Primarily, online videos are needed for business promotion and ads, as well as for instructions and tutorials. Fortunately, with today’s technology – creating a business video isn’t as difficult as it used to be.

Just remember that what is important is the content of the video and the approach that you use to do it.  Hence, you must be very careful with the message that you project so it can aptly describe your business a lot more clearly and in a more positive light, and you will be able to spread the word a lot more effectively.

Here are some aspects of online video creation that you might want to know:

Promotion – your video won’t get any viewers if you don’t promote it. And this means that where and how you promote your video must be done correctly.

Most of the online videos of companies are only found in the company’s website.  So, ask yourself – how one can see that video when customers don’t have an idea that that business exists?

Hence, you need to promote your videos like you promote your business itself.  You can do this by promoting in social networks, posting it in YouTube, attaching keywords to make it search engine friendly, and distributing it to other related companies with the corresponding links and other strategies – all of which have designed to increase views and traffic to your videos and your website as well.

Creation – in creating an online video, the message is the most important element.  Hence, in making a video, you must make sure that it has relevance and everything in perspective.

You can’t just put a picture of a shoe in your video and the voice of a narrator talking in the background if you are promoting dog food, right?  In other words, if customers find irrelevant content in your videos, then your promotion campaign will be stopped in its tracks outright because your customers won’t really bother to finish that video anymore.

The key is to create interesting and creative storytelling, as well as the proper presentation to entertain and inform your customer.  Hence, before making the video – you will need to brainstorm your ideas and entertain different types of presentation that will best attract your customers, to send the message across.

Furthermore, you must take into consideration the different aspects of video making, such as timing, logistics, branding and the types of platform to use.  Take note that although anyone can make a video – making a business video is a wholly different thing.

Skill and Talent – creating a video can be simple, fun and exciting – if you’re only planning to post videos of how funny and talented you are in YouTube. Creating a business video, however, is a bit more complicated. So, it is advisable that you either learn as much as you can about the craft – or, you can let professionals handle it.

Just remember that making a business video needs the necessary equipment, software and experience.  Unfortunately, some businessmen believe that they are all filmmakers – and that all they need is a camera and that’s about it.  But this is not really the case.

Of course, there are those who have actually made successful videos on their own.  So, let’s just be honest. If you really feel that you can do a good job it – then go ahead.  If not, then hire somebody who actually knows what to do.

Test Run – test your video with your friends and listen to their comments.  In this way, you can assess the areas that you need to improve on.  Ask them about the message that was conveyed to them, or if they do they found the audio clear, or if the words used were understandable and all other aspects.  In the end, what is essential is that you are able to get a glimpse of how your future audience will perceive your video.

These are just some of the things that you might consider if you are looking to make your own business video.  So – camera, lights, action!

Image by Flickr

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The difference between SEO and mobile optimization is that in optimizing search engines what is required is different set of web designing and developing skills.  In designing and optimization of mobile apps, however, what is needed is careful planning and research in order to fully understand the different features and limitations of different mobile devices and their unique platforms.

And after developers are done with the design and the development stage – the next obstacle that they will have to face is how users can locate their app.

Here are some tips on how to successfully optimize your mobile apps:

Make your app search-engine friendly – your app must be easily located by search engines such as Google and Yahoo – which means that you must specifically optimize your mobile app for search purposes.  Fortunately, optimization of mobile apps for search engines is like doing regular SEO – so, it’s won’t be that hard for SEO experts.

Use the right keywords and links – make use of keywords that are constantly used by those who are interested in searching your mobile app or those which may be related to it.  In other words, you will need to tap in to what your users are actually looking for – so your mobile apps can be easily located by them.

Another factor to take into consideration is that you need to build credibility.  You can do this by being visible through links and social networks – which is essential for gaining popularity and awareness from users, and at the same time, for the promotion of your mobile app.  Again, this is pretty much doing regular SEO, because you’re optimizing a site where the mobile app can be found.

Create a quality content related to the mobile app your promoting – search engines do not have the ability to understand and open a mobile app to know what its content is – so, you need to build content around that mobile app which search engines can crawl on and locate when users are searching for mobile apps.

Submit your app to various app stores – this is one way to get the word out and reach users that are not into going to search engines to look for mobile apps. This is specifically for customers that would rather go directly to mobile app stores than spend time searching it on Google.

Remember though, that when you’re submitting your app on online mobile stores – that you submit them in the right category.  This is because there are several categories in mobile app stores, and customers usually click on buttons by categories in order to save them time.  Hence, choose the category that best describes your app to ensure that it can be easily found.

Use the right title – you need to use right title that identifies the website’s title tag and URL where the app is being hosted – for this affects the keywords and phrases related with the app.  Also, make sure that you use a title that not only describes your mobile app but its function as well, in order to give the customer an idea of your apps’ features.

Create a short, concise and direct description on your description field – when writing information on your description field, make sure that you can attract your target audience with the information that you provide. Usually, words that are in description fields are also optimized for search engine spiders. So, use description words that are usually used by customers for searches..

Improve the page rankings of the site that hosted the mobile app – as mentioned earlier, you need the hosting site and the mobile app itself to be search-engine friendly.  After doing this, you will then need to increase the page ranking, so your site can be on the top of the search engines page when users are searching for mobile apps.

Build links – the links’ purpose here is pretty much the same with SEO link building- which is to increase awareness for your mobile app and to promote it. Hence, you need to build links for your brand’s official website in order to prove its credibility and have links to the app store as well, so that clients can purchase your mobile app.

Image by Flickr

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In order to efficiently succeed in your mobile app campaigns, one will need to have a complete understanding of how mobile app branding works – and then work on the specific actions necessary.  Besides, doing things in haste as you create and promote your mobile app, is not fool proof.  In fact, you might encounter numerous problems if you are not careful enough.  Hence, you need to come up with a quality and error-free mobile app to brand before you even attempt any branding and promotion of your product.

Always remember that mobile apps have been created in order for customers to have a much better and convenient experience during browsing – making things more fun and comfortable for them, even while they are on the go or when they are mobile.

Now, most successful mobile app brands have this unique feature that separates them from others. And this is because they offer a different experience to users that they simply cannot have with other mobile apps. So, if you want to create this experience – you have to introduce innovations and breakout of the traditional mobile app features that usually go along with other brands.

On a more important note, you must also focus on the needs of your customer.  This way, your mobile app becomes a necessity for your customers – leading to more profit on your part.  Of course, as a mobile app promoter you will need to be consistent with your mobile app’s quality, speed, uniqueness and user friendliness in order to deliver the best service to your customer and to guarantee satisfaction in the end.

Here are some simple tips on how to successfully brand your mobile app:

1. Always remember that you exist to satisfy your customer and that your customer is the boss.  And although they might not be right most of the time, you must aim to satisfy their needs – take that out of the equation, and you might as well go find another business to run.

Give your customer more value that what they paid for.  This way, they keep coming back for more of your products.  Besides, as we all know, a satisfied customer is a happy customer – and the happier he is, the higher the chance that he will purchase the products or apps that you’ll be releasing in the future.

Also, make sure that your product, aside from being fun to use – needs to have that distinct function that the customer will need.  Why?  Because if he or she does not find any use for your product, then the tendency is that he or she might look for other apps that provide the features and other functions that he actually needs.

2. You need to acknowledge that the key to your mobile app success is your customer. So, in order to gain support, you need to analyze current trends in the market to keep up with the competition, while at the same time to retain your customers. Previous satisfied customers will always check your website as to what’s new, and if they find something they like, then you can be assured that they will make the purchase.

As soon as you have that list of trends and those that you believe are what your customers are looking for, then you’ll be able to create a marketing plan around that information – in order to finally design your own updated and innovative mobile app brand.

3. Consider the pros and cons of all the mobile apps that you’ve created.  Mobile platforms have different strength and weaknesses and they function differently – so you need to plan on how to improve them to generate more customers.

4. A mobile app that is unique, easy to use and has multiple functionalities is always on top of the mobile app business. And in today’s competition where most mobile apps have pretty much the same features, then you can at least try to ensure that what you put in the table will not be the same as what others are offering.  In other words, be different.

5. Make sure to test your product before releasing it to the market and check if all of its features are working.  Check for bugs and errors and correct them ASAP before it goes out in the market and provide the necessary updates constantly.  Through these, you can rest assured that your mobile app brand campaign will become as successful as you want it to be.

Image by Flickr

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And after you have made a clear objective – then you can now create your very own Twitter community. If you want, you can follow these simple steps on how to create your Twitter community effectively:

Create a relevant, decent, and user-friendly ID

Your Twitter ID is your personal Twitter name and your brand – so, as much as possible keep it simple, understandable and decent. In creating your Twitter ID, you can choose whether you will be using your own name, or your brand name, but either way, you have to choose based on the objective that you created.  However, it is suggested you use your brand name if it’s business and if it’s for network purposes, then you use your complete name.

Also, you must avoid profane or indecent names, unless you’re in the rock and roll business or in the adult industry because not only does it sound unprofessional, it will definitely scare Twitter followers away.  Likewise take into account that you are allowed only 140 characters per Twitter post, so the longer your name is, the lesser characters you can use in your post.

Look for people to follow

Twitter users are encouraged to follow people that you don’t know or never met, as part of its social culture. Search for individuals with common interests and likes – like for instance if you are into extreme sports, race cars or movies then find people who share the same interests as you.  It would also be advisable if you followed professionals who are experts in areas that you find might be useful to you in the future.

Learn the language of Twitter users

Twitter has an existing quirky language of its own – which is usually the set of words that most Twitter users use. So, for you to completely join in the conversation, it is best that you understand what they are saying. If you are still new to the network, then you can always ask what the words mean.

Get to know individuals that reply to you

It is always best to create a rapport with individuals who are polite enough to reply to your post and messages.  Not only will this send out a more professional approach but this will also show that you appreciate his/her feedback.  Besides, these are individuals who also appreciated your content and post. But although this may be easy at first – expect that as your followers increase and you get more replies, tracking them will become a bit harder to track.

Fortunately, there are existing applications that you can use to track messages and replies coming from followers.  You can choose between TweetDeck, Tweetscan and other programs to check for replies, or you can use Google alerts to inform you of any updates or messages.

Reach out to your followers

As much as possible, interact and respond to your followers’ post and messages quickly.  You can always say something to your followers, but make sure that they won’t feel that they are just following an automated account, or that you are someone who doesn’t actually read their comments.

From what I’ve personally learned, people are more into interesting and entertaining contents, with relevant comments coming from other followers.  So, to make them feel that you are not just randomly posting contents – you can always reply with words like “yes I agree with you” or “interesting input.”

Find out the information of those individuals that follow you

This is a very important tip.  In order to avoid you starting off with wrong comments, then it will be helpful if you get to know the people who are following you in order to make having conversations much easier.  Hence, for example, if a follower is into old cars, then you can send him links about old car parts, that can result to dialogues and conversations – which is actually what Twitter communities are all about.

Promote others

The motto “the more you give, the more you receive” also applies in Twitter. If you share posts coming from individuals that follow you, helping them to increase their followers – then they will in turn do the same thing for you – which means free promotion and at the same time, an increase in credibility and support.

Image by Flickr

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So, to avoid getting hacked by pranksters and professional hackers, you must perform extra precautionary measures to ensure that your online business won’t be experiencing such untoward incidents.

Here are some easy measures that you can do to avoid being hacked.

Install antivirus/antimalware software – though some may think that these software do not have any significant use (because hackers can still find a way to get into your system) – but this is not entirely true.  Why?  Because antivirus programs actually will immediately alert you if somebody is trying to get into your system.

Without an antivirus software, your website will be free for the taking, which is like taking candy from a baby.  Hence, if pranksters want to get to your system, let them work for it – and by the time they do, alerts will probably have appeared to inform you of the activity.

However, you must bear in mind to buy only original installers, or download installers and corresponding plug-ins from official websites.  Otherwise, you might only be downloading and installing another virus instead of an anti-virus.

Beware of files sent from unknown websites – most antivirus programs will alert you, if you are about to receive any unknown file coming from another website. This can be quite common among porn sites – where visitors tend to just click on links that direct them to other pages and sites.  And obviously, if you don’t have an updated version of your antivirus program – then you probably won’t notice that you are already downloading some malware.

Another thing is that when you are downloading files like mp3s or torrents from unknown sites, or from sites that pop-out when you do your searches, the tendency is that after you extract the mp3 or the torrent file a malware goes with it.  So, again, prudence must always be exercised here.

Secure backups of your files – let’s just say that hackers did get into your system because you failed to make precautions – then at least you can copy clean information from your backup files.  This will also work if the virus or malware deleted the files in your system.

In other words, make sure that you update your backup files regularly – so that you don’t lose any information in case your system is compromised. As much as possible, secure your backup files in an external location, such as external hard drives or you can send your files to your email.

Update you antivirus/antimalware software – it doesn’t mean that since you’ve already installed an anti-virus, that you will no longer be vulnerable to hackers. Why?  This is because hackers also update their malwares to override antivirus programs.  Hence, for your system to remain secure you will need to update your antivirus regularly.

Besides, as we all know, one of the essentials in an online business is to keep everything updated – from the graphics, to the system and everything else.  So, as much as possible, include you antivirus in your update list.

Fortunately, anti-virus companies provide free updates at least once a month.  This is to give additional information and features to combat the latest malwares and viruses, as well as to update the virus definition. You can also decide to upgrade and install the latest versions of antivirus software to make sure that you have the edge when it comes to security.  Usually, companies release a new version annually.

Check forums for security updates – forums have regular updates on how to optimize website security, and how to avoid hackers.  Check for online security websites as to what to do to maximize security. This is to give you additional ideas as to how you can actually combat the problem as efficiently as possible.

Aside from updates, you can also see comments from experts as to what the best brands of antivirus programs you can use, as well as the best upgrades and plug-ins to go with it.

These are just some the ways to keep your site as hack-free as possible.  Just remember that though there may be some unscrupulous persons who are out there to destroy web systems and sites – they are certainly no match for those who come prepared.  In other words, prevention is the key here.

Image by Flickr

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The key points on creating a successful mobile cart summary page is the bounce rate, and how to avoid cart abandonment, clicks on call to action buttons, clicks on checkout button, and clicks to continue the purchase transaction.

It must be noted though that a mobile cart page’s design plays a significant role in the cart’s success.  Hence, it should be convenient and comfortable to use, easy to understand, and at the same time interesting and appealing for customers – for the purpose of increasing sales and profits.

Here is some key designing points that one will need to consider in creating a successful mobile cart page:

1. Create the right size of images – thumbnails must be large enough for customers to check and confirm if the product that you are offering is what she/he is actually interested in purchasing.  However, they need not be necessarily as large as category and poster size images.  You must also create appealing images.  And if possible, post different angles of product images.

2. Use Editing tools - most mobile cart website owners are not particular with editing tools.  Unfortunately, most fail to notice that having quality update tools is important, most especially when it comes to selling products that are sold in multiples.

These tools are also helpful in creating successful calls to action, and secondary calls to action.  Buttons, such as Remove and save for later, although less important, may still prove to be helpful with remarketing, as this may be a way for customers to go back to the cart and click the checkout button this time – thereby avoiding cart abandonment.

Button locations are also quite useful.  So, you need to place your buttons near the area where the visitors take action. Highlighting the buttons may also help entice more customers to click the call to action button.

3. Clear Pricing - always remember that mobile screens are significantly smaller than computer screens.  Hence, product prices must be visible and clear for customers to see, in order to avoid problems with cart abandonment.  For example, if the actual product price is $90.00, but the customer saw it as $40.00 – then there is a high chance that the customer will abandon his/her cart after he realizes it later on.

4. Provide Cost of Shipping – you need to provide multiple shipping options to your customers, and provide clear shipping costs as well. Most mobile sites don’t provide shipping costs, which creates the problem as to whether they should continue the purchase or not, again increasing the chance of abandonment.

Customers might also perceive that they are paying a lot of money unreasonably for shipping costs, when in fact they are not.  Either way, this is another reason as to why they might opt not to continue the purchase.  Hence make sure to offer flat rates, discounts and clear shipping costs in order to make the customer aware as to how much the expenses will be for real.

5. Create strong calls to action – calls to action have a great impact and drive for your customers. Hence, you might want to prioritize your calls to action and design them appropriately and visibly.

However, you must be cautious with button shapes, sizes and designs on mobile devices.  Make sure that they do not look more like headers and page titles instead of call to action buttons.

You will also need to be careful as to where you will place your “continue Shopping” link.  As much as possible, it must fade into the navigation bar, and must be close to your “checkout” button.

Creating a different color for call to action buttons can also be helpful.  This sends the message to the customer that it is a clickable button and not just a page title or a header.  You can also attach a “secure” label to your calls to action button to assure customers that you have secured links – in order to entice them more to click your CTA button.

6. Provide multiple payment options – PayPal is one of the most popular payment methods for mobile devices, but it would also be helpful to attach other payment options for your mobile device, to cater your customers.  Remember the more the options, the greater the chance of making the sale.

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2. How To Design A Basic Web Page
3. Planning a successful e-comerce site

Transcript

Hi guys this is Wasim from Alrayes Web Solutions. In this episode, I’m going to touch some points on Pinterest and what basically Pinterest is. Also touching some features of Pinterest, benefits of Pinterest and how your business can actually use Pinterest to really promote your brand.

As I have had a couple of emails, couple customers asking me, what is Pinterest and how they can actually benefit from Pinterest. So, in a nutshell, what is Pinterest? Pinterest first of all is a virtual pin board where you can actually share photos, share videos and compared to Facebook and Twitter is not all to do about yourself. Where for example on Facebook, on Twitter, on Google plus, if you went on holiday, you took pictures of your holiday; you generally share those pictures on these social networking sites. But on Pinterest, it’s slightly different; you’d share products that you are interested in, brands that you relate, products that you are passionate about. So it’s to do with more with products, about brand, about different styles compared to just taking pictures, randomly pictures of yourself and of your family members and of events that you’ve went to and sharing to social networking sites.

So yes, it is similar to Facebook and Twitter and Google plus but slightly different where you don’t just share any old image, you share images related to your products and brand. And this is where businesses can really benefit and really promote themselves. Now, Pinterest hasn’t opened up for businesses; they haven’t actually got a business model in place yet. But I’m sure in the coming months or coming years they will have something for business — business profiles where you can create your business profiles. But at the moment, it doesn’t mean that businesses can’t actually benefit from Pinterest you can still create an account and really push out your products push out the images and the services that you offer.

So yes, Pinterest is a virtual pin board, it’s a bookmarking site, scrap booking as you call it, and it’s a social networking site. So it’s all in one mixed together and it’s quite nice, it’s presented nicely, and is very user-friendly where you can actually go on, see what boards you like and share images, upload images unto Pinterest. Now, at the moment, Pinterest is not open for public. It’s only invitation only. So, if you would like an invite, just send me an email or mention in the comments below and I’ll send you an invite.

Okay, what are some of the benefits — some of the features of Pinterest. Now, once you have created an account, the couple of point that you got to familiarise with, and need to know how to do. So first of all, we know it as a pin board site. So, you can pin stuff; you can pin images, you can pin photos and as a business now, what kind of images would you like to pin? Now, if you’re just a business let’s say like a consultancy business, which hasn’t got images and your business isn’t related, it hasn’t got much images in it, what you need to do is find out ways of how you can actually put some visual images into your business. Such as if you are actually an accountancy firm; now accountancy firm don’t actually have products that they can upload. How would you benefit from Pinterest? What you could do is, first of all, maybe take images of your office, images of your staff, get your customers to leave you reviews and put those reviews in a visual way, so get a designer to work with you. Maybe upload, get a designer to create some visuals related to your business, related to your products, related to your services and upload them unto your profile. So it you are a business that hasn’t got much visual in it, you need to come up with way of how you can actually really present your business in a visual way. Compared to if you are a retailer, that’s quite straight-forward, you’ve got images on your website, you’ve got products in your website which you can easily upload unto Pinterest.

Then you’ve got boards. Board is basically, is a way of categorising or organising your profile. Let’s say you’re a e-commerce or a retail business and you sell various products. You sell jumper, you sell jeans, you sell shoes. So you can have different categories for different boards for each type of service that you offer and don’t just keep the boards related to your business. Also create other boards related to your industry which you then share content other content on your profile. So, keep boards option; you can create as many boards as you like. And share regular content on boards.

Then you’ve got the follow option. Now the follow option is similar to Facebook, similar to Twitter and other social networking sites. If I’m a user, I go unto Pinterest and I like someone’s profile, I can click on follow. Now on Pinterest you can either follow all the boards that they have or you can follow just a certain board or you choose the board that you like. So let’s say that for example you’re on a profile of a large e-commerce site or a large brand that sells various products. They sell, for example they sell jumper, they sell shoes, they sell handbags, accessories and I’m interested only in the jumper that they put on Pinterest. I can just click on follow on the jumpers’ board and every time that board get’s update, it will show up in my stream. So it gives the option for your followers to choose what kind of categories or what kind of boards to follow. And as a business, if you create a couple of options for your visitors it’s easier for them to, it’s easy for yourself to organize the pins and the updates that you put it also makes it easier for your followers.

Then you’ve got the re-pin option. Now this is what you want your followers to ideally do. Every time you upload a product or upload an image, you want them to be re-pinned. So the more and more times you get a re-pinned, it shows up on other people’s network and other people’s stream similar to the Facebook like as more and more people like you it gets shown up in different profiles. So re-pin is one of the options of Pinterest.

Then you’ve got like, similar to Facebook like, where if I like a product, if I like a brand, or if I like something that’s been shared on Pinterest, a little heart comes up and I can click on it and shows I can like it and it shows in my profile of all the images that I have liked, all the products, or every post that I have liked.

Then you’ve got that fantastic option which is pin from the web. Now pin from the web, what that does is it allows your followers, it allows your users to actually pin from other sites. You don’t actually have to be in Pinterest to update your profile. You can easily have a bookmark in your toolbar which if you are on a web page you can click on that and a new page pops-up which shows all the images on that page and you can choose which images you want to pin and choose the board that you want it pinned into. So you can choose the board and then you can pin into the board. Also, many of the social networking plug-ins in websites like WordPress, Joomla, Drupal have implemented pin option into the profile so you can actually pin directly from these plug-ins and scripts there are many scripts in the website now on the internet now which you can embed into your website and allow your visitors to pin directly from your web page. It’s great for an e-commerce site, especially if you’ve got a pin option on your product detail page. So if a user’s on that page, they can click on pin and that product gets pinned onto their profile with a link directly to that detail page, so in their network likes what they see they can click on that shared item and then come directly onto your product detail page and follow the check out steps. So, great for e-commerce sites; I would recommend that many e-commerce sites to actually have the pin option onto their detail page.

So, these are some of the features that you need to get familiarised with in Pinterest. Then you’ve got the benefits.

Now, how can a business benefit from Pintrest? First of all, social networking is getting more and more people, to know more about your brand. So it builds awareness. The more followers you have, the more likes you have, the more times the products get pinned from your website. So, you don’t actually be or even have an account on Pintrest. All you can do is if you give an option to your visitors of your website to pin items from your website, you’re building your brand because more and more people would’ve pinned your items. There’s a way that you can find out how many items or how many links you’ve got back to your website. If you go to Pinterest.com/source/<yourdomainname.com>;
so whatever your domain name is after source put it in and it would come up with a page of all the links from Pintrest to your website. So it’s a great way of finding who is actually sharing your content and how many links you actually got from Pintrest to your website. So another benefit is link back as I just mentioned. The more link backs you have on your website, the better for you in search engine it shows that you’ve got a bit of authority, it builds your brand and it’s great for ranking {streams} such as search engine. Then the more likes you have, the more times your products or your images get re-pinned {builds a bit of clout}. And Pinterest is also great for research; now you don’t have to have an account and share items. Let’s say that you are a fashion designer or an interior designer or a clothing designer even just a general business. If you do some research find out what the latest trends are, what people like, what people enjoy, go into Pinterest, type in the topic that you want to search for, see what images come up and it’s great for inspiration, great for product research, great for just general research and if you looking to learn something if you’re looking into launch certain categories or certain products in your clothing brand, it’s great to actually see what kind of items people actually like and what kind of items people actually share and comment so it’ great for market research.

So, in a nutshell, what you need to do first of all is get an invite for Pinterest. Create an account and upload your image or your logo with a bit of description link back to your website. And then also get your employees to create an account on Pinterest because that way, they can also share products, share your services, share your products and images that you upload as business. And every employee will have their own network, their own personal network so again it’s increasing your reach and getting more and more people to like about, to know about your brand.

Then create some boards, create multiple boards as I mentioned don’t just keep the boards related to your business, create boards also related to your industry. Make them interested. Make people to like your boards and give them a reason to actually come to your Pinterest profile and see what you’re actually sharing. So, don’t just keep all about your products, share useful and products that your followers actually like.

Then, let everyone know that you’re on Pinterest. Don’t just create an account and wish that people will follow and like you. What you need to do is put a badge in your website you can get straight from Pinterest you can put a link at the bottom of your website or on the sidebar. Let everyone know on your Facebook account, let everyone know on your Google plus and Twitter account that you are on Pinterest. You can have a profile link to follow me on Pinterest on your websites. Let everyone know that you are on Pinterest. And once you’ve created an account, don’t just keep publishing posts and articles again just related to your business or just your own stream. Also go out and like {out} photos of other people related to your industry. Re-pin photos and items and updates from other people and basically build a brand; get more and more people to like you. Get more and more people to follow you and do that and just go out and comment; comment on other people’s photos and comment on other people’s updates and video that they’ve put out.

So in a nutshell, this is what you can do from a business point of view on Pinterest: create an account, build a little bit of authority, get more and more people to like you and this way, it will increase your branding, increase your awareness and also it will drive more traffic to your website.

I hope you find this beneficial. You can also catch us on Facebook, on Twitter, on Google plus and also check our blog.

See you next week.

Image by Flickr

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We are at that juncture of WWW and Search times when the shift is towards the meaning and its logical correlation of the search made by the query from the search engine. We have reached that layer of the web cake where every website owner has to have a semantic slice on his website markup supported by the trust and authority factor.

12 Point Path For This Evolutionary SEO Phase of 2012 To Develop A Quality Online Presence and Persona:

1. Content Is King undoubtedly but, correlation is what will make the content reach out to more hence cater to correlate to a wide range of keyword data rather than focusing on only few selected  keywords alone . Work on synonyms and other local language terms too.

2. Do not go overboard with the on-page optimization.

3. User generated content (UGC) has more weight than the website content affecting the trust and authority factor.

4. Have equal presence (Balance) on Twitter, FB and Google+ as you never know when the hose for all the social media signals will be open to all search engines. Google Plus is not only a social media platform; it is the convergence of you over all web presence.

5. A blog is the source of fresh content and caters very well to queries which require the freshness factor for being ranked.

6. People prefer to view video rather than read text, hence have quality videos for “How To…” posts and for product display.

7. Ecommerce sites need the trust factor the maximum. Have a SSL certificates or a secure payment gateway. The ultimate trust factor is the previous reviews by online buyers and constant online sales. Hence, encourage people to buy online by offering discounts if they buy online.

8. The social media engagement and presence establish your online persona. In real life you are what your thoughts are but online you are what you share and publish hence, think before you tweet and ponder before you post.

9. The content is read by the visitors but the code behind the content is what is read by the bots hence offer the code in microformats and schemas for people, reviews, videos, products, author…etc. so that the search engine can display the rich snippet in SERPs and also future proof the content for the semantic web.

10. Try to establish the brand power by having consistency in the logo on the website, social media, blog, email signature and wherever you make a mark via comments on the web.

11. Natural links are important. Work on all types of content and share it and the links, which get added naturally, are more valuable.

12. Share your knowledge with your readers and visitors via blog posts, videos, blog comments , answering questions, discussions, Twitter chats and every other possible way  online so that you develop an overall web presence and gradually try to become a thought leader.

Authority, trust and Goodwill cannot be bought it has to be earned. Hence every digital footprint you make on the web is adding up to the Halo of the overall aura that your online presence is creating. As discussed in one of the recent SEO conferences “SEO IS NOT A CHECKLIST”, it is a constant endeavour to improve the search presence in accordance to the norms of the search engines in a way that no algoquakes can adversely affect it.

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If the user does not find what he or she is looking for, or the web page looks to difficult or overcrowded, most probably they will just click the back button (one the most used buttons on a web browser).

Here are some simple tips when designing your webpage:

Speed of loading your website – If something takes too long to open, I’m off, and I’m sure you would be too. When searching on the web, we are always in a rush, we want answers at the tip of our fingers, and if our visitors cannot find the answers they will easily just go back and search again. You can improve the load of your web page by not using to large graphics/images. Keep the size of your images a reasonable size so that the browser can load the page easily.

Create graphics that describes your content- create graphics that are relevant to your websites’ content.  However, this doesn’t mean that you can just attach any graphics that you feel would look cool in your web page. Remember that although it’s your webpage – but if you want more visitors to take your website seriously and professionally, I suggest that you design graphics that will actually fit your content. Of course, your graphics need not necessarily describe the content in full, but it must at least illustrate the content or is related to it one way or the other.

Avoid images that Blink – make sure that you refrain from using images that move, flash, or change colors. According to a recent study, blinking images are found to be annoying by most web surfers – because it makes reading the content of the web page distracting. If you can come up with a way of attracting the visitor in a more clever way would be better. You can use an Arrow, study also shows that generally users would look at where the arrow is pointing. The whole idea is to make the user not.

Use the 3 or 2 -column layout – it might look cool to have those 6 or 8 frames on your web pages, or have those slide bars, where your readers will have to scroll left and right to read your web content. However, although it may be cool – but does it really work with most web visitors?  The answer is “no”.   The main reasons why most websites stick with the standard 3 or 2- column layout is because it works, it’s simple and it’s understandable, and breaks your web page easily to digest by the user.

Create graphics that can be use as elements in your layouts – use the graphics that you create as actual elements in your layouts, such as wrapping an image with a text.

Use serif and sans-serif fonts– use serif for your headlines only, because it usually blurs together when used as normal text. You can then use sans-serif as fonts for your normal text, because they are much convenient to read on computer screens.

Another thing to remember is that you will need to limit the number of fonts that you’ll be using. By doing this, your site will look more neat and professional.  Fonts such as Verdana, Arial, and Rockwood LT Standard, are some basic samples of the fonts that are easy on the eyes and will make your page look better. Overall aim to use fonts that the can be loaded on multiple browsers with ease.

Remember that content always comes first than ads – Always take note that you first need to have very good content in order to attract visitors and the ads just comes next.  Write contents that you feel your market would be interested in, and put ads in your page that are actually related to your page content.

However, you must avoid overwhelming your page with ads, because the tendency is that your readers will no longer check your content out because they got annoyed.  In other words, it doesn’t mean that because you can, then you should.

Though it is a fact that your page needs to make money by having ads, you need to balance everything and start with a good content.  You should also put your ads in the right location in your page, where they convert the most. To see which area works the best you will need to carry out few tests, generally top of the page and on the right hand side the tabs do quite well.

Make sure your ads are at the right size – make sure that your ads do not accumulate a large space in your webpage.  Keep them at the right size (not too small, not too large) and also avoid flashing ads – because otherwise, your ad might not be able to send out the right message to your readers if it’s always blinking.

Make sure to test your page in different browsers – before launching your webpage, make sure that you have tested it with multiple browsers, just to make sure that everything works fine.  This same principle applies for operating systems – where you will need to test your page with different operating systems.  In other words, it doesn’t mean that since your page works for IE5.0 for Windows that it will work as well for Mac. In other words, make sure that everyone gets to read what you offer, in order to reap more benefits in the end.

Image by Flickr

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 Over the past six months we have had numerous enquiries from our clients asking about development of a mobile app for their business. With the regular demand for mobile applications, we welcome two Mobile App Developers on to our team, that have a vast knowledge and experience in developing mobile applications for business.

From 1st April we have added to our portfolio of products Mobile applications which include:

- iPhone app development

- Android app development

- Blackberry app development

- iPad app development

To meet our clients requirements we will be offering a total solution similar to our web services where we will take care of the entire process from, design and development of bespoke applications depending on the requirements of our clients. As our background is web and internet marketing, we feel we will be able to help you get the most out of your app by integrating it with your web presence.

To find out more about our Mobile App development service contact us on 08450 21 00 23 or submit your details via our website.

Image by Flickr

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It must be noted however, that web forms are transaction forms that must be given enough attention, due to the rising concern of customers with regards their privacy, most especially if it involves exchange of personal information, such as names, email addresses and payment details.

And although there have been numerous changes in online security nowadays in order to combat identity theft and other criminal activities associated with stolen private information – there are still those who are quite hesitant with divulging information on online forms.

Hence, in creating online forms, you will to need to reduce customer anxiety in order to build trust and credibility. And here are some useful tips to do it:

1. Ask only for required information – one of the common mistakes of online businesses is that they ask too much unnecessary information from their customers. This will only discourage them to go through with the transaction.

2. Avoid asking for sensitive information where possible – another common mistake is by asking sensitive information from customers or visitors. An example is asking for payment details from customers who would like to subscribe to free news and updates, so that if the customer makes purchases on the website, he/she will no longer input his/her payment details.  Unfortunately, this may seem to be a bit too risky for many.

This is because although it may sound practical for the company and its customers, it also sends out the wrong message.  Think about it: why would you require a payment details for a free news update?  So, you might want to avoid this strategy for the meantime.

3. Avoid making intimidating form – creating a form that may take quite a long time to process, like a 5 step registration, may be too tedious for customers and may even lead to them not continuing with the transaction anymore. Keep it simple as possible.

4. Deliver what you say – avoid creating doubt and uncertainty in the projection of your forms.  For example: if you have a form that offers a free coupon code on freebies, but you don’t actually have one – then this could send the wrong message.  In other words, if your promise free updates – then send free updates.

5. Handle errors efficiently – field errors and field validations should be taken care of rapidly and graciously, in order to convey the message that you are on top of things. Such as if the form is asking the user to fill out a CAPTCHA, but even after the CAPTCHA is filled out the form is not submitting, Or because the CAPTCHA was incorrect, the user needs to fill out the whole form again, this can be very annoying and also can cause the user not filling out the form.

6. Establish rapport with your customer – before directing the customer to your forms, you might want to provide them with your business background and profiles first in order to encourage them to register and continue with the process.

7. Provide a secure browser environment – this is one of the most delicate concerns among online visitors, especially if it involves the giving out of personal information. Modify and customize your browser environment to tighten security and apply multiple security tools to your page like updated versions of anti malware and antivirus software.  This will provide each client with a sense of security that will entice them to move through.

8. Inform customers of the purpose for divulging information – if your collecting information from your customers, like email addresses, names, and credit card details, then it would be good if you inform them why it is necessary to do so. Through this, it will be made clear to them that the information will be used solely for business and nothing else.

9. Provide multiple ways to confirm their membership/registration – by giving your customers multiple ways to complete their transactions, like thru phone or other media, this will send out the message that you are not running a scam operation. This will also allow them to make regular updates using other platforms and not just merely on the online arena.  Remember, more is always better.

 10. Create a simple and understandable form- create a friendly looking form to encourage customers to register. Make your forms as simple as possible so that your customers can easily understand them.

These are just some of the things that you can keep in mind when creating your online forms.  The key is to keep the form simple as possible and acquiring the information required from your visitor.

Image by Flickr

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