Category: Development

DevelopmentInsightsMartech

Tips for Building a More Engaging Newsletter

An email newsletter isn’t your typical promotional email. It contains a lot of information that isn’t necessarily geared towards directing readers to a call-to-action. To make it interesting and fun for readers to read through, it’s important that the in-email content be engaging. 

Newsletters are effective only if they are well executed and perfectly designed. However, marketers are advised not to try and put too much into a newsletter. Often, we get to see examples where product updates are blended into promotional offers and blog posts. This causes the newsletter to lose focus.

According to Hubspot, an email newsletter needs solid ground to hold it together. Your audience needs to know what it is they are reading about as soon as they see the subject line. They also need to quickly identify the focus of the email and understand it quickly. This increases your email’s engagement rates. 

If your email newsletter isn’t performing as well as it should, it’s time to take a back seat and revamp your strategy. Your newsletter might even be something you wouldn’t want to read yourself. A good newsletter should be three things: relevant, interesting, and valuable. Try an email builder to be sure you will have a good email template.

First, it should relate to the reader’s interests and the things that they care about. Second, it should delight, educated, and entertain them. Third, it should teach them and give something that they would find useful. Without these basics, your newsletter will struggle to draw an engaged and consistent readership. 

Experts recommend coming up with a newsletter strategy at the very beginning. This should include the objectives of the newsletter, a way of identifying target readers, and choosing the newsletter’s visual style. These will provide the right foundation for making it more engaging.

We will share 5 tips below for building a more engaging newsletter: 

An Interactive Table of Contents for Better Navigation

If your newsletter contains a lot of content, you can make it more navigable by including a table of contents. This shows your audience what to expect as they start to read your email. A static table of contents works well. However, an interactive one makes things way better. The latter allows readers to skip to a section once they click on a particular topic within the table. This can be done using anchor links. 

The table of contents is clickable and when tapped, the page jumps to the exact module. This is one of the best techniques where the business wishes to include tons of in-email content. What’s even better is that most interactive tables of contents are supported across a wide array of email clients. They are easy to implement and do not require any coding. 

Grab Attention Using Hero Module

Make your readers feel cheerier and brighter from the very beginning. The perfect way to do this is to build a full-width effect in the hero module using an HTML background color. Sending an email filled with images could increase your chances of landing in the spam folder. This is, especially for readers that have their image-viewing capability turned off. This would mean that your email isn’t read. 

The best solution is to cut images with HTML design and plain text. The technique also works if you want to incorporate a certain color into the background of a plain text. This color could be obtained from a product image. Color-blocking concentrates the focus on a single idea and unifies the newsletter’s composition. 

Keep Things Interesting by Varying Content Width

Maintaining consistency in each module in your newsletter achieves a certain level of design efficiency. However, you can create more interest, fun, and delight by using varying content modules and asymmetrical designs. For example, you could use bold HTML color to increase the width in your opening module. Changing the width as you scroll down through the content gives the newsletter a playful and dynamic appeal. HTML background colors and large font sizes add an element of visual interest as well. 

More and more brands are experimenting with colors, type, layering images, and module designs to take things a notch higher. This results in collaged emails that look like they were handmade. Fortunately, the techniques can be incorporated easily without fuss. 

Use GIFs to Animate your Offering

A little animation goes a long way in conveying an offering or product. A static screenshot isn’t likely to achieve as much as what a helpful strategy would using the right web tools and apps. GIFs bring a sense of motion and aliveness to a business’ storytelling techniques. 

Before including them in an email, think about the story you are about to tell. Your GIFs should have a purpose. One which is well thought out could blend well with your email to give your audience a good reason why they should act. Remember to keep the file size small so that it does not take too much time to animate. You can do this by removing frames, animating the part that has the picture only, reducing colors, and cropping out what’s not needed. 

Make it Personal

The best way to stand out from every other email in your audience’s inboxes is to make a personal connection. While at it, keep it simple. Make quick responses where necessary. According to a study carried out by the Harvard Business Review, waiting longer than 5 minutes to get back to your customer’s decreases your chances of landing a new lead by up to 400%. Go the extra mile while chatting with them. They will always remember how you made them feel. This makes it extremely essential that you provide the best customer service. 

Use these tips to increase engagement in your email newsletters. If you have trouble knowing what to say to your audience, make use of an email builder which helps you create and edit email templates. Your audience will soon start to feel as if they are a part of your business. They will contribute more, share their concerns, and make it easier for you to find out what they want. Also, they are likely to refer others to your business, hence, increasing your audience.

DevelopmentInsightsProducts

What Is Power Dialer Software and How Benefited For Business?

“A Power Dialer is an automated dialing system connecting agents to prospects more efficient with allowing agents to focus on live connections. The system automatically dials the next contact, when an agent is available, based on your desired calls-to-agent ratio.”

So the power dialer increases the amount of time agent spend to real prospector and customer. Power dialer is specially benefited. When a call center which has a small number of sales executive and quantity of prospects.

Power dialer is different from other dialers. The agent is already active on the phone when the dialer being going through the contact numbers. Power dialer only dials the next number when initiated with the agent.

A Superior Option for B2B (Business To Business)

Dialers are usually limited to being a piece of hardware. It makes routine calls. There are different types of dialer, but the most superior option is B2B calling, that is power dialer.

This dialer only calls one number at one time; yet heightens productivity and lower cost of saving leads. This is from the waste that occurs with other types of dialers. Predictive dialer supposed to dial several numbers at once.

With hope, there will enough reps that are available to take the calls on time. And they answered. It leaves the phones agents rushed and less well-prepared. With also allowing many leads lost to over-dialing

How Do Power Dialers Work?

This is contact center type of dialer where the agents are already active on the liner at the time of the call. Usually, the agent stimulates the calling session and when a live answer is detected. He/she answered the call. And the agent is already live here, so there is no call transferring required.

This is ideal for single-person scenarios or in remote agent environment. So, it doesn’t require multiple agents to transfer calls to. The possibility of abandonment cost rules out here. The dialer dials one line at the same time. An individual – line power dialer make around 75-80 calls per hour.

For this power dialer, the agent is always there to take the phone call. If a person picks up. They also get to catch whatever the live person that will say and they pick up. Unlike the other dialer where the agent might not find the hello causing a delay in response.

Benefits of Power Dialer

  • With the benefit of the power dialer that eliminates the abandonment rate. This is already a live person on the phone ready to receive a call.
  • Use of power dialer also goes with some many more quickly than manual dialing.
  • This is possible for the agent to call over seventy leads in just an hour.
  • Power dialer like Dialer360 is useful for individual agent businesses. Approximately the technology available today support both predictive and power dialing.
  • Power dial would be attractive because it gives you a choice depending on your needs for the day.
  • This is easy to use and very active. Since the assistance available before the call gets connected. Power dialer is a complete clear winner.
  • With power dialing, the number of calls depends on receiving capability of teams.
  • So power dialing call center gets quick response and information. Power dialer notches higher in term of customer satisfaction.
  • This also helps out there to increase your businesses and sales with some methods.
  • You can save the time if you can make seventy calls in an hour, plow with a significant number of prospects at the day. Some of those leads which are bound to run into decreases dramatically.
  • Help to skip over number where there is no answer or leaving an auto-message. It happens when voicemail picks up.
  • An agent can focus exclusively on communication with real people. Rather than on leaving the same voice message over and over until he/she finally reach a live person.

Features of Power Dialer

Must-have features of the best power dialers

Let’s have a look at the characteristics of a power dialer. Here are four indispensable elements.

Customized caller ID

With a fantastic challenge faced by the telemarketer is caller ID. This is to notify or at least make the people suspicious as they are about to receive a sales call. Customizing the caller ID that allowing associating your request with another legitimate number. With using your mobile number instead of your name. The difference between talking to someone and moving on the next call.

One-click voicemails

Some other standard features with the best power dialer are one-click function. Instead of leaving the same message over, wasting time you have prerecorded messages to leave automatic. With the click one single button on the power dialer platform. It also saves you more time than the auto-dialing features all power dialer that has.

Contact info preview

The best power dialer is complete without the contact info preview function. So the power dialer moves on the next call. The information about the impending contact appears on the screen. Give agent opportunity to the personalized invitation best understanding of his/her audience.

Compliance

Some of the other features that integrate with Customer Relationship Management (CRM). As such call campaign, customized email, whisper coaching, and reporting among other things. Suppose the device is missing four essentials and don’t have a couple of other features that consider shopping around.

Final Thoughts

Usually, your company purchases a particular service. They try to figure out if your call has gone through. When you have reached a human being can cost critical time you could be used to make a sale. The power dialer cuts that time sucks out. Moreover, the software allows identifying callers to maximize efficiency and mask. You’re out calling number to discourage potential customers. Those who typically avoid telemarketers, from dodging your call.

This can mean less frustration and more effective calling for your agents. Fundamental, business requires making daily phone contact with a variety of people successful. Its time and level of efficiency can expect to see very positive results from using the power dialer.

Author Bio

Abdul has spent his career developing high-performance organizations. He is working as a chief marketing officer for a leading call center software company Dialer360. As both a marketing executive, Abdul has created and executed numerous programs that build market awareness, drive lead generation and increase revenue.

DevelopmentInsightsMartechSEO

Get the Best SEO Services in Singapore by Engaging True SEO Expert Can help to Improve Website Speed

SEO has always been very dynamic, and the rapid spread of mobile devices, especially smartphones, has pushed the dynamism to new levels. To engage in any marketing activity is now just enough to whip out the smartphone from your pocket and ahoy, SEO is at your fingertips. Online marketing had become so much mobile that people tend to forget the times when desktop computers were the only means of accessing SEO. Indeed, mobile SEO is the most significant development that catches the eye, but along with it, there has been some other change, which is equally important. To meet the expectations of mobile device users, websites have become speedier than before, thanks to the widespread use of responsive web design.

The progressive speed enhancement of websites has happened in two phases – firstly, WordPress changed the SEO game by creating sites that open faster and secondly, responsive web design took it a step ahead and created even faster websites. To survive the intense competition in gaining high visibility, it has become necessary to ensure that websites are speedy and mobile-friendly.  Since all WordPress themes are not the same, you must carefully choose a suitable theme that does not have heavy design elements and provides support in creating websites that open pages very fast besides having the best functionalities and features. Unless websites are speedy no matter how well it functions, it will never make users happy. Remember that the ideal page opening time is just 2 seconds, and the farther your website is from it, lower are the chances of doing well in SEO. 

Patience is diminishing

 The primary requirement for good SEO services Singapore is that you must keep users always happy and should be aware of what to do to keep them happy.  Users call the shots both for search engines and marketers who must find ways of pleasing them by meeting their expectations. Technological advancement is not only raising the bar for SEO but also fueling higher expectations among users. They expect too much too soon, no matter how far-fetched it might seem. That is evident in their love for fast opening websites as users expect websites to open instantly upon clicking the link. The longer time it takes for websites to open, it challenges the patience of users who would not wait but explore some other website. And they would never come back again. 

Google goes the user’s way

Meeting user expectation is the top agenda for Google and other search engines because their existence hinges around it. Google is hell-bent to ensure that users get the best experience and continuously work towards it. Following in the footsteps of users who prefer speedy websites, Google has declared that page speed is now a ranking factor. Naturally, it leaves no room for any choice but ensures that websites are speedy or else you are on the wrong side of the law. 

Here are some things to do to make your website faster.

Know where you stand

It is common sense that to improve page speed, you must first know its current speed and identify the causes for it. It should help to set some realistic goal and develop strategies for improving speed. Only when you know what hinders speed that you can address the issue and work for improvement. Google’s Page Insight Tool should help to know where you stand and even point out the areas of improvement. The first lesson is that fewer web pages accelerate page opening time, and there are some other things to do for improving it further. Using optimized images improve page speed as also using fewer ads, compressing codes, and fewer external scripts, all of which add more speed to websites. Besides, improving server response time impacts website speed and opens pages faster.

Image compression

Too many images slow down websites, and you must use images optimally, and only compressed images should find a place on websites. Many WordPress plugins help in compressing images up to 70%, which is significant because images constitute 56% of the page weight. When you compress images by using WordPress plugins, the resolution and appeal of images remain unaffected.  Removing unused colors from images and stripping Metadata from it helps in compression.

Server optimization

The server response time affects website speed and slows it down. Check if the server response time supports the website speed or even improves it and if not, then you must think about optimizing the server to reduce the response time and make it faster. The software used in servers is also a factor that affects website speed.

Dedicated hosting service reduces the possibilities of slowing down websites, and it is advisable to avoid shared hosting service. Only if you can ensure that you have resources dedicated exclusively for you in shared hosting that it might work to some extent.

DevelopmentInsightsMartechSaaS

Best Platforms for Building and/or Creating Mobile Apps

In the recent past, the market for mobile app development has begun to take off. Both medium and large-sized companies are increasingly familiarizing themselves with the mobile world. Now more than ever, there is dire need to rapidly develop and deploy applications on a large scale basis. According to IDC forecasts, the market for mobile development platforms will witness a compound yearly growth rate of more than 38% in the next two years to reach $4.8 billion. Gartner expects over 20 million enterprise applications to be developed in the coming three years. The value is evident in the rising number of acquisitions and investments in the mobile app development space. 

Are you an individual or business owner who wants to build a spectacular mobile app? Today, building a mobile app is manageable – more than possible actually! You no longer need any coding knowledge or even thousands of dollars to spend. Numerous platforms are available that make your work a walk in the park. All you need is the right information so that you land the best platform.

Do you want to save energy, time, and money while coming up with your mobile app? Well, you need to use the best mobile application building platform. So who are the key players in the mobile app development field? Which is the best tool to use? The following is a comprehensive list of the best platforms for building mobile applications:

Mobile Roadie

Mobile Roadie allows you to instantly update the contents of your application. It supports all media types. The best attribute about this platform is that users can effortlessly preview their applications while the platform verifies the suitability and quality of the app. Mobile Roadie’s language allows you to pull your data in an array of formats such as CSV, HTML, etc. This platform enables you to enjoy utmost customization ensuring your app has a personalized touch – something that is extremely important online.

The AppBuilder

This platform gives you two options. With the first one, you can use the online toolkit to create your application as you get some side training. With the other option, you can work with the platform to build your app together. The AppBuilder enables you to save time creating an application for all platforms. With this platform, you also enjoy protection through a user name and passwords. Lastly, you can always update your app even after going live.

Appery io

Appery io refers to a cloud-based mobile application builder that is used to create applications for iOS, Android, and Windows phones. It is extremely easy to get started with this platform because you do not have to download anything from the cloud. The platform also gives you a drag and drop option to come up with your user interface. In addition to all these, using Appery plugins can easily enhance functionality. During and after your app development, sharing is very easy using this application.

Good Barber

With Good Barber, you get to enjoy nine customizable and amazing design templates, 500 Google fonts, and 350 icons. What is more, is that Good Barber cuts and styles your application into fine detail without the need for any coding. This platform is perfect for Android and iOS phones. If you have been looking for a platform that accords you immediate feedback with almost all app alterations, then Good Barber is your best bet. Lastly, you can contribute videos, photos, and articles.

AppMachine

Are you a business with the desire to build applications for free and only pay when you want to publish? Well, if this is you, then AppMachine is your ideal platform. Building blocks enable you to link to Twitter, Facebook, and online stores. All through, you enjoy the freedom of colors, styling and so much more. AppMachine ensures you always have access to the Apple and Google Play app store. The app is available at discounted prices.

BiznessApps

This platform is optimized for all types of businesses. It brings with it an array of features such as push notifications, shopping carts, and loyalty programs among many others. BiznessApps has a convenient in-app integration, numerous templates, instant updating, and user-friendly CMS.

GameSalad

GameSalad is primed for gaming on an array of platforms such as OS X, HTML 5, and IOS. Since it is a drag and drop platform, you do not need any coding. GameSalad boasts of a scene and actor editor. With this platform, you also enjoy an active community forum where you can get valuable input from other designers. Moreover, the platform also blesses you with a library of game elements and behaviors for use. For a wider reach, the platform allows you to publish your app online.

Appy Pie

This is another incredible cloud-based application for Android, IOS, and Windows. Appy Pie allows you to instantly publish your app on app stores. You also enjoy enhanced customer interactions, app monetization, real-time updates, and revisions as well as push notifications.

ShoutEm

ShoutEm is billed as one of the simplest mobile application makers of all time. Its drag and drop option allows you to add event places, news, photos, media streaming and so much more. ShoutEm offers countless customization tools, seamless publishing and monetization options. Updating your content is real-time and easy. Its e-commerce feature makes it perfect for businesses.

AppMakr

AppMakr is a free DIY app that allows you to build IOS, HMTL 5 and Android apps for free high-quality applications as well as unlimited updates. This platform consistently shows your application’s AQI (App Quality Index) which enables you to improve the quality of your app. AppMakr offers you features galore such as chat rooms, video streaming, live updates, full autonomy, customization, push notifications, etc.

The above platforms guarantee nothing short of the best environments for building mobile apps. Now that you are informed about them, go ahead and make maximum use of them. You will surely not regret it.

BuildFire

BuildFire is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) Platform that does for mobile apps what WordPress did for websites: enables non-technical professionals to rapidly build mobile apps with a minimum of custom coding or development. Anyone can operate, manage, and administer our applications, no special training needed. Organizations from Fortune 500 companies to neighborhood community associations have used BuildFire to develop, publish, and maintain thousands of apps that reach millions of users every day.

DevelopmentInsightsMartechSEO

8 Low-Cost Marketing Strategies for E-commerce Businesses

For most e-commerce businesses, the competition is fierce. Thus, knowing what will set you apart from the rest of your competitors is crucial. Ideally, you must equip yourself with e-commerce marketing strategies that focus on capturing people’s attention when looking for products. You should also be using several outbound strategies that will make it easier for people to find you. There are different e-commerce strategies out there in the market. However, in this post, we are going to focus on the eight low-cost marketing strategies that will set you apart from the rest of the competition, and help you land you more sales. 

Cross-promotion with other businesses

You probably know the feeling of diving into a business partnership full of hopes and ideas. But eventually, you would know that those trends wear off quickly. Then, you are left wondering where would your next brand collaboration is headed. Well, that is where the cross-promotion techniques of your marketing strategy will help you out. Remember that partnerships are not only great for business development. It also gives you the chance to cross-market your products and services, as well as provide something valuable to you and your partner’s customers’ needs.

Search engine optimization

According to Local SEO Search Inc., “A powerful tool that will drive traffic to your site other than social media is SEO. It will not bring you instantaneous results. But your marketing strategy should not be built on short term goals. Instead, it is all about planning how you will grow in the long-term.” Some online retailers make the mistake of focusing on instant gratification when growing their online stores. So, they focus on Facebook ads, instead. However, if you want to keep your acquisition costs low, then you should concentrate on SEO. But you have to realize that SEO is not just about choosing a particular keyword in your chosen niche. Instead, it is about going broader.  For instance, you sell running shoes. You should not just focus on keywords about “running shoes.” You can also target keywords related to weight loss and fitness. Remember that SEO is about driving new traffic, and not just sticking to your current audience. When crafting content about weight loss, you can still introduce the concept of running while losing weight. That way, it is easier for you to reach a more extensive group of audience that is potentially interested in your products and services.  Here are some marketing strategies for SEO:

  • Always create fresh content. It has probably been a while since you updated the old content on your site. But you have to do it to stay relevant. Delete the parts that are already outdated, then update them accordingly. That way, you will shoot up in the top of search results, boosting your traffic. Updating your content is just as crucial as crafting new content. 
  • Utilize SEO tools. These tools will notify you of any SEO errors that you made. Using tools like SEO Manager and Plug-In SEO lets you do quality checks on your site’s SEO. 
  • Build more web pages. You can do so by adding new products to your online store. You can also produce daily blogs. Moreover, you can come up with other forms of content like e-books, landing pages, and other web pages that boost your odds of getting more traffic. Ideally, each web page should contain at least 2,000 words (on average) to show up on results. 

Take advantage of pay-per-click ads

Pay-per-click ads are costly if you are targeting high-traffic keywords. However, some platforms and niches are budget-friendly, making it an excellent option for start-ups. In Facebook, for instance, you can pay as low as $1 a day on particular ads. However, if you want to get better results, you need to invest more. 

Plan email marketing campaigns

For a lot of online retailers, email marketing gives one of the fastest results when it comes to sales and web traffic. You can start building your email list by asking your audience to subscribe. You can put the opt-in form on your homepage, blog, or other popular pages on your site. Here are the top email marketing tactics that you can use:

  • The easiest way to boost your email marketing strategy is to create a more extensive email list. 
  • Build email funnels. Email funnels are made up of a set of sequenced emails, which can include your best selling products. An email funnel may start featuring some blog posts in your niche that helps boost user’s familiarity with the brand. Later on, you can send an email about your weekly best selling products to help generate sales. But remember, you have to send the conversion email after the non-sales email is sent. 
  • Segment your email list. Personalization and segmentation have become more and more important as your email list grows. You will be encountering users that have ordered various products in your store. When you personalize your emails, you can show your buyers products that they will probably be interested in (via their past browsing history). That will make them more likely to purchase your products because it is catered specifically for them.

Smart use of social media platforms

Social media is not just about posting content once a day. You need to be able to come up with a plan that works. Every social media channel has a particular target audience. If you are in the online fashion niche, you probably will not thrive on LinkedIn since it caters to a B2B audience. But you can boost your sales by focusing on highly visual platforms like Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook. Your highest engagement would probably come from Instagram. Your best performing ads can be on Facebook. Similarly, you can also drive a lot of traffic from Pinterest. Once you find out the specific platform that is right for you, it is time to focus on your marketing strategies.  How often should you post? What tactics do you need to incorporate to boost your growth? Here are some online marketing strategies that you can incorporate on social media:

  • Share user-generated content on social media. Your customers and loyal followers will probably share content on social media. Ensure that you share their content with your own audience (with their permission). Over time, that will help boost your customer loyalty, and even lessen your workload a bit. 
  • Take a closer look at your demographics. If you have target users who are female, ages 22-45, then they will probably have different needs and interests with females ages 45-65. Moreover, they will be more likely to have a different social media network. 
  • Build a social media calendar. What type of content are you posting, and how often do you post each day? For instance, let’s say that it is usually Friday evenings that you get the highest engagement. Once you know the type of content that your audience better responds to, you can maximize your social calendar for optimal results. The pre-planning stage allows you to ensure consistency and balance your marketing activities at the same time.

Enhanced website layout and design

Having an excellent web design and appearance makes an excellent first impression. But design is not the only factor that contributes to a business’ success. Having a site that is designed nicely is not going to drive traffic and land you more sales. Your site’s overall performance, page loading speed, content, and payment methods contribute to the website’s overall success as well.  That’s why it is crucial for your site to be impressive, that it works well, makes navigation a breeze, and features quick and easy payment options.  It is going to negatively affect your business if your website takes too long to load, has incomplete product information, or the online payment options are not working. 

Retargeting

In its most basic form, retargeting is the practice of sending highly targeted ads to specific users who have interacted with your products or visited your site in the past. Usually, it includes targeting users who:

  • Have recently visited particular pages on your website
  • Have bought something from you before
  • Are your email subscribers
  • Are your previous customers before, but are no longer engaged

Note that when it comes to retargeting, Facebook will always be king. But Google AdSense has excellent retargeting potential as well. 

Guest Post

You can also expand your reach through blogs and other publications by placing your content in front of a new audience. Then, getting a few important links back to your site. Remember to only submit to publications with high authority. 

Over to You

What are the low-cost marketing strategies that you have used in the past to market your business?  While there are a lot of e-commerce marketing strategies out there, these eight low-cost marketing tactics are the most reliable and effective. You will also find out that while you creatively look for ways to connect with your target audiences online, you will see a boost in your traffic and sales! So, why not try these low-cost marketing ideas? Then, see how these can help you grow your business and boost your overall marketing strategy. In the end, here is a comprehensive list of some of the most fascinating statistics and facts about the internet. 100+ Statistics And Facts of The Internet[Infographic] by the team at Hostingclues100+ Statistics And Facts of The Internet Infographic

DevelopmentInsightsSaaSSEO

The Vital Role of CTR for Optimizing Your Domain

Let us start with an honest opinion. The CTRs or the Click Through Rates are essential when it comes to strategizing the SEO for your domain. But, it is often the case that CTR is not given enough attention to. However, according to experts, CTRs are as crucial as the inbound links from authority sites and posters.  

When you are dreaming about improving the visibility and the traffic footfall for your site, you should never underestimate the power of CTR as studies have revealed that you can improve your page rank by one position with just a 3-percent increase in organic CTR. 

Keep in mind that better CTR means a better conversion rate. So, all you need to do is invest in an expert third party SEO agency and consult with a professional like Jacob Joseph Edward Xavier Clear to accept the challenge of improving the CTR metric which will enable you to attract traffic and gain a good advantage over your nearest competitors at the SERPs. 

However, before you begin, you need to have a clear idea about what CTR is all about. Let us have a look in detail,

About CTR

Domain optimization has a number of vital facets, and these include the paid searches, mail campaigning, and the advertisement displays. CTR is a tool that allows you to measure the performance of these strategies. The actual figures for how many times an ad was clicked or how many viewed them are analyzed through CTRs.

There are other aspects of investing and improving CTR. It also allows you to gauge the effectiveness of the title, the content, the description, and the emails. As the name suggests, the tool allows for the measurement of the actual click-through rates as a parameter for the performance of your web and business domain. 

The higher the CTR and the associated signals, the better optimized your domain is in terms of performance. It suggests that the website and the content are relevant to the user concerning information, authority, and uniqueness. 

Keep in mind that with any business venture, your marketing, and promotional campaigns needs to reach the target audience and the user base. The impact on the business is created by several factors that include the actual buying of a product, signing up for a service and indulging in any online activity on the web domain. CTR will allow you to effectively modify and measure the success of your campaign in terms of actual lead generation. 

Are there factors that determine the CTR results?

You, bet there is! In reality, several factors might influence the CTR score. While you cannot pinpoint any factor definitively for an improved or low CTR, but you do have an idea of what elements to improve on or what exactly is going right for your campaign.

The factors that affect CTR include the keywords and phrases, PPC campaigns, and searches related to brands and products. The CTR is calculated by tallying the total number of clicks and impressions. The number of impressions is divided by the number of clicks, and the result is multiplied by 100. 

What do you gather from your CTR score?

You must be asking, why CTR? Since traffic and lead generation can be measured by various analytical tools as well. However, you need to understand that CTR is the perfect metric for measuring the failure or the success of a promotional or marketing feature. 

The higher user engagement you have, the better is the CTR, and you can be sure that the strength of your domain is in the keywords, image optimization, and the ad campaign placements. With better click-through rates, you can also be assured of the impact your conversion is having and the lead generation for your venture. 

Yes, the results might be diverse depending on the campaign you are running, but that is just the nature of business as some products and services will always enjoy better success than other campaigns. CTR is also essential for Google Ad ranks as the ranking goes down with lower click through rates. 

Keep in mind that the quality score for your domain provided by the search engines is dependent on the following three major factors.

  • The uniqueness of the content and the relevancy
  • The CTR
  • And the performance of the landing page

How to improve on the CTR

Here are some tips and tricks that you can try to improve the CTR for your domain.

1. Leverage the Google console for the search data analytics for the identification of low performing content and improve on them as much as possible.

2. Keep in mind that the title and tags should not suffer from excessive keyword usage.

3. Tap into human emotions of fear, joy, and success while designing posts and article titles for the SEO campaign of your site.

4. You can try addressing personalities through the titles to create a unique story to carry your campaign forward.

5. You can even include numbers in the titles as this boosts CTRs by at least 35%.

6. Description tags should be exciting to generate interest and excitement from the consumer.

7. You need to use descriptive URLs and not the generic ones as they are low on appeal, and if done right, it can improve your CTR by 25%.

8. Headlines should vary according to posts and services.

9. You can invest in Facebook ads to check the effectiveness of headlines.

10. Lastly, you need to avoid the usage of generic phrases that include “click here” and others to lend authority and authenticity to your site.

 

In conclusion

Yes, you do need the expert help when trying to figure out avenues to successfully optimize your web domain. There are several SEO firms available locally, but not all services are up to the mark in terms of the technical prowess and content creation ability. Therefore, it is essential to judge a service based on merit alone when searching for a third party SEO service. If you are in doubt, ask your questions to make sure of the expertise and the professionalism of the firm. Keep in mind the user reviews for a service and the overall charges for optimizing your domain. Make sure that you are getting the best bang for your buck. All the best!

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Here Is How a Brand Should Respond to Negative Reviews on Social Media

The first social media platforms sprung up by 1997, just a few years after the worldwide web became available to the masses. Sites like Facebook and Twitter that have been available to users since 2006 have taken over like wildfire. Given that a sheer number of users on such social media sites is literally in the billions, it comes as no surprise that businesses can efficiently, effectively and often cheaply market to potential customers through these platforms by speaking directly to your Facebook, Twitter and Instagram followers.

Studies conclusively show that users who follow businesses on social media are more likely to buy from them. Social media can also be a means through which users can leave reviews about a company. Regardless of the type of comment, it is imperative for a business it addresses it aptly and promptly. This is especially true for negative reviews.

So how should a brand respond to negative reviews on social media? Here are some tips:

Don’t Ignore the Review

First thing’s first. A brand should never ignore or even try to remove a negative comment or review. Indeed, that is one sure way to lose customers. We, as humans, have a fundamental need to feel heard and understood, and customers are no different. Thus, it is a brand’s duty to read and respond to as many reviews as possible- positive and negative alike. If handled properly, such responses can even work as an effective marketing technique. If you are having difficulty with handling the reviews or don’t have time to do it, it is better to take the help of a social media company who will keep their eyes on the reviews and will help in saving the reputation of your company

However, if you are willing to deal with it on your own, here are a few things you need to keep in your mind. The response should be personalized, addressing the person by name and acknowledging the issue that person highlighted. This is a better alternative to a generalized answer. The reply should also have a sympathetic and apologetic tone. It is important to not mention the brand name in response to a negative review as the review could then show up if the brand is searched for. For the same reason, it is advisable to mention the brand name if the reply is to a positive review.

The review should not be a long paragraph- two to three well- constructed lines should suffice. It is also important to mention that the particular issue that the customer faced is a ‘one-off’ and not the norm.
For example, a restaurant may reply to a review as follows (keeping the above- mentioned rules in mind): “Hello David. We are sincerely sorry to hear that you experienced slow service the last time you visited us. We always strive to provide you with the best experience possible and guarantee that this was an unfortunate anomaly that is sure not to be repeated.”

Reach out in Person

While it is advisable to issue one short, public reply to a negative review, that may not be enough. Thus, a business may need to reach out to a customer via personal message. While not all customers can be reached out to in this way, there are certainly positives for contacting at least a few.

For one, you can get to know more about some severe issue the customer faced. Was a sales agent rude to you? Let us know more. The details may then help you identify the agent and have them disciplined. Remember never to make excuses for what happened. It is always much better to acknowledge and promise to attempt to improve.

Secondly, contacting a person via private chat prevents a long, drawn-out conversation on a public forum. Such a back and forth brings more eyes to the issue- something you’d want to avoid as much as possible. Not only that, instead a customer is more likely to respond in a calm and collected manner on a private chat than in response to an angry rant for all to see. Such a customer can then be appeased much more effectively.

Keeping with our theme of letting customers know how much they are valued, it is important to ask customers for their suggestions on how to resolve their issues. Quite often you will receive some genuinely valuable feedback.

Provide Offline Contact Information

At the end of a personal message conversation, the customer should be provided with offline contact information such as a phone number. They should be urged to contact that number with any further complaints or queries they may have.

Think of this as the last line of defense. Some customers may be dealt with via a public reply and others via a private conversation. However, there will always be those who need an even more intimate answer- those who want verbal communication with another person. Thus, online responses are an essential adjunct to telephone helplines but not a replacement for them.

Improve Your Service

The end objective for all the above-mentioned steps is to gain or regain a customer’s loyalty. What better way to do that than by actually acting on a customer’s suggestion? What better way to show a client they are invaluable to a business than by implementing their feedback? Indeed, actions speak louder than words.

Note, however, that not all complaints can be acted upon. For example, while it may be worthwhile to improve the speed of service in a Chinese restaurant, it would be ridiculous to add Indian food to the menu just because a couple of reviews asked for it. A business should accept that pleasing all will never be possible and should instead aim to satisfy as many as it can.

A chronological list should be made with the most pertinent and solvable issues at the top and less important ones lower down. As a rough estimate, a brand could start by aiming to address about 1/3rd of the negative reviews that come its way.

Conclusion

Remember that it is always ideal to hire a social media company who is well- versed in the field of social media marketing (SMM). Engaging with customers on social media is extremely helpful in increasing brand loyalty. This is because social media can prove to be making or breaking factor in today’s environment. While engaging with customers via social media can be extremely helpful in increasing brand loyalty, quite the opposite effect may be achieved if these platforms are mishandled.

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How Technology is Revolutionizing the Real Estate Industry

The world has become a global village, all thanks to technology. We live in an era where technology and modern techniques have revolutionized every walk of life whether it is medicines, engineering, aircraft, fashion designing or real estate industry. Here are some of the ways in which technology has completely changed the perception of buying and selling the property. Whether a buyer is interested in Dubai Marina apartments for sale or simply wants to look for the best properties in New York, all the information is now just a few clicks away.

1. Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Artificial Intelligence has been around for almost a decade now and the industry is now flourishing rapidly. Apply it to the real estate market, and the possibilities and prospects are endless. For real estate agents, the best way to secure a deal is to show their clients the property that is perfect for their needs. The best way to achieve this is through AI, where different algorithms are executed to give agents the perfect property results based on historical data recorded by other similar customers. 

2. Internet of Things (IoT)

The Internet of Things (IoT) is another breakthrough in the house hunt. With more and more connected devices taking over the market every day, IoT is not going to stop anywhere in the next few years. A good example of how IoT is changing property buying and selling perspective is Beacon. Beacon is a Bluetooth device used to transmit information over the internet using Bluetooth. For example, a customer when enters the radius of Beacon device can get instant information about the property, including its real-world preview, even before an agent arrives. 

3. Data Science Analysis

Also called Big Data Analysis, data science has played a vital role in helping potential buyers find their ideal home. Using prestored data and analyzing it for their unique demands, buyers can easily find the perfect property for themselves without wasting any time in searching irrelevant ones.

4. Mobile Apps Development

A real estate agent is involved in a lot of day-to-day tasks like meeting potential clients, signing contracts, visiting properties and providing communication between buyers and sellers. Mobile apps like OpenHome Pro and DotLoop enable agents to perform their day to day tasks like scheduling, planning, marketing, tracking and reporting in a more convenient manner, providing all the requirements of their daily activities in a digital environment.

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Discover the Latest Database Management Trends in 2019

We know that in every walk of life trends come and go. It is the same in database management landscape but lately, we have witnessed that several new database management concepts are in fact, here to stay. They are not just a passing fad, rather they demonstrate staying power and they have the capacity to transform businesses and organizations.

As per http://www.dbta.com, we have witnessed the fact that there is a rising appreciation for the value of data; hence, there has been a significant increase in the amount spent and invested on data management, as well as, analytics services and products. As per IDC predictions, revenues for business analytics and big data solutions would be reaching $189.1 billion this year itself with an impressive double-digit annual growth through 2022. Let us explore the existing and the latest database management trends and ways to take the maximum advantage of them for benefitting your business or organization. Here are some of the latest trends.

Focus on Both SQL Databases & NoSQL Databases

SQL databases are also referred to as relational databases and they are known for defining and manipulating data based primarily on SQL or the Structured Query Language. SQL databases are immensely popular and are utilized for effectively handling structured data which would organize data elements and go on standardizing the way precisely they would be relating to each other and to diverse properties. Database admins managing an SQL server will often use utilize server monitoring in order to optimize the performance of their database.

NoSQL Databases are referred to as non-relational databases that would be allowing you to accurately store and retrieve all important unstructured data implementing a dynamic schema. We know that NoSQL is gaining a lot of traction because of its flexible capacity to come up with a unique and innovative structure which could be a graph, document, column or Key Value that is organized basically as a data structure. Even though SQL has been maintaining a huge lead over the NoSQL database for several decades now, however, things are changing now and there is the growing popularity of non-relational alternatives. NoSQL is catching up at a phenomenal speed with the introduction of popular databases like MongoDB, Cassandra, and Redis.

Use of Multi-Database Preferred over Single Database

There has been a growing trend towards the effective use of multi-database during the last decade as opposed to the conventional theory of keeping all your eggs very much in just a single basket. More than 50 percent of the businesses admit that they are using multiple databases to efficiently fuel their applications as compared to just a single database. As per the latest market survey, around 44.3 percent admitted to utilizing multiple databases and 55.7 percent are still operating one single database.

NoSQL & SQL Multiple Database Combinations

We understand that 75.6 percent of multiple database kind usage comprises of a mix of both NoSQL and SQL databases. This implies that for many companies you cannot adopt a cookie-cutter approach. Even though you may be having a preference for one of them, there is absolutely no dispute regarding the fact that each one of them has clear benefits over the other. Rather than restricting your company to just a single database type,  there is a necessity in 2019 to effectively evolve your database stratagem for compatibility in order to ensure that these two robust database management systems are able to be compatible with each other and help in effectively filling the gaps in all your data requirements.

The Pivotal Role & Importance of Data Engineer 

The data engineer would be playing a pivotal role in 2019 as the architect of an organization’s data planning. No data teams would be able to efficiently perform without technical assistance and expertise of a qualified data engineer. These super-techies are indispensable as they boast of having advanced tech knowledge and multiple programming skills for preparing the groundwork proficiently for effective enterprise Data Management that could be utilized by some other staff such as the Data Scientist or the Data Analyst for precise data-oriented functions.

Implementation of Single-Point Data Management Channels

In 2019 there is an emerging trend of the effective implementation of Single-Point Data Management Channels. There is a rise in the use of enterprise-grade, single point data management channels rather than multiple disintegrated data management solutions within an enterprise. This trend has been gaining traction at a slow pace over the last few years but in recent times, it is impossible for businesses to survive or sustain without scalable, fully-integrated, single-point data management solutions for ensuring optimized distribution and data collection across numerous data channels.

IT Is Becoming Cloudier

We find that there has been a significant rise in the actual acquisition of effective SaaS apps that are known to displace on a regular basis, an on-premises application, thus, successfully migrating numerous users including their data to the cloud. Moreover, several organizations today have basically a cloud-first mandate that leads to certainly more SaaS applications. Today, data management has become intrinsically a hybrid affair which is supposed to reach across a host of on-premise systems and multiple clouds. You may seek professional assistance from reputed websites such as RemoteDBA.com.

Hadoop’s Actual Fall from Grace

Among the biggest surprises in recent years in the tech world is the rapid ascent and then equally rapid descent of Hadoop adoption. When Hadoop entered the industry in 2013, it took the entire community by storm and was deployed in as many as 20% data warehouse environments within 3 years of release. The growth curve seemed to plateau over 2017 and 2018, indicating that it had pretty much been deployed by any warehousing program that would require it. 

There has also been talking of user dissatisfaction with Hadoop’s immaturity as a platform, especially when dealing with maintenance, relational functions, and managing metadata. The cost of deploying and maintaining large clusters on a company’s own premises is also a considerable push back against the growth of Hadoop. As a technology, it is certainly here to stay, offering a ton of functionality to anyone who needs it, but the industry has demanded extensive restructuring to address the present problems with the platform.

Conclusion: The Amazing Data Lake Remix

Giving data a great home, the data lakes trend is very much toward an effective multiplatform architecture. The lake is supposed to be distributed physically across relational databases and Hadoop clusters. These could be deployed efficiently on the cloud, on premises, or an effective hybrid combination comprising both.  To make truly diverse and disparate data appear simpler and less complicated, you could find virtualization techniques quite handy, that is the reason why any hybrid data lake seems to be in reality a virtual data lake quite similar to the virtual data warehouse. 

Author bio

Patrick Hansen is a database developer with more than 15 years of experience in this field. He suggests his clients visit RemoteDBA.com when they need database support or any other technical help with database management.

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Top Database Management Trends You Can’t Ignore In 2019

More technology users and businesses are seeking for more information and data for valid reasons. Data management is a commodity that is leading to digital innovation. However, there is a big challenge when it comes to converting data into actionable insights. Digital innovation is today needed to help business organizations find a solution to the above challenge with success.

Trends for 2019- what should you be aware of?

Given below are some of the latest trends predicted for 2019 that businesses should look out for when it comes to data management:

  1. Data management is still a tough task- When a company is managing huge volumes of data like big data, the process becomes a complex one. The business should take steps to search for interesting patterns that are hidden in these large amounts of data. Machines should be trained in such a way that they are in a position to spot these patterns and incorporate them into production so that they can be acted upon. The above should not only take place once, but it should be repeated as many times as necessary. Experts in the field of data management add that this reality of putting the basics into production is a complex task and seems harder than it appears to be. For new businesses, the task is even tougher as the business needs an expert database and ETL skills. The business should take the onus of cleaning and putting labels on the data. The training for machine learning takes a lot of time and money, especially in the case where deep techniques for learning are used. On a final note, one should know that placing such a production to scale needs a whole set of skills that are reliable and secure. This is one of the prime reasons why data management will be tough in 2019, and data management professionals will be highly in demand.
  1. The need for proliferating continues- This will not be a very hard prediction to make in 2019. A few years ago, at the time of the Hadoop boom, there was an assumption that all data could be consolidated successfully. This was believed for both transactional and analytical workloads on a single platform. This idea, however, was not successful for a wide range of reasons. Experts in the field of data management state that there are different types of data and each of them have separate requirements for storage. For instance, graph databases, time series databases, relational databases, etc. These databases have their share of pros and cons. Developers cannot optimize the strengths if all the data is crammed into a single data lake that fits all. Again, esteemed professionals in the field of database management RemoteDBA.Com state it does not make sense amassing loads of data onto a single platform. The cloud, for instance, stores data for companies flexibly and cost-effectively. In the case of big data, Hadoop is the most budget-friendly storage for data that is unorganized and unstructured. For most companies, there are extra silos that need to be organized and managed. They are often big and important silos. Experts state that in the absence of a powerful central force, one should get used to these data silos as they will continue to proliferate.
  1. Analytics for 2019- Experts state that if you can act quickly on new data that comes into the organization, the better off you will be. This is the main driving force behind steaming analytics and real-time data. This has been very challenging and hard to pull off too. The organization has to possess data ultra- fast, and this can be done with the aid of automated decision making. The solution is to combine the SQL capabilities with open source streaming platforms to get real progress this year.
  2. Technology and evolution- The evolution of technology also plays a vital role this year in the field of data management. Companies have to take the onus of finding the right workforce with the appropriate skills for the job. Irrespective of the techniques and technologies they use, it is crucial for the company to find the right person with the right skill. Organizations also have to focus on deep learning skills and discover creative ways to manage data. For instance, if you take a look at big financial corporations, they have already started to use algorithms that are neutral and improved when it comes to spotting fraudulent transactions over traditional machines. This trend will grow and continue this year.

Experts in the field say that new technology is creating innovation to make data management for everyone better in 2019. The pace of innovation in the above field shows no signs of slowing down, and this is great news for those companies that manage huge amounts of data like big data. Last but not least, smart technology is growing, and devices are helping businesses and consumers in collecting and sharing data. This helps customers get a personalized experience wherever they go.

There is huge consumer demand today for smart devices, and they are proliferating at a huge rate. If you check ecosystems of smart devices for 2019, you will find that they are focused on two main platforms- Google Assistant and Alexa of Amazon. These platforms are helping consumers to infuse remote access and AI that starts right from lights to HVAC units. In short, you will find all the smart things around you in 2019, and the trend is expanding with speed!

Therefore, when it comes to database management trends to watch out in 2019, the above will steal the show. Progress is being made on all fronts, and there is a promise for innovation and creativity. There might be ethical, legal, and technical obstacles in 2019, but the potential benefits of innovations are huge to ignore. They will play a vital role in changing the current scenario of database management for businesses and consumers across the globe with success.