Thursday, March 24, 2016

Facebook Post Ideas

Killer Facebook Post Ideas For Small Business Owners




Facing issues on posting when it comes to Facebook? You are not alone. I have faced same issues with my clients  who are small businesses owners while working for them. This post will give you killer Facebook post ideas for small businesses that WILL work, by generating lots of likes, shares and comments, as well as increased clicks through to their website.

1. Pose a problem and ask for advice

People LOVE to answer questions and to help solve problems.
Also, if you ask a question that may also help THEM with a problem, they will be grateful for the help!
Some ideas include:
  • What would you do if……..
  • One of our readers has a question. Can you help?
  • I need to make a decision and am looking for your feedback….
  • What advice would you offer to a person who is struggling with…

2. A contest post

Everyone loves a good contest!
Here are some apps to make the work easier;
  • Heyo
  • Tabsite
  • ShortStack

3. Run a poll

Polls can get valuable feedback's from your audience to build the strategy and hit the market.
Here's the link to create a poll on facebook.
Some ideas for polls include:
  • What is your biggest challenge?
  • What products would you like to see us offer?
  • What strategy has worked best for you when it comes to ________?

4. Share the results of your poll!

Strategy - Offer the results in a free downloadable report (in exchange for an email address).

5. Fill in the blank

People love filling the gaps !!
You can rephrase any question as a fill in the blank, and they often receive more engagement than basic questions. Test this out for yourself !

6. A seasonal post

People love REAL. Share a holiday picture, quote or greeting centered around an upcoming holiday. Try to add a personal touch, if possible. This reminds your fans that you are a real person!

7. Blog post excerpts

Let your fan know what your blog is all about. When sharing a blog post, be sure to include a backstory of the post so your fans know what to expect when they click on the link.

8. Link to a tutorial

Give your fans a step-by-step guide or tutorial for how to do something or anything from your industry. These types of posts are GREAT for getting engagement, especially click-throughs and shares.

9. A personal post

People love to know the person and brain behind the brands or business. This is a great way to make your brand more personable.

10. Share a picture of your business, employees or office

Sharing a photo of your workspace, your employees or even your customers makes your business so much more related! Knowing there are real people behind your brand will go a long way to building trust and relationships



Connect with me at reyaz.haider@gmail.com
START LEARNING TODAY


Sunday, March 13, 2016

Change Your Conversion With Landing Page

Why Landing Pages Are So Effective For Your Business

This is the first page that the visitors see after clicking an ad or after clicking a link in your email.
As you read further - you’ll learn.
  • What is a landing page?
  • Types of landing pages
  • Key elements of a landing page
  • How to write content for a landing page?
  • About the tools that you can use to create landing pages without much IT knowledge
  • Landing page dos and don'ts

Types of Landing Pages
There are several types of landing pages:
  • Lead generation page
  • Product sales (or warm up) page
  • Email opt-in page
  • Content landing page - designed to rank well in search engines
Lead Generation Page
This landing page is used to generate leads. These leads are generated by offering ebooks, a call back for counselling, ecourse like the one you are reading now, or blog subscription to receive regular updates.
Product sales (or warmup) page
This type of landing page is used to warm up prospects - before they make the purchase.
Email optin page
An email opt-in page is focused on getting people to subscribe to an email list.
Content landing page
These pages are designed to rank for a particular term in search engine results.
Hubspot’s Inbound Marketing page is a good example of a content landing page. This page is designed to rank for the term “inbound marketing”.
Key Elements of a Landing Page
A landing page must have,
  • A headline (explaining what you are offering),
  • A subheading to support the headline,
  • Benefits that the user will get by accepting your offer (to subscribe to an email list or buy a product),
  • A form in case of an email opt-in page and,
  • A call to action (a button that prompts user to take action).
Designing the Landing Page
Here is how you go about designing a landing page. Usually a designer will do it. but i'll tell you how you can make it;
  1. Start with logo
  2. Add one large image (known as a hero image).
  3. Write your offer - as a headline on top of this hero image.
  4. Give a line of supporting text under the headline.
  5. Under it give benefits in bullet points.
  6. Under it - add a CTA
All this info should be above the fold.
(The fold is the portion of the screen that can be seen by a user without the user having to scroll down.)
Do not have following on your landing page
  • Navigation menu
  • Links that take user to another page
  • Unrelated images
  • Long forms with more than 2 or 3 fields for email opt-in page or 5-6 fields for lead gen pages driven by PPC campaigns.
Some landing page examples;










Writing Content (Copy) for Your Landing Page
  • Write body copy first.
  • Then write product features and benefits.
  • And, then move to Headline.



Designing the Landing Page: Research and More
Make a list of landing pages by your competition or landing pages by top companies in your space. You can also check out lapa.ninja for inspiration.
Think of something that you can do better. If you are newbie - you can simply do what they are doing.
Put critical landing page elements in above the fold area. Because a large number of users do not scroll to see what is on the page.
Keep the page load time in mind. Keep it low. If you are using images - optimize them to make sure that they load quickly.
Visual harmony. Use same colour elements as you use on your banner ads.
Emphasise CTA (Call to Action) - The design of your landing page should emphasize CTA. You can make the CTA stand out by making it big or using a different colour or by positioning it in the middle of the page. Such things draw attention towards it.
Avoid these Mistakes when creating landing pages.
  •  Not having the right headline
  •  Having a cluttered page with useless graphics and links.
  •  Asking your prospects for too many things (actions)
The bottom line of the story is;
You reduce distractions AND you increase conversions.
How to write a (PPC) landing page
1. Make sure your headline matches the PPC ad text.
Keep the language on top of landing page exactly (or to the extent possible) same as on the banner ad.
This makes sure that prospects who land on the landing page are not confused. This is one of the most important element of a PPC Landing Page.
2. Write clear and concise copy.
3. Use You and Your more than I or We
4. Provide a clear Call to Action (CTA).
Tell them what they need to do. On a short landing page use 2 CTA. On a long landing page use 3-5 CTA.
5. Whether to use long copy (lot of words) or short copy (less words) on the landing page?
Go for short copy - when you are offering something for free and no payment is involved - like when asking people to subscribe to your newsletter.
Go for long copy - when you are trying to sell something and where cash commitment is involved. Your long copy should not have fluff (extra words). It should be tight.
6. Keep your most important points in the beginning and end.
7. Make content scannable.
Offer your benefits in bullet points. Write short paragraphs. Limit them to 4-5 sentences.
How to Create Effective Email Opt-in Pages
1. Decide who do you want to opt in?
Once you decide who you want to opt-in - you speak their language on the page. You can speak their language once you know them. This understanding comes over a period of time and also by making efforts to understand your customers.
2. What action you want them to take?
In case of the email opt-in page - you want them to subscribe to your email list. So you CTA should be on the lines of - Get Email Updates or Join the List.
3. To entice more people to join, you may give a freebie like an ebook, a report and audio or videos that subscribers can use.
How to Measure Success of Your Landing Page
You do that by checking the conversion rate.
[So what exactly is a conversation rate?
It’s the percentage of visitors that turn into a lead, sale, or a subscriber. An average ecommerce site converts about 0.5 to 1 percent of visitors and an average lead generation pages convert at 2 to 3 percent.
By using effective landing pages it is possible to increase conversions for ecommerce site to 3 percent or even more and for lead gen page it is possible to go over 10 percent conversions.
Landing Page URL
Your landing page URL ideally should be a URL on your domain. So, if your landing page is about makeup videos tutorials then landing page URL can be yourdomain/makeup-videos
Bonus: Thank You Page
thank-you-page-confirmation.pngAlways have a good confirmation or thank you page after they submit lead or buy.
After they submit lead - you can invite them to follow you on social media or ask them to share about your offer on social media.



Homepage vs Landing Page (and why a landing page is important?)
A homepage is a web page where you showcase all that is important for your business.
On homepage users have the option to choose from multiple options. A homepage is not usually designed for conversions. It is designed as a gateway for your products, services and content.
On a landing page - you share one key service, product or offering and ask people who “land” on that page to take a specific action - like subscribing to an email newsletter or buying a product.
By sending paid (using ads) or organic (via email or blog) traffic to the home page - you dump your best prospects - in front of your website - without guiding them how to proceed further or what action to take.
Why homepage is not right to promote your product during a launch?
Because homepage has too many choices and too many choices confuse people.
This is backed by research. Sheena Iyengar, a professor of business at Columbia University - along with a fellow researcher - conducted an experiment (popularly known as The Jam Study) in 1995, at a large supermarket in the US.
They found that consumers were 10 times more likely to purchase jam on display when the number of jams available was reduced from 24 to 6. Less choice, more sales. More choice, fewer sales.Strange, huh?
Tools to ponder upon for beautiful landing pages which can be designed by you in few simple steps.

Tools to create landing pages 
  • Unbounce
  • Instapage
  • Leadpages
  • Wishpond

Inspirational Tool - http://lapa.ninja/

- Notes - 

Put critical landing page elements in above the fold area. Because a large number of users do not scroll to see what is on the page.

Go for single column format. It is important to keep the attention of the user as she scrolls down the page.
Keep the page load time in mind. Keep it low. If you are using images - optimize them to make sure that they load quickly.
Visual harmony. Use same colour elements as you use on your banner ads.
Emphasise CTA (Call to Action) - The design of your landing page should emphasize CTA. You can make the CTA stand out by making it big or using a different colour or by positioning it in the middle of the page. Such things draw attention towards it.
- One Landing Page. One Goal.

Saturday, March 12, 2016

Why Font Choices Matter in Web

Any words you read will evoke an emotion

Whatever the subject matter, the genre and tone of the writing will determine a reader’s emotional engagement with the text. But did you know that font has just as much of an impact on reader emotions? Let’s take a look at how to leverage fonts as you design your website.
How Fonts Evoke Emotions
Think of what you read every day. Road signs, billboards, emails, text messages, news articles, and even office signs all use fonts to convey a message. An advertisement’s job is to persuade viewers to invest in a product or service, while an office sign conveys the organization’s branding in a professional manner. On the other hand, your newspaper (or mobile news app) is meant to be readable and informative.
Just how does this work, though? Why do some fonts make us feel certain ways? The answer has a little to do with art and a lot to do with science.
In one psychological study, two groups were shown different versions of The New Yorker – one version with a poorly designed layout, and one with a well-designed layout. The researchers found that bad design evoked negative emotions, while good design took less time to read and evoked a stronger sense of clarity among readers.
Preferences for fonts are also impacted by culture. Consider, for example, your bank’s website. What if the main body font were Impact, usually associated with newspaper headlines? Or what if it were Comic Sans MS, designed to look like handwriting? These fonts are associated with a markedly different vibe than a bank would want to convey.
Which Typeface Should You Use?
Individual typefaces may be fun or expressive, but they’re not always practical. If you’re going for readability and professionalism on your website, choose the most appropriate, adaptable font for the job.
Here’s a breakdown:
  • Serif. Serif fonts – like Times New Roman, Georgia, and Garamond – all have little lines (or “feet”), called serifs, attached to the ends of their letters. These are the most serious, traditional fonts.
  • Sans Serif. Sans serif fonts have no little “feet” or protrusions. The name means, literally, “without serif.” Examples include Arial, Helvetica, and Verdana. These fonts are considered more streamlined and modern.
  • Script. Script fonts are designed to resemble handwriting. Some are fun and casual, while others look elegant and formal. Yellowtail is a good example of the former, while Edwardian Script is an example of the latter.
  • Decorative. Decorative or display fonts are designed to grab the reader’s attention. However, they’re not always practical and don’t lend themselves well to readability.
Tenets of Legibility
Above all else, your website needs to be easy to read. If readers have to work too hard, they’re not going to want to stay.
Sans serif fonts are largely considered more suitable for digital body content, while serif fonts are usually reserved for print. Script fonts, on the other hand, are rarely ideal for web copy, unless used in a page heading or logo. Even then, however, they must be readable. Decorative fonts are the most “original” and are also more suited for headlines.
Don’t make your readers guess what they’re reading. “Was that an a or an e? Or maybe an o?” Not a good look. Make sure the letters are easily discernable. One way to do this is to use the “Il1” test, to see how easy it is to tell the difference between a capitalI, a lowercase l, and the numeral 1.
Legibility also depends on size and spacing. Larger font sizes are easier to read and can elicit a stronger emotional connection. When in doubt, increase the size, and use nothing smaller than 12pt font. Make sure there’s plenty of space between letters as well.
Final Thoughts
Hopefully, this little guide has given you some insight into how to choose fonts for your website – as well as how to mix and match different types, depending on the kind of content you want to present. Good design matters – but only if your content is just as good.
With the sheer number of fonts available, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. When in doubt, stick to the classics; a legible sans-serif body font will beat out almost any wacky, newly designed alternative. Quantity – even in the age of the internet – is no substitute for quality.
Come and learn with me !!

Wednesday, March 9, 2016

SEO - Speak In Their Language Not Yours

Crawling Is Not A Guarantee That You're Indexed



Having the top rank for right keywords in search engines can make you rich. It does not happen overnight.It takes time and effort to write and optimize your pages so that they can appear in top position in search engines. This optimization that helps your pages appear on top in search engines is known as Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
I'll walk you through the building blocks of SEO and how you can do it for your own websites or for the brand you work for.
The phrases like “start business without money in India” and “what business to start in india without money” - and “business ideas in Delhi” that people use to come to a blog post on my website are known as Keywords.
When a user enters keywords in a search engine (like Google) they see search results on a Search Engine Results Page (SERP).
SEO is both a Noun and a Verb.
SEO (the person) = Search Engine Optimizer OR SEO Professional
SEO (action) = Search Engine Optimization
  • Your goal as a Search Engine Optimizer (SEO) is to make sure that your site appears on top of search results.
  • You should aim to rank your site at number #1 for the search terms that you future buyers are entering in search engines.

Why? 

Because the results that appear at number 1, 2 and 3 get majority of the clicks. Multiple studies over the years confirm this. Here are the click through rates based on the position - as per a study conducted by Moz, a leading search and inbound marketing software company.

If you are just starting with SEO then your site will not appear at 1st page or position magically you will have to take action to make it work.
To see what pages from your site are already indexed (are appearing) in Google.
Enter - site:domain.com - in search bar.
Once a page is indexed in Google and if you are doing SEO right - it will move to page 3, 2 and eventually to page 1. If you have an old established site then your website may directly appear on page 1 or 2 for a particular keyword. For a new site, you’ll need to put more efforts to optimize it for search engines.
Before we dig deeper into the efforts you need to make. Let’s understand the basics of SEO.
In SEO there are 3 important parties involved.
  • You (the user) or a user like You.
  • Search Engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo and others)
  • You (the SEO Professional)
You (or a user) and User Behaviour
Let’s take this scenario. You are planning a road trip. You logged into Google and enter “best road trips from Delhi” in the search bar.
You see following search results.screenshot-www.google.co.in 2016-01-22 15-08-28.pngHere you see that two websites - TravelTriangle and Holidify (both of these are funded startups - come up ahead of MakeMyTrip, the biggie in online travel space.
Google is showing these results because it (it’s algorithm) thinks that these websites offer better content for “Best road trips from Delhi”.
Chances are that these websites are coming up on top because a SEO (search engine optimizer) made efforts to optimize these pages for search engines.
SEO’s success depends on making sure that their websites rank high when their potential customers search for terms related to their brand.
How Search Engines Work and Make Money
Search engines want to show right results so that more people come back to them to find more results. Once they have more people coming to them they can show more ads to those who come there.
By showing ads to people on their search engine Google made 66 billion dollars in 2014. Most of this revenue came from people clicking on ads that you see above the organic search results and on right hand side on the search engine results page.
How SEO Helps You!!
In India, Google is the biggest search engine with 88.40% market share.
Yandex is the biggest in Russia; Baidu rules in China; and Naver is the top search engine in Korea.
Moving Ahead
Now you know why search engines show certain pages on top and why it matters for them.
You don’t want to appear in search results when someone searches for “home delivery of fresh vegetables” if you run a startup like Zappfresh that offers “fresh meat delivery”.
That’s why you need to optimize your website for right keywords.
Keywords are words what people enter into search engines when they want to find an answer or a website or web app that offers what they are looking for.To make sure that you appear in results for all right keywords - you need to know what all keywords (your prospective) customers use.
This process of finding which keywords your customers use is known as Keyword Research.
Keyword Research
Keyword Research starts with Keywords. Keywords are the words that searchers enter in Google or other search engines to find related pages and sites on the web. Usually these keywords are questions that users are looking the answers for.
For example someone entering - Flipkart Coupons - wants search engines to take her to sites that offer Flipkart Coupon.
So “Flipkart Coupons” is one keyword.
Another person enters - “Best thai restaurant in Andheri”.
So “Best thai restaurant in Andheri” is the keyword and the person entering this search query usually wants the search engine to show her the websites or a page on a site (like Zomato) that will help her choose - The Best Thai restaurant in Andheri.
To make sure that you site appears on top of results - you need to optimize your site for a particular keyword. You can’t optimize unless you know the what search terms (keywords) users are entering in Google.
Keyword Research helps us by making sure that our keywords are right and backed by data.
Based on your understanding of your business and experience, you may already know about some keywords that users are entering in search engines.
For efficient keyword research, you move beyond gut feeling and guesses. They are ok to help you get started - but that’s not where it should end.
To do it right, you take time to understand your customer and then you create a buyer persona.While defining the buyer persona include following:
  • Gender
  • Age
  • Income
  • What they want to accomplish (both personal and professional)
  • Things that they struggle with
  • Hobbies and interests
For example if you run a startup in the healthy food delivery space - your buyer persona may look like this.
  • Gender: Male or Female (Single)
  • Age: 25-35 Years
  • Approximate Income: 8 - 15 lakhs per year
  • Hobbies and Interests: Gyming, Adventure Travel, Yoga, Going out with friends
  • Things they struggle with: Keeping Budgets, Spending too much of fun activities and not having enough money in bank towards the end of month, Low Fitness Levels, Overweight, Can’t (or doesn’t want) to cook at home,
  • What they want to accomplish: Look better, to have time for self, savings
Once you create this persona, try to imagine the questions in this person’s mind.
  • Health food delivery in location name,
  • How to lose weight by eating right
  • How to spend less on food
  • Eating out options for 2 for 2000 rupees
  • Cooking tips for singles
  • Quick healthy bites
  • How not to overeat when partying with friends
  • Monthly healthy food delivery service
HEY !! DON'T STOP HERE
You keep your eyes and ears open when you meet people and surf online. You see the problems people similar to your buyer persona - are posting and discussing online.
To take it a notch above - you go to Amazon and pick the product category similar to your own and check out the product reviews to find problems people are facing with existing products.
Amazon is a goldmine of info for any smart marketer and you should leverage it in the best way possible. Go to Amazon.com because on Amazon.in you may not find enough reviews and feedback for a product. People are same everywhere in the world so you’ll get broad ideas about your customer’s challenges and desires. That’s what you need.
Do not ignore Flipkart and Snapdeal.Use the reviews there to round off your research.
After you get a list of 100-200 keywords, move to the next step.Next step is to use a tool to find out the most useful keywords. We’ll use Google Keyword Planner for this.
Before I take you on a tour of Google Keyword Planner - I wanted to discuss two important terms with you.
  • Keyword Type and,
  • Buyer Behaviour
Keyword Type:
There are three types of keywords. Head, Body and Long Tail Keywords.
Let’s get better idea with this example:
If you run an e-commerce stores where one of your product categories is shoes - then in your case,
  • Head Keyword - Shoes (usually 1 word)
  • Body (or Mid Tail Keyword) - Formal Shoes or Black Formal Shoes or Geox Formal Shoes (2-3 words)
  • Long Tail Keyword - Where can I buy luxury shoes or where can I buy Testoni Dress shoes in location name (city or country)? (4+ words)
Invest most of your time, attention and resources in going after Body and to some extent long tail keywords.
Search Engine Watch did one study in 2012 where they analyzed Head vs. Long Tail Keywords and measured their impact on Impressions, Clicks, Conversions & Profitability.
In this study they analyzed approximately 1.5 million keywords over a six month period across multiple industry verticals. They found out that keywords with 11-25 characters produce maximum searches, clicks and conversions.
keyword-bucket-percent-of-impressions-clicks-conversions.png
This study also concluded that - you should probably not spend time generating / managing keywords with greater than 40 characters.
Why?
This is because Head Terms or Head Keywords don’t convert well. People searching for these terms do not have “buyer’s intent”.
What is Buyer’s Intent?
Buyer intent means someone searching the web with an intent (or desire) to buy something.
When a user is searching for a head term like shoes - she is likely still in the research phase and far from buying. She may just be exploring shoes in general and see what kind are options are there.
Buyer or commercial intent = the likelihood that someone will buy something (after landing on a website or app through a particular search).
When a person has buyer or commercial intent chances of them buying something is way higher than someone just browsing to find more info.
If a user is searching for a phrase like “Geox Formal Shoes” - she has already done research and knows what she wants to buy.
So as a e-commerce store owner or digital marketing / category manager who is into selling shoes - you should prefer traffic coming from body or mid tail keywords (2-3 terms) and long tail keywords (4+ words) as compared to head keywords (1 keywords). When you get these type of visitors to your website (people with buyer’s intent) they will you give revenues and not only page views.
Another reason to not to go after Head Keywords.
They are ultra competitive to rank for and usually 1st position in search results for these keywords is owned by Wikipedia or another old established website which is really difficult to outrank.
You’d do better by investing your resources in 10 mid tail keywords than 1 head keywords.
Now you have your list of buyer persona based keywords (100-200) based on your understanding of customers, your observations, customer interviews and what you saw on Amazon, Flipkart, and Snapdeal.
And you also know about keyword type and buyer’s intent.
Now is time to stack these keywords against data and also to get more keyword ideas to finalize the list of keywords - you will be doing your SEO with.
We do this using Google Keyword Planner, a superb free tool. It is easy to use.You can access it by going to this URL
Once you sign up for an account (which is simple) - you will be taken to the screen below.

Keyword Planner – Google AdWords.png
You then go to the next screen where you enter a keyword (I am using “weight loss” for this example.)
Keyword Planner – Google AdWords3.png

Also add a keyword filter to show keywords with average monthly searches as > 2000 and competition high and medium and save.
You targeting should be set to India if you are targeting users within India.
Once you click on blue “Get Ideas” button above - you will be taken to the Keyword Results Page - here you’ll see two tabs - Keyword Ideas and Ad Group Ideas.


Keyword Planner – Google AdWords4.png
Pick keywords from both Keyword Ideas and Ad Group Ideas.
High and medium competition means advertisers are bidding high amount for these keywords.
People are paying money to be shown next to search results when these terms are searched for. This means that advertisers hope to make money even after paying for ads. So if you can get organic traffic for these keywords it will definitely be profitable.
How do you decide which keyword to choose?
Search Volume: On the face of it - higher volume looks better. I’d suggest experimentation.
So the search volume for “how to lose weight” above is around 200,000 whereas search volume for “how to lose weight fast” is 27,000. Now, enter the keyword that you want to go after - like “how to lose weight” or “how to lose weight fast” and see the sites appearing in top 10 results.
When I did that I noticed that results are dominated by established websites like Reader’s Digest, WebMD, AuthorityNutrition and Prevention. These websites are very tough to compete with because they invest a lot of resources in SEO.
So I’ll continue my search for a keyword which has good search volume and where results on 1st page are not dominated by established websites.
You can use tools like KeywordTool and UberSuggest to find a large list of keyword ideas, to continue your search and find a profitable keyword.
Build a long list and then work on finding keywords where the 1st page results are not on established websites, are low quality (poor website design or no depth in content( and where you are sure of creating better quality content.
Competition: Go for High and Medium Competition Keywords. We have already chosen this in filter so you will not see Low competition keywords.
SEO Optimized Content (On-Page Optimization)
SEOs do two things at the core to make sure that their site ranks high in search engines.
On-Page Optimization: All action taken on website and a web page to make sure that a page is optimized for ranking high in search engines. In this lesson we’ll be focusing on this aspect of SEO.
Off-Page Optimization: In off-page optimization SEOs invest time in efforts like link building (which is the most important part of off-page SEO) and increasing brand mentions (which overlaps with PR). Next lesson is about blogging, there I’ll share more about Guest Blogging which helps in link building.
After you finish identifying the keywords - you move to SEO optimized content creation or you work on optimizing existing content on your site. (In the next lesson on blogging, I’ll also be focusing on efficient content creation. So, don’t miss that.)
To do this well - you need to know what an optimized page looks like.
Structure of an SEO Optimized Page
Here it is:
A SEO Optimized Page has;
  1. One page - one keyword policy
  2. An Optimized URL
  3. An Optimized Title Tag with Keyword in the beginning
  4. At least one image in the post
  5. Keyword in the beginning of the content
  6. Good content length preferably 1800-2000 words
  7. Use phrases related to keyword in the content
  8. Interlinked and engaging content - to ensure that bounce rate is low
  9. Outbound links to other credible resources


1. Follow one page - one keyword policy.
This policy is for homepage also. Your homepage should be optimized for one keyword only.
In case you are using WordPress - use Yoast’s SEO plugin to set up focus keyword for your page. You can also use this plugin to set up right Title Tag and Meta Description.
In case you are running an ecommerce store using Magento or Shopify, you can use an SEO extension for Magento or SEO Tag Manager for Shopify stores.
2. Optimized URL
3. Optimized Title Tag with Keyword in the beginning
“Weight Loss: The Ultimate Guide” is better than “The Ultimate Weight Loss Guide” which is better than “If You are not Happy Being Over Weight You must Read this Weight Loss Guide”.
4. At Least One Image in The Post.
Use this image on top of blogpost or article (width - half of the width of the page where it is added) so that the rest of the width is taken by text.
5. Keyword in the Beginning of the Content.
If you are optimizing for weight loss,
Here is how to do it:
…….
This is my weight loss story.
I am sharing this today so that you get inspired to eat healthy and feel better.
……..
……..
6. Good Content Length Preferably 1800-2000 Words.
When you write long form content you tend to include keywords and related words naturally which is what Google wants. Google wants users who enter their search queries to send to websites that offer in-depth topical content.
Long content pieces are also usually shared more online so it helps with visibility of your brand which is another ranking factor and helps in getting more visitors to your website.
7. Use Phrases Related to Keyword in the Content
This helps in bringing those users to your website who enter long tail keywords to search and also keeps your content natural without too much focus on a single keyword.
How to find these keyword - enter your keyword and go to the end of search results page (you should be using regular search and not advanced search).
If you enter weight loss as a search term - you will see following search terms towards the end of the page.
Add links (outbound) to other credible resources on the topic.

Google tends to rank the web pages that reference research and other sources more than the ones without it. So link to authority websites like Wikipedia, other popular resources in your industry, and scientific journals if it is relevant.
By doing this, Google will see your content as trustworthy.
Don’t over do it - if you are writing a 2000 words content piece then it is ok to link to 2-4 resources.
Today, you have learned that SEO starts with keyword research and finding the right keywords.
To do it right, you focus on mid and long tail keywords where a lot of established websites are not ranking on first page of search engine results. Then, you create SEO optimized content or optimize existing pages.
IMPORTANT: You focus on one keyword for every page on your website.
I’ll be the first to tell you that this is just the beginning of SEO and there is a lot more to learn and apply.
But I want you to create a solid foundation first and then you can move to advanced topics like how to compete with established sites, how to build quality backlinks and also topics like increasing domain authority and page authority etc.
Ask me at REYAZ HAIDER



Monday, March 7, 2016

Useful Online Tools


Useful online tools

List of useful tools/websites which will make your work much easier

  • http://ctrlq.org/screenshots/ - Capture screenshots of web pages on mobile and desktop.
  • https://goo.gl/ - Google URL shortener and convert it into QR code with analytics.
  • http://unfurlr.com/ - Wha's behind that short link?
  • http://www.copypastecharacter.com/ - Copy special characters that aren't on your keyboard.
  • https://www.iconfinder.com/ - Best place to find icons of all sizes.
  • https://www.followupthen.com/ - The easiest way to setup email reminders.
  • http://www.wolframalpha.com/ - Get answers directly without searching.
  • http://www.printwhatyoulike.com/ - Print web pages without clutter.
  • http://www.pdfescape.com/ - Quickly edit PDF in the browser itself.
  • http://scr.im/ - Share your email address online without worrying about spam.
  • http://www.myfonts.com/WhatTheFont/ - Determine the font name from an image
  • https://iwantmyname.com/ - Painless domain management
  • http://www.homestyler.com/ - Design from scratch or re-model your home.
  • https://www.wetransfer.com/ - Share big files online.
  • https://www.plustransfer.com/ - Send big files without uploading to a third-part server.
  • http://ge.tt/ - Share any files in seconds.
  • http://hundredzeros.com/ - Download free kindle books.
  • http://www.polishmywriting.com/ - Check your writing for spelling or grammatical errors.
  • http://marker.to/ - Highlights the important parts of a webpage and share on social media.
  • http://imo.im/ - Chat with your buddies on social media at one place.
  • https://gtmetrix.com/ - Analyze your site speed and make it faster.
  • http://www.similarsites.com/ - Sites that are similar to what you like already.
  • https://www.woorank.com/ - Research a website from SEO prospective.
  • https://bubbl.us/ - Create mind maps, brainstorm ideas in the browser.
  • https://color.adobe.com/create/color-wheel/ - Get color ideas and extract from pics.
  • http://www.midomi.com/ - Music, Find the name of a song.
  • http://www.bing.com/?scope=images&nr=1&FORM=NOFORM - Wallpapers for mobiles.
  • http://faxzero.com/ - Send a fax for free
  • https://www.feedmyinbox.com/ - Subscribe to a news feed (RSS feed as a newsletter).
  • https://tinychat.com/ - Setup a private chat room in seconds.
  • https://privnote.com/ - Create notes that will self-destruct after being read.
  • http://www.boxoh.com/ - Track the shipment
  • http://www.chipin.com/ - Raise funds online.
  • https://ewhois.com/ - Other websites of a person with reverse analytics ID.
  • http://disposablewebpage.com/ - Temporary webpage that self-destruct.
  • http://www.urbandictionary.com/ - Definitions of slangs and informal words.
  • https://scribblemaps.com/ - Draw and share maps
  • http://www.picmonkey.com/ - Image editor.
  • https://studio.stupeflix.com/en/ - Make a movie out of your images.
  • http://www.sumopaint.com/home/ - Photoshop in your browser.
  • http://mailvu.com/ - Send video emails to anyone.
  • https://www.typing.com/ - Master in typing.
  •  http://timerime.com/ - Create timelines with audio,video and images.
  • https://teuxdeux.com/ - To-do app, looks like a paper dairy
  • http://talltweets.com/ - Send tweets longer than 140 characters.
  • https://www.pancake.io/ - Create a website using your dropbox account.
  • http://builtwith.com/ - Find the tech stack of any website.
  • http://mixlr.com/ - Broadcast live audio over the web.
  • http://www.tagmydoc.com/ - Add QR codes to your documents.
  • http://ctrlq.org/html-mail/ - Send rich text mails to anyone.
  • http://www.otixo.com/en/home-otixo/ - Manage your online files on cloud (Dropbox, Google)


Reyaz Haider

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