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Scrapbooking: Tips and Tricks for Texture

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Scrapbooking: Tips and Tricks for Texture

You love to scrapbook, and you're tired of creating flat, boring pages and bulky, heavy, textured pages. How can you have a textured, interesting page without a tremendous amount of bulk? Here are a few tricks to creating a lot of texture without a lot of bulk.

– Paper tearing. You can use multiple layers of torn patterned paper to not only create texture, but difference in the layers. Since patterned paper is reliably thin, compared to cardstock, this creates very little bulk and can make beautiful layouts.

– Chalking or inking. Using chalk or ink on the edges of paper add dimension by separating the different layers without adding a lot of distraction. You can also add a distracted effect to paper by inking or chalking it all over. Combine this technique with paper teething for an even more interesting look.

– Stamping. Creating stamped images, then uploading them to your layout with dimensional adhesive (like Zots Dots) adds a three dimensional effect to your layout without adding a lot of bulk. You can also stamp letters and punch them out to make a dimensional title.

– Paper crinkling. Wadding your paper up into a ball is not just something you do when you're going to throw it away. By wrinkling your paper, you're adding texture. You can additionally distract the paper by sanding it and then adding ink to bring out the creases.

– Paper crimping. Instead of mounting that photo on a flat piece of paper, try crimping it. Crimping tools are generally affordable, and come in many different patterns. This will allow your photo to literally stand out on the page, as crimped paper adds a three dimensional effect to your page and increases the weight minimally.

– Sewing. Adding stitch work to your layout adds a quilted, homemade feel. If you already have a sewing machine, use a separate needle to paper stitch than you do to stitch on fabric. Try adding several styles of stitch to your page to see what kind of texture and interest it adds.

– Sanding. Colored cardstock or pattern paper that is white core is a great supply to use this technique on. By sanding the paper, you're disturbing it and causing the white core to be shown. Additionally, you can ink or chalk the sanded spots to add further distracted appearance and dimension.

These are just a few techniques you can employ to add texture and variety to your page without adding a lot of bulk or weight. The best way to determine if a style is for you is to try it and see what results you can come up with. Good luck and happy scrapbooking!

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Tips & Tricks to Follow While Making Your Event Live on Social Media

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Tips & Tricks to Follow While Making Your Event Live on Social Media

We all know that picture is worth a thousand words. You can imagine what level of excitation is created by the live videos posted on different social media platforms. For business organizations, social media live streaming is of great use to get exposure in the global markets. Every brand has some of the other human value to depict. Social media marketing companies offer the tricks to efficiently streaming live videos to strengthen the brands relating their marketing and representation. There are specific ideas which you need to implement while you are making your event live on social media to get active audience engagement and a significant viewership. These tricks are mentioned below:

> Promotion before the broadcast is mandatory- Any content we post is estimated to be followed by promotion. Videos, in fact, need more promotional efforts to generate exclusion among the minds of the audience through sneak peaks. Thanks to the social media! Social networking platforms allow you to conduct social media campaigns or paid promotions through which you can create a hype of your proposed live stream. You can accurately target your potential customers or communities. You can promote your event on a daily basis creating a fresh update about it to offer it to the audience. You can quickly highlight the feature of your event through promotional posts.

> Track the metrics- One of the most beneficial aspects of using social media for business is that you can always organize the tasks and measure the performance with the help of a single tool. Many social media platforms allow you to track your output with the support of analytics which helps you keep a focus on the loopholes. You can operate more efficiently if you know your strengths and weaknesses. You can find the right set of audience for your event through such measurement methods and can focus more on them for sending invitations for your future event.

> Define the formats- While you are thinking about making your live event, finalize the time and date schedule well in advance. Take into account the trends in social media services. Think how you are going to shoot and when you are streaming it. You also need to decide the video type; for instance a product review, interview-based video, promotional video, etc. It is because, shooting techniques, camera set up and other device requirements change according to the type. Behind the scenes chat with the audience, raw footage has to be captured to sustain the informal perspective in the entire video. In whatever format you are rendering your video, you should first test run it on the proposed social media platform to verify everything is fine.

> Keep it interactive- Being live means keeping everything dynamic and active. Your video should have a communicative essence which will retain the interest of the audience. At the moment, you can speak with your audience like promos on the streets, instant feedback program, Q & A sessions, informal chats, etc. You can also host social media contests, quiz or campaigns to excite the audience about your live video. Comments, share, and likes are the ways you need to make your video viral across the world. The more your live social media presence is discussed, the more your video will keep trending.

> Strengthen your brand- Personalizing the brand is no more a new phenomenon on a social media. While individuals are interested in portraying their online presence, a personal brand is indeed more than a typeface or a color scheme. You need to define how the customers can relate to your company. While you are broadcasting a live video, you should make sure that audience can feel the closeness to the brand. With stunning visuals and most captivating message, you need to reinvigorate the trust in their minds that the brand belongs to them. Your video content has to be more realistic and genuine so that the brand value increases.

> Be responsive- As mentioned earlier, you need to make an informative video. Also, reactions and comments on your social media stream are a part of the entire process, and since you need to be active while responding to them. When you are responding to all these questions personally, it helps to create two-way conversations which eventually builds relationships. You can also address the responses live which allows creating a better audience engagement. In this way, other people can exchange their knowledge and opinions about the event. Your event becomes responsive to more strong interactions.

> Focus on your presence- The audiovisual content you are presenting through the social media live feed has to be favorable to the target audience. You have to directly connect with your audience and interact with them through a video. It should appeal the viewers so that they would like it. Remember, the way you present your brand or a product creates everlasting impact and relation with the viewers. Promotional message ha to be subtle and its utility from customers has to be detailed. You should make creative and engaging content to draw the maximum attention of the people.

Be more active on social media if you are planning for a live social stream. It is because you continue to have to explore the followers and interest groups who would like to participate in your live event to make it viral. Live streaming the videos is a popular trend across almost all major social media platforms which companies can leverage in a significant way if utilized correctly.

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Important Letters To Know - SEO

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Important Letters To Know - SEO

Anyone with a knack for sales and / or marketing, and an understanding of SEO, can tap into this lucrative field. Some companies pay generous fees or awards for quality SEO, making this a great opportunity for anyone wishing to utilize the internet to generate revenue.

In the realm of web-based business, knowledge of SEO can mean the difference between success and stagnation. SEO, which is the abbreviation for “search engine optimization”, is the art of strategically placed keywords within a website in order to increase the likelihood that search engines, such as Google, Yahoo, or Bing, will “see” the website whenever someone enter search criteria.

Search engines have become increasingly savvy to such practices as “keyword stuffing”, in which content is so inundated with keywords that it is obvious that the author is trying to force the search engines to “see” his website in a higher instance than others. Not so long ago, this would have succeeded; however, now that search engines are running “smarter”, they can recognize keyword stuffing and will completely reject sites that practice this.

This presents new challenges for website developers who may be proficient in the technical aspects of design, but lack the expertise of keyword manipulation and placement to optimize the ability of the website to be shown as a top find in search engine queries.

This has opened an absolutely new segment in all areas of internet marketing: the business of SEO reselling. Marketing gurus who are proficient in SEO are now contracting their services to web developers, in order to provide SEO that the web developers can utilize and sell to their clients.

Who Can Resell SEO?

Why Resell SEO?

SEO is not a skill that is frequently seen within the confines of website development. Companies who outsource website development and maintenance most likely have no idea what SEO is, let alone how important it is. The web developers have very likely heard of SEO and know what it is, but often lack the skills and expertise to implement SEO.

As an SEO reseller , a business contracts with persons who know and understand SEO, to provide quality search engine optimization in accordance with the specifications outlined for each need. The SEO is sold to the business who, in turn will resell to the client to the benefit of all parties concerned.

Web development companies, and businesses who resell SEO benefit from this arrangement because it is less expensive to outsource these services on an as-needed basis than it would be to employ a sales and / or marketing staff and regularly pay salaries and benefits to keep them .

Are there any Drawbacks to Reselling SEO? While the benefits are many, there can be some caveats of which to be aware when considering SEO resell.

* All parties should communicate frequently and with clarity; * All parties should do their research and make sure the companies with which they are partnering are reputable and in good standing; * All parties, before signing any binding contracts, should read the documents carefully and make sure they understand all requirements contained therein;

Is This Niche For You?

Whether you are a web developer, SEO provider, or an entity geared to resell SEO, there is every reason to believe that this segment of the internet market is here to stay and generate profit for all who wish to tap into this niche!

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Keyword Research - Most Important SEO Method

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Keyword Research - Most Important SEO Method

Keyword optimization objectives proper keyword choice and position based on comprehensive keyword research. It's likely you have an excellent site and effective programming to support your site however all these will be of no avail if you do not obtain presence within the search engines. You will not get the desired return of investment if the site does not make it to the search engines. It can be all the more frustrating if you can not get the desired traffic to your website despite spending cash on optimizing your site for the search engines by the so called top SEO companies. You may be given a report on the top search results for which your sites show up on top in the most popular search engines suddenheless what's critical at this point is having listed for the right keywords. Only when you get listed for the keywords that match your business profile will you be able to see the essential conversions otherwise anyone will only be getting stray traffic that is really not even interested in your services.

This can depress numerous website owners since they fail to see worthwhile returns on the investment. What is missing here is a good in-depth research on the right keywords and keyword phrases that will attract visitors to your website. What these site owners need is an intensive key phrase research that can very well understand their own company model and comprehend their desires and business requirements.

The benefits of researching keywords are: 1) Good quality traffic. You would get the targeted traffic that provides you more income since not all traffic is the same. 2) Increased traffic volume. By targeting the keywords that will get higher search volume or by targeting a higher quantity of key phrases you've got a potential to get more targeted traffic. 3) Much better sales and revenue. With increased quality traffic will mean an increase in sales. 4) Less competition. You could have the power to target keywords that have fewer competitors. These lower volume keywords are a great place to start while you're building towards ranking for the more competitive phrases. Before you start marketing a website it is crucial to first carry out effective keyword research. Your site's visitors, income as well as overall success depend upon it.

Here are the disadvantages of neglecting keyword research. 1) Failing to properly target keywords. You may only obtain great search engine rankings for your business name. You should not need to optimize for your business name. 2) Targeting low volume keywords. You will get very few visitors with limited room for improvement. You can also get good rankings, however it would not translate into revenue. 3) Focusing on overly competitive keywords. You can struggle to get lots of search engine traffic if you can not exceed the top ranked websites. Select your competition level. 4) Targeting low quality traffic. You may get traffic but have problems with poor conversion rates. This is why you can not manage to ignore keyword research. When you are targeting the incorrect keywords, you're losing money as well as wasting potential.

In other words choosing the perfect keywords for your website is vital at first. When you structure it on a few keywords that are not relevant with what you offer you may end up getting visitors that have no worth for your website. So defining your sites subject and the terms that you should begin optimizing for is intentionally why keyword research is essential. It can save you considerable time and avoid any mistakes by choosing the right keyword research for your website.

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Avoid These 6 SEO Myths at All Costs

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Avoid These 6 SEO Myths at All Costs

You have probably heard them all before. SEO is just a matter of doing this and tweaking that. Well, there is a little bit more to doing it right. Avoid these 6 SEO myths at all costs and you will be on the right track.

1. SEO is easy.

Maybe for the pros who do it every single day, all day long. Even then, there's a learning curve and to keep up with the curve, the learning must always continue. That said, search optimization is not necessarily a hard thing-it just requires experience, applied knowledge, and the time to make it all happen.

2. SEO is built in to my theme.

Do not believe it. While many website themes advertise their “SEO-friendship,” all this really means is that they are ready to be SEO optimized. Without taking an all-inclusive approach of optimizing the complete finished site (with all content), it's impossible to really optimize in any way. Optimizing the site code is one thing, but optimizing the entire package is another ballgame altogether. Plus, this is another good reason to avoid using theme or template-based sites.

3. SEO is just a matter of Meta-tags.

Not so. Meta-tags are relevant and do play an important role in a site's overall SEO-factor, but it's just one small small piece of the overall pie, so to speak. In 1998, optimizing Meta-tags only was a great way to get ranked highly. In 2010, it's really just an incidental factor.

4. SEO requires me to get hundreds of incoming links.

Maybe, maybe not. Having just a couple really really great backlinks is usually better than having dozens of irrelevant, low quality incoming links. The key to liking and SEO is to maintain a balanced link profile that aims for all kinds of links with all kinds of anchor text. Links need to be natural.

5. SEO is simply a matter of producing lots of content.

Having more content certainly helps … when it's well-planned and brings something of value to the visitors. But just adding lots of filler content in hopes of boosting search engine rankings is really not a very wise strategy.

6. SEO means I need to use an artificial high keyword density in my website copy.

Do not force keyword density in articles. While representing your targeted keyword phrases solidly in your copy is a good thing, there's also a fine line where being helpful crosses over to being spammy. Never focus primarily on a percentage, number, or keyword density-aim first to create really high-quality content that'll be appreciated by your visitors.

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Web Optimization - What Is SEO?

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Web Optimization - What Is SEO?

Web Optimization Is Essential To Your Success

SEO (Web Optimization) is working with your website and online marketing to make sure you have the best results from search engine searches. Knowing what terms people type in when they search for a product/ service helps you decide what words to use on your website. If you offer any type services, a quick search for SEO Words will tell you that you shouldn’t use any random keyword’ as a primary keyword as most people search for the specific/ targeted word not random. If someone searches for something specific, you want to make sure your web site comes up in the results. The more you do with SEO, the higher your site will come up in search results.

Long-tail web optimization is a more direct SEO term. Let’s see, if you going to sell children’s clothes, you would want to know for a fact that when somebody looks for something very targeted, like a “boy’s blue denim jacket size 7” your website, with that same item shows up in the search engine results. Long-tail web optimization is a little more descriptive and detailed.

SEO is bigger than just getting better search engine rankings, after going through this website, you won’t need to question “What is SEO”. Professional online marketing campaigns take a five point path: Pay Per Click, SEO, Link Building, Conversion Rate Optimization and Social Media. While it would be impossible to teach the full technique of SEO Marketing strategies in just one article, you should be able to get a rough overview by learning about the five main pillars which I will go over in the future.

Web Optimization revolves around several factors that all pertain to search engine’s mysterious algorithms. Organic web optimization is the goal of all online marketing campaigns. I will provide a list of a few of the major future-proof SEO strategies, that will definitively help the overall performance of your web site.

Web optimization is a wide approach used to rank websites higher in the search engines. It focuses around optimizing your web site for building links to your website, conversions, and making sure that your website is friendly to search engines, running a pay per click ad campaign and even establishing a social media presence. Web optimization is one of the most treasured marketing techniques, it is a long term solution that will provide a non-stop supply of conversions.

When your web site isn’t found by the search engines, business is lost which also means money is lost as well. Professional web optimization services can help you speed up your site’s relevance and, in return, elevate it higher in the rankings putting your business closer to more potential customers. With its ability to generate more targeted traffic to your website at a relatively cheap cost, SEO is an necessary component of your online marketing technique.

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Most Common SEO Misconceptions and the Truth About Them

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Most Common SEO Misconceptions and the Truth About Them

Nowadays, it is fairly common to think that it is easy to learn everything about anything just by going to the internet. But that notification might not be 100% accurate. The ease at which the information flows through the cyberspace might lead to some misconceptions and myths about any particular topic. Meaning that the fact something is published online does not necessarily mean that it is correct

When it comes to Search Engine Optimization or SEO, the parameters are always changes. So what was true before might not be anymore. That is assuming the information was right in the first place.

Here are some SEO myths and their parallel “truths” –

1. Having an XML Sitemap will boost your rankings within the SERPs.

It really is clever to produce an XML Sitemap but do not expect to see any rank improvements just from doing this. The sitemap is useful to the search engines like Google and can support them crawl your web-site much more effectively; however it will not help you “leap frog” your competitors.

2. Using Heading Tags is vital for your SEO.

Using Heading Tags (ie H1, H2, etc.) is helpful to define your site's content material and the relevancy that it has to certain topics, but do not expect them to produce marked improvements within your rankings.

3. Trading hyperlinks with other webmasters is just as great as developing quality “one way” links.

Trading links (aka reciprocal linking) was something used to be effective a long time ago although it is no longer useful for improving a website's rankings.

The only time that the trading of links can make any sense, is when each webmasters may benefit through the traffic that may possibly come in the partner's web page.

4. Hiding a bunch of links in your pages is an excellent notice.

Google, and the other search engines like Google, are incredibly smart and can spot “spammy links” very simply. This is one of the largest mistake webmasters make when trying to “optimize” for a keyword.

Whether you are using a teeny-tiny font size to show them, coloring them the same as your page background or making use of CSS to maneuver them to date off the page they can not be noticed by site visitors … the search engines know!

This practice is foolish and no good will come from it!

5. There is an optimum keyword density for the on-page content.

This was true in the past but it is no longer valid. It's smart to ensure that your target keyword phrases is present somewhere in your page but do not bother calculating the density percentages.

It is significant superior and way more effective to create content that will be found valuable by the people reading through content than to focus writing for the search engine robots.

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Advanced Mobile SEO TIPS For Mobile Marketing

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Advanced Mobile SEO TIPS For Mobile Marketing

In 2016, Google introduced the mobile-first index system to provide the best user experience for their mobile users by prioritizing mobile-friendly websites. This new indexing system will first look into the mobile version of your website to determine the ranking. Websites without a mobile version or poorly optimized mobile websites will drop out even further in search engine results pages (SERPs). But, the good news is this Mobile SEO is simple and easy to do yourself tasks.

Advanced Mobile SEO Tips for Mobile Marketers:

Mobile SEO is nothing than a conventional SEO, creating content and tagging to make it stand out online. These white-hat mobile SEO tips will help you to avoid search engine penalties and maintain better online visibility.

1. Google My Business: mobile online marketing.

One of the most important and effective mobile marketing move that business owners can do is signing up for Google My Business account. It is free and simple, by filling the information to the best of your ability and add more possible pictures of your business. When people searching for the keyword that is related to your business, there is more likely to visible your 2nd information first. So, think of using it for mobile marketing.

2. Using social media:

According to reports, average mobile users spending their 80% of the time on social media of the total times they are spending on the mobile. These social media sites bring a huge amount of traffic to your website. So, to improve visibility to mobile users, priorities your social media marketing strategy. The frequency of posting, Quality of content and optimized social media campaign will help your brand stands out. Also, read our Content Marketing Guide.

3. Take advantage of plug-ins for mobile SEO:

If your website uses WordPress or another content management system (CMS). you can use various plug-ins to improve your mobile site more user-friendly. One of the popular CMS, WordPress offers a large number of plug-ins to optimize images, improve speed and take care of other important mobile SEO factors.

WPtouch is the popular universal WordPress plug-in that will create a Google-approved mobile version of your website. If you can’t afford a professional to update and optimize your website, try these plug-ins to build a mobile-friendly website and improve visibilities.

4. Use keywords for mobile users:

It is proven that mobile users search differently than other desktop users. Optimize your content for mobile keyword search phrases to show up your content to the right people. Find the right tools to find the right keywords for your content, you can find keyword comparisons by the device in Google’s Search Console.

5. Improve page loading time:

When it comes to mobile SEO, page loading time is the most important issue. There are many factors that define the page loading time. Gzip compression, Image optimization and using Google AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages), there are some tools and plug-ins to perform this tasks and improve the faster loading of mobile web pages.

Final Words:

Digital marketing trend changed the whole scenario of marketing. Mobile SEO is becoming a most essential task for all bloggers and webmasters for mobile marketing.

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The Top 5 SEO Tools Recommended By Experts

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The Top 5 SEO Tools Recommended By Experts

The process of impacting the exposure of a website or page in a web software system is search engine optimization (SEO). As a rule of thumb, the higher ranked (or earlier), and more often a website or web page appears in the search list, the more traffic it will receive from the users search engine. Among the plethora of SEO tools available currently in the market, choosing the best SEO software is a crying need in modern businesses.

Listed below are 5 of the Top SEO Tools currently available and their SEO Software Review.

IBP (iBusinessPromoter)

IBP is a multiple award winning and one of the Top SEO Tools available. It keeps abreast with the latest Search Engine algorithms and aims to put your website ahead of the curve. IBP gives you maximum visibility on the world’s most popular search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing. It provides an optimal suite of promotional tools like Optimization Advice, Search Engine Submission, Rank Checker, Keyword Density Analysis, Daily Word Search and HTML Validator among many others. These tools continuously monitor the popularity and visibility of your website and suggest optimization whenever necessary.

Web CEO

Web CEO is one of the Best SEO tools suites suitable even for the marketing novices, site owners and Webmasters who perform SEO occasionally. However this powerful suite offers enough flexibility for experienced power users. Its intuitive user interface makes automating repetitive tasks a breeze. It offers all features essential to SEO including standard features like Optimization Advice, Article Submitter, Rank Checker, Keyword research as well as advanced features like PPC (Pay per Click) Manager, HTML Validator and the ability to create link pages.

SEO Powersuite

The SEO Powersuite identifies the need for your website to get maximum exposure in popular search engines and thus does exactly this with a set of 4 SEO tools. These offer all the power and flexibility of the Top SEO Tools in the market. Functionalities such as link building, competitive analysis, Website rank calculation and crawling websites for SEO related data to improve website ranking are just part of the immense suite of tools, SEO Powersuite provides. The 4 major tools provided by SEO Powersuite are SEO Spyglass, The Link Assistant, Website Auditor and Rank Tracker. The power and ease of use make one the Best SEO software available.

SEMrush

SEMrush is an online marketing toolkit, which gathers data critical to the needs of SEO and link building. Using the powerful array of tools which SEMrush can discover keywords relevant to the content of the website, locate lucrative PPC (Pay per click) keywords, monitor website ranking, assesses site for technical snags and familiarizes you with online marketing strategies. What makes SEMrush, one of the Best SEO Software, unique is that it also provides a Social Media tool to help promote your website through major social networks.

SEOprofiler

SEOprofiler provides you with a smart and powerful set of automated tools to handle all your SEO needs with ease. It comes packed with optimization tools for enhancing layout and coding of web pages making it easier for search engines to find these. As an add-on it comes with a keyword research tool giving you a competitive edge as it constantly monitors keywords being used by competitors. SEOprofiler remains of the Best SEO Software provider due to its handy integration with Google Analytics giving you reliable and expansive statistics

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SEO Meanings

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SEO Meanings

Like with most things, computer speak has a language all its own. When you create a website you most likely will encounter a lot of new lingo, and while some of it actually makes a lot of sense there are some terms that may be a bit weird, even for the techy amongst us.

When you think of a white hat you may think of the Kentucky Derby or a Royal Wedding but in SEO speak it means the group of techniques that use the best practice, the ones that earn you all the gold stars and brownie points, the ones that do not use bad manipulations to gain Traction or Ranking, but those who do what they do to the best of their abilities, create wonderful content and follow all the rules.

Things like time on page is pretty self explanatory. There are actually people out there who analyze data like how long people spend on a certain site. They are timed and when they click out that data is collected. You typically want people to spend some time on your site, not just click in and out in three seconds.

A mirror allows you to see yourself every day, well a mirror site is the same principle, it's the same site at a different address. Sneaky.

Link bait is another term that makes a lot of sense, especially if you use social media a lot. Think of all those quizzes that start “only 10 percent of people can ace this quiz” and so you click and try to prove them wrong only to find the quiz is super easy and a five year old could have aced it. This is link bait. A page that is designed to attract incoming links. You click, they have done their job.

Now for a strange one – latent systematic indexing. What this means is that the search engine will index commonly associated words in a document or content. These are also known as long tail searches. This also lets you avoid keyword stuffing in a document as you can use similar words or words associated with your original keywords to get your point across.

What about code swapping? This is when people change the content of a site after they have achieved high rankings. This is dicey to do as the content may not be as informative or even interesting after the switch. It will eventually hurt the ranking.

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Brexit, Regno Unito diventerà un paradiso fiscale?

A gennaio di quest’anno il numero due del governo, Philip Hammond, aveva annunciato ai media tedeschi che il Regno Unito avrebbe fatto di tutto, in un contesto post Brexit, pur di rimanere attraente per le imprese straniere, anche praticando un dumping sociale e fiscale. A luglio è però poi arrivato il parziale dietrofront, con il ministro del Tesoro che ha detto che Londra attuerà pratiche…

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How Key Performance Indicators Can Improve Your Online Presence

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How Key Performance Indicators Can Improve Your Online Presence

KPI or Key Performance Indicator metrics translate complex measures into simple indicators, which allow decision makers to quickly and efficiently assess the situation and come up with an answer. For them to work smoothly in your business, you need to bear in mind a singularly key point – all KPI’s need to be actionable. Which means, they should report on the metrics that matter to your organization. While the decision maker might have the final say in deciding on which KPI’s to select (and which to reject), all department heads should be involved in suggesting strategic indicators that would work best for their department.

To understand which kind of KPI would work best for you, you first need to define the site you have. Note, if your company has a website which serves multiple functions, it may be more difficult to identify success measures for the site. Similarly, if your business has more than one website, each website should be treated as an individual entity. It’s also important to remember that KPI metrics should cover a broad spectrum of both financial and non financial goals.

The following are some of the more popular types of business websites we come across today:

Commerce Sites

In this kind of environment, the goal is to get customers to buy goods and services directly online. An example would be amazon.com or expedia.com

The KPI’s for this site is fairly simple to identify, as it tally’s with the site’s bottom line goal – to earn revenue. They should include the following:

Conversion Rates – While there are multiple ways to measure conversion rates, the most common one is the order conversion rate, which is the ratio of visitors to orders, and the checkout conversion rates which is the ration of visitors who start the checkout process to orders.

Average Order Value – This is the ratio of revenue for the site to orders, and it has a direct impact on the sites’ profit margin, so it’s an important measurement to consider.

Customer Loyalty – The ratio of new customers to older one. Use this to track how many new customers you attract and how many loyal customers keep coming back.

Search Engine Referrals – Search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing,will send customers to your site. Do you know how many come from there and which search engines send the most visitors over?

Content Sites

Content sites generally rely on online advertising to bring in the revenue. Alternatively, they may be built to promote an offline venture. Either ways, their purpose is to attract the largest possible audience and keep them coming back. News sites like Cnn.com and ABCNews.com and sites like WebMd.com are examples of content sites.

The site’s goal is generally to bring in more visitors, thereby increasing the site’s ad revenue. If this is the case, the KPI’s should include:

Unique Visitors and Return Visitors – This will give you a quantifiable idea as to how many visitors your site attracts, as well as measure the effectiveness of bringing back return visitors. It forms a large part of your customer loyalty strategy.

New Visitor Percentage – The ratio of new visitors to return visitors and how you focus your energy can in large depend on who your site targets.

Depth of Visit – The ratio of page view to visits. If your visitors appreciate your content, they spend time on your page and in the long run, increase your ad revenue.

Duration of Visit – How long a visitor stays on site will also determine how your brand is perceived and in turn marketed. The longer the stay, the more it speaks of your brand’s effectiveness.

Lead Generation Sites

Typically sales sites fall in to this category. The idea is to get visitors to submit as much information (not too much, as that would put them off signing up in the first place), so that sales representatives can follow up with them.

KPI’s here can overlap with those outlined for an ecommerce site, however, there are other indicators. These include:

Sales Conversion Rates – This refers to the number of leads which get converted into sales and it also takes into account sales campaigns that may be held. How does the conversion rate differ now? Another indicator could be the calls made by sales reps each day. How does that convert into leads? Is it worth the salary paid out?

Cost per lead – What is the marketing and advertising cost your company has incurred, and how does it compare to the sales brought in?

Single access ratio – Do your visitors go past the entry page to the buying page? If not, this might be another important indicator that your entry page needs to be stronger.

Support Site

The support site’s aim is to provide answers to its patrons. Forums work a similar manner, and a good example is that of Sears Community Page. The site may also be the customer service online presence for a business or service. Some of the KPI’s for such a site include:

Customer Satisfaction Metrics – This is information collected through online surveys and response forms. Is the customer happy with your products and services? Would he continue to use them? Recommend them?

Time spent onsite – This is of course a large indicator of how much the customer enjoys your site, uses it and returns to it. The goal is to make it as quick and easy to use as possible.

Returns and complaints – Does the site receive a lot of complaints, negative feedback and comments, a request to return products? By measuring these, you get a good idea as to how your customers feel about your products and services.

While there are many free and paid for tools available, take your time to see how you can best identify, implement and track KPI’s for your own business.

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Tendenze Per il SEO nel 2018

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Tendenze Per il SEO nel 2018

Il nuovo anno e’ alle porte e come ogni anno, di sicuro, sei pronto con la lista degli obiettivi per il nuovo anno. Avere nuovi propositi e’ importante non solo nella vita personale ma anche nella vita professionale, poiché ti guidano nel modo giusto e ti danno l’impulso di fare qualche sforzo per raggiungere e centrare gli obiettivi. Ci sono così tanti trends che cambiano ogni anno secondo il periodico aggiornamento nell’algoritmo di Google, che e’ importante sapere cosa cambiera’ nel 2018 per poter programmare in modo sicuro le attivita’ per la presenza online del tuo business o pagina personale.

Qui sotto riportiamo quali cambiamenti dovresti apportare nella tua strategia per ottenere risultati migliori in accordo con i piu’ recenti aggiornamenti di Google.

La Qualita’ del Sito e’ Rilevante: senza ombra di dubbio, Google lavora per soddisfare i suoi utenti e, quindi, se vuoi entrare o migliorare il tuo ranking, quindi devi migliorare la qualità del tuo sito. Ciò potrebbe aumentare tutte le piu’ importanti statistiche come il traffico web e le visite al sito, le pagine per sessione e la frequenza di rimbalzo, ecc.

Raddoppia la Qualita’ del Contenuto: il contenuto aggiunge valore al tuo sito web e aumenta anche il tempo che gli utenti trascorrono sul tuo sito web. Pertanto, se vuoi raggiungere l’obiettivo nel prossimo anno, dovresti trovare contenuti più pertinenti che incoraggino la rivisitazione dei tuoi visitatori.

Gli SmartPhone Diventano la Prima Sorgente di Ricerca: Senza dubbio, cellulari e tablets sono importante come non mai e nei prossimi anni verranno utilizzati come dispositivi di ricerca principale avendo maggiore impatto sulle visite del tuo sito rispetto a quella desktop. Controlla come si comporta il tuo sito da cellulare per ottenere risultati migliori.

Migliora l’Esperienza Utente: Un’altra tendenza SEO che devi osservare nel 2018 è il miglioramento dell’esperienza utente. È tuo dovere assicurarti che i tuoi clienti ottengano la migliore esperienza sul tuo sito web, aumentando automaticamente le loro possibilità di conversione.

Rilevanza dell’anteprima Snippet: Assicurati di adottare alcune misure e azioni necessarie per ottimizzare il tuo sito web in modo da inserire e ottimizzare come appare in anteprima in uno snippet che guida in più clienti e in grado di aggiungere ranking al tuo sito web.

Aumento della Ricerca Visuale: Negli ultimi mesi, la ricerca di contenuto visuale è aumentata e questa è una nuova tendenza che è necessario osservare nel 2018 per ottenere risultati ottimali. Questo potrebbe migliorare le tue ricerche e attirare l’attenzione dei tuoi visitatori.

Queste tendenze sono molto importanti per la crescita della tua attività e non dovresti darle per scontate. Per qualsiasi aiuto, assicurati di consultare un esperto di SEO professionale che gestisca il ranking del tuo sito Web e portalo al livello ottimale più alto nella tua nicchia.

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#ottimizza sito nel 2018 #tendenze seo 2018 #trucchi seo 2018 seo 2018 consigli

Importance of Packaging

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Importance of Packaging

Packaging industry has seen a tremendous shift from ordinary packaging techniques to tailor made shapes, sizes and designs. This shift is meant to fulfil the marketing strategies of firms as well as meeting the demand of innovative designs by the customers. Packaging ensures protection of the products that are meant to be distributed in the market for the purpose of sale or storage. Some of the common packaging products include boxes, envelopes, cartons, cans, bottles, bags, wrappers and containers.

In today’s world, packaging is considered as a mode of competition due to the fact that consumers have become more affluent. Another reason is their increased reliance on processed food items and manufactured goods. Companies have started finding ways and techniques to sell their products through better designing and packaging. Strong and attractive packaging designs and labels not only protect the products from breakage and damages but they are also helpful in grabbing attention of the end consumer. Packaging techniques like clustered packaging ensures that less time and manpower is used for packing and labelling of products.

Packaged delivery services started gaining importance in the early twentieth century, a time which was characterized with the advent of attractive, durable and modernized parcel and mailing boxes.

Increased dependence on packaging of products has seen a rise in the demand of availing more delivery services. As a result of this, delivery of products through mailing boxes has gained importance as it is seen as the most durable and safe way of packaging. Mailing boxes ensure tamper proof, attractive, cost-effective, recyclable, and convenient way of packaging a product. They are available in various sizes, shapes and designs in order to cater to the needs of the customers.

The size, shape, and strength of mailing boxes depend on the items to be packaged. For example, packing fragile items like glassware and vases requires extra protection in the form of double layering or extra thick walls. On the other hand, narrow boxes would be used for packaging a flat item like a mirror.

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Activity Diagrams - Advantages, Disadvantages and Applications of Use

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Activity Diagrams - Advantages, Disadvantages and Applications of Use

Activity diagrams describe the actual work flow behavior of a system in Information Technology. These diagrams are very similar to state Diagrams because activities are the actual state of doing something. These diagrams describe the actual state of activities of a system by showing all the sequence of activities performed. Also, these diagrams can show activities that are conditional or parallel.

When to Use: Activity Diagrams

Activity diagrams should be used in alignment with other modeling techniques like interaction diagrams and State diagrams. The main reason behind using these diagrams is to model the work flow behind the system being designed. these Diagrams are also useful for analyzing a use case by describing what actions need to take place and when they should occur, describing a complicated sequential algorithm and modeling applications with parallel processes.

Activity diagrams’ advantages:

UML modeling language included that these diagrams are normally easily comprehensible for both analysts and stakeholders.

In UML for the IT Business Analyst, “The activity diagram is the one most useful to the IT BA for depicting work flow [because] it is simple to understand-both for BAs and end-users.”

Since they are among the most user-friendly diagrams available, they are generally regarded as an essential tool in an analyst’s repertoire.

Additionally, as stated above, activity diagrams allow an analyst to display multiple conditions and actors within a work flow through the use of swimlanes. Swimlanes, however, are optional as a single condition or actor is normally displayed without them.

Activity diagrams’ disadvantages:

UML modeling language include that these diagrams have the potential to become overly complex because their user-friendly nature may lend itself to an all-inclusive description. In other words, since it is so simple to display the information related to the project, why not include all of it? When an analyst has a large project, creating a single, overly complex diagram can be a temptation.

However, as one author notes, “if you are using activity diagrams to define the structure of a work flow, you should not attempt to explore several levels of activity graphs down to their most ‘atomic’ level”. Instead, an analyst should try to present a new diagram for each work flow, or if more applicable, to use swimlanes to present different actors within the same work flow.

Another aspect of these diagrams is that they may not be used in lieu of a state diagram or sequence diagram because “activity diagrams do not give detail about how objects behave or how objects collaborate.” This is not a disadvantage per se, but it is important for an analyst to keep in mind when applying diagrams to their work.

In conclusion, activity diagrams are fairly easy to get the hang of, and will be useful for most projects because they plainly and moderately clearly demonstrate how things work.” Unlike many diagramming techniques, these diagrams also enable the depiction of multiple choices and actors within a work flow, and they are easy for even non-technical users to follow

Applications of activity diagram:

This diagram has been extended to specify flows among steps that transmit physical matter (e.g., gasoline) or energy (e.g., torque, pressure).

Additional changes allow the diagram to better support continuous behaviors and continuous data flows.

The UML 2 specification significantly prolonged the features and scale of activity diagrams beyond their earlier classification as a special case of state diagrams.

Today, activity diagrams can be thought of as flow charts for the 21st century, and UML modelers use activity diagrams to describe it.

Also, these diagrams are useful in following methods:

Business Rules

Functions that occur in parallel

Complex chain of multiple use cases

Software flows and logic control configurations

Procedures with judgment points and alternate flows

Single use cases

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SEO Trends To Watch For In 2018

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SEO Trends To Watch For In 2018

New Year is coming your way and like every year, for sure, you are ready with the list of resolutions. Resolutions are important not only in personal but in professional life as well, as they guide you the right way and give you the urge to make some efforts to achieve something big in your life. There are so many trends change after every year as per the update in the Google algorithm, so, it’s time you need to watch for trends in 2018. So, what are you waiting for? Look below and see where you actually are and what changes you need to make in your strategy for better outcomes.

Site Quality Matters: No doubt, Google work to satisfy its users and, therefore, if you want to come in its good book or improve the ranking, so you have to improve your site quality. This may increase web traffic and website visits, pages per session and bounce rate, etc.

Double The Quality Of Your Content: Content adds value to your website and increases customer time on your website as well. Therefore, if you want to hit the goal in the coming year, you should come up with more relevant content that encourages revisit of your visitors.

Smartphones Become Primary Search Device: No doubt, mobile is important than ever before and in the coming years, it is used as a primary search device that improves your site visit than the desktop one. You should pay attention to it for better results.

Improve User Experience: Another SEO trend you need to watch in 2018 is the improvement in user experience. It is your duty to make sure that your customer will get the best experience on your website, which automatically increases their chances of conversion.

Featured Snippet Is Talk Of The Town: Make sure you take some steps and necessary actions to optimize your website to come in the featured snippet that drives in more customer and good for the rank of your website.

Rise In Visual Search: In the past few months, visual search rise and this is a new trend you need to watch in 2018 to get great outcomes. This may improve your searches and grab the attention of your visitors.

These trends are very much important for the growth of your business and you shouldn’t take it for granted. For any help, make sure you consult a professional SEO expert that handle your website rank and take it to the next higher level in your niche.

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Five Tips For A Great Software Demo

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Five Tips For A Great Software Demo

Whether you need to close a sale, gather end-user feedback, show progress to your customer, or simply explain how your product works, sooner or later, you will need to demo your software product.

Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to perform hundreds of demos to audiences of various sizes. I’ve also had the chance to attend demos hosted by others. The following represent the top 5 tips I’ve learned over the last decade regarding demos.

Manage Your Audience’s Expectations

Have you ever gone to see a movie everyone raved about and walk out totally disappointed? More often than not, moviegoers feel let down not because the picture was bad, but rather because it was worse than they anticipated. It didn’t meet their expectations.

Similarly, if people show up to a demo thinking they’re about to see a finished product, they expect it to be virtually defect-free, aesthetically pleasing, and user-friendly. They wouldn’t be impressed for example with a Web-based application that contains typos or JavaScript errors if they’re under the impression it’s going live in a week. However, if they know beforehand that you’re presenting a throwaway prototype, this same audience will be much more lenient. And they will gladly provide much-needed feedback to help you with your work in progress.

Managing your audience’s expectation is critical to a successful demo. If you want them to walk away from your presentation pleased, make sure you set the right expectations beforehand. Be honest with them. Don’t try to oversell your demo. Just sell it, and try to over deliver.

One Bad Apple Spoils The Whole Bunch

All it takes to screw up a demo is one person. If someone starts negatively critiquing every single widget in your application or constantly interrupts you simply because he/she likes to hear the sound of his/her own voice, your demo will be a disaster. It is your job to ensure that these bad apples don’t show up to your presentation.

Unless you’re hosting a closed-door demo, it’s very hard to control who will attend it. Omitting someone from your invitation list doesn’t guarantee they won’t hear about your demo through word-of-mouth and simply show up.

Here are a couple of ways to trick bad apples into not attending your demo:

Create a scheduling conflict for those bad apples. Make sure they are busy, or better yet, out of the office when your demo takes place.

Book two separate demos. Invite the people whose feedback you truly value to the first demo and the bad apples to the second. More often than not, each group will show up to the demo they’re respectively invited to. When it’s time for the second demo, go ahead and give it your best shot, or if you don’t have time, simply cancel it.

I’m well aware that these two tips sound like an excerpt from Scott Adams’s Dilbert And The Way Of The Weasel, but unless you feel comfortable telling your peers, superiors or customers not to show up to your demo, these two options are pretty much all you’re left with.

Do A Practice Run

I attended a demo last week hosted by the CEO of a local start-up. After meeting with him at a trade show, he managed to convince me that his company had developed a technology that could solve one of my client’s needs. I therefore agreed to give him 30 minutes of my time so he could demonstrate his product’s capabilities.

I didn’t need 30 minutes to realize I didn’t want to do business with him. All I needed was 30 seconds.

This guy couldn’t even log in his own Web-based application! He spent the first 10 minutes of the demo looking for a password.

Always do a practice run on the system that you’re going to use during the actual demo. You might know the application like the palm of your hand, but if someone else has access to your demo system, who knows what shape it’s in. They might have removed services, upgraded components or, as was the case with this CEO, changed the user credentials without informing you.

Unless you don’t mind looking like a fool, always do a practice run on your demo system before presenting to your audience.

Pay Attention To Details

The hundreds of demos I’ve performed over the years have taught me that people pay more attention to how the application looks than what it does. You software might be the solution to world-hunger but if a member of your audience notices a typo in your GUI, he/she will point it out!

Readers are especially distracted by readable content – and that’s a fact. Deal with it by carefully reviewing the text on your interface and in your graphics. If you don’t have the time to review and finalize the text, use Lorem Ipsum.

Lorem Ipsum has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, thereby making it look like readable English yet not distracting your readers. I now develop new prototypes strictly with Lorem Ipsum and add actual text when and only when I have time to write content that I know won’t become a subject of discussion at my next demo. I strongly advise you to do the same.

Point Out The (Obvious) Bugs

Software contains bugs. It’s that simple. Anyone who doesn’t agree with that statement clearly hasn’t worked in the software industry for long. Although we sometimes strive for defect-free products, reality is complex systems always contain defects – even when they’re generally available.

Doing a practice run before your demo will allow you to identify and resolve the showstoppers, and using Lorem Ipsum will deal with the nitty-gritty details that would otherwise distract your audience. But what about the other defects attributed to Murphy’s Law?

In the event that an obvious bug does display itself during your demo, point it out!

In all likelihood, your audience will have already noticed the bug. Any attempt to hide it will give them the impression that you’re not being honest. Consequently, they’ll start to wonder what else you’re trying to cover up.

Point out the bug, explain that you have a solution, confidently state that the fix will be implemented by a specific date, and move on. This sincere behavior will reassure your audience that (a) you’re not trying to sweep one under the rug and (b) the defect will be resolved by the time they deploy your system.

I’m not advocating that you go hunting for bugs during your demo. If you can circumvent them by any means, please do so. But if a defect does surface during your presentation, don’t pretend it doesn’t exist. The only person you’ll be kidding is yourself.

Conclusion

There you have it. Five tips for a great software demo.

Manage your audience’s expectations

Ensure that bad apples don’t ruin the bunch

Do a practice run

Pay attention to details and use Lorem Ipsum

Point out the obvious bugs

Do these 5 tips represent all I’ve learned over the hundreds of demos I’ve hosted? Absolutely not! The hardest part about writing this article was probably limiting it to 5 tips. I could have easily thrown in 5 more tips such as (a) control the situation, and (b) always have a plan B. But the goal wasn’t to point out all the tips that can help you out. Only the very top five!

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