SEO VS SEM

SEO VS SEM

Now that you know what the terms SEO and SEM mean, along with the different techniques that fall under it. The result of the SEO vs SEM battle is quite simple.

• SEO tends to give back quality hits, and higher rankings but that may take years. SEM, on the other hand, is quick and tends to give you instant results, like a lot of hits in a very short period of time.
• SEO vs SEM can be simple explained. SEO is equity, where you add something every few days and get results later, SEM, on the other hand, is the instant result for every rupee spent. As the rupee stops coming in, so do the benefits.

In the short term battle of SEO vs SEM – SEM comes out the obvious winner.

In the long term battle of SEO vs SEM – SEO wins hands down.

Similarly, is we were to see SMO vs SMM, they would as similar as SEO vs SEM respectively. Giving back the same results.

So where should your investment go? Organic (SEO, SMO) or Paid (SEM, SMM)?

The simple answer is – BOTH! There remains no SEO vs SEM when you come down to business. They are all two sides of the same coin, one requires time and effort, the other requires money. Other than Black Hat SEO, all the above techniques are required if you wish to get higher rankings in SERP, more visibility, and more traffic. However, the deciding factor about your campaign working or is not based on using all these techniques, but on how efficiently you use them. This requires you to have an iron-clad business campaign.

The Best way to make the best campaign for your Business/Website is to keep the following things in mind:

 Your budget

The first thing, to begin with, is to know your budget, or how much are you willing to spend. If you are a small business, you may not want to lose your money on pointless campaigns that yield no results. Squandering money on campaigns without really understanding them, will cost you more than you wish to spend. So get a financial management in the plan. Understand the market, the techniques that would work best for your niche, understand the SEO vs SEM differences and then go on to planning a campaign.

Social Media Tools That Will Help You Reach Your Marketing Goals

Whether you’re a solo marketer, startup or multinational enterprise, you'll find it's nearly an insurmountable feat to manage your social media without the help of some third-party tools.

It's these tools that make it possible for you to reach marketing goals, track results and engage more efficiently across a multitude of platforms. And, more and more, they're a necessary step, given that 52 percent of online adults now use two or more social media sites, and the average social media user maintains five accounts.
The good news is, when you're getting started, is that there are plenty of mobile apps and web-based tools to choose from; they range from specialized to multipurpose.
Below, I’ve compiled a list of my top five most recommended social tools for managing your marketing campaigns and making scaling your online marketing efforts that much easier.

1. Hootsuite

Hootsuite is considered to  a leader when it comes to managing social media. The platform offers everything you need to monitor social chatter and manage content publishing and multiple accounts. It also offers detailed reporting and collaboration features.
Each of your accounts can be displayed side by side in multiple streams for quick monitoring. This is especially helpful when big trending topics and conversations are taking place across all of your social channels. That listening ability is a big part of social engagement, and Hootsuite makes it easy.
“I use social media as an idea generator, trend mapper, and strategic compass for all of our online business ventures,” says Paul Barron, founder of Digital CoCo.
Hootsuite is available in a free plan as well as via multiple paid-plan options, and can be used on a desktop web environment or via mobile app.

2. Flickr with Creative Commons search

This is a go-to source for great stock photos for any kind of social promotional purposes, content marketing, branding and more. It’s ideal for blogs and presentations. With its advanced search feature, you can browse photos that have been made specifically available under Flickr with Creative Commons licensing, which allows you to use photos with attribution.
Visuals are an important part of social and content marketing. When people hear information, they’re likely to remember only 10 percent of it, according to data collected and analyzed by John Medina in his book Brain Rules. But if a relevant image is paired with the same information, that retention rate jumps to 65 percent -- even three days later.
For slightly higher-grade photos, I recommend purchasing images from Shutterstock.

3. Bit.ly

Bit.ly is the dominant URL shortener, and in my opinion it’s the best choice for the function it offers as well as its value-added benefits. Bit.ly's tracking and analytics are on point, though I recommend utilizing a shortener whenever possible. The “+” feature is a nice perk, as well: By adding the “+” to the end of any bit.ly URL, you can see how many times it has been clicked on and who clicked on it.
It’s a great way to check in on trending topics, find influencers and even keep an eye on your competitors if they're using the service, as well.
Because creating unique bit.ly links is so easy, the tool is also a great way to do A/B testing, on real-time social networks like Twitter.

4. TubeMogul

Video is a big part of social engagement; that’s why sites like Facebook have upgraded their services to incorporate native video-uploading as well as live streaming. Twitter has done the same thing since its acquisition of Vine back in 2012, and Periscope in 2015. Video provides a means to engage your audience with fun, entertaining content -- content that drives social shares.
“The play button is the most compelling call to action on the web,” -- says Michael Litt, co-founder of Vidyard.
TubeMogul takes the demand of manual upload and simplifies it so you can upload a single video clip directly to dozens of video sites. In addition to faster upload, it gives you comparative statistics on the number of views and the length of each view, site by site. It’s a fantastic tool for moving beyond individual video upload into strategic video optimization as part of a broad social media strategy.

5. Notifier

Notifier scans your content for the names of influencers in your posts and gives you one-click access to generate @mentions on social media. It’s a simple and effective way to notify influencers (and their audience) that you’ve mentioned them within your content.

Four Must Have Apps

If you want to simplify your daily investing ventures, then I truly believe that you need to have a few of the right apps to help you along the way. The right app can simplify investing, help you stay connected with the outside world and expedite the entire trading process for you. Here are four of the best investing apps for any trader to consider.

1. iPhone’s stock app.

Let’s start with the basics. The iPhone’s basic default stock tracking app is actually a pretty good tool that you can use to keep an eye on the major indices throughout the day as well as select stocks in your portfolio. This isn’t an app that you should be using to do analysis and make buy or sell decisions. But it will help you keep your finger on the pulse of the market no matter where you are. The top mistake investors make is not checking in with the market frequently enough. That’s how small losses become major losses. So even when you’re away from your desk or do not have access to a trading dashboard, even a simple tool like this could save you a lot of money.

2. eTrade.

If you haven’t tried the eTrade app to manage all of your trades, then it is time that you start. This app is super convenient and it puts all of the wealth-building tools you need right at your fingertips. When you want to make quick trades on-the-go, this is one of the tools I suggest you turn to. Plus, it is filled with tons of information and analysis features to help you make smart decisions.

3. StocksToTrade.com.

When I need a program that can help with scanning stocks and examining charts, I use StockToTrade. This software program claims to be powerful enough for a hedge-fund, but that it’s built for the average Joe investor and in all reality, I agree with them. I love this software program. It is super powerful, it’s easy for my students to use and it’s easy for me to use when I need to make huge trades from my home office or whenever I’m traveling. StocksToTrade also has scans for news as it relates to trading setups and patterns. One of my favorite features is being able to sort stocks based on a multitude of characteristics such as share price, market cap, etc. The pre-programmed scans for certain trade setups also make it very easy to build a trading strategy.

4. Entrepreneur.com.

When it comes to the tools I rely on most for investing, there is nothing quite like Entrepreneur.com. This is a prime example of it being about more than just apps, this site simply makes it easier for me to invest. I truly believe that investing without knowledge is risky. This is why I am always reading and always finding out new information. I spend a lot of time studying the articles on Entrepreneur to see what is happening in business. 

And now, for the one app that I don’t use…

5. Robinhood free broker app.

I am always willing to look at different apps in order to find programs that can help me in my everyday investing ventures. Some apps are great, others are just OK, but this app is one that I simply won’t use. I warn all of my students against using the Robinhood app, for a few reasons. This app has bad executions, weak short-selling options and it tries to lure people in by being “free.” Be careful with this one. Plus, there are no after-hours trading. In my opinion, it is better to just pay for quality.


Keep these apps in mind whenever you are looking for a new program to help you with your investing ventures. The right app can help make all of the difference in how easy it is for you to handle your daily trades with ease.

Using Linked In Efficiently

Social media is a double-edged sword for many business owners and entrepreneurs. On the one hand, it promises so much, but on the other hand, it can take up a lot of your valuable time -- especially if you don't have a proven social media plan. But if you're mainly selling to other businesses, then there's one place you definitely need to be -- LinkedIn.
With more than 400 million users and the ability to connect with new leads, new partners or influencers who can help you spread the word about your brand, it's the obvious choice for B2B.
But are you getting the most out of it or are you just tinkering around at the edges? Here are 11 giveaway signs that you've mastered LinkedIn.

1. You know your objectives.

So many people go round and round in circles in LinkedIn. Not you. You know exactly the outcomes you desire, and you go after them.

You understand that you need to do less to get more, so your focus is on three main areas -- getting more media exposure, creating partnerships and generating leads for your business. Your effort is focused on these three areas, and anything outside of this does not attract your attention.

2. You know who you're targeting.

Because you know your objectives, you know exactly who you want to connect with. You don't connect with people willy nilly hoping that somewhere, sometime, someone will get back to you. You know who you want to connect with, what they do and where they're based. You're not interested in spending time on building a network of people with half-hearted profiles. You're after the movers and shakers, the "A" Graders. Guesswork is not part of your approach.

3. You have a structured approach.

Because you know what you want, and because you know who can help you, your approach can be much more structured. But not only one approach. Each approach is dictated by your needs (e.g. increase exposure, identify partners, generate leads). Each approach is clearly structured and is tailored towards a successful outcome.

Ultimately, you know exactly where you want to get your connections. Whether that's on a phone call or a face-to-face meeting, it's a structured approach that isn't left to chance.

4. You're focused on relationships.

Selling yourself, your expertise or your products and services is your ultimate goal. But there's a time and place for that. People rarely buy on first contact. That's why your approach is built on creating trust and building a relationship from the start.

5. You're committed to content.

You understand the value of world class content, and you offer this to your networks. Because you know your expected outcomes, you understand the challenges and the problems that your target audience face. You create content that addresses these issues.

Whether that's regular LinkedIn Updates or longer LinkedIn Posts, you create world class content to make sure that you stay front of mind with your target audience.

6. A solution-focused profile.

Your profile isn't a dry read that looks like an online CV. Instead it reads more like a set of solutions that you can offer. When your connections come to check you out, they see that you are a solution provider. They see that you understand their needs and that you are a credible partner for them.

Your profile pops with your own media, whether that's articles, photos, videos or presentations.

7. You segment your contacts.

You've got several objectives, and that means several audiences. Not all of them will be interested in the same content. That's why you segment your contacts to make sure that they only get the content that's relevant to them.

8. You don't preach to groups. You ask questions.

Whether you're running a group or you're a member of a group, you understand that asking questions is more powerful than promoting your own content. You understand that asking questions elicits responses in ways that posting content to a group doesn't, and it allows you to direct them to useful resources.

Sure, you know there's a time and place to make a pitch. It just isn't here.

9. It's your comfort zone for cold calling.

One of the reasons you use LinkedIn is because you hate cold calling. You hate the way that it's unpredictable, intrusive and annoying. That's why you prefer a structured approach based on known objectives, targeted outreach and high value content.

10. You're patient.

It would be great if you could just hit it out of the park at the first attempt. But you know that's not going to happen. Building relationships and creating trust takes time. That's why you're patient and methodical. You know that things need to occur in a certain order, and that if you're in too much of a hurry, your prospects will notice.

11. You enjoy it.

Finally, above all else, you enjoy developing meaningful relationships based on mutual benefit. As much as you enjoy growing your own business, you enjoy sharing your knowledge and helping others solve their problems and grow their businesses. For you, this is where LinkedIn really comes into it's own.
LinkedIn is powerful. If you're selling to businesses, it's the place to be. But just going in all guns a-blazing isn't going to work. Whether you're looking for more media exposure, partnerships or new leads, you need to know your desired outcomes and have a structured plan in place to achieve your objectives.
LinkedIn works best for people who understand their outcomes, and people who understand who they want to work with and they have a structured plan to engage with them.

Emerging Tools In Social Media

Social media marketing is still a new business tool, relatively speaking. There’s no magic formula for success, and the potential benefits of your efforts are broad and not entirely predictable.
That promise is appealing, especially to young entrepreneurs, but results don’t come automatically -- even if you have a solid strategic foundation for your campaign. In fact, it requires a tremendous amount of planning, effort and refinement before you start to see results. And in most cases, the tools and features offered by social media platforms straightaway aren’t typically enough to give you the edge you need.
Social media operates in a hyper-competitive arena, and if you want to stay alive, you’re going to have to use the newest tools to support your efforts.

The key measure of success in social media, as in most other forms of marketing, is your overall return on investment (ROI). When most people think about ROI, they focus on the return they’re getting, and how to improve it.
Some tools will help you do this by providing more data you can use to target your demographics more accurately or allowing you to reach wider audiences than you have up to this point. However, most tools are directed at the other side of the equation -- the investment side.
They help you work more efficiently, to reduce the amount of time and money you expend in managing a campaign, and increase the power of everything you create or direct. In theory, at least, this should boost the potential of every dollar or hour you put in.

With those goals in mind, we want to show you five incredibly powerful up-and-coming social media tools you should be using to enhance your campaign:

 

1. Notifier.

One of the biggest trends in social media marketing right now is influencer marketing. Influencer marketing is the art of engaging with prominent authorities to earn more visibility for your posts and brand. Notifier is a tool that helps automate and improve your influencer relationships. By plugging in your content, it will automatically search it for references you’ve made to other brands, and pull up their social information so you can notify them that you’ve cited them. This gives you an “in” for engaging with new influencers, streamlining your influencer marketing campaign.

 

2. Real Geeks’ Facebook Marketing Tool.

If you’ve ever been intimidated or frustrated by the process of Facebook advertising, but are convinced of the potential value there, Real Geeks’ Facebook marketing tool is perfect for you. Designed for realtors, the tool connects your Facebook ad campaign directly to your website. From there, it automatically pulls data (such as home listings, images, etc.) and generates the type of ads that tend to generate the best results. You’ll be able to monitor and adjust these ads before they go out, and create your own if you so desire. The tool also provides detailed, easy-to-follow reporting, so you can track your progress accurately.

 

3. SocialOomph.

SocialOomph doesn’t have a particularly fancy user experience layer, but its functionality is powerful. With this, you’ll be able to connect all your social media profiles into one area, schedule posts in advance, and even “bulk upload” updates to have them roll out periodically over a preset schedule. It’s fantastic if you’re in the business of content syndication (as you should be), and it offers a number of audience insight tools as well.

4. Sprout Social.

Sprout Social is similar to Hootsuite in concept, but offers more robust functionality. You can connect to almost every major social media platform, schedule posts, monitor progress in terms of likes, engagements, and user activity, and easily see how your content performs over time. Sprout Social also furnishes social listening functionality, which allows you to perform better content topic research and market research by plugging into your key users’ social media conversations. Perhaps best of all, Sprout Social was designed with teams in mind, so you can establish different user roles and delegate tasks here too.

 

5. Crate.

Crate is a relatively new content curation tool designed to help you find the best-performing content on the web. Plug in the types of content and social media feeds you want to see more of, and Crate will generate a list of the topics that have performed best on social media. You can use this list to fuel your own social sharing strategy, or use it as inspiration to write better content for your blog. Either way, it’s incredibly useful.
Before you go out and start using these tools indiscriminately, let’s leave you with a pertinent cautionary note about automation in a marketing campaign. Automation can be incredibly valuable; it can give you more objective insights and save both time and money.

You don’t need to worry actively about these weaknesses or forgo automation tools because of such concerns. You merely need to acknowledge them, and keep them in mind when you choose to employ such tools to complement and build your campaign. It’s all about achieving a proper balance.

Five Tips That May Help You Grow Socially

In today’s market, harnessing the power of social media is a must if you want to grow your business and grow your brand. From my Instagram posts to my Twitter announcements, I have found that there is no end to the new opportunities that a carefully managed social media campaign can bring. With this in mind, any entrepreneur or aspiring entrepreneur who has yet to try out the power of social media needs to start working on creating a stronger online presence. It's something that I have seen bring great value to my own business and great value to others I have worked with in the market.
Through my experience, here are eight of the top tips that I have found can help any entrepreneur looking to expand their social media presence and their business.

1. Be consistent.

When it comes to your posts, your message and how frequently you use social media, keep consistency in mind. It is truly the key to success with any social media campaign. Make a plan for what you're going to post and how often you're going to post, and stick with it. This should ideally be a few times a day or a week, depending on your goals and your following. You can’t go from posting once a month to five times a day and then back and expect to have an engaged following. 

2. Use all social networks.

You may have a social network that you prefer over others, but it doesn’t mean that all of your followers feel that way. If you want to be successful with social media, then you need to post across all networks. This means having and maintaining an account with all of the big social media sites, including Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.

3. Format content to optimize for each platform.

Maintaining accounts across all of the major social media platforms doesn’t mean posting the same thing on four different sites every day. It means formatting content specifically meant for each platform. You need photos for Instagram, long posts for LinkedIn, videos and memes for Facebook and short and snappy announcements for Twitter. All of your posts should be different, even if they are delivering the same message. 

4. Push on those networks that really work well.

There are some networks that are going to work better for you than others. When you find that network that really works for your specific type of business and your specific type of customer, then you need to really push on that network and take advantage of the opportunity.

5. Make sure that your content aligns with your message.

When it comes to building a strong social media presence, getting likes and follows is great. However, it's about more than just the number of responses each of your posts get. You may be tempted to deliver a post that simply gets a lot of attention, but that will do nothing for your brand if you don’t make sure that the content aligns with your message. Everything needs to fit within your brand identity and promote what it is that you're trying to say to the world.

When and what to post on your brand’s social media channels is different for every business. Often, what you post on Facebook will not be suitable for Pinterest. Or even if it is, the best post times for each will likely differ. Being in tune with your audience and understanding which types of content work for which channels will help you devise a strong social media strategy.

Why Linkedin ????

Today, that means using LinkedIn (and sometimes Facebook and Google) to try to get to someone. And going in warm is almost always better than going in cold.

How to Linkedin your way to success.

If used correctly, LinkedIn is a powerful tool that can lead to plenty of great contacts and successful sales and deals. You can literally get deals done on LinkedIn -- if you just know how to navigate it.Here's how you do it.

Your Profile: Make sure you have a professional looking Linkedin profile. It goes a long way to someone wanting to do business with you. That includes a profile picture, summary, job history and your education. Plus, if you can get some good recommendations from colleagues, that's a big help. Make it look good so people want to do business with you.

Getting to someone: If you want to get to a specific person, type his or her name into LinkedIn. When you get to their profile, see if you have any "common connections."
If you find a common connection, congratulations. Now you have two options.

1. Ask your common connection to make an introduction for you. If they're willing to do so, that's great. But remember, you're now on their timetable. And besides, they may not know each other very well... they may just be "LinkedIn friends."
2. Your other option is to simply reach out to the person you're trying to get to. Of course they may not respond, but...and it's a big but, when they see that you have a common connection or two, they'll assume that you're someone worth being connected to. In other words, that common connection is essentially vouching for you without even knowing it.

If you don't know anyone in common, that's ok. Now you just have to dig a little deeper. Go through their profile and maybe you have something in common with them, whether it's their college, a previous job or an interest.

Company search: If they work or used to work for a decent sized company, you can search that company on LinkedIn. You'll get a list of everyone on LinkedIn at that company -- as well as what level of connection you are to each of them.
You can even connect with random people at a company, so that when you try to connect to the person you really want to get to, it appears to them that you already know people at the company, so they are more likely to accept your request.
The Pro version of LinkedIn, while not cheap, is worth the investment if you're serious about connecting with people and building your network. You can even test it free for one month. You can use that month to expand you base of contacts and see if it's a worthwhile investment for you.
Another benefit of the Pro version is that you can see when someone looks at your profile. Not everyone you reach out to will look at your profile, but it's nice to know when someone does. At least you know you've got their attention.


For some reason, the mobile app lets you send connection requests with fewer steps and to more people than using the website. Strange as that may seem, it does appear to be the case.
To start you off in the right direction, send me a connection request on LinkedIn -- that way, you'll be one step closer to my 1,365 contacts and your own LinkedIn success story.

Why Mobile Important Now ???

 A little more than a year later, over half of all worldwide searches happen on mobile devices. It’s a big deal in marketing.If your site isn't mobile-friendly, you’re waving goodbye to more than half of your potential. Google wants to help with useful links and tools as well as guides designed specifically for content management systems (CMS). It’s good for you, and it’s good for Google.

A mobile world.

It’s hard to remember the world before smartphones. They’ve changed everything. According to Morgan Stanley, 91 percent of Americans keep their phones within reach 24/7.
We use them all the time for what’s been dubbed “micro-moments,” those countless instances when we turn to our phones for information, directions, to do something, to buy something, to compare, to evaluate, to learn and more.
Consider this: Search queries using “near me,” “close” or “nearby” have increased 34 times since 2011. Among smartphone users, 82 percent use a search engine when looking for local businesses. It must be a magic number: 82 percent of smartphone owners also consult their devices while shopping in a store. With apologies to Stanley Kramer, it’s a mobile, mobile, mobile, mobile world.
Related: 15 Tips for Designing a Mobile-Friendly E-Commerce Site
Talking about “mobile SEO" vs.“regular SEO" is a bit of a misnomer. It’s just SEO. They’re all cogs in the same machine.
That said, if the thought of launching a “mobile SEO" campaign gives you nightmares, it's worth walking through the basics. Take these steps to avoid being penalized by search engines (you need their love) and begin targeting mobile users.

Mobile-friendly is a must.

Mobile-friendly simply means a site looks good and behaves properly on a mobile device. A mobile-friendly site can be designed in a number ways:

• Responsive. The site morphs depending on the size of the screen.
• Parallel-mobile. A second, independent site created for mobile users.
• Dynamic-serving. The server detects and loads an appropriate page depending on the user agent.  

Each type of site has its pros and cons, but a responsive site is the easiest and most cost-effective to implement. It doesn’t hurt that it’s also Google’s official recommendation. You can accomplish this using a responsive theme, for which you’ll find free options and paid options, or a responsive plug-in.
Your first step is to determine whether your website is, in fact, mobile-friendly.
The mobile-friendly test from Google is straightforward. Enter your URL. Google's tool will tell if you're you're mobile-friendly and what you can do to improve your results if you don't pass muster.

Page speed matters.

We know mobile friendliness is a ranking signal. So is site speed. Mobile users expect service on demand: 40 percent of surfers will abandon a site that takes longer than three seconds to load.
Check your site’s speed using PageSpeed Insights. The guide presents both mobile and desktop results, letting you know which features are issue-free and helpfully suggesting which elements need serious attention. GTmetrix is another handy resource.
Next, turn to the Google Search Console for tons of useful tools and advice. To tackle speed concerns, you’ll need to look into your Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) data. AMP is a stripped-down, faster HTML designed for mobile users. You can use Google AMP tools to see all pages that implement AMP, identify which of them contain errors and learn what you can do to fix those mistakes.
Pages built using AMP load anywhere from 15 to 85 percent faster, but that’s only the start of the story. You can learn more at AMP Project (including tutorials for getting started). Just be aware it’s not for everyone or every site. It’s best for news-type sites such as blogs, and that’s in part because AMP doesn’t support opt-in forms. Adding AMP to Wordpress is reasonably uncomplicated, and sites using it will rank higher in mobile search-engine results pages (SERPs).
Finally, explore Mobile Usability on the Google Search Console. It reports any existing errors, which might include flash usage, a font that’s too small or a viewport that isn’t configured. Any errors will affect your mobile SEO, so eliminate them wherever you can.

Use Google My Business.

One stop. Done. Want to be found when people search online? Google My Business gets your address, contact details and hours on both Google Search and Google Maps. You can edit it all from one convenient platform. Add photos, respond to reviews and shape how your business appears online.
It’s easy. And crucial. Do it.

Claim your business.

Claim your business and check the details on local directories such as Yelp, Bing Places, Yellow Pages, CityGrid and Foursquare.
These services are increasingly popular, and people use them to find local products and services. Bonus: They’re ranked favorably by the search engines. Follow the guidelines, and make sure everything is up-to-date.
Google Maps may lead the way in mobile location-finding, but Apple Maps still is at the party. Don’t ignore it. Publish accurate information so people can find and contact you when they’re on the go.

Track mobile stats on Google Analytics.

Log in to Google Analytics and conduct some research on your mobile site visitors. Filter those results by day, time and device to discover exactly when your mobile customers are most active. Publish mobile-friendly content (more on that below) at those times to maximize your effect and reach.

Create mobile-friendly content.

Not all content is mobile-friendly, even when it’s on a mobile-friendly site. Focus on these tactics:

• Bullet points, which are easy to scan
• Short and concise text
• Easily shared articles and links
• Compressed images and videos that do not auto-play, so you benefit from faster load times and less data consumption
• Meta-title and meta descriptions that are short and to the point -- perfect for mobile displays

Time of day is a factor here, too. Publish shorter content during morning and afternoon commutes and longer pieces during typical lunch breaks for your target market. Save your longest content for when people are likely to be at home. And remember, mobile users often look for informational content.

Use local keywords.

When conducting keyword research, be sure include local vocabulary that might be unique to your area. Think about terms and slang that don’t appear anywhere else: nicknames for neighborhoods or the city itself, colorful and relevant expressions, regional specialties or whatever.
When people search for you online, what language and words might they actually use? Target them.

Optimize for voice search.

People are talking to Siri or Google Now more than ever on their smartphones. In fact, 20 percent of Google searches on Android are now done via voice search. That amounts to hundreds of millions of inquiries, with 55 percent of teens and 41 percent of adults using voice search at least once per day.
Voice search is the better option when walking (or driving -- which you shouldn’t do). But it does have its own set of criteria. Voice-search queries tend to be more conversational. We pose a question or ask our phones to perform a task in the same way we would talk to another human being.
Craft your content to match those specific, real-life questions and optimize for the three biggest voice platforms.

Remember the takeaway.

There’s a lot more you could do, but this is a great jumping-off point. It is the beginner’s guide, after all.
If you take away only two things, these are it: Make sure you’re mobile friendly, and remember that page speed matters.Mobile optimization will get only more important. Don’t be left behind.

Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)

So you’re thinking about adding Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) to your website? Stop thinking and start doing! Of course, it is all about how you implement AMP, but we'll get into that.
If you’re unfamiliar with AMP, it’s an open-source technology that enables pages on your site to load quickly for users on a mobile device. This happens with the help of a JavaScript library and some additional HTML markup.
Here are five reasons why you should add AMP technology to your website:

1. AMP is essential for good mobile SEO.

By now, you already know that if you want your site to rank well, you need to make sure that it’s mobile-friendly. That’s also why you need AMP. Think of it as the latest iteration of mobile-friendly design.
With AMP, your pages and blog posts will load quickly on mobile devices. That will not only give your users a better experience, but it will also give Google a good reason to rank your site well in the mobile search engine results pages (SERPs).
But it’s not just about organic ranking with AMP. Your site could be featured at the very top of the SERPs. How? With Google’s carousel that displays AMP pages -- and only AMP pages -- at the very top of the results list.
If you take your mobile device right now and Google a keyword related to current events, you’ll see that the results include a carousel of AMP pages at the very top of the SERPs. That’s where your page could be, but only if you adopt AMP.

2. AMP is so fast, it will reduce your bounce rate.

Don’t you hate a high bounce rate? When people visit your site, hang around for a few seconds, and then go somewhere else, you’re obviously not doing something right to inspire them to hang around for a while.
One reason people bounce -- the site is just too darned slow. That’s why AMP is so valuable. It will load your pages in a flash so that users will have one less reason to run away.

3. AMP could help you monetize your site.

Do you know why some sites are agonizingly slow? It’s because they’re loaded up with ad technology. It’s ironic, really. Websites increase ads to generate more revenue, but in the process the increased load times caused by the new ads also cause people to leave the site. That means, in all likelihood, less revenue in the long run.
Of course, some users who really like ad-overloaded websites will install ad blockers just so that the sites load faster. That’s also a problem for publishers because their ads won’t be seen, and they’ll lose revenue.
Enter AMP. It was designed with ad monetization in mind.
Here’s what the folks who started the AMP project have to say about their technology as it relates to advertising. “A goal of the Accelerated Mobile Pages Project is to ensure effective ad monetization on the mobile web while embracing a user-centric approach. With that context, the objective is to provide support for a comprehensive range of ad formats, ad networks and technologies in Accelerated Mobile Pages.”
The idea is that mobile pages -- even ones with an abundance of ads -- will load quickly with AMP. As a result, mobile users won’t see any reason to install ad blockers. AMP is great news for advertisers and publishers alike.

4. AMP offers analytics.

By now, everybody in the online marketing universe knows about the importance of analytics. Those are key metrics that offer insight about the effectiveness of specific marketing campaigns. AMP offers analytics as well.
Using AMP, you can track important information about visitor counts, new versus returning users, clicks, conversions, video engagement, link tracking and more.
Even better -- AMP analytics offer built-in support for almost every marketer’s favorite analytics tool, Google Analytics. Specifically, you can easily track three request values with AMP -- page views, events and social interactions.
If you’re really a hardcore GA aficionado, you can even use AMP to send custom dimension parameters to Google Analytics. That way, you can track very specific data points.

5. Google loves AMP so you should too. 

If you want to maximize the visibility of your website, then you need to play nice with Google. And Google absolutely loves AMP.
Just within the past few weeks, Google has made it easier to split-test AMP pages, announced that it will display AMP errors to site owners in search results and announced that AMP pages will be added to Google’s organic search results.
And that’s not all. If your site doesn’t support AMP, you might log in to the Search Console and see the following message -- “Google has detected that your site has many pages that may benefit from being served as AMP pages. Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) are HTML pages that are optimized to load fast on mobile devices. Learn more about AMP benefits in the resources below. Valid AMP pages on your site will be eligible to be shown in search results and receive special badging in search results.”
In other words, Google really wants you to use AMP. Why not get started today?

It's pretty clear that AMP is here to stay. They are even making AMP possible for e-commerce websites now.

Why Email marketing ???

It is fact that Email marketing allows you to reach a highly targeted audience at a low cost. In fact, experts at Campaign Monitor, an email marketing company, estimate that an effective email marketing message has the potential to result in $38 in revenue, for just $1 of marketing investment.Here are some email marketing conversion tips all small businesses can use:

1. Include descriptive tags with your images. 

Online publication giants revealed that the average person receives more than 400 commercial emails a month. Emails that include images can help your small business stand out in an already-crowded inbox, especially if you choose those that evoke an emotional response to a product, a promotional campaign concept or your brand. 

However, email marketing now comes with a “catch 22,” given that at least half of all email messages are checked on a mobile device, according to experts at Litmus, an email analytics company. While mobile devices may positively boost response to time-sensitive messages, small screens aren’t always conducive to images. If a recipient opens your email only to see that images have been blocked, you could be banished to his or her spam box indefinitely. The more often that happens, the harder it is to form a reputation as a sender whose emails are recognized as legitimate: According to the experts at Sender Score, 28 percent of the email messages that are sent reach a user’s inbox.

2. Don’t send messages that aren’t targeted. 

While you may not have robust data on prospects, you can learn a little more about what they respond to with each message you send. Diligently track open and click-through rates with each campaign, including the optimal times to send messages based on response and headline tests. Place email recipients in segments based on your findings to build an effective drip campaign that is personalized and relevant based on their activity.  Internet Retailer reports that retailer totes Isotoner improved its email marketing campaign revenue by a whopping 7,000 percent when it used analytics based on past email activity, site search history and past purchases to deliver highly targeted email messages.

3. Don’t ask for too much. 

Segment your email marketing campaigns so that each recipient is served the most relevant offer based on his or her preferences, and that he or she is presented with one clear message, call to action and a seamless checkout experience -- whether on a desktop or mobile device. Prefill special offers the email message may include so customers aren’t required to key special discount codes that are part of your email offer at checkout. Partner with a reputable mobile payment provider for a secure and branded checkout experience to eliminate concerns with payment security, or require the customer to take additional steps to complete the transaction. For example, Mobile Commerce Daily reports that despite the popularity of PayPal by retailers in online sales, evidence suggests that it kills conversion by nearly 15 percent (particularly when consumers are shopping on a mobile device), because it requires additional steps to make a purchase.

4. Use emails to form a lasting relationship. 

Email campaigns should build upon one another, and acknowledge what you know about the customer, based on his or her past activity. In fact, marketing firm Epsilon cites data indicating that “triggered” emails targeted based on a recipient’s engagement with past messages have open rates that are 76 percent higher than those with generic messaging. If you cannot convince your customers to click on your message, you can’t convert them, regardless of your pricing or product quality.

Conclusion 

Email marketing is an affordable way to communicate with prospects and customers, gain valuable insights about their preferences and increase sales. However, it requires strategy to convert message recipients into buyers. Follow these steps to improve the ROI you realize from every email you send.

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Make Your Digital Marketing to the Customer Experience

As much as two decades ago, the way consumers seek for buying brands depended on how much the brands were able to thrust their products into the consumers’ vicinity and at the same time, appeal to their taste. For instance, a commercial soap ad in between a TV series or a radio program, would be enough to sway consumers’ preferences of buying a soap product. In fact, that gave rise to the term ‘soap operas.’ Procter and Gamble (P&G) would produce radio and TV shows so that they could advertise their products during the breaks.
Fast forward to 2016, and you will see that brands have drastically changed the way they communicate with consumers. In the Internet era, brands push their products to their consumers in the form of recommendations. That is why Amazon and other ecommerce sites are able to execute targeted ads in the form of suggestions and recommendations.

Today’s technologically-savvy consumers are more informed and knowledgeable, and are moving out of the traditional route of researching and making purchasing decisions about products. They research well before buying a product or a service. This post that highlights ‘from search to store’ by Matt Lawson does great justice about how brands must ‘deliver on expectations in moments that matter’. Then the pertinent question to digital marketers is:

• What is our customer's’ decision making journey?
• Why and how should we align our digital marketing strategies that will fall in place with the customer’s decision?

Let’s give a quick look at what our customer’s decision making journey looks like: Recognition → Familiarization → Consideration → Purchase
The idea is to avoid premature optimization in marketing. We don’t solve a non-existent problem, when it comes to engineering. But we identify a problem and build a solution around it. Similarly we must focus on the right things at the right stage when it comes to digital marketing.

Recognition.

If you think about building a business, your website would be a natural location to showcase everything about your business and product. And one way to build maximum awareness and recognition is by generating traffic to your website. So, your first objective would be to get, say, 100 visitors a day, and then, 1,000 visitors a week.
37Signals wrote an interesting post on how they built the buzz with their side projects. “It takes a lot to differentiate your brand in today’s “me too” world of electronic business solutions”, it says. And it is very important to engage in such projects that will ensure that traffic is headed your way -- consistently. How:

• Hang out where your audience hangs out and sign out with your website details -- answer relevant questions on Reddit, HackerNews, Quora etc., so that the audience learns of your expertise in the space.
• Use Call to Actions at different places on the site so that the visitors are engaged and are compelled to explore the website, rather than opt for an early exit.
• Invest in SEO efforts to drive organic search traffic to your website.
• Paid Search is one of the most effective ways of driving traffic to your website, but businesses must be able to justify the expenses while measuring the outcome. (Here’s a hack - you could experiment with a paid search channel like Google Adwords even before you build your product, if you have the budget. This works well as a research tool, to see if the product you are building has demand and will sell).

Familiarization.

Right, now that you have a 1.000 potential leads visiting your site, how do you familiarize them with your product? How do you ensure that they know what they have signed up for? Customers rely on their common sense of familiarity of choosing a familiar and known brand. How do you feature there? Simple - meaningful and engaging content.

Content Marketing found its origins in 1891. More than a century ago, August Oetker, the German inventor of baking powder - Backin, sold packages to households. What made Backin a familiar brand was the little recipes printed on the back of these packages. In 1911, he published his cookbook and over 100 years, it reached a global audience with about 19 million copies. That was the first example of content marketing.
It’s 2016, and that’s still pretty much how we could do it too along with the added advantage of using social media. With the right message and relevant content, across mediums, marketers should focus their attention on their target market.

Consideration.

The top of the mind problem for a brief time is signup conversion. So you move to the next stage, which is user engagement. Now, here’s the thing about brand consideration. In today’s digital world, consumers speak with brands as much as brands speak with consumers. In this two way communication, you would need to empower customers to explore your product, to play around the sandbox test site, to ask questions. How:

• Two way engagement with customers
• Test and prioritize objectives. Optimize CTAs. Here are some great posts on optimizing CTAs by HubSpot and CrazyEgg.
• Treat pricing as a filter. Change pricing to attract the right audience that you need.

Buying.

Now you are happy with user engagement, why aren't they converting into paying customers sooner? How:        

• Continue making tweaks -- tweak application onboarding process.
• Setup demo calls with prospects to understand their business requirements and make  suggestions on how your product can cater to them.
• Fix application onboarding with drip emails, simplifying documentation, product and measure time it takes for customers to go-live.

While you are at it, rinse and repeat what is already working for your business to bring in more traffic. With hundreds of such iterations you now have a pipe instead of a straw to convert visitors into customers. A positive user experience through all these bottlenecks will ensure that your customers who have now bought your product will spread positive word about not just your business, but your attention to detail to improve customer experience.

Truths About the Internet Marketing World

Wherever you look, you're inundated with advertising for varied merchandise and services from web marketers. you cannot scroll through Facebook while not seeing a poster for a few webinar that guarantees the key system to create six or seven figures with their signature providing. you would like to grow your business and make freedom therefore these offers square measure tempting.

 The scariest a part of the net selling world these days is all the cash that's being spent on coaches, courses and digital data merchandise that solely deliver promotion. it is a nice chance for on-line entrepreneurs to grow revenue however there square measure over a number of dangerous apples (as in any trade) that square measure symptom the name of the industry normally. Here square measure 5 arduous realities of the net selling world these days.

1. The sales copy is better, leading you to buy things you don't need.

Over the years, marketers have gotten better at finding your emotional triggers and creating copy that plays on those triggers. Don't misunderstand what I'm saying. I'm definitely not saying all marketers are shady or that writing to emotional triggers is always wrong. What I am saying is that the copy is designed to make you feel a certain way and take certain actions that will eventually lead to a sale.
When making a business decision, you have to keep your emotions out of the equation as much as possible. Look past the copy, and evaluate what the practical takeaways would be and how they would benefit where you are in your business right now. Look at the offer; study the testimonials; and examine the person, who is teaching, to make sure they know what they're talking about.

2. The premium content doesn't go deep enough.

Too much of the premium Internet marketing offerings are designed for one thing: to upsell you on the more advanced offering. You buy one thing, and you are constantly being upsold on something else. The content gives you advice, such as create good content, but it doesn't tell you what good content is, how to create it or the most effective ways to market the good content. To get those next steps, you have to join the exclusive next step.

If you are thinking about investing in information training, make sure the training goes as deep as you need it to. Don't be afraid to ask questions or talk to others who have taken the training. Make sure you are going to get the type of information and strategies you can use for implementation and growth.

3. You don't get the personal support you need to actually make progress.

One of the biggest downfalls of online based training is that you can't get your questions answered. There are a lot of courses that are simply a talking head video, and that's it.

When you start implementing and have questions, you don't have the option to get them answered. And, if there is a private group for the program, the marketer isn't usually too active in the group. Don't invest in training where you can't get your questions answered. And, you will have questions.

4. You are pushed to spend beyond what makes you comfortable.

A common upsell tactic in Internet marketing is when you are convinced that you don't care about your growth and personal development if you aren't willing to spend crazy amounts of money.

It's just not true. You can care about your personal development without going broke by buying a certain course, product or investing with a certain coach that you can't afford or whose training is way too advanced for you.

Yes, you want to push yourself out of your comfort zone, but only where it makes practical sense. You don't want to spend the rent money in the name of personal development and growth.

5. You already have the resources you need to grow on your own.

There is a wealth of free information through videos, podcasts and blogs that have the information and strategies that can help you grow. The reality is that we, as humans, consume too much information. You probably have more knowledge about a topic than you realize. Use what is avaiable for free. When you hit a wall, think about what investment makes sense to get you to the next level.
Before you spend money on a coach or a course, make sure you have thoroughly done your research. Make sure you are in a position to benefit from the training. There are many great investments that will be good for your business, but only after you reach a certain level. Don't be fooled by sales copy that makes it seem like you need to spend money right now. Know yourself, and know your business.

Guest Posting

It is great idea to connect with most of the prominent people in your own industry.So  when we consider it important then we would start thinging about the guest posting.Pay attention to the title, Steve. I said publishing, not posting.

Guest posting typically starts and ends with the aim of link building. It takes no time to degenerate into “wildly getting your content posted anywhere you can manage for a backlink” strategy.
What good is that?
When you say guest publishing, you are aiming to get your content (and by extension – your name and domain) plastered on some of the top ranking and highly revered online publications for your industry vertical. If you are a web developer, aim for Smashing Magazine. If you are an inbound marketer, shoot for Inbound.org, Unbounce, KissMetrics, and so on.

Getting featured on a well-known, niche-relevant blog/publication will place you as an industry insider/subject-matter expert in your target audience’s mind.
This gives a massive boost to your online reputation. This is the kind of content you can talk about at dinner parties (with other similarly-inclined guests, obviously).
A strategic link placed on your website to this post (once it’s published) will get you SEO points (link juice), and of course, a nice portion of audience as referral traffic.

Must Have SEO Optimizations You Can't Afford to Ignore

The technique of  Search Engine Optimization strategies have shifted dramatically throughout the years. Most marketers understand the need for allocating some of their budget towards new SEO tactics. Nonetheless, you need to invest in SEO because it gives you more targeted advertising, it is not as expensive as you think, and hey — your customers expect to find you when they search. With that in mind, here are nine SEO optimizations that you can not afford to ignore.

1. Anticipate the Intention

Contemporary SEO practices show that you no longer need an exact keyword match to provide a relevant search result. These days, search engines want to see how people are interacting with your website. Are they coming back for more? Is your site providing them with the right answers? In the past, SEO was focused on getting clicks. Today, it is revolved around post-click activity. Furthermore, you need to satisfy your searcher’s intent as well.

2. Deep Links Via Apps Are Growing in Importance

Mirroring a demographic shift toward mobile users accessing the Internet, Google has been indexing apps for several years. Google believes, as do many others, that apps will overtake traditional websites with regards to functionality and popularity. This is why deep links to apps are a growing trend.
They are essentially links within apps that point toward specific pages. Accordingly, you’ll start to hear the term “app optimization” more often. So, if you don’t have an app you should consider getting one ASAP. If you still want to wait it out, then at least get your business listed on as many other apps as you can.

3. Mobile Optimization Will Overcome Desktop Optimization

We’re all used to using the desktop for search. However, 2016 was the year that mobile searches finally outstripped desktop searches. This shift will not likely stop. Some analysts believe that the desktop will fade into obscurity within five years. In fact, Google even announced that a desktop-specific site is no longer necessary.

4. Page Speed Is Critical

One major ranking factor with website pages is speed. With mobile outpacing the desktop, who has time to wait for a page to load? Think of it this way: all else being equal, the site that loads faster will always outrank the slower page. Not to mention, a slow-loading page will waste your site’s crawl budget. Why? Because Google bots won’t stay on your page for longer than a specified time frame.
The slower your pages load means the fewer chances you have for them to get indexed by Google. Yet, there’s more. Page speed is essential for user experience. Instead of watching your rank drop faster than a hot potato, optimize your page load speeds today.

5. Digital Assistants Are Changing the Game

If you haven’t already noticed, an increasing number of queries are started by digital assistants such as Google Now, Siri, and Cortana. This makes search a bit more complex. To illustrate, spoken language queries are a bit different from typed queries. This means a new form of long-tail keyword queries that emulates spoken dialogue is coming into play. As a result, pages may rank higher if they have conversational content.

6. Google Values Content Marketing

If you want to provide value to your visitors, you need to invest in content marketing. Of course, you have to provide the solutions to the problems your followers are looking to solve. Just do a basic search for something you find interesting. Many articles on the first page are lists and how-tos. This is because they are the types of articles people want. You have to figure out exactly what your audience wants, and serve it up to them on a Google platter.

7. Social Content Will Gain More Relevance

Since Google already partners with Facebook and Twitter, you’ll find that if you search for a news item, a few tweets might appear in your mobile search results. In 2016, more networks will be more heavily indexed. This means that social posts will like carry more and more value. There will no longer be such a distinct separation of “web” and “social” media. So, by all means, post away.

8. Don’t Forget Local SEO

You just can’t forget local SEO. Since Google’s Pigeon update, local SEO has been imperative for every single business that wants to rank well. On mobile devices, 50 percent of desktop searches have local intent.

9. Optimize for Rich Answers

According to Stone Temple Consulting, Google returns “rich answers” to 35% of search queries. That’s a significant increase over the past few years. Many times rich answers are based on public data. For starters, you need high-quality, unique, proprietary content. This is because the rich answers Google uses often come with external data and a link to its source.
If your page is featured in a rich answer, you will certainly experience a spike in traffic. The good news is this can happen even if your site’s authority is not yet very high. An example of rich answers are Wikipedia snippets you find in your search queries. To get the same profile you would:
• Begin with longtail keyword research.
• Find the most commonly searched questions in your industry.
• Curate content that answers these questions. Include the question and direct answer.
• Provide additional information on the question at hand.
• Make sure your content can be found by Google bots, your social accounts and through your site’s navigation.

Conclusion 

The SEO landscape is constantly evolving. Make sure your website and your search marketing strategies evolve along with it.

The biggest Google ad updates are also the quietest

It is true that  advertisers have seen many big updates from Google over the past years, but some may think that the case that the most impactful updates may well have been the least publicized  it is true upto some extent .

Expanded text ads. The removal of right-rail ads and the addition of a fourth text ad at the top of desktop searches. Customer Match.
These are just a few of the “major” Google announcements made over the past year that caused big reactions across the search industry. Analysts, myself included, have been scrambling to report on how these updates are impacting brands and to come up with best practices in light of the results.
Analyzing the paid search landscape, however, I find that it’s often the silent, unannounced updates that have the largest impact on performance.

Of course, all paid search managers would love to think that the success or failure of their programs hinges on their hard work and brilliant strategies, but sometimes the most significant factors happen behind the scenes.
That’s not to say that there aren’t smarter ways than others to respond to these unannounced developments, and it can pay to be able to figure out they’re happening in the first place.
To illustrate my point, I’ll discuss a few recent updates that have received a lot of coverage and a few that are less well publicized, then explain how each update stands to impact performance.

How to Make Full Use of Twitter’s 140 Characters

1. Provide more context in replies

One vast advantage of this update is that the undeniable fact that user @names can now not count against your a hundred and forty characters. Now, whenever you begin a tweet back to a different user, you continue to have space to mention everything you needed to in your tweet, while not having to think about the length of their Twitter handle.

This unveil more room to supply extra details that antecedently could have taken one or two of tweets. for instance, if you’re responding to a client service question, you'll share your reply in a hundred and forty characters, however conjointly add a GIF voice communication “Thanks for reaching out” or a screencast video to any make a case for a way to fix their support issue.

2. Utilize visuals more often

Visuals area unit a good thanks to stand out on Twitter. Studies have shown that visual and media attachments on tweets area unit a giant consider boosting engagement and retweets. One study by Twitter found that photos average a thirty fifth boost in Retweets and videos get a twenty eighth boost:
However, until now, it’s been difficult to convey the message you’d like in your tweet text and conjointly embody a media attachment in a hundred and forty characters.
When these changes area unit unrolled, Twitter users are able to utilize the total a hundred and forty characters to share their copy and still embody media, while not infringing thereon limit. For marketers, this suggests a lot of chance to incorporate beautiful visuals, videos, product demos, and a lot of at intervals our tweets. For client support groups, it conjointly provides the possibility to share further content like screenshots and screencasts to assist customers with their support tickets.

3. No more need for the .@ to begin tweets

These changes bring associate degree finish to a long-standing Twitter peculiarity wherever tweets that began with usernames were visible solely to users UN agency followed each the person tweeting and therefore the person named. This cause several users starting conversations or tweets that mention alternative users with a ‘.’ before the @name, for example:
This quirk has invariably been slightly confusing for a few of Twitter’s users, each new and recent. And Jack Dorsey hopes this modification can facilitate to create Twitter a trifle easier to grasp: “Unfortunately those rules area unit hidden, so they verify later,” Dorsey same to The Verge. “So then they need to find out this weird syntax that sort of appearance janky. thus we would like to require that away initial and foremost to get rid of a number of the confusing aspects of the service.”

4. Quote yourself to share longer thoughts

It’s become fairly common to break up a tweet into a couple of sections to fully elaborate and share thoughts. However, with Twitter’s quote option, you can share two tweets that are intertwined and easy to follow – meaning users won’t have to scroll in the timeline of visit your profile to see the first part of your tweet. This gives you 280 characters to play with.

How does it work? Simply share your first tweet, and then quote that tweet and add the rest of your message in the 140 characters available to you in the second tweet.

5. Opportunity for better conversation

Twitter, at its heart, is all about conversation and connecting with others. One of the most important factors in this update is that we now have the opportunity for better conversation on the platform. With usernames not counting against character counts, we can fully embrace the 140 characters available to us to express ourselves.
Previously, having a conversation with two or more participants could become a little difficult as usernames could take up anywhere from 5-20+ characters, leaving little room to get your thoughts across.

Conclusion 
These were some of the suggestions that might be helpful but till there v can be others as well. 

Now Longer Tweets : All You Need to Know About Twitter’s 140 Character Update

Twitter has simply created an enormous modification to the approach tweets work.

From today, Twitter is cutting short on what styles of content can use its 140-character limit.

Now, @names in replies, media attachments (like photos, GIFs, videos, and polls) and quoted Tweets can now not be counted against the precious a hundred and forty characters that structure a tweet. this enables for richer public conversations that ar easier to follow on Twitter and ensures individuals will attach media to tweets while not sacrificing the characters they need to precise themselves.

Twitter initial proclaimed this update back in might however didn’t quite ensure a date once these changes would reach Twitter’s 300m+ users. However, nowadays the corporate confirmed the update has been unrolled.

What’s changed? Full details on Twitter’s 140 character update

This update has been much anticipated by many Twitter users and on their blog, Twitter shared the full details of what’s changed:

• Replies: When replying to a Tweet, @names will no longer count toward the 140-character count. This will make having conversations on Twitter easier and more straightforward, no more penny-pinching your words to ensure they reach the whole group.
• Media attachments: When you add attachments like photos, GIFs, videos, polls, or Quote Tweets, that media will no longer count as characters within your Tweet. More room for words!
• Retweet and Quote Tweet yourself: We’ll be enabling the Retweet button on your own Tweets, so you can easily Retweet or Quote Tweet yourself when you want to share a new reflection or feel like a really good one went unnoticed.
• Goodbye, .@: These changes will help simplify the rules around Tweets that start with a username. New Tweets that begin with a username will reach all your followers. (That means you’ll no longer have to use the ”.@” convention, which people currently use to broadcast Tweets broadly.) If you want a reply to be seen by all your followers, you will be able to Retweet it to signal that you intend for it to be viewed more broadly.

Instant messaging: An introduction to the future of communication

In recent event Mark Zuckerberg said “(Instant messaging) is going to be the next big platform for helping you connect with all kinds of services in new ways".

When you bear in mind this is a man World Health Organization spent the best half of $22bn shopping for WhatsApp, you'll be able to be pretty certain he’s about to be right. however wherever is instant electronic messaging heading and what will this mean for marketers?

For those of you that don’t recognize – I’ll assume you want to are treed on a desert island for the past few years – instant electronic messaging (IM) may be a catch-all name for a spread of various services that primarily give users with the chance to have interaction in time period communication.

Typically crystal rectifier by text spoken language, messengers usually additionally give a spread of extra practicality that varies wildly from supplier to supplier.

This additional practicality has, on some platforms, crystal rectifier to them being thought-about as full-blown social media networks, on a par with Facebook, Twitter and different platforms.

In 2015, mobile electronic messaging apps were employed by one.4bn shoppers and eMarketer predicts that, by 2018, the amount of chat app users worldwide can reach 2bn, representing eightieth of smartphone users worldwide.

In a shell, it’s solely a matter of your time before everybody and their granny, in much each country on the world, square measure exploitation IM.

It’s a promising begin, but kik has seen little uptake out of the United States and it’s still dwarfed by the progress of WhatsApp and Facebook courier for the instant a minimum of.

So who are the Big Players?

WhatsApp
Owned by Zuckerbeg & Co. and with over 1bn users, most of which are tech savvy millennials, WhatsApp is the clear front-runner in the IM community and the only truly global IM service with any significant uptake in all continents around the world.
Offering text chat, voice recording, media sharing, group broadcasts and a robust network, you would surely bet your house on this IM giant being the one to pave the way for the future of IM [insert smiley face emoticon].



Facebook Messenger
Formed from the online chat function of the social network, Facebook Messenger has made real inroads in the EMEA and US regions with over 800m users.
However it’s clear that with certain restrictions in places such as Asia, its move out of these two markets and into the APAC region will be a tough one to tackle.

WeChat
With 650m users, primarily in the APAC region, WeChat is, significantly, dominant in the Chinese market offering users the chance to chat in a ‘walkie talkie’ style conversation, as well as other typical features such as group chats and video calls.
WeChat is also a social network and an extendable transactional platform. It gives its users the opportunity to shop, talk to brands, order taxis (its ‘Didi Dache’ service is essentially China’s Uber) and read the news.
WeChat is also the only social platform 80% of Chinese millennials use every day.

Kik
With over 240m users, kik has its biggest presence in the US with an impressive 42% of US users being between 16-24 years old.
It’s a promising start, however kik has seen very little uptake out of the US and it’s still dwarfed by the progress of WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger for the moment at least.

Others?
Though there are some exceptions to this global picture – KakaoTalk is the most popular chat app in South Korea, for example, while Line dominates in Japan, Thailand and Taiwan – there’s no doubt that it’s Facebook that’s winning the race so far.
And before you say, “but what about Snapchat?!”, though this service is doing some serious business with teens in the UK and USA (over 40% use it), one a global level it’s still early days with only 7% market penetration.

The future of IM

With the landscape of IM changing and its scope reaching all aspects of the user's life, both personal and professional, it’s clear to see that IM offers real opportunities for businesses to get involved – but how will this play out?
Firstly, IM is not a place to advertise, it’s a place for marketing. It gives us a powerful new space for brands to change the way consumers think about retail and customer service.
The promise of IM is that if offers a near perfect form of personal, intimate, direct link between brands and customers.
Facebook Messenger has already started to make real inroads in expanding the capabilities of its own IM platform, recently announcing the introduction of so-called chatbots.

Similar (but arguably less advanced AI) has been prevalent in WeChat and other channels previously, but inclusion in Facebook Messenger is likely to see increased quality of functionality.
Chatbots will offer the ability for businesses to create bespoke responses based on natural language input.
As the use and complexity of chatbots expand, users will find themselves being able to order goods simply by messaging the brand – as users of WeChat are already doing – receive tailored news updates based around your interest and even control connected smart devices.
The future of commerce and customer service could well be a hybrid of IM as it steadily becomes our primary way to interact with companies, buy things, provide service and build loyalty.
As the big players (and the many smaller innovators) continue to expand and develop the platforms’ potential, it’s safe to say we’re only at the beginning of what looks to be a long and interesting road.

Know Top 10 Benefits Of Social Media Marketing

To some entrepreneurs, social media marketing is the “next big thing,” a temporary yet powerful fad that must be taken advantage of while it’s still in the spotlight. To others, it’s a buzzword with no practical advantages and a steep, complicated learning curve.

Because it appeared quickly, social media has developed a reputation by some for being a passing marketing interest, and therefore, an unprofitable one. The statistics, however, illustrate a different picture. According to Hubspot, 92% of marketers in 2014 claimed that social media marketing was important for their business, with 80% indicating their efforts increased traffic to their websites. And according to Social Media Examiner, 97% of marketers are currently participating in social media—but 85% of participants aren’t sure what social media tools are the best to use.
This demonstrates a huge potential for social media marketing to increase sales, but a lack of understanding on how to achieve those results. Here’s a look at just some of the ways social media marketing can improve your business:

1. Increased Brand Recognition. Every opportunity you have to syndicate your content and increase your visibility is valuable. Your social media networks are just new channels for your brand’s voice and content. This is important because it simultaneously makes you easier and more accessible for new customers, and makes you more familiar and recognizable for existing customers. For example, a frequent Twitter user could hear about your company for the first time only after stumbling upon it in a newsfeed. Or, an otherwise apathetic customer might become better acquainted with your brand after seeing your presence on multiple networks.

2. Improved brand loyalty. According to a report published by Texas Tech University, brands who engage on social media channels enjoy higher loyalty from their customers. The report concludes “Companies should take advantage of the tools social media gives them when it comes to connecting with their audience. A strategic and open social media plan could prove influential in morphing consumers into being brand loyal.” Another study published by Convince&Convert found that 53% of Americans who follow brands in social are more loyal to those brands.

3. More Opportunities to Convert. Every post you make on a social media platform is an opportunity for customers to convert. When you build a following, you’ll simultaneously have access to new customers, recent customers, and old customers, and you’ll be able to interact with all of them. Every blog post, image, video, or comment you share is a chance for someone to react, and every reaction could lead to a site visit, and eventually a conversion.

4. Higher conversion rates. Social media marketing results in higher conversion rates in a few distinct ways. Perhaps the most significant is its humanization element; the fact that brands become more humanized by interacting in social media channels. Social media is a place where brands can act like people do, and this is important because people like doing business with other people; not with companies.

The Building Blocks of Digital Transformation

Use new Info graphic as a checklist for planning digital transformation across your entire organisation

It is true that digital transformation is an incredibly complex undertaking, particularly in larger organisations. But given modern consumers' propensity to demand more from brands, it is not optional. Businesses have to become more adaptive and quicker to utilize the latest technology to improve the experience of their customers. If they don't then they'll rapidly find themselves disrupted by more agile competitors.
Too often companies recognize these trends but fail to transform successfully. They start a digital transformation process because they feel like they should, but do not integrate it across departments. Worse, they often focus on attempting to use new digital tactics whilst failing to actually develop a cohesive digital strategy.

This leaves a mesh-mash of different systems which can lead to massive headaches when they inevitably either leave gaps or clash. What is more, trying to focus on digital tactics without actually integrating them into an overall strategy means they'll usually fail to deliver actual business goals and instead leave marketers chasing vanity metrics like 'likes' or 'followers'.

The way to prevent this, is to start with setting business goals with specific SMART digital channel objectives and work down, rather than starting with tactics and working up. Once well thought out goals are set, you can set to work working out how you can break down silos between different components of your business by aligning them with these goals. Then comes developing a proper strategy. To do so you'll need to draw on planning methodologies like SOSTAC® and digital marketing models like the RACE framework. Not to be discounted are the traditional marketing models such as the 7Ps which will help to align digital and traditional channels into a single strategy.

When you have a proper strategy in place, you should consider how you can continue to improve by constantly measuring and optimizing. No battle plan ever survived contact with the enemy, and no good strategy lacks provisions for further tweaking based on evidence. So when planning your transformation process make sure to consider how you will gather data on the success of your efforts and crucially how you will then turn that data into insights and act on it. An analytic department that does nothing but report to suits at the top without anything ever being done as a result may as well not exist.
Only once all those building blocks are in place should you start to consider what tactics you will use. The info graphic provides a pallet of tactics you may want to draw upon, but which ones you chose to invest most in will depend on the nature of your organization. Use this info graphic as a checklist to make sure you have all the necessary aspects of digital transformation in place. Once you've started developing your strategy you'll want to download our free digital transformation briefing to further understand the pitfalls of digital transformation and how to avoid them or, if you are serious about making change happen in a larger business.