2018 Mobile Marketing Strategies for Your Business

Everywhere on the internet, you will find astounding statistics about the rising number of mobile users to access information and utilise services. It is time to look at mobile marketing strategies that will help digital marketing experts and businesses to create successful brands and reach marketing goals for clients in 2018.

Mobile-first indexing, voice search, AI, UI/UX and others are the key areas to pay attention this year. Bring together your digital marketing, web design and SEO service companies to incorporate these essential strategies into your marketing plan.

1. Mobile-first indexing is critical

With the growing number of users using search through mobile devices, Google, the leading search engine has decided to go for mobile-first indexing. It’s called “mobile-first” becauseit’snot really a mobile-only index. What exactly happens is that if a website doesn’t use a mobile-friendly version, the desktop site may still be a part of the index. However, the absence of a mobile-friendly experience might affect the rankings of that site negatively.

On the other hand, a website that has a superior mobile experience will most likely get a positive push in the rankings for online users on a desktop.

Mobile-First Indexing vs. Desktop-first Indexing by Google

Source:https://moz.com/blog/mobile-first-indexing-seo

2. Mobile Speed

Slower page loading always annoys users whether they are browsing the web using a mobile or desktop. But today with 3G and 4G networks, users expect faster page loads on their mobile devices. And recent studies have found that slower mobile page speed can increase the bounce rate of the page.

A mobile page that takes as much as 10 seconds to load can lead to bounce rate of 123% which is not really a good sign. Mobile marketers should focus on boosting the page load speed by optimising the page as much as possible. Your web developer will help you get rid of elements on your page that affect its performance.

Bounce rate increases with page load time

3. Perfect UX/UI

With predictions of mobile phone users to reach over 6 billion globally by 2020, it’s an opportunity for digital marketing companies. Experts of web design need to think of fresh UI style and UX design ideas to keep up with the new gesture-based mobile experiences. There are numerous touchscreen-based design mechanics these days that come along with the latest devices.

Fluid screens of new smartphones need better designs that blend seamlessly without affecting the user experience. User Experience and User Interface experts will have to be innovative while delivering the best mobile experience in a simplified manner. Their challenges will increase with new gesture-based functionalities in phones.

All the elements on the screen have to work together with fewer efforts to enjoy various functionalities.

4. Mobile Payments

With innovation in payments, mobile payments have increased the convenience for consumers. Leading global companies have launched their own brand of mobile payment services such as Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, AliPay and many others. Local brands have also invested in mobile payment products.

The growth of Mobile Payments

Image Source:https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/

As per recent research statistics by Transparent Market Research, the global mobile payment technologies market revenue will grow at a CAGR of 20.9% between 2017 and 2024. Digital marketing companies explore tap opportunities in the mobile payments domain to reach out to the growing users of these futuristic payment methods.

5. Voice Search Changes SEO

As voice assistants are becoming more intelligent, and voice search is utilized often. ComScore has estimated that by 2020, 50% of all searches would be through voice and 30% of searches will happen without using a screen.Voice search will dominate for mobile in the future and therefore, you should ensure that your app is user-friendly when it comes to search.

Voice search is more action-based than text-based. It’s necessary for every digital marketing team to enhance their website for voice search requests on mobile as well as on other devices. Voice search will certainly affect the customer experience along with the future of mobile marketing.

6. Mobile Video

Live streaming and viral videos have already proven that visuals are successful in luring users and holding their interest. As per industry forecasts, by 2018 people will spend nearly 30-40 minutes daily watching videos on their mobile devices. Getting mobile video content is the ideal strategy to connect with your target market.

78.4% mobile video viewer penetration worldwide in 2018

Source:https://www.emarketer.com/Article/Mobile-Will-Account-72-of-US-Digital-Ad-Spend-by-2019/1012258

As per eMarketer’s Global Digital Video Forecast report, mobile phones are the primary device for accessing internet in many regions and in 2018, 78.4% of digitally streamed content will be viewed by consumers using mobile phones.

7. Future is here with Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence will gain momentum in 2018. AI is the powerful ability of machines to copy human intelligence. Understanding online users’ needs and behaviour will become easier with the analytics that will combine human intelligence with artificial intelligence.

In mobile, AI technology is emerging via virtual assistants like Siri, Cortana, and many others. They’re influencing the waya customer searches for information online.

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Technology will continue to transform the way digital users consume content. We have to keep up with the latest trends and devise new strategies to reach our target audience wherever their attention shifts. Competition, customer awareness, and customer expectations have made it essential for marketers to carefully craft customer journeys and enhance various customer touchpoints to entice customers.

How Does SEO Help In Promoting a Business?

Have you been thinking about SEO for your business? Great. Join successful businesses who add SEO in their marketing kit for business growth. You are on the right track to take your business to the next level. An SEO agency not only helps in promoting businesses but also adds value in the long-term growth of the business.

Today’s businesses have to be online. People across the world are more tech savvy and resort to online search engines for finding answers to their queries. These queries can be as simple as “suitable names for my cat” to product searches such as “waterproofing solutions for home exteriors”.

What is SEO?

SEO is the short form of Search Engine Optimisation. It is a set of actions used by marketing professionals of an SEO company to boost the rankings of websites on relevant Search Engine Results Pages or SERPs. Why they do it? It is pretty simple. If a user searches for the brand related keywords in search engine queries, they tend to click on the top ranking results on the first page of the search results.

Billions of online users utilise the leading search engine Google to carry out their search. So, the target audience of your business may be among the millions looking out for your product or brand related services. Being found by these online users with the help of an SEO agency can increase your chances of turning them into leads. When they buy your products, opt for your paid services or perform the action that you want them to take, your business grows.

Surviving among competitive online businesses

With the ease of creating websites and doing business online, there are many online businesses that have emerged in the recent times. The competition in every industry has increased with the rising number of innovative startups. Every business has to adapt to the latest promotional methods to keep up with the times.

A newspaper ad won’t be as effective as being seen in the search engines. Maybe a blend of various marketing strategies might work. For example, you can put up a print ad and the QR code or website link mentioned in the ad will take the reader to your website. But if you have a new offering or if you are a new brand, people may just ask the search engines to google your brand name. SEO will lead them to the correct website. In short, you need SEO to compete with your competition online.

Better business promotions with search engines

Your offerings have to be seen by people who need them. You promote your business through pamphlets, newspaper ads, etc. If you have a bigger budget, you may go for television commercials, live events and so on. SEO is a popular marketing tool for businesses of all sizes.

With a small investment by hiring an SEO agency, your product or service offerings can be made visible to your target users easily. A higher ROI can be achieved at a fraction of the money spent on other marketing channels.

Some of the top advantages of promoting businesses through search engines are as follows:

• Paid ads may benefit your business during the campaign period. Once the paid campaigns stop, the benefits of the campaign may fade out. But with SEO, the search engine rankings are improved gradually. Due to its organic growth, the effects of SEO Agency’s efforts will last longer. You may need efforts to sustain the SEO growth but it won’t be as expensive as other paid campaigns.
• Most of the online users can differentiate between organic search results and paid ads. SEO leads to organic results in search engines that have higher chances of being clicked.
• Location-based services can utilise Local SEO techniques employed by an SEO company such as geo-targeting to target online users who look for specific services in a particular region.
• These days smart devices and apps with AI technologies such as Amazon Alexa, iPhone Siri, Google Assistant etc. are being used by consumers to search for products and services online. These voice assistants will perform search based on keywords captured by them. An SEO company will be aware of the latest techniques to reach these new age, tech-savvy customers.
• Online shopping website owners can make use of ecommerce SEOto attract potential customers among search engine users to the online store.
• International businesses reach out to their global customers through the international SEO strategies.

SEO strategies for business

Use SEO rich keywords in your content to improve search engine results for your business.Engage customers with SEO-optimised websites. Use SEO analytics tools such as Google Analytics to gather valuable customer data such as their search behaviour, most visited pages etc.Use ethical techniques such as building quality links to expand your online presence. You can try out these strategies or hire an experienced SEO agency to develop strategies suitable for your business.

The brand Make up For Ever used Google search data to create an effective multicultural video ad campaign.

Conclusion

SEO is an effective marketing technique to promote your business. Any investment in SEO for your business can turn out to be the best business decision. You can start experimenting with SEO strategies or hire a SEO company.

10 Reasons Why Every Business Needs SEO

What’s the big deal about SEO? It is a big deal. Otherwise, why do you think every business, from startups to business conglomerates, are focusing on optimizing their search rankings? Search Engine Optimisation or SEO brings so much to the table for businesses that they simply cannot ignore professional SEO services by SEO experts.

So, here are 10 reasons that justify why every business needs SEO:

1.Online Branding through search engines
Google receives billions of search queries by online search users from across the world. Chances are they are your B2B or B2C target audience who are searching for your brand or specific services related to your brand.

Every online user uses a different set of keywords to search for your brand. They may even type in a wrong spelling of your brand. Who knows? Well, experts from the best SEO Company can find out those keywords for you.

And so, your brand name should be on the search engine page results for all the relevant keywords. If the users don’t find you, they may even consider your brand to be of less value compared to other brands that are showing up in the search results.

2.Attract online users to your website
Get more page visitors to your website with the strategies created by an SEO Company, who increase your online visibility through white hat SEO techniques.

Search engines run on the basis of algorithms that get updated from time to time. Experienced SEO specialists have developed their SEO skills have updated themselves with the new guidelines that come along with every algorithm update. They understand how search engines function and what actions can be performed to improve the rankings of your website.

3. High chance of customer conversion
When you attract the relevant online visitors to your website and social media pages, chances of converting their page visit into your desired action such as making a purchase or filling up a query form becomes easier.

Source: 64% Smartphone users used search to make decisions in a Google Survey

To understand how smartphone users make decisions, Google asked 1000 smartphone users to create a mobile diary of how they meet their needs. 64% smartphone users said that they use search to make decisions when they are ready to invest in something.

Well-written Meta descriptions by SEO professionals can increase the click-through rates in search results. From search results page, online search users are led to your website or landing pages. Quality content with SEO tactics works wonderfully for motivating page visitors to complete your desired action and increase lead conversion.

4.Better ROI
SEO has been proven effective for different kinds of businesses across industries. You may spend a fortune on different forms of traditional advertising such as radio, television, newspapers, pamphlets etc. A pamphlet or newspaper might end up in the wrapping of food or something like that. With online analytics tools, SEO efforts can be measured. Better leads from SEO translates to better sales and eventually, a better ROI.

5.Tackle competition
Your competition uses professional SEO services to grab business opportunities. Why are you not reciprocating by growing your business through SEO? Go ahead, consult SEO experts. They can run SEO audits and create an effective SEO plan that works well for your business.

6.Optimised Website
Professional SEO services by SEO specialists involve on-page optimization and off-page optimization of your website. These experts improve your website by recommending search-friendly changes such as removing bad links, adding search-friendly codes etc. An optimized website leads to lower bounce rate and better visitor traffic.

7.Target location-based users
If your product or service offerings are limited to a specific location, location-based SEO targeting gets quality leads to visit your website. For businesses with target audience spread across the world, International SEO services can be utilised.

8.Build Credibility
These days, if you are not there are on search engines such as Google, your potential clients may get suspicious of your credibility. SEO specialists offering SEO services make sure that all the right keywords appear in your description among search engine results that build credibility.

Say, for example, if you have certifications or awards that strengthen your credibility, SEO experts will highlight those strengths in search engines. This way, online users will want to know more about your brand and may develop trust for your brand.

9.Insights about the target audience
If you have hired experts who offer professional SEO services, they will study your website and brand in-depth. You may even be surprised to come across insights about your target audience when these SEO experts discuss their findings with you. Nuggets of important information from these findings can be used to create SEO strategies for effective SEO campaigns.

10.Long lasting results / Better Website Usability
SEO services are known to give long-lasting results if the SEO implementation is done the correct way. Just be careful that you do not get lured towards unethical SEO providers who claim to deliver quick results. Black hat techniques are used to boost your rankings on the search pages by unethical companies. It does not give you long-term benefits and instead, your website may get blacklisted.

The SEO Company will use white hat techniques to improve your search engine rankings naturally and gradually. Their SEO strategies will benefit you in the long term by building a number of quality links and using the relevant content. Time is used wisely to build your online presence by providers of professional SEO Services.

Stay ahead of the competition by choosing SEO for business. Also, it is ideal to build credibility in search engines organically. So, why not enjoy top search rankings from professional SEO services that act professional and follow ethical services standards.

Why is Website Maintenance Necessary?

Did you receive an AMC proposal for web maintenance services from a website company? Your website is up and running smoothly at the moment. So, you may think about why to spend unnecessarily on website maintenance. Well, don’t ignore the proposal of a website maintenance company just like that. We will tell you why.

Need for website maintenance

Websites are built to create awareness, improve sales or for achievement of other business goals. If you are an ecommerce website, the content has to be updated from time to time. There can be issues that can cause the website to run slow or your website may be vulnerable to security risks. Also, for search engine rankings to improve, the website should be always user-friendly.

Benefits of website maintenance services

1. Fix Technical issues

If you are a start-up or a SME, hiring an in-house website team won’t be feasible for you. But you do need the technical expertise to fix issues if the website functionalities stop working. Also, if you have built a website that attracts a lot of traffic, you need to know when to upgrade your resource so that the website performance remains unaffected.

The technical issues you may face will vary depending on the platform or coding used for building the website. Your website company may have given you a good website but with time there are changes taking place to technologies. New updates of software or hardware can affect your website too.

You have added an inquiry form but there are issues with submission of the form. A web maintenance services company will help you rectify these issues. Need some changes in the CSS code to fix the style of your web page? The web maintenance expert will be available to make the necessary changes.

Issues such as fixing broken links, resolving malicious files, optimising page load time etc. Are easily taken care of by the web maintenance services.

2. Update website content

If you want visitor traffic to be regular for your website, you need to keep plugging in fresh content. A website maintenance company can help you update your website with latest events, product updates etc. Ecommerce website or content-oriented websites such as blogs are updated on a regular basis for continuous engagement with the online visitors.

Also, platforms such as WordPress release version updates from time to time. The web maintenance company updates your website with these version updates and also installs relevant plug-in updates for smoother website performance.

3. Timely website backups

Your website continues to grow with timely content updates and fine-tuning of data. In case there is an unfortunate event due to which your website data gets altered or lost, you need immediate solutions. Backups are taken manually or automatically by website owners or through web maintenance services.

In case of a website crash, these backups are used to replace the files that get corrupted or deleted. If you are not tech savvy, the website maintenance service team will restore a recent backup for you.

4. Save money

Instead of wasting time on learning programming or website development, it is better to seek help from a website company. If you do not go for an AMC, there will be a service charge each time you contact a website company. For dynamic websites, if the problems continue, you may end up paying more for each time you hire the website company to solve your problem. It would be wise to pay a one-time annual fee which may turn out to be far cheaper.

5. Monitor Website Performance

Web maintenance service companies monitor your website using industry-recognised tools. During monitoring, malware scanning is performed to detect suspicious files that can be potential threats to your website.

6. Security

Web maintenance services are recommended if you run a website that asks for personal information, financial data or other vital information about users. The news reports of data theft and business losses should be good enough for you to be convinced about the role of website security.

7. Support Online Marketing

Your online marketing team will need you to make changes on the website to improve its user experience. Web maintenance services can support you in making those changes from time to time. A better user experience will attract more users to the website.

Another important point to note here is, popular search engines such as Google present search results based on the device used for accessing the website. So, it becomes important for the website owner to ensure that the pages are mobile-friendly too. Most of the users these days use their mobile phones, iPads or other handheld devices to access websites.

If you upload new pages that appear broken on these devices, you lose out on potential customers. There is enough competition in the market and new websites are popping up each day. If your competitor gives your potential clients a better user experience, they will prefer those websites. So, why not stay updated with the support of a web maintenance company.

Other benefits of website maintenance include reduced downtime due to tech issues of the website, domain transfer, addition of new pages, etc.

6 Web Design Myths you should beware of

Websites are everything in this day and age. If you are a customer, you prefer service providers with a website so that you can access services anywhere, anytime. For businesses, consulting with a web designing company to design websites is essential for B2C and B2B Sales and Marketing.

But even today, when it comes to building websites or seeking the services of a professional web design services company, there are important areas that are overlooked due to various myths.

Be careful of these 6 Myths to beware of when you have a website to be designed.

Myth #1 Web design that looks good is enough to generate traffic

Well, yes a good web design is definitely a plus point but it will not necessarily get traffic to your website. It’s simple. Do people know about your website? And even if they do, are they clicking on your website address and exploring it? Maybe, yes. Maybe, not.

When you build a website, you need to optimise it with SEO strategies so that search engines can find you. A SEO-friendly website works in your favour to attract your target audience.

Myth #2 Website should have all the features

A website can, of course, be loaded with a lot of features. But imagine how messy it will look if you put every element and function into it just because you can. It may not look appealing and might even affect the performance of the website.

For example, a corporate website needs to look clean with the brand elements. Unnecessarily adding elements on all pages without planning can slow down your website instead of improving it. Based on your target audience, just add the relevant features that will be useful to your customers.

Myth #3 Mobile optimised website is unnecessary

As per Google Statistics, mobile websites that load within 5 seconds receive 25% additional ad visibility and the session duration can go up to 70%. Most of the online users these days prefer browsing websites on the move.

According to a report by StatCounter, mobile internet usage exceeds desktop for the first time worldwide in 2016.

So, it may not be a good idea if you ignore mobile optimisation for your websites. Experienced web designing companies perform the necessary testing to make sure that your website is optimised for a multitude of devices.

Myth #4 Build your website on your own and save money

While there are several website templates to create your website, the quality of the website will depend on your technical proficiency.  A web design company will charge you for building your website but in the long run you will face less technical issues when you decide to scale it.

Professional web designers and web developers understand the structure of the website and build it keeping your goals in to consideration. Also, instead of wasting time on solving technical issues, you can focus on improving the quality of your website and products/services.

Another thing is, the web design experts can fix the issue quickly ensuring that your website is functional when your users visit your website.

Myth #5 Website is done. That’s good enough!

Did you know, the real work begins when your website is done? You have to add sufficient content, insert keywords, conduct site SEO audit and start planning digital marketing campaigns to boost the traffic to your website.

According to Hubspot marketing statistics, 61% of marketers consider SEO improvement and improving their organic presence as a key inbound marketing strategy. With more and more marketers spending on SEO to grow websites, competition will definitely increase.

So, if you are serious about your growth and want to surpass the competition among search rankings, getting professional expertise will be invaluable.

Myth #6 what about content? I will write my own website content.

Well, that’s great. But writing content for websites takes special expertise. Your site rankings may get affected in search engines or it may even get blacklisted. These issues crop up when you add irrelevant content which is stuffed with too many keywords.

Professional content writers understand the pulse of your audience and write SEO friendly content that is more valuable for the success of your website.

How to Build a Strong 2018 Marketing Plan

Starting a business is not easy. There are so many things you need to keep in mind and get documented that you almost forget to market or sell your business. The way you market your business will decide how much success it will bring in the year to come. Talking about marketing, there are certain things that you have to follow and improvise in order to have the perfect marketing strategy for your business. Given below are some of the master plans that you can follow in 2018 as the best marketing strategy for your business:

Understand the customer niche – the basic point of marketing a business or company is to expand it to the next level or reach out to target customers. Once you have a clear idea about the niche you have to work on, it will become easier to plan the marketing strategy. Understanding the niche does not mean you have to search for customers and advertise in those regions. It is a much bigger concept. You will have to understand how your customer behaves and what their struggles are. Depending on that you will have to set a plan as to how the product or service will work best for those customers.

Focus on social media marketing –this has been a gem of a marketing plan in 2017 and it will rule the market in 2018 as well. If you are on Facebook or Twitter or any other social media website, you will notice that there are plenty of links or information about new companies that appear on your homepage. Some pages may be suggested by friends or some may come up according to your recent searches. Suppose a person is looking to buy T-shirts online and you are the one selling them. When you opt for social media marketing, your company’s website will come up on major social networking websites leading to increased sales. In fact, the recent trend shows that 90% of potential customers find their products or services while surfing through social media sites.

Have a catchy statement to declare your brand – defining your brand is probably one of the oldest marketing techniques. It has, it is and it will be a plan that will continue to attract potential customers and increase your customer base. Your brand is what symbolizes your company and the more attractive the brand statement is, the better your chances of reaching out to more customers. A simple statement that connects with the customers can be very effective. In addition to the catchy statement, it is also important to focus on the positioning of the statement.

Get your website optimized for search engines –having a website for your company is one of the first things that you should do if you want your company to be successful. Once the website is designed and it goes live, you would want a huge flow of target customers, right? But, to reach those customers it is important to make sure that the website is search engine friendly. Search engine friendly means your website should come up almost immediately when customers look for related products on their search engine. This can be done when you opt for search engine optimization service. It is an entire world altogether. Your website will be studied properly and the experts will come up with specific keywords that will help link your website with the search engine. That way, whenever anyone is looking for similar products will see your website come up.

There will be various other marketing plans, but if you want quick and effective success this year, then the above plans will definitely work.

We decided to help you to make the marketing plan for your startup with this infographic:

10 Must Have SEO Extensions for Google Chrome in 2018

With more than one billion of users, and approximately 60% market share, no doubt, Google Chrome is the most popular and dominant web browser worldwide. Users love this customizable search engine; they can add extensions to the Google Chrome according to their requirements. But, finding the suitable one is daunting as well. Check out the following 10 SEO extensions for Google Chrome, which will help you to distill and optimize websites, or know the current SEO value of a website.

1. MozBar

Whether you work for an SEO Company or run an SEO Agency, sure you have come across the name, MozBar. There can’t be an SEO extension list without the name of particular this all-in-one SEO extension. It holds myriad options for SEO analyses, covering technical SEO, social media engagement, content, and back links.

2. SimilarWeb
Are you planning to land a new online business? This Chrome extension will help you to dig into the information regarding the traffic and engagement statistics of any website or URL.

3. Note AnyWhere
The name of this extension is quite self-explanatory. It will allow the user to leave a temporary note anywhere, either on a webpage or on a website, as a reminder.

4. PageSpeed Insights
This Google Chrome extension helps to boost the speed of the web pages of any website. If you are in search of software to improve the page loading time of your website, then try PageSpeed Insights to see the best result.

5. META SEO Inspector
While browsing a webpage, a visitor cannot see the metadata of the page; it lies there hidden. But, with this extension one can unlock the secrets of metadata and verify the HTML of a webpage or website.

6. Goo.gl URL Shortener
The name of this Chrome extension reflects its function. It is used to cut short the present URL address of a website.

7. SEO Quake

Whether you are an SEO professional, concentration on keyword research, or a social media geek, craving for more traffic from social media websites like Facebook, Twitter, etc., you will be in need of this free plug-in, named SEO Quake. It will help you in analyzing the metrics, SERPs, and keyword research.

8. Screen Capture
If you find a specific portion of a webpage or the entire page important, then you don’t need to copy and paste it. Screen Capture allows you to take screenshots of the page, edit it and save it.

9. Tag Assistant
If you want to make sure that installation of Google tags on your webpage has been correct, just go to the web page and use Tag Assistant. It will show you the present tags, and whether there is a presence of an error.

10. Page Analytics by Google
With this Chrome extension, you can get the perfect idea of how often people visit your website and how your audience interacts with your web pages.