All posts by AltusHost

The author is highly qualified and writes blog posts weekly.
Uncategorized

Developing a Content Strategy that Will Surely Help You Win Big in 2017

Leave a comment

Content marketing was HUGE in 2016. And judging by everything that has been going on in this field in the last 12 months – it’s getting bigger! A LOT bigger. Like Bruce Banner when he gets all super angry.

Digging through various different research results these last couple of days, it became crystal clear to me that content marketing is still on the rise. It’s still growing and provoking interest in all sorts of different circles. Even those you’d least expect.

Personally, I know a couple of small time entrepreneurs who made this 2016 their most profitable year yet just by adding content marketing to their overall marketing mix.

These days, loads of people I know are actively reading up on content marketing and trying to figure out how to make it a crucial component in their 2017 marketing strategy. They have finally started seeing this marketing technique for it truly is – a perfect solution for engaging and educating your target audience.

But why now? Content marketing isn’t something new, so why is it trending now? Why is it suddenly so important for all types of brands to regularly feed their followers and leads with all sorts of webinars, blog posts, use cases, case studies, infographics, etc?

Because in order to truly interest someone in doing business with you in this day and age, it’s imperative that you constantly showcase your worth. A well thought-through, organized, and executed content strategy is one of the best ways to pump up your brand awareness and convert your leads into actual paying customers.

As a tech company that operates in a very specific market, we at AltusHost constantly find ourselves in situations where we need to create additional understanding about our services and generate new interest in our brand. That’s why content marketing has been a huge part of our business these last couple of years.

Even though it’s never easy, when done right – content marketing has the power turn even the most obscure brands into genuine industry leaders.

The Rise of Content Marketing

In this highly-competitive world, the only thing that can really sell your products and services is your skill to demonstrate their value.

Never forget that.

People aren’t really interested in classic advertisement anymore. Studies have shown that modern shoppers are far more interested in starting personal relationships/conversations with brands, instead of just reacting to generic discounts and proposals.

When you dig in deep and analyze consumer behavior (in general) on a much larger scale, you’ll easily see that people don’t really buy things anymore just because they look pretty. No. They’ve finally stopped picking up random items from the store shelves and hoping for the best. Today’s shoppers know better than that. They’re far more educated and harder to manipulate.

Modern shoppers have only one thing in mind, and that’s value.

Especially in the B2B world. After crunching their numbers, the guys behind Curata claim that by the end of 2017, 51% of all companies will have an executive in their organization who is directly responsible for developing their in-house content marketing strategy.

But that’s not all. It is also said that now around 50% of B2B buyers rely more on content to research and make B2B purchasing decisions than they did a year ago.

So, What Do These Numbers Actually Tell Us?

Well, just that the habit of making uneducated guesses is now officially dying. In this day and age, shoppers want something that’s serves some real purpose or solves a particular problem for them.

The golden age of 30 second TV commercials is long gone, my friend. A lot of brands today are building their marketing strategy around a genuine consumer collaboration model that builds buzz and get people to partake in your content creation process on their own terms.

In order to convert a certain lead into a sale in 2016 (and the upcoming 2017), you need to convince your potential shopper that your products and services are really worth his/her time and money. The only way that you can do that is by creating all sorts of amazing content that proves that you’re better/different than your direct and indirect competitors.

As you know, if you have been revisiting this site for quite some time now, content marketing is a subject that I often cover on this blog. During these last 18 months, I’ve done my best to help you understand how to create amazing content and prove its ROI.

Looking back on everything I wrote here in these last 12 months, I would say that the key takeaways from my 2016 content marketing efforts are:

1. Design multiple, precise customer personas;
2. Focus on quality, not quantity;
3. Always do your best to create “original 10x content”;
4. Make different types of content that speak to your audience in every stage of your marketing funnel;
5. Don’t just write fluff – solve problems for your reader;
6. Data is a great sidekick, but a terrible leader – use your numbers to guide your content marketing efforts, but only to a certain extent;
7. Always tell a story, don’t just list facts;
8. Always write for an audience of exactly one;
9. Find your short and long-tail keywords, but don’t just settle for what Google’s Keyword Planner has to offer you;
10. Measure your success, be patient, focus on content that offers direct, collective and second chance return of your investments;
11. Combine your SEO and content marketing efforts.

These are just some of the major takeaways from 2016.

Even though I shared a lot of value here and tried my best to teach our audience such things as: the [Persona] + [Use Case] Formula, proper storytelling, how to use data to supercharge your content marketing efforts, etc – the truth is, I never really discussed strategy with you.

So, having this in mind, I’ve decided to make the rest of this post all about content strategy:

The 2017 Content Strategy

In this upcoming year, in order to make content marketing worth your while, you’ll need to build your strategy around an idea that actually stimulates people to communicate with your brand and recognize your content as something more than that just another text or image online.

Every 2017 content marketing strategy should be built around that. You want to create content that provokes people to act and react on what you share online. In 2016, one thing was clear – dynamic storytelling is king! Every brand that decided to think beyond traditional media formats and really focus on interaction has won big in this department.

In order to grow your business online, you need to do a lot more than just create content. You need to get people to really read it, understand it, and in the end – amplify it. That’s why your content needs to be more about your customers, than your products.

The guys at Coca-Cola have a great understanding of that. They call this strategy “liquid content”. Why? – Well, because, its prime objective is to easily and freely flow from one consumer to another. That type of content basically begs to be shared. It’s irresistible and so contagious that it cannot be controlled. It immediately sparks a lot of interest from its targeted audience.

Liquid content is important for brands because it:

1. Often (if done right) outgrows your expectations and helps you learn a lot of new things about your audience;
2. Positions your company as an expert in its field;
3. Builds up brand awareness through entertainment;
4. Spikes up customer interests in your company, services, and products;
5. Creates loyal raving fans and followers that money cannot buy.

Adopt the 70-20-10 Rule

Even though liquid content should be a huge part of your 2017 content marketing strategy, that still doesn’t really mean that you should kill everything that has been going great for you so far in this department.

Sure, in this day and age, a lot of people are interested far more in interactive content than anything else, but there’s still a huge demand out there for case studies, white papers, webinars, and all sorts of videos and blog posts that educate users about your products and services.

Traditional content formats aren’t dying, they’re just transforming into something far more powerful.

Regardless how many blog posts and case studies get published every single day online – this type of content will never go away. I truly believe that. Creating how-to content around relevant short and long tail queries is still every content marketer’s bread and butter, now and forever.

But, you cannot stop there. You need to mix it up a bit if you want to rise above your competitors and become a top player in your niche. That’s why I suggest the 70-20-10 investment principal for everyone who plans to see significant ROI from his/her content marketing efforts in this upcoming year.

In case you’re not familiar with this strategy, allow me to explain it to you:

A 70-20-10 rule is a content marketing principle in which certain brand invests 70% of its resources into creating low-risk content, 20% into new trending formats, and 10% into risky ventures that could become tomorrow’s 70% or 20% content.

By following this blueprint, regardless how you do in these last two stages, you’ll instantly turn your business into something more than it already is. Innovation is a big part of content marketing. Apart from chasing old KPIs in this field, you should always try your best to change the game and bring something new to the table. Even though if you first don’t succeed, it’s only a matter of time when you’ll be rewarded for your efforts and bravery.

Goran Mirkovic.

 

Security

3 Backup Strategies for Keeping Your Business’ Data Safe and Secure

Leave a comment

Picture this scenario:

You’re a CEO and Founder of a hot new app that’s generating loads of new customers every single day.

Naturally, you’re feeling good about yourself. And why shouldn’t you? Your business is booming, everything seems to be going fine, you’re enjoying the fruits of your labor and watching people spread good words about your brand all over the Web, until one day – a certain bug shows its ugly face in your code, causing data loss in certain versions of the company’s Mac application. It starts deleting images and other attachments under specific conditions.

The horror, right?

You try everything, but regardless of much money and effort you invest in recovering your data, sooner or later you’ll have to face the facts and accept that your data is lost forever.

Even though this scenario basically brings your worst nightmares to life, it still sounds quite unlikely, doesn’t it? It still feels like something that could never actually happen to an actual business?

Well, you’re wrong – this exact scenario happened to Evernote, forcing the company to contact its top users and explain to them why, for example, a crucial part of their PhD thesis is now lost forever.

Not a pretty picture, is it?

As you can imagine, those type of conversations weren’t that easy to handle. They brought a lot of stress and dissatisfaction to the table, forcing more than a few Evernote users to instantly delete their account and move their notes to a whole new place.

The Evernote case is just one of many. There are literally thousands of examples concerning data loss that can be found online. Even though losing your information at first seems like something that only affects careless businesses, the sad truth is – it could happen to everyone. Yes, even major companies like Google.

I remember like it was yesterday – Back in August 2015, Google reported it’s lost some of their cloud customers’ data. After the local power grid got struck by lightning 4 times (yes, you read it correctly – 4 times), the discs at some of Google’s data centers in St. Ghislain (Belgium) got instantly fried and wiped clean.

Heck, just a couple of days ago, Yahoo disclosed that 1 billion of their user accounts have been compromised.

Yes, you read it right. One billion.


So, what can we learn from these examples?

Well, among other things, that data loss can happen for any number of reasons.

Buggy software, natural disaster, higher forces, awful coincidences, hardware failure, data corruption, frequent hacker attacks – these are just some of the events that could rob you of your precious company and customer information.

The Loss Of Your Data Will Most Likely Destroy Your Business

If you’re someone who makes his/her bread and butter from what you do or sell online – then your data is everything to you. It’s the lifeblood of your company.

Let’s get back to Google and Evernote for a second. Knowing how these two brands operate, you could say that user data is basically everything to them. People use Evernote to store and organize their files in an always accessible place.

That being said, if Evernote loses its user data, it’s only a matter of time when the guys behind this band will be forced to close-up shop. I know this seems harsh – but, believe it or not, research has shown that 60% of companies that lose their data will shut down within 6 months of the disaster.

That being said, you cannot really afford to expose your information to any risk.

So, having all this in mind, how does one protect himself/herself from data loss?

Easily, by applying one of these backup strategies to your business.

Remote Backups

This is the best of the best. For those who are not familiar with the term, “remote backup” refers to a method of data storage in which files, folders, and basically all types of information, are being stored on a safe remote server.

Even though most people understand that having copies of your files locked safely away safe in a secure and secluded place is the right thing to do – most of them never really take the time to actually create their backups.

They also have “something better to do”, which is ironic, when you understand what’s the heart and soul of their business.

Like I wrote before, most of them feel like this sort of thing will never happen to them, and that’s why, sooner or later, their business suffers huge losses that have extremely negative effects on their overall reputation and financial situation.

Unlike most of them, I just don’t really feel comfortable exposing myself to unnecessary risk, especially when I know that this kind of horror can be easily avoided just by investing in Offsite Backups.

We at AltusHost truly understand the importance of data.

That’s why we offer Offsite Backup services on our powerful Storage Servers, located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. All backed up data is encrypted for an additional layer of protection. It doesn’t really get any better than that.

Leave your backups to professionals and you won’t have to worry about a thing.

3-2-1 Backup Strategy

Second best, but still effective. In a nutshell, this strategy is all about creating 3 copies of your data, 2 of which are created on different mediums, and 1 on an additional external hard drive. I know this seems a little too complicated and paranoid, but believe me – you can never be too careful. Especially when the future of your business is on the line.

Even though a lot of people feel like having an onsite backup is enough, we AltusHost know that better. We know this particular type of copy is also susceptible to data loss. Especially if your copy is close to the original, and there’s even a slightest of chance that both of your copies can be affected by the same disaster.

As I already wrote about above – your data is your company’s lifeblood, which means that you need to do everything in your power in order to make sure that you never lose it. That’s why we advise you to always have multiple backups of various different mediums.

Private Cloud Storage

Private cloud storage offers scalable, easy-manageable and provisioned storage to all types of users who are in need of a digital place for keeping their private data intact.

I know, after hearing about those celebrity data scandals, on one really trusts the cloud. These days, people don’t really feel comfortable placing their data in the hands of third-party public cloud vendors.

Why? – Well, for various different reasons. First and foremost of all, because cloud services are often threatened by cyber criminals. They know that most people store their data online. However, if you know where exactly your data is being stored and your vendor allows your to have full visibility of the cloud – this could do the trick.

You need to know what data is being shared, as well as how a third-party vendor plans to deal with potential data breaches. Researching cloud vendors before starting a business relationship with them is of utmost importance.

Marketing

Six Outstanding Ways to Use Visual and Content Marketing to Promote Your Business

Leave a comment

As a digital marketing professional, you are always on the hunt for new ideas for your social and digital streams. It’s normal to look for new ways to market your wares and to bolster the reputation of your brand.

If you’re looking for a killer strategy to set your brand on fire, consider incorporating visual and content marketing into your current practices. Video is on the rise in the digital sphere, with consumers preferring emotive videos with captions more than blogs. 

Read on to get our six outstanding tips for incorporating more visuals and video into your content marketing strategy. You’ll get more views, more engaged users and more return on your investment.

 

To Start: Copyright Your Content

If you want to make sure your visual content is protected and other brands can’t steal it and use it for their gain, then make sure you learn how to copyright photos. The process is for copyrighting photos is fairly easy, and you can do it online via the U.S. Copyright Office. If you don’t copyright your photographs and someone uses them improperly, then you could be disenfranchised. 

Once photos are copyrighted, and someone uses them without paying you or crediting you, each infringement they make can carry up to a $150,000 penalty. So it is well worth it to make sure your unique and creative content doesn’t get the exposure or into the hands of people you don’t want to have it. For a big brand especially, you want to protect all of your assets and protect your clients as well. Make sure you are thinking about whether you need to copyright your assets, so you don’t lose out. 

1. Don’t Just Talk

You’ve got to show your customers why they should care about your product and services and use their hard-earned money to buy them. Photography is an effective way to put your wares in the very best light and to show how beautiful, simple, and engaging they are. Add even more effectiveness to showing instead of telling by posting simple tutorials that demonstrate how to use your product.

2. Make Your Customers VIPs

Incorporating a behind-the-scenes, exclusive demonstration or tour that helps your customers see the value of your brand is an easy and efficient way of integrating visual content marketing into your streams. Consumers want to feel that they are getting added value, and exclusivity is one way to give that to them. That means identifying your customer persona and understanding what they need.

It’s a potentially crucial factor when creating your marketing strategy, so don’t be afraid to expand your team in order to get the best content possible.

3. Try Out Video Tips

Related, customers want to learn things they didn’t know. They want to see how your product is going to solve some problems in their lives. When you can give them quick tips via a live or filmed video that is not about your product but is related to it, then they will feel that they really need it.

4. Let Your Customers Tell Their Stories

If you want to see your social media channels go through the roof with engagement and customer satisfaction, then you’ve got to incorporate user-generated photographs and videos into your stream. Maybe you create a short campaign with a custom hashtag. Let’s say you are a company that sells adventure gear. 

You could ask your customers to answer a question or tell a story about their most memorable adventure. You then could feature the best stories and photographs on your social channels and ask your users to vote for the most inspiring stories. You could give away prizes for the finalists and a grand prize for the story and photo with the top votes. This is an excellent way to use user-generated content to boost your business and win big with your audience. 

5. Make It Human

When a customer feels that you are touching on the emotive, common experience of being human, it’s amazing what they will do. They feel part of a bigger movement and family. They feel more loyal and engaged like you are on their side and relevant to their lives. They’ll be more interested in hearing about what you have to offer if they feel they can relate to you in a common and shared experience. 

And, that’s exactly what you should be going for with our visual content. You want to remind your customers of the human experience and how that binds us together throughout time.

Try to incorporate that concept into your visual content strategy. For example, you may think about doing a video series in which everyday people talk about how your company has improved their lives. The theme is up to you. It’s just that you want to tap into the human experience through a video series of ordinary people that your customers can relate to at the end of the day.

6. Don’t Be Afraid to Use Graphics

Graphics are a great way to communicate information about your brand and your products. Just make sure they are adding value. Whether you create a small infographic that can be shared on social media or a quick list of tips, you can use graphics in interesting and beautiful ways to engage with your audience. 

Plus, the more easily they are to read and to share, especially on social media, the better your chances of getting a boost across all of your platforms. Be creative, and keep it simple as you develop new graphics for sharing. 

7. Is It Time to Take Your Content to the Next Level?

If it is, then don’t miss out on all that multimedia has to offer you. The popularity of video is only going to rise in 2017, and that’s why it’s so important to be on top of this trend. 

Whether you are trying out a Facebook Live video to give your viewers an exclusive insider view of your brand or you are using it to give them quick tips, make sure visually engaging content is involved. You may need to outsource freelancers and other professionals to get the high-quality of content you want, but it will be well worth it.

Keep in mind these six outstanding tips for using visual and content marketing in your digital and social strategies and watch your viewership take off.

Author bio: Alex Moore is a Business Management graduate focused on everything business, tech, and marketing. His burning desire is to make it as an expert writer in the field, so if you have any suggestions for him, do not hesitate to leave a comment or get in touch on Twitter at alex_moore01.

Web Hosting

What is the Difference Between Windows and Linux for Web Hosting?

1 Comment

For most inexperienced digital entrepreneurs, web hosting tends to cause a lot of problems.

It’s something that’s known to create confusion in their heads.  

Why? – Well, because, they don’t really know where to start here. There are just too many different options to choose from.

It’s overwhelming.

And the worst thing of it all? – No one really has the time or luxury to spare on experimenting with various different hosting packages and providers.

Everyone is looking to get their website up and running ASAP.

Picture this scenario:

A small time entrepreneur, let’s call him Bryan, has decided to take his online game to a whole new level and start doing everything in his power to blow his direct and indirect competitors out of the way.

Bryan is determined to see his plan become reality, so, naturally, he cannot afford to waste any time on trivial things. B-man cannot allow his website to be stuck in development for weeks and months. No! He needs to get his project quickly off the ground and start generating those leads and customers before someone figures out what he’s doing and steals his bread and butter right in front of his nose.

Even though Bryan’s plan sounds pretty straightforward, he’ll soon figure out that getting his professional website up and running isn’t quite a walk in the park.

Like I said above, there are just too many questions Bryan needs to answer before he can actually enter his development phase.

First and foremost, the question about his hosting situation.

And this concerns everyone, not just Bryan. Yes, you too.

Why? – Well, because, without a proper hosting solution, your website cannot function. Simple as that. It doesn’t really matter how good your idea, design or marketing may be, if you don’t host your site on a professional and secure server – your business is toast!

Terrible hosting can destroy your entire site and your reputation as well. It can be quite fatal for your work. If you don’t take it seriously and figure out what you need here  – metaphorically speaking, you’ll have to kiss a lot of frogs until you find your prince in shiny armor.

It doesn’t really matter if you’re like Bryan interested in creating a small business site, a big ecommerce platform, a blog, or something completely different – you’re no.1 goal here is always the same: You need to make sure that your site is always accessible to anyone that could be interested in what you have to say or sell online.

Apart from that, you want to make sure that your and your customer’s data is always well-protected.

Web Hosting Is Not Something That Can Be Randomly Bought

Having these things in mind, we can agree upon that figuring out what type of web hosting and provider perfectly suits your needs is not really something that you can do with a simple Google search.

In order to choose the best option out there for you and your brand, you must first see why do people look for professional hosting solutions. Next to that, it’s important that you understand the differences between free and paid hosting providers and all the pros and cons that come with choosing a particular type of hosting.

Once you do that, you start comparing prices, and grasping the performance and limitations of each and every hosting package and provider out there.

Which hosting brand offers the best quality/price ratio for our needs? Which hosting companies are most popular? What are the people saying? How good does a certain web host treat it’s customers? Is their network stable? What does the brand do to ensure the safety of user data? – These are just some of the questions you need to answer for yourself before you start to even consider doing business with a certain provider.

Even though most people easily come to terms with all the basic hosting packages, they still struggle to understand the difference between hosting your site on a Windows or Linux server.

That’s why I’m writing this post. I’m gonna make it clear to everyone who doesn’t really get this what separates these two options:

Windows Vs. Linux

As you already know, Linux and Windows are two different type of operating systems. Both of them work fine for most basic customers. It’s your choice to pick whether you want to opt your hosting package for Linux or Windows technology. Both formats will smooth on any type of machine, and they’re capable of powering all your requirements.

You can rest assure knowing that you cannot make a catastrophic mistake regardless whichever of them you choose.

Both of them come with FTP access and a range of web page publishing options so, if your computer runs on Windows for instance, it doesn’t mean you have to opt for Microsoft web hosting. Linux will also work fine on that machine, regardless on which OS it runs.

Each technology, however, has its own distinct advantages for users.

So, What’s the Difference Between Windows and Linux Hosting?

Well, the difference is that both of these systems run of different scripts and databases. That’s why it’s important that you think in advance if you’ll be in need of any special Windows script languages.

Linux is a more popular option.

Why? – Well, because it has more of the features web designers expect. So unless you have websites which need specific Windows applications, Linux is the preferred choice.

Linux is better for high-quality open source software. This sort of thing usually becomes available for Linux first.

Every operation you perform on a Linux server can be trivially automated by copying the commands you ran into a text file. With its characteristic reliability, stability and efficiency Linux proved itself in complex web and mailserver environments. If you use PHP, Perl, or MySQL – then Linux is definitely for you! This particular system is great for blogs, online stores, forums, etc.

On the other hand, Windows makes it easy for user  to execute conception frameworks, .NET framework or SharePoint. If you’re interested in adding Windows applications or ActiveServerPages, .NET script languages, VisualBasic or Microsoft SQL databases to your site – the you know with what kind of server you should go.

Tips & Tutorials

Do You Really Know How to Use Anchor Text to Improve Your Rankings?

Leave a comment

Shiver me timbers! In case you didn’t know, the term anchor text has nothing to do with ships, boats, or anything else sea or water related.

It’s not something that pirates say just before they get tied up to the kedge and thrown overboard for being a royal pain in the butt.

Nope.

It also isn’t something that sailors say when they want to get a girl back to their cabin while they’re still on shore leave.

Not by a long shot.

So what does the term anchor text really stand for?

Something quite different, actually.

altushost-anchor-text_1

When you search via Google the phrase “anchor text”, a whole lot of different results will appear in front of your eyes. Some of them will be useful, and others – well, they’ll look just plain ol’ insane. Like they were written by a madman who walks around in a wooden barrel, shouting nonsense at the sky!

Metaphorically speaking, these pages will claim that if you don’t correctly use anchor texts in your posts, your website will basically explode. It will start to rain cats and dogs outside, and everyone you know and love will be immediately taken hostage by an evil alien overlord.

Ridiculous, right?

Yes, I’m exaggerating a bit, but you get the picture. 

Even though anchor texts play an important role in your overall SEO strategy, they certainly don’t have the power to wreak such havoc on your life. At least, not in that kind of sense.

As with anything else you search in Google, you’ll come across controversial links that basically say that everything you read so far on that particular subject is lie, and that this is the only source that you’ll ever need to truly understand and learn whatever it is that you’re searching for.

It happens. That’s life.

Regardless what you search for in Google, you’ll always come across such results that cry wolf and push complete nonsense in front of people who are actually in need of real and intelligent information.

Despite the fact that some of the results you’ll find in SERP will say this, and others that, most of them will agree upon the same thing – rich anchor texts have the ability to really influence your rankings.

altushost-anchor-text_2

That’s why we at AltusHost have decided to write about this particular subject on our blog and feed you, our dear and respected readers, with intel that will help you better understand everything you need to know about anchor texts:

So, What Are Anchor Texts Really About?

For those who are not familiar with this concept, an anchor text represents those sets of clickable words that are selected to link one page to another.

Their main job is to nicely tie in two web pages together while giving the users a glimpse of what to expect on the external (or internal) link that’s being presented to them.

It’s like a portal that website owners, web admins, and digital marketers use to bring additional value to a particular page by linking another credible source to the story that has the power to complete the picture in the visitor’s head about the concept that’s being laid down in front of him/her.

Anchor texts influence ratings. Search engines use anchor texts as indicators to help them learn more about a particular site and topic that’s covered on that linked page. Anchor texts feed them with necessary intel that helps the engines instantly understand for what kind of keywords and how should they rank a specific link in SERP.

That’s why anchor texts are extremely important for SEO. It has been proven by a lot of industry experts, anchor texts weigh heavily in Google’s algorithm.

Anyone who knows anything about how Google works, understands that SEO is all about generating links. If you want to rank high in SERP, you need to do your best to get as many links as possible to organically point back at your site.  altushost-anchor-text_3

Thanks to that, the whole process of learning how to create intelligent anchor texts cannot be ignored.

Even though this all sounds pretty straightforward, there’s no real rule behind using anchor texts. You can use one, two, three, four – as many words as you like to represent your link on a different page.

Naturally, this creates confusion. It creates questions in people’s heads that tend to keep them second-guessing their practices.  But let’s talk about that later. Let us first cover the essential and learn:

Types of Anchor Texts

Before I start to explain how to correctly use anchor texts on your pages, let’s first get this one thing out of the way – the types of anchor texts.

Depending on the purpose for which they’re created, there are a couple of major different types of anchor texts:

Exact Match – what you see is what you get. This type of anchor text is built around the exact keyword phrase for which we want to rank in our article.

Partial Match – a practice where the anchor text is built around the keyword phrase for which we want to rank in our article, but in an alternative or more descriptive manner. 

Branded Match – a practice when you link a specific brand name.

Rough URL – when you just place the URL next to the text. 

Generic – I personally hate this type of anchor text. It’s unimaginative, and it usually doesn’t work. It’s when people link such cheap phrases as “click here”, “read more”, “this post’, “this article”, etc.

Synonym – well, this is pretty self-explanatory. When you use another word, similar to your targeted keyword (or just a part of it).

Author – when your name, or the person who wrote the text, is the anchor.

altushost-anchor-text_4

So, now that we got that in the clear, let’s dig in a bit deeper.

Google Penguin Pities the Fool

Like I said, there’s no real rule to using anchor texts in your writing. However, since old-school SEO marketers were famous for doing everything and anything to manipulate Google into giving them better rankings, the guys behind the world’s most popular search engine got tired of being played as fools, so they’ve decided to put an end to this ridiculous spammy behavior.  

That’s why, back in 2012, they’ve launched an updated version of Google Penguin that detects spam in search results.

This update instantly pulverized every site and publisher that’s being overly aggressive with its exact match anchor text links. Naturally, people started to freak out and completely clean their sites and links of every little thing that could be seen as garbage in Google’s eyes.

Even though it didn’t really change all that much, this update got people trippin’, which immediately got a lot of website owners and admins to abandon their black hat SEO tricks, and focus on developing a clean white hat strategy for their online business.

altushost-anchor-text_6

What Does This All Mean? Should You Still Focus On Anchor Texts, And If So, How?

I’m going go on a limb here and say that anchor texts still count. At least from my angle. Judging by some of my recent results, I still strongly believe that anchor texts continue to influence ratings for the better. Even those exact match ones, if they serve the right purpose and actually feed your links with additional information that’s valuable to your reader.

I think, as same as everything else concerning SEO, you need to focus on relevance here. You need to make sure that your anchor text aren’t manipulative to the reader and engines. If they truly boost your linked post with additional information – I believe you’ll be rewarded for your efforts.

At least that’s what I can say from my very own experience.

But don’t just take my word for it. I’ve read a lot (and I do mean A LOT) of content from various type of experts on this particular subject, and judging by all the case studies I found on credible source like MOZ and Search Engine Journal, It’s possible to positively influence site rankings using significantly few exact match anchored links if they are from highly relevant pages on relevant sites. Next to that, it’s still possible to rank for difficult queries quite quickly, even though you have a young domain.

Also, in order to naturally use anchor texts to your advantage, you should focus on making your anchor texts a variation of your brand name and website URL. They’re the ones that bring in the best results.

Thank you for taking the time to read this article. If you have anything to add or ask on this subject, feel free to write your thoughts in your comments section below.


That’s it for now,
See you soon again!

Tips & Tutorials

Starting a Family Business? Here Is How to Avoid Killing Each Other

Leave a comment

Finding a reliable business partner is a difficult process. For many people, this is an obstacle they cannot overcome. They either give up on the idea of opening a business, or they settle for someone who is not reliable, thinking that everything will “fit in” after some time has passed. Well, in most cases, it doesn’t, and businesses fail to stay afloat because the collaboration between partners is bad.

Furthermore, it is important that everything works from the very start, so that you can get through the startup period. This is why a lot of people turn to family members and start a family businesses, as they know these people and can trust them. If this is your case, or you simply decided to open a family business for any other reason, then there are a few things that you must know. Even though you can trust and rely on your family members, running a business together is still different and there are different types of challenges you must go through.

Bear in mind that a family business is still a business. You will have to work hard and market your business, prioritize and organize all other important business aspects in order to succeed.

Choose a Leader

 

At the very beginning of your business efforts, you must sit down and vote for the leader of your organization. A lot of people think something like “we are all family and we can all talk things through and reach an agreement.” They are wrong.

A business organization that is ran by a group of relatives can have meetings that result in disagreements that might paralyze your whole business strategy. When you choose a leader straight away and give him or her the power to make the final decision, this will ensure that your company avoids negative arguments and a toxic environment in which people get on each other’s nerves. It is good to create a board of members who can determine the president from the previously appointed candidates that have the needed knowledge, professional business tools and skills for that position.

You Can’t Fire Relatives

 

Why not, you ask? Well, you can do it, but it won’t end well at all. Your closeness and the fact that you are all connected is actually a bad thing in this case.

There are no foolproof actions you can take to avoid these risks, however, there are ways you can reduce the chances of someone slacking so much that they need to be laid off. The first thing you should do is to make it clear to everyone that this is business, and that everyone is expected to perform at a certain level. Once you’ve done that, it’s time to create a company culture in which everyone can talk freely about work and express their concerns. A good reporting mechanism can help you identify problems objectively and quickly.

Last but not least, go into business with people in your family who are mature enough to realize when they are setting the whole company back (this applies to you as well), and that they can react by improving themselves or leave on their own, without any hard feelings.

Create a Constructive Work Environment

 

Like I’ve said before, healthy criticism between people who are related to each other is much harder than between typical coworkers. This is because you all know each other very well in your private lives. Everybody knows your weak spots, achievements, failures, etc. You must leave all of these things behind when talking business and create an environment that cherishes objectiveness.

Some ground rules must be set, and arguments must not come down to blaming each other or pulling out things from your private lives. If you go down this road, the chances of coming back will be quite slim. To improve your business, it is highly important that you nurture constructive criticism. Work on this from the start, as family members working together need extra time to get into this frame of mind.

These are the most important things you should look after when starting up a family business. Once you get past these obstacles, it’s on you to make important business moves, to grow towards success. Family businesses have one of the biggest success rates, especially in the U.S.

Web Hosting

Should I Buy Web Hosting From A Reseller or Directly From A Hosting Company?

1 Comment

Tell me, what’s the first thing that comes to your mind when choosing a web hosting provider for your website?

His overall reputation?

Network stability?

Hardware?

Pricing?

All or none of these things combined?

As I already wrote hundreds of times all over the Web – the overall quality of your web hosting provider is really important. It should be on top of your priority list.

Especially if you’re someone who plans to make money from what you do and share online.

If you’re interested in using your site as a lead and sales generator for your business – you cannot really afford to fool around here.

No way.

The overall stability and accessibility of your website should be sacred to you.

Your no.1 goal here should be to cut down risks and make sure that your site is ALWAYS online and available to those who search the Web looking for your brand, products or services.

Being a person who owns a couple of websites that generate significant amounts of traffic, I have learned (the hard way) that quality web hosting is something that could make or break your business online.

reseller-hosting-altushost_2

Why? – Well, because, web hosting it’s the backbone of the Internet. There’s no way around it. It’s the only thing that will keep your site alive online.

Having a bad company as a host for your online business will hurt your brand in literally hundreds of different ways. Your site will start to crash and experience all sorts of different hiccups that will surely drive your customers/audience away.

You don’t want that, do you?

Yeah, I didn’t think so.

Whenever I start preaching about terrible hosting and all the ways that it can ruin you online, I’m always reminded of the time when Amazon went down back in March of 2016. The site was out of order for about 20min, and people started to freak out!

I’m not exaggerating.

Thousands of frequent Amazon users from all over the world went on Twitter to share their frustration with the world.

It was a PR nightmare.

But, this isn’t the first time that Amazon’s site crashed. On 19th of October 2013,  the world’s largest online retailer, went down again for about 15 minutes. Knowing that this company processes more than $170k in transactions per minute on average, these sort of hiccups are not something that the guys behind Amazon can ignore.

Every minute their site isn’t working, Amazon loses a LOT of money.

And I do mean A LOT.

Piles and piles of money.

Looking over Amazon’s case, we can agree upon that web hosting isn’t something that you should really gamble with, right?

reseller-hosting-altushost_3

From day one, you need to think about the overall safety and accessibility of your site. You need to make sure that your site’s in the right hands.

As I wrote before, frequent downtime and slow page loading can butcher your image online. It can cost you a lot of sales.

Having all these possible complications in mind, when choosing a web hosting provider for your site, you should really try your best to think about all the details. I know that this sort of things seems a bit much, but you can never be too careful.

That’s why I always beg my friends and business partners to think above the price and basic details of particular hosting deals. I urge them to go beyond these kind of things and figure out if they’re doing business with a reseller or a parent hosting company.

reseller-hosting-altushost_1

So, What is Reseller Hosting?

It’s a form of web hosting where a certain brand gains the possibility to use a certain bigger web host’s hard drive space and bandwidth, and sell it to customers as its own, for a profit.

Yes, it’s basically renting hardware and selling it as your own. A lot of major web hosting companies offer reseller deals.

Why? – Well, there are many reasons.

Reseller hosting is great for various types of clients out there. Database programmers, copywriters, designers, digital marketing experts – these are just a few services and professions that may offer web hosting to their clients as a reseller.

This option helps these above-mentioned businessmen and businesses save a lot of money and hustle on acquiring all that physical infrastructure needed to run a successful hosting service on their own.

Thanks to these affordable reseller options, they don’t need to buy their own servers or focus on all the other tasks and responsibilities that come with managing, running and making sure that your server is up and running for a maximum uptime. Nope. Reseller hosting deals help them simply buy the services of bigger web hosting providers and resell them to their end-users in various different ways.

Ok, Great – But What’s The Catch Here? If Reseller Hosting Is So Great, Why Should I Avoid It?

Although reseller hosting is cheap and allows you to have complete control over your rented resources – there are still a lot of disadvantages that come with this particular type of hosting.

First and foremost of all, you’re not in charge of your own service. Yes, you can create your own plans and sell them any way you want to – but still, as a business, you cannot really guarantee a certain quality of service.

Why? – Well, ‘cause it doesn’t really concern you. If your parent host goes down, your service will follow. Same goes for the quality of your service. If the original host has terrible uptime and network stability, so will you. There’s no way around it.

reseller-hosting-altushost_4

Sure reseller hosting demands lot less of your time, money, and technical know-how to run a legit web hosting business, but it still doesn’t really give you the luxury to create your own success. Your service is still pretty dependent on all sorts of external factors that could easily make and break your business.

Even though I don’t have much against reseller hosting, being a cautious type, my logic tells me that it’s always better to get what you need directly from the source, instead of third party distributor.  

Marketing

50 Unbeatable Ecommerce Marketing Tips

Leave a comment

Ecommerce, like any business, needs an effective marketing strategy. And in as much as ecommerce beats geographic constraints, giving you almost limitless reach, this also brings about limitless competitors. It is, therefore, essential to have a strong marketing strategy that will set you apart from all other online businesses out there.

We have compiled fifty tips that can help you come up the best marketing strategy that will give your business the brand awareness that it deserves. Just follow these tips and you will be fifty steps closer to success:

50-ecommerce-marketing-tips-altushost_10

CONTENT AND EMAIL MARKETING

Content and Email Marketing are your weapons against your competitors; these tools can help you stand out in your industry. However, not all ecommerce companies are investing on content, or some of them aren’t doing it the right way.

In this in-depth guide on increasing website traffic, the first step is to optimize your web content. Not only does it help in driving traffic to your website, but it also helps in your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and marketing efforts. Here’s the gist of what you can do to level up your content and email marketing efforts:

1. Devise a content marketing strategy

Planning is key. Plan your content marketing strategy well. Come up with how you intend to deliver your message to your customers. Will you use blogs? How about videos or newsletters?

2. Create original content

Originality is essential. Ensure that you will not just pull out content from other sites because in one way or another, your visitors will know that you are not giving them the effort they deserve.

3. Invite user-generated content

Enhance relationship with customers by inviting them to provide content. When customers feel attached to a brand, they will be loyal customers.

GoPro’s GoPro Awards is a great example. Customers are rewarded for quality content. Customers win prizes while GoPro wins their loyalty.

4. Long-form content as an asset

The number of words that determine long-form content is a topic of much debate but we can safely say that we know a long content when we see one. And although longer pieces are more difficult to make, visitors are seen to like meatier readings better.

5. Start with an automated email marketing campaign

Email marketing is still the most effective methods for relaying your message to your potential customers. Emails have a higher click-through-rate than banner ads! So don’t take email marketing for granted.

6. Optimize your email capture modules.

Test whether or not your current email capture methods is effective. If not, test if another method will work better. Tailor fit your method to the type of customers you attract.

50-ecommerce-marketing-tips-altushost_11

7. People still read emails

Don’t think that nobody reads emails anymore because a lot still do! So make quality email content!

8. Engage your customers with how-to videos.

Especially if you are offering tools and gadgets, sharing how-to videos is a great idea. It will help a lot of customers and your effort will be appreciated.

9. FAQ-ing FAQs

The FAQ page is an important part of your site. The answers here will really answer a lot of your customers’ questions. Also consider whether or not you want to integrate a formal or a goofy feel as the FAQ page is a great place to show off your organizational culture.

10. Photos describe it better

Links and content that have photos are more likely to get attention from visitors so use photos to your advantage.

50-ecommerce-marketing-tips-altushost_12

11. Doesn’t hurt to talk about controversial topics

Talking about issues and controversies related to your business would pique interest from your visitors.

12. Reddit is the new forums

A lot of different topics are discussed in Reddit. Subreddits related to your business offers advertising opportunity.

13. Enable ratings in discussion areas.

Ratings give customers more power to engage. Not only will you get more interaction from them, but it will also give you unbiased feedback from them so you will know how to better serve them.

14. Generate reviews by donating products

Get reviews from publishers, bloggers, and video channels by giving them free products. This will inspire word-of-mouth marketing and customers fill find this reliable as reviews will be unbiased.

15. Encourage people to make product reviews

Product reviews inspires trust as you share feedback from real customers. Encourage more people to provide reviews whether it be positive or negative. Hopefully, more users will give a good rating.

16. Level up: Create your own Media Outlet

Publishing your own content on your own media outlet may seem to be a lot of effort but customers will appreciate how you are being unique and creative.

17. Stay up-to-date on industry news

Write about news and current events related to your business. And when other write-ups get a little too complicated, you will need to level it down so your customers will understand.

18. Check out free marketing options

You may want to explore free marketing options such as blogs. Other marketing options may be too costly and that it would be such a great waste of money if they don’t work. Free marketing options, on the other hand, is double-benefit if it successfully marketed your brand.

50-ecommerce-marketing-tips-altushost_13

SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING

Search engine marketing is no doubt one of the things you have to target even while doing content marketing. Gone were the old days of keyword stuffing; search engines now use machine learning to determine patterns on search queries and properly matching it to search results. To sum it all up, search engines are now trying to think like a human.

By playing your cards right in content marketing, you can also reap benefits in search engine marketing. However, there are other aspects of search engine marketing to focus on. Here are some tips on how to widen your reach on search engines:

19. Play it well with search engines.

Be creative with your headlines and content to help your ranking. Also, keyword optimization is not the only way to rank in search engines so focus on having quality content. Consider looking for a quality web host, instead of cheap hosting plans. Goran has explained it thoroughly in his article on cheap web hosting. Downtimes can severely affect your website’s performance, and a poorly performing site will not rank well in the search engine results page.

20. Onsite SEO

Keywords are still essential for ecommerce businesses to highlight that you sell such a product. Use your keyword strategically.

21. Invest wisely on pay-per-click marketing.

Test out a couple of PPC marketing deals and find which one is the best. A great PPC campaign can bring amazing results.

22. Go Local

Some ecommerce businesses may consider having a physical store somewhere but this is not a requirement. It is just a good idea to have a physical location and to target local customers in the process.

50-ecommerce-marketing-tips-altushost_14

23. Go mobile

A lot of online activity is done on mobile phones and tablets. Ensure that your campaigns are optimized for mobile devices too.

24. Optimize for mobile advertising

Mobile advertising are geared toward customers who are always on the go. As there are lots of customers like this, it is worth it to optimize for mobile advertising.

USER EXPERIENCE

Aside from a spectacular web design and innovative interface, user experience is another factor you should look after when maintaining your website. Even after you launch your site, you still need to work out the kinks in your website.

25. Perform A/B Testing on your Checkout process

Run tests so you would find out why other customers abandon their carts, while some make actual purchases. Doing so will help you have more sales.

26. Shorten the checkout process.

A complicated checkout process may just turn off your customers. Don’t make it inconvenient to shop online.

27. Reduce abandoned carts.

Find out why customers are leaving your store without making actual purchases and make effort to combat this.

50-ecommerce-marketing-tips-altushost_16

28. Break the deal breaker: Shipping

A lot of customers leave stores with no free or express shipping. Check out how you can improve your shipping and delivery process to get more sales.

Google recently launched Google Express for speedy delivery. It was initially available for Midwest, offering overnight delivery to customers

29. Subtly upsell your products.

Moderate upselling is good. But a little more than enough will be annoying.

30. The Internet of Things: Wearable Technology

As people are patronizing wearable tech, companies must adapt on how to hook up to these devices and optimize campaigns for it,

SOCIAL MEDIA OUTREACH

Without a doubt, social media is something you shouldn’t miss out. Cover all the areas where you can find your audience. Customers often check out social media accounts to see how a company deals with their customers, or to see if there are announcements or reviews about the company.

31. Build social media assets, then analyze

The effort you put on keeping a social media account is worth it if it helps you achieve your goals. But maintaining a lot of accounts may not be worth it. Check out which ones you should keep, and which ones to scrap.

32. Get more social with Instagram.

Customers are really fond of photos so being on Instagram and sharing content every now and then is a great strategy.

33. Put your social networks on autopilot

This doesn’t mean being automating your social media activities. What you need to automate is planning and monitoring of such activities.

34. Invest in social ads

Ads on social media sites are great. You can first post free content and when you find out that your followers like a particular piece more than others, you can now spend more on advertising it.

COMPANY BRANDING

Even with content and reach, there’s nothing more important than establishing your company’s brand online. People engage more to a brand that they can relate to, that speaks the language they are familiar with. No need to impress them with intelligent comebacks unless that’s what your company is for; be simple, be unique.

35. A touch of branding

Ensure that your content carry one voice even if there are different people are working on different materials. Branding includes spreading the same message in different ways.

36. Zdravo! Talk to your Customers in Their Native Languages

As your ecommerce business can be seen from anywhere around the globe, you will definitely have foreign customers. Try to implement translation capabilities for them so that they can understand your site and what you are saying.

50-ecommerce-marketing-tips-altushost_17

37. Let the world know who your authors are

Give credit to who makes your content. This inspires trust from your audience. It is also a good personalization strategy.

38. Everybody loves the company mascot

It is a good idea to establish a face to your company. Think of a character that best represents your business. Think wisely as your brand will be associated to it.

39. Establish authority online.

One of the best ways to establish authority is to come up with a forum or a community. Content in it as seen as authoritative as they are backed up with the business that sells the product they have, or want to have. Authority and trust can also be seen on how you have set up your website. AltusHost for example, offers SSL certificates for websites. SSL certificate providers such as Let’s Encrypt offer free SSL, while EV SSL is another type that’s mainly beneficial to medium to large ecommerce sites.

40. Dive into personalization.

Your customers will appreciate personalization. Your business needs a face that will personify it. Give your business a real face.

41. Do contextual marketing

When making content, consider demographics. Put the right message at the right place and at the right time.

42. Provide personal experiences

Personalization should be felt by your customers. When sending them email, use their names, put their names on your site when they connect. Gear for the ultimate personalization!

43. Target alternative automated marketing techniques

Spend less time and effort by employing alternative automated marketing techniques. Receiving birthday greetings from your business will mean a lot to customers, but you won’t need to manually check who from your customers are celebrating day after day on manually.

44. Have a loyalty program

Reward patrons. Inspire shoppers to go back. Loyalty programs entice your shoppers to spend more, knowing that they will be rewarded.

45. Talk to your visitors

Consider implementing a chat module. Your shoppers will appreciate the effort in trying to reach out and help.

46. Remind them about their wish lists.

Some online shops have wish lists. But not all remind their customers about having such. Wish lists serve as delay for sale so reminding your users to purchase the content of their wish list will help close the deal.   

47. Everyone loves freebies

Who doesn’t like free stuff? Come up with contests that will entice your users to go to your site and actually shop. Raffles, prizes, and other rewards will be very much appreciated.

48. Generate reports to determine future sales.

Data on your sales will help you make decisions that are backed up with reason. Consider your reports when making decisions.

49. Monthly market research.

Market Research attempts to know what your customers want and how  you can give that to them. Invest on market research and do this at least monthly to keep a dynamic product offering.

50. If you cannot beat them, join them.

Although you have your own site, still consider selling on other platforms such as eBay, Amazon, and Facebook.

Follow this fifty tips for a great ecommerce marketing strategy. We cannot promise results as the execution relies on you. But by following our tips above, you are better equipped with what it take to gain new customers, retain current customers, and to regain lost customers through an effective ecommerce marketing strategy!

Erin Feldman is an ecommerce business owner somewhere in California, specializing in activewear and yoga outfits. She’s now debt-free from her student loans after she tried selling clothing online.

Tips & Tutorials

I Have a New Website, Now What? – Get People to Visit It, Of Course!

Leave a comment

If the movie Matrix was about web hosting and websites, and not showing down questionable pills down Neo’s throat, I think that Morpheus’ monolog would go something like this:

“Take a shaddy and free hosting deal for your website, and you’ll wake up back in your boring old analog life, and continue to struggle to make ends meet. If you go for the professional web hosting option, you’ll become the chosen one and go on to do great things online.”

Like I said numerous times on this blog – without a proper web hosting solution, your website is as good as dead. It simply cannot function.

There’s nothing to keep it up and running.

But, even when you find someone who’s willing to keep your site online, you still need to make sure that you’ve chosen the right company for the job. If not, if you made a bad choice and sent your site into the wrong hands – you’ll soon start to experience all sorts of different troubles that come with terrible web hosting.

You’ll start to experience all those awful scenarios that come with hosting your business with a random provider who doesn’t really care about the quality of his service.

The overall safety and accessibility of your website should be one your top priorities in business. That’s why you should never gamble with your web hosting. The stakes are just too high.

It doesn’t really matter what you do or what you sell online, if you’re not capable of keeping your website constantly online and secure – people will abandon ship.

You’ll have a hard time acquiring new and retaining current visitors.

new-website-strategy-altushost_2

Regardless of how easy your website might be on the eyes – if it tends to frequently go offline, people will lose patience and move on the next best thing. The same goes for your content and proposals. Nothing can compensate for your bad hosting. There isn’t really anything that will encourage your visitors to keep coming back for more if your site isn’t performing right. They’ll move on and never come back. And the worst thing of all? – These displeased individuals will tell everyone they know that your business sucks.

The horror, right?

You don’t want that, do you?

You don’t want people to bounce right off your site and start talking trash about your brand online?

Of course not.

That would be stupid.

That’s why, before you even start to think about chasing clients and growing your online business –  you first need to get your digital house in order. If you want to really make a living from what you do or sell online, you cannot be careless with your web hosting. Simple as that.

But what happens when you find a good company to host your site? What happens then? What happens when you cross “find a good hosting solution for my digital business” of your to-do list? What’s your next move?

Focus on getting people to visit your new, shiny and reliable site, of course.

new-website-strategy-altushost-1

Roll Out the Right Welcome Matt

Acquiring traffic is probably the no.1 challenge most new online businessmen face while taking their first steps in this ever-expanding digital world.

What’s the point of owning a professional website if no one spends any time on it?

Website traffic is really important to online businesses. No, scratch that – it’s everything to them! If there’s no traffic, then there are no new leads, which means that your sales number will stagnate. And when that happens, when you stop generating new sales – you might as well close up shop and start working on your next best business idea.

So, how can a new site find its audience?

Simple, by doing the following things:

Getting the People You Want to Test Your Website Before You Go After Them Like a Mad Dog

Sure, you can promote your site and buy some new traffic, but that doesn’t really mean that you’ll be reaching out to the right crowd. You may target people who share the same interest as you do, but that also doesn’t necessarily guarantee you anything. Even if you get them to click on your site and take a look around – that still doesn’t mean that they’ll come back for more.  

No. Before you even start to think about reaching out to a larger crowd, you first have to develop your core audience. You need to create a group of people that will frequently visit your site, so you can learn from them what they like and what they dislike about the way you present yourself online. Only then will you truly understand what makes you special and what you need to do in order to make your brand and business appealing to a larger number of people.

new-website-strategy-altushost_4

So, how can you build your core audience? What do you need to do in order to stimulate your current and potential shopper to keep coming back to your site and start spreading good words about your business?

By testing your site, content, and proposals on the right people.

Before you go ahead and start chasing people around the Web to click on your site, you need to know that there is an infinite number of things that could affect your sales, Also, you need to know that almost every little detail can affect how your targeted audience will think of your brand in general. This will of course also have a significant effect on your overall site traffic.

This is a good time as any to tell you that regardless of what you do or sell online, you constantly need to test your efforts and look for insights that will tell you what’s working for you, and what’s not. It’s all about finding the most effective way on how to present your products or services to the right crowd.

There’s no universal or lasting solution here. No. The Web is constantly evolving. What’s hot today, tomorrow could be ancient history. That’s why it’s of crucial importance that you ALWAYS keep your ear to the ground, listen to what’s trending and try your best to jump on that bandwagon that’s currently rollin’.

Before we dig in deeper, we first and foremost need to wrap your mind around this sentence:

If you want to do business online, you need to build a website for your audience, not yourself.

Period.

They’re the ones who are really going to use it, not you.

Most digital entrepreneurs make the same mistake here. They create their website in an image that suits their needs and preferences, and not their targeted audiences.

You don’t want to make the same mistake as they do, do you?

That’s why you, as a newbie in this digital business, should focus on testing out these four critical components on the right people, before you go out and chase your future clients:

1. Content (sales copy, headlines, your general tone of communication, etc);
2. Billing and purchasing (the entire process of doing business with you or buying something from your site needs to be as simple as possible);
3. Opt-in offer (making sure if that your collecting all the right data from your leads and customers);
4. Site navigation, UX (figuring out if your user journey is good enough, if everything is in the right place and if your clients are being served with all the necessary data)

Ok, great – but how can I test all of these things when there still isn’t any real traffic on my site? Where can I find the right type of people that could help me gather all the right insights?

The solution to this problem is quite simple: All you need to do is buy some traffic through PPC.  With PPC, you get instant, cheap traffic, based on your targeted keywords. If you set your campaign right, if you bid for the right descriptive keywords – you’ll learn a lot about your targeted crowd and what you need to do in order to make your site and offers interesting to them.

2. Personalize Your Site – Make Sure That IT Offers a Unique Experience

Yes. This is extremely important.

Regardless of how great your website may look, you still need to make sure that it offers people enough reasons to keep visiting it over and over again. It’s your job to make sure that your audience sees some value in what you do or sell site. In order for them to come back, their first experience must be more than satisfactory.

That’s why it’s of crucial importance that you do everything in your power to provide them with exemplary and unique experience that will transform these casual visitors into your die-hard brand advocates.

new-website-strategy-altushost_6

How can you accomplish such a thing?

By doing the following:

a.) Creating custom landing pages and publishing well-researched 10x content that directly speaks to their pain points and provides your audience with real solutions for their everyday problems.

b.) Showcasing your products and services in clever “best of”, “special deal” curated sections that immediately grab your visitors and attention and lure them to investing more about those specific offers. It doesn’t really matter what you curate here, as long as you speak to your customers need in ways that are appealing to them. You can curate events, roundups, product content or large banners on your homepage or sidebar lists – it doesn’t really matter as long as you create different curated sections for different landing pages that will help your audience quickly jump to where they want to be.

c.) Highlighting your new website entries. Keep your popular and new content front and center. Also, be sure to suggest other types of content on your site that your readers’ also may like.

d.) Creating a ton of communication that makes you unique.

e.) Rewarding your fans. Make sure you do everything that you could to acknowledge those who often visit your site and engage with your content or proposals. Your main objective here should be to deepen their loyalty even further by personally reaching out to these individuals and offering them all sorts of different discounts, gifts, and thank you notes for spreading good words about your brand online.

3. Start a Blog

Blogging is great for online businesses. Especially new ones. Apart from generating new links and capitalizing on relevant short and long-tail keywords in SERP, blogging helps brands establish authority in their market. It helps them reach out to the right people in a unique way that instantly demonstrates their worth and knowledge about a particular subject.

Naturally, in order to make it big online via blogging, you really need to understand your targeted audience. You really need to know for whom you’re exactly writing, what your desired crowd likes, what it dislikes, where does it hang out, and what kind of things are troubling them on daily, weekly, and monthly basis.

giphy-3

If you want to generate traffic on your site via blogging, you need to locate your audience’s pain points and do your best to provide real answers to the thing that hold them back. But that’s not all. A lot of brands today have blogs. Some of them have more than one. They’re all familiar with the benefits that come with blogging. It doesn’t really matter if you write about web hosting, content marketing, SEO, cooking, fashion, or even household items – there are basically hundreds and thousands of other sites around the world who are doing the exact same thing as you are.

That’s why, if really want to make it in this department – you need to constantly follow what other brands from your niche are doing, and do your best to produce content that’s at least 10x better than the one that they publish on their sites.

4. Develop an Outreach Strategy: Write Guest Posts On Popular Sites, Do PR, Build Links, Etc

If you want to grow your audience and generate some real traffic on your site, apart from blogging, advertising your business all over popular search engines and social media channels, you really need to focus on developing an outreach strategy that will help you intelligently present your business in all the right places.

Guest post, link building, PR – basically everything that will help you appear on popular sites in a smart and engaging way.   

Why? – Well, because, 81% of the people online trust the information they read online. Especially on popular na credible sites.

Let me show this again to you in a different way:

new-website-strategy-altushost_8

This should be your mantra.

There’s certain power behind online recommendations.

That’s why a lot of online businessmen spend a great deal of time developing killer content and pitching their ideas to such sites as Huffington Post, Entrepreneur, INC, etc.

The ROI behind appearing on such web addresses in the right light is unmeasurable. And not just these site, but all the others that have a great deal of frequent readers that could be interested in your products and services.

This is probably the best way to lure people back to your site. You offer them a glimpse of your knowledge and expertise, and if they’re impressed by it – they’ll come looking for more!

But, in order to truly benefit from your outreach strategy and keep those new leads coming, you need to make sure that your website has something to offer them. You cannot do outreach, if you don’t really have an active blog on your own site. They’ll bounce right back if there’s nothing there to keep them coming back for more.

Thank you for taking the time to read this article. If you have anything to add or ask on this subject, feel free to write your thoughts in your comments section below.

That’s it for now,
See you soon again!

Marketing

From Zero to Hero: How to Steadily Grow Your Blog’s Audience

Leave a comment

Being fun, creative and, in theory, easy to do, blogging is already established as a dream job of our generation. Practically, being a successful blogger seeks a lot of your time and it never leaves much space for creative blocks. Even if circumstances allow you to fully commit to your followers and you have no shortage of inspiration, luring more readers and growing your blog is not exactly a simplest venture. Be that as it may, in order to enthuse, engage and influence, you’ll need your blog traffic to have constant growth. Here’s how you can accomplish this ambitious goal.

Presence Seeks Uniqueness

In a modern world run by merry millennials, developing a strong online presence requires a sort of identity that an audience can identify with, get inspired by and remain frequently amused in the process. The blogging market, as you now, is a saturated one, which means that the competition is lurking behind every corner. If your readers are not particularly pleased with you, they will promptly replace you with someone else – all it takes for loyalty to weaken is one click.

All of this means that your approach will need to be innovative, original and quirky, but not only that. Content, which is the very essence of blogging, is of little significance if not presented in an attractive fashion and wrapped up in a gorgeously designed ribbon. Before even you start publishing, you should devote some of your time to devising your branding strategy.

This includes answers to several important questions like: Who I am in the blogging world? What have I got to offer that’s different? How do I want to be perceived? What audience should I lean towards? Once this becomes perfectly clear, you can start building and marketing your blog accordingly. Think carefully about your blog name, keep your style in tune with your content and start spreading the word around.

Polish Your Content

Once you’ve gathered a nice number of followers – and they will undoubtedly come with your family and friends – you’ll need to start upping your game a bit. If you’re aiming for the top, professionalism should be your main concern. You’ll need to completely devote all of your creative efforts to this goal and stay consistent in doing so. Your branding strategy will come to its first test in this step, but what you’ll really need to commit yourself to is the quality of your content.

Blog topics are various and your approach will differ depending on your chosen niche. Whether you’re running a photography or writing blog, your content will have to be polished and ready for publishing.

After catching the first wave and expressing some of your thoughts to your followers, don’t stop. In order to stay consistent and publish regularly, you’ll have to think about new material while working on the current projects. If you are writing, be sure to proofread every word in order to notice and edit potential spelling and grammar mistakes, as well as typos – if made public, these occasional slips will make you look like an amateur and this will encourage your readers move on to another tab in their browser.

Think Like Your Audience Does

image01

However masterful your writing skills may be, you’ll need to get a bit more into market research as well. As boring as it might sound, understanding your readers’ behavior, their needs and preferences, and the competition that will try to win them over is crucial for achieving the success you’re striving towards.

There are a couple of things you can do as a non-expert for improved audience targeting, and locating your readers through social media is always a good way to start. Popular channels offer plenty of opportunities for narrowing your search down through filters, thus allowing you to reach those interested in a specific niche or topic and advertise your blog directly to them.

Another alternative is to track your competition and start following them on social media. Since you’re in the same niche, your audience is most likely the same as well, and you can easily get a grasp of your average reader’s profile by examining theirs. This profile should and will affect your branding and marketing techniques, your blog’s virtual presentation and style, as well as your content itself.

Mingle

As can easily be deduced from the previous steps, mingling around social media is of the utmost significance for connecting with your readers and growing your traffic. Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are the holy trinity of the online world, and they are followed by Pinterest and Snapchat. All of these platforms will serve you well as a way of getting to know your audience, but also as a highly suitable environment for introducing yourself to the blogging community.

So far, image-oriented networks such are Pinterest, Instagram and Snapchat have significantly improved their potential for sharing non-visual content as well, and their popularity allows writers to slightly alter their marketing approach and pitch their blogs to wider audiences. A post as simple as an engaging pic, followed up by an inviting caption, can be just intriguing enough to make your potential reader click on the link and visit your blog. Facebook and Twitter are even more advantageous for content sharing, which is something you should definitely start leveraging.

Infiltrate the Community

Social media is a perfect place not only for engaging with the receiving end – once your presence is established on these platforms, you’ll have an opportunity of connecting with your fellow writers as well. Even though the competition is fierce, most successful bloggers don’t have anything to lose, and they will gladly recommend your posts to their followers.

Research some of the influencers from your niche and approach them with a simple request – not only can they help spread the word around, but you can stumble upon new and interesting collaboration ideas and become a part of the community. Having your blog’s name written just below theirs is one of the best ways of making it perfectly clear that you’re here to stay and have every asset to support that.

Lend Your Writing Skills

If your success rates have started to sink, the time is probably right to start considering guest blogging. After all, your blogging skills and creativity of approach mean little if there’s no one to follow them – instead of sitting idle or wasting your precious time creating content that only a few of your devoted fans will see, start posting on other blogs from your niche.

Choose the ones your audience is most likely already familiar with and read frequently, and try your best to stand out. Every second reader has a habit of checking the writer’s profile after reading an inspiring blog post, and every third will actually go to your own blog and continue to visit it regularly.

Even if your blog has already started to fill up with readers impatient to hear more of your thoughts, this certainly doesn’t mean you can let your guard down. Loyalty goes both ways, and you’ll need to make your current readers feel appreciated by engaging with them, answering their demands and keeping up the good work.

If feeling left out, they will easily stop visiting. Keep your posts regular and consistent, but never stop improving. Constantly bettering your offer is the single most important way of keeping your readers happy and the most effective technique for steadily growing your audience.