Using Social Media Data to Increase Sales
Whether you want to partake or not we live in a socially connected world, brands across all industries have multiple platforms and pages to follow, all giving unique data, sales, info and insights! It is time to use your social media data to increase your sales. Now this is where the good stuff comes in. In the time and age of being an entrepreneur or small business owner data is your best friend and if you’re ignoring it, you are most definitely missing out. Your social media pages collect a heck of a lot of useful data that you should be accessing daily. Many companies fail to take advantage of these vital resources to improve their sales and better their customer experience. Here are a couple ways you can leverage your data. Monitor The Competition First, you can use social data to monitor your competitors’ offerings, products, and services. How are they packaging their product or service to their unique consumer. See what your competition is doing that you like or don’t like. How can you improve or step up this platform and make it your own? This is an easy way to gain a little advantage and see what it is that your customers really want or care about. Social insights can give you various data across all platforms, so yes you need a Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Don’t be afraid to try different strategies on each one either! Use It or Loose It! Seriously though, not using the data to better understand why your visitors/fans stop and make a conscious decision to read, like or share your post can leave you in the dust. It’s simple really. Check out your demographics, see what type of personalities’ they tend to have. Are your biggest chunk of visitors younger, male, moms, business professionals? Are these users consistently engaging in your brand or are they random? These things can really get your wheels turning and help you start to make some educated decisions on why they coming or going. Companies miss the opportunity to better understand their customers and get a leg up on the competition. Don’t just leave social feedback to one area of the company, but instead integrate it throughout your strategy to make your entire operation as customer-friendly and informed as possible. No one knows your business like you do. So give yourself an increase in sales and give your customers what they want! We are here to help with any consulting or advice you may need. Please reach out with any questions in regards to establishing a strong social media strategy today! We’d be happy to help!
Keeping Your Self Maintained Website Safe
Being in business for yourself has enough challenges, however nothing is worse when your business online goes down, gets a bug or just plain stops working all together. We have a handful of clients who like to maintain and update their website on their own, so this post is to give some much needed simple advice of how to stay on top of your websites security! From the Hosting level If you handle or control your hosting platform make sure your web host is using a secure platform. You should request that at minimum 30 days of your website are kept as backups, purging at the end of each 30 day period. Ask questions about their tech support and customer care. Read reviews, many of these guys have some great marketing but are horrible when it comes to the time you truly need them. We put all our clients on the WpEngine platform, it’s secure, has a great chat feature that gets me in and out quickly and what I love most, as a new customer they will take you through a visual interactive tool on the site to make sure you’ve set up everything appropriately. Staying Secure Once you’ve signed up with a GOOD hosting company that has your back and keeps you informed on activity with your site and possible breaches make sure to stay on top of your login info. I’m not saying writing all your passwords in google docs and hope for the best. I talking straight up change them! If you get one ounce of suspicion from your hosting provider that someone may be poking around on your server (even thought they won’t put it that way) you should login and change the following username and passwords: Your database: You will most likely need the assistance of a customer service rep so you don’t make a big mistake that could cost you to have a web programmer put it back. Make sure to use a password that is extremely secure here, pull out all the stops, load it up with funkyness that no one could guess. Your FTP: This is your File Transfer Protocol system, in regular people terms it’s a direct access to the root of the directory where your website is held. Once they’re in here they can do whatever the H3ll they want! Keep this password unique from others, make sure it is strong and cannot be guessed because it’s your name spelled backwards. I know I know, that one is fun and super easy to remember! Your WordPress login: This only applies if your website is operating off the WordPress CMS, since it’s 2016 and you’re reading our helpful posts and last but not least wikipedia says 74,652,825 people are using WordPress this applies to you. Opt for a simple username but get real crazy on that password and yes it needs to be different than the others you’ve created. Embed from Getty Images Back that up! Yes I meant for that to sound like a cheesy line from a rap song. In the literal sense, make monthly backups of your site. This is particularly easy if you’re a WordPress user. You can always lean to your hosting provider for help here too! With this hard copy existing on your actual hard drive, no matter what happens you’ve got your content and “fingers crossed” you won’t need it. Better safe than sorry right? Keep it up to date Obviously updating your site is key just in itself. You’re online business thrives when you keep your visitors loaded with new information. This also tells the search engines you are relevant and you’re not going anywhere. Another ultra important aspect to updates is the need to update all your software (this relates to the platform your site is run on), plugins and third party apps you may have installed along the way. Not sure how to update your plugins? Watch this helpful little video below to learn a bit about how you can tackly your websites safety. Or if you’re looking for some help reach out to us and we’d be glad to look under the hood 🙂
Hashtag, you’re doing it right!
If you’re a social media novice, hashtags may seem confusing and you’re right, they are. But they are integral to the way we communicate online, and search. As our world of technology grows and grows, so does the infinite amount of information available for us to search through on any given platform that we choose at that moment. The hashtag’s widespread use began with Twitter but has extended to other social media platforms. In 2007, developer Chris Messina proposed, in a tweet, that Twitter begin grouping topics using the hash symbol. Twitter initially rejected the idea. However wide spread use took fire, we mean took off. Case in point the #SanDiegoFire, at Messina’s suggestion, to tweet updates on a series of forest fires in San Diego. The practice of hashtagging took was a blaze; now users and brands employ hashtags to cover serious political events (#Cairo) and entertainment topics (#MileyCyrus) alike. Numbers are supported, if you click on any trending topic on social media you see they are quite the popular little guy popping up everywhere. However, punctuation marks are not, so commas, periods, exclamation points, question marks and apostrophes are out. Forget about asterisks, ampersands or any other special characters. If you’re a grammar junkie…. #sorrynotsorry Keep in mind that the @ symbol does something completely different. Using @ before a person’s Twitter handle will tweet at him directly, letting him know you have written to him via the @Connect tab. A hashtag will not. Sometimes users will hashtag a celebrity’s name instead of using her Twitter handle — it is acceptable to tweet #highwaytohavasumovie or @highwaytohavasumovie. But if you are trying to reach someone directly, don’t use a hashtag. Most major social media platforms support hashtags. These include: Twitter: Twitter is the birthplace of modern hashtag usage — as such, its hashtags are more versatile than other sites’ (see “Tone & Voice,” below). Twitter hashtags are mainly used to denote specific topics of conversation; the “Trends” sidebar of your Twitter feed curates a list of hashtags you might be interested in, based on your tweets. When you search for a hashtag on Twitter, there are three ways to filter the results. The “Top” option displays the most relevant and popular posts, including those from users you don’t follow. “All” shows you every tweet that uses the specific hashtag in real time, and “People you follow” will only display results from users you are following. Hashtag Search Results Embarassing as it is to admit, this is how we do most of our searching while on Facebook: Facebook only recently added hashtag support in June 2013, and the practice has not picked up much steam. Nevertheless, clicking on Facebook hashtags will take you to a list of posts containing the same hashtag. It’s completely useful in the Facebook environment, literally weeding out all the posts that you are not looking for and truly helping to bring to the forefront the ones you may be interested in, or extremely helpful to find old articles you stumbled upon and forgot to save. Instagram: Hashtags can be used to complement photos shared on Instagram and help you discover new accounts and pick up followers. Some hashtags were created specifically for Instagram photo challenges — #ThrowbackThursday, for example, encourages users to post retro photos. Vine uses hashtags in the same way — try accompanying each of your Vine videos with at least one hashtag to maximize shareability. Google+: When you click on a hashtag in Google+, the search results will include the original hashtag as well as posts with similar tags and keywords. Google search results display on the left side of the page, while hashtag results from within Google+ appear on the right. Google also gives you the option to search within Facebook or Twitter. Tumblr: Tumblr posts have a special “Tag” section where you can enter tags. These tags function like Twitter hashtags, organizing posts by topic, but the hash symbol is inserted automatically. Hashtags included in the main body of a post are not transformed into links. Pinterest: Use Pinterest hashtags to mark and search for content. Click on the hashtag in a pin description to navigate results that contain the exact hashtag, plus pins with the same word or phrase in the description. If we totally confused you, not to worry. That’s what we’re here for. We love this $h!t!! Shoot us an email and we can talk strategy and how to make the most of your hashtagging!
What Does a Webmaster Do?
Webmasters oversee all the features of a website. They solve technical problems, approve site content, and work with designers to ensure the site looks great, regardless of browser. Schools offering Graphics & Multimedia Management degrees can also be found in these popular choices. So, if you’re wondering what does a webmaster do, you’ve come to the right place. In this article, we will dive into the duties and descriptions of just that. Job Description Webmasters are skilled computer professionals who oversee a website’s optimal functioning and maintenance. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics(BLS), webmasters choose which software to use when building a website, approve the content used in the site and troubleshoot technical problems. Important Facts About This Occupation Key Skills As webmaster, your customer service skills will be required as customers ask questions and request changes. Because even a small error can stop a web page from displaying, you must be detail-oriented. You will also need to concentrate on your work, while being creative. Work Environment Most people in this profession work full time. Many are self-employed. Professional Certification The World Organization of Webmasters offers Web Professional Certification based on exams at apprentice, associate and professional levels. Similar Occupations A webmaster likely to have responsibilities much like that of a computer programmer or software developer. Web pages contain code as well as the kinds of objects that a graphic designer, multimedia artist or animator might produce. If a website uses data, the webmaster responsibilities will be similar to database administrator work. Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Website Maintenance According to About.com, most webmasters spend most of their time maintaining the website. Website maintenance includes updating content, fixing broken links and images, and ensuring the website’s code is compatible with all browsers. If the website owner or graphic designer wants to make changes to the site, it’s the webmaster’s job to implement them. Troubleshooting Webmasters constantly test their websites for load time, ease of use, and functionality. Webmasters also check to make sure that any content in the website is easily understandable. Users address complaints about a website to the webmaster, who will assess and solve the problem as quickly as possible. Server and Release Maintenance One of the most important aspects of a webmaster’s job is maintaining the server, the computer where all the website’s information is stored. In some organizations, webmasters monitor the server to ensure it is running. Additionally, they may write and run script programs to move website files from a development server to an online production server. Education Requirements Webmasters can adequately perform their many job duties with an Associate of Science degree or technical classes. A Bachelor of Science in Computer Science could help become a webmaster for more complex websites. Salary Info and Job Outlook The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) categorizes webmasters as one kind of web developer. The BLSOccupational Outlook Handbook notes that employment for all web developers will likely grow by about 27% between 2014 and 2024. These professionals earned median salaries of $63,490 as of 2014, per the BLSOccupational Employment Statistics. To continue researching, browse the degree options below for course curriculum, prerequisites, and financial aid information.
Importance of Proper Keywords
By Sue Jenkins from Web Design All-in-One For Dummies, 2nd Edition The first thing you can do to improve a website’s search engine friendliness (search engine optimization) is to maximize the importance of proper keywords you use in your content. One of the things that search engine robots and spiders do is search for meaningful content within the text on pages that they crawl. This means that the sites you design need to help those bots find that content by including site-specific keywords that identify a company’s products and services, especially on the home page. Keywords can be any words or short phrases (keyphrases) that describe the product, service, or information on the site that needs to be advertised. If your site sells products, tell the world about them using clearly identifiable keywords that visitors might use. This can help visitors around the world using search engines to more readily find a particular website. Keep in mind that the keywords within the text of the site’s pages can be the same as any keywords listed in the keywords meta tag. However, because content keywords and key phrases can be integrated into the text in the body of the page, you have much more latitude for including the most popular keywords within the text that the site’s target audiences are likely to use when doing a search engine search. To evaluate your site’s content and find ways to maximize keywords, look through each page on your site with the following key concepts in mind: Verify that the text on each page — especially the home page — includes descriptive keywords and key phrases. For instance, if the website offers printing services and uses only chlorine-free 100 percent post-consumer recycled paper and vegetable-based inks, Chlorine-Free 100% post-consumer recycled paper and vegetable-based inks would be great key phrases to include in the page’s text. Find ways on every page to hyperlink any keywords or key phrases to other relevant pages on the site. If you see keywords that aren’t yet linked to somewhere else on the site when they should be, add them. For instance, if the copy on a page includes the phrase, “Our services include graphic design, offset and digital printing, mailing and fulfillment,” you can easily turn the words graphic design, offset, digital printing, mailing, and fulfillment into individual hyperlinks that link directly to those five pages on the site. To emphasize certain words or phrases within the page content, mark up headlines and bylines using headings tags such as <h1>and <h2> and mark up other important text with <strong> (bold) and<em> (italic) styles. By using these heading and emphasis tags, you’re alerting search engine robots that the content contained inside those tags is likely to be more relevant to search engine users than other content on the page. If you’re advising clients about improving the content on their pages, tell them not to worry about being too conservative with the amount of content placed on every page. Many site owners think that having too much copy will scare away readers. In fact, some SEO guidelines recommend having a minimum of 200 words on every page so that the spiders and robots have something to read and index. When you have finished reviewing and updating your site, the content should be well marked up with heading, italic, and strong tags for emphasis; the copy should include lots of descriptive keywords and key phrases; and when applicable, those keywords and key phrases should by linked to other relevant pages on the site.
