How do I choose the right keywords – search engine optimization (SEO)?

It begins with your headline before you start the journey of your thoughts that are put forth in the article that follows. Using right keywords will ensure that you hit the right target. Keep this in view when putting together your keyword phrases list:

What is a keyword phrase?

To begin with, it is important to understand what your business needs are and what are the primary objectives. For this, we use the right keywords so that Google pulls up your site to the front list of search items whenever a user or customer types it in the browser.

For example, as a part of your business, you want to sell a white t-shirt for ladies. To appear on the top pages of Google’s search results your content should be filled with keywords and phrases such as “buy white t-shirts for ladies”, “attractive white t-shirt for ladies”, “ladies white t-shirt prices”, etc.

Further, where the number of products and services that you offer is expansive and you have an exhaustive range then you would be looking at a wider market. You may likely target shoppers at various stages of sales such as those who are researching for some specific products, those reading reviews about products and those comparing prices of products from different sources.

You can divide them into different groups and split them into buyer type, buyer stage, product type or region. Avoid keywords that are an extension of what you have already. For example, when you have used “buy white t-shirts” it doesn’t make any sense in adding “buying white t-shirts”.

Refine your keyword list

Many businesses have the habit of assigning certain keywords each time they optimize their web pages. Often these keywords are not just about SEO but also about defining a company’s marketing campaign.

Some attributes to refine your keywords list are:

Focus on some good phrases. Keep it simple to define your products and services in the best way possible.
Avoid vanity keywords and use more specific keywords to come up in the rankings significantly.
Product attributes such as colour, style, design, and shape, etc. should be spelt out.
Unique problems that people experience which your product can solve.
Anything specific or unique to your business.

Review how competitive the keywords are

One way to figure out keywords that are worth using frequently is the words which advertisers are interested in and willing to pay for. Google AdWords allows website owners to have their ads show for specific keywords. It is a quick way to target keywords although it involves some cost.

Google AdWords Keyword Planner will give valuable feedback on keywords that you want to use in your business. You can verify the expected cost per click, i.e. the amount advertisers are willing to pay for this keyword. Where advertisers are willing to pay more than $2 in New Zealand then it becomes clear that the keyword has prominence in the market and if used can translate into sales.

It is a universal truth that advertisers don’t pay for something which doesn’t sell. And these are words which specify commercial intent which gives an indication that buyers type those keywords not for window shopping but for buying. Use highly competitive keywords for later use if you are just starting out as you need to establish in the market before taking on the big guns.

Check your current ranking

The first step begins by checking your current ranking and where you stand before you start building your website with chosen keywords. This will enable you to chart your progress in due course. It will help you also determine whether you are on the right path and whether you are getting good results.

Check your current ranking through Google search and then scan the results page by page. You can change your settings to show more than 10 results on the search homepage. Change the results set to verbatim at the top under search tools to remove personalization which tends to uplift websites that you visited previously higher up in the results. Incidentally, this is a good reason for encouraging traffic on to your website.

Periodically review your target market

Just as technology changes and customer thinking changes, over a period of time words used also change. There will be new forms, abbreviations, and thoughts which are coined in daily conversation written and verbatim. To keep abreast of this you need to be aware of the performance of your product in the market. Is it still well received? For example, “mobile-friendly” has gained popularity with the introduction of smartphones and tablets. People use hand-held devices to gather information. So you need to keep moving with the changing times.

Have in place a keyword list and keep it expanding. Put them to best use in your blogs, tags, and titles or keep it peppering on your website to draw attention. Use them also when getting links from other websites. When kicking off an SEO project or when optimizing the website, keywords have a prominent role to play.

All about Responsive Website Design

In the era of smart phones and tablets a responsive website design maintaining its unique look and feel irrespective of devices and factors such as screen size, pixel resolution, click versus touch, and many other functions that come along in your hand-held devices, is all the more vital.

So what is a responsive website and why do we need this? This is a question that is often asked not just by you but even by those top CEO’s in today’s business.

A responsive website makes your site look good on all types of devices and the demand for this is already at its peak in the market. A responsive website design method is aimed at coding a website to give the viewer of the website an optimal viewing, reading and navigating experience. It should also come with built-in features for minimal resizing, scrolling and panning across various devices including desktop PCs, laptops, tablets and mobile phones.

The design pattern of the website including the user interface (UI) should be able to adjust itself to these various devices.

Advantages of Responsive Websites over Conventional Ones

Let us now examine what responsive websites bring to the table that conventional sites don’t. There may be some who would say why the fuss about this and having one which adapts itself to the various internet devices that we see these days is no big deal. Well you are for a matter of fact mistaken and will realize this as soon as you step in to the business to market your products.

The best web designers put huge emphasis on having a responsive website for garnering good business orders and generating good enquiries. This is so because the world has to a large extent moved beyond the traditional ways of marketing and usage of devices to market their products and services and business is now done through various channels.

For example today’s smart phones in the market come up with features that are much more tech savvy than what was available in full pledged computer systems and this bridges the gap between devices, ideas and the end customer. So you are more connected with the market as well as your audience which is very important.

The various apps on smart phones such as WhatsApp, ticket booking apps, social media channels, hotspot, and so on make it all simple and easy for the public to do what they used to do through emails, browsing the internet on PCs, etc. a few years ago.

Before responsive websites became popular businesses that ventured into the field of mobile marketing had to build an additional website that could be used on mobile platforms in addition to the regular one which is used as the business website.

Getting Responsive Websites and Eliminating Problems

For those looking forward to enter the mobile marketing business, if not today but sometime in future, responsive websites are essential and to get those you need tech savvy designers and developers who can build a good responsive website for your business.

Although responsive websites may burn more holes in your pocket than the traditional ones but with the added reach of mobile marketing and peace of mind that comes the fact that your website is screened perfectly regardless of the devices that it is viewed on is an additional factor to be weighed in the scheme of things.

As the adage says, content management systems and e-commerce works well when you have responsive websites, it is definitely worth a try.

5 Things you Must know about Branding your Small Business

Branding a business and that took a small one is quite a daunting task. It is however doable with some forethought and consistency. With some tips you can establish your brand in the market and make your own space.

Knowing Your Customer: Customer is the king in the business circle and everyone in the scheme of things demand plug and play facilities. The world has moved beyond logo and designs. You need to build relationships with your customer. This is possible when you are fully aware of what they need and can you serve them on a platter. As a businessman you need to understand what they purchase, why they purchase and how they purchase. Which channels they use to peek into businesses similar to that of yours.

Zero in to your niche audience the ones who benefit the most from what you offer. Customize your brand and services to this niche segment to focus on them primarily rather than trying to create an appeal at once on several quarters. As your business grows and enter into new markets you will for sure carve out more niche sectors which will need to be tapped. When you begin marketing for your niches then you can design value propositions with each target market in mind and address their distinct needs.

Knowing Yourself: First step begins by knowing yourself and your product. What inspired you to create the business? Is there anything new that you are bringing on the table for your customers that would compel the audience to look into the product and go ahead to buy them? Your brand must sell itself. You can make it by offering the simplest solution for a common problem which ails a customer or you are offering something unique not available in the market. Whatever it may be it is that something vital that you have to offer for your potential customers. Focus on that and deliver the best, customers will make a beeline for you in the long run.

14 Reasons Why Your Small Business Needs A Blog

Communicating Effectively: As people say, “first impression is the last impression”, it is very important to get the first step right. The product may or may not be good but hallmark of good salesperson is that they turn the ordinary into extraordinary through their tongue. In the process your customer himself will start advocating your product just because he fell in love with you in the first place. So open communication always helps you in your business and the world starts taking notice of your company. Investing time and energy into fostering long-lasting relationships with your customers will pay you rich dividends in future.

Design to Impress: A well designed product sells on its own since appearance counts. The style and design of your logo, headline, catchy phrases, color, and so on must be unique, lend an aesthetic appeal and touch the heart of the masses. Such products give a surety to your customer that it won’t go wrong. This reinforces the value of your product in the mind of your customer and eventually builds the brand. You need to turn your customer into a fan of your product with the best designed e-mailers, brochures, advertisements, websites, etc.

Consistency: More often than not you know what your favourite drink tastes like, you know what the smell of the scent that you use every day, and you can make out what the phone which you ordered online looks like. This is made possible due to the familiarity and consistency of products such as these which you use regularly. In the same way it is utmost important that the product you wish to sell is known to the audience and you are consistent with it. Without consistency your product will not be recognized and profits won’t come to you. So build up on the great array of designs that you have come up with for your product and deliver them on a platter for your customer. Your research, design and message consistency determines your success besides building long-lasting and profitable relationships and the game begins with your website, the front-end of your business.

Five Cool Frontend Development Tools

Officially we are witnessing “Fourth Industrial Revolution” in front of us with technology creating an entire new generation of web applications. These are richer in content and making these demand constant changes on the front-end. Firms are in search of resources to shift gears and streamline their work and increase productivity on a day-to-day basis.

Developers spend quite some time researching for design blogs and browsing through various websites for tools to garner an easier flow for their work. The following 5 cool front-end tools could come handy for your everyday business output.

Edge Code

adobe.com/edge/code

Formerly christened as Brackets, Code has been built by Adobe Systems to enhance the capabilities of other applications, for example, Dreamweaver. Adobe Edge Code is a lightweight text editor for web developers and designers. It gels well with HTML, CSS and Java Script Code comes in-built with all functionalities of the erstwhile Brackets and additional extensions that integrate with other Adobe products such as Edge Inspect, Edge Web Fonts, and Adobe Kuler. This gives you access to a world of fonts and color palettes that you could use in your development Endeavour.

For those having Apple ID, Code comes free. It is well worth a try since it speeds up development time through display of code changes directly on screen.

Snipping Tool

Pressing print screen button and copying the image on screen is a shortcut to show someone what is on screen. This is exactly what a snipping tool does. Snipping tool is a screen shot tool. Select the area and in the editor highlight or encircle the areas for review, save them and send across or use for future reference. You can capture a free-form snip (drawing a free-form shape around an object), rectangular snip (dragging the cursor around an object to form a rectangle), window snip (selecting a browser window or dialog box that you want to capture), and full-screen snip (capture the entire home screen).

For Windows 10, open Start button and type snipping tool in the search box and select snipping tool from the list. You can after saving the snap shot email your client for further action.

Codepen.io

codepen.io

Codepen is the handiwork of CSS wizard Chris Coyier and his friends Alex Vazquez and Tim Sabat. Codepen is a social development tool for front-end designers and developers. A unique feature of the tool is that it allows users to experiment with code in the browser itself turning it into a virtual playground. Want additional features, get on to their paid account, it will be a virtual treat.

Breakpoint Tester

breakpointtester.com

To easily test the responsiveness of websites at various breakpoints when creating something responsive is a challenge. Breakpoint Tester solves this issue and helps you scan sites’ style sheets for defined breakpoints and display them tiled in your browser. Breakpoint Tester is a handy tool for getting an overall view of how a project stacks down.

Last Pass

Lastpass.com

Last Pass is your password manager and password generator that locks your passwords and personal information in a secure vault. In the process it keeps you protected. Since it keeps a track of all your account login details you are not required to remember your passwords, key them in or click on the forgot password button. They give a great way of reducing login time and managing accounts between teams. Last Pass has got safe and secure safety features and can be customized as per your needs.

Panda

http://usepanda.com/

Panda is a great chrome extension tool to stay abreast with what is going on in the design industry. You can make the most of Chrome with this extension tool. Panda can replace your default tab. Enjoy the peace and quietness of the lively news feed on the left and beautiful tiled feed on the right.

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