There is a myriad of internet marketing strategies that can help websites in boosting their traffic, conversion rates, and brand awareness. Among the best online marketing tactics is Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), where the goal is to optimise your website for Search Engines, both on-page and off-page, to increase your organic search results listings. Although SEO has proved to be very successful, it takes a good amount of knowledge, time, and money to see fruition.

What if you want to see results immediately? Regardless if your website has recently been published or you’re a small company that simply can’t contend with the marketing budgets of nationwide competitors, Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising is a reliable tool that can assist you by placing your advertisements in front of users who are actively looking for your services or products.

Basically, PPC is an advertising model used to increase traffic to websites. Website owners put together ad campaigns with specific targeting metrics and basically pay Search Engines every time their ad is clicked. PPC ads are normally created through Google AdWords or Bing Ads and are inserted at the top of SERP listings before any organic results. The rewards that many websites garner from this sort of advertising is invaluable, so here are the top benefits of PPC advertising for your organisation.

Measurable Results

Among the top benefits of PPC advertising is the opportunity to assess and track your results in real-time. Whether or not you set your daily budget to $5 or $50, there are an array of high level performance indicators that can be gauged, including impressions, clicks, cost-per-click, conversions, and ROI among others. These metrics enables website owners to immediately determine the success of their campaigns and quickly make tweaks where necessary to improve performance. In contrast to other advertising tools, PPC allows you the freedom to customise and track metrics in every campaign and monitor success depending on your advertising objectives.

Quick Entry

PPC allows any type of business to start their advertising efforts quickly and conveniently, without presenting too much risk with the capacity to arrange a maximum daily budget. Although SEO is a very efficient strategy, it regularly takes many months to see results so if you’re a new company that needs to raise traffic and brand awareness as soon as possible, PPC is ideal for you. Building ad campaigns is all done from the PPC platform, enabling websites to cast a wide net to generate new leads and customers by promoting ads at the top of SERP listings.

Highly Targeted Traffic

PPC advertising enables you to customise your campaigns so they only show to highly targeted customers. Google AdWords allows you to target customers based on keywords, interests, location, and the times and days you wish to display them, empowering websites to spend their advertising budget only on their niche market. Websites can then assess the metrics that were used in conversions and revamp their future campaigns based upon this feedback. Advertisers often take a multi-layered approach to begin with and narrow down the specific metrics of a campaign that works best for their individual target market.

Valuable Data

Being able to export the results of an ad campaign and evaluate particular metrics provides websites with valued data which can be utilised in other marketing methods. Alongside this, websites can rapidly uncover impression, click, and conversion data for every keyword or phrase used in their ad campaigns which strongly helps in their SEO endeavours. PPC also allows websites to find data about their comptetition by employing 3rd party tools such as SpyFy and KeywordSpy, enabling them to establish a profile of their competition and what market share is available.

As you can see, PPC is a valuable marketing tool that is ideal for all types of organisations. Not only are advertisers in complete control of their budget, ad campaigns, and target audience, the data acquired from real-time results provides invaluable feedback to bolster future marketing efforts. The best aspect of PPC advertising is that there is hardly any risk involved with set daily budgets, so why not give it a go today?

If you need any help in building your PPC ad campaigns, speak with Internet Marketing Experts Lismore on 1300 595 013, or visit our website for additional information: http://www.internetmarketingexpertslismore.com.au

In today’s hostile environment of online marketing, there’s no question that content is king. Content is everywhere and people love consuming it! It should come as no surprise that content is at the heart of nearly all marketing techniques, with nearly 94% of small businesses directing their efforts on content marketing. Having said this, with countless companies now concentrating their marketing initiatives on content, it’s becoming more and more tricky to stick out from the crowd and make your content marketing engaging and effective.

Have you tried content marketing only to find that you’re not getting the desired results? Well, you’re most likely one of many companies that are in the same boat. Don’t give up though, there’s no question that content marketing is among the most helpful ways of developing your customer base. So, here are 4 reasons why your content marketing might not be performing and importantly, how you can fix them!

1. You don’t have a strategy

Just like any investment, if you don’t have a strategy and assigned KPIs to measure results, how can you possibly improve? Submitting blogs and sending tweets are fantastic, but if you don’t have any aims then you’re simply aiming in the dark. For you to craft interesting content that visitors will engage with, you need to have a clearly-defined strategy that should align with your business goals.

Whether you wish to enhance brand awareness, website traffic, or conversion rates, your strategy should incorporate KPIs coupled with short-term and long-term goals. These marketing goals should complement your business goals so you have a clear understanding of your viewers, the purpose of your content, and the types of content that will work best for you.

2. Your content is not unique

With the massive number of online companies nowadays, it’s essential that your content is distinguishable from others. Too many businesses will develop content without inspecting the competition and subsequently construct content that simply gets lost in the crowd. Your content should be appealing, engaging, and most importantly, offer value to users by presenting solutions to common pain-points in your niche. In addition to this, different types of content suit different communication techniques, so take into account the most effective ways you can accomplish this, either through video, infographics, diagrams, or even just thought-provoking or entertaining text.

3. You don’t promote your content

Some of the biggest errors that small businesses make with their content marketing is that they don’t actually market it! Even if you’ve constructed the most ground-breaking article the planet has ever witnessed, who will see it if they have no idea it exists? In order to flourish with your content marketing, it’s paramount that you advertise your content through all available networks, including:

Social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Reddit).

Email newsletters.

Adding internal links to your articles.

Pitching to influencers and bloggers in your industry.

Proposing it as a guest post to bloggers in your sector.

Providing links to your content when commenting on other forums and blogs.

4. Your content is not search engine friendly.

Content represents a substantial portion of your SEO, so it’s essential that your content is SEO friendly and never use black hat tactics to attempt to enhance results. Keyword stuffing is a frequent mistake that companies will make in their content creation, in addition to duplicate content, using the wrong keywords, and not optimising their meta tags.

Undertake some homework to identify the most effective keywords that your target audience would use to find your content. Also, use meta tags to your advantage to attract more readers to your blog. Search engines always intend to deliver the best content to users, so if your content is engaging then other sites will link to it, increasing the chances of acquiring more high-quality, reliable links from relevant businesses.

At the end of the day, there could be thousands of reasons why your content marketing isn’t delivering you the intended results, however the aforementioned recommendations should deal with most of them. If you’re intending to invest in content marketing, you can’t do it half-heartedly. Perform as much research as you can about your target market, your competitors, and your keywords, and create meaningful content that your audience will naturally engage with.

If you’re contemplating giving up on content marketing due to substandard results, connect with Internet Marketing Experts Lismore who can point you in the right direction. Phone 1300 595 013, or alternatively visit our website for additional information: http://www.internetmarketingexpertslismore.com.au

In today’s competitive market of digitalisation and globalisation, it’s paramount for firms to use online strategies and techniques that increase their visibility to customers that are actively searching for their products or services. Search Engines are undoubtedly the most influential programs that will influence your online exposure, and consequently your website traffic, conversion rates, and ultimately success. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), therefore, is used largely by most websites to improve their Search Engine rankings, otherwise referred to as ‘Search Engine Results Pages’ (SERPs).

SEO can be a brilliant investment that will enhance your visibility and conversion rates, or if used incorrectly, can cripple your rankings and visibility, thus having the opposite effect. The problem with SEO is that its algorithm is endlessly changing, and most website owners don’t keep up to date with the newest SEO trends. SEO tactics that worked in 2017 may not necessarily be effective this year, and popular SEO techniques from five years ago may result in your website being penalised today.

As opposed to focusing on the top SEO techniques that website owners should be committing to, we’re instead going to delve into the top SEO tactics that will actually penalise your website and therefore should be totally forgotten in 2018.

1. Keyword Stuffing

Keyword stuffing is a typical mistake that many website owners make to try to heighten their SERP results. Keyword stuffing is pretty much the same as it sounds – adding as many keywords/phrases to a websites content or meta tags in any way possible. Search Engine spiders or crawlers can rapidly determine how many times a keyword has been utilised and will penalise websites for severe keyword stuffing. Rather than keyword stuffing, website owners should concentrate their efforts on the sub-topics and related information behind the keywords/phrases themselves.

2. Aggressive Link Building

Link building has been around since the creation of SEO, and its proficiency as an SEO technique has advanced fairly quickly ever since. Whilst link building is still amongst the top 3 SEO tactics in 2018, aggressive link building will unquestionably result in your website being penalised. Google weighs links highly as a ranking factor simply because links are a public endorsement which corresponds with valued information on a website.

Aggressive link building takes place where links are garnered in a synthetic way. Examples of this is where links are stationed in poor link directories, buying links, link schemes, and other spammy tactics. This SEO tactic will lead to penalties for a website and should be discarded, instead being substituted with a link building strategy that is more user-focused and marketing based.

3. Excessive Internal Links

One outdated SEO tactic that lots of folks still consider to be effective is excessive internal links. There is a frequent misconception where websites which contain a large amount of links to other pages within the website will help their SERP results. The purpose in doing this is to enhance a website’s backlink profile. This is certainly not accurate, as excessive internal links within your website will do more harm than good.

4. Not Identifying Technical Problems

The backend of a website plays a considerable role in SEO, so it’s important not only to uncover any technical problems that may hurt your SERP rankings, but also keep up to date with the latest best practices. For instance, Google has just released an update relating to SSL encryption, so if a website doesn’t obey this update now, it will be penalised. The most prevalent technical issues that affect most websites today are:

Slow loading page times

Mobile errors

Duplicate content

Improper redirects

Unintentional blocked pages

5. Not Optimising Images

One of the most neglected SEO tactic that will help your SERP rankings relate to the images within a website. Optimising your website for image search is a terrific way to bolster your SEO, and this can be done largely with the image filename and alt attribute. For instance, rather than supplying an image with a filename of home1.jpg, website owners should instead try to use a keyword that describes the image. In addition, a typical mistake with images is keyword stuffing the alt attribute.

There’s no question that a successful SEO strategy will enhance a website’s SERP rankings and visibility, however due to many websites abusing SEO techniques in years gone by, Search Engine’s SEO algorithms are consistently changing and it’s crucial to keep up with these changes to thrive in today’s online marketplace. If you require any assistance with your SEO strategy, or simply haven’t updated your strategy in the last few years, get in touch with Internet Marketing Experts Lismore on 1300 595 013, or visit our website for more information: http://www.internetmarketingexpertslismore.com.au

Are you new to social networking and want to learn the basics of one of the best platforms around the world? Well, you’ve come to the right place! Twitter is a social networking service where roughly 330 million users engage with each other through short messages of up 280 characters. At this point there’s more or less 6,000 tweets being sent through the internet every second, differing from basic text messages to images, videos, gifs, memes, and much more. Twitter is one of the most beloved social networking sites and is very different to other social networking giants like Instagram and Facebook.

Twitter is a platform where members share a variety of information; from jokes, politics, news, or just universal thoughts about vague topics! Instead of having a circle of friends like Facebook, Twitter is built upon followers (not always friends) so not only can you socialise with friends, but also your favourite politicians, journalists, and sport stars as well. Everything you submit on Twitter is available publicly for anyone to see, but don’t panic, you can conveniently modify your preferences to private if you wish to.

The initial step in understanding Twitter is to be aware of the basic terms and lingo used. The following lists the most conventional vernacular:

Tweet – A 280-character message

Retweet (RT) – Sharing a tweet created by another user

Feed – The list of tweets you’ll find on your homepage from individuals that you choose to follow

Handle – Your username

Mention (@) – A way of mentioning other users in a tweet (e.g. @EAGames). Any person mentioned in a tweet is notified, being an easy way to communicate with other members publicly

Direct Message (DM) – A private message (280 characters) sent to another member. You can either choose to accept DM’s from all members or just people that you follow

Hashtag (#) – A keyword or phrase used to describe a topic or theme in a discussion (e.g. #Vegans). You can locate tweets from all users that mention a specific hashtag by clicking on the hashtag itself.

Creating an Account

Creating an account is simple and easy, just download the app or head to www.twitter.com and click the signup tab. The full name you enter will be your display name, but this can be changed as often as you like. Decide on a username (or handle) so users can mention you by typing the @ symbol in front of your username. After you’ve typed in your telephone number for validation purposes, selected an avatar, and created a quick bio about yourself so others can see your passions and interests, you’re all set to go!

Joining the Twitterverse

As mentioned previously, Twitter isn’t about friending, it’s about following. Not only can you follow your friends, but also any other identities of which you’re an admirer. Once you’ve subscribed, Twitter will provide a basic type of setup wizard to help you start, like recommending some users that you may be interested in following. You can grant Twitter permission to explore your contacts list to locate any of your friends that are already using Twitter. Following friends and other users is very simple, and once you’ve begun following certain users, Twitter will continue to provide suggestions for other users to follow based upon the types of users you’re already following. All the tweets of your followers will be visible in your Feed, so the more you follow, the more Tweets will appear in chronological order in your Feed.

Tweet Something

You can Tweet anything you like, as long as it complies with Twitters rules and guidelines (https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/twitter-rules). This includes mentioning other users (@), promoting a topic or theme (#), or Retweeting other user’s comments (RT). Simply click on the ‘Compose New Tweet’ button and you can Tweet text, videos, gifs, photos, images – a full range of different media that can be uploaded via your device. Remember though, videos can only be up to 2 minutes and 20 seconds in length, however photos and images do not count towards your character limit, which is awesome!

Once you understand the basics of Twitter, the world is literally at your fingertips! You can keep up to date with the most recent trends, be the first to view viral posts, and connect with your friends and favourite personalities in a simple and user-friendly platform.

Once you’ve got the ball rolling, the rest will fall into place naturally, so why join the Twittersphere today? If you need any guidance with getting started on Twitter, simply speak to Internet Marketing Experts Lismore on 1300 595 013, or visit our website for more information: http://www.internetmarketingexpertslismore.com.au

If you’ve just developed your first website and are interested in the ways in which you can improve your organic search results, then you’re certainly on the path to success. SEO is one of the most reliable marketing tools because it enables you to get your message in front of possible consumers that are directly looking for your services.

Regrettably, the answer isn’t very straightforward! Google’s search ranking algorithm is effectively its secret to success, so it’s incredibly convoluted and has over 200 variables that account for the listings in its Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). The good news is, not all variables are created equally, so you can focus on the most crucial variables that will have the biggest effect on your SERP listings.

It is very important to appreciate that the weight of each variable is adjusted over time, so Google will place more priority on particular variables according to user behaviour and how Google believes it can maximise the user experience. Having said this, most of the leading organic SEO ranking variables have been in the same position for a number of years now, so understanding these top variables can give you a greater understanding of how you can optimise your organic search results to enhance website traffic, customer engagement, and ultimately sales.

1. Content

A great priority is put on content because Google wants to rank the most relevant websites at the top of its search results listings. The recent Hummingbird update enables Google to understand a website’s content structure and how this content adds value to prospective consumers, so formulating quality content set in a natural tone will be compensated with higher rankings. Including articles in your website such as detailed tutorials, guides, and how-to’s is a terrific start. Likewise, the more content you have, the better it will rank in search results. SerpIQ (https://serpiq.com/) has assessed the top 10 search results and discovered that the top positions contain content that is approximately 2,400 words in length.

2. Backlinks

For over a decade now, backlinks have been one of the most significant variables in SERP listings since the more links there are to your website from reputable sources, the more trusted your website is regarded. The flip side of the coin is true as well though, so be careful not to create links on spammy or uncredible websites or your rankings will go down! Matt Cutts (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iC5FDzUh0P4) from Google explains that backlinks will lose value in time as Google tries to find new ways to evaluate websites, but for the time being, link building is still the best gauge of relevancy and authority.

3. Mobile Optimisation

With more users now searching from mobile devices than desktop computers, there has been a significant shift towards optimising your website for mobile devices. Google is already experimenting with mobile-first indexing, which signifies that Google’s index will soon crawl the mobile version of a website as opposed to the desktop version. If your website isn’t currently mobile-friendly, you better get started but beware not to release it until it’s 100% complete or you may be penalised. Page loading speed is a vital factor for mobile optimisation, so strive to have mobile pages loaded within 2 seconds to make certain your website is genuinely ‘mobile-friendly’.

4. Other Technical Factors

There are lots of other technical variables that will considerably determine your SERP listings, such as security, headings, anchor text, and interstitials. There is a strong correlation between high ranking websites and those that are SSL encrypted (HTTPS), and this is very easy to install if you haven’t already done so. Furthermore, make sure your landing pages have a H1 or H2 heading in the source code, as this has been found to correspond with higher rankings. Other factors such diverse and organic backlink anchor text and less on-page ads and pop-ups will also improve your organic search results listings.

5. Keeping up to date

Google’s search ranking algorithm is always transforming, meaning that SEO techniques are always changing also. Although there more than 200 variables in Google’s search ranking algorithm, Google has placed great significance in recent times on rich content, quality links, and a seamless mobile experience. Trying to focus on all Google’s search ranking variables will prove to be ineffective, but if you concentrate on prioritising the abovementioned variables in your SEO efforts, you will be ahead of the competition.

If you need any advice in ways to properly execute any of the above SEO techniques, don’t hesitate to speak to the digital marketing specialists at Internet Marketing Experts Lismore by phoning 1300 595 013, or alternatively visit their website for more information: http://www.internetmarketingexpertslismore.com.au

Online presence is a crucial ingredient to any businesses strategy, however the digital landscape is in a constant state of change so it’s imperative to stay on top of these changes to ensure your online visibility is optimised. Google releases between 500 and 600 updates each year, with the majority of them merely tweaking their secretive search ranking algorithm. With Google being such a tremendous force in today’s digital world, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) has become increasingly important for businesses to increase their website traffic, customer engagement, and essentially their earnings.

User behaviour is changing rapidly with new technology, so Google must monitor these changes and enhance their search algorithm respectively to ensure the user experience is as smooth as possible. If a website is going to thrive online, they too must stay on top of the changing trends in SEO. Actually, using out-of-date SEO methods can lead to penalties that reduce a website’s search engine results page (SERP) listings, so here we’ll discuss the top SEO trends to bear in mind for your website in 2018.

Voice Search

Many users are now choosing to utilise voice searches rather than standard keyboard searches, so this will organically be a top SEO trend in 2018. Voice searches are faster and more convenient, which is why it isn’t surprising that 1 in 5 online searches stem from voice queries. If the current increase in voice searches continues at the same pace, nearly 50% of all online searches will be performed via speech by the year 2020!

What this means for websites is that they should begin adding more long-tailed keywords into their SEO strategy, particularly those with a natural conversational tone. For example, if a website has a keyword phrase like “best Sydney restaurants”, it could also be followed with a phrase such as “Where are the best Sydney restaurants near me?”

Link Building

Link building has always been an important tool for SEO, and this will continue to be a decisive element in determining SERP listings in 2018. Generating valuable links to trustworthy websites is still the simplest way for Google to figure out if a website is trusted, so adding value through quality links that helps you construct an authority in your target niche is a remarkable strategy.

Having said this, the trend towards link building is now more long-term, so having links from sites applicable to your industry and referral traffic will be very valued in the near future.

Mobile Optimisation

Since 2015, online searches by mobile devices has surpassed that from computers and laptops, so Google has made it very clear that websites that are optimised for mobile devices will be ranked higher in SERP listings.

The reason that mobile optimisation is a top SEO trend for 2018 is because Google has publicised that they are experimenting with mobile-first indexing, which clearly implies that mobile optimisation will be prioritised in the upcoming year. If your website hasn’t already been optimised for mobile devices, now is most definitely the time to start!

Accelerated Mobile Pages

Website loading speeds play an essential role in SERP listings, and Google’s search results algorithm will clearly favour those with quicker speeds. As a matter of fact, Google has designed an open source project that helps websites to load pages faster on mobile devices. The project named ‘Accelerated Mobile Pages’ (AMP) allows individual web pages to load 4 times quicker than regular pages, and uses only 10% of the data in doing so!

While AMP is not directly influencing SERP listings yet, it will impact other areas closely related to Google’s search results algorithm, including bounce rate and session duration of users. AMP can be simply installed into HTML or JavaScript code, but plugins will be needed for content management systems such as Drupal and WordPress.

How To Work On SEO For Your Website in 2018

While more traditional SEO techniques such as link building will still be productive in 2018, there are other emerging trends that Google is addressing in the future which may considerably change the practice of SEO. It’s clear that SEO is already shifting to keep up with changes in user behaviour and to maximise the overall user experience. By recognising the latest SEO trends and employing strategies now, your website will be optimised and ready to enjoy targeted consumers from higher SERP listings.

If you have any questions or concerns about how you can optimise your website to adapt to the latest SEO trends, get in contact with Internet Marketing Experts Lismore on 1300 595 013, or visit their website for more details: http://www.internetmarketingexpertslismore.com.au

The social networking provider, which was launched in 2006, grew swiftly to become one of the most fashionable social media platforms internationally, however recent slumps in growth stimulated the social media giant to make some adjustments. Twitter differentiates itself from other social media networks with its ‘microblogging’ feature, which is very unique to comparable social media platforms like Facebook and Google Plus. Twitter has just over 330 million users that send approximately 6,000 Tweets per second.

Despite the 140 character limit that clearly defined the social networking service, Twitter revealed on November 7 that they want every user all over the world to ‘easily’ express themselves on Twitter. After performing a variety of tests over the past few months, Twitter decided that they wanted to widen the character limit, but only where needed. Countries like Japan, South Korea, and China will stay at the 140 character limit, only because there’s no need for an increase, as sending messages in these languages can be articulated in a short amount of characters. Languages like English on the other hand, encounter crammed Tweets with 9% of English Tweets hitting the earlier 140 character limit.

So, why the change?

After conducting a variety of tests to specific users, Twitter gained valuable results and believed the 240 character limit would be helpful for the majority of users. Considering that 9% of English users were hitting the 140 character limit, many would have to spend time editing their Tweets to make sure they didn’t need to send multiple messages. Moreover, users would now have the ability to easily fit their opinions into a single Tweet, so they could say what was on their mind and send them quicker than before.

The question is, what influence will this have for internet marketers and SEO professionals? Here are a few alterations that they can expect to see.

Increased engagement

Since Twitter broadened the character limit, users have enjoyed a higher level of responses which brought about more followers. Undoubtedly, this has been a step in the right direction, as there has been a reported higher satisfaction rate from content producers along with more Likes, Retweets, and Mentions.

Improved user experience for followers.

The extended character limit means that users will have smaller threads of conversations, because they can fit more content into a single message. Users with long threads of conversations stated that it can frequently be challenging to follow and respond to. Moreover, brands are loving the longer Tweets as it allows them to fit more in-depth information into a single Tweet which leads to higher engagement rates.

Increases customer communication

With the surge of firms using social media as a platform to handle customer service issues, customers can now convey a problem in more detail on Twitter which is rewarding for both the customer and the business, as communication is substantially enhanced. Previously, many users would have turned to other social media platforms like Facebook to report customer service issues given that the character limit was too restricting.

More Creativity

Longer Tweets means that organisations can enhance the creativity of their communication with their audience through storytelling, Q&A’s, and more engaging Twitter Chats. Companies would commonly have to use other social media sites if they wished to get creative, however brands can now successfully use longer text to their advantage by reaching out to their audience on a more personal level.

While some users have argued that the increase in character limit by Twitter makes them more comparable to other social media networks, the vast majority of users appear to be very satisfied with their latest update. Nothing is set in stone in social media, as making changes to stay up to date with changing user behaviour is vital for survival. For the time being though, both users and marketing specialists seem to have emerged the winner!

If you need any advice about how your company can leverage the increased character limit to your advantage on Twitter, just talk to Internet Marketing Experts Lismore by phoning 1300 595 013, or alternatively visit their website for more information: http://www.internetmarketingexpertslismore.com.au

In today’s ever-changing online environment, it’s critical that businesses Google’s best practices to ensure they remain competitive in their respective online markets. With Google being the most dynamic and influential company online, it’s indispensable for them to keep up with all the threats and opportunities that the internet offers. Consequently, Google releases a myriad of updates each year: new features, bug fixes, and the majority associated with the very secretive Google search ranking algorithm.

What is essential though, is that all online businesses that use Google-related services (literally every online enterprise), understand considerable changes that may have a bearing on their SEO, performance, and ultimately their bottom-line. The internet is in a continual state of change, so online companies need to be flexible and adjust to new Google updates as quickly as possible to ensure that they aren’t adversely affected by these new releases.

The largest Google update that has recently impacted online companies pertains to Google Chrome v62, which was released in October this year. The Google Chrome web browser is used by practically 50% of all online users, so it’s remarkably important that online providers implement the applicable changes as quickly as possible if they hope to avoid any unwanted consequences.

What has changed in Google Chrome v62?

In the Google Chrome v62 update, Google has changed the way in which it marks non-secured (HTTP) pages. If a non-secured (HTTP) page keeps security passwords and bank card information (which is kept in a plain text file), they are susceptible to phishing sites that can potentially steal this information from consumers that falsely believe they are supplying their personal information to a trustworthy business. The Google Chrome browser will start marking any text input field and web address bar as ‘NOT SECURE’ for HTTP pages.

This change will clearly bear upon millions of websites around the world. Prior to the change, many non-secured websites weren’t impaired by phishing attacks simply because they didn’t have a public-facing member login, and utilised PayPal or other offsite payment processors to accept online payments. Now, however, all websites will need to start securing their web pages given that users will become afraid of succumbing to malicious attacks if they insert their personal information into fields marked boldly as ‘NOT SECURE’.

How to make web pages secure?

For online businesses that want to secure their formerly non-secured (HTTP) web pages, they have to encrypt the information being shared between their clients and their web server by integrating an SSL certificate. Google are plainly pushing for a more secure internet than ever before, and they’ve chosen SSL encryption as a vehicle to do this. For website owners who want to enable HTTPS on their web servers, here is a helpful guide: https://developers.google.com/web/fundamentals/security/encrypt-in-transit/enable-https?hl=en. The following link is an additional guide on how to avoid the ‘NOT SECURE’ warning in Google Chrome which is intended for web developers: https://developers.google.com/web/updates/2016/10/avoid-not-secure-warn.

What this means for online businesses?

The recent Google update shows that HTTPS and SSL encryption will become the norm across all web pages on the internet. In time, each online company will have to secure their web pages using SSL encryption whether they like it or not, or users will simply choose a competitor that does.

What this also indicates is that not all websites using SSL encryption should be trusted, and there will be a substantial increase in phishing sites using HTTPS also. Phishing sites can simply use fabricated SSL certificates to evade the ‘NOT SECURE’ warning by Google Chrome and make their websites appear legit. This will make the distinction between phishing sites and real websites more complicated than ever. Online companies that use an Extended Validation Certificate (EV SSL) will be the most trusted websites on the web considering that it will be incredibly difficult for phishing sites to mimic the authenticity that EV SSL provides.

Making all websites employ SSL certificates to prove their authenticity will only increase the number of phishing sites that do the same. At the end of the day, however, SSL encryption will inevitably become required, so if you need any help in securing your website with SSL encryption, talk to the digital specialists at Internet Marketing Experts Lismore by calling 1300 595 013, or visit their website for more information: http://www.internetmarketingexpertslismore.com.au

So, you’ve got a fantastic business idea and you’ve decided you’re going to produce and publish your own website. Well, as you possibly know, there are many variables to take into account. The design of the website, the images you’re going to use, the content, the website architecture, the business logo, the online store – the list goes on. But fundamentally, what’s most important when developing a new website is the platform you choose. There’s a range of website platforms available with an array of varying features, targeting the entire spectrum of developers from amateurs to experts. You’ll ask for advice on which platform to use and developers will argue for weeks on end about why one platform is better than the other.

It can really be confusing to weigh the pro’s and con’s of each website platform and choose which is best for you. So, to save the time and arguments, the simple answer to this question is ‘WordPress’. The following article will present five strong arguments as to why WordPress is the best platform to use, irrespective of your website development skills and abilities.

WordPress is easy to use and manage

WordPress is incredibly user-friendly so you don’t have to be an expert HTML coder to build an effective and powerful website. The setup process is quick and simple, the tools are intuitive and there’s a built-in updater so you don’t have to be concerned about not making use of all the newest features. There are inbuilt features for blog publishing, RSS feeds, user management, automated backups, revisions and much more. Once installed, you can start making custom configurations without even writing any code!

WordPress is exceptionally SEO-friendly

In the words of Google Engineer Matt Cutts, “WordPress automatically solves a tonne of SEO issues”. SEO is an incredibly important aspect to any website so having in-built features that seamlessly make your website SEO-friendly is invaluable. WordPress coding is standard compliance, high quality, and produces semantic mark-up which makes your site extremely attractive to search engines. There are also an assortment of free plugins that you can install which will make your website even more SEO-friendly, but we’ll talk about WordPress’ plugins next.

WordPress is FREE and Open Source

Yes, you read it correctly; WordPress is free to download, install, and use to design any sort of website you like. WordPress is also open source which indicates that the source code is obtainable for anyone to modify, edit and create different themes and plugins with a variety of features and publish these to the community. Currently, there are over 2,600 WordPress themes and over 3,100 different free plugins available for use. Given that WordPress is a community software, it is maintained by a large group of volunteers who all contribute to the software by writing patches, answering support questions and updating documentation. If you have any inquiries or concerns about anything WordPress related, there are practically thousands of people willing to help.

WordPress is mobile friendly

Due to the increasing use of mobile phones for internet usage, it’s incredibly important that your website is optimised for mobile devices. In fact, one of Google’s latest updates requires websites to be optimised for mobile devices or they’ll be penalised in SEO. Thankfully most WordPress themes are built to be mobile responsive, meaning that regardless of what device your customers are using, WordPress websites will systematically adapt the appearance of your website to fit. WordPress also allows you to work on both of your mobile website and PC website individually, so you can easily customise both to optimise the user experience.

WordPress is secure

Nowadays, website security is imperative so of course WordPress has high security standards. Nearly 25% of websites are produced on WordPress so hackers are always trying to find ways to compromise them. WordPress is well aware of this so has developed a series of security features which prevents any malicious attacks by releasing regular updates that neutralises these threats. Always remember, it’s also imperative for you to be using a secure device when accessing your WordPress account, so make sure you use standard security tools on your device and only acquire legitimate plugins from trusted sources.

As you can see, WordPress has a variety of superb features that simply make it the best website platform on the market today. Even though there are plenty of other reasons why WordPress is a great choice for your website, this article just concentrates on 5 of these: WordPress is very user-friendly, free and open source, significantly SEO compatible, mobile friendly, and secure. What more could you want from a platform to build a practical and powerful website? If you have any questions about how you can further optimise your website, talk with the team at Internet Marketing Experts Lismore on 1300 595 013 or visit their website: http://www.internetmarketingexpertslismore.com.au

Having worked as a sales rep for a number of tech start-ups, I can’t even begin to describe the importance of sending email sequences that sell. Automated emails are amazing because they massively reduce the workload for a sales representative, however nowadays, everyone can identify with finding a range of email sequences lurking in their inbox on a daily basis that just frustrate us because we need to click 2 buttons to get rid of them!

Not enough business owners spend the time and initiative in designing convincing email sequences that essentially sell their product. Developing compelling email sequences is both a science and an art, and if done properly, can produce wonderful results. Having hundreds of prospective customers on an email list isn’t going to generate any income if you can’t sell your product. So, here’s 4 tips on how to set up a great email sequence that will convert your leads into sales.

Tip 1 – First Impressions Count

The age old saying ‘make a good first impression’ is very appropriate when it relates to email sequences. By first impressions, I mean the subject lines of your emails. It’s the first thing that recipients will find so if it’s not compelling enough, they merely won’t open it. It goes without saying, the subject lines of an email are critical when it comes to conversion rates. Here are a few stats which accentuates their importance:

One-third of email recipients will open an email based completely on the subject line

Nearly 70% of email recipients will ascertain if an email is spam based on the subject line

40% of emails are opened on mobile devices first, and the common mobile screen can only fit between four to seven words in the subject line.

The trick to successful subject lines is solving your prospects problems in as little words as possible. As an example, high-quality subject lines include, “Common questions about university”, “Common questions about home loans”, etc. Consider your prospects problems and target your subject lines to solve that problem succinctly. You can monitor your subject line performance using HubSpot Sales notification stream (https://www.hubspot.com/products/sales/email-tracking).

Tip 2 – Write Well-Crafted Content

After a recipient has opened an email, it’s integral that you present a value proposition in the context of their problem straight away. Forget starting the email with your name and job role; you want to give your recipients a good reason to continue reading the email. Therefore, begin your email with some information they can associate with, like company news or their opinion to an event via Facebook or an online blog, then get into the value proposition in the 2nd and 3rd sentences.

Your value proposition should be structured like this:.

I have an idea about [problem/pain-point] and I’d love to have a moment to speak with you about [solution].

Here’s some preliminary information [link to helpful content] and if you ‘d like to talk more about it, let me know.

I recently collaborated with another business with [positive benefit]. Is this something that would be beneficial for [company name]?

It’s necessary that you get to the point quickly and keep the content focused on the needs of your prospect.

Tip 3 – Throw out the bland ‘Welcome Email’

If a prospect has shown interest in your service or products, why waste both of your time with a welcome email that has no benefit or offerings? It’s virtually dead-wood and if you’re going to send a welcome email, make sure you incorporate a catchy subject line and value proposition in the content of the email (refer to tip 1 & 2).

Tip 4 – Always Be Helpful

The reality of the matter is that even a wonderful first email may not get a response from the recipient. It’s understandable; people are busy and have priorities, so I recommend sending two or three follow-up emails as part of your email sequence. It’s easy to forget an email that you’re interested in, but a great follow-up email will remind them that you’re here to help them in whatever problem they have. You ought to make sure that your follow-up emails also feature your value propositions, and further information that is interesting to the recipient in solving their problems. Again, HubSpot Sales will keep track of which emails are opened and which links are clicked so I strongly advise using this application to assist you with your email sequences.

The value of crafting effective and actionable email sequences can have a huge affect on your conversion rates and sales. There are many factors that you must consider when building your email sequences, but this article showcases the most important factors that lead to success. If you’re having problems converting your leads into sales with your email sequences, it’s certainly beneficial in seeking advice from digital marketing professionals that can help you. Talk to the team at Internet Marketing Experts Lismore today on 1300 595 013 or visit their website: http://www.internetmarketingexpertslismore.com.au.