You’re left feeling deflated, demotivated and on the verge of giving up. All that time you’ve spent researching and writing those blog posts was for nothing. Or was it?

Blogging can take months, or even years, to reap the rewards. So what do you do if you want to see a return on investment from the start? Have you ever considered creating other types of content? I doubt it. Content marketing is one of the first things you should look into if you’re trying to get your business up and running.

Why is it that whenever someone mentions content marketing our minds jump straight to blogging? How many blogs do you read and engage with? It’s time that we stepped up the bar and started producing content that our audience wanted to interact with.

Rather than writing articles, think about other types of content you can create. Video has become increasingly popular over the years – but I’ll be honest, I have seen many brands fail creating them.

My company design and manufacture exhibition display stands for businesses to take to trade shows. We have a very niche product so it is impossible to keep thinking of fresh, creative content ideas!

Furthermore, our audience is a relatively small pool of business to business marketers and decision makers. We’ve found that they’re often busy and don’t have time to read lengthy how-to articles and they don’t want to sign up to another email newsletter.

Because of that, we’ve had to find a content marketing strategy that works for us. Blogging was one of the first tactics we tried. It went alright. But we wanted more. So we started looking for new ways of spreading our brand messaging and engaging with our target audience.

Did you know there are over one hundred different types of content you can produce and distribute for free? This is a list of the best types of content you should release if you want to increase engagement and drive traffic to your website.

1.     Whitepapers

A whitepaper is a fancy term for primary research results. It sounds scary, but it’s so easy! And everyone loves up-to-date statistics. If you have a platform that allows you to reach a large audience (hello social media and email marketing!) then you are in a prime position to release your own research findings.

If you can get 100+ people to partake in a small survey or poll with 2 – 4 questions you can publish a whitepaper. You’ll get more shares, likes and engagement on your content if it contains statistics and information about a current situation.

2.     Infographics

Sometimes people don’t have ten minutes to read a 4,000 word guide to extract one piece of information. That’s why infographics work well and encourage engagement. Many people are visual learners, as well as being time conscious. Giving them information in an easy-to-digest, striking graphic benefits everyone.

3.     Stock-Quality Images

So many people invest heavily in writing a blog when they could simply share their photography with the world. There are hundreds of websites that allow people to download stock photos for free. We all use them for our blog posts!

If you have a professional camera, smartphones have reached the same level, and then start shooting. If you are working for a business then get snaps related to your niche. We can share images of exhibition stands, venues, busy trade show aisles… the possibilities are endless. People share your photos because you’ve offered them on the public domain. You might even get a backlink or two!

4.     Formatted Spreadsheets

If spreadsheets aren’t your thing then this one might bring out a cold sweat. I’ve included it on this list because it works! Like you, people don’t like working their way through thousands of formulas to design a spreadsheet. They like using them though! And why wouldn’t they when it can turn a 2 hour job into a 30 second one.

Things like planners, budgeting sheets, checklists and timelines are great things to offer your audience. It’s about offering content that gives the audience value – a formatted spreadsheet certainly does that.

Summary

Have I convinced you to stop writing so many blog posts yet? Well, don’t stop. Writing blog posts regularly can still give you an SEO boost and your audience might engage with informative guides. All I’m suggesting is you should create a content marketing strategy that encompasses an array of content – not just articles!

Have a go at the types of content I’ve listed in this article. Maybe they work for you, maybe they don’t. You might have a list of your own that you want to share. Get in touch with us to share your favourite types of content to produce, and let us know which ones you typically see the most engagement on.

The post 4 Types of Content you definitely haven’t thought of appeared first on Todaytricks.

From a business perspective, social media channels like Facebook have allowed marketers and businesses to connect with consumers like never before. These networks offer unmatched targeting options thanks to the amount of information they collect. But, marketers still need to implement a structured strategy in order to craft successful social campaigns.

There has been a lot of talk about the marketing trend of social media channels. Facebook has starred in multiple privacy scandals, so many pundits have predicted a sharp decline in the industry. However, recent trends suggest that consumer attention may be shifting rather than dissipating, so marketers that make adjustments early enough should be able to transition seamlessly.

Below, we’ll go over the current state of marketing trend of different social media channels, analyze the future of the industry, explore some of the most exciting features, and introduce some tools to build better ad campaigns.

The Popularity of Social Media Channels 

One of the main reasons social media has gained and maintained popularity is the fact that this industry moves with technology. Social platforms feature personalized news feeds, live streams, video ads, and other innovative elements. 

Today, social media channels are still very popular. But marketers find themselves in a crucial time where there appears to be a major shift in the industry. 

All social platforms have their specialty or defining characteristic. More “orthodox” social media channels like Facebook have multiple features that attract users, while specialized platforms like Instagram focus mostly on one element. The popularity and demand for each platform fluctuate according to what consumers’ interests, so marketers need to look at the individual performance of each platform to determine if their reach is big enough.

Facebook

Facebook first became available to the public in 2006 and has since become the most popular social media platform in the world. Today, the company is worth almost 95 billion US dollars. The social network has invested billions back into its operations, acquiring WhatsApp in 2012 as well as Instagram, which we’ll discuss later in this post.

This platform has almost 2.5 billion monthly active users and it adds about half a million new accounts every day. As if that wasn’t enough, 51% percent of US adults report using Facebook multiple times per day while 40% of all accounts are used for reading news and informational purposes.

Considering the above, it’s worth noting that the announcement of Facebook Zero has drastically changed the way marketers will be able to use the platform. Those who get ahead of the wave and start developing potential content early on will have a crucial advantage over their competitors.

Twitter

Unlike traditional social media accounts, Twitter’s specialty is the dissemination of information via small text snippets widely known as tweets. Although consumers have to get used to the minimalist nature of the platform, Twitter allows companies to create a stronger connection with a more exclusive market, which is regarded as being more affluent than the average user base.

While Twitter doesn’t have Facebook’s reach, many marketers argue that content on this social media platform is much more engaging. 500 million tweets are being sent out every day, which comes from roughly 330 million monthly active users. 1 in 5 adults uses Twitter in the US and 42% of users check the platform every single day.

Instagram

Anyone who’s ever used Instagram understands why this social network is almost addictive. It focuses on sharing images, videos, live feeds, and other super-engaging content that consumers simply love. Instagram is ideal for companies that want to attract young customers through their content as 71% of users on this platform are under the age of 35.

Instagram was acquired by Facebook a few years ago, but the picture-centric social network has never been more popular. There are 1 billion monthly active users on Instagram, half of which use the platform daily. And, even though Twitter invented the hashtag, Instagram users have transformed this quirky practice into an art form. The average Instagram post includes about 10 carefully-selected hashtags that allow the content to reach a broader audience. 

YouTube

YouTube is the premier video sharing platform that’s used by consumers, media outlets, companies, and every other entity on the planet. It’s estimated that every minute, users upload around 500 hours of video content to this platform. Whether users are looking for a funny cat video, a recap of a match they missed, or a how-to video, YouTube is the place to go.

From a business perspective, it’s important to understand that each visitor spends just under 12 minutes on each visit. About 7 out of 10 videos that people watch are suggested by the platform’s recommendation algorithm, which means that YouTube has a profound understanding of its viewer base. This can be translated into better placement and more effective ads.

Pinterest

If there is one platform that has remained user-centric since its inception, it has to be Pinterest. Despite the fact that it revolves around creating boards, Pinterest attracts users because it’s relatable, easy to use, and practical.

According to official numbers, there have been more than 200 billion pins saved on the platform by more than 335 million users. In the US, Pinterest is already the third-biggest social channel, with close to 43% of internet users having an account. To top it off, households that have a higher income are more likely to have a Pinterest account, so users tend to have more acquisitional power when compared to other platforms.

Social Media Global Statistics

In addition to looking at each platform individually, marketers should also analyze the overall performance of the campaign to make the right adjustments. Cutting-edge advancements, changes in policy, global incidents can all affect the way consumers behave on social channels. Savvy marketers and business owners should monitor the industry’s landscape and learn to read the patterns that start showing. 

Our team has taken the time to analyze current trends in order to make projections for the future of social media. Here’s what we’ve found:

Usage

Out of the 4.5 billion people actively using the internet at the beginning of 2020, 3.8 billion are on social media. The adoption rate of social media channels has increased by 9% compared to the same time last year, reeling in more than 320 million new customers. 

With more than 49% of people in the world using some form of the social network, marketers need to take advantage of and start generating leads through these platforms. However, there are already more than 3 million companies actively advertising their products and services on Facebook alone. For this reason, having the tools to research each channel properly can help companies invest funds in the right areas.

Product Discovery

Social media platforms have evolved from an entertainment and communication hub to a functional part of society. It’s common for consumers and businesses to find the services and products they need through these platforms. This can occur by asking friends, conducting a search, or joining a group, so making these networks a great place to promote your goods.

29% of 16 to 44 year-olds discover new brands and products through social media. Not only this, but 43% of all consumers are reported doing research for a product or service through social media channels. As for conversions, more than 13% of all consumers agree that having a “buy” button directly on their feeds would increase the chance of them making a purchase. 

Engagement

Research suggests that digital consumers spend almost 2.5 hours on social media every day, which is spread across an average of 8 different profiles. Keeping users engaged has been a huge challenge for marketers since the inception of social media. Creating entertaining and valuable content is key, but scheduling posts at the right time and spreading them out properly is the only way to get attention from your audience.

The Marketing Trend of Social Media Channels

Video Ads and Live Ads

The general census among marketers is that consumers prefer to watch a video than to read an ad that takes them the same amount of time. While it represents a bigger investment in terms of resources, video ads can help engage users and showcase your product more effectively. Additionally, Facebook predicts that by the end of 2020, video can potentially draw up to  82% of all mobile traffic.

Live ads, which are adverts that are presented similarly to commercial TV breaks during a live stream, also maintain prospects super-engaged. That said, it’s important for companies to develop useful content early on and prevent consumers from developing a bad perception of this format.

The Power of Influencers

Marketers have known for a while that consumers value the opinion of small-scale influencers more than celebrities. Influencer marketing has already become a common element in advertising plans across all companies. As a matter of fact, 65% of marketers increased their budget for influencers this year. That said, advertisers also have to learn to single out the best influencers in order to get the results they’re looking for.

The Key to Success: Customizing Ads by Target Audiences

Ad target and customization are regarded as two of the most powerful features of digital advertising. Tailoring your ads and making sure that they are only displayed to a group of people that are more likely to be interested in your product can boost your conversions and improve the performance of your entire campaign.

With this in mind, knowing what demographics are more interested and which ads attract their attention requires extensive testing. Alternatively, you can use an ad monitoring and transparency tool like BigSpy to determine what’s working for others running similar campaigns. As a powerful ad spy tool, it provides detailed demographics for reference. 

Enhancing User Experience with AI

Artificial intelligence (AI) is advancing in leaps and businesses are starting to leverage this turn-key technology to improve their marketing as well as their entire operation. This, combined with tryvertising, can give users a one-of-a-kind, efficiency-driven experience.

Take Uniqlo, who set up  UMood kiosks in select stores, by using AI technology and censors in the UMood kiosks, the company could identify customers’ mood via analyzing neurological responses and make suggestions based on the results.

How to Use Ad Spy Tool to Improve Social Ad Campaigns

We’ve talked briefly about BigSpy in this article, but we’ll go over the specifics of the ads analysis platform in this section. BigSpy is a powerful business tool that allows users to see a comprehensive list of statistics from competitor ads across multiple platforms. 

AdMob, Facebook, and other social ads networks have incredible reach and could produce stellar conversion numbers, but having the right strategy is crucial. BigSpy gives companies, marketers, and other stakeholders valuable insight that allows them to craft effective ads and well-structured campaigns, so if you want to find out more about building a robust social media ads campaign, what the future holds for social media channels, just test the ad spy tool-BigSpy.
There you have it. We hope that this article has provided you with value about the marketing trend of social media channels as well as some guidance on improving your ads campaign with BigSpy. If you have any queries, please don’t hesitate to ask in the comments section.

The post The Marketing Trend of Different Social Media Channels: Using BigSpy to Stay Competitive appeared first on Todaytricks.

But, as an entrepreneur, you may still wonder if it is really a good idea to plunge into the online industry. Some business owners running traditional brick and mortar businesses may also think, Why should I take my business online?

Actually, there are many astounding benefits that you can gain by running an online business or by having a strong digital presence for your business. Some of those key benefits include cost savings, global audience reach for products and services with no geographical limitations, can boost brand image, highly effective product promotional activities, meeting the growing shopping needs of users worldwide, increased chances to manage and operate the business from any corner of the world, enhanced customer support, and so on.

So, for many aspiring entrepreneurs like you, it will be a smart idea to invest in the online business. But, you must ponder some important aspects if you want to set up your online business in the current market trend. You must also know some online business success tricks and you should be able to solve the key challenges that you might face while starting your online business in 2020.

Entrepreneurs who are already running their own online businesses must know some trends that are going to shape the future of the online industry.

So, if you are one of those proprietors looking to launch your online business in 2020 or striving hard to boost your online business growth, continue reading this blog

Because, in this blog, we are going to see some beneficial tips and tricks to start and run a profitable online business; challenges that have to be faced when launching an online business and steps to solve those; and some online business trends.

How can you launch and run a lucrative online business?

Everyone can start their own online business right away, but how to turn it into a lucrative online business venture with sustainability and credibility? For this, you must have a quick look at this section. Here, I have listed some useful tips to launch and run your own successful online business

Materialize a viable business plan

If you want to be a victorious entrepreneur, you must first decide on your niche market and then form a feasible business plan. You must analyze the current market trend and find if there will be a demand for your offerings when launched in the market. Therefore, have meticulous planning before your plunge into your online business venture.

Build a unique website

Whatever may be the business type, people will first look for a robust website when they are in search of any specific service or product online. From the business websites, they will know about the product details, read reviews, and then will make their purchases online. So, a strong web presence is a must for the businesses to showcase the services and products, to convince and to build trust among users to buy from the online platform. Without such a professional website, online businesses cannot drive traffic and cannot stay ahead of others.

Focus on building a powerful customer base

The section of potential customers who utilize your services and products in the long term and who are greatly interested in your product offerings will be the driving force to boost your online business growth. So, it is a must to gather and form a community of potential customers. When you gain their confidence with your business credibility, they will feel free to give their valuable feedback to your products and will also refer your business to their family and friends. You can also utilize those positive product reviews from your customers to boost the reliability of the online platform

Reinforce customer bond

If you want to grow your business vigorously, it is very much essential to intensify the relationship with your customers. So, the customer experience that you provide both before and after the purchase of your service and product really matters. When you focus on enhancing customer service to meet the expectations of your users, then they will come back again for your product.

Engage users on social media platforms

People obviously spend more time on social media and so it becomes necessary for your online business to have a social media presence. If you want to boost your brand awareness and sales, you must embrace the social media marketing strategy covering all popular social networks and messaging platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Messenger, Snapchat, etc.

Understand your competitors

To get ahead in your online business, you must know your competitors and understand what makes them unique in your online business sector. You must also know how they are enticing the users. Only then you will realize the key measures that must be taken in order to get shine in your online business venture.

I hope you can now clearly understand some vital factors that must be taken into account for setting up and running a successful online business.  There are also some challenges that should be handled effectively to successfully run your online business. Let us see those now.

Issues to be solved efficiently for running a lucrative online business

Making it easy for the users to reach you

Your online business cannot get tremendous growth if it fails to provide an easy way for your users to reach you. So, the online platform that includes effective communication channels will pave the way for strengthening the bond between you and your potential users. This is because you can allow your users to contact you whenever they are in need and can provide them an instant response.

Security

In this modern age, online platforms are more prone to malicious attacks. So, if your online platform fails to include robust security measures then your users will lose confidence in making use of your online platform for their online shopping needs. Therefore, it is very much important to protect your online platform from fraudulent activities, and thereby you can increase the credibility of your site.

Incorporating the latest technologies

If you want your online business to impress users for the long term, then you must include state-of-the-art technologies into your online platform and must keep up with the trending technologies. Only then you can stand unique from others in your online business and can gain global traction.

Making your online platform mobile-friendly

With the increased usage of smartphones, people prefer to go for mobile shopping most of the time. Users make use of their mobile phones not just for shopping but also to research and know about a particular product before they make their purchase. So, they tend to use the platform frequently that is easily accessible from their smartphones. Therefore, you cannot enrich the user experience and cannot grow your online business if you don’t make your online platform mobile-friendly.

As an entrepreneur running an online business, you may also want to know about some trends in the online industry. So, continue reading to learn more about those trends in order to maintain your online business.

Key trends to amaze users on the online platform

Artificial intelligence

AI is already powering a notable percentage of online business operations such as in customer service platforms, in marketing tools, etc. It makes the processes more accurate, efficient, and faster and also enhances the user experience in almost all industries. So, it surely has the ability to impact each and every digital market such as healthcare, cybersecurity, and so on.  Therefore, with the smart use of AI technology, businesses can reinforce their bond with their valuable customers.

More personalized service

Customers of today have more choices to fulfill their online shopping needs than ever before. So, they prefer to make use of the online platform that provides them a seamless and more personalized service. So, online businesses must analyze customer data and must focus on providing a rich, personalized experience for their users on the platform.

 Voice recognition technology

Voice search is popular these days because of its ease of use. People nowadays also wish to access voice-based customer support for handling payment disputes and all other complicated issues. Voice shopping is also growing rapidly among users worldwide. It has also been estimated that voice shopping will take an immense hit in the coming years.

Augmented reality will transform the way people purchase

Augmented reality technologies can enrich the experience of the users on the platform and can change the way users recognize products as it allows them to visualize their desired products in a better way before they make their purchase. So, it will be definitely a game-changing technology for online businesses. Because you can allow users to explore products in order to know whether that product meets their needs or not. So, on the whole, creating an immersive shopping experience will be just a piece of cake with this Augmented Reality technology.

To astonish the users to a greater extent in the upcoming days, business owners must incorporate these advanced technologies into their online platforms.

Final words

I hope you can now understand some key factors and trends that should be considered for launching and running your own successful online business. So, pay attention to the significant concepts mentioned in the above sections and develop an impressive, full-fledged online platform in order to succeed in your online business venture. But, you can build such an attention-grabbing online platform easily and within your budget by making use of a suitable online solution that perfectly fits your online business type.

You can get a felicitous solution for your online business model only from a renowned online solution providing company like Appkodes that has been delivering top-notch clone solutions for various online business types. The team of experts at Appkodes has been developing unique clone solutions with seamless performance, modern functionalities, and responsive design. So, approach Appkodes and discuss your online business concepts with them. Thereby, give life to your online business dreams quickly and easily.

Steve Hendry love to write and travel, working for Appkodes content & Marketing department.

The post Key concepts to gain a competitive edge in the Online business appeared first on Todaytricks.

If you are to run a successful website capable of catering for simultaneous visitors, you will need to ensure the servers and software that you are using are maintained and managed by expert professionals. Web hosting companies provide space for websites but also ensure your site can function properly.

When you’re considering in buying a web hosting service, there are many things you need to bear in mind. The provider that you opt for must have an impressive track record when it comes to providing hosting services, and must be able to provide technical support of the highest quality. You should be able to get in touch with the company on a 24/7 basis so any issues that arise can be addressed immediately. It may be wise to compare at least four or five web hosting companies before coming to a decision so you can make an educated choice.

To get your website started and ready for public viewing, you need a domain name, a web hosting service and a website building tool or the services of a web designer that can build your site for you. Domain names enable your site to be found online. When it comes to picking a domain name, it’s wise to opt for something that will be easy to remember. Most companies offering web hosting will also be able to get you set up with your own domain name. You will normally need to pay an annual fee for your domain name, and it shouldn’t cost a fortune to put your preferred domain name in place, unless you require something particularly sought-after.

There are various types of web hosting to choose from. Your specific requirements will determine which option is right for you. Those that are just starting out and only need a small website may find that shared hosting if the best option. Shared hosting can help you keep costs down, but if you’re going to running a large website in need of vast memory and resources a dedicated server or Virtual Private Server may well be your best option.

When you use shared hosting, you are sharing a server with other websites. This option is not suitable for larger, more demanding websites but can be ideal if you’re only running a modestly-sized enterprise. With a VPS, you still share the server, but will have your own section and resources as well as extra space, security and memory. A VPS can be the ideal compromise if conventional shared hosting cannot meet your needs but dedicated hosting is too costly or unnecessary.

With dedicated hosting, you’ll get the server all to yourself and a host of excellent resources. If you need a blisteringly-fast site with next to no downtime at all, it may well be worth opting for dedicated hosting. You will have full use of the server resources as you won’t need to share them with anyone, and the provider will provide you with the CPU, disk space and RAM that you need. You still won’t have to purchase your own server, but can count on the provider to build and maintain the one you are renting on your behalf so you can focus on what you do best.

The fact that you do not need to share the server or the resources means you won’t have to worry about other businesses’ hogging the CPU or RAM. Bad scripts from other websites won’t affect your performance, and you won’t need to fret about sharing the space with spammers or malicious sites. Furthermore, you won’t be sharing an IP address, so you won’t have concerns about other poor-quality sites or adult sizes sending you down the rankings.

The post The Basics of Web Hosting in 2017 appeared first on Todaytricks.

However, with the level of progress that has been made in website development over recent years, it has become much easier for those with little technical knowledge to get a website up and running themselves.

There are now a whole host of themes offered by companies such as WordPress and similar ones that are really easy to use with a bit of willingness to learn some basic fundamentals. A simple website can be up and running in less than a day, as many website services use in their advertising campaigns. There are a few things that people will need to consider when they are setting up a website for the first time and one of the biggest is web hosting.

Assuming you have never heard the term web hosting before, you may be unsure of whether this is something that you require. The simple answer is yes. Every single website requires a web host to enable it to go online and for people to be able to find it through the internet. In essence, a web host rents out some server space for websites to live.

The types of web hosts that are available vary greatly. You can get a completely free website through popular providers such as WordPress, Wix and similar. Of course with most things that are free in life, this comes with drawbacks. A free website will have a number of restrictions, from the limited amount of storage to being able to use your own domain. Additionally, you have no control over how your website is used, so if the provider decides to cover your websites with awful ads, hard luck. You won’t get any customer support with the free hosting options either so if you do get into a bit of trouble with setting things up then you’re going it alone. That is, unless you want to fork out a small fortune to get a web developer to look at it for you.

So free websites and hosting are good to some extent but might not necessarily be the right option for some. If you are trying to promote professional services then you probably won’t want to have ads popping and annoying your potential customers. Sometimes it is better just to pay a little bit and get a better service and that is pretty much the case when it comes to web hosting.

Businesses who have moderate sizes of traffic to their website can opt for shared hosting packages that allows them to keep costs relatively low but still getting a high level of service and features. Some of the cheaper web hosts start from just $2 per month you can get a package with any of the top rated web hosting providers, which will usually provide customer service and many offer unlimited storage and bandwidth. Some even offer additional features like ramped up security, guaranteed Uptime (percentage of time that your website will be online) or a free trial period to see if it works for you.

Web hosting doesn’t have to be difficult to get your head around but one thing is for sure – you can’t get a website up and running without considering your web hosting solutions.

The post Understanding Web Hosting Solutions appeared first on Todaytricks.

Having a responsive and awesome online business will allow you to keep on top form when it comes to business proceedings. An unhappy customer is much more likely to pass word of mouth about their experience with your business onto one of their friends. If they have a good experience, they’re likely to recommend your service but not with the verve and intensity that a negative review will bring. People expect your business to be good and responsive, which is why when it isn’t, they will happily let you and others know about it.

Here are the best methods to stay online and function in a way that pays respect to both your customer and your business.

Software Testing Tools

Using thorough software development tools like qTest eXplorer will allow you to keep on top of bug testing and identify issues in code that are impeding the correct function of your website and internal software solutions. They will allow you to keep your IT team on top form and responsive to any issues that take place. It will also enable them to optimize their maintenance tasks to a degree, which is the heaven software developers around the world dream of occupying.

Support Tickets

Your clients deserve support tickets when they have an issue. It’s much more efficient to communicate with people online these days, and so it’s pretty normal practice for small businesses to solely possess online support functionalities. This will allow your team to effectively organize the tickets that they need to prioritize and respond to them in a timely and efficient manner.

Effective Internal Communication

Even with a solely online business, you need great communication. If you have a team, even if they’re not in the same building as you, you need sensitive and ‘official’ methods of communication. Consider using IRC hosting messaging services for secure and encrypted instant messaging between departments, and use a secure, preferably home hosted email client to keep your staff in the loop and able to transmit important documents securely.

Service Hosting

If you’re an online business just starting out, it’s likely that you don’t have enough money to host server farms in your home. Use online hosting solutions that might even help you arrange the layout of your website to keep everything on top form, and the site attractive to new business. This is the best way of making an online statement straight away, and the live support these services offer will allow you to direct any problem solving that needs to be done to their team. You are paying for it, after all.

These methods will help an online business of any size flourish, and regard problems as nothing but a small challenge to be laughed at.

The post Great Methods Of Problem Solving For Your Online Business’s Peace of Mind appeared first on Todaytricks.

It is this rapid change that makes many small business owners very hesitant to invest their hard-earned monies into new equipment because they are concerned that it will be obsolete shortly after making the investment.

However, is it worth taking that risk? What could be far more costly than losing money is having your business left behind because the tools you are currently using can’t keep up with the rest of the world.  The short-term savings may sound like the right decision but ultimately this could hurt your pocket even more. It is best to consult with a provider like Prosyn IT support for SMBs to make sure you are making the right decisions for your business needs.

Here are a few ways to keep cost down in the long run while still making sure that your company is working with the best possible equipment.

1. Invest smartly in equipment that will grow with your firm for the long term.

This starts with making sure that you take the time to research and invest in brand name merchandise versus generic or cloned items. When you are ready to purchase that new company PC, realize that branded items will often come with a better warranty and this could save you a lot of money in the long run.

In addition, consider looking ahead to determine what your company may need down the road versus today. This means buying hardware or software that may be a step above what you currently need but it will grow with you as your business expands.  Maybe you get something with more storage space or faster processing speed. Again, it may be more than what you need at this exact moment but you will save money when you are forced to upgrade to it later.

2. Manage anti-virus programs, backup systems, and other critical files from a central location.

It takes an inordinate amount of time to update certain software like anti-virus protection on individual machines. Having it maintained in a central location will help to save time and money for your company. Along the same lines. backup systems and crucial company files should also be controlled and monitored in a central place.

Setting up these things may cost you a little extra money in the beginning but it will be a plus for your overall operation by reducing the liabilities associated with employees handling such issues on an individual basis.  By having trained personnel to focus on these matters, it will allow other company staff to perform their day to day jobs without worrying about backing up their computer or spending time trying to get rid of unwanted viruses.

In addition, by setting up a central location for critical company documents, you immediately reduce the risk of such items being lost or damaged by employees. If that was to happen, the system is set up where they can be replaced or repaired much faster and easier.

3. Establish a policy for your employees when it comes to “Acceptable Use.”

It has been established by several studies that productive work hours are routinely lost because companies fail to implement an acceptable use policy.  As a result, millions of hours are lost as employees spend time surfing the internet, reading and sending personal emails, and doing other tasks online that should be spent on company business.

It is estimated that a company of just 20 employees can lose over $1000 per week due to employees not understanding what is allowed when it comes to using company equipment.

However, this is not only a financial matter. It can have a major impact on production but also on company finances when it comes to equipment. Computers may be more susceptible to outside dangers of viruses and you also have to deal with increased wear and tear on your machines.

Therefore, it is critical that your company have clear standard operating procedures that will outline to employees what they may or may not do during normal business hours. It must be understood that computers and other technology belongs to the company and should not be used for personal purposes.

The post The Three Most Overlooked Ways Small Business Owners Can Lower IT Costs appeared first on Todaytricks.

WordPress is indeed a powerful and most preferred CMS framework on the internet. Based on builtiwith report it powers more than 17 million websites across the internet.

But do you know there are some common issues that causes white screen error? WordPress community relate to it as White Screen of Death Error.

If your website is suffering from white screen of death error I have four steps to resolve the issue and a tip that will help you prevent this error happening again.

So let’s address your white screen error without wasting much of your time:

Execution Memory

WordPress is built on top of PHP framework and there is a limit how much memory a PHP script can occupy. It’s 64Mb in majority of shared hosting environment.

Now the WordPress framework has a limitation of execution memory. By default it’s 40Mb for single website environment.

In decent number of the white screen cases extending this memory limit would help us resolve the issue. Let’s extend the limit from 40Mb to 90Mb.

We need to modify the wp-config.php hosting on your web server. To make the edit you need to login to the CPanel (YourWebsite.com:2082).

Now you would be able to see a list of files, you need the select the wp-config.php file and hit the Edit button on the top navigation bar.

Choose edit code option if asked while opening the file for editing. CPanel ask this option to make sure it wouldn’t change the file’s encoding. Don’t worry about this.

In the file add the following code at the end of the file:

define(‘WP_MEMORY_LIMIT’, ‘256M’);

Once you done with adding the code, save and close the file.

Try opening the website on new browser tab. Is it working now? Great you issue fixed. The issue still persist? Follow the further steps.

Common fixes

Memory limit is one of the common solution for the error. Let’s check the other common problems that possibly cause the issue.

Do you have other WordPress website(s) hosted with the same hosting provider? Try opening them each in the new browser tabs.

If you find each of the websites have the same white screen problem. Meaning it’s not something you need to worry about. Your hosting server is facing some technical glitch and it will resolve soon.

But if your website is the only one facing the white screen issue, we need to check it for other not so common problems.

Plugins

We all love WordPress for the extended features we can add using Plugins. There has to be a plugin for any of your needs. You may at least find a plugin for your unique needs.

But do you know that in a poorly coded plugin can cause more damage then the features you may gain with it?

If none of the above method bring your website up, then there are bright chances that something is wrong with plugins.

Let’ identify if there is a problem with plugin or not. We need to disable all the plugins to complete it.

Login to the CPanel as you did in earlier step. Go to the wp-content directory and rename the plugins directory to plugins-bkp.

Try to load your website, is it working fine? Meaning your website had problem with plugins. What you can do next is simply install the required plugins.

Themes

A theme causing the white screen error is pretty rare. But still it’s possible that a theme is causing the error.

We are checking the theme issue after making sure that none of the plugins, execution memory, and common issues are not causing the issue.

There are some themes which are badly coded and some of them are using some code that is conflicting with other WordPress code.

To make sure that your active theme is causing this issue or not, we need to set the WordPress default theme (twentysixteen or other) as the default active theme.

As we don’t have access to the WP admin how would you do that? Simple login to the CPanel, go to the wp-content and enter the themes directory.

You will see a list of themes based on how many themes you have installed on your setup. You need to rename your last active theme directory. It will make WordPress fall back to the latest default theme.

Try opening the website in new tab, is it working fine? Meaning you had problem with the theme. Now what? What to do next?

You need to download the same theme from the author’s website, install and activate the theme. In majority of the cases it should resolve the issue.

If not resolved you need to ask the theme developer about the issue. May be the theme file code is conflicting with newer WordPress framework’s code.

Tips

To maintain your website please keep a habit of updating plugins as soon as they available. And the same rule applies to the themes. Any good theme will offer you an update.

Being a founder of WordPress development company I would never suggest you to install plugins and theme on your live website just for fun or testing. You better setup a local server and test additional functionality there.

Additionally, WordPress framework offers updates time to time, keep a habit of updating your wordpress framework to the latest version.

Finally, remove all those extra plugins which you no longer use. It will help you make your website faster and reduce the scope of such errors.

Conclusion

WordPress white screen error can happen to any WordPress based websites. The thing is you need to monitor your plugins, themes and keep everything up to date. This will help you address the white screen issue and prevent such occurrences in future.

The post How to fix WordPress white screen error appeared first on Todaytricks.

1. Pay attention to the quality of your website

Google always thinks about the website’s quality before indexing them into its search results. You must think- Is your website helping users what they are looking for? In order to determine the quality of your site, Google uses some key parameters such as time spent on your site by visitors, bounce rate, load time, design, ease of navigation, etc. Make sure you are addressing these issues carefully to give your user the best shopping experience on your e-commerce site.

2. SEO Audit

When you do SEO to improve your site’s ranking in Google and other search engines, it is possible that you may not be covering all aspects of the SEO. Therefore, you need to start a comprehensive audit of your website to identify SEO problems and take active steps to remove them as soon as possible. You can use SEO tools to discover issues that impact your site’s SEO.

3. SEO optimized fresh & unique contents

Search engines are always hungry for unique and fresh contents to give the Internet users the best result for their search queries. That is why, you need to publish fresh contents on your websites so that Google and other search engines may index your website’s page in its ranking. In order to generate traffic to your website, you can do blogging. Actually, blogging gives your website more exposure, makes internal linking (for your website) easier and keeps your customers updated about the new services and updates about your business. All these help your site to rank higher on Google and you enjoy healthy traffic back to your website. Have a look at some basics of blogging:

a. Don’t use article spinning tools to produce contents for blog posting. It will damage your site’s ranking eventually. Use only fresh, unique and SEO optimized contents for updating your blog,

b. Update your blog regularly and maintain a healthy ratio of promotional ads to content. People don’t come to your blog to see ads, but to read out useful contents.

c. Make sure you are using relevant images and videos in your contents as it will help you generate more traffic to your website.

4. Research your keywords properly

Keyword research is a complex SEO puzzle, faced by SEO professionals. When you target the wrong keywords, it will generate low quality traffic to your site and will result in lower sales. But, placing the right keywords on your product pages will help you allure highly qualified consumers and get your sales target easily. After development of your Magento website, Use Keyword Planner to perform keyword research to find out the most relevant keywords for your site based on various factors such as search volume, relevancy, ranking in search engines etc. It will help you to target your customers easily.

5. Display customer reviews on your site

It has been observed that customer reviews help a lot in lead generation and boost ROI by 62%. Product reviews displayed on your site help prospective buyers to get an idea about the quality of products and services they are going to buy. From SEO point of view, product pages that have product reviews (user generated contents) are likely to rank higher in Google as it always looks for pages with fresh and unique contents.
6. Do Aggressive SMO
SMO helps impacts your site’s search engine optimization efforts in many ways:

● It’s a new tool of link building,
● Helps your contents to get indexed in Search engines quickly,
● Quick boosting of relevant contents from shared posts

So make a solid presence on all leading social media channels and share your product pages regularly so that interested buyers can share your product information with their followers and help you to generate leads.

7. Make your website mobile friendly

As shopping through is increasing rapidly, it is important for you to make your e-store mobile-friendly. As per data, 30% of all eCommerce sales in the USA takes place on mobile devices and 30% of mobile users don’t make transactions on websites that are not optimized for Mobile devices. Additionally, Google prefers mobile-friendly websites. So, you lose your business almost everyday if don’t have a mobile optimized website. Just make your website mobile responsive for increased sales and conversions.

8. “Out of Stock” page

As you toil hard and use a number of SEO tips to increase your site’s visibility in Google and other search engines, you would not like to lose your site’s traffic and business too, simply because of “Out of Stock” page on your site. Just be smart, change the content of that page immediately and display a similar product to keep your customers engaged. You can also inform your customers about the availability of that product while displaying other similar products.

9. Review your competitors sites

As eCommerce world is packed with small and large e-retailers, you have to compete against them and drive traffic to your website for lead generation. You can review your competitors’ sites to have an idea about their SEO strategy and then define your main keywords to compete them, get quality inbound links, etc. Just analyze the architecture of your competitor’s sites and see how they have organized their product pages to give users the ease of navigation- an essential condition for e-shops to get more customers easily.
10. Use Google Analytics
All e-retailers need to keep a close eye on their site traffic and take active steps to increase it. They can use Google analytics to keep themselves up-to-date with website insights and design their marketing strategies accordingly to generate traffic and increase the chances of conversion.

SUMMARY

For getting an e-store ranked in Google’s top 10, requires SEO professionals to equip themselves with the best SEO practices (mentioned above) regularly and work honestly. If you monitor Google’s algorithm updates carefully and do effective SEO accordingly, your site will rank up in Google and you will enjoy a big slice of online traffic to boom your eCommerce business easily and comfortably.

Author Bio: Emily Benson is a talented blogger and CMS developer by profession. She provides Magento development services at HireMagentoGeeks Ltd. and has a team of expert developers to assist her in every project.

The post SEO Tips & Trick for Magento Website appeared first on Todaytricks.

Secure your clients

When you first start to work remotely, you may well end up juggling a number of different clients at once. You might even end up working more hours than you ever have done before! You want to prove to your clients that they can rely on you and this might mean making deadlines that are tough and challenging. To secure yourself some regular clients to need to be reliable and contactable at all times. Don’t ignore emails and don’t make excuses. Your reputation is everything when you work remotely, and you want people to recommend you. At the end of the day, your reputation is your business.

Reduce problems

If you are starting to work remotely, you want the transition to be as smooth as possible. Make space for all of your office equipment and make sure all of your paperwork is in order. Organization is key! Invest in yourself by purchasing the best equipment that you can afford. This includes a reliable laptop, a reasonably priced phone and, make sure all of mail arrives efficiently to you using mail forwarding – yourvirtualofficelondon.co.uk. The clearer and more organized your path is to working remotely, the more productive you will be.

Stay connected

It’s easy to feel lonely when you are always working on your own. There will be no Christmas party for you, and you’ll miss out on office banter. It’s a good idea to physically connect with the people that you work with at some point. Call them on the phone instead of always relying on email and invite them out for coffee if at all possible. It’s important that you still feel like you are a useful contributor, even if you aren’t seen every day.

The post How To Make Working Remotely Work For You appeared first on Todaytricks.