The Impact of Search Engine Optimization on Businesses

The competition in the business world is intensifying day by day. Having a website has become a necessity for businesses to have an online presence, as it also equips them with a competitive edge in the ever changing market. Investors have ventured into E-commerce, due to the intensifying competitiveness. Merely having a website is as good as having a designer wall paper. Without Search Engine Optimization, chances of your website getting lost in the clutter of millions of websites are high.

Search Engine Optimization is a process of enhancing the visibility of a website or a webpage to get evaluated and indexed by search engines, which in turn can help the website to generate leads for the business. Search Engine Optimization is a splendid medium for businesses, as it allows them to reach out to prospective customers, at a predetermined time.

Search Engine Marketing presents a lucrative growth opportunity to business. However, there are certain important considerations that the businesses should make. The World Wide Web is an ever-changing platform, frequent technical changes and trends are quiet common, this can effect various business decisions including, marketing budget, time, and effort required. In order to keep up with the advancements in the online marketing world, basic knowledge of SEO does not really help. Expert guidance in terms of Search engine optimization and marketing can boost the number of quality visitors, leading to increased conversion ratio.

One of the main concerns for a business that operates through an e-commerce website is to ensure that their business website is accessible among the target audience. It is proven that SEO and SEM services offer tremendous scope to a business to grow and expand. However, the main question among investors is -

How does search engine optimization impact a business?

The best way to deal with this question is to understand the advantages of SEO to businesses.

Search engine Optimization is the most cost-effective way of acquiring customers. No payment needs to be done to get your website indexed on the search engines. The cost of SEO is relatively fixed and not based on click volume, unlike paid-search which is in actual fact a variable cost.

Digital Branding and SEO:

Search Engines are the most effective medium for digital branding. There are millions of websites in the world, in order to get noticed, businesses strive to be unique. Search Engine Optimization provides business with an opportunity to reach out to world, and it also helps them maintain their online brand presence. According to a recent online survey, customers referred from search engine tend to come back, thereby increasing the number of repeat customers. Hence, SEO contributes to the customer lifetime revenues and in a way to the maintenance of the customer loyalty.

SEO is generally seen as a onetime investment, as once optimized a website tends to get visits from a regular fundamental set of visitors. After optimizing the website according to SEO, regular updating of contents can benefit in maintaining the popularity of the website.

Search Engine Optimization is not merely a method to gain customers, it is much more profound, as it plays pivotal role in maintaining the brand perception among the audience. There is much more to SEO than simply adding relevant keywords to web contents, hence SEO assists business in forming a dialogical relation between brand and customers.

Creative Edge, founded in 2011, is a SEO company in India. The company houses a team of digital marketing experts who strive to obtain the best results for clients. Creative-Edge specializes in Search Engine Optimization, Search Engine Marketing, Online Reputation Management, and Social Media.  Unlike other agencies, efficient client communication, commitment to perfection,  and effective result tracking methods have made Creative Edge the most sought after SEO company in Vadodara. 

5 Stealthy Ways to Find a New Job with Social Media

Searching for a new job while you’re still employed can be tricky — and almost two-thirds of employed individuals are open to looking for a new job. While you certainly want to leverage social media as much as possible, you don’t want to jeopardize your current job by making it obvious that you’re looking for a new position.

However, that doesn’t mean you should avoid social media during your job search. In fact, 54% of social media users employed Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter in their hunt for work in the last year, according to a recent infographic by Jobvite, and one in six found his last job through an online social network.

Here are five ways to show you’re a valuable professional (in order to make employers come to you) without telling everyone you’re on the hunt.

1. Raise Your Personal Visibility (Carefully)

Spruce up your existing networking profiles on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, among other networking sites. Build a strong resume by adding more content and information. Make sure each profile is as complete as possible — including key skills, experience and education — to ensure you show up in search results.

Build your networks on these sites and re-connect with people you’ve known for a while, such as your supervisor from your high school job or your mom’s cousin who works in your field. These people might be your “in” at one of your target companies — so keeping up those connections is important to your job search.

2. Don’t Broadcast Your Job Desires

Broadcast Your Job

One easy way to blow your cover is to put “Seeking a position as…” or “Looking for a new job in…” on your profile. This might seem obvious, but some job seekers think their current employer won’t see their profiles, so they share that they are job searching with their whole network. Instead of blatantly telling contacts that you’re on the job hunt, stay visible by logging in and participating on the site on a regular basis. You can show your expertise by sharing relevant content, joining and participating in industry groups and communities, and by keeping in touch with your network connections.

3. Understand Your Company’s Social Media Policy

The way you conduct yourself online has the potential to affect your current employers — and they’re fully aware of what goes on. Many employers now have a social media policy written out for current employees, so take a close look at the policy to ensure you’re not doing anything online that might result in disciplinary action.

​For example, Walmart wants its employees only to focus on customer service on social media tools such as Twitter. Here’s part of their social media policy: “Walmart wants to make sure its employees who are ‘official’ Twitter users for Walmart are identified as such, stick to customer replies, and focus on this alone. Walmart’s Twitter users should only talk about Walmart and not engage in unnecessary banter.”

4. Monitor Your Contact and Privacy Settings

On LinkedIn, you can choose several options in your contact settings, including “career opportunities” and “job inquiries.” It may raise a red flag for your current employer if you suddenly check off those options and display that you’re open to opportunities publicly. Many people also assume if you update your LinkedIn profile, you must be looking for a job. To avoid signaling a red flag to coworkers or your boss, update your profile actively even when you’re not looking for a job, or manage your settings and disable broadcasting your updates.

On a similar note, privacy settings on Facebook or Twitter might be important if you’re job searching on the stealth. If you plan on talking about it with friends or family online, you need to make sure that your current employer, clients or co-workers cannot see what you’re saying. (Not sure how to navigate the latest Facebook privacy settings?

5. Don’t Job Search at Work

Many employers monitor email, voicemail and web surfing. Bottom line: Don’t bring your job search into your current job. Not only will it be embarrassing if you get caught, but it can also be harmful to your job search if you’re using your work email or phone number. If you quit your current job (or get fired), employers won’t be able to get in touch with you with the contact information you’ve provided. It’s best to use your personal cellphone number and personal email address. You might also consider including these on your social media profiles if you originally signed up with work information.

Social media is an amazing resource for connecting with other people, sharing information, and learning about job opportunities. Although you might need to be a bit more careful if you’re job searching while still employed, the above tips can help you leverage these tools to land your next gig.

What do you think? How else can stealth job seekers show their expertise through social media?

 Social Media Job Listings

Every week we post a list of social media and web job opportunities. While we publish a huge range of job listings, we’ve selected some of the top social media job opportunities from the past two weeks to get you started. Happy hunting!

Source: http://mashable.com/2012/03/25/social-media-job-change/

 

 

 

Creativity; the only way to success

Creativity has always been the root for success; it is mother of all expertise and is the main source of creation. It is creativity of an institute or any functioning body which make it differ from other. The reason why I am trying to make the term ‘Creativity’ clear is because I want the reader to understand its vital role in creation of any functioning body and also help it stand aside and lead the market.

In the field of Marketing, Branding and advertising creativity has always played the key role. With the rapid growth of Internet marketing it has become more easy yet difficult for one to advertise, promote and Brand it. Easy is when you have to do nothing but just spending fortunes over Search engine marketing and promoting and branding your company (through services like Pay per click and lead generation), but it is difficult when you have to promote and brand your company online through Search engine optimization and social media networking, because here you have to use your creativity and your power of management.

Creativity is not something which is available online and one can just go and buy it through internet marketing, but it is something which is very difficult to get. To solve these problems of Brand promotion and marketing there are many Branding consultancy company all over the world, but among many Digital Branding Companies in India, Creative-Edge, whose main aim is Brand promotion through Digital media marketing, SEO, SEM and Social media networking with the help of creative ideas and thoughts which the company together with the help of staffs who are not only creative but also dedicated, plan and execute.

Today technology has enabled us to promote and market companies in different ways but it is Planning that counts, how and where to advertise, where to use your creativity is the main part of marketing strategies, one can achieve best results in least available technology if planning and timing is correct. Creative-Edge is one such firm which helps companies and institutes advertise and Brand their company name to the best with least available resource and minimal time.

Sources : http://www.creative-edge.in/

A structured guide to improving leads and sales from your website

Managing Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO)

 
You’d think Conversion Rate Optimisation would a “no-brainer”. You can get more leads/sales from your website without spending extra money on marketing for new visitors. Sold.  But it seems as if the jargon and complexities of analytics can get in the way of understanding approaches how to improve conversion rates.
To help demystify what’s involved with a structured approach to improving conversion, we’ve created a 6-step process, which is the foundation of all our client projects, dubbed Conversion Architecture. To help explain to non-specialists what’s involved in a typical conversion project, I’ll be sharing how we approach each step in a series of articles on Smart Insights.

In the first in this series, we’ll cover Step 1 – Analyse

Step 1 Analyse

This is probably where most people start to get a glazed look over their eyes and make a mental note to read the rest of this post when they have more time. But analysis can be fun, so read on!

Like trying to build a house without foundations, attempting CRO without first analyzing the current state of play in your business, your overall marketing strategy, your macro environment and, yes, your website performance, would be not just a red herring, but actually quite pointless.

Setting and reviewing your KPIs

Most companies will have KPIs in place for each marketing strand and for the business overall. In most cases, your digital KPIs will be probably come down to the commercials that need to be measured (how many sales/ leads/ subscriptions, profit value, Cost-per-sales/ lead/ subscription etc).
Most of you will have this information to hand, but print it out and stick it on your desk. This is now your ‘rules of the game’ – it tells you what numbers you have to play with when thinking of where/ how to spend your money, what you set your PPC limits to and so on.

Analysing your use setup of analytics and usage

The trouble with analytics is that many people don’t look past the first couple pages. The sheer amount of data contained in there puts most people off looking too deeply. So it starts to become a reporting tool, not a rich set of data that you can mine. To try to simplify, I’ll look at just 5 key areas of reports which should feature in your analysis.

The 5 key areas you must cover in your analysis

While I appreciate that many marketers don’t have the time to sit down and really study every bit of your analytics, there are 5 things that you should try and find the time to look at:

1. Set up and review your goals
2. Look at your traffic sources and then list them by goal conversion
3. Look at your top entry/ exit pages
4. Look at bounce rates on your top entry/ exit pages
5. Set up and study your goal funnels

If you’re pushed for time, taking 20 minutes a week to check these will give you enough ammunition to know where to focus your efforts. If you need help setting up goals and funnels then you can use this tutorial from Dave Chaffey to help you.

So, what are you looking for? At a top-level you’re trying to find what parts of your site work the best and what parts don’t work at all. For example, do more than 10% of people in your funnel drop out on a particular page? Are the bounce rates on your top landing pages over 40%? Do any of your pages have Exit rates over 20%? What traffic sources are performing well and which ones badly?

There is a load more you can learn from your analytics, but these are excellent starting points on the road to improved conversions.

For example, one of our clients (a major holiday company) was converting at just under 10% – not bad at all – but within a quarter hour of looking at their analytics we spotted a major flaw in their funnel, which caused over 60% of people to drop out. It took us another 2 hours to get it fixed and since then they have averaged 19% conversion rates. Two-and-a-bit hours to nearly double their online sales… that’s got to be worth anyone’s time.

Competitor research and analysis

This is another of those, “Sounds obvious, but don’t have the time to do it often,” tasks. Like analytics, try and put aside some regular time in your working week (or even month) to do a quick check.

All of your competitors are in the same boat as you. They will all be testing their online performance and trying to find ways of improving their site and marketing, so make use of their research and learn from them. Obviously, I’m not saying you should just rip off their content (that’s just lazy and plain wrong), but put on your ‘customer hat’ and ask, honestly, whether their design, messaging, layout or CTA’s would persuade you to convert more than your own do.

Perform some Google searches on your top keywords and follow the links to some of the sites that appear at the top. What can you learn from them (good and bad)? Ask yourself why they are taking that angle and if it would work for you if you were a customer.

Conclusion

This first phase in the Conversion Architecture process isn’t the most glamorous. In fact, crunching data and trawling your competitors’ sites probably isn’t fun at all. But, it will give you the basis for knowing (roughly) what you need to look at changing to improve your performance.

 Resource:   http://www.smartinsights.com/

Social Media Marketing – 5 Steps Bloggers Should Take To Achieve Results Easily

Social media marketing should be a part of your blogging activities, if you plan to see success in the long run. It doesn’t take one arm of marketing to earn a living, but multiple arms can yield greater results. Majority of blogger are into social media marketing, but only a few are seeing the results. We often wonder what’s going on around the blogosphere, when all efforts we put in proves abortive.
I’ve been there before; I know what it means to be on the downside where it seems as though time is being wasted.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. You can still get the full benefits of Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin if you persevere. Success often doesn’t come overnight, it takes sometime but the time of waiting is never a waste – at least when you’ve a clear direction.
I want to show you how you can easily multiply your success using social media marketing, even when your blog is pretty new. Everyone can succeed online, once the right steps are taken. I want to share the right steps, get ready to take action.

1. Define “Social”

You’ve to give that word a meaning. What do you think “social” means? Even a 10-year old knows the meaning. “Social” mans to network, to connect, and mingle with others who share the same feelings, taste and discipline like you.
You see, until you know why you’re there in the first place, you won’t get any tangible result from been there. I’ve read a lot of reports and articles that promise to make you thousands of dollars, from twitter.
How possible could it be?
Anyone can make money online, using social media networks as a marketing channel, but it’s not the way we’ve been spoon-fed. You need to know the reason why you’re there. You’re there to connect and share your expertise with others. Connecting is the first, selling is not the second, but the fourth.

2. Designate Tasks

Like I said above, you don’t sell immediately on social media networks. When you connect with someone, a lot of things could be moving in their minds at that point, your role is to channel their thoughts and bring it under control. How?
By designating tasks properly!
That sounds weird believe me, but I’m here to make it a lot fun. We are all here to teach and learn. The mind is able to accommodate 10s of ideas at a go, but only one unique idea has the ability to produce result. You’ve to gum the exact idea you want for your prospects, right inside their minds.
Present them with the right solution, in an interesting way. By approaching social media users this way, you would be seen as a care-taker who understands how tenants feel.

3. Dare To Ask

We all know that the right questions always produce the right answers. If you are not creative enough, why should you be nailed on the cross? There are alternatives to knowing the minds of your prospects and that is by asking questions.
But when you ask questions, ask open-ended questions. Give enough room for diversification.
An example of an open-ended question is: what is your favorite color?
A closed-ended question goes thus: Is blue your favorite color?
By making your questions open, your prospects can be able to supply the right answers without you forcing them or giving options. Dare to ask questions today – the right answer for your next product launch is around the corner.

4. Design a Product

Whenever someone gives you feedback of what they want, it becomes easier to package the right solutions for them. You asked a question above (open-ended), now is the right time to create a product.
You need a product to succeed as a social media marketer.
It’s going to be your channel of networking, connecting and problem solving. If you don’t have a problem, your prospects would perceive you as an average entrepreneur. People don’t buy from an average person; you need to be the best in your chosen niche before you can be trusted.

You can create a short report, software, a membership site and market it to your social media followers.  The conversion rate was awesome. Just make sure your report is superb, informative and interesting – you’ll sell and make more money guaranteed.

5. Discrete Tracking

You need to track your success-rate with social media marketing. Whatever effort you put into converting any fan into email subscriber, and eventually into a customer ought to be tracked. This helps you to know what’s working for you and what should be relegated to the bottom.

Discrete tracking makes use of different marketing channels to deliver the product. If you use article and video marketing to distribute your product, you should track to determine the campaign that works well.

Source: Michael Chibuzor is a Social Media examiner. He also writes about coupon blog that shares free discount deals. 

10 Easy Steps for Twitter Beginners

 

1. Set up your profile

The first thing you need to do is to set up that profile. See that bar on top of your twitter page? Click Settings and start filling up your profile. The notable areas in here are URL, bio, picture and design. Put up a link to your site or blog in here along with a brief description. Upload a picture to differentiate yourself from the others and then tweak your Twitter design. Like any other social networking site, it is important to completely express what you are or what you stand for in your profile. Example: http://www.twitter.com/icreativeedge

2. Follow people with similar interests

Now that you have a profile, start following people. You can find these people in Twitter directories. I use Twellow and JustTweetIt. These sites can introduce you to Twitter users that have the same interest as yours. Follow these people and observe their tweets. You may also try following who these people follow but read up their descriptions and visit their blogs to make sure you’re still on the right niche. Being on the right niche will make it easy for you to build a community with a similar interest.

3. Get into the conversation

So now that you are following people, you will now see some tweets on your board. Read up on what the people your following are up to and reply if it interests you. For example, a person narrates how he is going to conduct a meeting. You may then reply with ideas. When someone asks a question, don’t hesitate to answer if you know it. Don’t be afraid to interact.

4. Don’t spam

Spam is the cause of many unfollows on Twitter. There is a character limit for a reason. Do not send repeated messages to people. Do not constantly direct message (DM) them with links.

5. Update daily

Alright so you’re blending in the community. Now update daily if possible. I know some Twitter users who unfollow because of inactivity. Reply to people and update people with what’s going on with your life. Soon you’ll be recognized and you’ll get some follows.

6. Find the latest buzz and contribute

Now it’s your time to contribute. Find a topic that will interest your niche and tweet it. Since you have established relationships with your followers (through replies), you will get more attention. It’s a nice strategy to always append “please retweet” at the end of your tweet. There will be some people who will be so interested that they will retweet. There are others who will reply to you about the link you tweeted. But you are not a “nobody” anymore. You are not just talking to yourself. People are now responding to your tweets.

7. Help other people out

The famous saying “Do unto others what you want others to do unto you” holds here. Before you can receive retweets, you must help others first by retweeting their messages. Help the people in your niche. One day you’ll be surprised on how eager they are to help you back.

8. Create relationships

Now it’s time to create constant connections. Soon you will find that some users are more active than others. You will get to talk with the same group of people at the same time every night. But don’t get bored. Interact with these people and create relationships. Ask how they are doing and try to touch on their interests.

9. Integrate Twitter with other social networks

Have a blog? Then post to Twitter when you have a post that will interest your niche. Have a Facebook profile? Then ask people to add you. Twitter is really a vital part of web 2.0. It can serve as the core. It can let you build relationships that can branch out to other social networks.

10. Establish relationships even outside Twitter

Have a lot of friends on Twitter? Then take it to another level. Ask for their messenger and talk to these people on a more intimate level. Call them through Skype or even arrange a meet-up. Twitter can create real relationships.

Congratulations! You are now an official member of the Twitter community. You talk, act, think and breathe like us. Perhaps you find yourself spending every five minutes updating Twitter on what you are doing. But I guess I’ll save Twitter addiction for next time.

For more information visit our website: http://www.creative-edge.in 

7 Ways to Improve Your Event Planning With Facebook

      The Facebook Marketing Series is supported by Buddy Media. Now that Facebook will no longer allow your brand to hide comments from your followers, knowing the right strategies for moderating is paramount. Download our guide to Facebook publishing and moderation now.

      From professional event producers to volunteer committee members, event planners see Facebook as must-have tool in their belts. How can Facebook give a boost to your next event? 

      We spoke with a few experts on using the world’s largest social network for event planning. Read on for their pro tips and let us know how you use Facebook for your events in the comments below.

1. Get Inspired

Looking for some creative inspiration? Facebook to the rescue. Adrianne Mellen Ramstack, owner and principle planner at Adrianne Elizabeth LLC, uses Facebook to discover new, innovative ideas.

“I use Facebook a lot for inspiration,” she says, “I ‘Like’ The Knot, Real Simple, Rose Bredl Flowers, La Jeune Mariee and Big Rock Little Rooster (to name a few) to stay up on inspiration and new trends in wedding and event planning.”

2. Stay Connected

During the event planning process, organizers often need to share updates with the planning committee. A “closed” or “secret” Facebook Group can be more collaborative and interactive than countless emails going back and forth. As the event organizer, use this space to share event updates, solicit input or delegate tasks to volunteers. Selling tickets? Ask group members to share what approach they’ve found most successful. Looking for sponsors? Throw it out to the group to see if someone can facilitate an introduction.

Groups can also help attendees connect with each other in advance. For example, NASA hosts #NASATweetUps to offer a behind-the-scenes experience to @NASA followers. A closed Facebook group connects attendees leading up to the events. According to the group description for the STS-135 tweetup, members “discuss travel plans, organize group housing, and generally GEEK OUT about the amazing opportunity they have been given.”

Remco Timmermans, who attended the STS-135 tweetup found the Facebook group to be a helpful resource. He appreciated the direct interaction with participants and the helpful resources housed within the group, such as lists of hotels. The private group provided a forum for attendees to reminisce and relive the excitement by sharing post-event photos and videos.

3. Scope Out Vendors

Vendor selection is critical to the success of any event, so as you’re researching caterers, photographers or entertainment, take a peak at their Facebook pages to read feedback from previous customers. If you notice negative feedback from unsatisfied customers, think twice before hiring that company for your event.

4. Increase Attendance

According to recent Eventbrite data, 10% of those purchasing tickets through Eventbrite share the event on Facebook. Including social sharing options at the point of purchase is helpful, however, event planners may find more value by following Eventbrite’s step-by-step guide to creating a Facebook event that syncs up with Eventbrite’s ticket-selling platform. Friends and contacts can view event details on Facebook and then register by clicking on the event link, which takes them back to the original Eventbrite page.

In addition, developing exclusive offers for Facebook communities can spark new sales. According to Ramstack, the Central Ohio Capital Area Humane Society has generated additional ticket sales for its upcoming fundrasier by offering a Facebook-only discount. Tickets, normally $80, are available to Facebook “likers” for $60.

5. Recognize Sponsors

Kelly O’Donoghue, an event planner in Tampa, FL, suggested offering Facebook recognition as an additional perk for sponsors. A few ideas:

Create an album to feature sponsor logos

Tag status updates to show appreciation to sponsors and help them expand their Facebook community

Invite sponsors to write a “guest note” on the organization’s Facebook page

Post a video interview about why sponsors support the event

Share sponsors’ relevant updates/news on the organization’s Facebook page

6. Share Real-Time Updates

During the event, don’t forget to continue to offer as-it-happens updates through a brand or organization’s Facebook page. Bringing the event to Facebook can help create additional interest in the event (and future ones). Posting photos, sharing video clips and livestreaming are a few opportunities to spark interaction with your Facebook community.

7. Post-Event Follow-Up

After the event, use Facebook to increase online engagement. Provide an event recap with photos and video. Thank people for participating, collect feedback by posting “Questions” or a survey link, and invite them to stay connected by subscribing to the company’s blog or e-newsletter.

Now, let’s hear from you. What other ways can Facebook help event planners?