A backlink for a given web resource is a link from some other website to that web resource. A web resource may be a website, web page, or web directory. A backlink is a reference comparable to a citation. There are plenty of resources online discussing backlinks and why they should be part of your SEO strategy. When you Google “how important is link building for SEO?” you inevitably find an endless supply of websites sharing link building strategies and tips on how to get backlinks. What Are Backlinks? The main purpose of SEO is to enhance your site’s visibility through organic search. One way of doing this is through quality link building and knowing how to get backlinks. But what are backlinks? And, to be more precise, what are backlinks in SEO? Backlinks are links that point from one page to another web page on a different domain. But their primary function isn’t just to improve navigation and facilitate site crawling. In SEO, websites can benefit from an inbound link because it improves domain authority, a trust signal that helps boost your rankings on organic search. “A backlink is a vote of confidence search engines like Google use to determine if a website is trustworthy, It is an effective way of getting third parties to affirm your site’s authenticity, trustworthiness and authority.” How Important Is Link Building for SEO? Now that we know the answer to “what are backlinks in SEO? let’s move onto the importance of backlinks. So, exactly how important is link building for SEO and how much does it matter? We’ve explained that link building is the process of acquiring backlinks for your website. Generally, there are two ways to do this: • Natural Link Building – the editorial acquisition of backlinks when others discover your content and link to it organically. • Non-Natural Link Building – an umbrella term for link acquisition that covers link building through editorial outreach, guest posting or quality link building services, among others. Note: We used the term non-natural link building to differentiate from unnatural link building, which is a frowned-upon method of acquiring backlinks. Unnatural or black-hat link building services attach artificial links to web pages without the administrator’s consent for the sole purpose of manipulating a page’s ranking. But how important is link building for SEO? Extremely. In fact, it has become a critical ranking factor, which is why many link building services exist. As mentioned above, backlinks serve as a vote of confidence for your website and are instrumental in improving your visibility online through organic search. Link Building: Quality vs Quantity The debate over link building quality vs. quantity wasn’t even a thing before 1998. That year, Google started considering the importance of backlinks by introducing PageRank to estimate the quality of web pages through the number of links that point to them. One major flaw, however, was that it couldn’t differentiate between low and high-quality sources. Exploiters saw an opportunity to trick the system, giving rise to black-hat link building strategies, such as spam comments, private blog networks (PBNs) and link farms, among many others. Google introduced a series of updates, beginning in 2011, to filter out and penalize websites that didn’t follow its guidelines. Before the update, link building services could simply ask how many backlinks per month you wanted and deliver because it didn’t matter if you knew how to get backlinks from quality sources. Today, the link source’s DA and trustworthiness matter way more than the number of links. In the debate between link building quality vs. quantity, experts agree that quality is the clear winner. “Long gone are the days when link builders used PBNs and link farms to rank a website. These practices go against Google’s guidelines, which can result in penalization,” . “A quality backlink has a lot more weight when passing link equity, and the potential referral traffic and branding opportunities that come with it are signaling Google the right way.” It is more important than ever to build quality links through your link building strategy. One link from a highly reputable source such as a popular blog or a credible news website has more link juice than a million links from sketchy sources that Google can easily ignore. What Are the Benefits of a Link Building Strategy Focused on High Quality Link Building? High quality link building should be a priority in your SEO strategy for several reasons, including: • It boosts website traffic, targeting relevant audiences and industry niches. • It improves domain authority as link juice is passed to your domain from high-authority sources. • It broadens your opportunities to build relationships with other businesses, collaborators and subject matter experts. • It positions your brand as an authoritative voice, leading to better credibility and a stellar reputation. Best Practices for SEO Link Building Link building is a laborious process. According to 51 percent of marketers, even profitable link building campaigns could take 1-3 months to see significant results. But quality link building services still exist because of the tremendous impact these backlinks can have on your SEO efforts. With that said, the question of how many backlinks per month you should generate should be out of your radar because links from quality sources take time to acquire. So, how do you get started on your link building campaigns? by taking small steps and applying these best practices. Here’s how to create backlinks by following Google’s guidelines: Create Quality Content In a perfect world, you wouldn’t need to learn how to build backlinks if you “earn” them through quality content. But one of the best ways to begin your link building campaigns is by producing excellent content that assists in building quality links naturally. These pieces of content generally provide value that people want to link to, such as a blog post, white-paper or infographic. Beginning your link building campaigns this way creates assets that attract the attention of site owners and readers alike for increased traffic. And if you’re looking for content ideas to launch your campaign, remember that blog posts that answer “why” and “what” receive 25.8 percent more links than “how-to” posts, according to Backlinko. So a blog post about “what are backlinks?” is more than likely to receive more links than a post about “how to build backlinks.” Editorial Outreach Every quality link building campaign revolves around some form of outreach. Whether you’re promoting a piece of content, making a request or building relationships, editorial outreach can help you achieve your link building goals. Here’s how to create backlinks through outreach: • Ask for a link: Don’t be afraid to send an email to ask someone for a link to any of the resources on your website. But make sure to keep your email short and right to the point. • Help a Reporter Out (HARO): Reach out to journalists who are looking for extra help for their articles via HARO. HARO is a message board for journalists and a great source of high-quality links from big-name news outlets. • Broken link building method: This method involves flagging broken links on certain web pages using a backlink checker and contacting webmasters to provide a suitable replacement for those links. All you need to do is learn how to check backlinks in Google Search Console, the best free backlink checker today. Aside from the best free backlink checker, you can use similar tools like SEMrush and Ahrefs as a backlink checker. Guest Posting Guest posting remains one of the most-used tactics to build quality links, especially for small businesses. It involves writing high-quality articles that contain links that point to your website. There are many websites online that offer opportunities for guest posting. But before you start looking for such sites, keep in mind the following: • Look for websites or blogs that are relevant to your industry and topic. • Your article’s primary objective should be to provide value and not self-promotion. • Make sure you share a high-quality, well-written blog post because it can also affect your reputation. Conclusion In this article, we answered the question “what are backlinks in SEO and why your SEO link building strategy should focus on how to build quality links. Today, the quality of a backlink has a higher impact on your search rankings than the number of links you have. Links from a million low-quality sources can easily be ignored by Google or may even negatively impact your domain. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t pay attention to the quantity of backlinks you earn. On the contrary, you should know how to create backlinks from quality sources to earn more votes of confidence that improve your domain authority. And with the help and resources of reputable agencies, you can fast-track the process of quality link building. We are here to help you. Contact us so we can start helping you with your backlinks business strategy.

There are a number of marketing channels that businesses can explore today to drive growth. Yet, email marketing continues to hold its own as one of the more effective marketing tools you can use to engage customers and reach out to prospects. Through marketing emails, you can distribute content, promote your brand and nurture warm leads cost-effectively. Why Use Email Marketing Running a business is essentially making a series of decisions that impact your future. One of those decisions is managing your limited resources and choosing the proper marketing channels. So, why use email marketing? Here are six inarguable reasons why email marketing is important for your business: 1. It’s less diluted than other channels. A robust email marketing campaign is easier to manage than multiple strategies that target users across various channels. 2. Almost everyone uses it. Over 4.03 billion people have at least one email address. 3. It has the highest return on investment (ROI). On average, an email marketing campaign generates $42 for every $1 spent, a 4400 percent ROI 4. It uses direct marketing. Messages don’t depend on passing glances on a timeline and are instead delivered straight to the user’s inbox. 5. People demand personalization. In fact, 74 percent of people hate seeing irrelevant content. 6. It’s measurable. Tracking your campaigns is easier as analytics are native to email marketing platforms. Now that you’ve learned why email marketing is important, let’s look at the useful email marketing statistics and email marketing facts of the past few years to help you with your email marketing campaigns. The following email marketing stats show why email marketing is important and why sending out marketing emails should be a top priority. General Email Statistics The power of marketing emails has been questioned time and time again. Despite the many declarations that say “email marketing is dead,” the following email stats that we’ve compiled show otherwise. 1. There were approximately 4.037 billion email users worldwide, which resulted in an average of 306.4 billion emails sent per day in 2020. 2. Americans spend a total of five hours per day checking their email (Adobe, 2019). 3. Sixty-one percent of consumers prefer to be contacted via email when communicating with brands. 4. Eighty-six percent of professionals prioritize their email connections over others (HubSpot). 5. For 58 percent of people, checking their emails is what they do first thing in the morning 6. Email is the second-most popular platform for sharing content for 70 percent of professionals within a company or industry (Demand Generation Report, 2020). Email Marketing ROI Statistics For any robust email marketing campaign, email marketing open rate and email marketing conversion rate are two of the most important metrics for tracking email marketing ROI. Check out these stats about email marketing ROI and some email marketing tips on improving the conversion rate. For every $1 spent on email marketing, whether you’re using an email newsletter service or an email marketing agency, the potential ROI is as high as $42 on average (DMA, 2019). • When properly executed or when working with the right email marketing agency, your business can potentially enjoy a 4,200 percent ROI. These are the average email marketing stats that you can expect in relation to average email marketing conversion rate: email marketing open rate (18.0 percent), click-through rate (2.6 percent), click-to-open rate (14.1 percent) and unsubscribe rate (0.1 percent) (Campaign Monitor). • These are averages computed for all industries. But what’s a good email marketing open rate and email marketing conversion rate to target? Your industry, along with other factors such as target audience and type of campaign, all play a part in influencing the email marketing stats that result from each campaign. Companies are six times more likely to earn clicks from email marketing campaigns than from tweets (Campaign Monitor). • Once your audience opts in, you are given the license to send promotional emails, which isn’t the case with social media. Capitalize on these email stats by linking to a high-performing email marketing landing page for higher returns. Shoppers tend to spend 138 percent more on their purchases after receiving email offers (Hatchbuck). • A simple email informing your audience about a specific promo can influence them into spending more to take advantage of that deal. Sending one email results in 10.7 percent recovered purchases, but sending up to three emails increases purchases by 69 percent (Omnisend, 2018). • This is one of those interesting email marketing facts that show why you should always follow up and follow through. Don’t be afraid to send a gentle reminder about items in their cart users may have forgotten. You can also offer a small discount as an incentive to complete the purchase. Mobile Email Marketing Statistics 2021 The number of mobile users increased by 239 percent from just 1.06 billion users worldwide in 2012 to 3.6 billion users in 2020. This shows the rapid increase in mobile usage within the last decade, shifting how people consumed various technologies, including email. This is why you should make sure your email marketing landing page is mobile-friendly. So, if you’re still asking, “why use email marketing for mobile users?” then these mobile email statistics should provide answers. Almost 50 percent of all emails are read on mobile • But what does this piece of email marketing information mean? This email statistic suggests you risk losing half of your entire audience if you fail to optimize your emails for mobile. Shortening your email subject line, beginning with a strong pre-header text and balancing the size of your images and text are some of the strategies you can implement. Talk to an email marketing company or email newsletter service about it. A whopping 42.3 percent of mobile users will instantly delete an email if it’s not displayed correctly on their mobile device (SaleCycle). • This is another power email statistic showing you need to elevate your mobile email marketing efforts and make your emails more mobile-responsive. Using mobile devices as a primary method of reading emails is more common in 40 percent of users aged 18 or younger (Campaign Monitor) • If you’re planning to target younger audiences for a specific product or service, then you better make sure your emails are mobile-friendly. After reading an email on mobile initially, a user is 65 percent more likely to click through if they read that same email again on a desktop later (Campaign Monitor, 2018). • Create compelling content that sparks the interest of your readers. And while doing so, don’t forget to optimize your email and email marketing landing page for desktop, as well. Visual Content in Emails Humans are visual creatures. People are more drawn to visuals than any other form of media, which is also why people are more likely to buy a product after watching a video. Here are some pieces of email marketing information on visual content and some email marketing tips on how you can integrate visual content in your email marketing campaigns. Subject lines that contain emojis lead to a 56 percent higher open rate than emails with text-only subject lines • Use emojis to complement the words in your subject line or replace some of them to convey your message in a quirky but effective way. Some studies have even shown that using emojis leads to higher response and engagement rates. Appropriate emojis in holiday campaigns reduce the complaint rate to less than one percent • This is a helpful piece of email marketing information for email marketing services and businesses looking to use email for customer service. Attaching a video in a marketing email results in three times as many click-throughs and a 40 percent increase in ROI • Meanwhile, including static images, GIFs and other graphics also increase the open rate by 27 percent and CTR by 4.5 percent. It’s crucial to make sure your videos and graphics are properly optimized. Seventy-four percent of users will delete an email immediately if graphics don’t load within five seconds of opening the email. The Power of Personalization – 5 Quick Tips With consumers today demanding personalized interactions, businesses should aim to improve personalization in their email marketing strategies. Here are some email statistics and email marketing tips to help you. TIP 1: Get your subject line right! 47 percent of people decide to open an email based on the subject line Similarly, 69 percent of users will decide to report emails as spam based on the subject line alone. This email statistic highlights the importance of the email subject line in influencing the consumer’s behavior and compelling them to open the email. TIP 2: Make your subject line personal! Personalized email subject lines lead to 26 percent higher open rates Ensuring the email looks like it was intended for the recipient leads to six times higher transaction rates. But it’s not just about the subject line. In a separate study, 88 percent of respondents were more likely to respond if the email looked like it was specifically created for them. This is why 77 percent of marketers deliver personalized content through email for those subscribed to an email newsletter service. TIP 3: Segment your audience! The global average for click-throughs on segmented email campaigns was 100.95 percent higher than unsegmented campaigns In terms of ROI, segmentation can lead to a whopping 760 percent increase in revenue. TIP 4: Check for relevancy! Seventy-four percent of people hate being shown content irrelevant to them Here are some interesting email marketing facts: mismatching information in an email marketing campaign leads to high bounce rates. Respondents in a study by Adobe revealed the type of irrelevant content they hate the most: • Mismatched interests (34 percent) • Expired offers (24 percent) • Misspelled name (15 percent) • Wrong location or season (14 percent) • Redundant promos (13 percent) TIP 5: Mention your recipient by name in the subject line! Personalized subject lines in emails lead to a 26 percent boost in open rates Even the mere mention of the recipient’s name in the subject line can increase open rates by as much as 35 percent. Time To Press Send Email marketing is still one of the best channels to use if you want to reach your target audience directly. With high penetration rates and an even higher potential for significant returns, running a robust email marketing campaign should be a top priority for your business. In this blog, we shared with you the email marketing statistics 2021 campaigns can benefit from. Armed with these email marketing statistics 2021 should be the year you harness the power of the inbox to grow your business. An effective email marketing campaign allows you to promote your brand, nurture leads and keep your customers engaged. But with email marketing becoming even more sophisticated as the market evolves, it becomes harder to execute campaigns properly, which is why so many companies fail at email marketing. Work with a top-tier email marketing company offering premier email marketing services to run your campaigns more effectively. We equip your business with the right tools so you can leverage email to get results – and we have the email stats to prove it. Our email marketing services develops, executes and optimizes your email strategy to help you build an efficient email marketing campaign that gets high open rates, higher CTRs and doesn’t go straight to the spam folder.

There is a lot to gain in creating a blog, especially for those looking to increase their exposure, build brand awareness and attract new site visitors. Yet, many small business owners remain unaware of the extensive benefits of blogging and its positive impact in marketing. On average, companies with blogs produce 67% more leads per month than those who don’t blog, according to content marketing research. This means that blogging is not only a major asset for companies seeking to expand, but also plays an essential role in keeping your business competitive. Blogging for Business Business blogging is a content marketing tactic that’s meant to raise a company’s online visibility. In fact, the biggest companies are turning to blogging as a major part of their marketing efforts. When blogging for your business, you are essentially creating content about specific topics related to your product or service. Through content that's both actionable and timely, with a focus on user interests and educational guides, like how-tos and step-by-step processes, you can use blogging to build your reputation as a leader in the industry. The benefits of blogging are manifold. From increasing sales and fostering greater customer engagement and community around your brand, here are the ways in which blogging for business can strengthen your company. Increase website traffic Lead conversions Build trust in client relationships Establish yourself as an industry leader Increase brand awareness Amp up your email list Create new opportunities 01. Increase website traffic Studies show that companies that blogs get 55% more website visitors than those that don't. The more website traffic you get, the more you’ll reach potential customers who are likely to book, purchase or fill out a contact form to stay in touch. But in order to actually increase website traffic, you’ll need to create a viable content strategy for your business blog. You may have heard the term “content is king.” We live in a world where the culture of content is proliferating and the demand for continued content creation is high throughout all platforms, from social media and websites to even mobile apps. As a result, businesses and other entities are driven to become publishers of their content and the voice of their brand. To create a blog that brings in website traffic, try out the following strategies: Speak to your target audience: People are most excited to read, share and link to blog posts which cover relevant and specific topics to them. For example, if you’re a business that sells environmentally-friendly products, you’d likely benefit from writing a blog post about reusable plastic. In turn, this niche yet trendy topic will resonate with your audience, as well as capture the interest of other modern consumers. Publish frequently: Another strategy when blogging for business is to post frequently. Companies that blog more often get more site visitors, according to data. Posting on a regular basis also gives you the opportunity to add fresh content to your blog. With an editorial calendar, you’ll be able to organize and schedule all your posts, and track your progress along the way. There’s nothing more satisfying than building a blog repertoire from scratch and then watching it grow alongside your business. 02. Lead conversions Once you bring some traffic to your website, you should start to think about how to convert this traffic into leads. You can do this using lead magnets, which are free offers - such as a downloadable ebook, webinar or coupon codes - that people can get in return for leaving their details. When people can submit their email addresses in exchange for these offers, they are showing an interest in your business and demonstrating their readiness to make a purchase down the line. That means you’ll be able to bring them into your sales funnel and target them with additional marketing materials. Each time you set out to write a new blog post, consider how your business blog can move the needle and convert more readers into paying customers. Set SMART goals for your content (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound) in order to create clear and tangible objectives that get results. For example, say you’re creating a blog post to generate more leads for your new product or service. You can measure whether you’re achieving the goal of your post (in this case, to initiate consumer interest) by looking at social shares or traffic for that article. To chart your progress, set a timeline for how long it takes for the post to get shares or clicks. 03. Build trust in client relationships When you start a blog, you’re also creating the best conditions for existing and potential clients alike to connect with you on a deeper level. That’s because a blog lets you communicate directly with your audience. Whether it's in your comments section or social media posts, it’s important to find new spaces to start dialogue with people around your brand and show that they can trust you. Through the power of blogging, customers get to learn about the person behind the business. This level of intimacy helps improve sales, since people are more inclined to buy from someone they trust over the unfamiliar. Frequent posting of high quality content also builds trust, since it becomes a reliable source of value for your readers. Once you’ve used business blogging to establish strong customer relationships, you’ll need to maintain it. Reply to any comments or questions people leave on your blog, without making them wait too long for your attention. Second, listen to your blog readers to understand their wants and needs. You can follow up with your subscribers by sending them personalized emails or questionnaires to get much-needed feedback. 04. Establish yourself as an industry leader Your audience will be able to develop a deeper bond with your business as you prove yourself to be an expert in your industry. How does this happen? Through the knowledge you share on your blog and the specialized topics you’re able to tackle in your blog articles. Business blogging lets you write content that’s informative, valuable and exudes an air of expertise. That’s because it’s the section on your site where you can give people a first hand look at what your business is about. You’ll be able to assert yourself as an authority figure in the field by publishing stats, sharing in-house research, creating helpful infographics, or offering commentary on industry news. 05. Increase brand awareness Building brand recognition can help you attract customers, gain credibility and expand your business. This will also make it easier for you to charge more for your product or service and bring in potential business partners. Major companies are prioritizing smartly written content more than ever before. At the same time, these blog posts bestow invaluable knowledge to the community. 06. Amp up your email list Business owners can use their blog to grow their email list, get more subscribers and eventually lead impactful email marketing campaigns that make a difference. Let’s dive into a few ways you can collect emails when blogging for business. Create an opt-in form that encourages people to sign up for your mailing list. Opt-in forms are usually presented as pop-up forms on the homepage, dedicated landing pages and built-in widgets on the sidebars. Once people subscribe, they will automatically get added to your contact list. Make sure to use enticing messages such as “Want more content like this?” and “Tips recommended for you, delivered to your inbox.” Add a sticky bar instead of an opt-in form. A sticky bar stays in place at the top of your page and is always in view for readers to see as they scroll through your blog. Include a Subscribe button on your sticky bar that people can click on whenever they feel ready to commit. Give incentives to provide a tangible benefit of signing up for your blog. You can greet your newcomers with an interesting proposal. If they sign up to the blog, they will receive 10% off their first order and other exclusive offers. 07. Create new opportunities Networking and pairing up with influencers and makers in your industry is another important benefit of business blogging. This collaboration can widen your reach and bring in a larger audience for your brand. Invite influencers to test your product or service and review your company in a blog post.

A domain name is, unquestionably, one of the most crucial elements of any website - nay, the internet. This seemingly small part of the world wide web is actually the reason you’re able to visit your favorite online stores and blogs. Without it, browsing the net would feel a lot more like algebra class and building an online presence would be a nearly impossible feat. Speaking of, if you’re planning on building any sort of online presence - whether it’s to open an eCommerce business or to display your work for potential employees to hire you - then getting familiar with the ins and outs of domain names is an absolute must. Not only will your domain name impact how likely people are to find your website, it will also play a massive role in how they perceive you from the get-go, even before they see what you have to offer. And as they say, you only get one chance to make a first impression. Because of all of this - and a lot more you’ll discover soon - you should take the time to learn what is a domain name and how does it work. In this thorough guide you’ll learn the basics of domains and their role in the internet network, as well as the best practices to find and register the perfect domain name for your website. What is a Domain Name ? A domain name is the address people type into a browser in order to reach a site. Much like a fingerprint, each domain name is unique to a specific website and cannot be shared or duplicated with other web pages. If you look at the very top of this page, you’ll see that the domain name of this website is wix.com. Domains were created as a human-friendly way to access the Internet Protocol (IP), which represents a website’s online locator. An IP address is a string of numbers assigned to every computer, consisting of four decimal numbers ranging from 0 to 255 separated by periods. While these seemingly random series of numbers are great for computers, it’s much easier for humans to use words they can remember. And similar to saving a number on your phone, domain names allow us to save 172.217.3.196 as google.com All domain name registrations are overseen by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which allocates and assigns IP addresses, runs accreditation systems for domain registrars and keeps a centralized database of all domain names and their IPs. As we’ll see in more detail later in this guide, the ICANN also has the authority to approve new domain extensions (also known as TLDs), manage them and shut them down if they don’t follow the determined rules. It’s important to keep in mind that, while domain names are commonly referred to as URL (Universal Resource Locator) or web address, they’re actually just a part of it (albeit a crucial one). The basic form of a domain name consists of two elements: name and extension. However, if you take a look at your browser’s address bar you’ll notice there are a lot more parts to it, all of which come together to make up this page’s web address. How Do Domains Work ? The internet is a massive worldwide network of computers connected to each other through a global submarine grid of cables. Each of these computers, regardless of whether they operate as personal devices or servers, is identified by an IP address that allows them to communicate with each other in order to send, find and retrieve web data. As we saw in the previous section, domain names are simply user-friendly versions of these IP addresses, connected to specific websites. In order for computers to be able to find the right web pages, however, the seemingly-random word strings have to be converted back to numbers. This is where the domain name system comes in. Also known simply as DNS, the domain name system translates any domain name entered in a browser into a computer-readable IP. The system is overseen by ICANN, and is commonly compared to old-school phone books where you would search for anyone’s name in order to find their number. If you’re too young to understand that reference, think of it as a smartphone contact list that contains numbers you’ve never interacted with. When you enter a domain name into a web browser, a request is sent to DNS servers who search for the name servers connected to that specific domain and forward your request to them. These name servers are managed by the web hosting provider, and after finding the relevant IP, they will send the request to the web server where the website files are stored. The web server uses the IP to find all files associated with it and send all the data back to the browser. All of which happens in under 3 seconds. The Difference between Domain and Hosting To create a website you need both a domain name and web hosting. Because of their codependent nature and the fact that - more often than not - they’re provided by the same company, there is often a lot of confusion around the purpose of each of them and how they relate to each other. The easiest way to understand what is web hosting and how it differs from a domain name is to imagine your website as an apartment complex, where each apartment is a different page of your site. For this building to exist, you’ll first need a piece of land to construct it on. On the internet, the land upon which you build your website is known as web hosting. All the files and data that make up your site - think of them as the foundations of the apartment complex - are stored on web servers that send them out to people who visit your site. In order for people to be able to visit your site, however, they’ll need to know where to find it. Like we saw early on in this guide, you could technically just share your site’s IP with them and call it a day. Then again, we could technically just share geographic coordinates instead of giving names and numbers to every street and building. As you might have already guessed, domain names serve as the address of your metaphorical apartment complex. If you want to take it one step further and direct visitors to a specific page of your site, you simply need to add a path after your domain name. Having something like “/blog” is the online address equivalent to adding an apartment number to your physical address. And, of course, the street people take to visit your virtual apartment complex represents the internet. Different Types of Domains The DNS uses an inverted-tree hierarchical structure to manage its distributed database system. On this structure, a dot serves as the root domain and sits at the top of the framework. Below the dot, the domain name space is divided into different levels depending on their position in reference from the root domain. This results in different types of domains, all of which serve a different purpose: Top-level domains (TLD) Second-level domains (SLD) Third-level domains Top-level domains (TLD) A top-level domain, generally referred to as TLD or domain extension, is the rightmost segment of a domain name, located after the last dot and serves to recognize certain characteristics of a website address such as location and purpose. There are currently 1,503 TLDs available for registration, the majority of which have been added in the last decade, distributed across several types of TLDs. Let’s take a look at the most popular categorizations: Generic top-level domains (gTLD) Commonly known simply as gTLDs, generic top-level domains are made of three or more characters and are open for registration by anyone. gTLDs account for the vast majority of domain extension options, with more than a thousand added in recent years through ICANN’s New gTLDs program. Available options range from the traditional .org, .com and .net to rising options such as .icu, .app and .wyz. Sponsored top-level domains (sTLD) As the name implies, sponsored top-level domains are those supported and supervised by private organizations. There is a small limited number of sTLDs available, and all registrations must be approved by the agencies or businesses in charge of them and comply with a series of predefined community theme concepts. Country Code top-level domains (ccTLD) There are 312 country code top-level domains established for specific countries or territories, identifying them with a two-letter string. While country code top-level domains were originally intended for business and individuals operating in specific geographical areas, there is also a significant number of website owners who register ccTLDs for branding purposes or to take advantage of certain benefits. This is the case with extensions such as .ai (Anguilla), which is particularly popular within companies in the artificial intelligence industry, and .gg (Bailiwick of Guernsey), which has seen a significant popularity rise in the gaming sphere The most remarkable case, however, is that of Tokelau’s .tk domain extension. This small New Zealand-owned territory allows individuals and businesses to register any number of domain names for free, and for years has held the title of largest ccTLD and second-largest TLD overall. While it looks like China may finally get ahead of the small oceanic island, according to Verisign's latest report, as you can see on the graph below .tk still has nearly 10 million registered domain names more than the next domain extension on the ranking. Second-level domains (SLDs) A second-level domain, also known simply as SLD, is the part of a domain name that comes before the top-level domain. SLDs generally refer to the custom section of a domain name, meaning the words you come up with to represent your brand and website with. For example, in www.infosites.biz “infosites” is the second-level domain. In some cases, SLDs may be considered part of the domain extension, as registries use them to indicate a specific use of a TLD. This is especially common on sites using ccTLDs, as second-level domains are used to signal the type of site within a region. Depending on the domain registries these SLDs might match gTLDs or use a slight variation or adaptation of them. For example, commercial websites in Spain may be registered with the domain extension .com.es whereas in the UK they appear as .co.uk. Likewise, in these same countries academic institutions may be registered under .edu.es and .ac.uk respectively. Third-level domains Third-level domains appear immediately to the left of a second-level domain. In the majority of cases, where domains have only three levels, they’re commonly known as subdomains. A subdomain is a prefix added to a domain name in order to create stand-alone sites. This helps to manage extensive areas that require their own hierarchy, such as an online store or a blog. In certain cases, third-level domains are offered as a free domain name that allows you to publish a site at zero cost. For example, when you build a website, the format of your free site’s URL will include your user name as a subdomain, resulting in username.xxxsite.com/siteaddress. After purchasing your own domain name, you’ll be able to create your own subdomains and connect them to the relevant areas of your site. It’s important to keep in mind that, while third-level domains are usually the same as subdomains, this might not always be the case. As we saw with second-level domains, certain TLDs can have multiple nodes and result in longer domain names with a higher number of levels. For example, you might encounter four-level domains such as news.bbc.co.uk, or even five-level domains like www.village.fairport.ny.us. While there is virtually no limitation as to how many levels a domain can have, a single domain name with more than four levels is considered quite a rare sight. How to choose a domain name According to Verisign’s latest industry report, there are 366 million domain names registered across all top-level domains, with thousands more registered every day. Not only does this mean the best ones are already taken, it also puts a countdown timer on how long you have before all your ideas are claimed by someone else. In order to find a domain name that perfectly represents your brand or concept and is not taken yet, you’ll need a combination of creativity, SEO knowledge, foresight, luck and extensive knowledge on best practices to follow.

Even though the app is the most popular global mobile messaging service, WhatsApp commonly isn't known as a tool for businesses. For instance, just over 7% of marketers use WhatsApp for business. However, while on the surface it may seem like WhatsApp is just another messaging service, there are tools built in the app that are great for maintaining strong customer relationships and cultivating lead generation. What is WhatsApp? WhatsApp is a free mobile messaging app that allows users to communicate with friends and family. WhatsApp is used for group messaging, calls, and multimedia sharing, regardless of mobile device type. The app also allows for international communication between users. To use WhatsApp, you have to download the app on your phone, or scan the QR code from a computer with your phone's camera. The app is available for desktop, but you need a phone in order to sign up. WhatsApp for Marketing If you want to remind your customers about promotions, offer accessible customer service options, or increase visibility, WhatsApp is a perfect tool for you. And, with the addition of WhatsApp Business, it's now easier than ever to build positive customer relationships. With WhatsApp Business, you'll be able to offer personal customer support to your audience with automated messages and chatbot-like capabilities. So, if you're launching a new product, WhatsApp can automatically send the messages you've created to the customers you select. Think of selecting customers being synonymous with audience segmentation — which you can do in the app using a broadcast list. Additionally, if you have a global audience or customer base, you'll find it easy and cost-effective to connect with your international customers, since WhatsApp doesn't charge a fee for international communication. This helps you strengthen customer relationships abroad, and allows for quick-problem solving. Next, we'll show you how you can use the tools provided in WhatsApp Business to make an effective WhatsApp marketing campaign. How to Create a WhatsApp Business Profile Making a WhatsApp Business account is easy, especially if you have the app already downloaded. If not, head over to your local mobile app store and type in "WhatsApp Business." If you've already set up an account, the app will connect your account to a Business profile. Next, accept the Terms and Conditions, and enter a phone number. (If you want to refrain from using your personal number, this is something you can change letter in Settings). And then, you're all set! You can make your Business account look polished and professional from here. You can also begin to explore some of the business-specific functions available to you, like contact labels and short links. Let's talk about some of the features you'll have to work with in WhatsApp Business. First, you can list your company's contact information, such as email, address, and website link, in the "Business Profile" section, accessed by clicking "Business Settings". If you've ever seen a Facebook or Google Business profile, they're very similar. Your WhatsApp Business profile will be a quick view of your company. How to Use WhatsApp for Business 1. Improve your business's visibility. Similar to Facebook, WhatsApp allows businesses to have a Business page on the app. Your profile will offer important information for customers, such as location, description, website, and contact details. 2. Lessen the response time. When you use WhatsApp Business, you can engage with customers directly. You can also automate messages using a chatbot, so your audiences can have their questions answered quickly. 3. Organize your duties. WhatsApp offers different options for organization. First, you can organize your contacts using their label system. If you can integrate WhatsApp with your CRM, you won't have to manually add contacts into the WhatsApp account. The two platforms will work together to import contact information onto your business dashboard.

Phishing attacks are one of the most common security challenges that both individuals and companies face in keeping their information secure. Whether it's getting access to passwords, credit cards, or other sensitive information, hackers are using email, social media, phone calls, and any form of communication they can to steal valuable data. Businesses, of course, are a particularly worthwhile target. There are various phishing techniques used by attackers: Embedding a link in an email that redirects your employee to an un-secure website that requests sensitive information Installing a Trojan via a malicious email attachment or ad which will allow the intruder to exploit loopholes and obtain sensitive information Spoofing the sender address in an email to appear as a reputable source and request sensitive information Attempting to obtain company information over the phone by impersonating a known company vendor or IT department Here are a few steps a company can take to protect itself against phishing: Educate your employees and conduct training sessions with mock phishing scenarios. Deploy a SPAM filter that detects viruses, blank senders, etc. Keep all systems current with the latest security patches and updates. Install an antivirus solution, schedule signature updates, and monitor the antivirus status on all equipment. Develop a security policy that includes but isn't limited to password expiration and complexity. Deploy a web filter to block malicious websites. Encrypt all sensitive company information. Convert HTML email into text only email messages or disable HTML email messages. Require encryption for employees that are telecommuting. What is Spoofing ? A simple definition of spoofing is that it’s when an attacker attempts to disguise their attack as something else—imitating or “spoofing” a piece of information to trick the target. Spoofing can be applied to all kinds of information and data. Examples of data that an attacker might spoof include: Email addresses Phone numbers Hypertext links (especially shortened URLs) IP addresses (on data packets to trick rudimentary firewall inspection) User names Domain Name System (DNS) identifiers Basically, anything and everything that is used to authenticate the identity of a person or device could be spoofed by an attacker in an effort to trick their targets. How Spoofing Works ? The level of sophistication involved in a spoofing attack varies depending on what’s being spoofed and the nature of the attack. For example, a spoofing attempt can be as simple as creating a fake email address that’s just one letter or piece of punctuation off from someone else’s email to trick the recipient into thinking it’s from someone they know. On the other hand, it can involve complicated tools and tricks to rewrite information so that a computer firewall might recognize a data packet filled with malware as a safe file download. In the case of the email example, the spoofing activity is part of a phishing attack—a type of social attack designed to trick people into taking an action based on what they believe to be a legitimate communication. Spoofing can be broken down into many different forms. Here are some more detailed examples of spoofing and how you can be targeted: Email Spoofing. The goal for attackers when spoofing an email is to curate a scenario within the contents of the email to increase its likelihood of interaction. The spoofing aims to build trust so that the recipient believes it is coming from a known source or legitimate source. Users will be more prone to click on or download malicious email/file attachments. These emails typically request the recipient to enter personal information as in forms of ID, login credentials, physical address, or a credit card number. Additionally, users who interact with spoofed emails are more likely to grant the attacker a network foothold via droppers and persistent mechanisms living in memory. Caller ID Spoofing. Many robot dialers and phone-based scams now use tools to disguise their phone numbers on caller ID systems. Using this equipment, scammers can make their out-of-state phone number look like it comes from a local area code, or from an organization that their target knows and trusts. This form of spoofing helps scammers get around caller ID-based blocking. Website Spoofing. Some attackers build fake web pages or even entire fake websites that copy the look of a legitimate site. These fake sites are often full of download links for malware designed to compromise the unsuspecting victim’s computer/smartphone. Otherwise, these sites may try to trick people into surrendering sensitive information, such as credit card numbers, social security numbers, or user account information. IP Spoofing/IP Address Spoofing. This is when an attacker disguises their IP address to mask their identity from firewalls. This helps to hide the origin point of an attack while allowing it to slip past IP-based firewall filters. DNS Spoofing. Spoofing the domain name system allows attackers to redirect URLs and email addresses to different IP addresses. This can be used as part of a social attack carried out via email or other channels to redirect unsuspecting targets to a spoofed website. What is Spam ? Spam is another word for junk mail – those emails that you didn’t ask to get, and don’t want to get. You’ll have seen them when you log on – adverts for dubious medical products, dating sites, lotteries and the like. The term is officially recognized in the Oxford Dictionary, who capture the ‘irrelevant’ and ‘unsolicited’ elements of spam, which often go to large groups of recipients. Spam also comprises a range of categories such as phishing, advertising, malware spreading and so forth. Phishing spam emails attempt to get personal information from users by pretending to be from legitimate and trusted sources such as banks. This information is then used for fraudulent purposes. Malware is software designed to damage your device – releasing viruses that corrupt it or steal private data. While spam emails are harmless but annoying, phishing emails are dangerous. How Span can be Avoided ? Firstly, check if it is actually spam. You may have signed up to a newsletter or website via a deal or competition, and not realized that you were agreeing to further contact as a result. In this case, hit the unsubscribe link within the email and you should be removed from the mailing list. If you receive an email that looks entirely like junk, select the ‘junk’ button in your email provider and opt to have it deleted and reported as spam. Then, follow these good practice tips going forwards: Think twice before signing up to websites and read the terms and conditions on all web forms. Select or deselect marketing contact boxes as appropriate. Use the unsubscribe link at the bottom of marketing emails to be removed from distribution lists. Just delete your account from websites or services that you don’t use, or that you can’t remember signing up to in the first place. This site has plenty of information on how you can close down a range of accounts. Never be tempted to reply to spam. This will confirm your email address to a spammer who has guessed at it. Instead, block the sender in your email account. Never click any links in a suspicious looking email or you could find yourself being phished. Remember, financial institutions will never send you an email with a link to click. If you are unsure of the legitimacy of an email, go directly to the account or website to log-in – don’t click into the body of the email. Have an email address that you use simply for signing up for services and websites. Install security software and regularly update your passwords, making sure they are secure. Google provides information on how to make passwords as strong as possible. See if your email provider provides any security software. Most commercial email systems will. Hit the ‘spam’ button on any rogue email that you receive to divert it into the spam folder in your email account. You can keep an eye on it to check that nothing legitimate goes through. You can also use the ‘block’ option to get rid of it completely. Use our dedicated spam filtering software to ensure you never ever see those unsolicited emails. www.infosites.biz infosites@yahoo.com November 2020

Streamlined apps From full-height sidebars to refreshed toolbars, a clean new app design makes sure your content is always front and center. Refreshed Dock A sleek design update makes getting to your favorite apps even easier. And a new uniform shape for app icons adds consistency while letting the personality of Mac shine through. Control Center for Mac Instantly access the controls you use most — like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth — and new controls to play music and enable Dark Mode for your display. Designed just for Mac, the new Control Center lets you add controls and drag favorites to the menu bar to customize it just for you. Notification Center A new design combines notifications and widgets in a single view for more information at a glance. Notifications are now grouped by app, and many are interactive — letting you do things like play new podcast episodes or learn more about Calendar invitations. And redesigned widgets come in three different sizes, so you can create the best view for you. www.infosites.biz infosites@yahoo.com November 2020

Let's start with some basic information about Youtube. Given that 300 hours of video are uploaded every single minute to the platform, but it may not seem as easy as it was to learn how to create a website. Start with the basics The first thing you’ll need to do is actually create your business channel, and YouTube makes it incredibly easy to do. With just a couple of clicks, you’ll be ready to dive into setting up your new channel. Sign into YouTube and click on the user icon at the top right of the screen Click on the gear icon to get to your account’s YouTube Settings Click on Create a new channel Then choose “Use a business or other name” Add your Brand name and click create Fill in the about section If you're wondering how to start a YouTube channel that draws attention to your brand, the next step is to fill out your profile and channel description. This is the first option you see after you have created a channel. Here, you should describe your brand and what viewers can expect to see on your channel. This is also a great place to add links to your website and other social media networks that you use. This description will appear in more than one place on your channel, so be sure to put your best foot forward when filling it out! Channel your art When you go to a YouTube channel, you’ll immediately be greeted with a large banner displaying the channel name. This is your cover photo and is prime real estate for introducing your brand. You can make your cover photo as extravagant or minimal as you’d like, but just make sure that your brand is the focal point, as it’s going to be the first impression someone gets upon entering. Luckily, there are a great assortment of tools to get you started if you don’t happen to be a seasoned graphic designer. Friendly reminder: YouTube recommends uploading your cover photo at 2560 x 1440 pixels with a maximum file size of 4MB. Know your market, know your content type Since you’re starting a YouTube channel for your own business, you should have more than enough source material to work with, and you can approach your video content in more than one way. If you have a complex product and want to empower your customers to learn more about it, video tutorials might be a great avenue for you. Want to show off great reviews from your customers? Testimonials may be the way to go. Even better, do both! This way, your channel has a variety of content to consume, which can resonate with different viewers. You should also create content that’s aimed at your target demographic of your business. This is a powerful inbound marketing technique that draws customers toward your brand. The more that you cater to your target market, the more likely they will want to look into your business services. Lights, camera, trailer! Like your channel art, you’ll also want to create your channel trailer. Channel trailers are usually short and sweet, and are a good introduction for new visitors. You can let your audience know who you are, what your business is all about and what kind of content they can expect to see in the future. Creating your channel trailer will also be good practice leading up to your first video. Upload your first (official) video At this point, you’ve probably done a fair amount of research about your first video, and if you already have your channel trailer under your belt, you have a bit of practice as well! Now it’s time to take and say “action.” Once you’re done filming and editing your first video, it’s time to upload it. Given that YouTube relies on video uploads, you’ll find the upload option at the top right of the screen when you log into your account. Optimize for search When uploading a video, you’ll be asked to fill in a title, description, and tags. These are essential components to have your video easily discoverable in YouTube search, so don’t skimp on them! Much like SEO for your own website, YouTube has its own set of parameters for you to optimize your video for search. Fill these sections out to the best of your ability using keywords to describe the video and your business. A keyword-rich (but not heavy) title and description can go a long way and you’ll be able to see what works for your videos as you progress. If your video is well optimized for YouTube itself, this can extend to search engines as well. As a Google-owned product, YouTube has tight integration with the search giant. If you play your cards right, you’ll find your videos ranking high on both YouTube and Google. Integrate your channel in your website and social You have a website and now a YouTube channel. Great! Now it’s time to share your videos outside of YouTube and your website should be their first stop. Here are a couple of ways to showcase your videos on your website. # Front and center: Your videos take time and effort to create, so why not show them off? You can add your YouTube video to the home page on your website so it’s one of the first things that a visitor will see! # Blog all about it: If you have a blog on your website, then your YouTube videos have a home away from home now. You can embed them right into new blog posts and even tell your website subscribers by sending a newsletter! infosites@yahoo.com www.infosites.biz October 2020

In this day and age, a world without the internet is unimaginable. With over 4.5 billion active users across the globe, the web has become the main hub for sharing and disseminating information - whether it’s updates about family, news in science and politics, or entertainment passed between friends. This transition to the online world has also changed the way businesses promote their products and services. Like most things, the field of marketing has come to revolve around the web - with website creation, social media and online ads largely taking the place of billboards, cold calls and print ads. In this article, we’ll dive into what digital marketing is and how we can help you use it to promote your brand. We’ll also break down the different types of digital marketing so you can learn about the specific practices that will benefit your business. What is digital marketing? Digital marketing is defined as the use of digital channels to promote a product or service. The goal of this approach is to connect with customers online - the place where they spend the most time seeking information or entertainment. Digital marketing is a broad practice, simply because there are so many online channels available. Posting on social media is a form of digital marketing, as are email marketing and blogging. Together, the promotional content on these various platforms forms a cohesive online marketing strategy. Benefits of digital marketing Every company - from large international organizations to independent brick-and-mortar stores - can gain from advertising themselves online. Here are some of the ways digital marketing can benefit your business: Building brand awareness by putting your stamp on the web Engaging prospective customers and generating leads Deepening customer relationships and building a loyal customer base Guiding customers through the marketing funnel, from the first touchpoint to the sale Types of digital marketing Digital marketing isn’t a single practice but, instead, is the sum of several elements. Some of the most common examples of digital marketing include: Search engine optimization (SEO) Content marketing Social media marketing Pay per click (PPC) Native advertising Affiliate marketing Influencer marketing Email marketing Marketing automation Online PR Mobile marketing Conversion rate optimization (CRO) While this may seem like a lot, keep in mind that you don’t need to implement each and every one of these practices. However, it’s important that you familiarize yourself with them so that you gain a better understanding of which methods should go into your own marketing strategy. 01. Search engine optimization (SEO) A foundational element of digital marketing, SEO is the practice of optimizing your website to rank higher in search engine results. When your website appears as a top result on Google and other search engines, people are more likely to click on your link, learn about your brand, and perhaps even become customers. There are three broad ways to improve your website’s SEO: On-page SEO involves optimizing the pages on your website by conducting keyword research. When you incorporate strategic keywords throughout your site, you can rank high on search engine results pages and guide customers through the sales funnel with relevant, authoritative content. Off-page SEO is about improving your SEO by looking at pages external to your website. Inbound links to your website - known as backlinks - are a critical component of off page SEO. Networking with publishers, writing guest posts, and providing information-rich content on your blog can help improve your off-page SEO. Technical SEO deals with the backend elements of your website such as coding, structured data, image compression and more. Optimizing these elements can make it easier for search engines to “read” your site and improve your page speed. 02. Content marketing Closely tied to SEO, content marketing is also a core component of digital marketing. This involves creating and promoting content with the goals of building brand awareness, increasing traffic to your website, generating leads and converting customers. The content you create can take many forms: Blog posts: Starting a blog - and using strategic, long tail keywords in your articles - is a great way to bring traffic to your site and engage your customers. E-books and white papers: Adding in-depth, long-form content to your website establishes your expertise in the industry and builds trust among your audience. You can also offer this content for download in exchange for your readers’ contact information, helping you generate leads. Videos: Website content doesn’t need to be in written form. Adding videos to your website is an engaging way to provide valuable information to your audience. Infographics: Another form of visual content, infographics are a fun, helpful way to make information easier for readers to conceptualize. Complex explanations and statistics are particularly well-suited to this content format. Podcasts: This audible content format is a useful way to strengthen your connection with your audience and build a loyal community around your brand. To start a podcast, try repurposing existing website content, such as blog posts, and adapting it for audio. Webinars: A merging of “web” and “seminar,” webinars further engage your audience, establish your authority, and delight customers with the extra value they provide. 03. Social media marketing Another cornerstone of a strong digital marketing strategy is social media marketing. This involves promoting your brand on social channels in order to increase brand awareness, drive traffic to your website, and capture leads. You can do this by creating posts on popular social media channels such as: Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube Pinterest LinkedIn Your posts can include anything from insightful blog articles to videos of your product in action. Choose channels on which your audience is most active; often, this is a factor of their demographics, such as age and location, as well as their interests. 04. Pay per click (PPC) Some digital marketing methods, such as blogging, SEO, and social media posting are organic - meaning that they draw traffic “naturally” to your business rather than requiring that you spend money directly. Other practices, however, come with a price tag. PPC, an acronym for pay per click, is a particularly powerful form of paid online advertising. Like SEO, PPC is a type of search engine marketing, or SEM. If you’re familiar with posts labeled “Ad” at the top and bottom of Google search results pages, you’ve already seen PPC in action. By this model, advertisers pay a fee every time their link is clicked. As with other forms of digital marketing, the goal of PPC is to drive traffic to a website in order to generate leads and make sales. Generally, PPC is used on either search engines or social media platforms: Google: Search engine marketing PPC is most commonly associated with Google Ads. Take a look at this article to learn how to advertise on Google. Facebook: You can further use the pay per click model to advertise on Facebook. Creating paid Facebook posts helps you expand your reach, exposing your content to people who don’t follow you. LinkedIn: You can also do PPC on LinkedIn, helping you get in front of professional audiences. Twitter: Likewise, you can use Twitter Ads to target your relevant audience and expand your reach. 05. Native advertising Native advertising, too, is a popular online marketing model. In contrast to large pop-ups and other intrusive ads, native ads match the format and tone of the platform on which they appear. Native ads often appear on websites, and they display content that “blends in” with surrounding articles or blog posts. For example, they might appear as a video embedded within a blog post, or as recommended reading at the bottom of the page. The goal of native advertising is to guide users to click on content that will take them to your company’s page. If the advertised content is unobtrusive and highly relevant to the material at hand, users may be more enticed to click. 06. Affiliate marketing Affiliate marketing is a digital marketing practice in which one party, such as an influencer or a brand, receives a commission for promoting someone else’s products or services. For businesses, this practice is beneficial because it allows them to reach that party’s followers. By the affiliate marketing model, a company provides that party (called the affiliate) with a special link, usually leading to a page to purchase their product. The affiliate, in turn, will post about that product (usually on their blog or social media pages), promoting the given link in their content. When users click on that link and buy, it’s a win-win for both the brand and the affiliate: the company makes a sale, and the affiliate earns a commission on that sale. Brands can connect with affiliates using platforms such as ShareASale or CJ Affiliate, or by reaching out to influencers directly. 07. Influencer marketing This practice is similar to affiliate marketing in that it involves another person promoting your brand, typically on social media or within their blog. Unlike affiliates, however, influencers get paid by the company simply for the promotion - regardless of whether people actually purchase the product. Influencer marketing is effective because it helps brands reach a particular influencer’s fanbase. When that influencer is trusted among their followers, they have the power to sway their fans’ purchasing decisions by recommending a product. On the business side, the key to a successful partnership is to choose influencers whose audience matches your target market. For example, a company selling athletic wear would benefit most from collaborating with a well-known athlete. Likewise, a business selling cosmetics would be wise to seek out a collaboration with a beauty influencer. 08. Email marketing You’ve almost certainly experienced email marketing in some form - in fact, you probably have branded emails sitting in your inbox right now. This popular digital marketing strategy involves communicating with your target audience via email with the goals of improving engagement, promoting products and driving conversions and sales. Broadly speaking, there are four different types of marketing emails you can send to prospects and customers: Email campaigns promote products, provide special offers or coupons, or encourage people to sign up for a product or service. Email newsletters are sent on a consistent basis to provide subscribers with regular updates, such as new blog posts, industry news or upcoming events. Automated marketing emails are sent automatically based on predefined triggers, and they include welcome emails, birthday emails and reminder emails. Automated transactional emails include automatic order confirmations, shipping updates and appointment reminders. You can use our Email Marketing Services to set up email campaigns, newsletters and automations for your business. This platform is particularly effective because it tracks statistics on email opens, views and clicks, giving you insight into your business’s performance. It also allows you to customize the design of your emails so that they match the look and feel of your brand. 09. Marketing automation Speaking of automated emails - they are examples of a broader digital marketing practice called marketing automation. As the name suggests, this involves the automation of basic marketing tasks. The idea behind this practice is to streamline repetitive tasks that would otherwise be done manually, such as transactional emails, data analysis and more. Some tasks that benefit from automation include: Thank you, confirmation and welcome emails Social media post scheduling Live chat Data analytics Marketing automation is a critical way to build relationships with your customers while sustaining an organized and productive workflow. 10. Online public relations (PR) Online PR is the practice of obtaining coverage from online publications and blogs. This tends to require outreach to reporters and editors at relevant publications, which you can do through LinkedIn or Twitter. PR also involves monitoring your brand’s reputation on the web overall. For example, you’ll need to engage with comments on your blog and social media posts, as well as respond to online reviews of your company. 11. Mobile marketing Often, converting customers through the screens of their laptops seems like the ultimate goal. It’s important, however, that we also take full advantage of a smaller - but equally important - device: the smartphone. This is especially important considering that mobile internet usage comprises more than 50% of online traffic worldwide. Mobile marketing involves adapting standard digital marketing practices to fit the mobile experience. This includes: Optimizing your mobile page speed: Google uses page speed as a ranking factor for mobile as well as desktop search. In addition, users are quick to navigate away from a site with a slow load time. To improve the speed of your mobile site, try to keep your site lightweight - for instance, avoid heavy images, and minimize redirects. Designing your website for mobile: Your site is a fundamental marketing tool that represents your brand, showcases your product or service, and persuades people to buy. As such, the way it appears on mobile plays a crucial role in whether or not your audience will convert. Creating mobile-friendly emails: Research shows that mobile accounts for nearly half of all email opens. With this in mind, it’s critical that your email campaigns are designed for the mobile screen. That means short subject lines, concise text and a clear and prominent CTA. Experimenting with in-app ads: Don’t limit your ads to websites and search engines. Advertising within relevant mobile apps is also a valuable practice that can expand your reach even further. 12. Conversion rate optimization (CRO) If we need to sum up the goals of digital marketing, we’d say it’s about bringing traffic to your site and increasing conversions. This latter component - called conversion rate optimization - requires designing your website with an understanding of the way users interact with it. To do this, you’ll need to take into account how users navigate your site, which actions they take, and what guides them toward - or prevents them from - achieving your goals. Tracking tools and analytics can provide you with quantitative data about the ways users engage with your site, helping you guide them smoothly through the sales funnel. infosites@yahoo.com www.infosites.biz October 2020

The ultimate goal of search engines is to satisfy search intent. If you’re a business owner, providing relevant information that matches your customers’ search queries helps build your online credibility. Every day, billions of users rely on search engines to carry out their daily searches. Statistics show that Google processes over 3.5 billion searches per day. To reinforce your brand and ensure your marketing success, it is crucial that you build a strong online presence. What is Search Intent? Search intent is also known as keyword or user intent. It pertains to the reason people conduct a particular online query. As marketers, understanding the psychology behind search queries is integral in establishing your brand’s online presence. Studies show that most decisions are made to either gain pleasure or remove pain. Pain and pleasure are fundamental driving forces behind every individual’s search intent. For instance, a person that needs immediate pain relief to a sore muscle might turn to Google to find the best remedy. An example of a pleasure-driven search query, on the other hand, is a user seeking out reviews of the best tourist attractions in Miami. This user is likely to search on Google the best places to visit in Miami to reward himself with a getaway or some downtime after a week’s hard work. Why Does Search Intent Matter for SEO? Search engines have gotten smarter. Search engines have shifted the focus from keyword optimization to the users’ experience. Today, it’s no longer enough to integrate keywords into your content. You need to present users with valuable information that matches and expands on their Google search query. “From backlinks to load speeds to page domain and trustworthiness,” Garrett said, “Google will use all these signals to decide whether a web page answers a user query.” Search intent optimization allows you to: •  Fulfill the needs of your target audience •  Attract sustainable, qualified leads to your site •  Keep customers on your page •  Position your company as an authority in your respective industry •  Boost your brand awareness Individuals use search engines to look for information, find a product or service or for entertainment. As a business owner, you need to zero in on these moments to appeal to the right customers. Understanding why or how online users search for certain types of information unlocks vast opportunities to enhance your optimization strategies. What are the Different Types of Search? Now that we’ve established the significance of user intent, let’s get started with the search query optimization. The first step is understanding the various types of search intent. There are three types of search queries: 1.  Informational Intent or “Know” Queries These are generic searches that aim to learn more about a particular topic. For instance, a client might search for “what is online reputation management” on Google, before hiring a company for the service. Sample keywords used in informational queries are: •  what is/are •  best ways to •  how to 2.  Navigational Intent or “Go” Queries These are searches conducted by users who already have a particular company or product in mind, but need help getting to a specific page. For example, a customer may search for “Pay-per-click marketing.” The client wants to know more about PPC services, so she goes to Google to find the web page. Sample keywords used in navigational queries are: •  business/product name •  locations near me •  direction to 3.  Transactional Intent or “Do” Queries These are queries aimed at completing a desired action, such as buying a product or subscribing to a newsletter. Examples of transactional search queries are “best coffee maker under $200” and “free online marketing guide 2020.” Sample keywords used in transactional queries are: •  buy •  get discounts on •  order Understanding How Search Algorithms Work Search engines have ranking systems designed to sort out billions of information in a split second. This system allows search engines to find and present the most relevant information to search queries. Google sorts out web pages that contain the keywords on your search. It then ranks each page based on several factors, such as keyword density, location and relevance and usability of pages to the search query. Higher ranked pages appear on the first page of search engine results pages (SERPs). This means that the best links relating to your Google search query are theoretically at the top of SERPs. But this may not always be the case. Users get different search results depending on the location, user intent and algorithm variations. Why Do Search Results Vary? Search engines have developed multiple tools to help display a wide variety of information in digestible pieces. Now, the goal of search engines is to deliver the most accurate and relevant results for each user. That is why search results are entirely personalized and intentional. Several factors influence search results. These include: •  Location — Every device connected to the Internet is assigned a unique string of numbers called an Internet Protocol (IP) address. Search engines use your IP address to provide customized search results. This is the reason your website may rank on a particular location, while it may be invisible to others. •  Search History — No matter if you’re signed in to your account or not, search engines deliver personalized search results based on your previous online activities. These include your past searches and previously clicked links. Even the device or Google account you used can affect the search results. If you log in to your account, the personalization goes even further. For instance, if you regularly visit a specific site or type in the same set of keywords, search engines will learn your habits and prioritize these sites in delivering results on your next search. •  Algorithm Changes — Google regularly updates its algorithm. Some users may be searching on a Google version where algorithm changes have taken effect. Those using a different version may see varying search results. In many cases, this can affect your site ranking and traffic. A single search can mean hundreds of different things. That is why search engines are constantly developing smarter systems to deliver more accurate and highly-relevant search results. Build a Data-Driven, User-Centric SEO Strategy Research shows that 93 percent of online experiences start with search engines. This means that ranking high on relevant search queries can build your brand’s online presence in exponential ways. Search intent optimization can help you cater to your target customers’ needs and boost your brand’s online credibility and authority. Make sure to follow these tips in optimizing for user intent: ➔  Build pages that address users’ explicit and implicit questions ➔  Make your content informative ➔  Balance detail and conciseness on your web pages and blog posts ➔  Learn from user experience using conversion rate optimization (CRO) tools and questionnaires ➔  Explore new content topics and provide relevant information ➔  Facilitate your customers’ online search by providing FAQs, table of content and precise navigation ➔  Create compelling titles and meta descriptions ➔  Provide correct, consistent information across all networks ➔  Avoid concealing information behind a login or paywall ➔  Make information accessible, simple and digestible Is Your Website Optimized for Search Intent? If you’re not implementing the best search query optimization practices yet, it’s high time that you start. Partner with a digital marketing agency that can help you build a robust connection with your target customers. Choose an SEO company that implements proven optimization strategies and positions your business in front of a broader audience scope online. At infosites.biz, we run an in-depth SEO audit and audience analysis. Doing so allows us to understand your customers’ online behavior and leverage opportunities to optimize for search intent. Let’s work together on improving your customers’ online experience. Contact us now ! infosites@yahoo.com https://www.infosites.biz October 2020

All business owners want to improve sales. Every conversion, or the desired action you want your site visitors to take, brings you one step closer to more sales. Your website might be bringing in online leads, but you need consistent revenue growth to sustain your business. The good news is that it only takes simple changes to your web design to improve your conversion rates and boost sales. In this blog, we cover the conversion rate optimization web design best practices that are far simpler than you think! Studies show that 96 percent of site visitors are not ready to buy. This means your website must lead your audience closer to the sale through its content and UX. It takes exceptional design and smooth navigation to keep your site visitors engaged. By using proven CRO techniques, you supercharge the results your website delivers. For a top-performing sales funnel, all conversion points on website pages must be supported by overarching digital marketing and search engine optimization (SEO) strategies. These are indispensable to boosting your site discoverability and tailoring your message to your target audience.You need a professional website optimized for search and conversions to become a high-converting digital asset for your business. SEO Tips to Improve Website Conversions The COVID-19 pandemic has further driven people to rely on online platforms for their needs. In a recent survey by GeekWire, 42 percent of respondents purchase groceries online at least once a week — almost double of the findings in 2018. Because of this mandatory shift in global consumer behavior, there is a growing population seeking products and services online. This mindset shift is expected to continue even after the COVID-19 pandemic — confirming that your business must stand out online. Google averages 40,000 searches every second. Without a robust SEO strategy, your website will not be visible online. This widens the gap between you and your potential customers and more sales. The following are tips to improve website conversions: •  Clean site structure and information architecture to avoid users exiting your site •  Mobile-friendly and responsive design to rank high on search engines •  Exceptional usability to keep users on your site •  Easy-to-read site design to help users understand your message •  Optimized images for increased relevance and fast downloads •  Overall web design optimized for the fastest possible site speed •  Conversion focused web design to guide your site visitor to the desired action •  These SEO techniques boost your site discoverability and bring users to your site. What Is Conversion Rate Optimization? Having a good SEO foundation supports your efforts by bringing in the organic site traffic you need to boost conversions. If your website has a lot of traffic but few conversions, you need to make changes to the web design to improve conversion rate. Conversions are the actions you want your site users to make — and this is not always making a purchase. For example, website conversions for business to business (B2B) companies would be the action of scheduling a meeting with a sales representative. The conversion rate is the percentage of site visitors that convert. This is the crucial metric because it tells you how effective your website is in bringing qualified leads to your business. When you create a focused strategy to improve conversion rates, you’re taking a big step in boosting sales. CRO (conversion rate optimization is concerned with reducing friction in all your website elements and ensuring your digital strategy adds value to your target audience. It can be applied to your paid ad strategy but for web design, it’s focused on turning website visitors into customers. Conversion rate optimization web design means creating a sales- and conversion-centric website that looks good and effectively nudges qualified leads towards a conversion on the site. How Conversion Focused Web Design Improves Your Sales The concepts you first need to understand are user interface (UI) and UX. It might sound self-explanatory but without a complete understanding of it, you’re losing out on a lot of revenue potential as your site design will lack these critical conversion web design elements. Put simply, UI involves the look and function of your website, while UX is the overall journey of your site visitors. When you optimize your site’s UI and UX through innovative design and intuitive navigation, you boost your site visitors’ willingness to engage — increasing your chances of website conversions. Make sure your site hits all the marks for these two critical site elements: 1.  Design 2.  Navigation Conversion Rate Optimization Best Practices For Web Design 1. Have A Clear Call-To-Action (CTA) button 2. Include Simple Contact Forms 3. Prioritize Your Homepage 4. Monitor Mobile-Responsiveness 5. Maintain Fast Page Load Speeds 6. Use White Space 7. Showcase Trust Symbols 8. Continuous A/B Testing Infosites.Biz has the conversion rate optimization expertise to boost your sales performance. We will redesign your site to become a high-converting digital asset. As a full-service agency with over 15 years of digital marketing and web design experience, we take a holistic approach to drive your business growth. With our proven CRO techniques, your business optimizes your website performance from day one. Contact us today to learn how you can improve your sales through expert web design. www.infosites.biz infosites@yahoo.com September 2020

Uncertainty is rising in numerous parts of the world. With an increased focus on rebuilding the global economy and boosting consumer confidence, your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts must stay on track to set your business up for success. SEO is indispensable to digital marketing. While many advertising techniques have emerged throughout the years, SEO remains one of the most cost-effective digital marketing solutions that bring targeted results and long-term profitability. Over the past years, the global market has transitioned from a synchronized growth to a widespread slowdown. Recent events have brought about changes in the business landscape, including disrupted supply chains, reduced business investments and slow productivity growth. As companies continue to take measures to stay afloat, SEO cost and relevance become a talking point in the marketing industry. What you need to know about Search Optimization Costs SEO pricing varies depending on several factors, including a digital marketing agency’s years of experience, terms and conditions, project demands, budget constraints and package inclusions. Besides these factors, one of the most critical considerations in determining SEO services cost is marketplace dynamics. How competitive is your niche market? What are the demands and requirements in your target locations? How does your business fare in your industry? The average SEO cost can vary dramatically from business to business and based on the amount of traffic available in a particular niche market. For instance, a website tune-up for a law firm in the suburbs may get the site to the top of local search rankings. Meanwhile, the same optimization practice for an identical law firm in a metropolitan area may only increase its rankings slightly. This is because the amount of traffic and the level of competition differ in these two locations. Other considerations in determining the SEO cost are your site structure and existing digital presence. Is your website SEO-friendly? How much keyword-rich content does it have? What technical SEO issues does it encounter? Are your business listings consistent and accurate? Companies with little to no digital presence might be charged with higher search optimization costs than businesses with established websites. This is because older sites tend to have a robust and hard-earned backlink profile. Newly-built websites, on the other hand, require more intensive optimization efforts. How much do SEO's charge per hour If we assume that all surveyed SEOs charge the upper end of their respective pricing tier (e.g., $150, from $100-$150), and then take the average hourly rate for each subset (Agency, Freelance, Consultancy), here’s what we get: Agencies: $134.66/hour, on average. Consultancies: $122.33/hour, on average. Freelancers: $68/hour, on average. How much do SEO's charge per month (monthly retainer) 45% of respondents charge between $501 and $2,000 per month. 75.77% charge $2,000/month or less, meaning that only 24.23% command retainers of $2,001+. The above charts and conclusions are from Joshua Hardwick (head of content @ Ahrefs.) SEO is one of the best digital marketing investments you can make Economic uncertainties and global trade slowdowns have forced many businesses to make tough decisions and marketing budgets are often the first ones to get slashed. While this might seem like a reasonable move, reducing your SEO budget or halting your search optimization efforts for good could potentially cause your brand more harm than good. Statistics show that 93 percent of online experiences begin with search engines. What’s more, 81 percent of customers perform an online search before making a purchase. These numbers highlight the important role SEO plays in boosting your market presence. Let’s delve deeper. Reasons your company needs cost effective SEO services: 1.  Establish Your Brand Authority 2. Improve Your Organic Rankings 3. Acquire Valuable Leads and Traffic 4. Move Your Page Visitors to the Bottom of the Sales Funnel 5. Drive Foot Traffic to Your Physical Stores 6. Increase Your Online Engagement and Conversions 7. Cater to Changing Consumer Demands 8. Expand Your Business Reach 9. Reduce Your Marketing Expenses 10. Future-Proof Your Brand Custom SEO Solutions: Driving Positive Results and Long-Term Profitability One of the biggest advantages of working with a full-service SEO company is getting search optimization solutions that deliver positive results at an affordable SEO cost. At Infosites.Biz, we help hundreds of businesses from various industries and locations realize all of their ranking potential. With continuous search optimization and tailored online marketing strategies, we help more clients drive sustainable profitability. We can do the same for you. Move ahead of the competition with Infosites.Biz cost effective SEO services. We create custom SEO packages tailored to your budget and needs. Check with us.... www.infosites.biz infosites@yahoo.com September 2020