

When you use the content of other writers and do not cite them properly, then you are at loss. Google has advanced a lot in recent years. The advanced crawlers do not only check the keywords they also check the does not and engagement ratio of the audience on your blogs.

By optimizing sell these parameters you can rank your content on your website on google. Google knows who published the content first and which website has unique content and the websites that are using copied content. Google values authenticity and ranks the top pages by analyzing all these parameters.

This is one of the main reasons you should not use plagiarized content as it has no value, you are fooling yourself and your audience without putting in the real hard work and dedication.

2. You Can be Penalized by Google

If you are constantly uploading creepy and fluffy content or using spinning tools on your website, there are chances that Google will notice your heinous action and can take strict action against your blog by penalizing your website or blog or charging a fine.

Google updates its crawlers and bots to recognize the copied and plagiarized content. If two websites have the same content, then the website that has uploaded the content first will rank on google. Google will ignore the content of other websites and will put the content of that website on the blacklist.

Any complaint or report of plagiarism received to google about your content, then Google can take strict action and your website will be penalized. Using plagiarized content can cause you more loss than benefits.

3. Losing Your Followers

The followers and audience of your website follow you for the content you are putting on your website. You build a connection with your audience by communicating with your words. Your audience and followers start trusting you when you write something that can bring positive value in their life or you resonate with them by your content.

But what if you are uploading copied content? Will your audience trust you? Will they come to your website again? No, they will stop following your website and will follow the genuine and creditable websites. You will lose your followers by uploading fluffy content on your website.

Every website owner is constantly working hard to bring down their competitors and to increase their organic reach, and their monthly revenue from the blog.

You are expressing yourself with your words in the form of different blog posts and articles, therefore to persuade your audience, bring original and creative content on your website and you will see that surprisingly the audience will fall in love with your content.

4. Losing Your Credibility and Trustworthiness

No matter how hard you are taking care of SEO, keyword optimization, and designing a lucrative website, you cannot win the hearts of your audience by putting in fake content.

 When you upload content on your website consistently, the followers build an emotional connection. When they will come to know that you are stealing the content of other writers and running after making money, it will impact your audience adversely.

They will start believing that you are fake and do not have enough guts to run a blog. It is even more difficult to optimize your blog and increase the audience after falling.

5. Search Engines Will Bring You Down

If the content of your website does not have any engagement on the blogs and the stay time of the visors is less than 30 seconds, the google and search engines will bri9ng your website down. Audience and followers can recognize the fluffy and spin content, they will stop following you, poor engagement ratio and lesser number of shares and comments on your website give hints to google that your content is not worth following and people do not like to see your content in the future.

Only those pages rank on the top pages of google which have excellent readability, good engagement ratio, unique content, good SEO optimization, naturally integrated keywords in the article.

6. You Will Not Get Any Referrals for Backlinks

The bloggers and other websites need referrals and backlinks for their articles to gain recognition.  If you are using substandard content on google no one will trust you and will not collaborate with you in the future.

If you are not getting any high-quality backlinks for your website or blog, it will sign to Google that your website is not credible and trustworthy as it doesn’t bring any value to the life of the audience will decrease the engagement and organic reach of your content.

7. People Do Not Like Deceivers

Google does not value plagiarism. If you are representing someone’s work as your own work then morally and ethically it is considered wrong.

No one likes thieves, by stealing the content of other writers you are deceiving your audience and the real owner who should take the credit.

It affects your personality and reputation in front of people online.

Wrapping Up

These are the reasons why you should not use plagiarized content, if you are not a good writer do not fool the people online with fake and plagiarized content. It is recommended to check the article in the plagiarism checker to avoid partial and accidental plagiarism in the articles. Some of the best plagiarism checking tools are prepostseo.com plagiarism checker, Check-plagiarism.com plagiarism checker, Editpad.org  plagiarism checker. These tools have advanced features and sho the percentage of plagiarized and unique content. They also cite the source from where the content is taken. You can also download a report of plagiarism.

Before uploading your content anywhere online, check your articles in these plagiarism checkers.

Many bloggers and writers think that it’s very easy to write an article to run a blog and to earn a handsome amount every month by copying ideas and thoughts of other high authority websites. These types of bloggers and writers copy the content and by replacing few words think that they will win the game.

This is not the right approach to write the articles. If you are running a blog just to earn money by placing bulk plagiarized content, then you should not adopt this method to earn money. People on the internet will realize sooner or later that your website content is not worth their time and you will lose your integrity.

If you are trying to become over smart without giving enough effort and research, then remember that google crawlers are smarter than you, and plagiarized content will not be helpful for the long term.

By the end of this article, we will learn about plagiarism, how it can affect SEO and how you can avoid it.

Key Risks and Top 10 Ways to Manage Your Website Effectively Once Launched

If you’re an entrepreneur, there will probably come a time when you’ll need to set up your website to establish a presence on the market. This will be more important for you if you’re selling some sort of service; according to the eCommerce Foundation, almost 90% of customers first search for a product on the internet before going to a physical store. Things have also changed with the COVID-19 pandemic, where even people who were proponents of traditional shopping now prefer to do everything online.

If you haven’t had experience running a website before, there’s a good chance you’ll make some mistakes….

Atlanta-based web design company enhances the product design departments of the most forward-thinking eCommerce startups and established businesses. They offer continuing UI/UX design, remote staff augmentation, and continuous design iteration for your business and website.

And we’ve prepared this article to help you prevent some of them! We’ll cover the ten most common mistakes and risks when managing a website and give you our solutions for all of them.

1. Malfunctioning mobile version

We do everything on smartphones, from business to private life to entertainment. According to statistics provided by outboxerdesign, about 80% of all smartphone users have made some purchase in the last six months via their mobile device. That said, your mobile website simply MUST work!

  • Our solution — Use solutions that will make the user experience on iOS and Android as good as on the full version of the site. Moreover, consider creating a mobile app with additional benefits for your customers.

2. Data loss

Data loss, in extreme cases, can force you to start your website (and maybe even your entire business) from scratch. Because of one shortcoming, you can lose a lot of time and money — for what?

  • Our solution — Backup your site from time to time using sites such as iDrive. These will be additional costs but think of the losses you will incur if you lose the data needed to handle, for example, tax matters.

Every so often, we ignore certain parts of the site that seem unimportant to us. Meanwhile, our customer might want to use them, and if he isn’t able to, we might just lose him in a second.

  • Our solution — Have someone review the content on your site on an ongoing basis. This is especially useful if you sell third-party products where you have no control over their actions. As an entrepreneur, you can’t be up-to-date with everything, so have someone do it for you.

4. Poor content

One prominent mistake entrepreneurs make when creating websites for their businesses is trying to create content themselves. All it takes is for your market competitors to hire professionals to create content such as graphics and articles, and you are already on the losing end… We’re even talking about things like spelling errors or punctuation; one misplaced comma can affect the credibility of your services, for real.

  • Our solution — Hire content professionals. If you’re afraid about the costs of hiring a full-time employee, use freelancers!

5. Long website loading time

People no longer tolerate sites that take too long to load, not in a world where everything happens instantly. If your website doesn’t open immediately, you need to change that as soon as possible. 

  • Our solution — Factors such as the size of the graphics on the page or cluttered source files can cause the page to load too long.  To check how fast your website opens, you can use a free tool from Google called Pagespeed Insights.

6. Outdated plugins

One non-functioning plugin can disrupt the functionality of the entire site. Sometimes even after an update, one extension might stop working with another, resulting in unnecessary site bugs and potential customer loss.

  • Our solution — Regularly make sure that all plugins and extensions on the site are updated and work well together all the time. Before launching your website, you might want to try out our software testing services.

7. Not considering SEO

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) aspect is essential when launching a website. In short, the better optimized a website is in terms of SEO, the higher it will appear in Google results.

  • Our solution — Work with an SEO specialist and Copywriter for written content. SEO consultation prices may seem tremendous, but the better the SEO, the better the chance for new clients.

8. Bad meta description

Your meta description is the first thing a customer will see after searching for your business in a browser. And as we all know — you can only make a first impression once.

  • Our solution — Prepare a good meta description and see how it will look by using tools like Meta Tags. Typically, the meta description should be between 60 and 140 characters.

9. Vulnerability to cyberattacks

These days, hacking attacks and DDos are the order of the day. According to statistics provided by SafeAtLast, the healthcare industry lost over $25billion due to cyberattacks in 2019. 

  • Our solution — Backup your site, and work with two-three different website hosting companies. That way, whenever your website goes down to cyberattack, you can always pull it up through some other host.

10. Pop-up advertisements

Pop-up ads are an easy way to discourage your potential client from browsing further. Not only do they obscure the content on your site, but they are also annoying like nothing else (especially for mobile users). Furthermore, it is confirmed that use pop-up ads rank lower in Google searches.

  • Our solution — We understand that pop-up ads are supposed to monetize your website, but there are much better alternatives for that. One of the most efficient and least annoying forms of advertising are in-text hyperlinks and banners.

Conclusion

As you can see, running a website comes with various risks, and it’s not as simple as it may seem. Setting up a top-functioning site requires a lot of experience, and it just so happens that an experienced IT team has it!

 So don’t be afraid to entrust us with the task of taking care of your website and look into web development services mentioned here mlsdev.com/services/web-development.


Author’s bio: Anastasiia Lastovetska is a technology writer at MLSDev, a software development company that builds web & mobile app solutions from scratch. She researches the area of technology to create great content about app development, UX/UI design, tech & business consulting.