The world’s first website, published in 1991, had a few paragraphs of text on a uniform background with a command line instead of links.

Since that moment, websites have come a long way. Currently, there are more than a billion web resources on the Internet, each of which consists of many visual elements. The process of creating the appearance of websites has become a whole science that includes not only designing the graphical shell but also thinking through navigation, organizing text content, and analyzing user behavior by web design & development companies. This science is called web design.

In this article, we explain in detail what is website design, why it is important, how it works, and much more.

Web design: what is it?

The definition of website design is the process of planning and organizing content intended for the Internet. The appearance of the site as well as its functionality play an important role in promoting your site and attracting and retaining potential users on your platform. Good web design should be aesthetically pleasing, easy to use, and consistent with your brand.

Why is web design so important?

If you think that web design means something secondary and not worth much attention during development, then try a simple test: think about a topic on which you need information, google it and click on the result that indicates the answers you are looking for. How long will it take you to find the information you need on this site? Is it quick and easy or difficult? Is it obvious how to navigate this site and how you can move to another section?

If you find what you are looking for quickly and easily, it means that the site design is well thought out and intuitive. This intuitiveness is the result of several features that make it easier for users to navigate while visiting the site.

Website design is important because it directly affects how long it takes a user to find what they are looking for. If it is complicated and tedious, the user will give up and try to search on another site – and this is a lost opportunity. A good design developed by a website design company, like loungelizard.com, will be easy to understand and navigate, helping potential customers find what they’re looking for while bringing you closer to closing a new deal.

What does good web design look like?

Good web design & development require compliance with the following principles:

1. Simplicity

The look and feel of the site are important. But most visitors do not come to appreciate your stylish design. They come for the information they need.

In terms of usability and UX, simplicity is your friend. And you can apply it in different ways. Here are some examples:

● Colors. Don’t use too many. The Human-Computer Interaction Handbook recommends using a maximum of five colors on a website. Let’s say – plus or minus 2 colors.

● Fonts. Choose legible fonts. Use a maximum of 3 different fonts in a maximum of three sizes.

Graphic objects. Use them only if they help the user to perform an action or perform a specific function. Do not add graphics randomly.

2. Visual hierarchy 

Visual hierarchy implies the layout and organization of site elements in such a way that visitors reach for the main elements first. This principle is closely related to the principle of simplification.

You can adjust the location, color, or size of certain elements so that the site structure itself attracts users to the necessary elements.

The whole optimization of the site comes down to bringing the user to perform the target action in the most comfortable and natural way for him.

3. Navigation 

Intuitive navigation makes visitors understand that they will find what they are looking for. The user should move around the site without thinking about where he needs to click – moving from point A to point B should be as painless as possible.

These tips will help to optimize site navigation:

● The structure of the main sections should be simple and placed closer to the top of the page.

Use a navigation chain on every page except the home page so that visitors know where they are.

● Add a search box at the top of the site so visitors can search by keywords.

Don’t offer too many sections.

Web design: what does not work?

Find out what is website design mistake:

Mistake #1. Stylish, bright, but incomprehensible and inappropriate

This mistake is often made by novice web designers who have taken online courses that did not explain the connection between web design and business. It seems to them that the task is to make it as creative and beautiful as possible. But a designer is not only someone who has great taste and a sense of beauty, but also a specialist with analytical and critical thinking who wants to help the customer to achieve the desired goal. Otherwise, it turns out like this: there are a lot of stylish websites, but only a few of them work and bring profit.

What should be done?

For the design to work, you first need to study the target audience or request this information from the client. Understand what competitors have already done, what works for them and what does not, what potential customers expect, and what design elements they will not appreciate.

Mistake #2. Poorly thought-out navigation

 This happens when a web designer does not know the basics of marketing and does not know how to think through the customer’s path, and it is important to lead the visitor through each block to make a purchase or satisfy another goal of the entrepreneur.

Mistake #3. Lack of free space

Usually under this mistake hides another – ignorance of the basics of composition. Because of this, it turns out that all the objects on the screen are supposedly the main ones and there is no central one among them. This is bad because a person does not know what exactly to look at, and what they want to convey with this design. There is a lot of information in front of the eyes and at first, you can try to disassemble it, and highlight the main thing for yourself, but how many visitors will do this?

How should it be done?

If the problem is a large amount of material and text that the customer asks to place on the site, it is worth critically evaluating it on the part of the client. Do you see that there is a lot of unnecessary information? Do not be afraid to report it and explain your point of view, even if this text was written by the best copywriter.

Remote working has slowly grown in reputation over the last ten years. It was the rapid advancement of computer technology that made working from home a reality. However, unforeseen circumstances made it a necessity in 2020. With that situation in the rear-view mirror, though, it seems that many workers are returning to the office.

Companies did find that there were several benefits to hiring remote workers during this period, but have these upsides disappeared? In marketing especially, remote working helped change the industry. People were no longer dependent on talent that may be available to them locally, they are able to expand their horizons globally. With that being said, let’s explore some of the new information about remote working to find out whether it is still a viable working option in 2022.

Cybersecurity

A common issue for businesses in the current era is cybersecurity. With almost every major company operating in the digital space, hackers can now target and steal data using tools from the web. This fact has led to a tighter grip on cybersecurity protocols in the modern office. But can these issues be solved with workers at home?

It may seem like remote workers would struggle to keep up with the current demands of cybersecurity protocols. However, having a workforce stretched far and wide has led to companies being more responsible for their data. Phishing emails are rife in the remote working community, which is why businesses have had to adapt quickly to protect their employees and company data. Many companies choose to give their staff a VPN service, a cyber security protection system that has only become popular because of the increase in remote workers. Therefore, remote working is slowly improving cybersecurity protocols.

Tracking Progress

One of the biggest drawbacks for companies in the remote working era is keeping up employee productivity. Without the motivation of being surrounded by other colleagues, or the ability to check up on employees in real-time, many businesses found that their remote staff members were not being as productive as their in-house team. However, this attitude has changed in the last number of years thanks to a specific technology.

The market saw a need for tracking technology, so it has been available to companies since the start of 2020. This tech can take screenshots of your remote worker’s computers to ensure that they are on track, and the AI within can produce graphs of employee work patterns. These methods aren’t necessary in modern times; however, they go a long way to settling the minds of business leaders that have to operate their company from a distance. If you were to hire marketers remotely, this element of the process is essential. Marketing is typically one of the most important aspects of ensuring that you are able to reach your desired audience or customers.

Employee Wellbeing

Anyone that has participated in a successful digital marketing course will understand that a business’s reputation is key to encouraging customers to use your service. This reputation is mainly forged by how you treat your customers, but it is also affected by your employee happiness.

A team of respected employees is likely to work harder for your business; however, these individuals can also help create a positive appearance for your company. Employee wellbeing is subjective to the individual, but you will find that a lot of people prefer to work from the comfort of their own homes. As such, allowing your employees the opportunity to work remotely can improve employee performance and increase your company’s reputation.

 Health Risks

Not everything is perfect in the world of remote working, however. The more people work from home, the more data can be collected about this approach to business. While you may experience some of the benefits listed above, experts have found a downside to remote working that you should be made aware of.

A recent study has revealed that almost 67% of remote workers fail to get any exercise. This includes the exercise that they would have received during their daily commute. As you can imagine, this statistic has proved that remote working can have a profound negative effect on the health of your employees. This statement is also true when looking at the mental health of employees that work in isolation. It is your job as a manager to ensure that every employee can remain productive in their new work environment, so perhaps it is wise to bring these issues to your remote worker’s attention so that they can continue to benefit from this practice without suffering the ill effects.

Rise in Freelancing

Workers will always be happier working in a field that they enjoy. Since remote working is now so prevalent, it has allowed many workers to pursue their passions in a freelance capacity. Therefore, businesses can receive better content for their company while employees remain delighted in their job roles. This where the marketing industry has seen a large boom. You can hire freelancers for specific elements in your marketing and work with them based on portfolios or previous work they may have finalised.

Conclusion

The idea of remote working has changed over the last decade, and it seems that the concept is here to stay, especially in the marketing industry. There are so many benefits to companies that use this approach, and the small risks can be easily mitigated with the correct management techniques. Therefore, it looks like remote working is still a viable option for businesses in 2022 and beyond.

One of the most important elements of an effective video is music. Choosing the right music can make your influencer videos more engaging, entertaining, and play an important role in delivering your message to your audience. But you can’t exactly use that Macklemore track or Adele tune for your videos because the budget required to license top artists is beyond what you’ll be able to afford. 

Your best bet when it comes to obtaining music for your influencer videos is royalty free music. They offer several benefits that appeal to content creators. Continue reading to learn more about royalty free music.

What is Royalty Free Music?

Royalty free music is a type of music license that allows you to pay for a song ONCE and use the music as many times without additional payment. This is in contrast to “Rights Protected” music that requires you to make payments for additional usage of the music. 

The one-time payment of royalty free music offers a lot of convenience to many individuals and companies. It also makes royalty free music cheaper. The sound quality of royalty free music is top notch as long as you are using a reputable royalty free music provider.

By using royalty free music, your influencer videos will be free of any legal action in the future. While you do have to pay for royalty free music, it’s better than dealing with legal troubles in the future.

What Happens if You Use Copyrighted Music Without Permission?

If an artist or music label finds out you’ve been using their music without permission, one of the two things below can happen:

1. You receive a cease and desist letter telling you to take down the video and what will happen if you refuse. 
2. You get sued, which is rare for this type of infringement but nevertheless possible. 

If you intend to use copyrighted music without having a license for it on social media, your video might even be taken down during the upload process as big players like Youtube have robust Content ID for copyright protection. Music owners can take the following actions on Youtube videos that infringe their copyright:

• Mute the video.
• Runs ads in the video.  
• Block the video worldwide or in selected countries. 
• Prevent the video owner from monetizing the video. 

This can be problematic and even damage your channel’s revenue to zero if you aren’t careful in the music you choose. By using royalty free music, you won’t have to worry about getting three strikes and having your Youtube channel (and your hard work) deleted.

What Are the Costs of Royalty Free Music?

Royalty free music providers can offer annual or monthly subscriptions or sell individual song licenses. Subscription-based services allow you to use their entire catalog for the duration of your subscription while individual song licenses allow you to use any purchased song for as long as you want. 

Prices vary greatly when it comes to royalty free music. Subscriptions can range from $6 to $60 per month while the price of individual songs can range from $26 to over $50.

Common Uses for Royalty Free Music?

Royalty free music is popularly used for commercial uses such as advertisements, corporate video ads, and film projects. They are also used for influencer videos, school projects, infomercials, artistic performances, and so on. As long as you’ve acquired the rights to use a royalty free track, you can pretty much use it for anything. 

There are consequences to using music illegally. Royalty free music offers an affordable and legal way of including high-quality music in your videos. With the number of royalty-free songs available, the versatile content creator in you will have a blast selecting that perfect track for your videos.

Today, most companies rely on brochures to introduce themselves and their products or service.  The brochure is an important marketing tool that can help you in presenting your business message to customers. According to a report by the “Business Marketing Association”,  98% of the people who use the internet for product information end up buying something offline.  

For businesses, creating your own brochure design has never been this crucial; brochures work best in generating leads, transforming website visitors into customers, and boosting traffic on your company’s online store.

We’ve established why print media marketing is still relevant, but how? 

Apart from the conventional benefits of having printed leaflets/brochures like they’re tangible, easily shareable, and offer credibility; we’ve listed down 10 reasons why brochure design is still the best marketing tool you should utilize for your business.

Brochures Are A Future-Proof Marketing Tool

Brochure as a printed media marketing can be considered as a future-proof marketing tool because print isn’t going away any time soon.  In fact, according to NAPL’s 2011 Census of Print Publications, at least 1 billion book titles and 726 million newspapers were sold in the US alone which shows that print isn’t something we can neglect despite the rise of digital technology.

The average lifespan of a printed piece is about 2 years, meaning that businesses or organizations would need to constantly update their content or order new leaflets/brochures once the previous stock is out.  However, the same cannot be said for websites and social media which can be updated anytime at a minimal cost.

For this reason alone, brochures are still preferable over websites and other digital forms of marketing because customers won’t lose interest in your business if you keep on updating or refreshing your content.

Company Brochure Designs Are Easily Shareable

As mentioned in the beginning, brochures are best in generating leads, turning website visitors into customers, and boosting traffic on your company’s online store.  No matter how you put it, brochures will always be something worth passing around because they’re easily shareable with friends, colleagues, and family members by either mailing them or uploading images to social media sites.

Printed leaflets/brochures don’t need an internet connection or password just to view their contents which makes printed marketing materials more accessible than digital forms of promotions.  

Brochures don’t require batteries; no software installation is required; everything is provided ‘as is’ when given to your friend who will appreciate having something tangible to pass around without having to worry about batteries, charging, or technical problems.

A Brochure Layout Are Personalized Marketing Tools

Since there are several types of brochure printing services available online today, you’re probably wondering how does it affect your marketing?

Aside from an increase in brand awareness; companies are also using brochures as personalized marketing tools because they can be customized based on the target audience’s needs and preferences.  This tactic is best used for B2B companies who need to convince potential clients by presenting their key benefits via printed material.

The average cost of customizing a brochure ranges between $250-$500 which is not bad considering that it can help boost interaction with existing customers while attracting new ones at the same time.  

Printed leaflets/brochures can be personalized based on their target audience by choosing a free design template and inserting the company’s logo, contact number, and website address to further promote its brand identity.

Leaflet Design Improves Communication Effectiveness

Another reason why brochures are still relevant in business marketing is that they can improve communication effectiveness between companies and customers because printed pieces offer an idea of what to expect when actually visiting the store or opening their doors for sales.  

Brochures also make a good reference guide for customers who can use it while shopping which helps them decide faster whether a product is worth buying or not without having to visit the mall again.

Aside from making an impression about your company’s professionalism, brochures are also the best way to introduce employees who would be greeting customers at the store.  

Customers will feel safer knowing their concerns will be heard and accordingly addressed by people who are knowledgeable about the product they’re selling because it is much better than receiving random answers from someone pretending to know about your problems.

Brochure Design Increases User Experience

An increase in user experience is another benefit of using brochures as marketing tools for generating leads or capturing website visitors into email subscribers.  Brochures are often used to showcase products that are available in stores whether online or offline which consequently improves customer experience because it helps them decide faster if a given item is worth buying or not.  

Need to get your hands on some kick-ass brochure templates? Then do yourself a favor and go to Venngage, the hottest brochure maker app, and easily make your very own design now!

Brochures Are Perfect For First-Time Customers

Printed leaflets/brochures are one of the best lead generation tools for first-time customers which are often used as a personalized marketing tool to introduce them to your company’s products without having to personally attend or speak with them.  Since brochures are filled with useful information, they would feel more connected to your brand and will be more likely to become loyal customers after their first purchase.

Compared with other digital ads which only reach certain demographics, printed material offers more advantages.  Brochures can reach everyone regardless of age or geographical location because it has an infinite range of coverage potential which ultimately increases the chances of generating leads for your company.

Conclusion

There you have it, the biggest reasons why brochure design is still one of the best marketing tools for you to use. What are you waiting for? Start designing now!

After Christmas and New Year celebrations fizzled out, some may think that the holiday season has wrapped up, yet  Valentine’s Day is the next noteworthy holiday marketers can leverage to attract social media users, engage an existing audience, increase ROI and boost their sales.

Before breaking the process into pieces, digital and social media marketers should bear in mind that Valentine’s Day campaigns don’t have to be particularly targeted at couples. Valentine’s Day widen its wings beyond just about romantic relationships, it’s about showing that you care , and you need that day to use as an excuse to give gifts to your family, friends and someone you profoundly care for. As stated by the National Retail Federation people who are celebrating the holiday said they plan to spend an average $196.31, up 21 percent over last year’s previous record of $161.96. Spending is expected to total $27.4 billion, up 32 percent from last year’s record $20.7 billion. Ponder that!

Spread the Love

Facebook is the worthy pacesetter for launching a successful influencer marketing campaign. However, ignoring the significance of the other social media platforms such as Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Reddit etc. can cause you so much trouble even long before starting your campaign. This should be noted that being present and offering opportunities which your target audience will appreciate is the key to success. You will be the champion if you regularly interact and build relationships with existing customers while targeting prospective ones .

However, you may think that is it easy to engage with your customers through social media platforms? Well, when it comes to social media you don’t need to go off the deep end. All you have to do is share engrossing and diverse content as continually as possible.  Publishing appealing photo and video contents have tremendous benefits. They make your target audience remember you more effortlessly, because if they have a visual memory about a thing it will make them forget you more at a leisurely pace.

Let Them Know What You Do

Encouraging your customers into dialogue with you which will eventually boost your conversions and sales is one of the most essential ways to engage your customers. Certainly you shouldn’t underestimate the importance of call-to-actions. Moreover, don’t forget that you are talking to your customers on the occasion of Valentine’s Day.

• Give your significant other something really special this year. Buy now and get 50% off.
• You love her/him every day, but make Feb 14 a special one.
• Your love deserves more than 30% off, order now!

Calls to action created to get an instant reaction from the target audience, and their sole purpose is to convert possible prospects into real customers and clients. If you use them accurately you will easily get new leads and prospects that will take your business to the next step.

Be Original

Whether you are a customer or brand you undoubtedly spend a lot of money in the name of love.  At least you should know that over the last year, there was a $1.6 billion increase in spending during Valentine’s Day. From the tiny box of jewelry and mesmerizing pieces clothing to dinner in a fancy and an attractively arranged bunch of flowers, people are throwing out the fortune for their significant others. Maybe that’s why Valentine’s day is a chance for brands to showcase and to persuade a customer to buy more of a product with romantic packaging. After all, we all want to feel cared and loved by the people we hold dear.

For a long time, I have been engaged in search engine optimization of websites, which in turn helps websites to rise in search engine results. Such actions should contribute to the growth of business in general by increasing the organic users on the site, but unfortunately in practice, this is not always the case and business may not grow, or even work at a loss.

I know cases when unscrupulous SEO companies simply deceive their clients, for example, they promise a guarantee of getting into the top keywords, promise to increase traffic by N percent, I have also met cases of guarantees of receiving leads, so-called lead generation, but they all ended up failing and clients lost their money. In the future, I will write an article about what you should pay attention to when working with an SEO company or inbound link building service, so as not to get into trouble, but in this article I want to touch something else, about this below.

During my work, I have repeatedly encountered clients complaining about the lack of profit. Often this is due to the fact that the emphasis is placed on the wrong choice of keywords, in other words, keywords simply can not convert sales. For example, a client believes that certain keywords are important for him, but in fact, they do not convert into profit, or initially, the semantic core was created with errors.

Artificial Intelligence Examples, Use Cases based on AI and ML Technologies

Today, I would like to share the outcomes of my cooperation with a pharmaceutical company located in the United States. The business is focused on extending their research according to the needs of patients, as well as improving their products depending on the feedback from their clients. They contacted me to help them work on ways of communicating with their clients and potential customers.

Real Example of AI in Pharmaceutical Project

After a long discussion, filling out a briefing, deep penetration into this niche, discussing the goals and capabilities of the client, we divided the whole process of cooperation into several stages: analysis, development and implementation. Since the task was not trivial, I wanted to give the same solution, something crazy and at the same time effective.

Our research has shown that clients who want to report side effects of a particular drug or defects of the product, mostly communicate through the phone – approximately 70% of all contact attempts. This type of communication is especially problematic for the company as each case has to be treated individually and requires a lot of time from the support team. 

Customers on the other hand, were not always satisfied with the information they were getting from the support team as the problems are unique. That resulted in low customer satisfaction which in the long term can strongly affect the sales.

Artificial Intelligence Technology Solutions

Exactly at that moment I came up with the crazy idea (so it seemed to me at that moment), to use modern technologies for lead generation, namely artificial intelligence solutions. Solutions based on artificial intelligence and machine learning allow companies to better understand their customers, offer more relevant products, as well as get accurate and reliable information from their company data.

Nowadays, when everything is virtual, the implementation of artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies into the pharmaceutical industry is a big step forward in business development. Using artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms, pharmaceutical companies successfully join the global market and create an incredible boom in a short period of time. 

Addepto was chosen as a partner and AI Consulting Company. It was associated with many aspects, first of all, the financial component, as for the implementation of my crazy ideas has limited budget, and after a brief meeting with Edvin (founder of Addepto), it was clear that these guys will make all my dreams come true for not all the money in the world. For that, a special thanks to them and my recommendation!

Real-Time AI Voice Analytics

And so, the first thing that needed to be done was to improve customer service, increasing employee efficiency and customer satisfaction. To solve the previously mentioned problems with phone service, it was necessary to have something universal and flexible, such as CRM that would cover our requirements and solve our problems, as well as be open-source and scalable at any time. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find such a product in the market, the main problem was that we couldn’t make changes to fit our requirements. If you know such products, I would be glad to meet them in the comments.

The CRM we created could record conversations, had an autoresponder function outside of business hours, also had an analytics system, all the data was displayed on a compact and graphical dashboard so that the company owner (my client) always had important information about the number of calls, the percentage of clients served, and so on.

But there was also one feature that allowed for customer service, and real-time voice analytics at the same time. Our CRM with ML could measure pauses in the conversation in real-time, how many times an agent interrupted a customer, the tone of voice of both customer and agent, and whether the voice was dynamic and interesting or repetitive and boring.

It then provides real-time feedback to the agent so he has an idea of how the customer is feeling during the conversation. In addition, the AI provides recommendations on how to communicate with customers, which leads to stunning business results. The system provides step-by-step instructions to agents in real-time, thereby increasing employee efficiency and customer satisfaction.

Then we went even further, in less than a month we collected so much data that we were able to cluster customers who called, into different groups. That helped us improve customer satisfaction as well as make the job easier for the customer support team.

Predictive Dialing

Predictive Dialer programs select a phone number and dial it for a call center agent, reducing the time it takes to manually dial phone numbers every day. Predictive Dialer predicts how long it will take an agent to answer a call and its availability using algorithms and mathematical formulas.

Virtual AI Assistant

AI Chatbot is a powerful technology tool that is built to communicate with consumers and solve their problems using artificial intelligence solutions.

AI-powered chatbots deliver faster and more personalized customer service. AI virtual agents can understand and access customer data. Therefore, by understanding the needs of consumers, chatbots help consumers to make quick and easy Internet transactions. 

Customer Segmentation for Better Personalization

With the help of unsupervised learning algorithms, companies could divide customers into different groups that can be targeted. The algorithms take into account all available functions and create a wide variety of clusters.

The customer segmentation model allows companies to effectively allocate marketing resources and maximize opportunities for cross-selling and additional sales. Moreover, customer segmentation affects the improvement of customer service, increased loyalty and customer retention.

So, summing up, we continue to work on the project, in general we have been working on it for 12 months, after 10 months the cost of implementing these developments have been fully repaid. For ethical reasons I can not talk about the cost of the project and its profit.

In addition, I have collected a small selection of examples, which in my opinion are worthy of attention. And I would like to implement in my projects something similar

Real-life examples of AI and ML: 1-800-Flowers

1-800-Flowers, in partnership with the IBM Watson AI system, has created an AI customer service bot that receives orders through its website and mobile application. This chatbot accepts customer orders more intuitively than the traditional online ordering form by using Natural Language Understanding (NLU) and Natural Language Generation (NLG).

Sensory Fitness

To handle phone calls to the support service, the brand Sensory Fitness developed Sasha, an AI voice assistant. The AI voice assistant uses natural language understanding (NLU) and natural language generation (NLG) technology for dynamic conversations. In addition, the voice assistant Sasha has built-in text – to-speech technology (TTS), which talks to callers aloud. This solution allows the company to save $ 30,000 a year.

The North Face

The North Face, a major e-commerce retailer, is a great example of a company adopting AI to better understand its consumer’s requirements. Using the IBM Watson AI solution, they help online buyers in finding their perfect jacket. Through AI voice input, the company asks customers questions such as “Where and when will you wear the jacket?” While other IBM software analyzes hundreds of items to identify perfect matches based on real-time feedback and own research, including the weather in the area.

Statistics – AI in Pharmaceutical Industry

• According to recent research conducted by USM, about 50% of global healthcare companies plan to implement AI strategies and broadly adopt the technology by 2025.
• OpenText surveyed 125 pharmaceutical executives to determine how familiar each respondent is with AI technologies within their industry. The survey results revealed that an interest in AI increased to 85% in 2020.

Keypoints

• Artificial intelligence and machine learning have a huge impact on the pharmaceutical industry.
• AI-powered and machine learning solutions allow companies to better understand their customers, offer more relevant products and get reliable insights from their company data.
• Nowadays, customers have a simpler, faster, more personalized and more convenient way to communicate with companies than ever before.

Imagine coming to the office every day and opening your laptop to find hundreds of emails from prospects who are hungry to do business with your startup.

While this can be a dream for many startups, the reality is that millions of searches happen every day on Google and if you can get a fraction of those users to reach your website through Search Engine Optimization, you could end up with more customers than you really need.

How to Choose an Affordable SEO Package

SEO Packages can range from as low as AED 500 per month to as high as AED 18,000 per month. The range is so wide that most startups make the mistake of going with the cheapest offers. Google has some of the smartest engineers in the world working on their search algorithm and if the startup believes that an agency charging AED 500 per month can get their site on the front page of Google for the chosen keyword, they could be living in an alternative reality. When a user searches using a keyword, within a faction of a second Google has to decide which 7 sites they have to show on the front page from among the millions of sites that they have in their Bigtable.

Bigtable is a distributed storage system (built by Google) for managing structured data that is designed to scale to a very large size: Petabytes of data across thousands of commodity servers. Many projects at Google store data in Bigtable, including web indexing, Google Earth, and Google Finance.

Affordability is not what matters

SEO has one of the highest conversion rates of all marketing channels but it also happens to be the toughest channel to get traffic from Google’s mission is to bring relevant information to users and if your website is not relevant enough to the user, no matter how many links you build to your site it is not going to show up on the front page.

In fact, when startups hire cheap SEO agencies they are hiring companies which use software to generate thousands of backlinks to their site. In the past, SEO was based on the number of backlinks that a website had and the more links you had, the higher the chance to rank on the front page of Google

That is no longer the case today and if you wish to go from zero traffic per month to 4712 visitors a month (like the one shown below), you can longer depend on backlinks.

Give Google What it Wants

If Google is trying to be as relevant to its audience as possible, your SEO efforts should be centered around relevancy and the smartest way to get an affordable SEO Package in Dubai would be to hire an agency that can make your site highly relevant to the search term that you are trying to rank for.

Google’s relevancy score is based on technical relevance including site hierarchy, tags, descriptions, structured data markup and internal linking. The content relevancy is based on keyword usage, semantic context and depth of content authority. Off Page relevancy comes from the domain authority of the site, range of contextual links pointing to the site and the inflow of traffic.

Growth Hack for SEO

Most startups would like to know if there is a growth hack for SEO and fortunately for you a secret growth hack does exist! It is being used by SEO agencies like Seo Souq and what they do is when they take on a new SEO project they blog about it on LinkedIn (which has a domain authority of 98) and get thousands of people from LinkedIn to visit the Startup website. If the content on the website is highly optimized, the bounce rate on the site will be below 30% which is a key indicator of the site’s quality inside Google Analytics. This combination of new traffic from a high authority domain and low bounce rate is a powerful signal to Google that the new site is highly relevant and worthy of being shown on the front page of Google.

Final Decision

As you can see, SEO packages range from AED 500 per month to AED 18,000 per month and there are thousands of options available in the UAE. However, your decision to choose an SEO agency should be carefully evaluated based on the outcome that you are expecting.

We all will remember 2020 for its extraordinary challenges, probably as long as we live. Businesses big and small faced tough times and significant losses. The challenges of the pandemic combined with a lack of proper planning contributed to a global economic depression. Nobody could predict businesses would shut down and operation would either have to be shifted online or paused for months.

2020 taught us some important lessons, such as the need to always have a plan B, the relevance of online shopping platforms for business of all kinds, and the importance of digital infrastructure such as safe and reliable online payment systems. Content marketing has been popular for several years now, but it has not been consistently implemented across the board. Now, when still don’t know how long it will take to completely get back to normal, we need to plan this year differently. In this context, content marketing is more relevant than ever and is one of the best ways to promote your business and build revenue.

Build trust in your brand

In general, consumers favoured in-person purchases over virtual shopping before the COVID-19 pandemic. For this reason, a significant percentage of consumers are hesitant while shopping online because they aren’t yet comfortable with the process and they may be afraid of getting the wrong product or even being scammed.

In this context, quality content can make your customer comfortable and more likely to trust your brand. This trust will also help you to build a long-lasting relationship with your customers and potential customers.

COVID-19 made online shopping a must

The pandemic has put in-person shopping out of reach for many people, so as a replacement they have temporarily shifted to online shopping. This has turned into a golden opportunity for brands to produce quality content because if consumers develop trust in the business and their products, they will continue to buy these products online even after the pandemic is over.

Additionally, because customers have shifted online, they are looking for more information about brands and products to before making purchasing decisions. Therefore, investing in content marketing will help you to attract more site visitors and convert more visitors into sales.

Content market is not product marketing

Marketing alone does not generate optimal results: your customers will find plenty of alternatives online so you need to ensure your product stands out to beat the competition. Product marketing only deals with the marketing of one product. Consumers these days are increasingly cynical about advertising and marketing materials, and are skeptical about the claims you may make about your products in your web copy or advertising.

This is where content marketing comes in: engaging and interesting content that demonstrates all features of the product and why they are beneficial will convince your customers to make a purchase. 

What type of content should you produce?

Every brand has different content needs. Every product has a different target audience, so it is important to make sure that the content is will help you to reach the right audience, and be interesting and engaging for that audience. If the content will not engage your target audience of ideal customers, then it is essentially useless.

It is also important to keep content fresh: content should also be updated in order to stay relevant in today’s competitive market. Post new and relevant content regulary will allow you to continually engage with your audience.

2021 is the best opportunity to stand out

This year will be your big opportunity to make your brand stand out in the digital world. The online world is full of small companies and large brands, so it is your content that will show how interesting and unique your brand is.

As the world recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic slump, consumers will be exploring new brands and products, and content is your ticket to unlock this new business. Content marketing will not only help capture the attention of your potential customers through organic links and social media shares, but it can also boost your site’s SEO.

Build healthy relationships with your customers

Content marketing is also an excellent way to attract long-lasting customers. The relationship of any brand with its customers is based on trust and that is why providing them engaging and authoritative content is the foundation for lasting and loyal relationships with your customers.

Everything takes time

You need to be patient once you invest in content production. With time, a strong content marketing strategy will deliver results, but you won’t see these straight away. This is a long-term strategy and you need to keep monitoring your progress from and regularly update your content to get results. But most important, you need to stick with it and be patient – your investment will pay off in the long run!