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18 Dec

Top SEO Trends In 2018

 

Online visibility is an essential component to any company’s strategy, however the digital landscape is in an ongoing state of change so it’s mandatory to stay on top of these changes to make sure that your online presence is optimised. Google releases between 500 and 600 updates yearly, with most of them merely fine-tuning their secretive search ranking algorithm. With Google being such a formidable force in today’s online environment, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) has become increasingly important for businesses to increase their website traffic, customer engagement, and ultimately their sales.

User behaviour is shifting rapidly with new technology, so Google must monitor these changes and revise their search algorithm respectively to ensure the user experience is as seamless as possible. If a website is going to grow online, they too must stay on top of the changing trends in SEO. In fact, using out-of-date SEO strategies can trigger penalties that decrease a website’s search engine results page (SERP) listings, so here we’ll look into the top SEO trends to bear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 instead of traditional keyboard searches, so this will obviously be a top SEO trend in 2018. Voice searches are quicker and more convenient, which is why it isn’t surprising that 1 in 5 online searches stem from voice queries. If the current surge in voice searches continues at the same velocity, almost 50% of all online searches will be performed via speech by the year 2020!

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

Link Building

Link building has always been an important tool for SEO, and this will still be a vital aspect in calculating SERP listings in 2018. Generating valuable links to trustworthy websites is still the most convenient way for Google to determine if a website is trusted, so adding value through quality links that helps you construct an authority in your target niche is an effective strategy.

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

Mobile Optimisation

Since 2015, online searches via mobile devices has surpassed that from desktops, 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 reported that they are experimenting with mobile-first indexing, which clearly illustrates that mobile optimisation will be prioritised in the upcoming year. If your website hasn’t already been optimised for mobile devices, now is unquestionably 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 reality, 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 influencing SERP listings yet, it will influence other areas closely related to Google’s search results algorithm, like bounce rate and session duration of users. AMP can be simply installed into HTML or JavaScript code, though plugins will be needed for content management systems such as Drupal and WordPress.

How To Work On SEO For Your Website in 2018

Even though traditional SEO techniques such as link building will still be effective in 2018, there are other surfacing trends that Google is targeting in the future which may significantly transform the practice of SEO. It’s clear that SEO is already evolving to stay on top of changes in user behaviour and to maximise the overall user experience. By recognising the latest SEO trends and implementing strategies now, your website will be optimised and ready to receive targeted clients from higher SERP listings.

If you have any issues or concerns about how you can optimise your website to conform with the latest SEO trends, get in touch with Internet Marketing Experts Albany on 1300 595 013, or visit their website for further details: http://www.internetmarketingexpertsalbany.com.au

 

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12 Dec

Social Media Marketing – Say More On Twitter

The day has finally come where Twitter users can voice their annoyance with the 140 character limit in more detail, now that Twitter has formally verified that they have raised the character limit to 280 per Tweet!

The social networking platform, which was launched in 2006, grew aggressively to become one of the most stylish social media platforms around the world, however recent declines in growth prompted the social media giant to make some adjustments. Twitter differentiates itself from other social media networks with its ‘microblogging’ feature, which is widely distinct to equivalent social media sites like Facebook and Google Plus. Twitter has just over 330 million users that send nearly 6,000 Tweets per second.

Despite the 140 character limit that truly defined the social networking service, Twitter disclosed on November 7 that they want every user around the globe to ‘easily’ express themselves on Twitter. After performing a series of tests over the past couple of months, Twitter determined that they wanted to expand the character limit, but only where needed. Countries like China, Japan, and South Korea will remain at the 140 character limit, simply because there’s no demand for an increase, as sending messages in these languages can be represented in a short amount of characters. Languages like English however, experience jammed Tweets with 9% of English Tweets hitting the previous 140 character limit.

So, why the change?

After performing a number of tests to specific users, Twitter gained valuable results and believed the 240 character limit would be favourable for the majority of users. Due to the fact that 9% of English users were hitting the 140 character mark, many would need to spend time cropping their Tweets to make sure they didn’t have to send several messages. Further, users would now have the ability to readily fit their thought and feelings into a single Tweet, so they could say what was on their mind and send them faster than before.

The question is, what impact will this have for digital marketers and SEO consultants? Here are a few alterations that they can expect to see.

Increased engagement

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

Improved user experience for followers.

The increased character limit means that users will have smaller threads of conversations, since they can fit more content into a single message. Users with long threads of conversations stated that it can often be challenging to follow and respond to. Moreover, brands are enjoying the longer Tweets as it allows them to fit more comprehensive information into a single Tweet which creates higher engagement rates.

Increases customer communication

With the surge of firms using social media as a channel to manage customer service issues, customers can now express an issue in more detail on Twitter which is beneficial for both the customer and the business, as communication is substantially improved. Previously, many users would have looked to other platforms like Facebook to report customer service issues given that the character limit was too restraining.

More Creativity

Longer Tweets means that enterprises can enrich the creativity of their communication with their target audience through storytelling, Q&A’s, and more engaging Twitter Chats. Businesses would commonly have to use other social media platforms if they wanted to get creative, however brands can now successfully use longer text to their advantage by reaching out to their audience on a more personal level.

Even though some users have argued that the increase in character limit by Twitter makes them more comparable to other social media sites, the clear majority of users appear to be very satisfied with their latest update. Nothing is set in stone in social media, as making changes to stay up to date with shifting user behaviour is vital for survival. For the time being though, both users and marketing specialists seem to have emerged the winner!

If you need any guidance about how your enterprise can leverage the increased character limit to your advantage on Twitter, simply talk with Internet Marketing Experts by calling 1300 595 013, or alternatively visit their website for more information: https://internetmarketingexperts.net.au

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06 Dec

An Overview Of SSL Changes – What It Means For Your Website

In today’s ever-changing online landscape, it’s paramount that businesses Google’s best practices to ensure they remain competitive in their respective online markets. With Google being the most dynamic and influential company on the internet, it’s imperative for them to keep abreast of all the threats and opportunities that the internet produces. Hence, Google releases a myriad of updates every year: new features, bug fixes, and the majority pertaining to the very secretive Google search ranking algorithm.

What’s important though, is that all online suppliers that use Google-related services (virtually every online business), recognise important changes that may have a bearing on their SEO, performance, and ultimately their bottom-line. The internet is in a constant state of change, so online companies need to be flexible and accustom to new Google updates as soon as possible to ensure they aren’t negatively influenced by these new releases.

The biggest Google update that has recently had an effect on online providers relates to Google Chrome v62, which was released in October of this year. The Google Chrome web browser is used by virtually 50% of all online users, so it’s really important that online providers implement the appropriate changes as swiftly as possible if they aspire to avoid any negative 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 stores passwords and credit card information (which is housed in a plain text file), they are prone to phishing sites that can essentially steal this information from buyers that wrongly believe they are supplying their personal information to a legitimate company. The Google Chrome browser will begin marking any text input field and web address bar as ‘NOT SECURE’ for HTTP pages.

This change will visibly bear upon millions of websites around the world. Before the change, many non-secured websites weren’t impaired by phishing attacks simply because they didn’t have a public-facing member login, and chose PayPal or other offsite payment processors to accept online payments. Now, however, all websites will need to start securing their web pages given that users will become scared of succumbing to malevolent attacks if they enter personal information into fields marked boldly as ‘NOT SECURE’.

How to make web pages secure?

For online providers that would like to secure their previously non-secured (HTTP) web pages, they must encrypt the information being exchanged between their visitors and their web server by integrating an SSL certificate. Google are evidently pushing for a more secure internet than ever before, and they’ve chosen SSL encryption as a vehicle to do this. For website owners who want 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 how you can avoid the ‘NOT SECURE’ warning in Google Chrome which is intended for 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 provider will need to secure their web pages using SSL encryption whether they like it or not, or users will simply find a competitor that does.

What this also signifies is that not all websites using SSL encryption should be trusted, and there will be a significant increase in phishing sites using HTTPS also. Phishing sites can simply use phony SSL certificates to evade the ‘NOT SECURE’ warning by Google Chrome and make their websites appear authentic. This will make the differentiation between phishing sites and real websites more complicated than ever. Online companies that use an Extended Validation Certificate (EV SSL) will be the most trusted websites on the net because it will be exceptionally difficult for phishing sites to mimic the authenticity that EV SSL provides.

Making all websites use SSL certificates to demonstrate 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 compulsory, so if you need any support in securing your website with SSL encryption, consult the digital specialists at Internet Marketing Experts by calling 1300 595 013, or visit their website for additional information: https://internetmarketingexperts.net.au

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15 May

Why You Should Have A WordPress Site

So, you’ve got a terrific business idea and you’ve made up your mind that you’re going to build and publish your own website. Well, as you most likely know, there are many things to consider. The design of the website, the images you’re going to use, the content, the website architecture, the logo designs, the online store – the list goes on. But ultimately, what’s most important when creating a new website is the platform you choose. There’s a variety of website platforms available with an array of various features, targeting the entire spectrum of developers from amateurs to professionals. You’ll ask for suggestions on which platform to use and developers will argue for weeks on end about why one platform is better than the other.

 

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

 

WordPress is user-friendly and manage

 

WordPress is considerably user-friendly so you don’t have to be a specialist HTML coder to build a practical 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 need to stress over not utilising 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 incredibly SEO-friendly

 

In the words of Google Engineer Matt Cutts, “WordPress automatically solves a tonne of SEO issues”. SEO is an exceptionally important component to any website so having in-built features that seamlessly make your website SEO-friendly is invaluable. WordPress coding is standard compliance, top quality, and produces semantic mark-up which makes your site incredibly attractive to search engines. There are also a range of free plugins that you can install which will make your website even more SEO-friendly, but we’ll discuss 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 sort of website you want. WordPress is also open source which indicates that the source code is readily available for anybody to modify, edit and create different themes and plugins with a range of features and release these to the online community. At present, there are in excess of 2,600 WordPress themes and over 3,100 different free plugins available for use. Considering that 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 questions or issues about anything WordPress related, there are literally thousands of people ready to help.

 

WordPress is mobile friendly

 

As a result of the increasing use of mobile phones for internet usage, it’s really 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 regardless of what device your customers are using, WordPress websites will automatically adapt the appearance of your website to suit. WordPress also lets you to work on both of your mobile website and PC website separately, so you can easily customise both to optimise the user experience.

 

WordPress is secure

 

In today’s world, website security is pivotal so of course WordPress has high security standards. Roughly one-quarter of websites are produced on WordPress so hackers are continually trying to find ways to compromise them. WordPress is well aware of this so has created a range of security features which prevents any malicious attacks by publishing frequent updates that neutralises these threats. Always remember, it’s also important for you to be using a secure device when accessing your WordPress account, so make sure you utilise standard security tools on your device and only download credible plugins from trusted sources.

 

As you can see, WordPress has a series of terrific features that simply make it the best website platform on the market. Though there are many other reasons why WordPress is an excellent choice for your website, this article just focuses on five of these: WordPress is very user-friendly, free and open source, significantly SEO compatible, mobile friendly, and secure. What more could you want from a platform to construct an effective and powerful website? If you have any inquiries about how you can further optimise your website, talk with the team at Internet Marketing Experts on 1300 595 013 or visit their website: https://internetmarketingexperts.net.au

 

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04 May

Top Tips For The best Email Sequences

Having worked as a sales representative for multiple tech start-ups, I can’t even begin to illustrate the value of sending email sequences that sell. Automated emails are fantastic because they drastically reduce the workload for a sales representative, nonetheless these days, everybody can empathise with discovering a range of email sequences lurking in their inbox on a daily basis that just irritate us because we have to click two buttons to get rid of them!

 

Not nearly enough business owners invest the time and effort in developing effective email sequences that essentially sell their product. Designing effective email sequences is both a science and an art, and if done competently, can produce fantastic results. Having hundreds of prospective 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 produce 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 relevant when it involves email sequences. By first impressions, I mean the subject lines of your emails. It’s the first thing that recipients will find 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 stats which showcases their importance:

 

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

Nearly 70% of email recipients will determine if an email is spam based upon the subject line

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

 

The secret to prosperous subject lines is solving your prospects problems in as little words as possible. For instance, effective subject lines include, “Common questions about university”, “Common questions about the housing market”, etc. Think about your prospects problems and target your subject lines to solve that problem concisely. You can track your subject line performance using HubSpot Sales notification stream (https://www.hubspot.com/products/sales/email-tracking).

 

Tip 2 – Write Well-Crafted Content

 

When a recipient has opened an email, it’s integral that you deliver a value proposition in the context of their problem straight away. Forget beginning the email with your name and job title; you want to give your recipients a good reason to keep reading the email. So, start your email with some information they can relate to, like company news or their reaction to an event via Facebook or an online blog, then get into the value proposition in the 2nd and 3rd 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 [resolution].

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

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

 

It’s imperative that you get to the point immediately and keep the content focused on the needs of your prospect.

 

Tip 3 – Dump the mundane ‘Welcome Email’

 

If a prospect has shown interest in your service or products, why waste both of your time with a welcome email that has no value or offerings? It’s basically dead-wood and if you’re going to send a welcome email, make sure 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 truth of the matter is that even a terrific first email may not get a response from the recipient. It’s understandable; people are busy and have prerogatives, so I highly recommend sending 2 or 3 follow-up emails as part of your email sequence. It’s easy to forget an email that you’re interested in, but an effective follow-up email will remind them that you’re here to help them in whatever problem they have. You have to make sure 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 track which emails are opened and which links are clicked so I strongly encourage using this application to support you with your email sequences.

 

The value of generating effective and actionable email sequences can have a dramatic affect on your conversion rates and sales. There are many factors that you ought to consider when crafting 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 worthwhile in consulting with digital marketing specialists that can help you. Contact the team at Internet Marketing Experts today on 1300 595 013 or visit their website: http://internetmarketingexpertsalbury.com.au.

 

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