Effective Solution to Promote Your Blog Online
In Present internet world, blogging is the most famous and in-demand cyber tool which can be easily used by anyone. Anyone can easily create blogs online by using Web 2.0 platforms which includes – WordPress, Typepad, Weebly and many more. By using these platforms, anyone can easily create blogs without any coding problem and without the tension of web designing. You just need to select the options according to your requirement and the blog is created. Now put some effort to work on further essential needs of the blog and the most important is the promotion.
Below are some of the effective solutions to promote the blog online:
Write Quality Content
Content is the building block of any blog. It creates the first impression of the blog. So write the quality content for your blog which must be useful for the blog readers. If the blog content is unique, fresh and qualitative then it also gets some benefits from Google search engine which will give great results for the blog. Most of the advertisers are interested to place their ads on those blogs having informative and quality content. Finally, this helps to increase the blog readers, hence traffic of the blog.
Optimize your blog
After creating a blog and also writing good content for it. Now start optimizing your blog to increase its SEO points. Do on-page optimization which will be done on the pages of the blog like keyword research, writing Meta tags which includes title headings, descriptions etc. After this perform off-page optimization on your blog. By doing SEO of the blog, your blog will become more web-visible which in turn results in gaining good search engine rankings and also drive huge traffic to the blog.
Link Building
Link Building is the process of generating relevant and quality links for your blog to increase your blog’s web visibility and to achieve improved rankings and huge traffic. Link building is the off-page optimization process which includes following techniques to build links:-
- Blog comments – This is the great option of placing our blog’s useful links on the other’s blogs. This is the one-way link building technique in which you have to comment on any post or the site’s content where comment option is enabled. This will attract the traffic of that blog to our blog. But keep in mind to promote your blog in relevant blog or under relevant content to get maximum benefits.
- Forums – Forum posting is another way of building one-way useful links. By registering on relevant forums, one can promote his blog by placing the blog’s URL in the profile page of the forum and also by pacing the right keyword with URL in the signature field. Then participate on various threads and get the maximum exposure of your blog which in result drives huge traffic and also improve rankings.
- Guest Posting – By doing guest posting, one can be able to attract the traffic of other’s blog in to our blog. This is one of the great ways of building links and increasing the credibility of the blog. In guest posting, we write an article or post for another’s blog which will publish our post and give us a link at the end of the post in the author bio section.
- Article submissions – This is also one of the very effective ways of promoting the blog. Write any article and publish it on various article sites by placing the required blog links at the end of the post.
- Social Bookmark – Creating bookmarks is also an effective way of promoting our blog to the whole web.
- Link Exchange – One can also exchange link of their site to any other one relevant to them. Link exchange is of 3 types – one way link exchange, two-way link exchange or reciprocal link exchange, or three way link exchange. This technique provides huge traffic and link juice to the outbound links.
So, by using these techniques one can get an effective promotion for his blog which in result gives traffic, increases credibility of the site and also improves ranking of the blog.
About the Author Roberta Smith is an Entrepreneur who designs and develops solutions for a business. She also writes as a freelancer for a number of online communities and is writing this post for http://www.tustinautocenter.com
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6 Useful Tips For Small Business Websites
Whether you are an entrepreneur, manufacturer, and trader or even if you provide services, everyone comes across the need for a website, especially these days when the major mode of communication is the internet.
Having an attractive and user friendly website definitely helps a lot in giving you the boost you need in your business. Some of us ignore this fact, and rely on traditional methods of marketing and interaction with customers.
It is very important to have a website that not only attracts a lot of traffic to your page, but also keeps that traffic glued to your page. However, having a good website to attract traffic is only effective when the user finds what he is looking for.
Many of us ignore some basic tips and tricks while designing small business websites. Those who are aware of these tricks and incorporate them via small business web design services, get an extra edge and easily sweep the market in terms of customers and profit.
Keywords and keyword density
The first and most important tip for designing a website is choosing the right keywords for your page. If that is done, half of your job is done as the keyword will automatically attract traffic. However, keyword density plays a vital role as well. Keyword density determines the number of times you use keywords on different pages and will help you a lot in attracting a large amount of traffic to your page.
Relevance
The second tip is that once you have the appropriate keywords, your website should be relevant to what the user is looking for and it should cater to the needs of the users. Once a user visits your website, he should get satisfied in finding what he is looking for. Talk about what you can do for the customers and how your services can be beneficial for them. Moreover, the information that you provide should be correct, up-to-date and in accordance with the latest trends. For instance, if your article is on fashion, it should cover what is “in” right now or a latest fashion show instead of delving on past trends or shows.
Be available for your Customers
The third tip for having an effective and successful website is that once the user finds what he is looking for, he should face no difficulty in contacting you for placing his order or asking some query. Everything should be explained step by step and all the information should be readily available without any hassle.
Easily accessible Contact Information
Next you should place your contact information e.g. your email address, mobile number or business address at easy to find spots. Sometimes the user gets offended when he is unable to locate your contact information.
Go for Simplicity
Use simple and basic graphics for your website that are user friendly. Don’t overdue it, many of the users only have the basic know-how about using the internet, so you should keep that in mind while designing your website.
Update the Website regularly!
The sixth tip for your small business website is the need to keep your website up to date and keep it fresh. If a user visits your website and finds it not up to date, he will get discouraged and leave the page. This will ultimately undermine your good will.
Keeping the above tips in mind while designing your website will no doubt give you long term benefits. Make your website according to the latest trends and include all the new services e.g. flash development and 2d and 3d animations as well. There are many small business web design services which will aid you in getting the desired results.
About the Author: Brendan Egan own Simple SEO Group that works to provide small online businesses e-marketing and web design services. Brendan can be contacted at www.SimpleSEOGroup.com
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Harnessing a Clever Use of Space to Successfully Sell Online
Hard economic times make their own unique success stories – and nowhere is this truer than online retail. With traditional shop leases becoming financially untenable in the current retail climate, the Internet is strengthening its position as the most cost effective channel. But although business is booming, the flip side of this success means it is an overcrowded space for start-ups and small businesses looking to make the transition to online. Ironically, physical space is an issue when it comes to the virtual world – you might not need a traditional shop anymore, but you will need conventional space to store your merchandise (which can considerably raise your overheads and give you the hassle of turning around stock). Or do you? Many companies have found their way around the traditional merchandise cycle, which we’ll explore:
The Invisible Widget
One solution to the merchandise storage issue is not to handle the stock at all. Drop shipping allows a retailer to select a product, sell it, and hand over the delivery to the drop shipping company. This means that there are no storage or handling costs, all you need to focus on is marketing and the user experience within your online store. However, there are several things to think about. Firstly, cost. Some drop shippers will charge a membership fee and the initial cost of the product will effect your mark-up so do research to get the best deal. Stock availability and fulfilment are also other considerations. It’s no use having a great product at a low price, if it never turns up when the customer orders it. Always choose a drop shipping company that’s as close to wholesale as possible. This will keep the costs lower and improve customer service (as they are responsible for their product and not just a middle man). Do your research carefully – it’s a good idea to contact other customers of the drop shipper to ask them questions before you commit.
Another solution is to do away with physical product altogether. With the rise in online gaming and smart phone apps, virtual products are coming into their own. If you don’t own a software development company, you might not think this is an option for you – but even small businesses can find ways to get into the virtual product game. For example, a real estate company that publishes a range of selling and buying guides can sell the consolidated ebook online. The key is to do your research – is there a real desire for your virtual product and what is the competition like? If you discover a buoyant enough niche and can provide quality content or a service (like an online tool or calculator) you might not need to have any ‘physical’ product at all.
Smarter Storage
Of course, most online retailers will still need to work with traditional stock, but even here there are smarter ways to use inventory storage space. Many small online retailers start as eBay or Amazon sellers who evolve into bigger operations over time. Whereas stock might be kept at home and sent on from there when the business is smaller, this is no longer viable as the business grows. The jump to paying for storage can be quite a jolt for many. Traditional warehouses expect long leases and overheads such as business rates, VAT, utility costs and initial deposits, which can be a considerable outlay. There are some savvier solutions.
The first is to partner with another small company to keep storage costs down. Traditional warehouse space tends to be large converted barns or other re-used buildings and might provide more space than you actually need. By sharing costs with another company you can carve up the space to your requirements and share on things like trolleys and packing equipment. There are security issues though if several different parties have access, and make sure to negotiate terms of service in the contract.
If you want your own storage space, and a warehouse is too big or expensive, self storage might be the answer. The greatest draw is flexibility. A small company can hire a storage room for the exact amount of time they need. But the flexibility doesn’t stop there. Take, for example, a small company selling gift wrapping paper. They can hire two self storage rooms (one for Christmas and one for Birthday wrapping paper) and shut down the Christmas room as soon as the product sells. If there’s a good offer on a new product, the company can quickly open a bigger room and scale down to a smaller sized one as stock is turned around (the good news is that self storage rooms can also be used as distribution hubs, allowing you to break up and send off your product all in the same space). Once all the stock is sold, the rooms can be shut down completely until a new order comes in (this is especially good if your stock is seasonal).
About the Author: Drew Davies writes for Big Yellow Self Storage. Find out more about business storage and how it can help your business.
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5 Tips on Small Business SEO Packages
SEO stands for search engine optimization. Search engines are the source from where new sites can be found while almost 70-80 percent online purchasing is done on websites through search engines. Search engine browsing is one of the most widely used research method that leads to many advantages.
Business packages
Internet search engines offer various packages for business websites. There are many small business SEO packages that can be found. However, there are many things that you need to consider when it comes to seo packages. Like if you are a small business and you need to sell products on your website, you need to have a search engine package that is effective, low cost and user-friendly.
Keywords
Moreover, you need to have keywords that can help people find the words they need related to the things they want to purchase. Among other things that you need to manage is your site. You need to have answers for all the queries of the customers along with other things that are necessary for the small business SEO packages.
The dos and don’ts of using SEO packages
Small business SEO packages are never extravagant in offering services but they should at least satisfy the customers. You need to know your business needs and have the seo package that you think best suits your business. You also need to know what kind of SEO your business needs and then have the best package for it. Yes, there are different ways to optimize the search engine as well.
Determining whether you need SEO packages or not
You would want to know whether your website needs SEO package or not, and if it does then how do you want it to work. If you have a content rich website, you will be offered a different package. However, if you just want to increase the ratings of your website, the packages available will be entirely different.
SEO campaigns include keyword or competitor analysis and blogs that your website might need. You need to have the best package just to ensure that your website and your small business can have everything that is required for a successful business. There is online optimization that is also included in the SEO campaign.
How to avail these packages
There are different packages with different needs and different requirements. These business packages are made for businesses that are in competition. Furthermore, the directory and keywords are to be chosen in packages and the capacity of these keywords and directory is dependent upon the package validity and month. There are blogs and articles in the package that can be helpful for your business and the website that you have created. Any of these websites can tell you which package suits you the best.
These packages can be availed online or through help taken from people who know about packages. These packages can be costly if you want the ones that have everything. These packages carry a lot of things that are really useful in business organizations and can help you a lot.
About the Author: Brendan Egan is the CEO of Simple SEO Group. The company offers small business SEO packages which include web design and marketing strategies. Brendan can be contacted at www.SimpleSEOGroup.com
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Is It Time To Move Your Business Online?
Operating a small business in today’s business environment can be a real challenge. Regardless of what industry you are involved in, the marketplace is crowded and competition is fierce. Rising prices of supplies, fuel, labor and more eat into your profits regularly. It may have crossed your mind at some point that you should move your business online. While there are some advantages to running a brick and mortar business, the advantages of moving your business into the digital realm are many. Consider these points:
Cost Advantages
You may be thinking about adding an online dimension to your existing business, or you may be thinking about forsaking your brick and mortar business altogether and simply running an online business. Either way, there are cost advantages to running an online business. When you operate online, you can enjoy greater profits with far less overhead. Other than the cost of website development and access to a server, you can market your goods or services to more people without the need for overhead like paying for rent, utilities and more for your office space. If you keep your brick and mortgage business running as well, you can boost profits without drastically increasing the level of overhead you pay.
Marketing Benefits
Attracting customers into your storefront location can be time-consuming, tedious and expensive. You may have spent a small fortune on guerilla marketing techniques, display ads, special coupon mailers and more. Such efforts are expensive, and they need to constant in order to enjoy the best results. Online marketing is a different beast, however. It can be done remotely, digitally, automatically and at far lass cost than other types of marketing. Consider how easy it is to develop an email marketing campaign, to use SEO strategies to attract online customers and to announce sales and promotions through social media sites.
Around-the-Clock Operations
A live business location requires either you or someone you pay to man the phones, the cash register and the sales floor, depending what type of business you are in. This occurs for a few hours every day, then you close up shop, turn out the lights and your business ceases to generate money for you. An Internet business, however, does not require your constant attention, yet it can still generate profits for you. You can earn money while sleeping peacefully in bed or while taking the weekend off to enjoy time with family and friends. There is no need to sit around and wait for customers to walk into your store or office, and you don’t have to pay your good money to have an employee do that for you.
Downsides to Consider
While the benefits of an online business are many, there are some downsides to consider. Many customers do enjoy the ability to find and work with a business remotely and any time of the day or night. However, some customers enjoy live interaction and excellent customer service when dealing with a business. It can be a struggle to showcase your business’ commitment to customer service when operating an online business. While challenging, however, it is not impossible.
You may be ready to close up your storefront location entirely and move your business entirely online. Perhaps you are considering using an Internet-based business location to enhance the profits of your storefront location. There are so many benefits available to you by running an online business. The Internet can be used as your sole business location, or you can use the Internet as a secondary business location. An online business model is not without its own challenges, but considering the many benefits associated with running an online business, this is a business model worth considering more carefully.
About the Author: Victor is a tech blogger and freelance writer. His interests span from cloud computing and VPS to gadgets and gaming. He currently works for a Brisbane IT Services company as well as writing for several blogs and publications.
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5 Things You Can Do to Start Driving Traffic to Your Site Fast
These days, getting people to your website is key to make sales. Even if you do not sell directly online, your website will often serve as a first port of call and your main marketing tool to capture prospects that search for what you are offering.
The trouble is, all this fails if no one visits your site. You can have the best online presence possible but unless someone actually sees it, it’s pointless.
Gaining traffic to your site is not an easy task. Traditional and the most effective methods such as SEO are quite time consuming, yet you might want to drive people to your site much faster than this.
Luckily, there is a number of things you can do to make this happen.
1. Use Google Places
Setting up a Google Places account should be the first thing for any business to do, regardless of their website promotion activities. However, this can be used to gain visitors to your site as well.
Google Places offers small businesses a chance to create a local listing for themselves. Your listing will only show for anything related to what you are offering and only in your location, which is perfect for most companies. Also, the Places listing will rank in Google much faster than your website and depending on your industry, it might even start showing on page one of the search engine relatively fast.
Moreover, your Google Places profile, which is very easy to set up, can include your website address, pointing people to it for more information.
2. Submit Your Blog Posts to Reddit
Nowadays, a website must have a blog. It is the most effective way for you to add new content and build an image of yourself as an expert in your field. But there is more that you can do with your blog than just create posts for it, you can use it to quickly drive traffic to your site.
Submit your blog posts to Reddit, a social bookmarking site, known for thousands of users who are there for one purpose only, to discover new content. Submission process is easy and the traffic spikes after you do so are incredible.
3. Promote Your Business With Online Press Releases
Press releases are great for many things, from announcements to raising the awareness of your business. However, they can also help you gain website visitors.
A well written press release can attract many people to your business and if it gets picked up by the press, even more people will find out about you.
By including your website address in your press release you increase your chances of getting visitors to your site from there.
4. Use social media to drive traffic to your site
Sites like Twitter and Facebook are the best places to find people interested in what you are selling. And, it is a known fact that people like to click on links from those sites. Therefore, start using social media and promote your website there as well. Include your web address in your profile but also post links to your latest posts and so on.
5. Submit Your Site to Business Directories
Just like with Google Places, you can create profiles for your business on various other business listing sites and promote your website there. Including a link usually goes beyond what you get with a free listing though so you might have to spend a little but in the end, it will be all worth it.
Promoting a website is not an easy task, however, as you can see, there are a lot of things you can do quite easily to start receiving traffic to your site. Of course, none of them will replace the long term value of good SEO but in a short term they will help you to get things moving with your site.
About the Author: Pawel is a writer and publisher of business books for beginners and through his publications helps newcomers to start and build a successful business.
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Should Companies Register Dot-Brand Domain Names?
ICANN has been accepting applications for custom dot-anything domain suffixes for more than a month now, and many businesses are wondering if it’s even worth the investment to have their own dot-brand domain.
This question has been on my mind ever since ICAAN announced that they would accept applications for dot-anything domains. I have also been curious as to whether businesses should register their own dot-brand suffix to prevent cybersquatters from getting to it first. I decided to ask Grant Chandler, president of Utah-based DomainMarket.com, for his thoughts on the debate surrounding dot-anything domains.
“The decision to invest in dot-anything domains really depends on a few factors,” said Chandler. “On the one hand, it totally changes the game for businesses and the options they have for branding themselves. On the other hand, the challenge may be more than it’s worth.”
ICANN will be accepting applications for domain suffixes until April 12. But registering a custom suffix is not cheap. The application fee is $185,000, and start-up costs are estimated at $500,000.
“For certain companies with a strong brand presence, like Sony, it can be an opportunity to gain more Internet real estate. It makes sense for Sony to have a website like televisions.sony and direct customers looking for TVs to that website,” Chandler said. “But it’s not for all brands and companies. It would be a constant struggle for small businesses to market and brand their domain with a custom suffix.”
According to the International Trademark Association, there has been scant corporate interest in purchasing domain names with custom suffixes.
Chandler explained that this is because companies do not want to tackle the dilemma of directing their customers to a whole new domain name, especially when most people are used to the dot-com suffix.
“There can only be one king in the domain market, and the king is the dot-com domains,” said Chandler. “While there is some value to owning dot-net and dot-org domains, those domains are constantly losing branding to their dot-com counterparts.”
According to Bloomberg Businessweek, in 2010 there were about 89.2 million dot-com domain registrations, making up roughly 71 percent of all domain registrations since 2001.
Opponents argue that businesses will have to rush out to purchase their own dot-anything domains to prevent abusive cybersquatting. Though Chandler noted that ICAAN requires applicants to demonstrate their vested interest in the suffix and explain how they will operate the domain.
So how many brand suffixes should a company register?
“If a company does plan to register a dot-anything domain, it should be the dot-brand suffix,” Chandler said. “Registering anything else will only confuse consumers. People will expect to find information about McDonald’s Big Mac at bigmac.mcdonalds, not mcdonalds.bigmac.”
ICAAN expects the dot-anything domain names to begin going live within about two years. They estimate that 400 to 1,000 domain suffixes will be approved.
Do you think it’s worth it for businesses to register their own dot-brand domains? Should businesses register more than one domain? Do you think cybersquatting will be an issue with the new dot-anything suffixes? Tell us in the comments!
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Photo Credit: linh.ngân
Seven Important Factors to Re-design your Website
Your site is an essential tool that you simply hold very much to yourself. Spent substantial amount of time focusing on its maintenance and improvement. Your site can double as an remarkable possession so that as your supply of earnings. You may also utilize it to articulate your tips and share information around the world. However, it reaches a stage you need to re-design your site to satisfy new demands. Only at that level, you may be worried on if the changes you need to make would change your site.
Nonetheless, it is vital to think about factors that will assist you to redesign your site perfectly. It’s also wise to undertake reresearch to look for the appropriate time for you to effect the modifications. However, about this article you’ll find a few of the factors that will trigger the requirement for a re-design. guarantee to completely read and evaluate everything prior to making a variety. When in the event you re-design your site?
1.Whenever your website branding is poor
The company of the website must be well situated to capture the eye of the site visitors. Additionally aimed at your website logo design and mascot, you need to ensure the look can also be a part of modeling. For your reason, you need to re-design your website to make sure its look is supplying site visitors.
2. Once the latest plug-inches fail in your website
Plug-inches affects the performance of the website. Consequently, in case your website does not accept the most recent plug-in, you need to re-design. A few of the plug-in failure actions incorporate wrapped texts and damaged images. You need to realize that if site visitors find damaged links, texts and pictures, they’d not take advantage of your site and therefore, they’d leave.
3. Whenever your Site Search engine optimization ranking does not improve
You need to regularly examine your site ranking on search for motors. Whenever your website ranking does not improve, the time is right you add new, high quality and appropriate content materials. You make sure the content you add is suitable aimed at your website niche. You need to keep in mind that individuals today visit sites for brand new information and therefore, you’ll need new information to lure site visitors.
4. Once the design is outdated
Each year, developers create 1000′s of website designs that center around related styles and search. In certain occasions, it’s Consequently easy to tell once the website was produced. You need to put many emphases in your goal. This really is by making certain your site encourages the meant quantity of specific traffic or maybe more. You are able to search for new concepts in the latest internet sites release. When the appearance of your site can’t be modified to include the meant modifications, the time is right you re-design.
5.Whenever your website navigation is tough
Many people get it wrong of creating an internet site in line with the appearance. You need to put stresses around the functionality of the website a lot more than seems. You need to guarantee your site site visitors arrive at their information with under 3 clicks.
6.If this has less than professional look
It is important to ensure your site look is professional. You need to realize that males and ladies don’t trust poorly designed websites and therefore, you need to re-design to enhance it.
7.Whenever your website specific visitors are low
You need to re-design your site once the specific site visitors does not improve Regardless of offering quality articles along with a great look. In certain occasions, it’s important to optimize your site and posts, which depend on the development of your site.
About the Author: Donald Bates is a website designer who loves to help fellow designers and business owners sharing his knowledge and experience. He would like to invite you to find out more about south florida web design and also to find out more about miami web design company.
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Website Localization: Going International Online
As markets in Asia and Latin America quickly grow to rival those in North America and Europe, many companies are expanding in the world’s developing economies. Multinational companies are able to firstly grow and then diversify their revenue by trading internationally. Furthermore, many are able to leverage their resources and capabilities to innovate and customise products specific to certain markets. One of the main reasons for success in overseas markets is effective localisation of products and services.
Companies launching in foreign markets often find it difficult to compete with local companies who obviously have the advantage of knowing and understanding their local market. Even without competition, language and culture present many challenges for outside entrants to overcome. Companies large and small have failed to gain a foothold in a foreign market because of a lack of cultural awareness and understanding. In order to effectively market products and services to a new country or region, companies need to focus upon localisation for successful results.
Web Opportunities
The Internet presents a great opportunity for many companies to enter a foreign market and test their suitability. For web-based companies especially, the Internet is a cost-effective channel to tap into a new market. Language and culture still present a challenge, but they can be easily addressed by companies through an effective and sustained localization strategy.
The language long tail on the Internet has been lengthening with most growth occurring in languages spoken in the emerging world. Languages like Arabic and Chinese have grown 2500% and 1500% respectively by the number of users over the last 5 years. Research shows that web users are up to 4 times more likely1 to purchase from websites in their native language. As a result, the internet has been bestowed with regional characteristics and content is being made available in different languages to reach out to web users internationally. Multinational online companies now support an average of 23 languages on their websites2; this increase has sped up more so in the latter part of the last decade. This is due to the realization by many global companies that a multilingual communication strategy is key to continued success in the era of globalisation.
Localising for the Web
Primarily, a website is more suited for a market if it uses country code top-level domain (for e.g. .fr, .co.uk, .de, .cn). It is also suitable to host a country specific website on servers located within a country. This would improve page loading times and search engine rankings. With the introduction of Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs), which are top level domain in foreign languages, the language factor has become more profound and a critical element of connecting with foreign web users.
Localisation requires complete adaptation of a product or service and it covers the adaptation of company logo, slogan etc. for a market. It is recommended that professional help in the form of translation agency or localisation experts are used to assist in this process. A mishap can occur with any company and as was the case with Schweppes whose campaign for ‘Schweppes Tonic Water’ unknowingly translated into ‘Schweppes Toilet Water’ in Italy. Thus, it becomes imperative that professionals are involved in the localisation process.
Translation of content is central to expansion into a foreign market. For search marketing purposes, keyword research should be the primary task for companies. Once a set of keywords that are applicable for a company, its products or services, is developed, translation can follow in order to make it relevant for search engines. The translation that is conducted has to be country specific and should resonate with the market in order to be effective.
The process of providing a localised online experience continues in all forms and channels of engagement. Translation would be required for advertising campaigns, help content, terms and conditions, as well as customer service contact. The costs of online expansion are very affordable, and good localisation pays off in a matter of time, research has shown that every $1 invested in localisation yields $25 in revenues for software companies. To successfully connect with foreign web users, localisation has to be adapted at all levels.
- European Online Language Preferences Revealed in Flash Eurobarometer Report, Common Sense Advisory.
- The Top 25 Global Websites of 2011, Global by Design.
- Localization Industry Standards Association 2007 report.
About the Author: Talha Fazlani is a technical marketing professional who works for Language Connect, a language, localization and multilingual digital marketing company. Language Connect is a fast growing translation services company , and is renowned for its quick turnaround times and efficient working methods.
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5 Biggest Website Mistakes That Too Many Small Businesses Make
Let’s face it – your company needs a website. For many customers, your website will provide their first impression of your business. A simple, well designed website can go a long way, but watch out for these common errors that can turn customers off.
1. Making your Customers Work to Find You
For me, the most common reason I visit a business website is to get their phone number or address. I’m of the opinion that contact information should be on the header or footer of every page of your website. Unless you are doing online sales, the ultimate goal is to get customers in your door, right? Don’t make them work so hard.
2. Burying the Lead
Ever click on a business website and think ‘what are they even selling?’ Every page of your website should give a strong indication of your product or service. This can be as simple as throwing a picture of a truck on every page is you’re a trucking company. A strong company name and logo can also do the trick. But if your company name is “Dynamic Systems Enterprises”, you’ll need to be clear of what your website is about, and remind your customer on every page why they are there.
3. Out of Date Content
It seems pretty basic: keep your contact information and prices up to date on your website, but too many small business owners forget it. Changing prices and disconnected phone numbers can immediately kill a new lead. But also watch for old information in other parts of your content. If I see a website advertising an event from 6 months ago, or running a promotion that ended last season, I don’t trust that ANY information is current. I might even think you’ve gone out of business.
4. Goofy Stock Photos
Stock photos are inevitable, but some of them are downright ridiculous. These photos have even sparked the new trend of “stocking”, or imitating stock photos.
Sure, visuals are a must for your website, and if you don’t have high quality photos of your business, products, and employees buying or getting free stock images can be a quick and cheap alternative. But really look at the picture before you put it up there, is this really how your employees look when celebrating a success?
5. Too Many Gimmicks
Skip the crazy animation and graphics; the last thing you want is for your website to take a long time to load. This can lead to instant click off. Small business owners also can’t seem to resist the allure of Hit Counters. Not only will it reveal if you have low traffic to every person who visits your site, it just looks tacky.
Avoid these mistakes by remembering that your website should match your business. If you are an upscale restaurant, your website should feel upscale as well. If the client services your store is relaxed and personable, that’s how your website should feel too.
Approach designing your website like you would designing your store front. Would you put those two colors together? Would you have a photo like that hanging up? Would you have any information out of date? Use these questions as your guide when setting up your online presence as well.
Having a website for your business is essential to staying competitive in today’s marketplace, make sure it’s bringing new customers in rather than making them “click off”.
About the Author: Becky Canary-King is an Account Manager and Press Contact at Direct Incorporation, a company focused on providing a more economical and efficient alternative to using a law firm for common legal/entrepreneurial issues. She blogs for Direct Incorporation’s Blog, offering tips for the first 6 months of your small business.
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