Internet Marketing Blog

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If there is one thing that every single company needs to focus on these days, no matter which industry they operate in, it has to be cybersecurity. The majority of businesses now handle a lot of private and sensitive data, most of which has come directly from their customers, and suffering a security breach could put them in a lot of hot water. Their reputation could end up in tatters and hardly anyone will want to deal with you again.

In order to improve your company’s cybersecurity, you need to make sure that you aren’t making it too easy for cyber criminals to access your business data. Here are the common pitfalls that some businesses fall into.

Your Network Wasn’t Secure Enough In The First Place

When you set up a new computer network, usually upon the launch of a new company, you need to make sure that it is set up as securely as possible. This will give you a good foundation for your cybersecurity. It’s worth getting in touch with an IT firm, such as F1 Networks who can help you set up the network and secure it right from day one. Most of these kinds of firms will also offer ongoing cybersecurity support if you ever need it.

You Don’t Update Your Antivirus Software

One of the best things you can do to secure your computer network is to install some antivirus software. This should block any viruses that try to attack your network and computers. However, you can’t just install this and then forget about it; it’s important that you keep your software regularly up to date. This will ensure that it is using the latest forms of encryption and other security resources to protect your computer. Viruses are always developing and becoming a lot more sophisticated and it’s really important that you do all that you can to stay one step ahead.

Employees Haven’t Received Sufficient Training

If your employees aren’t too sure how to use certain computer programs or software, they could very quickly put your company at risk of a data breach. The best way around this is to offer all of your workers plenty of training in tech and IT. It’s also important that you brief them in up-to-date cybersecurity processes as well, so that they aren’t making themselves a risk. Ideally, you need to offer them this kind of training at least once every six months to ensure that their knowledge never slips.

Password Management Isn’t Up To Scratch

There are lots of businesses who are guilty of creating public passwords for their whole team of employees and storing them in public. This isn’t a good idea as they could quickly fall into the hands of the wrong person. Make sure you improve your password management so that only authorized people have access to your network and the sensitive data held within.

As long as you don’t make any of these mistakes, you shouldn’t have to worry about cyber criminals getting hold of your data.

When you finally take the plunge and turn your hobby blog into a full-time career, you will notice that working as a professional blogger is a completely different kettle of fish than doing it in your spare time. Your blog will instantly become a business, and it is imperative that you treat it as such. That means you are going to have to think carefully about your budget as you will need plenty of capital to now invest in your blog so that you can take it to the next level. But all that money isn’t going to be the only thing that will help you handle your blog as a new business. You also need plenty of resources as well.

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There are many different resources and sources of support that all companies will need to ensure that they can trade as smoothly as possible. However, bloggers might need slightly different tools than your traditional corporate company, as you will be operating so differently.

Here are a few examples of the types of useful resources that all pro bloggers need.

A Reliable Hosting Service

First of all, you need to make sure that you are using a reliable hosting service. This is the platform that you use to publish your website with. Most people tend to go with WordPress or Squarespace. These kinds of hosting services will give you the chance to design your blog so it looks exactly how you want it. You should also be able to monetize the site quite easily, as bost hosting services will give you the chance to add an ecommerce platform. When you are trying to decide which hosting service to go for, try to find one that offers unbeatable security so that you don’t have to worry about losing any sensitive data in a data breach.

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An Online Editor

Once your blog becomes a business, you will need to be a lot stricter with your publishing schedule. You will need to regularly post new blog posts and other kinds of content so that your readers don’t get bored and start following a different blogger. This can mean that you have a lot to do each and every day. In fact, you might have so much to do that you have hardly any time to reread your posts and check them for errors. Of course, this isn’t going to be good for you as it means that posts are a lot more likely to be uploaded with errors in them. So, you might want to start using an online editor like Grammarly. You simply copy and paste your whole editor into Grammarly, and it flags any spelling or grammar errors that you need to correct.

A Transcription Service

These days, more and more bloggers are interviewing subjects to write blog posts about them. Lots of professional bloggers find that these interview-style posts really appeal to their audience, especially if they chat to people who are relevant to their readership. There’s just one problem with carrying out interviews – transcribing everything that was said afterwards can take up a lot of your time! Thankfully, though, you can always use a service like Take Note to do the transcribing for you. You’ll also find a lot of freelancers who can take care of your transcription needs for you. Then you can spend more time writing up a great post about the interview once you have the completed transcription.

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A Way To Hire Freelancers

Once you start running your own blogging business, you might find that there is just too much for you to do on your own every day. If you do try to take on everything that needs to be done then you might end up working extremely long days and edging closer to burning out. Obviously, that isn’t very good at all! There’s one way around it, though – you just need to start outsourcing some tasks to other freelancers. For example, you might want to hire a couple of writers to help you keep up to date with your publishing schedule. It’s also a good idea to hire some freelancers who have some expertise in business areas that you aren’t too familiar with. An accountant will come in very handy when it’s time to file your annual tax return, and you might want to look for a marketing expert to help you boost your blog’s reach.

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A Professional Network

Lots of bloggers make friends with other bloggers, both in their local area and online. Once you start to take your blog seriously, you can start to call this network of other bloggers your professional network. These are the people who will know exactly the kinds of issues and problems that you will face on a regular business as a full-time blogger. So, they will be by far the best people to reach out to when you need some guidance or advice. If you don’t know any other bloggers at the minute, it’s worth doing a Google search to see who else is covering the same kinds of topic as you in the blogosphere. Why not send them a quick message to reach out and introduce yourself?

A Source Of Stock Photos

You will need to make your blog posts as bright and inviting as possible, and that is possible with plenty of photography. Don’t worry, though, you don’t have to hire an expensive photographer. As long as you know a top-quality website for stock photos, then you will be able to find plenty of great photos that you can use free of charge.

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An Email Marketing Service

Every good blogger knows that they need to encourage loyal readers and new followers to keep on returning to their website. One way is to set up an email marketing newsletter. Your followers will be able to sign up and you can then send out emails to notify them about any new posts that you publish. Many bloggers find that these kinds of emails help them to increase their readership too.

Good luck with the new blogging business!

Have you found that your customers are leaving you to go to your competitors – or they’ve simply not returned, and you can only assume that that’s where they have gone? You might think that this is through no fault of your own, but the truth is, if you were to examine your actions, it very likely is something you’re doing, or rather not doing, that is the issue.

Below are just some of the reasons your customers might be leaving you for your competitors. Take them on board and see what you can change to create a better customer experience:

Your Website Doesn’t Look As Professional

Your website is your 24/7 storefront, and one of the most important things about your business. If it doesn’t look as good as your competitors, it doesn’t really matter how much better what you’re offering is; they’re going to go to them. Whether you have a strange lay out, a slow loading site, or they can’t find the information they want quickly and easily, they are going to go elsewhere. Maybe bad product pictures are to blame, or something entirely different. Whatever it is, have a critical eye look over your site to help.

You’re Not Asking For Feedback

Asking your customers for feedback may make your ego feel a little bruised, but it’s important. You don’t have to change every single thing that they say, but if something crops up on a few occasions, it is definitely worth a look. Your customers are the most important group of people to your business, so show them that you listen to them.

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You’re Not Treating Your Customers The Way You Should

Customer service is so important in this day and age, especially since a bad experience can be put on the internet and spread for all to see. Customer relationship management software is a wonderful choice to help you stay on top of the game and keep your customers happy. You want to make sure you’re nurturing relationships in the long run, too, and not just giving them a good experience when they buy.

You’re Not Gathering Enough Data

Gathering data on your customers and people who visit your site is imperative for improving. You want to know how they are browsing and shopping so you can make improvements.

There Are No Incentives

Incentives to shop with you can be great and keep people coming back. Can you introduce freebies, discounts, or loyalty cards? Find a way to make your audience feel special and want to come back again and again.

Your Social Media Marketing Is Weak

You can’t get away from how important social media marketing is in this day and age. If you have a strong online presence, you’re going to look far more attractive than a competitor that doesn’t have one. Are you putting in enough effort on social channels?

Lack Of Innovation

Finally; a lack of innovation could be your downfall. If you’re falling behind, your competitors will be the innovators and you’ll be left in their wake.

Running your own online business can be tough. There’s no one telling you what to do or letting you know when things could be better. There’s no office full of people to brainstorm with, and no one else to take the blame when things fail. There is, however, an awful lot of competition and the world of online business is ever changing. New advancements, new SEO strategies, new plugins and social media platforms are popping up all of the time. Meaning you can never settle. You never have time to take a break or relax. There are always ways for your business to improve and unfortunately, if you don’t keep up and do what you can to boost your online business and implement new ideas and techniques, you will very quickly fall behind.

So, what can you do to boost your online business without spending a small fortune on expensive marketing teams, designers, market research professionals and staff? Here are some ideas to help.

Prioritize and Look at Your Goals

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When I say, there’s no one to tell you if things aren’t going well, that’s not exactly true. Your analytics will give you a pretty good idea of what parts of your business are moving in the right direction, and which areas aren’t working. You’ll quickly be able to see who’s looking at your website and when. You’ll be able to see where your traffic is coming from, how long it’s staying on your site and what it’s clicking. Your sales and conversion rates are also useful.

When it comes to boosting your business taking an in-depth look at your website analytics is essential. Look at what is working and what isn’t. Then, focus on what’s not working. Is it worth your efforts? If you spend days redesigning specific pages or elements, would it really boost your business? Or would you be better off letting them go?

If you currently get no traffic from your Pinterest profile, is it worth putting hours into it? Is that really where your target audience spends their time? Or would improving your SEO and spending more time on Facebook help? Rent an office from Level Office Circle Tower and take some time to analyze your website properly. Then, set yourself goals and prioritize where you need to focus. Remember to reevaluate every three months or so to reassess how things are working. You can always make changes.

Ask for Help

One of the great things about online business is that it’s easy to connect with your audience. If you want to give things a boost, there’s no better way to find out what it needs to improve than asking your audience. You can use social media poles, emails, surveys or just conversations to find out what your audience want and need from you. Then, take the time to find ways to give them what they want.

Add Video

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It’s thought that by 2021 video will make up 82 percent of the internet. So, if you don’t already use video, you are falling behind. There are many ways to use video online. You could host a YouTube channel with advice and tutorials. You could add videos to your sales pages to show how products work or offer advice on using your services. You could add videos to other informative content on blog posts, or you could shoot social media stories to show a more behind the scenes and personal side of your business. Take a look at other ways to start using videos online and get started.

You don’t want your logistics to fail. It’s such a vital part of your business, and it’s one of the ways that you can maintain customer popularity. Because the whole chain of the purchasing and delivery process can be affected if your logistics isn’t working right. If you have a delay in delivery, which is where most companies fail logistically. But the thing is, so many parts of the logistical process are outsourced, so it is obviously hard to manage the outcome of certain parts, if you’re not the one managing it. That’s not to say you shouldn’t be doing it, we just think there are some things that you could be changing to make the whole process run a lot more smoothly, so have a read on to find out more.

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 Rely On Technology

Every business should rely on technology, it can often do so much more than we can do. Thankfully, one of the areas that technology has improved massively, is the logistics of business. It has now become so much easier to track and organise items that you might be delivering or shopping, if you rely on technology that is. It has now become so important that a company uses fleet management and logistics management software, that there are now one’s for industry specific purposes. For example, Sertica is a software specific to fleet management and document maintenance on board fleets, which should make things easier to track., This is definitely something a lot of companies are crying out for. You just have to know what bits of software you would be able to utilise.

What Can You Move In House

Like we’ve said, if you’re managing everything in house, then it’s hard to keep things in your control. Even with things such as technology, you are putting your business at risk of malfunction. But that’s just a warning, because even when you’re managing things yourself, it can go wrong. However, if you feel like too many things are going wrong with a company you’re outsourcing to, consider whether you can manage it in house. It might just mean hiring another employee, or it might be a task you feel like you can do. Or, there’s always the option of playing around with the companies that you use, and then finding one that you can build a connection with.

Streamlining The Process

Streamlining the process shouldn’t be too hard. You just need to make sure one task flows from one stage, to the next, and you take out any external factors that could disrupt this. One that really can put a spanner in the works, is the customers ordering from you. They can switch and change things that can create delays. Have a strict policy of the order being final after payment, and you might find that you save yourself time and money. The same goes with anything else that you might be getting held back with. Take out the distraction, and you will find that your business has success.

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Texting is commonplace in our societies these days, and we use it more than any other form of communication because it is fast and convenient for us to use. You may have heard of businesses using text for their audience, and you may have wondered whether you can do the same thing yourself. The main question we ask ourselves is whether or not it is professional to text our customers.

Who are you texting?

Texting within your business or outside it will be acceptable depending on the recipient of the text. For example, a texting service such as http://www.plivo.com/sms-api/ can be brilliant for sending out information and offers to your customers, and this is completely professional for you to do. However, if you want to text your superior in the workplace, this is not professional at all. It is a case of deciding who your recipient is and playing it safe.

What time is it?

It is incredibly important that you take care of the time that you send a text to your coworkers or colleagues. If you send out a text which is to do with business after working hours, this will not be well received by your colleague and is not an appropriate thing to do. If you want to send a message for someone to see the next time they are at work, send an email to their work address. When it comes to customers, you are free to send your texts at any time, however early evening is likely the best time.
Is it urgent?

The general rule of thumb within the workplace is that you should always use an e-mail to communicate between yourselves because this allows all interactions to be kept and recorded for later use. Texting should only really be used if you are out of the office and need to send a quick update, or if the matter is too urgent to write an email. People are more likely to read a text so texting is better in an urgent situation.

Is your competition doing it?

One of the things you may not have already thought about is whether or not your competitors are using text messages to communicate with their customers. If you find out that they are doing this, you may want to invest in a service yourself. There are many different ways you can use texting for business, and here are some of the things you can send: https://www.textmagic.com/blog/text-message-templates-for-businesses/. Texting your audience is a great way to stay in touch and make sure that you stay on their mind throughout the year. Take the time to come up with exclusive offers and messages to send and you will likely get a great response from it.

Texting is professional as long as you use it for the right thing, at the right time and to the right person. Texting is a part of modern life, and because of this we should embrace it and use it to out advantage, both personally and for business.

With a growing number of ways to market your business, there seems to be a bit of a debate over using traditional marketing for your business (offline marketing) or going down the online route as you could capture a new audience. So to know which may be better for your business, it is a good idea to have a greater understanding of each of them. So this article is aiming to give you a clearer understanding of each type of marketing, and the pros and cons. Then you can weigh up what will work better for you and your business.

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Offline Marketing

Marketing your business offline is a way to market your business and attract new customers using only methods like radio, print, magazines, television, and posters. If you have been in business for a while, or are only used to offline marketing, then it can be easy to see the positives of it.

Take print advertising, for example. This is one of the most traditional forms of advertising and marketing your business and getting new customers. You can use your budget to target newspapers and magazines on a national scale if needed, as well as sticking to things like posters and flyers if your business is one that is more aimed at people locally. It can be expensive to advertise in print, and you can’t be too specific with who will read your ad, but with the right publications, it can be a way to see a return on your investment.

As a result of getting a few customers, you can then target them through direct mail if you have their information. This allows you to send out something specific to them, such as a birthday discount or the latest offers on the products similar to what they have already bought. While this can be a good thing and uptake is often high, it can be seen as a little bit spammy, and it won’t work for all business types.

Traditional networking is something that you can’t go too far wrong with, and it is another form of offline marketing. Talking to people, those in the industry at trade show exhibits or to potential customers on the streets, can be a good way for people to see the face behind the brand and learn more about what you offer. You can make yourself memorable in the right way, and then it could lead to other opportunities and collaborations. Having business cards to give away is a great idea too. Things that will get your name out there is key.

So as you can see, there are good things about all of these. You just need to see how effective it could be for the type of business that you have and what you need to do to see your business grow.

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Online Marketing

Because of the way that the world has shifted online, it is only natural that the way we do business and market our business has shifted as well. But what specifically is online marketing?

It can be anything from simply having a website, to blogging and working with bloggers, to using paid search engine ads, as well as looking to build your SEO and using social media. So to start with, getting yourself a website is a good way to go, along with some social media channels. If they are used regularly, then it can be a good way to market and grow your business, as you could be reaching a whole new group of people.

One of the benefits of online marketing is the specificity of the people that you will be marketing to. With a newspaper or magazine ad, you can have a rough idea about who the ad will go to. Certain demographics will read certain things; but you can’t be sure. The thing is, when you work with bloggers on campaigns, they can let you know the specifics of who reads their articles as they will have the data from their web host or Google Analytics.

Likewise, if you want to use social media for advertising, then you can also be pretty specific about who your ads get targeted to. If your business is related to weddings, you can aim your ads at engaged females, that are aged between 25 and 45 and who live in a certain state; it can be that specific! So if you want to know what you’re getting more bang for your buck, then that could be a good way for you to go.

Though it can take some legwork, in many ways, you can do your online marketing yourself. You log into your social media accounts and create the ads, or you write a blog as part of your website, making sure to link back to previous posts. So if you’re on a tight budget or a pretty small startup, then online is a way to get marketing your business cheaply, at least at first. If you’re stuck for time, though, then it can be easier to pass it over to a marketing agency to run it for you, or to use offline methods. But again, this isn’t going to be great if you’re on a budget.

While offline marketing allows you to target nationwide, it doesn’t really allow for a global reach. However, with online marketing, you can quite easily reach a global audience through the blog articles that you post or the social media accounts that you have. So have a think about what you want to do with your business and go from there. For many businesses, a bit of both is what is going to work well for you. Because although getting new customers is great, you will also want to keep old customers or get more local ones. Some businesses can thrive doing just one form of marketing. So decide on your aims and then allow your marketing to do its thing.

Good luck as you decide what direction your marketing journey will take you.

Seth Godin, a former dot com business executive and an author, said that these days we are able to turn strangers into friends, then those friends into customers, and those customers into salespeople.

And he’s right! It’s easy to turn strangers into your own friends. And if you promote your website on social media, you’re able to turn friends into paying customers. Furthermore, it’s also easy to turn customers into salespeople: just put a discount code in front of them and tell them it works only if it gathers a certain number of likes.

Over the last decade, there have been numerous social media platforms that have basically taken over the world and our lives. These social networks have reached an astounding audience, like no other form of communication before. And this is the reason why it’s important to the industry of eCommerce to collaborate with the social media platforms.

Thanks to the introduction of social commerce, your friends can become your customers on pretty much any social media platform, without having to visit your website. And that’s what makes social media so valuable to eCommerce.

The ability to purchase any product from a third-party company within the social media experience is what we define as social commerce nowadays.

Thanks to the ever-evolving strides of technology and our increased use of both smartphones and social networks, the wide world of online shopping has been changing and turning a lot more social.

According to a recent survey, approximately three out of four shoppers have been relying on social media to guide their purchasing decision. As a result, it’s quite clear that sellers need to go with whatever platform their customers are using, instead of trying to get them to leave the platform and visit a website.

We’re all seeing that social commerce is a market that has been on the rise and encompasses plenty of options. Shoppers can make group purchases, they can do this via mobile apps, there’s the option of social shopping and shopping that is integrated into social media platforms. Even retailers can add their own social features.

So it’s extremely important for sellers to be active on the big social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter. And it’s also important for the existing eCommerce giants like eBay and Amazon to collaborate with the said platforms in order to improve the entire shopping experience.