Essential Tips that will make PR agencies successful
We are currently residing in an era of “fake news”! There is an excess of sensationalism created online because of fake news sources. There is generally more trust in public relations agencies in comparison to its other sister media agencies. The trust seems to be lesser in the sector more than ever. Trust is an essential aspect of every business. And today, it is necessary to gain more trust, and it isn't very easy to achieve the same.
When you think about the world of PR, it’s become more challenging than it was. The professionals are dependant on technology. Also, people have become hesitant to trust any source. The challenges today start from appealing to the audience to managing business and clients. It has become essential for PR agencies and professionals to attain the trust of clients and the public. They also need to manage big tasks, which have become more complex.
However, today PR experts and leaders have shared their life lessons that can help the emerging PR professionals and agencies to manage their present business. Here are some of the best tips that are needed to be a success in PR.
- Move through the challenge
Every story, challenge, and sale you face is yet another brick wall you need to break through. To succeed as a PR agency, you should never back down and allow the roadblocks to come into your way. It would help if you didn't allow media opinions, technology reliance, and any other problem to create a block between you and your objective. It is essential to know that you can always share the message which you want. Your attitude will bring about a difference globally, which includes your clients, connections, and staff.
- Help others and help yourself
You need to be honest, and the media demands it! It is one of the best PR suggestions that a PR agency or professional can receive today. You must do right to the world. It applies to a range of aspects, for instance, overall honesty and social action. Also, the better you can do in any business, the chances are you will get recognized more. Furthermore, today's PR world urges that you provide an accurate message to the press and public to earn their trust and retain credibility. It is applicable for clients and PR agencies alike.
- Try to make it personal
It would help if you took ample time for your research. Also, it's essential to plan the necessary talks and communicate personally to develop personal associations. While it is essential for any business, it is more than necessary in PR to communicate personally. People find it challenging to trust automated messages and bots. Also, personal associations are a great way to break the trust barrier.
- You should under promise and overdeliver
It's one of the oldest tricks of the PR industry! It would be best if you told people to expect results from a PR campaign. And once you do, try to deliver improved results. If you can manage expectations, you can cater to the promises more than you imagined. However, take care that you don’t oversell your or your client’s business. Remember, we live in a skeptical world. Hence, when you misrepresent your capacities, it could mean the end for you. Try not to disappoint anyone or your clients. But when you deliver beyond expectation, you provide a strong message to your client about your credibility.
- Keep the cat busy
If a cat's plate is empty, you will find it coming up for more. However, if you keep the plate full, the cat is content. It's essential to keep the cat busy with food. That means you need to give people what they are searching for before they can ask for it. It would be best if you didn't wait for new assignments and issues to arise; you should think ahead of your time and give your clients what they are searching for. It would be best if you find people with more media scopes before they ask for it. That will give your clients the impression that you are thinking about leveraging their brand name through innovative PR initiatives. It will help you to gain more trust.
- Zoom in and out
It's essential to concentrate on what is necessary. Across every industry vertical, the leaders face several issues. If there is less trust, the problems become more, especially in PR. If you want to be successful, you should identify the subjects which matter most and prioritize them. For instance, at times, delivering a message is more crucial compared to the wording. At other times, it's the details that gain superiority. For a few clients, any publicity is a good publicity. However, others might have a few specific requirements. At times, the story resides in the big picture. And other times, the value is in the small details. As a PR professional and agency, it is essential to identify which is which.
- Work and rest hard
You need to take time off! Similar to any other business, PR can get overwhelming. Hence, it gets essential to balance stress with adequate rest. If you overwork and get burnt out, it won't help you, your clients, and the entire business. It is one of the best suggestions that a PR professional can receive. Furthermore, PR professionals and agencies must identify the requirement for recreation in the current changing times. To know more, you can check out the PR agency Toronto.
If you step into the PR industry, it will teach you several things about life! Even though every service is separate, every business happens to be the same in a few ways. The companies might differ in the way the current climate impacts their work. However, irrespective of all the differences, the leaders across all industry verticals can benefit from the suggestions discussed above. The leading PR agencies must take note of these suggestions and tips and manage their work. It will help them to move towards more success and better business opportunities.
Hidden Twitter tricks - tips from a social media manager
Twitter is among the top social media in 2021. Twitter has been getting increasingly popular amongst politicians, students, and the general public. Twitter is a powerful social media for many small and big businesses worldwide due to its simple yet effective infrastructure.
If you are handling different social media and Twitter is one of them, use these valuable tips to your advantage as not many people know about these. If you are someone who uses Twitter frequently, then you will find these useful.
Here are top Twitter tips from a professional social media manager.
Combine multiple accounts using a single Email Address
If you are someone who uses both a personal and business Twitter account, you are in luck. Some may prefer not to combine their accounts for personal reasons; however, if you are not one of them, the trick will help you skip a lot of hassle. Having to log out and log in every time to switch between a personal account and a business account takes a lot out of your workflow. You can use multiple accounts through one handle. To do this, go to your profile and click the account name located near the bottom left of the screen. Upon clicking on it, you will have an option to add another existing account.
Extending your message headroom
If your message is too long for Twitter, since Twitter's word limit is 280 characters, try using an image. This is a simple method; what you need to do is take a screenshot of a note that you have written on your phone, laptop, or PC and add it to your tweet. This way, you can extend your messages exponentially—a vital trick for all Twitter users, professionals, and casuals alike.
Composing longer tweets with the help of Tweet Threads
Yes, you can use a screenshot or image to extend the character limit on your tweets or messages; however, if it's something that doesn't work for you or that you don't feel right doing it, then you can make a string of tweets instead of posting screenshots.
The method is simple.
You write a tweet, and after you are done writing a tweet, press on the plus (+) button on the bottom right of the tweet box. Clicking on allows you to compose another tweet forming a tweet thread connected to your initial tweet.
In the end, press Tweet to publish the finished tweet.
You are able to add as many tweets as you like this way, a huge advantage for many.
Embedding tweet on your Blog or Website
If you are writing content and want to add a relevant tweet to that, you might want to display it directly on your blog or website without taking a screenshot with your phone. This is helpful in a particular way. People can directly press on that tweet from the blog or website. This helps drive traffic to your Twitter account, allowing you to get more followers or customers, depending on your circumstance.
To embed a certain tweet to a website or blog, start by clicking on the down-pointing arrow near the top of the tweet you like. Press Embed Tweet, and you will be provided with a code. Click on copy Code and simply paste it into your blog or website for flawless and clean implementation.
Pinning Tweets to Highlight their importance on your profile
If you have a specific tweet that is more important than all of your tweets, simply pin it. You only get to pin one tweet, and if you pin a different tweet having already pinned one previously, the newer Pin will replace the older pinned post. When you pin a post, it appears at the top of your profile before any other tweet.
To pin a Tweet click the down-pointing arrow on the right side of the Tweet box.
Click Pin to your profile, and you are done.
Saving time by scheduling tweets.
Need to tweet at a specific time without having to be there or wait for the time to arrive to be able to post? This tip will get you covered. Most popular social media have this feature, and any good social media manager will use post scheduling for different social media and Twitter. It helps keep things organized. Here’s a way to schedule your post with Hootsuite. Post plan is also a great alternative to Hootsuite, which essentially does the same thing but also allows you to do it with many other social media simultaneously with a couple of clicks.
Hootsuite Twitter post scheduling guide:
Go to your Hootsuite dashboard and click on "Compose Message."
Type your desired message and add all the relevant photos and links that you want to be added.
From the profile picker, select a profile and click on the calendar icon.
Select the time and date for the message to be sent from the calendar.
Finally, press schedule, and you are done.
Conclusion
Most avid Twitter users already utilize many of these tricks to elevate their Tweet game and social media presence. Use them wisely, and you will be able to increase both your workflow efficiency or, if you are a general Twitter user, it can make things much more convenient.
Understanding the benefits of the investment property leads
The companies that are willing to target potential customers for the sales of their investment property are those who can find this lead generation strategy useful. With the help of investment property leads the profile of a consumer can be located specifically who are the qualified leads for the purchase of an investment property or targeting the one who is actively searching for some property in the market.
Getting a pre-qualified lead can help your sales team to close the deal successfully with them without much effort. Different service providers help in finding the investment property leads by searching the right profile and qualifying them to reach you for turning them into customers.
How it is easy to find customers for your property investment sales?
Many different industries use data marketing strategies that keep them ahead of their industry peers and make them stand as successful leaders among others. When data marketing is paired with lead generation you can make your clients feel valued for their needs and requirements.
Your interaction and right attention to them make them satisfied in making any property investment decision and they can find your company as a trusted partner for them. Getting new customer acquisition is now a simple task with the property lead generation strategy that also uses reverse-engineered profiling through which your sales team gets clients that are ready for closing the sale.
It is also required to keep your team updated with the property market and different standards and knowledge about the property industries. The third-party service providers are always updated with the current trend of the industry and also have in-depth knowledge of how to bring effective leads to your business.
Why choose a service provider?
How to find a prime lead? Who is eligible to fit your qualifications criteria? Whom do you find meaningful to speak with? Are there any common factors among the existing leads?
To get answers to all such questions a service provider helps you to conduct a lead capturing campaign that fits in the different requirements that are sales-ready and can give you a profitable business. Their goal is to find the most suitable leads for your business.
Also, they provide the proper guidance to find targeted leads geographically where are sometimes difficult in licensing or have any restrictions over the property. Some of the other benefits include:
- The service providers cast the right messages to the customers to generate interest in the property to buy.
- New and refreshing ad activities to get the attraction of the customers in the mass market full of competitors
- Help in determining the best type of investment property lead that suits your property
With various tools and software, they make it easy for a firm to get property investment leads also in the metro as well as regional areas.Thus, your business expands successfully, and also you can have a remarkable increase in the revenue of your company. It is a very useful lead generation strategy that provides the best results for your business in many different aspects.
7 SEO Strategies That Will Keep Your Business on Top
As a business owner in this increasingly digital age, it’s essential that your company has a strong, modern, and engaging online presence. These days, outdated websites with dull colors and designs won’t cut it; when you’re competing with countless other brands selling similar products, you need to cultivate an online presence that will grab the consumer and sell your product.
But equally as important as your website itself is the SEO strategy used to take people there. SEO, which stands for “search engine optimization,” means the process of upgrading your site to increase its visibility for relevant searches. In other words, SEO makes it more likely for your company to appear in a Google search, which inevitably leads to more attention and an increased probability that you’ll attract paying customers to your site. While improving your SEO strategy requires a bit of time and effort, it’s super low cost and totally worth it; the combination of a high-quality website and a good SEO strategy is a real power duo. Here are some SEO strategy tips that will do wonders for your website traffic and your business' income.
1. Do an SEO Audit on Your Company’s Website
An “audit” sounds like a fancy word, but it’s not nearly as complicated as you might think. It’s merely an examination of what you’re doing in order to figure out where you currently stand and how you can do it better. You can pay an SEO company to audit your website for you, but it’s cheaper and equally as effective to do it yourself; however, it can sometimes be helpful to use an SRE — or Site Reliability Engineering — service to make sure your website is running properly.
To do an SEO audit, you will examine your overall site performance and create goals based on your analysis. What pages are getting the most clicks, and which ones might be lacking engagement? Understanding this information can help you figure out what you’re doing well and what you can do better, and it’s an important first step in implementing a successful SEO strategy.
2. Conduct Keyword Research
A huge part of SEO revolves around keywords, which is why keyword research is an important next step in the SEO implementation process. Keyword research, however, is easy to do, and just requires a few analytic Google searches. Typing keywords relevant to your business into Google and identifying which ones are most popular will help you understand what customers are most interested in. For example, if you’re a women’s bathing suit company, you might start by typing in “bathing suits” to the search bar and seeing what Google fills in from there. Make a list of the most popular results so that you can include those phrases in posts on your website.
3. Check Your Headings
When it comes to SEO, using headings to your benefit can be a huge advantage over competitors. Not only is it a good idea to include keywords and phrases in your headers in order to attract customers, but your headers should spell out pretty clearly what your post or page is about. When you have a potential customer skimming your blog, you want their desires reflected in your content. When you have the keywords your target audience is using in your headers, your consumer base is much more likely to be intrigued and to keep reading.
4. Use Meta Descriptions That Include Keywords
If you're a business owner who has never heard of a meta description, it’s time to learn. Meta descriptions are one-to-three sentence descriptions of your page that will show up under the header when your company appears in a Google search, and their existence increases the likelihood of clicks infinitely. Keep them short and use only a couple of keywords, but make them compelling enough that they stand out among the sea of other Google results.
5. Add Alt Text to Images
When you upload a photo to your website, the story the picture tells might seem obvious to you. Maybe it’s from a company luncheon where the CEO gave a great speech or from an awards ceremony in which your business won a big honor. Or, maybe it’s a stock photo that you thought was relevant to your blog post. Either way, the average customer browsing your site might not immediately understand the photo, which is why alt text is so important. The text should be descriptive and include important keywords but should be no more than one or two sentences. This way, your photo works in conjunction with engaging yet concise descriptions to tell a good story.
6. Link to Other Posts on Your Site
You want all parts of your website to be intriguing for customers, which is why linking to other pages or posts on your website is useful. It helps search engines create an accurate sitemap, and also helps your audience uncover more of your content and get to know you better. Make sure to use descriptions that give readers an accurate sense of what they'll find if they choose to click on your links, and make sure the links are woven into your posts naturally. You want your audience to see you as competent, savvy, and authentic.
7. Don’t Overuse Keywords
This seems extremely counterintuitive based on everything else in this list, which has hammered home the keyword aspect of SEO strategy (which is important!). However, you want to make your page optimized without being overbearing. Don’t force keywords into sentences to a point where your content becomes confusing or even illegible. For example, if you’re writing a short meta description, don’t use every relevant keyword from your keyword research list. Instead, choose one or two that are impactful and fit seamlessly into your blurb.
The bottom line? SEO strategy is a way for you to show you can solve problems for your audience; you want to prove that you can predict your customers’ desires and give them what they need. If SEO implementation is done right, your clicks will soar and your engagement will climb to levels you never thought possible.
How Your Business Can Use Customer Feedback To Improve Marketing
Your customers are a valuable source of information for your business. By getting their feedback on their experiences with your company and the products and services that they purchase, you can identify any problems and work to correct them to make them better.
Engaging with your client base is a smart step to make sure that you are tailoring your product line to the actual needs and desires of potential customers to encourage brand loyalty and word-of-mouth recommendations.
You should focus on existing customer feedback as well as reaching out to potential new clients to get their opinions. The data you get from them will provide you with greater insights on further development and the areas where you should focus the most attention.
Collect Data
Data collection from customers and online platforms is a great tool to help you improve your business. There are so many ways that you can gather the information that you need to make adjustments and appeal to a wider customer base.
Online marketing research through focus groups is one way that you can obtain valuable information. You may want to have a panel of people that you select to interact with through a video or phone session. You can choose to send out a survey in advance to get some responses and give them time to thoroughly think through their answers. Or, you can just dive into your questions during the session to get organic answers. Sometimes the first thoughts that someone has about a product or experience are the most truthful and hold the most value for study.
There are plenty of other ways that you can collect customer and community data to help your business. Satisfaction surveys that are sent out by email or paper after a purchase is made will let your customers have a chance to use the product and see how it functions. This way they can suggest improvements to make it more effective and easy to use, as well as offer criticisms over something that didn't work or that they found difficult.
You can also reach out to past and potential clients via phone, email, or social media to get their unbiased opinions. take a look at comments that were posted in the review section of your website and anywhere else that your products are sold. These will give you a look at both the good and the bad experiences that people have had. Social media is another place that will give a lot of truthful feedback. This type of communication is more informal and people are likely to tell it as it is and give their honest praise or criticisms.
Recognize Patterns
Once you have collected enough data, you need to sort it into categories for analysis and to recognize any patterns. Take a look at product satisfaction, customer experience and ease of use of the website and support functions, and opinion of your overall brand.
Customers aren't usually shy about telling you when something went wrong. No one wants to spend their money on something that is faulty or doesn't meet their needs. When you sort through your collected data you can look for any trends that mention the same issue. One complaint could be a fluke, but several that mention the same problem means that you need to look into the issue and fix the problem before your company becomes known for inferior quality.
The experience that a customer has when working with your business is another important factor to consider. Did they get answers to their questions quickly? Were their concerns addressed and fully satisfied? Did they have trouble finding the information that they needed on your website? Even when a problem arises, if you make it right and respond in a timely manner, most people won't hold it against you. As long as you pay attention and treat your customers with respect and work with them to fix the issue, most will be happy in the end.
Another area that would be useful to explore further is the general level of excitement and interest that your customers show with the products your company offers. Are they eager to try out your next release? Maybe they have suggestions on how you can further develop a line to include more products because they can't get enough. These are all positive signs and show that you're on the right track. If there is a lackluster response, it may be time to branch out a bit or work to make your website and offered goods more appealing.
Take Action
The next step is to act on the data that you have collected and reviewed. What are the key areas that need improvement? If there is a known defect in one of your products, fix it immediately. Find a better way to manage production and quality control to prevent the same type of thing from happening again. Use better materials, or correct a design error that leads to malfunction. Offer a replacement product or coupon for a future purchase to those that had a bad experience. This way they will be more likely to give your company another try.
Any overwhelmingly positive responses or glowing recommendations and satisfaction with a particular product can be used as an opportunity to engage with your clients and show your thanks and appreciation. You could offer a discount on their next purchase, or run a contest for a giveaway of your most popular products. This will show people that you are listening and you care what they have to say. It's also a way to encourage continued feedback by showing that their words are taken seriously and will influence what your company comes up with next.
Taking action to correct the wrongs that have happened will go a long way to building trust and loyalty for your brand. Your customers want to know that their satisfaction matters to you and that they can be comfortable giving their hard-earned money to your company.
If you use the goldmine of information that is provided to you through your customers and community, you can tap into what people really want and market your business in a way that appeals to the most people to ensure your future success.
UX Curve: A Method for Evaluating Long Term User Experience
What is User Experience (UX)?
User Experience (UX) focuses on the essential aspect of any product company; its users. UX helps companies to thoroughly understand their users, their requirements, their abilities, and their limitations. UX is a growing field in the realm of human-computer interaction (HCI).
User experience is a many-sided concept, and researchers are yet to find a commonly accepted definition.
As Hassenzahl and Tractinsky debate, the concept of user experience tries to go beyond the task-oriented approach of traditional HCI. It brings out aspects such as beauty, fun, pleasure, and personal growth that satisfy general human needs but have little influential value.
Therefore, in comparison to basic usability, enjoyability plays a crucial role in user experience. The limit to which an interactive product is gratifying to use is referred to as the product's hedonic quality. The shift of importance from mere usability to experiential factors has confronted researchers in considering what user experience is and how to evaluate it.
The UX Curve
The method of measuring essential things like customer satisfaction and usability of the products is called the UX Curve. Most of the user experience (UX) design and studies related to it are concentrated upon evaluating short-term user experience and the product's usage in daily life.
The long-term relationship of users with the corresponding products and their experience with the product in the long-term is also a crucial factor that determines the overall market success of the product.
The pleasure and the fun factor of using a product and its usability are the two main user experience factors. Still, the period throughout which the product is tested often falls short, which results in the neglect of essential data to make business decisions.
The UX Curve method was developed to assist the user in reporting their experience over a more extended product usage period.
The ease of learning how to use the new product is an aspect of user experience, but when users use the product for an extended period and recommend the product to others; that is what Long Term User Experience entails and not the tiny details or the initial experience of using the product.
Some various methods and tools have been developed to collect data and information with regards to user's perspectives and thoughts about using the product in different situations such as:
Experience Sampling Method (ESM) and Day Reconstruction Method (DRM) were developed to analyze the users' information. These research methods proved that Long Term UX does depend on the sequence of the events and the user's personal experience with the product over more extended periods.
As per the author of the leading research paper, users prefer experiences that improve over time rather than a negative experience or an experience that gets worse over time. Other techniques like CORPUS and iSCALE have also gained widespread popularity in recent years. The former is used to reconstruct the user experience over long periods, generally over a year. The latter technique allows the user to express their opinion and experience over long periods with the aid of a 'Sketch".
The UX Curve is developed so that both parties, i.e., users and researchers, sit face-to-face, and wherein the researchers delve into the participant/user's thought process. The main points or attributes that are discussed are:
- Attractiveness or the beauty of the products
- The extent of usage
- How the product is being utilized
- Ease of use of the product
THE UX CURVE METHOD: DEVELOPMENT AND ITS IMPLEMENTATION
Identifying the particular sequence of events was the main point that the researchers were focused on. This process has been proven to affect user's overall evaluation and helps researchers predict future behavioral patterns of the users.
Researchers developed a template through which users could draw a curve describing how their experience or opinion changed over time. The template included:
- A two-dimensional (2D) graph area
- Lines on paper to write on
- Space to briefly describe the justifications for any changes in the curve.
- The horizontal axis on the curve graph represents the time period or dimension from the very beginning of usage of the product till the current moment of use.
- The vertical axis consequently describes the potency of the user's experience.
- The middle of the graph consisted of a horizontal zero line divided the area into a positive upper area and a negative lower area.
- The vertical axis was then labeled with the corresponding positive and negative signs.
The UX Curve helps users to freely express their experiences without the confines of set guidelines or definitions.
There are five variations of the template used for gathering data. The first one is as described above. The following four templates were more specific and addressed particular viewpoints in regards to UX, each having its headings such as:
- Attractiveness: "The product is attractive and interesting in your own eyes and those of your friends."
- Ease of use: "The product is easy and effortless to use"
- Utility: "The product serves an important function for you."
- Degree of usage: "Degree of usage over time."
After analyzing the curve graphs, they were categorized according to their trends. There were approximately ten categories, such as a U-form curve, improving negative, improving positive, and changeable.
Next, the categories were simplified and filed into three dominant trends: improving, deteriorating, or stable. Thus, large numbers of qualitative data were gathered.
Factors involved in the change of UX
Two critical factors determined a change of experience in users.
- The practical and utility-based reasons include functionality, durability, and practicality.
- The aesthetic factors included stimulation, identification, and beauty.
The results after combining these factors were as follows.
- The average number of positive factors was higher for those users who drew an improving curve than for those users who drew the descending curves.
- Likewise, the mean number of negative factors was lower for those who drew improving curves than those who had deteriorating curves.
- The quality of reasons related to the improving or deteriorating curves was quite similar, but technical glitches and bugs were frequently mentioned, related to the declining curves than the improving curves.
Qualitative data analysis is far more formidable than quantitative data analysis. Still, to develop a product adequately, a solid listing of findings and their periodicity among users is, in most cases, a sufficient level of analysis, wherein most of the results are directly and practically applicable in further design work.
The strong point of the UX Curve method is that it uses fruitfully conveys their experiences. These experiences prove meaningful and help designers identify issues that create satisfying experiences and thus affect customer loyalty.
Conclusion
The UX Curve method is one of the most reasonable and cost-efficient methods for studying UX over a long period. Compared to extensive and drawn-out studies, it is a straightforward method that aids users in remembering essential issues that are related to long-term user experience.
This method can be used for evaluating a range of products that are used daily or often. The UX Curve is optimally suited for collecting feedback about a product already present in the market and bracing the long-term development of customer loyalty with successive products or generations of products.
Although this method may not be quite as suitable for analyzing the user experience of a product that is presently in development, it is to be noted. Some other and more specific methods, such as usability tests, are also needed to provide more precise user interface details. The resulting qualitative data from the UX Curve are not as rich in content as in field studies, but it is not taxing to analyze and can span a more extended time period. The UX Curve is not as rich in content as in field studies, but it is not so taxing to analyze and can span a longer time period.
This type of analysis requires a modest effort, as the qualitative data were content analyzed and categorized. For the purpose of product development, a light-handed study would probably be enough for noting down the reasons that increase or decrease the attractiveness of the product, the factors that are reported often. The effort, as the qualitative data were content analyzed and categorized. For the purpose of product development, a light-handed analysis would probably be enough for noting down the reasons that increase or decrease the attractiveness of the product, the factors that are reported often.
Then, it is only a matter of trying to improve upon the negative points and enhance the positive ones. These studies are less taxing to perform, as it has been found; more users can be accommodated compared to field studies, and the generalizing of information becomes easier to confirm.
Thus, these results show that user experience is inherently personal, solidifying the theories put forth by many researchers. Different users have reactions ranging from both sides of the spectrum, even when they are experiencing the same product.
User experience greatly depends on the context, and so, user characteristics also have a significant role in simulating a user experience. Thus, it would be beneficial to have a cross-selection of typical users to evaluate a particular product better. Additionally, the qualitative data can be analyzed to identify the repeatedly occurring reasons for improvements or deteriorations in user experience over time.
Author Bio
Charlotte Lin is a content creator at escaperoom.com. She’s a passionate young woman, mother to an amazing nine-year-old, and an avid reader. Over the years, writing has helped her explore and understand the world as well as her own self. She loves to travel, meet new people, and spend quality time with her daughter. You can find her on LinkedIn.
Top 8 Tricks And Tips To Be a Better WordPress Developer
Whether you are the owner of a business, a blogger, online sellers, and anything and everything else, WordPress is your platform if you want a website that is powerful and easily allows you to customize according to your needs. So, if you are looking for a platform to grow your website presence, you are on the right page.
WordPress is a very intuitive and powerful platform that allows its users to develop and design their very own website with relative ease and the way you like it. Add images, text, content, formatting, and much more to your website just with one click.
The craze and popularity of the website have grown to such an extent that IT recruitment agency Dubai has seen an almost 35% rise in WordPress developers.
8 tricks and tips to be a better WordPress developer.
1. Watch theme demos.
Themes can form the essence of the website, and this calls for precision during choosing a theme that best suits the business's interest. WordPress is a platform that allows you to play around with multiple themes in a single place and see immediately if a particular theme suits your website.
Using the live demo or view demo, you can choose a theme and see how it looks online. If you like the design and think it best suits your interest, you can go forward and edit the theme as you want.
2. Get SEO plugin
SEO forms the pith of a website; it is an essential factor to make your website stand out in the crowd and give it visibility in the search engines. SEO is complicated to manage, and you will need an ln expert that can guide you through the entire process.
WordPress makes your journey a tad bit easier by introducing the SEO plugin. The plugin allows the website owners to analyze the website with different keywords and contents and suggests the best way for the website to grow. To get the plugin, all you need to do is go to the directory and find a plugin that best suits you.
3. Work with google analytics
Google Analytics helps to track performance, record data, and get insight into the website's interactions. This feature of the tool makes it extremely useful in different aspects of the site. Install the analytics through a platform that you prefer the most. During the installation, you will receive a code for analysis.
Installing the services will help you to keep abreast about the performance of the website in terms of who visits the website, duration of visit, and much more. With the analytics tools, everything feels at your fingertips.
4. Limit your plugins
Functionality is an essential aspect of the website, and unless your theme has inbuilt features, an external plugin must take care of different features in the website. For every new feature that needs to be added, a separate plugin will be required.
Plugins can be of great help, but too many of them can pose a risk of security and even slow down your website on a significant level. So, ensure to keep away from all extraneous plugins and only apply those necessary for the website. Do not fall into the trap of attractive plugins and do not provide any actual value to the website.
5. Set up your gravatar
Gravatar or usually known as Globally Recognized Avatar, is a plugin that allows the website owner to add photos to your web pages. This helps the users to get more wonder reach and recognition across multiple platforms. Using this plugin will allow you to pin the photo whenever a comment is posted and reply.
Gravatar is a WordPress plugin. All you need to do is set the profile picture from the settings and use the intuitive plugin to reach more customers.
6. Manage the comments
Comments help the audience give feedback on the website. The input can be positively used by the owners to make necessary changes that the audience wants to see on the website. This opens a room for discussion and helps create an online community that can further support and promote the website. Using WordPress, you can easily manage your comments from the admin panel.
Comments can play a different role as well. The google search algorithm crawls through the comments to make decisions on the quality of the website. So, to avoid negative comments as far as possible. Also, make sure to avoid spam comments to get better visibility in the community.
All you need to do is go to settings and select the discussion type. It also helps to monitor the comments as per your requirements.
7. Keep your content accessible to view
Websites are not about how many features they have or the number of plugins and images scattered around the website. It is all about the quality of the content and features over the quantity. Too many widgets on the website can make it look cluttered, and people might find it difficult to manage the website efficiently.
Too many widgets can also digress the actual message of the website and cause discrepancies in the way the website is put forward.
8. Keep updating WordPress Permalinks
Permalinks or permanent links are the links that are associated with the address of the website and the blog post. WordPress does generate the link automatically but they often do not stay true to the SEO formatting; this calls for changes to the links.
All you need to do is go to the settings and change the default setting to something more accessible. Use the name default as it is more SEO-friendly than all other types of data.
In the end, everything is subjected to change, and to be a better developer, all you need to do is keep up with the trends and enjoy the process of learning. IT recruitment agency Dubai also has given its words on being a better developer. It says being better is all about change and adapting to the change. So, use different techniques and stay updated with the tools. Enjoy the process.
Here’s Why Your Business Must Be On TikTok In 2021
Who hasn't heard of at least one person who's made it big time, all thanks to social media platforms, to whom they owe their career for making them from complete nobodies to the star-of-the-hour in a matter of hours? That's the story of TikTok, and the tales of the song 'Old Town Road' by Nil Nas X or the app, 'Zombies, Run!' in a nutshell. Both (and the list of similar examples goes on) have taken the world by storm with TikTok’s help on their side.
Despite its relatively 'young' age, the app has bewitched everyone almost instantly. It's safe to say that any company who's yet to conquer this playful app is prone to a loss of potential customers, as well as putting a time-bomb above their reputation, since everything happens on TikTok in 2021, and not being there means losing relevancy sooner or later. TikTok has introduced various tools that benefit businesses and brands; you won't know how much your page needs these features unless you've tried them, and this is precisely this article's duty. P.S: if this article won’t be enough, you can expand your horizons even more; read about hacks to grow your TikTok followers overnight.
The Endless Pursuit After Valuable Content On TikTok
The TikTok community is in a state of constant thirst for exciting and enticing new content. Therefore, it's in both businesses and 'regular' accounts' interests to put their best efforts to try and create the next viral trend on the app. Of course, uploading their take on an existing trend and see how it catches fire after they've delivered it in some way no one has thought of before is also a solid way to scope great numbers of TikTok likes and followers. Why is it worth the time and energy, you wonder?
‘Regular’ accounts could win new marketing opportunities such as collaborations with one brand or another once they mastered TikTok. We know it sounds like a dream, but there are human beings among us who’ve already embarked on some affiliate-marketing initiative this way, at which they use their skill and talent to produce mesmerizing TikTok videos to promote products on the app. In turn, the companies witness their sites' conversion rates' taking a huge leap.
Your Business Has Just Joined TikTok? This Is What You Should Do To Promote It
- Where credibility is concerned, your first step on TikTok-promotion should be getting your account verified. Once you've spent $50K on ads, you'll get the desired blue mark next to your TikTok page's name.
- Take advantage of this video-centered app to run ads in correspondence with the app's essence and spirit to get noticed by many more potential customers who aren't aware yet how much they need the particular product you're selling, and how it’s going to change their lives forever!
- A word of the wise: you don't have to buy TikTok followers to guarantee your business' prosperity. Simply turn your TikTok hobby into a full-time job and focus on uploading new posts regularly. Eventually you'll see your page's engagement rates skyrocket with likes because you've put your heart into this, and trust us, there’s no better feeling than witnessing your TikTok growth getting in shape after the hard work you’ve done.
- You don't have to be alone in your promotion campaign; you can contact a micro-influencer who's already established a prominent presence on TikTok and 'ride' on their popularity to assist you in getting your business to similar levels of fame. All you'll have to do in exchange for such a service is paying them a share from the sales they make.
Is The Easiest Solution The One You Need The Most?
There’s never a second chance to make a first impression, or so they say. Continuing this line of thought, a promotion strategy people often use to take their ‘baby’ to the next level that you should definitely be avoiding is buying TikTok engagement from third-party sources.
It’s true; today we shop and surf the internet or social media with our eyes before the other senses and or our minds join in. The numbers make social media go round and are the kind of stimulation that triggers our FOMO muscle and hunger to be forever-entertained.
Therefore, it’s quite common to fix up posts with the metrics that ‘sell’ such as likes and views to increase the hype about the merchandise featured on a site. Because, let’s face it, we’re more likely to watch a video that sports great numbers of likes and views than watching a plain video whose sole few dozen views come from its creator’s mother or other family members.
What To Avoid If You Want To Get Your Brand On The Right Track
What such third-party sites selling these goods won’t brag about is, the variety of engagement packages featured there don’t amount to much at the end of the day since their means provide nothing more than bot engagement. As sketchy as the name suggests, bot-engagement is quite easy to detect since such accounts don’t look like the genuine TikTok profiles that everyone has. Quite often than not, their profile pictures are pixelated, and their names seem rather suspicious. Moreover, when potential customers glance at the list of likes of one of your videos or another and see fishy likes, the first thought that comes to mind is that the business at hand is unreliable just as well. In other words, buying likes and followers on-demand isn’t the magic trick you thought it is; it certainly won’t bring your brand back on the saddle and isn’t an alternative to ‘proper’ organic promotion whatsoever.
Conclusion
After COVID19 redefined world economics and definitely changed our shopping habits altogether, it’s crystal clear that the key to a prospering business lies within the online front. TikTok, one of the most trending video-centered apps, plays a pivotal role in leveling up your game and establishing unstoppable brand awareness.
Author Details:
An ESL teacher who decided to retrace his steps and address the serious questions about life, such as, ‘What will you do when you grow up?’ once again, Yuval works as a content writer at SEMOADEZ LLC; a company that manages Instapalace.com along with other leading websites in its niche. Spending his days surrounded by words, sentences, and punctuation marks finally feels ‘at home’ for him; Yuval finds inspiration for his articles in Haruki Murakami’s novels, Pokémon, and Greg Dulli’s musical projects.
6 Marketing Strategies for Your Business
When it comes to digital marketing tactics, you might make a long list of any strategy or technology available right now. Although you'll probably hear a lot of people say that some or all digital marketing tactics are more effective than others, which ones are the best?
Take a look at these six unique areas to succeed in the overly competitive digital world of 2021.
Examine each one to see how much you really understand. Then determine which aspects of them you need to concentrate on. This involves everything from search engine optimization to landing pages. In the meantime, you might learn something new about local search marketing and the ever-popular video format.
1. Search Engine Optimization
Nothing is more relevant in digital marketing than SEO, which may still be a mystery to you due to its continuing complexity. Although Google's algorithms can be perplexing at times, as you work with the idea more, you'll gain a better understanding of how they work.
If you really want to succeed, it's always best to hire a professional to handle your SEO. Although you can learn the fundamentals, you'll need someone who's been doing it for a while to thoroughly assist you in determining the right techniques.
New HTTPS specifications, for example, are already having an effect on SEO performance. The explanation for this is that many communication forms that use HTTP pages aren't considered safe enough so using https is a wise move.
It's important to update your website with the HTTPS designation now that Google is going to mark these as "non-secure." A “non-secure” stamp on your web, on the other hand, could become a new scarlet letter for your search engine ranking.
2. Telemarketing
Telephone marketing is a type of direct marketing in which businesses approach customers individually via mail, phone, voice mail, or email rather than using mass media to reach them. Despite public criticism of telephone marketing calls and the creation of a national Do Not Call list in the United States in 2003, telephone marketing continues to be commonly used. One explanation is that telephone marketing is very "trackable," which means it's simple to figure out how many positive responses come from marketing calls. Just be wary of neighbor spoofing.
Telephone marketing has been around for over 50 years, and it would not have survived that long if it didn't work. Despite the presence of new obstacles such as Caller ID and Do Not Call registries, a skilled telephone marketing specialist can still do his or her job efficiently and increase revenue using this form of direct marketing.
3. Search Engine Marketing
If you're unfamiliar with search engine marketing, it's commonly abbreviated as SEM. It's a form of Internet marketing in which you use paid ads to boost your SERPs.
You'll also need the assistance of a specialist in this area, preferably one who has worked with Google Advertising and search/display ads. When it comes to Google Ads, you'll want to familiarize yourself with the process first.
What you'll enjoy the most is Google's commitment to customization, which makes Google Ads simple to use. You can choose from graphic display ads, YouTube video ads, text-based search ads, and in-app mobile ads. All of this will be dictated by the business model and the types of consumers you need to attract.
With localized ad capacity and superior metrics to monitor how well your ads perform, Google makes it even easier.
Other paid ad options, especially Facebook Ads, should not be overlooked. The latter offers you a lot of versatility in terms of ad formats.
4. Local Search Marketing
In recent years, local search marketing has received a lot of coverage. Local businesses know the importance of being identified by local customers, so it will continue to be relevant well into the next decade.
You can take advantage of more Google gifts to get started with local search marketing. You will have your listing appear the second someone does a Google search based on the user's keywords if you use Google My Company. This involves having your company listed on Google Maps.
Google also makes it simple to update your listing, ensuring that nothing is out of date.
Don't overlook the importance of online feedback and your social credibility. Customers should be encouraged to leave positive feedback on sites like Yelp. Starting conversations and sharing targeted content on social media will help you use inbound marketing. Instead of you chasing clients, inbound marketing strategies introduce them to you.
5. Content Marketing
Content marketing is a huge part of attracting a targeted audience, and it's a connective string to inbound marketing above. Content marketing needs you to make your content useful, important, and reliable in order for it to be worth the time of those who consume it.
You must concentrate on producing content that addresses pain points and is evergreen in today's world. Because of Google's all-seeing eye, using shortcuts or black hat SEO strategies to get to the top of search engines will not function.
As a result, always remember that "content is king," as many people like to say. Mobile content, native ads, influencer marketing, and marketing automation are all essential components of effective content marketing.
Consider mobile content since smartphones now account for half of all mobile devices worldwide. This will have an effect on digital ads as well as the way influencers promote your brand.
Automation tools deliver information to prospects on their mobile devices at the precise moment they need it.
6. Remarketing
Another essential element of digital marketing is pursuing prospects with marketing content again if they did not respond to your website's banner advertising the first time. This is achieved by using cookies to monitor these visitors and create new advertisements on similar websites.
To better target your prospects, you can also build new advertisements on your website. The information you collect from your site visitors provides you with useful data that you can use to tailor your advertising to their specific needs.
Finally, remarketing assists in brand recognition and conversions by allowing you to remain more engaged with prospects. You will also win customers from your rivals, which will help you recoup the money you spent on new advertising.
5 Ways To Make Cybersecurity a Top Priority in Digital Marketing
Cyberattacks are on the rise, and if your sensitive company data is not as secure as possible, you could be unknowingly putting your entire company at risk. Cybercriminals continue to find ways to gain access to systems that may be secure, but are not quite secure enough. If you are worried that your cybersecurity strategy for your digital marketing company or department is not robust enough, here are five simple things that you can try.
Keep Software Updated
No one enjoys running updates on software. They often involve extended periods where you cannot access your computer, and if you run auto updates, they always seem to occur at the most inconvenient times. However, these updates do not just exist to make your life harder. In fact, many contain security patches and important features that may mean nothing to you, but could be the difference between a hacker gaining access to your system or being unable to get in. In 2019, the majority of breaches were the result of unapplied security patches — this is totally avoidable and means that people didn't take the time to run simple updates. If you are not one to read the technical fine print when an update becomes available (and many of us are not), you are likely not getting a full picture of exactly what the update entails and how it will benefit you and your software. Keep your software updated to avoid unnecessary security risks. Besides, you are paying for your software anyway, so why not run the latest and greatest release that they have to offer?
Educate Your Team
Everyone knows the basics of how to keep their data secure, but are you all doing all that you can to ensure that a breach does not happen as a result of a careless mistake? One simple mishap, such as an employee accidentally opening a phishing email using a company computer or clicking on a link full of malware could be enough to bring a company down completely. Therefore, it is imperative that you educate your team on the dangers of carelessness with their corporate computers and also set some type of guidelines or office-wide cybersecurity strategy that everyone must understand and adhere to. You can make it simple by requiring that everyone change their passwords frequently — and make them secure. Now is not the time to use a pet's name or a birthday. Also, if any employees have access to company credit cards, be sure that they are using a secured credit card so that there is no chance of an issue when purchases are being made for the company.
Regularly Change Passwords
Changing passwords can be a pain, but if you and your team are using the same passwords for numerous accounts and are not changing them at least occasionally, you could be putting your entire company at unnecessary risk. Think about it — if someone cracks your "usual" password (the password you use everywhere), they now have access to a scary amount of company data. However, if you make the effort and encourage your team to change passwords regularly (even if the new ones are hard to remember), it will be much harder for someone to hack your system. A strong password will use all of the specifications (letters, numbers, and special characters) and should also use more than eight characters. A random password is much harder to guess, even with the best password-guessing software available. If you or your team have trouble remembering strong passwords, you can easily invest in software that will remember your passwords for you while also keeping them stored securely.
Develop a Plan for Portable Devices
In the current technological landscape, more and more people are working remotely, which also means that companies are equipping employees with portable devices that can be used from home. However, these devices should still be used for company business only, even if they are being used from the comfort of a home office. Home and remote WiFi networks are likely not as secure as the network at your office, and your employees may not be aware that their simple social media visits or web searches on their company device could be very risky. Develop a plan regarding the use of company devices and ensure that every employee understands and intends on complying with it. Employees may not understand how malware that infects their company device could also infect the entire company network. Encourage employees to use their devices for work-related tasks only, and to use their personal devices for surfing the web during their downtime and when they need a break.
Use the Cloud
Storing some (or all) of your company data in the cloud is not only a great way to ensure that it stays safe and backed up, but it is also a way to provide simple employee access to all important files. If your data is on-prem and also backed up in the cloud, even if your hardware malfunctions or gets hacked, your files will still be safe and accessible. Further, storing essential files in the cloud provides a quick and easy way for even the least technical employees in your department to access whatever they need. Most importantly, a good cloud provider will be able to store data, maintain software patches, and keep everything secure so you do not have to worry about it. If you are not quite ready to commit to a completely cloud-based environment, start with a hybrid solution and store only some of your data in the cloud. If it works for you, you can always migrate more data at a comfortable pace.
Technology is constantly evolving, but this also unfortunately means that hackers and those who want to gain access to secure data are honing their techniques as well. If you feel like your digital marketing department (or really any department in your company) could use a cybersecurity overhaul, use these simple tips and your business will be ready to combat anything that comes your way.