Importance of a Responsive Website Design

Before we delve deeper into the benefits of having a responsive website design, perhaps we should start by understanding what a responsive web design is. Firstly, it’s important to note that the days when we only had to use a computer to access websites are long gone. People can now browse the internet with all manner of mobile devices including cellphones, tablets, E-readers and gaming consoles. 

Ensuring your site or blog is compatible with different mobile devices is therefore an important part of the development process. The easiest and most effective way to achieve this is to create a responsive website. It is called responsive because it can adjust itself to a wide range of screen sizes. 

Benefits of a Responsive Website Design

• More Traffic

Studies have shown that majority of internet surfers use mobile devices to access the internet. You can therefore tap into this traffic by choosing a responsive website design. With this web design, you allow your target audience to access every webpage on your site, which increases your traffic. 

• Better Ranking

More traffic to your website automatically means better ranking. In fact it shouldn’t surprise you to learn that Google favors responsive web designs. When you are using a responsive website design, your webpages will automatically adjust in a manner that helps webmasters to keep content on the original URL. In other words, it reduces duplicity of your webpages. 

• Bounce Rate Reduction

In most cases when you do not have a responsive website design, your bounce rate tends to be high as visitors are automatically turned away by the clumsy design of your website. Nobody enjoys the hassle of having to scroll horizontally on their mobile device. A responsive website design helps you to deal with this problem. It offers better user experience, which is good for SEO.

Pay Per Click Ads- A Beginner’s Guide

As you contemplate promoting your website or blog, consider the possibility of using pay per click ads in your campaign. PPC is one of the latest search engine optimization tricks that have proved to produce results almost instantly. But just like other online marketing tools, PPC ads require a great deal of acumen and expertise. Extensive knowledge of the various aspects of pay per click ads is necessary, especially when you are setting up the adverts. The key to a successful campaign is to know how the entire process works. And so, let us look at some of the most important facets of a pay-per-click ads campaign.

Who’s Your Target Audience?

Truth be told; very few people take the time to think about their specific target audience when setting up pay per click ads. All that matters to them is to see an increase in traffic going to their site. Does that sound like you? Well, if so, you need a change of tact. Always base your advert on the specific audience you are targeting. Use keywords that you know your target audience are likely to search for. 

Create Objectives for Your PPC Campaign

Regardless of the size of your PPC campaign, it has to be aimed at specific goals. What do you want to achieve with the campaign? Knowing what to expect from the campaign is important because it helps you to measure the success. Other than driving traffic to your site, what other results do you want from your pay per click ads? This is a critical question that you have to ask yourself right from the word go. In fact, these goals will act as your guide when setting up the advert.

 
Develop a Relevant and Simple PPC Structure

It’s needless to say that your pay per click ads should be formulated using relevant keywords and phrases. The trick here is to create several adverts, each with its specific target keywords. Then remember to keep it simple. The most successful pay-per-click campaign structures are intuitive and practicable. What’s more, they are easy to monitor. 

Well, these are just some of the important factors that should always be at the back of your mind when you are setting up your pay per click ads.   

Magical SEO Tricks and Tips for 2015

A common question that SEO experts have to deal with every day is: What are the best SEO tricks and tips? The most surprising thing is that even the most celebrated SEO specialists are usually at loss in providing a satisfying answer to this question, largely because search engine optimization, and internet marketing as a whole, is still evolving. Google and other search engines are always upgrading their mechanisms, and you have to keep abreast of these advances in order to remain competitive.

Here are quick SEO tricks and tips that are magical in improving site ranking.

Obtain a Google + Page

Google Plus is still not one of the most popular social media platforms, but it has proved to have great SEO value if used properly.  It’s a simple trick, really. You just link your Google Plus site to your blog and all your search engine results will appear with your profile picture. This helps your website to standout in search engine results, which naturally attracts more viewership. 

Increase Your Domain Authority

Basically, domain authority helps you to gauge the strength of your domain/webpage as compared to those of your competitors in the SERPs results. Domain authority is determined by a number of factors including quality of content, linking domains, social signals, and search engine responsiveness. The more domain authority your site has, the higher it will rank.

Localize Your Target Keywords

By using keywords that have local search terms, you minimize competition, which ultimately translates into higher ranking. It’s also a great SEO trick to place your website on Google Maps. 

Make Your Site Search Engine Friendly

Google will penalize you badly if you go against the laid down rules and procedures. For instance, don’t ever stuff your website with keywords because Google sees them as spam. Also, avoid cloaked or crawler only pages because Google will consider them deceptive. Click here for more tips on how to make your website Google-friendly. 

Mobile-Friendly Site

Most people today use mobile devices to browse the internet. You can easily increase traffic on your website or blog by making it mobile-friendly.  

How to make your website Google-friendly 

Common SEO Mistakes Affecting Your Ranking

It’s frustrating when you spend massive resources on SEO only to find your website on page ten of Google search results. Truly, this is demoralizing. But have you taken time to look at the possible SEO mistakes you could be making? Very few internet marketing experts will talk about the common mistakes that could be preventing your website from ranking higher.

Here are five of the commonest SEO mistakes that will definitely affect your ranking.

Poor Site Maintenance

A common mistake that website owners make is to assume that a website is meant to run flawlessly through eternity. Without proper maintenance, your website will certainly lag behind- especially in the current ever-changing environment. Update your website regularly to ensure it’s at par with the upcoming ones.

Lack of Consistency

Don’t expect better search engine results if you are not consistent in your SEO campaign. If you are relying on content for search engine optimization, you have to keep publishing new content every now and then. Also, check what your competitors are doing to improve their ranking, and make sure to do it even better. 

Wrong Keywords

This is a common SEO mistake that even celebrated online marketing experts make. It’s only natural for someone to choose keywords that appear to describe their website. The unfortunate thing is that people may not be searching for these keywords. Use the available keyword suggestion tools for the right keywords. 

Lack of Proper Title Tags

A lot of bloggers and website owners tend to forget title tags when publishing content. This negatively affects the way a search engine crawls through your pages. Other people have title tags but forget to include the targeted keyword. That also affects your ranking. 

Spamming Your Site with Excess Back Links

Some people assume that having more backlinks will help improve their search engine ranking. This is a common delusion, but a wrong one. When back linking your site, choose just a few of the most reputable and useful links. 

Internet marketing is evolving- meaning that what is working for you today could not be useful tomorrow. You therefore need to keep abreast with the latest advances and avoid making the above and other common SEO mistakes.  

The Top 3 Online Marketing Strategies for Small Businesses

In this competitive world, online marketing strategies have become the lifeline for small and medium businesses that operate on small budgets. As a novice entrepreneur, you are going to find it awfully difficult to get the word out about your brand, especially since you do not have the budget to place expensive adverts on TV and billboards. 

But don’t worry because a well thought out online marketing campaign will give your brand the much needed boost and exposure. Now, the million dollar question is: Which online marketing strategies will work best for you? Here are the top 3 online marketing strategies that have proved to work for small and medium businesses. 

Social Media Strategy

Believe it or not, social media has become a critical part of the modern business world. Investors have discovered the magic in social media marketing. It not only drives traffic to your website, but also gives your brand a character and human voice that the online community can identify with. It may take time to create a loyal customer base on social media, but it will eventually pay off. Just make sure you don’t hard sell your followers.

Get Online Endorsement by Celebrities

Most celebrities enjoy massive following on social media, and you can take advantage of their following to promote your brand. This doesn’t mean you have to pay them to endorse your brand; just give them your product as a gift and follow up with them after a week or so to get their opinion on the product. Use their response to create a marketing blog or social media campaign. 

Create Online Marketing Videos 

Online videos are among the most common online marketing strategies today. With a platform like YouTube, you can create free marketing videos with your product reviews and endorsements, and generate massive traffic to your site. A good online marketing video should include a keyword-rich title, clear and informative message, and a call-to-action.

It is no coincidence that some of the most popular brands on social media are ranking higher on search engines; it’s because they have piles of social media shares. I hope you will put these online marketing strategies to good use. All the best…