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How to Identify and Remove Bad Backlinks that are Hurting Your Website Ranking

Bad links or unnatural links can severely hurt your site ranking which is why you need to be extremely careful while identifying and removing your site’s bad backlinks.

In 2017, the Penguin update became part of Google’s core algorithm. It has drastically changed the way backlinks are acquired.

According to Google,

“Any links intended to manipulate Page Rank or a site’s ranking in Google search results may be considered part of a link scheme and a violation of Google’s Webmaster Guidelines”

How To Identify Bad Backlinks

Several tools can help you find your website links like Google Webmaster, Link Explorer by Moz, Ahref, and SEMrush. When all your site links are in front of you, evaluate the following components to identify bad backlinks:

i) Dofollow and Nofollow Links: While identifying the bad backlinks you majorly need to focus on Dofollow links unless you are spamming at a huge scale with Nofollow links. Although Google might take manual action if you have tons of spammy Nofollow links. Remember 100% Dofollow links are also bad and can raise alarm for Google’s algorithm.

ii) Domain Authority (DA): Higher the Domain Authority, the better it is. Make sure the Domain Authority of the linked website is not less than 20.

iii) Page Authority: Page Authority range from 1 to 100 e.g. new websites will have PA of 1. If the difference between the Domain Authority and Page Authority is very high, it can be a concern.

iv) Website Traffic: Check whether the website is getting consistent traffic from google, a sudden massive drop in traffic signifies that the website might have been penalized. You can check this using various tools like Moz or Ahref.

v) Spam Score: According to Moz 1 to 30 % spam score is considered low. Lower the spam score the better it is.

vi) Too Many External Links: If you see that the number of external links of the linking website is very high, avoid them.

vii) Content: Sometimes, DA, PA and web traffic looks apt but it can still be a bad backlink in case the content is totally unrelated. You can manually check the website for thin or irrelevant content. Links from such websites will be considered as bad links.

viii) Broken Links: You can use various tools to find broken links on your website e.g. Ahref or broken link check. Broken links not only affect SEO but also ruin the user experience.

Types of Backlinks On Your Site

i) Website directory links: Some websites exist solely for link building purposes, totally avoid acquiring links from such websites. In some cases, these could be website directories. You only need to be present on some quality web directories related to your niche.

ii) Comment spam link: Every blogger gets these links on a daily basis; these comments are easily identified. You can keep your comment setting in “moderation” until you approve them.

iii) Header, Footer and sidebar links: Also known as sitewide links, every site has these links and hence are prone to spam links. Matt cuts mentioned: Sitewide backlinks are not bad if they are natural and relevant. Few e.g. of relevant links are privacy policy links, copyright links, identifying web designers or sister company publications. Make sure you have a No-follow tag in your sitewide links.

iv) Over-optimized anchor link texts: Over optimized or unnatural anchor text can be risky for your site ranking. Always maintain a good balance between Brand name, naked URL and partial keyword matches.

v) Paid links: Google can easily figure out such sites that are selling links; and if you link from these sites, you are risking your site for a penalty.

vi) Links from geographically irrelevant location: When your website is focused on the Indian audience, but you are getting links from varied geographical locations like Russia or China; this has to raise suspicion in Google’s algorithm.

How to Remove Bad Backlinks

Now that you have identified the bad backlinks that can hurt your ranking, it’s time you get rid of them, how?

Here is the 4-step process you should follow:

STEP 1. Contact the website owner: Search the contact of the website owner and politely write to them asking to remove the links.

STEP 2. Wait for 2 weeks: In case you don’t get a response from webmaster within this period, move to next step

STEP 3. Create disavow file: Copy those URLs or domain links that you wish to remove in a notepad and save the file in .txt format.

STEP 4. Upload disavow file in google webmaster: Search for disavow link tool, select your website and click on disavow a link, click choose file and choose the disavow file that you have created. And you are done. This process might take a few weeks before google re-crawl your updated links.

Remember, it’s extremely important to identify your bad backlinks carefully. Disavow the links ONLY when you are sure that these links are bad for your ranking, otherwise, you will end up crashing your ranking, and you can’t undo the process. Link building is not an overnight process, always prefer quality over quantity.

Easy Guide to Bidding Strategies

Picking the right Google Ads bidding strategy and implementing it is critical to driving your ad costs down.

While creating a new campaign on Google Ads, Google asks what type of bidding you want to use: Automated or Manual?

Most people opt for automated because whom the heck wants to adjust bids all the time if you’re running multiple campaigns? Nobody.

But in Google Ads, there are numerous bidding you can pick between and considerably more ways you can put them to use for maximum results.

Let’s walk you through all the different types of Google Ads bidding strategies

Google Ads Bidding Strategies

Target CPA
Target ROAS
Target Search Page Location
Target Outranking Share
Maximize Clicks
Maximum Conversions
Enhanced CPC
Manual CPC
Cost-per-thousand impressions (CPM)
Cost-per-thousand viewable impressions (vCPM)

Let’s Understand Each one of them in detail:

1. Target CPA (Cost Per Acquisition)

Target CPA bidding strategy can be used when your objective is to generate conversions within a specific cost. In the CPA bidding strategy method, Google will automatically set your bids (CPC bids) based on the CPA you have defined for your campaigns. In order to understand the optimum CPA cost, Google needs historic data to estimate the CPA for your campaign because the CPA can differ from product to product and service to service.

2. Target ROAS (Return on Ad Spend)

Return on Ad Spend is the amount you are expecting on every dollar you spend on your ads. Target ROAS strategy focuses on driving high conversion value than the number of conversions.

Let’s take an example and understand it with some math. Let’s say you are expecting $30 for every 10$ you spend then the Target ROAS to be defined in the campaign will be

ROAS = Revenue x 100%

Ad Spend

ROAS = $ 30 x 100% = 300%

$ 10

If we set 300% as the Target ROAS in the campaign, Google will try to achieve as defined but might not be able to every time achieve the no, because expectation on ad spends has to be justified with respect to the product you are marketing. You can’t set very high Target ROAS, which in reality is impossible to achieve.

3. Target Search Page Location

Target Search Page Location bid strategy can be used to target your ads on the first page of the Google search result page or on the top of the search result. So the first page means, your ad might be shown at the bottom of the first page as well, which you won’t be okay with.

Won’t recommend using this strategy as the ad position depends on the Ad Rank of your ad which is related to your bid and quality score. So if your Ad Rank is high then your ads will anyways achieve a higher position in paid search. Also, another reason why you shouldn’t go with this strategy is that Google will raise your bids automatically with no upper limit defined for your bid.

4. Target OutRanking Share

Target Outranking share bidding strategy is an automated bidding strategy where you can outrank your competitor’s ad on Google search.

When you and your competitor’s ads are getting triggered for a particular keyword in the same auction, Google will raise your bids to rank you higher above your competitor’s ad.

The only issue with this bidding strategy is that you can only outrank one competitor at a time. But while you are advertising, there would be multiple competitors on Google ads, so you will have to test and see if this strategy works for you or not

5. Maximize Clicks

Maximize Clicks is a type of bidding strategy where you can get maximum clicks within the daily budget defined for your campaign. Maximize clicks is also an automated bid strategy wherein Google will decide per click bid.

This strategy is good to drive maximum traffic within your daily budget. If your brand is new or if you want to create awareness and increase the visibility of your website, you can go with this strategy.

6. Maximize Conversions

Maximize Conversion bidding strategy is an automated bidding strategy wherein Google will optimize your campaign to get you maximum conversions, set within your daily budget.

For Eg: If your daily budget is $ 100. Google will try to get you maximum conversions within that budget.

Before setting up this bidding strategy, make sure that you have set up an optimum daily budget for your campaign. Do test the campaign by running it for at least 15 days and see if this bidding strategy is working for you or not.

7. Enhanced CPC

Enhanced CPC (ECPC) bidding strategy is a type of bid strategy where Google automatically increases your bid if it feels that there is a possibility of conversion during an auction. The bid amount can be anything, there is no cap limit for this, Google decides the bid amount here. So the bid amount can shoot up by 200% or maybe more than that as well!

So while using this type of bidding strategy, be careful, how your bids are fluctuating and monitor how many conversions you are able to generate from your daily budget. If you observe that the bids are going very high, then switch to another bid strategy or else you might exhaust your budget with no or fewer conversions.

8. Manual CPC

Manual CPC bidding strategy is a bid strategy where you define how much amount you are ready to pay for one click. It’s a manual strategy that gives you complete control over your bids. If you don’t want to move on any of the automated bid strategies then this is the best one to go with and control it effectively.

Google has also given an option of combining Manual CPC bidding strategy with ECPC bidding strategy but I won’t recommend going ahead with this because Google will automatically increase your bids if they are an opportunity for a conversion.

9. Cost-per-thousand impressions (CPM)

With CPM, you’ll pay depends on the number of impressions (times your ads are shown) that you get on YouTube or the Google Display Network.

10. Cost-per-thousand viewable impressions (vCPM)

You’ll be able to use this bidding if your ads are intended to build an increase more awareness however not essentially generates clicks or traffic. It allows you to the highest amount you need to pay for every 1,000 viewable impressions on the Google Display Network. If the goal of your campaign is a direct action from customers, like buying a product or filling out a form then probably vCPM bidding is not for you.

Bidding Strategy in Google Ads

Go to Google Ads account
Select a particular campaign
Go to the settings tab

Bidding-strategies-google-ads

Under Settings, you will find bidding
Click on bidding
You will see all bidding strategy options

Wrapping Up

It is important to select the right bidding strategy, selecting the right bidding strategy will depend upon the business objective. Also, not every bidding strategy would work for your business. The best way is to consider the business objective and then define the bidding strategy and keep experimenting with the other ones if they are not working.

Master Guide To Conversion Attribution Models

By Rucha Dhawle
on Nov 04, 2019
in Web Analytics

As a Digital Marketer, you would utilize various channels to advertise your business including Google, Facebook, Email and so forth. It’s significant for you to realize which sources are performing and at what level during the client venture.

Promoting attribution encourages you to comprehend the adventure of client contact focuses in detail, which further causes you to streamline advertising blend and drive more an incentive from your showcasing endeavors.

Let’s begin!

So What is Marketing Attribution?

Attribution is assigning credit for a conversion.

Marketing Attribution is the process of identifying sets of users activities in the form of touchpoints which leads to a conversion or sale.

In simple words, it’s the action taken by the client during their customer journey from seeing an advertisement to purchasing the product.

Conversion Attribution types

Last Click Attribution Model
Last Non-Direct Click Model
Last Adwords Click Model
The First Interaction Model
The Linear Model
Time Decay Model
Position-Based Model Or U-Shaped
Custom Attribution Model

Let’s understand each one in details!

1. Last Click Attribution Model

The most common type of attribution model is the Last Click Attribution Model. In this model, the entire credit is given to the last click which generated a conversion or a sale.

The vast majority of the marketers go with this model since they need to know which keyword generates conversion or which website created conversion or through which source the genuine conversion occurred. This model will totally focus on the last touchpoint.

But you won’t understand which other touchpoints were part of the customer journey because to you, they would also be equally important to understand and optimize them in the funnel. You should look for “Last Non-Direct Click” on Google Analytics to measure the effectiveness of the campaign, here it ignores the direct click

This is important because the customer will likely interact with you many times before conversion occurs.

2. Last Non-Direct Click Model

The Last Non-Direct Click Model is more useful than a standard last-click model. 100% of the conversion value is still assigned to a single last interaction. But, with last non-direct click, it ignores any “direct” interactions that occur right before the conversion.

Direct Traffic is the point at which anybody goes directly to your website by entering your URL or clicking a bookmarked interface. So this guest definitely thinks about your company.

3. Last Adwords Click Model

In the Last Google Ads Click attribution model, the last Google Ads click—in this case, the first and only click to the Paid Search channel —would receive 100% of the credit for the sale.

4. First Interaction Model

First Interaction model gives all credit to the first click/first touch, that leads a user to a website.

This model applies to the customers if they don’t subscribe or fill the form or make a purchase on your website. This model encourages you to understand the starting point of the customer on your site which is additionally driving value to your business.

If you go first interaction attribution model, you actually don’t know which other touchpoints contributed to a conversion in the journey. So it isn’t so useful, to review the key factor which generated conversion.

First-contact attribution model can be utilized when your goal is building awareness and driving customers to your site, for this situation, you need to know from where the clients are entering your site. If you are looking to understand the conversion funnel, I won’t suggest going with a first interaction attribution model.

For example, if a customer first finds your business on Pinterest, then Pinterest gets all of the credit for any sale that happens after that interaction.

It doesn’t matter if the customer found you on Pinterest, then clicked a display ad a week later, and then went to your site directly. Pinterest, in this example, gets the full credit.

5. The Linear Model

A Linear attribution model gives equal credit to all the interaction of your customer in their customer journey. In this model we can understand all the interactions which actually generated conversion, this helps us to further define our marketing strategy.

For example, a customer finds you on Instagram, signs up for your email list and later clicks an email link. The next week they go to your site directly and make an Rs1200 purchase. There are 3 interactions in this situation. Each interaction gets 33% of the credit, or a Rs 400 conversion value attributed to the channel when the purchase was made.

The only thing with this model is that we really don’t know which interaction point was the major contribution of the last activity, who ideally should get the maximum credit. I would go with a linear attribution model if my goal is to understand which touchpoints are generating sales. Through this, I know all customer interaction which is driving value to the business and so it can be optimized.

6. Time Decay Model

The time rot attribution model gives the most extreme credit to the interaction/touchpoint which was nearer to the point of conversion. It gives a different value to each touchpoint from the point of interaction to the point of conversion with the last touch getting the maximum and the first touch getting the minimum. This model eliminates which interaction really guided a customer to a website. It’s not a recommended attribution model.

7. Position-Based Model Or U-Shaped

A position-based Attribution model is also known called as U-Shaped Attribution Model. In this model, the primary touch and the last touch is credited with 40% each as the value and the remaining 20% is divided between the other touchpoints.

In this model, all the interactions get credit, though first and last touchpoint is considered as the key drivers for actions, so they are credited with 40% each as the credit.

The other interactions among first and last are additionally significant interaction when we are taking a gander at the shopper venture, so offering credit to first and last disregards the significance of other touch focuses, as they are similarly significant for the activity to occur. Won’t recommend going with the Position-based attribution model.

8. Custom Attribution Model

Custom Attribution Model is an attribution model where you would custom be able to set the credit value for the basis of each interaction on your understanding.

If we have defined credit value for each touchpoint as below, as we want to give a bit higher credit to the first touchpoint as it starts the consumer journey and then we have given low credit to the rest of the touchpoints which are in between the first and last touchpoint. Finally, for the last touchpoint, we have given maximum credit, as that touchpoint is driving the conversion.

To set up this model, you would require developers to do as such. Also basis the results you have to keep optimizing the efforts. It’s one of the best from the above all but would need technical guidance to set up, which might also consume some time.

So How to choose the right Conversion attribution model for your business?

It’s vital to choose the right conversion attribution model for your business from which you can effectively optimize your marketing efforts based on multiple touchpoint data, which leads to higher ROI. You can consider the following factors before choosing the attribution model for your business.

Sources Contributing Towards Conversion

Check the sources which are contributing towards conversion. Google Analytics guides you to understand which sources are performing for your website. Have a look at the below sources which show how each source is performing.

Check Different TouchPoints for Conversions

Check different touchpoints that are part of the consumer journey prior to the conversion. Google Analytics allows you to check the multiple touchpoints of the journey.

Time is taken by Users

Know how much time it takes for users to convert after their first interaction with your website. This will help you to understand the duration and then you can map it with different touchpoints in the entire journey.

Google Analytics helps you to understand the time to convert users under Time Lag Report.

Define Campaign Objective

Define the campaign objective which will help you to choose the right attribution model for your business. If your objective is to generate awareness for your brand, then the first touch attribution model is effective to measure the entry point for your customer. If your objective is leads or sales, you can go with last touch or linear attribution model. If you go with the last touch, it will help you to identify the last touch which is driving maximum results, basis which you can effectively optimize the touchpoint.

If you are going with linear, which I also prefer because, it helps me to understand each touchpoint in the entire consumer journey, which further helps me to build an effective strategy focused on each touchpoint.

Run Experiments & Optimize

Every touchpoint in the journey has a role to play, so you need to experiment continuously with different strategies including your ad copies, bidding strategies, targeting aspects, etc so that you know how significantly it’s helping you to improve your conversions regularly.

Wrapping Up

Selecting the right conversion attribution model is important for your business, this will help you to effectively improve your performance and reduce marketing efforts for all the touchpoints in the entire consumer journey. Set up your marketing attribution model today and let me know how much value it’s adding to your business!

How to do Twitter Marketing for Brand Awareness?

By Sumeet
on Sep 28, 2019
in Social Media Marketing

Twitter is a microblogging and social media channel. Using twitter people share their opinions and interact with others using messages known as tweets. But we can do more than that using it. Twitter can help brands in achieving various goals and objectives like- brand awareness, generating leads, increase website traffic, building relationships with customers etc. So, today we are going to learn about how to do twitter marketing for brand awareness.

Twitter Marketing Strategies for Driving Brand Awareness

1. Tweet Awesome Content

Tweet Awesome Content

The first thing you have to do to increase your brand awareness on twitter is tweet awesome and relevant content. Content must be the foundation of your twitter marketing strategy if you want to increase your brand awareness. Why?

Because in order to increase your brands’ awareness people must talk about your brand, engage with your tweets and retweet them.

But if your content is not that great and doesn’t add any value to them, they will simply ignore it. People love to share content that inspires them, educate them, entertain them and make them feel connected. So, make sure your tweet awesome content.

2. Tweet Consistently

Tweet Consistently

The next thing you can include in your twitter marking strategy is tweet consistently. This is necessary if you want people to remember you because if they can’t see you why will they remember you and if they don’t remember all your previous efforts are wasted.

Make sure you tweet consistently without long gaps. But that does not mean you can post any content to remain active. Make sure you post good quality content because the quality is everything if you want people to engage with your content.

3. Contests and Giveaways

Contests and Giveaways

Contest and gives are very helpful in increasing brand awareness and must be a part of your twitter marketing strategy. Contest and giveaways make people engage with your content, share it with their friends and mention your brand in their tweets. As a result, your content reaches to a large number of people which ultimately helps you in increasing your brand awareness.

Besides this, you might get a place in twitter trending topics which will further boost your organic reach. But don’t overdo it because it might make you look like a spammer and destroy your reputation.

4. Use Trending Topics for Creating Content

Use Trending Topics for Creating Content

Another tactic you can use to increase your brand recognition using twitter marketing is to use trending topics for creating content. Trending topics are the topics that are actively being searched, talked and are getting tweeted by a large number of people, influencers and celebrities.

By using these topics for your content, you can reach thousands of people who might retweet and engage with your content. But be careful while creating content because you don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings or create a controversy with it. In order to find trending topics for your content, you can see trending tab in your twitter app, or use sites like rightrelevance, social animal etc.

5. Use of Hashtags

Use of Hashtags

Hashtags can be defined as keywords or phrases that describe a topic. These hashtags are used by people to follow or search for a particular topic and thus make them a very important part of twitter and twitter marketing. Two sites that you can use to find relevant hashtags for your tweets are Hashtagify and Ritetag.

Only use niche related hashtags in your tweets and content so that they reach your target audience who is actively searching and following these topics. This will increase your followers, engagement rate and most importantly your brands’ presence and recognition.

6. Follow Industry Experts & Share their Content

Follow Industry Experts & Share their Content

Next you must follow relevant industry influencers and industry experts and share their content if you want to increase your brands’ awareness. Why? Because people follow and engage with those brands and influencers who have been accepted as industry experts in what they are doing.

By following such relevant brands and influencers and sharing their content you can start building the name and authority of your brand. This makes people recognize you as an industry expert because you are sharing high quality and relevant content.

7. Tweet on right time.

Tweet on Right Time

The next twitter marketing tactic that you can use to increase your brands’ presence and recognition is to tweet your content on the right time. There are certain days and certain hours in a day in which if you post your content you can get maximum engagement for your tweets. More engagement means more mentions which will ultimately increase your brands presence and brand recognition.

In order to find the right time for tweeting you can try out different timings of days and see at which time of day you have a most engagement or you can use tools like Tweriod, sprout social etc. You can also use tools like hootsuite and buffer to plan and schedule your tweets for posting. These two tools are very helpful when you are short of time or travelling.

8. Twitter Ads

Twitter Ads

Another tactic you can use to increase your brand presence and recognition is used twitter ads. Twitter ads allow you to promote yourself on Twitter using its precise targeting features. By using twitter ads, you can promote your account, your tweets and promote your own topic as a trending topic on twitter and reach a large number of people who will be interested in your brand and your content.

In order to use twitter ads, you must register with your profile on www.ads.twitter.com after that you can create your ads and reach your target audience.

Conclusion.

There you have it guys best twitter marketing tactics and tips that you can use to increase your brand awareness on twitter Using these tactics and tips you can gain new followers, Increase engagement rate on your tweets and recognition as an industry expert.

If you like these tips and tactics leave your comments below and if you have any suggestion you can also write them in your comments. I would love to read your views and suggestions.

Link Building in SEO and How to Get Backlinks?

Google algorithm uses 200 ranking factors to rank a web page on google. These factors determine relevancy, usefulness and ranking of a web page on google. But not all factors have high influence over ranking on google and one of these factors are links. Links are one of the most important factors in Seo and as some marketers would say is the #1 ranking factor of Google. Keeping this in mind today we are going to discuss “Link building in Seo and how to get backlinks?”.

What are Link building and its advantages?

Links building in Seo can be defined as the process of acquiring hyperlinks from authoritative sites. These links pass the ranking value (Ranking juice) from authoritative sites to your own. Let’s see some advantages of link building in SEO: (a)Improve your ranking in organic results. (b)Allows you to promote your brand and content on authoritative sites. (c)Help people navigate from authoritative sites to your site and increase your organic traffic. (d)Help google discover your web pages and determine how they should be rank on organic results. (e)Showcase your expertise, authority and trustworthiness to google. (f)Increase your domain and page authority etc.

Do all links pass value and are important?

The answer is to the above question is “NO”. In link building there are 2 types of links: (a) Follow links- These links pass the value to your sites. (b) No follow links- These links do not pass the value to your site. A link becomes a follow link if the value of the rel attribute in the anchor tag is “Follow”. Similarly, a link becomes no follow link if the value of rel attribute is set to “no follow”. Other than these two factors relevancy, domain authority, page authority of linking domain is also very important for link building in SEO. The linking domain must be an industry expert with high domain and page authority. Only these follow links are important when it comes to link building in SEO.

How to get backlinks for sites?

Before getting started it is necessary to understand that no method, tactic or strategy can give you guarantee that if you use them you will get a backlink. Link building requires patience, building relationships and luck too. Keeping this in mind lets move toward tips and ways to get backlinks for your site.

1. Guest Blogging

One of the most common methods used for link building in SEO is Guest blogging. Guest blogging is basically writing blog posts for other sites as a guest blogger. You can use google to find out blogs and sites in your niche that allows guest posting on them. Guest blogging helps in getting recognized as an industry expert in your field. By posting relevant and useful content you build relationships which ultimately can get you backlinks for your site.

2. Use Your Competitor’s Backlinks Profile

Use your competitor’s backlinks profile

Another method that you can use for link building in SEO is to use your competitors backlink profile. Tools like SEMRush and Ahref can help you with this. These tools can be used to see which sites are providing backlinks to your competitors, type of link they are providing and their domain authority. However, if you don’t have access to these tools you can use google. Just type your competitors’ name in google and make a list of sites that are providing backlinks to them. You can use this information to reach out to these sites along with your created content and if you are lucky you will get a backlink from them.

3. Create Valuable Content

The next method that can be used for getting backlinks for your site is to create valuable content that your target audience will found relevant and useful. If people find your content useful they will mention you, share your content and will also give you a backlink. So make sure your content is well researched and presented effectively if you want to get a backlink for it easily.

4.Broken Backlink method

Next tactic that can be used for getting backlinks from authoritative sites is to discover their broken backlinks. To discover such links you can download and use google extensions like checking my links that show you broken links for the page you are viewing. Once you have found such links simply create your own content for its replacement. Next, reach out to them with your mail and offer your help to fix that broken link. Make sure your content is of good quality otherwise you might not get the backlink.

5. Build Relationships

The next that can be used for link building in SEO is to build relationships with authoritative sites and bloggers. Engage with their content and develop your relationship with them. Next, offer your content for their reviews and ask them to share it and give you a backlink if they found it relevant and useful.

6. Convert Mentions into Backlinks

If you have been sharing high-quality content with your audience then chances are that they might have mentioned you on their sites without giving you a backlink. You can use such mentions to get backlinks for your site. Send them a mail and request to convert that mention into a backlink. In order to find such mentions you can use tools like SEMRush, Ahref etc or simply search your brand name on google and look for mentions.

7. Q&A Sites & Forums

Another tactic that you can use for link building is joined sites like quora, reddit etc. Join discussions and answer niche-related questions along with a link back to your site. But never overuse links in your answer and discussion, it can destroy your online reputation and might get you banned on the platform. In order to find niche related topics and questions simply search niche related key phrases and you will be presented with hundreds of discussion and questions related to your niche that you can answer.

Conclusion

Link building is not easy. It requires patience because developing relationships takes time and link building is all about making relationships and helping each other. If you like my post leave your comments below along with your views and I would love to read them all.

How Social Media Helps In Brand Differentiation

With many competitors on digital platforms brand differentiation has become a necessity to succeed. Coming up with a good strategy is the recipe to do this.

By standing out in the industry we create a safety net around our brand. Hence, a brand can protect themselves from price discounts and the competition. Besides this, it also assists in avoiding the draining of resources on prospects that are not the right fit.

Some steps that experts often suggest when brainstorming strategies are:

Defining your business mission
Understanding and analyzing your competition.
Understand your target audience very well
Ensure what differentiates your brand matters to your target market.
Review past differentiation strategies

In today’s digital realm the main focus would be how to stand out in a cost-efficient manner and which digital tools can be used to achieve this. Social media platforms play a crucial role in differentiating a particular business in the eyes of their customers.

So what is the benefit of using social media?

Brand Awareness:

The use of social media platforms can increase brand awareness as nearly everyone are active on these sites. Almost all the research customers do start online. This creates a great opportunity to share your unique story to educate your customers and distinguish your brand.

The use of social media boosts awareness and helps create a loyal following of customers ready to interact with your posts. Additionally, it helps in understanding your customers and focusing on their needs.

Humanizes your brand:

Social media allows to connect with customers on a human level and have a conversation instead of an overused sales pitch. Using real emotion such as humor, empathy, and joy is helpful to get people to relate to your brand on a deeper level.

Personalization has become essential and is what customers tend to look for in terms of developing brand loyalty. This can assist in moving further in the direction of differentiating your brand in comparison to the competition.

Advertising:

Paid promotion on platforms like Facebook can not only be cost-effective but can increase awareness and brand engagement. Targeting your ideal market and promoting highly relevant posts can increase a users interest and help in achieving desired results.

The use of strong visuals and storytelling derives highly engaging advertisements which can further increase visibility. Ads are a great way to support your brand in all differentiation endeavors.

Customer Feedback:

Customers often post reviews both negative and positive. This can be another great way to distinguish your brand through appreciating positive reviews and replying to negative ones in real-time. When a brand quickly replies and resolves any issue a customer might have faced it enhances the brand’s value.

By making improvements and evolving based on customer feedback it is possible to consistently impress them, strengthen loyalty and bring in new customers.

Tips To Stand Out on Social Media

Choose the right social media platforms:

Understanding the different popular platforms available and choosing the one that is most used by your ideal target market plays a key role in reaching the right people.

Original Content:

Share your story, don’t copy similar content but create it from scratch as well as a mix of user-generated content. Using content that resonates with your target market is important to develop an audience to stand out. Use content differently based on the platform being used and make sure to tailor it the most suitable way. Researching the type of content people enjoy more can aid in this process and can make your posts stand out.

Customize all your social platforms:

A great way to grab a user’s attention is to make the company social profile visually attractive by updating the profile and cover photos. Also, well-written description of what the business is all about goes a long way to increase awareness and help set a brand apart from the other competitors.

Connect With Influencers:

Connecting with online influencers whose niche audience matches your target market can be very beneficial in gaining people’s attention and increasing sales. Influencer marketing has become very popular and provide great value to brands. Choosing an influencer must be done with careful consideration. Finding an influencer that is the best fit for your brand can assist in reaching the right audience, building trust and gaining more loyalty.

Brand Voice And Authenticity:

The way you communicate online must be real, authentic and true to your business culture and tone. It is important to stay in alignment with what your brand image represents. The first step is to know your brand, what your tone is and how you want people to perceive the brand. Focus all the communication based on this understanding and create an authentic personality for the brand. This can increase chances to further the brand differentiation process.

Consistency:

Maintain a constant theme concerning the company’s logo, tone and the kind of topics you choose to post about. Being consistent in every aspect of your social media profile. Furthermore being consistent in posting content can help followers in understanding what to expect from you and also builds trust.

Audience focused:

All communication and content should be based on what the target market wants and needs. This will attract new followers as well as keep current followers interested. Researching and paying attention to detail will be beneficial in the long run.

Quality produce/Service:

Brand differentiation is important but unless the product/service being offered is of top quality there is only so much online or offline platforms can do. It is key to maintain a certain level of quality and constantly adapting to the changing needs of consumers.

A good understanding of your target market and focussing on their needs and wants both online and offline is essential for success. It will help in developing value, image, and loyalty which in turn distinguishes a brand.

The above tips and step are guidelines for achieving an edge over the competition and safeguarding the overall brand. However, this is a continuous process of meeting and exceeding customer expectations consistently.

How to Get Most Out of Facebook Ad Campaigns

By Sumeet
on Sep 26, 2019
in Facebook Marketing

Facebook ads is an advertising platform that allows the brands to create and display ads on Facebook. Using facebook ads we can target large number of people who might be interested in our brands offerings. Keeping this in mind today we are going to talk about “How to get most out of Facebook Ad Campaigns”.

How to get most out of Facebook Ad Campaigns.

1. Select the right campaign goal

Select right campaign goal — Select the right campaign goal

The first thing you need to do to get most out of your Facebook ad Campaigns is to select an appropriate goal during campaign creation. Once you select your goal you are presented with the features and options that allows you to accomplish them.

These ensures that you are using features and options that suit your goals and are capable of giving you desired results.

2. Use A/B Testing

Next thing you can do to get the most out of your Facebook ad campaigns is used A/B testing. A/b testing also known as split testing is a tactic in which the performance of two ad creatives is compared to know which one performed better.

It shows which headline, call to action, images, text copy, ad placements etc work best with your audience. Using these results you can optimise your future campaigns and thus get better ROI from them.

3. Use Detailed Targeting

Detailed targeting is an audience level setting that allows you to include and target people based upon their demographics ,interests and behaviours.

This ensures that your ads reach right audience. For example: Suppose you sell customized picture coffee mugs here you can select anniversary( within 61-90 days) option in behavior category. These people are relevant to what you are offering and might buy your mugs when they see your ads.

4. Implement Facebook Pixel on your Website

Facebook pixel is a javascript code that you can place on your site. Facebook pixel allows you to track conversions,Optimise ads delivery based upon actions taken by the people on your site ,and create a lookalike audience who have the same characteristics as your top customers.

This ensures you get more conversions, more reach and more ROI through your facebook campaigns. Following are the steps to get your pixel code:

(i)Go to facebook ads manager.

(ii)Click on the pixel tab in the event manager.

(iii) Click on create pixel option.

(iv)Enter a name for your pixel and site url and click on continue.

(v)Congratulations you have successfully created pixel for your site.

Next you have to implement that code on your site . Once you have created pixel using above steps facebook will give you 3 options to install that code on your site. Select the option that best suit you and you have successfully installed facebook pixel on your site.

5. Use a Lookalike Audience

Next tip to get most out of facebook ad campaigns is created and use lookalike audience. Creating a lookalike audience allow you to target those people on facebook that exhibit the same characteristics and behaviours as your top customers or people who have interacted with your business in the past.

In order to create a lookalike audience, you need pixel data, mobile app data or data of your page fans. This ensures that your ads reach only those people who will be interested in your offerings.

6. Connections

Connections is a ad set level setting that allows you to include or exclude people from your audience. There are 4 connection type options in this setting:

(i)Facebook page.

(ii)Apps.

(iii)Events

(iv)Advanced combinations

This option allows you to include or exclude people from your target audience . It is a very useful setting and has many advantages too. For example, you can exclude people who have like your page. Since these people already like your page your offers or posts can reach them organically. So it would be better to exclude them to reach new people and get most out of your facebook ad campaigns.

7. Ad Scheduling

Ad scheduling is a campaign budget optimization setting that allows you to run your ads on selected days and selected hours. You can use this option to run your ads during your working hours to ensure you are there when your customer tries to reach you. Why is that important?

Simple nobody likes to wait and if you make your customer wait they might not come back when you are available to answer their queries or assist them.

8. Block List

Block list is a placement level setting which is available when you select edit placement option. Blocklist ensures that your ads don’t run on specified websites or apps within its audience network. This ensure your ads only show up on right sites and apps and not on sites and apps that are in your block list.

9. Use Call to Action

Add a call to action in your ad if you want to get most out of your Facebook ad campaigns. Call to action(CTA) can be defined as desired action you want people to take when they see your ads.

Call to action can persuade a person to take desired action like-signup for the newsletter, visit your site, purchase your products etc. Beside this ads with CTA have a better click through rate(ctr)as compared to ads without a CTA.

10. Relevant & Working Landing Page

The last tip to get the most out of your Facebook ad campaigns is used relevant and working landing page. A landing page is a page where your customer lands once he or she clicks on your ad.

You can reach the right audience using various settings but if you can’t ensure they land on right landing page then everything else you have done so far is useless. Ensure that you have landing page that is relevant to your ad text, loads fast and is carefully designed along with a call to action.

Conclusion

Facebook ads have very powerful and useful options and setting which if used can great results and more ROI. Use settings and options discussed in this post and you will get most out of your Facebook ad campaigns. Leave your comments below if you like this post or have any suggestion. I would love to read your views.

How to Perform Keyword Research for SEO?

Search Engine Optimisation(SEO) is all about keywords. Keywords are used to create content and pages with the hope that they rank high on search engine results. But can we use any keyword or phrase for creating content and pages?

The answer is a big “No”.

Not every keyword is worthy enough to be used for creating content and pages. Only the ones that are worthy enough should be used for SEO. Keeping this in mind today we are going to discuss “How to Perform Keyword Research for SEO”.

What is Keyword Research?

Keyword research is the process of finding keywords and phrases that are being entered in the search queries by the people. These keywords and phrases are used for creating content and pages with a goal to rank high on search engine result pages.

How to Research for Keywords?

1. Create a Seed Keywords List

Seed keywords are the keywords which act as a base for the keywords research process. These keywords must be relevant to your niche and your offerings. In order to create a seed keyword list you can use:

(i) Brainstorming

Here you want to think and ask yourself what terms people might use in the search engine to find your business. For example, You sell customized t-shirts. Keywords like customized t-shirts, customized t-shirts online, buy customized t-shirts etc., would be relevant for you. Make sure these keywords are relevant and are related to your offerings.

(ii) Wikipedia

Wikipedia

Another way to find keywords related to your niche for keyword research is by using Wikipedia. Using wikipedia you can find many subtopics related to your niche. These subtopics themselves can be used as keywords as they are related to your niche and people are interested in these topics and are actively searching for them.

(iii) Reddit/Forums

Next you can use Reddit and forums to find new keywords. Let us say you sell homemade chocolates. You can head over to Reddit and search for a broad topic. For example- Homemade chocolates. It will return you a list of topics that your audience is interested and actively talking about. Similarly, you can go to a forum enter your topic and you will be presented with a list of threads /topics that your target audience is actively talking and looking for.

(iv) Google Suggest

The next thing you can do to find keywords for keyword research is to use the power of google suggest. Here you can write topics related to your niche or topics that you have collected using Wikipedia in the above step. When you enter a topic in google it shows you a list of keywords and phrases that are being entered by people that are related to your niche. How can it help you?

These phrases are very useful in your research as these are the most used search terms on google. They have high search volumes due to which they are appearing as a suggestion on google and when we want to search new keywords for us we simply can’t ignore google suggest.

(v) Google Keyword Planner

Using Google keyword planner you can discover new keywords for your site. Simply type topics related to your niche or enter your site URL and it will present you a list of related keywords and phrases. One thing should be kept in mind google keyword planner is designed keeping in mind PPC advertisers and not SEO. Therefore your expected results might vary if you only have google keyword planner at your disposal.

(vi)Semrush Keyword Research/Moz Keyword Explorer/Ahref Keyword Explorer

Besides helping in SEO audit these tools can also help you in your keyword research process. You can use them to find new keywords and collect metrics related to those keywords. You can also use these tools to know which keywords your competitors are using and create your own content to outrank them.

2. Collect Keyword Metrics

Now you have made your seed list the next step in your keyword research is collecting metrics for your keywords. Metrics like-Search volume, keyword difficulty, competition are of great importance. These metrics are used to filter keywords. In order to collect these metrics, we can use tools like google keyword planner, Moz keyword explorer, SEMRush SEO keywords research, AHREF keyword explorer, Ubersuggest etc.

However as mentioned earlier google keywords planner is designed keeping in mind PPC advertisers and not SEO. They can be used to know how many clicks and impressions a keyword got in the past and how it might perform in the future. But if you can afford, buy one of the paid tools like SEMRush, Ahref or Moz and if you can’t you can use google keyword planner or Ubersuggest.

3. Filtering

The next step in your keyword research process is filtering keywords on the basis of metrics collected in the previous step(search volume, keyword difficulty, competition etc.). We must filter keywords based upon these metrics so only those keywords are left that are relevant and are capable of boosting organic traffic of our site. For example, There can be keywords which might be relevant but don’t have a high search volume. So we must evaluate and filter keywords. In this step we assess the value of the keywords, check their relevancy and filter our keywords after which we will have our final keyword list.

4. Keyword Targeting & Content Creation

After getting your final keyword list the last step in your keyword research process is keyword targeting and content creation. In this step, we will select keywords from the final keywords list and prepare our content strategy for those keywords. For example, you might decide to optimize already existing pages and content or create new pages and new content using your selected keywords.

Conclusion

Keywords are the base of all SEO efforts. A good keyword can give your organic traffic a big boost whereas an irrelevant keyword can waste all your efforts. We must carefully evaluate keywords and their metrics before using them. If you like this post on keywords research leave your comments below also let me know how you do your keyword research.

Top Tips to Get Most Out of Instagram Marketing

By Sumeet
on Sep 19, 2019
in Social Media Marketing

Instagram is an online photo and video sharing social media platform. It is the second largest social network after Facebook with 1 billion active users and if you are a brand who is looking to build social media presence you can not ignore Instagram. Today I am going to share with you tips to get most out of Instagram Marketing.

1. Clearly Defined Objective

The first tip to get most out of your instagram marketing strategy is to define a clear objective that you want to achieve. Whether the brand wants to increase its social media presence, increase sales or increase websites traffic. Objectives are very important as they act as the guide to brands marketing efforts. This ensures that the brand is moving in the right direction.

2. Switch to Business Profile

Switch to a Business Profile

Even before you think about Instagram marketing the first thing you should do is switch to the business profile. Switching to a business profile is super easy . Go to settings –>Account –>Switch to professional Account. Switching profile allows you to create Instagram ads, access to insights tool which provide data like interactions, impressions, engagement of your posts.

3.Attractive bio, description and picture

The next tip to get most out of Instagram marketing is writing attractive bio, description and picture. Bio,description and picture are the first things that a user sees before following a brand and thus it must be capable of attracting the users at first look. Use these sections to educate people about your brand, your offerings and how your brand can help them.

4.Use Hashtags

Hashtags play a very important role in improving the organic reach of your posts. It helps people discover content through topics that interest them and thus we can not ignore them while marketing on Instagram. You can use up to 30 hashtags in your posts. While selecting your hashtags make sure they are relevant and have a high reach. Tools like Instagram search, rate tag can help you get the most relevant hashtags. You can also use hashtags that are being used by industry experts and influential people of your niche. Don’t forget to update your hashtags list after a while to keep getting good results.

5. Cross-Promote on Other Platforms

Another tip to get the most out of Instagram marketing is cross-promote on other social media platforms. Use your existing followers/ fans on other platforms for promoting yourself on Instagram. Ask them to follow you on Instagram. It will help you to get more followers which ultimately increase the organic reach of your Instagram content.

6. Awesome Content Strategy

Content is the base of every marketing strategy. A good content marketing strategy is necessary if you want to get the most out of marketing on Instagram. Don’t just post content to be active on the platform. Content that helps followers and adds value to their life deserve to be posted. Educational, inspirational/motivational, product demos, fun, customer stories and user-generated content are a few possible themes which you can use while creating content.

7. Attractive Posts

All Instagram posts are not equal. when it comes to Instagram marketing, you can either stand out or step away. Instagram is a visual platform. An attractive post attracts people towards it and thus gets large reach and engagement. Tools like Instagram filters, apps like SnapSeed, Canva, AfterLight can help you to elevate the beauty of your posts.

8.The Contest, Giveaways and Promotions

The next tip to get most out of Instagram marketing is run contests, giveaways and promotions. Contest,giveaways and promotions help in increasing reach of your brand, make people tag and share your content. As a result you get more organic reach and engagement. Don’t overuse contests, giveaways and promotions. Use them as a part of your content strategy and not as a base.

9. Consistent Posting

The next thing you can do to get the most out of Instagram marketing is consistent posting. As mentioned above don’t just post to be active, post only when you have quality content. Post consistently awesome, unique , quality content without long gaps. Long gaps make followers forget about the brand and the brand might lose followers too.

10. Sponsored ads, stories and posts

Hashtags and awesome content provide you organic reach. While Sponsored ads, stories and posts help you reach a much larger audience who are interested in your offerings. Paid promotions along with your organic reach building tactics can help you get much better results and a better R.O.I.

11. Use of Trending Topics

Next thing to get most out of your Instagram marketing is using trending topics for creating content. Trending topics have a big organic reach. People are actively searching for these topics. By using these topics you have the opportunity to reach a big audience segment organically.

12. Use of Influencers

Industry experts, celebrities can help you in getting most out of Instagram marketing. These people have large following and can influence a large number of people. Making contacts with influencers and using them for your product promotions can not only help you large and relevant audience but can also get you much better results as compared to using only paid promotions.

13. Instagram stories

Instagram stories are pictures or videos that last only for 24 hours.These stories can be used by the brand to show the internal working, culture, behind the scene working of the brand. This makes followers feel much more connected with the brand and help a brand to get the most out of their Instagram marketing strategy.

14. Analyze Metrics

In order to get most out of Instagram marketing a brand must observe and analyze important metrics like followers growth rate, reach, frequency, impressions, click through rate. These data is very important as it helps the firm to know whether its marketing efforts are working at all or not, or to calculate its R.O.I( Return on investment).

Conclusions.

There you have it guys the top tips to get most out of Instagram marketing. Using these tips a brand can create an strong and effective Instagram marketing strategy which will help them to achieve their desired objectives and goals.If you like these tips make sure to leave your comments below and if you have any suggestion you can also write that in the comment section below

Importance of Web Analytics for Business

By Sumeet
on Aug 16, 2019
in Web Analytics

Web Analytics may be defined as a system that collects, process and reports a web site data which can be used to get insights about customers and how they interact with a business’s site.

Using Analytics reports we get access to valuable data that helps the business to achieve their goals and objective. Most of the brands use such data to create strategies to achieve their goals.

So today, we are going to discuss Web Analytics and why it is important for business?

Importance of Web Analytics

1. Access to Accurate Data to Understand the Traffic

Access to Accurate Data Source: Pixabay — Access to Accurate Data

Web Analytics is all about data and reporting data but not all data is useful. Google Analytics provides valuable data which can be used to discover hidden trends and insights thus it is very important for a business.

However, this data alone can also mislead a business if irrelevant data is not filtered out. Google Analytics filter helps in refining the data and provide you with data that is important and relevant for your business.

For example: Using exclude filter to see data related to your real prospects and not office staff.

2. Helps you to Understand Website Audience

Understand Website Audience Source - Pixabay — Understand Website Audience

A website that does not provide its visitors good user experience can not think of getting business using it. In order to improve user experience, we must understand a website audience, devices they use, the language they speak etc.

Web Analytics provides this data to business through its reports and thus help them understand their audience and develop strategies to improve their user experience when they visit the website. For example:

a. Technology Report: Provide data about which technology, browser and OS and network being used by a visitor.

b. Behaviour Report: Provide data about how a visitor is engaging with the website and their behaviour on the site.

c. Demographic Report: Provide data to understand and better know the audience of the site.

3. Understand Return on Investment

Understand Return on Investment Source - Pixabay — Understand Return on Investment

Web Analytics help in knowing ROI by tracking the performance of social media campaigns, email campaigns, ad campaigns etc.

By default, Google Analytics tracks only traffic from 3 mediums that are organic, referral and direct. In order to track the performance of traffic from other sources and mediums link tagging is used.

This help in understanding the performance of campaigns and source and mediums used for the campaigns. By using this data, we can know the ROI from campaigns and optimise them to improve it.

4. Improve SEO

Improve SEO Source - Pixabay — Improve SEO

Another important benefit of using Web Analytics is that it helps in improving SEO for the site. It Helps in identifying issues like slow loading, browser or OS issues.

Landing pages that are getting most of the organic traffic for the site.

Metrics like bounce rates, landing page report, exit page report etc can also be used to measure the quality of pages. Google Analytics can also help in identifying new opportunities.

For example: Identifying keywords for which you have a good position but poor CTR. Using this insight, a business can improve the content for that keyword and thus improve CTR.

In order to get access to this data, one must link Google Analytics with Google Search Console.

5. Improve PPC Performance

Improve PPC Performance Source - Pixabay — Improve PPC Performance

Another important benefit of using Web Analytics is that it helps in optimising the performance of Google ads by providing the enhanced remarketing capability, import of goals, analytics remarketing audience and ecommerce transactions directly into Google Ads account.

It can also help to track the behaviour of the customer on the website after an ad click or impression in order to use these features, one must link Google Analytics with Google Ads.

6. Identify Pain Points

Identify Pain Points Source - Pixabay — Identify Pain Points

When it comes to providing great user experience all the pain areas of the website must be rectified and Web Analytics helps a business in identifying them.

Reports like exit page reports, site speed report, device, browser and OS report etc. These reports help in identifying the pain area of the website and thus help in rectifying them to improve the user experience of the visitors.

7. Optimise Conversion Funnel

Optimise Conversion Funnel Source - Pixabay — Optimise Conversion Funnel

Using Web Analytics, we can set a number of goals which are important for the business these can be signing up for the newsletter, buying a product, register for a demo of product etc.

While creating a goal we write down each and every step that a user must take to successfully complete goal on the site.

Google Analytics through funnel visualization helps in identifying how many visitors who enter the funnel gets successfully converted(Complete the goal).

This helps a business to identify at which point of the funnel the customers are getting dropped out.

Using this data, a business can identify any issues that might be present on the site or particular pages of the site that are leading to drop out of customers from the funnel and thus solve these issues so that maximum number of customers in the funnel is successfully converted.

Data Reporting Source - Pixabay — Data Reporting

8. Data Reporting

Refining and optimization of data are necessary before its use. Using Web Analytics, a business can not only refine the data but helps in the visual representation of this data so that it can be easily understood.

Google Analytics has a variety of viewing options like:

a. Data View: Tabular representation of data

b. Percentage View: Representation of data as a pie graph

c. Performance View: Bar graph representation of data.

d. Comparison View: It allows to see whether each metric in the table is performing above or below average.

e. Pivot View: Creates a pivot table.

Besides this Google Analytics allows creating custom reports a report that can be customized based upon needs.

Conclusion

Web Analytics is a very useful tool that not only helps in understanding our audience but also helps you discover business insights that might not be visible directly.

No business can ignore Analytics if they want to provide a great user experience to its visitors as well as gain access to business insights.

If you like my post or have any question or suggestion feel free to write to me about it in the comment section below.