There is a myriad of internet marketing tools that can assist websites in growing their traffic, brand awareness, and conversion rates. One of the best internet marketing techniques is Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), where the goal is to optimise your website for Search Engines, both on-page and off-page, to boost your organic search results listings. While SEO has proved to be very effective, it takes a decent level of knowledge, time, and money to see fruition.

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

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

Measurable Results

Among the top advantages of PPC advertising is the opportunity to assess and track your results in real-time. Whether or not you set your daily budget to $5 or $50, there are a wide range of high level performance indicators that can be measured, including impressions, clicks, cost-per-click, conversions, and ROI among others. These metrics allows website owners to immediately assess the success of their campaigns and quickly make alterations where necessary to boost performance. As opposed to other advertising avenues, PPC grants you the freedom to customise and track metrics in every campaign and monitor success according to your advertising targets.

Fast Entry

PPC makes it possible for any kind of company to set up their advertising efforts quickly and easily, without creating too much risk with the ability to establish a maximum daily budget. Although SEO is a very beneficial strategy, it normally takes many months to see results so if you’re a new firm that wishes to enhance traffic and brand awareness immediately, PPC is ideal for you. Designing ad campaigns is all done from the PPC platform, allowing websites to cast a wide net to gain new leads and customers by promoting ads at the top of SERP listings.

Highly Targeted Traffic

PPC advertising enables you to customise your campaigns so they only display to highly targeted customers. Google AdWords enables you to target customers according to keywords, location, interests, and the times and days you would like to display them, empowering websites to spend their advertising budget only on their niche audience. Websites can then evaluate the metrics that were used in conversions and strengthen their future campaigns based upon this feedback. Advertisers generally take a multi-layered approach initially and narrow down the specific metrics of a campaign that works best for their particular target audience.

Valuable Data

Having the capacity to export the results of an ad campaign and assess certain metrics provides websites with invaluable data which can be used in other marketing methods. Along with this, websites can rapidly learn about impression, click, and conversion data for each keyword or phrase used in their ad campaigns which strongly helps in their SEO efforts. PPC also allows websites to find data about their competitors by utilising third party tools such as SpyFy and KeywordSpy, enabling them to construct a profile of their competitors and what market share is accessible.

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

If you need any support in setting up your PPC ad campaigns, get in contact with Internet Marketing Experts Perth on 1300 595 013, or visit our website for further information: http://www.internetmarketingexpertsperth.com.au

In today’s saturated environment of internet marketing, there’s no question that content is king. Content is everywhere we look and individuals love consuming it! It should come as no surprise that content is at the heart of almost all marketing techniques, with somewhere around 94% of small companies centralising their efforts on content marketing. Having said that, with so many businesses now directing their marketing efforts on content, it’s becoming extremely challenging to stand out from the crowd and make your content marketing stimulating and effective.

Have you tried content marketing only to find that you’re not getting the desired outcomes? Well, you’re quite likely one of many companies that are in the same boat. Don’t lose faith though, there’s no doubt that content marketing is among the most helpful ways of growing your customer base. So, here are four reasons why your content marketing might not be working and most importantly, how you can fix them!

1. You don’t have a strategy

Just like any investment, if you don’t have a strategy and established KPIs to assess results, how can you possibly improve? Uploading blogs and sending tweets are great, but if you don’t have any objectives then you’re merely aiming in the dark. To craft meaningful content that readers will engage with, you need to have a clearly-defined strategy that should align with your business objectives.

Whether you wish to grow brand awareness, website traffic, or conversion rates, your strategy should include KPIs along with short-term and long-term goals. These marketing goals should complement your business goals so you have a clear understanding of your target audience, the purpose of your content, and the kind of content that will work best for you.

2. Your content is not distinct

With the enormous amount of online companies these days, it’s crucial that your content is distinguishable from others. Too many businesses will generate content without analysing the competition and consequently develop content that simply gets lost in the crowd. Your content should be captivating, enjoyable, and most importantly, offer value to viewers by presenting solutions to prevalent pain-points in your niche. Along with this, different kinds of content suit different communication methods, so contemplate the best ways you can do this, either through video, infographics, diagrams, or even just thought-provoking or entertaining text.

3. You don’t advertise your content

One of the greatest errors that small businesses make with their content marketing is that they don’t actually market it! Even if you’ve produced the most ground-breaking article the world has ever seen, who will see it if they don’t know it exists? To flourish with your content marketing, it’s paramount that you promote your content through all available means, including:

Social media (Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Reddit).

Email newsletters.

Adding internal links to your articles.

Pitching to influencers and bloggers in your niche.

Submitting it as a guest post to bloggers in your industry.

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

4. Your content is not search engine friendly.

Content constitutes a hefty portion of your SEO, so it’s vital that your content is SEO friendly and never use black hat tactics to try to improve results. Keyword stuffing is a frequent mistake that businesses will make in their content creation, along with using the wrong keywords, duplicate content, and not optimising their meta tags.

Conduct some research to uncover the most suitable keywords that your audience would use to find your content. Furthermore, use meta tags to your benefit to draw more readers to your blog. Search engines always want to deliver the best content to users, so if your content is beneficial then other sites will link to it, increasing the chances of acquiring more high-quality, reliable links from relevant businesses.

At the end of the day, there might be hundreds of reasons why your content marketing isn’t offering you the intended results, however the aforementioned points should cover the majority of them. If you’re intending to invest in content marketing, you can’t do it half-heartedly. Perform as much research as you can about your target market, your competitors, and your keywords, and create interesting content that your readers will naturally engage with.

If you’re thinking about giving up on content marketing because of substandard results, phone Internet Marketing Experts Perth who will be able to point you in the right direction. Call 1300 595 013, or alternatively visit our website for more information: http://www.internetmarketingexpertsperth.com.au

In today’s competitive marketplace of digitalisation and globalisation, it’s paramount for businesses to employ online strategies and tactics that enhance their exposure to customers that are actively looking for their products or services. Search Engines are without doubt the most influential programs that will have a bearing on your online visibility, and therefore your website traffic, conversion rates, and ultimately success. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), therefore, is used frequently by most websites to improve their Search Engine rankings, otherwise referred to as ‘Search Engine Results Pages’ (SERPs).

SEO can be an effective investment that will heighten your exposure and conversion rates, or if used poorly, can cripple your rankings and exposure, thus having the opposite effect. The predicament with SEO is that its algorithm is frequently changing, and most website owners don’t keep up to date with the most updated SEO trends. SEO tactics that worked in 2017 may not necessarily be successful this year, and popular SEO techniques from 5 years ago may result in your website being penalised today.

Instead of investigating the top SEO tactics that website owners should be committing to, we’re instead going to examine the top SEO techniques that will actually penalise your website and therefore should be totally ignored in 2018.

1. Keyword Stuffing

Keyword stuffing is a standard mistake that many website owners make to try to raise their SERP results. Keyword stuffing is pretty much the same as it sounds – adding as many keywords/phrases to a websites content or meta tags by any means possible. Search Engine spiders or crawlers can instantly identify how many times a keyword has been used and will penalise websites for unnecessary keyword stuffing. Instead of keyword stuffing, website owners should fixate their efforts on the sub-topics and related information behind the keywords/phrases themselves.

2. Aggressive Link Building

Link building has been a common SEO technique since the start of SEO, and its proficiency as an SEO tactic has evolved fairly quickly ever since. Whilst link building is still amongst the leading three SEO tactics in 2018, aggressive link building will certainly result in your website being penalised. Google weighs links highly as a ranking signal given that links are a public promotion which correlates with valuable information on a website.

Aggressive link building happens where links are gathered in a fabricated way. Examples of this is where links are deposited in poor link directories, buying links, link schemes, and other spammy tactics. This SEO technique will result in penalties for a website and should be discarded, instead being substituted with a link building strategy that is more user-focused and marketing based.

3. Excessive Internal Links

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

4. Not Identifying Technical Issues

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

Slow loading page times

Mobile errors

Duplicate content

Improper redirects

Unintentional blocked pages

5. Not Optimising Images

One of the most neglected SEO tactic that will enhance your SERP rankings relate to the images within a website. Optimising your website for image search is a reliable way to maximise your SEO, and this can be done largely with the image filename and alt attribute. For instance, instead of providing an image with a filename of home1.jpg, website owners should instead try to use a keyword that describes the image. Furthermore, a typical mistake with images is keyword stuffing the alt attribute.

There’s no doubt that a productive SEO strategy will boost a website’s SERP rankings and exposure, however due to many websites misusing SEO tactics in years gone by, Search Engine’s SEO algorithms are continually changing and it’s paramount to keep up with these changes to grow in today’s online marketplace. If you require any support with your SEO strategy, or simply haven’t updated your strategy in the last few years, contact Internet Marketing Experts Perth on 1300 595 013, or visit our website for more information: http://www.internetmarketingexpertsperth.com.au

Are you new to social media and want to learn the essentials of one of the coolest platforms on Earth? Well, you’ve come to the right place! Twitter is a social networking service where roughly 330 million users engage with each other through brief messages of up 280 characters. At the moment there’s around 6,000 tweets being sent through the internet each second, varying from basic text messages to images, gifs, memes, videos, and even more. Twitter is one of the most fashionable social networking channels and is quite different to other social networking giants like Instagram and Facebook.

Twitter is a platform where members share a wide array of information; from jokes, news, politics, or just general thoughts about odd topics! As opposed to having a circle of friends like Facebook, Twitter is founded on followers (not necessarily friends) so not only can you connect with friends, but also your favourite sport stars, politicians, and journalists alike. Everything you upload on Twitter is accessible publicly for everybody to see, but don’t panic, you can simply adjust your preferences to private if you prefer to.

The first step in understanding Twitter is to understand the basic terms and slang used. The following lists the most prevalent vernacular:

Tweet – A 280-character message

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

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

Handle – Your username

Mention (@) – A way of referencing other people in a tweet (e.g. @EAGames). Any member mentioned in a tweet is informed, being a simple way to communicate with other members publicly

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

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

Creating an Account

Creating an account is quick and straightforward, just download the app or go to www.twitter.com and click the signup button. The full name you enter will be your display name, but this can be modified as often as you want. Pick a username (or handle) so people can mention you by typing the @ symbol in front of your username. After you’ve entered your mobile number for authorisation purposes, selected an avatar, and created a quick bio about yourself so others can see your hobbies and interests, you’re good to go!

Joining the Twittersphere

As discussed beforehand, Twitter isn’t about friending, it’s about following. Not only can you follow your buddies, but also any other identities of which you’re a fan. Once you’ve signed up, Twitter will provide a helpful type of setup wizard to help you get started, like recommending some members that you might like to follow. You can give Twitter permission to surf your contacts list to identify any of your friends that are already using Twitter. Following friends and other users is really simple, and once you’ve begun following certain users, Twitter will continue to offer suggestions for other users to follow depending upon the types of users you’re currently following. All the tweets of your followers will show up in your Feed, so the more you follow, the more Tweets will appear in chronological order in your Feed.

Tweet Something

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

Once you’ve gotten the hang of the basics of Twitter, the world is essentially at your fingertips! You can keep up to date with the latest trends, be the first to watch viral posts, and interact with your friends and favourite personalities in a simple and user-friendly platform.

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

If you’ve just crafted your first website and you’d like to know the ways in which you can boost your organic search results, then you’re certainly on the path to success. SEO is one of the most reliable marketing tools simply because it enables you to get your message in front of prospective consumers that are directly looking for your products or services.

Regrettably, the answer isn’t very straightforward! Google’s search ranking algorithm is essentially its secret to success, so it’s remarkably sophisticated and has more than 200 variables that account for the listings in its Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). Fortunately for you, not all variables are designed equally, so you can prioritise the most relevant variables that will have the best impact on your SERP listings.

It is very important to appreciate that the weight of each variable is adjusted with time, so Google will place more focus on certain variables in accordance with user behaviour and how Google feels it can maximise the user experience. With this being said, most of the top organic SEO ranking factors have been in the same spot for a few years now, so understanding these top variables can give you a greater understanding of how you can optimise your organic search results to boost customer engagement, website traffic, and ultimately sales.

1. Content

A great significance is put on content given that Google wants to rank the most relevant websites on top of its search results listings. The latest Hummingbird update enables Google to understand a website’s content structure and how this content adds value to prospective consumers, so generating quality content set in a natural tone will be rewarded with higher rankings. Including articles in your website such as elaborate tutorials, guides, and how-to’s is an ideal start. In addition, the more content you have, the better it will rank in search results. SerpIQ (https://serpiq.com/) has studied the top 10 search results and discovered that the top positions contain content that is roughly 2,400 words in length.

2. Backlinks

For over a decade now, backlinks have been one of the most critical variables in SERP listings due to the fact that the more links there are to your website from reliable sources, the more trusted your website is perceived. The other side of the coin is true as well though, so beware not to generate links on spammy or uncredible websites or your rankings will decrease! Matt Cutts (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iC5FDzUh0P4) from Google explains that backlinks will lose value over time as Google seeks out new ways to appraise websites, but for the time being, link building is still the best gauge of relevance and validity.

3. Mobile Optimisation

With more users now surfing from mobile devices than desktop computers, there has been a notable shift towards optimising your website for mobile devices. Google is currently experimenting with mobile-first indexing, which signifies that Google’s index will soon crawl the mobile version of a website in contrast to the desktop version. If your website isn’t currently mobile-friendly, you better make a start but be careful not to publish it until it’s 100% complete or you may be penalised. Page loading speed is a crucial factor for mobile optimisation, so strive to have mobile pages loaded within two seconds to guarantee your website is truly ‘mobile-friendly’.

4. Other Technical Variables

There are many other technical factors that will drastically influence your SERP listings, such as security, headings, anchor text, and interstitials. There is a strong connection between high ranking websites and those that are SSL encrypted (HTTPS), and this is very quick to install if you haven’t already done so. Equally, ensure your landing pages have a H1 or H2 heading in the source code, as this has been found to correspond with higher rankings. Other factors such unique and organic backlink anchor text and less on-page ads and pop-ups will also increase your organic search results listings.

5. Keeping up to date

Google’s search ranking algorithm is constantly adjusting, meaning that SEO techniques are continually changing also. Although there are over 200 variables in Google’s search ranking algorithm, Google has placed great priority in recent times on rich content, quality links, and a seamless mobile experience. Aiming to focus on all Google’s search ranking variables will prove to be unproductive, but if you concentrate on prioritising the abovementioned variables in your SEO efforts, you will be ahead of the competition.

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

Online presence is a pivotal ingredient to any businesses strategy, however the digital landscape is in a continual state of change so it’s essential to keep up with these changes to make sure your online visibility is optimised. Google releases between 500 and 600 updates every year, with the majority of them merely modifying their secretive search ranking algorithm. With Google being such a dynamic force in today’s online world, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) has become progressively important for companies to increase their website traffic, customer engagement, and essentially their profits.

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

Voice Search

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

What this indicates for websites is that they should start blending more long-tailed keywords into their SEO strategy, especially those with a natural conversational tone. For instance, if a website has a keyword phrase like “best Sydney restaurants”, it could also be accompanied by a phrase like “Where are the best Sydney restaurants near me?”

Link Building

Link building has always been a valuable tool for SEO, and this will still be a pivotal component in determining SERP listings in 2018. Generating valuable links to credible websites is still the simplest way for Google to identify if a website is trusted, so adding value through quality links that helps you create an authority in your target niche is a fantastic strategy.

Despite this, the trend towards link building is now more long-term, so having links from sites related to your industry and referral traffic will be very valuable in the future.

Mobile Optimisation

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

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

Accelerated Mobile Pages

Website loading speeds play an essential role in SERP listings, and Google’s search results algorithm will not surprisingly favour those with quicker speeds. In fact, Google has constructed an open source project that assists websites to load pages faster on mobile devices. The project named ‘Accelerated Mobile Pages’ (AMP) allows individual web pages to load 4 times quicker than regular pages, and uses only 10% of the data in doing so!

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

How To Work On SEO For Your Website in 2018

While traditional SEO techniques like link building will still be useful in 2018, there are other surfacing trends that Google is focussing on in the future which may noticeably alter the practice of SEO. It’s clear that SEO is already changing to stay on top of changes in user behaviour and to maximise the overall user experience. By recognising the latest SEO trends and employing strategies now, your website will be optimised and ready to obtain targeted customers from higher SERP listings.

If you have any inquiries or concerns about how you can optimise your website to adapt to the latest SEO trends, talk with Internet Marketing Experts Perth on 1300 595 013, or visit their website for additional details: http://www.internetmarketingexpertsperth.com.au

The day has finally come where Twitter users can express their annoyance with the 140 character limit in more detail, now that Twitter has officially affirmed that they have widened the character limit to 280 per Tweet!

The social networking provider, which was launched in 2006, grew rapidly to become one of the most beloved social media sites internationally, however recent slumps in growth provoked the social media giant to make some revisions. Twitter distinguishes itself from other social media networks with its ‘microblogging’ feature, which is greatly different to equivalent social media platforms like Facebook and Google Plus. Twitter has just over 330 million users that send close to 6,000 Tweets per second.

Despite the 140 character limit that strongly defined the social networking service, Twitter disclosed on November 7 that they want every individual around the globe to ‘easily’ express themselves on Twitter. After administering a series of tests over the last several months, Twitter determined that they wanted to double the character limit, but only where necessary. Countries like China, Japan, and South Korea will remain at the 140 character limit, simply because there’s no warrant for an increase, as sending messages in these languages can be conveyed in a short amount of characters. Languages like English meanwhile, suffer from crammed Tweets with 9% of English Tweets hitting the preceding 140 character limit.

So, why the change?

After administering a variety of tests to specific users, Twitter gained valuable results and conceived the 240 character limit would be advantageous for many users. Given that 9% of English users were hitting the 140 character mark, many would need to spend time modifying their Tweets to make sure they didn’t have to send several messages. Plus, users would now have the ability to conveniently fit their opinions into a single Tweet, so they could say what was on their mind and send them quicker than before.

The question is, what effect will this have for online marketers and SEO specialists? Here are a few changes that they can expect to see.

Increased engagement

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

Improved user experience for followers.

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

Increases customer communication

With the rise of businesses using social media as a channel to deal with customer service issues, customers can now communicate an issue in more detail on Twitter which is practical for both the customer and the business, as communication is substantially enriched. Previously, many users would have depended upon other social media platforms like Facebook to report customer service issues considering that the character limit was too restricting.

More Creativity

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

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

If you require any guidance about how your company can leverage the increased character limit to your advantage on Twitter, just connect with Internet Marketing Experts Perth by phoning 1300 595 013, or alternatively visit their website for additional information: http://www.internetmarketingexpertsperth.com.au

In today’s ever-changing digital environment, it’s paramount that businesses stay up to date with Google’s best practices to make sure that they continue being competitive in their particular online markets. With Google being the most powerful and influential company on the web, it’s key for them to keep abreast of all the threats and opportunities that the internet creates. For that reason, Google releases a multitude of updates every year: new features, bug fixes, and the majority relating to the very secretive Google search ranking algorithm.

What’s important though, is that all online businesses that use Google-related services (basically every online provider), are aware of pressing changes that may influence their SEO, performance, and ultimately their bottom-line. The internet is in a continual state of change, so online providers have to be versatile and accustom to new Google updates as quickly as possible to guarantee they aren’t negatively influenced by these new releases.

The most prevalent Google update that has recently had a bearing on online businesses pertains to Google Chrome v62, which was released in October of this year. The Google Chrome web browser is used by close to half of all online users, so it’s extremely important that online businesses incorporate the specific changes as quickly as possible if they want to reduce any damaging repercussions.

What has changed in Google Chrome v62?

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

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

How to make web pages secure?

For online providers that wish to secure their previously non-secured (HTTP) web pages, they need to encrypt the information being dispensed between their customers and their web server by incorporating an SSL certificate. Google are clearly pushing for a more secure internet than ever before, and they’ve opted for SSL encryption as a vehicle to do this. For website owners who would like to enable HTTPS on their web servers, here is an informative guide: https://developers.google.com/web/fundamentals/security/encrypt-in-transit/enable-https?hl=en. The following link is an additional guide on ways to avoid the ‘NOT SECURE’ warning in Google Chrome which is aimed at website developers: https://developers.google.com/web/updates/2016/10/avoid-not-secure-warn.

What this means for online businesses?

The recent Google update denotes that HTTPS and SSL encryption will become the norm across all web pages on the web. Sooner or later, each online company will have to secure their web pages using SSL encryption whether they like it or not, or users will simply go with a competitor that does.

What this also implies is that not all websites using SSL encryption should be trusted, and there will be a consequential increase in phishing sites using HTTPS also. Phishing sites can simply use false SSL certificates to sidestep the ‘NOT SECURE’ warning by Google Chrome and make their websites appear reliable. This will make the distinction between phishing sites and real websites more challenging than ever. Online companies that use an Extended Validation Certificate (EV SSL) will be the most trusted websites on the net due to the fact that it will be extremely difficult for phishing sites to mimic the authenticity that EV SSL provides.

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

So, you’ve got a terrific business idea and you’ve made the decision you’re going to build and publish your own website. Well, as you quite possibly know, there are many variables to consider. The design of the website, the images you’re going to use, the content, the website architecture, the company logo, the online store – the list goes on. But ultimately, what’s most important when building a new website is the platform you choose. There’s a range of website platforms available with an array of various features, targeting the entire spectrum of developers from novices to specialists. You’ll ask for assistance on which platform to use and developers will argue for weeks on end about why one platform is better than the other.

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

WordPress is user-friendly and manage

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

WordPress is exceptionally SEO-friendly

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

WordPress is FREE and Open Source

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

WordPress is mobile friendly

Due to the increasing use of mobile phones for internet usage, it’s extremely important that your website is optimised for mobile devices. In fact, one of Google’s latest updates requires websites to be optimised for mobile devices or they’ll be penalised in SEO. The good news is that most WordPress themes are built to be mobile responsive, meaning that irrespective of what device your customers are using, WordPress websites will automatically alter the appearance of your website to suit. WordPress actually lets you to work on both of your mobile website and PC website individually, so you can easily customise both to optimise the user experience.

WordPress is secure

In today’s times, website security is of utmost importance so naturally WordPress has high security standards. Roughly one-quarter of websites are built on WordPress so hackers are frequently looking for ways to compromise them. WordPress is well aware of this so has produced a variety of security features which prevents any malicious attacks by publishing regular updates that neutralises these threats. Always remember, it’s also necessary for you to be using a secure device when accessing your WordPress account, so ensure you use standard security tools on your device and only acquire credible plugins from trusted sources.

As you can see, WordPress has a variety of fantastic features that simply make it the best website platform on the market. While there are lots of other reasons why WordPress is an excellent choice for your website, this article just concentrates on 5 of these: WordPress is very user-friendly, free and open source, extremely SEO compatible, mobile friendly, and secure. What more could you want from a platform to develop a practical and powerful website? If you have any queries about how you can further optimise your website, talk to the team at Internet Marketing Experts Perth on 1300 595 013 or visit their website: http://www.internetmarketingexpertsperth.com.au

Having worked as a sales rep for various tech start-ups, I can’t even begin to illustrate the value of sending email sequences that sell. Automated emails are awesome because they greatly reduce the workload for a sales rep, nonetheless nowadays, everyone can relate to finding various sorts of email sequences lurking in their inbox everyday that just pester us because we need to click two buttons to get rid of them!

Not nearly enough business owners spend the time and effort in crafting effective email sequences that effectively sell their product. Crafting convincing email sequences is both a science and an art, and if done well, can lead to excellent results. Having hundreds of potential customers on an email list isn’t going to yield any income if you can’t sell your product. So, here’s four tips on how to develop a great email sequence that will convert your leads into sales.

Tip 1 – First Impressions Count

The age old saying ‘make a good first impression’ is very applicable when it relates to email sequences. By first impressions, I mean the subject lines of your emails. It’s the very first thing that recipients will see so if it’s not compelling enough, they just won’t open it. Obviously, the subject lines of an email are critical when it comes to conversion rates. Here are a couple of statistics which highlights their importance:

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

Almost 70% of email recipients will decide if an email is spam based on the subject line

40% of emails are opened on mobile devices first, and the common mobile screen can only fit between 4 to 7 words in the subject line.

The secret to prosperous subject lines is solving your prospects problems in as few words as possible. As an example, good subject lines include, “Common questions about university”, “Common questions about interest rates”, etc. Think about your prospects problems and target your subject lines to solve that problem succinctly. You can keep track of your subject line performance using HubSpot Sales notification stream (https://www.hubspot.com/products/sales/email-tracking).

Tip 2 – Write Well-Crafted Content

Once a recipient has opened an email, it’s important that you offer a value proposition in the context of their problem quickly. Forget starting the email with your name and job role; you must give your recipients a good reason to keep reading the email. Thus, begin your email with some information they can identify with, like company news or their opinion to an event via Twitter or an online blog, and then get into the value proposition in the second & third sentences.

Your value proposition should be constructed like this:.

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

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

I recently worked with another organisation with [positive benefit]. Is this something that would be useful for [company name]?

It’s critical that you get to the point promptly and keep the content targeted to the objectives of your prospect.

Tip 3 – Discard the boring ‘Welcome Email’

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

Tip 4 – Always Be Helpful

The fact of the matter is that even an excellent first email may not get a response from the recipient. It’s understandable; people are busy and have prerogatives, so I suggest sending 2 or 3 follow-up emails as part of your email sequence. It’s easy to forget about an email that you’re interested in, but a fantastic follow-up email will remind them that you’re here to help them in whatever problem they have. You ought to ensure that your follow-up emails also feature your value propositions, and additional information that is informative to the recipient in solving their problems. Again, HubSpot Sales will monitor which emails are opened and which links are clicked so I strongly recommend using this application to assist you with your email sequences.

The value of creating effective and actionable email sequences can have a huge affect on your conversion rates and sales. There are many variables that you have to consider when setting up your email sequences, but this article showcases the most important factors that lead to success. If you’re having problems converting your leads into sales with your email sequences, it’s definitely beneficial in consulting with digital marketing experts that can assist you. Contact the team at Internet Marketing Experts Perth today on 1300 595 013 or visit their website: http://www.internetmarketingexpertsperth.com.au.