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There are a number of reasons why you should want to redesign your website. However, irrespective of the reasons, you can use a professional website design company to take care of your redesign requirements. Mentioned below are some of the important factors that you should consider prior to redesigning your website.

1.Making the Most of SEO
SEO was not something that people had in mind when designing their websites a few years back. However, considering the relevance of SEO in today’s designing process, it makes sense to redesign the content aspect of your website to include relevant keywords that will bring in more web traffic. Keyword research is now easy with tools such as the Word Tracker, Ad Intelligence from Microsoft and Google Adwords Tool.

2.Keeping it Fresh
Quite often people create a website when they begin a new venture. However, they don’t invest the time and effort required to update their websites. These sites do not attract potential customers as no one wants to visit something that’s old and obsolete. A redesign of your website will get people to notice that you’re doing something proactively to get their attention. Give your web visitors something new to look at. Update your website with relevant content so people keep coming back for more. Besides, search engines like websites that are constantly updated with new content.

3.New Platform Integration
Technologies emerge as fast as the changing seasons. To keep your site updated with the best, you may need to redesign certain aspects to make it compatible with latest software. Incorporating new technology will enhance the site’s usability and effectiveness in the long run, so it pays to upgrade once in a while.

4.Adding New Tools
Unlike earlier, a website is not just about graphics or text. It is much more than that. In fact, a well designed website will incorporate a wide range of tools like photo books, blogs, social media and forums. In the hands of a professional website designer, there is no limit to what you can achieve with your website.

5.Staying Ahead of Competition
Just as in any other aspect of life, if you are successful in the online business, you will find competitors breathing down your neck. This means that your website needs to be at its best to stay ahead of the competition. This is because people base their decisions on something as simple as the look of your website and how it fares in comparison with your competition. Similarly, you may be doing a wonderful job of reaching out to your consumers but are you making any impact? Opting for a website redesign may give you leverage to grab customer attention. In fact, you can redesign your website by keeping new markets in mind.

If you’re not a technical expert, website redesign is a job best left to the experts. Narrow down on good firms that can offer affordable deals and excellent results. Your investment will certainly pay off when you see web traffic heading your way.

When done correctly, email marketing can achieve a higher ROI than any other direct marketing method. Unfortunately, most companies mishandle their email marketing campaign, causing them to lose subscribers and earn low conversion rates. Most times, the mishandling of email marketing is due to one of these 7 deadly mistakes.

1. Buying your email list—While it sounds tempting to instantly buy a list containing thousands of subscribers, doing so comes with several drawbacks. Most importantly, it makes you a spammer. If you don’t have permission from the subscriber to email them, doing so is a violation of the CAN-SPAM act. And even if it isn’t spam, you’ll never receive the response rate you want because your list isn’t hand-built and highly targeted. Quality of subscribers is much more important than quantity.

2. Not offering quality, useful content—Firing off one advertisement after another is a surefire way to lose subscribers. Obviously, you want to market your products and services, but you also need to provide your readers with quality content they can benefit from. Think of it like a magazine. Magazines have advertisements, but they also give their readers great content. Balance the two properly to receive maximum results.

3. Emailing too often—A 2005 DoubleClick survey found that many people identify spam as “email from a company I have done business with but that comes too frequently.” So, even if you aren’t technically spamming your subscribers, emailing them too often will create the perception that you are. Experts recommend contacting your subscribers no more than once every 4 days.

4. Ignoring timing—When you hit the send button is one of the most important factors in your email marketing campaign. You want to make sure you’re sending your messages at a time when your target audience is around and when they’re able to take action. Segment your list according to geographic location, and determine what time of day your customers are likely to buy what you sell.

5. Linking to your homepage—Perhaps the biggest reason for a poorly performing email marketing campaign is the lack of linking to targeted landing pages. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve come across links in emails asking the reader to take action (e.g. save 25% off sweaters today only) with a link to the home page. If you’re running a promotion on sweaters, link to a landing page that contains only your sweaters. Your readers don’t want to dig around your website looking for the offer.

6. Using spammy subject lines—Of course, you can’t expect to be successful with email marketing if your messages never reach your subscribers. Avoid overuse of spammy words and phrases in your subject lines. Common examples include: Make $10,000 today, Change your life forever, Buy now, etc.

7. Not proofreading your messages—Unless you want your company to look like a joke, proofread your messages before you send them out. Typos and poorly-worded sentences create an unprofessional image of your company.

Have you made any of these email marketing mistakes? Which mistakes would you add to the list? Share your thoughts in the comments.

You’ve heard the saying, “If a tree falls in the woods and nobody hears it, did it really happen?” Well, if a blog doesn’t have any readers, does it really exist? Without readers, a blog is lifeless and without purpose.

So, what can you do to attract more readers to your blog? Here are 7 tips to help you get started.

1. Guest post on other blogs—It might seem counterintuitive at first, but one of the best ways to bring readers to your blog is to post on other blogs in your niche. Guest posting exposes you to a whole new audience of readers who are interested in what you have to say. Include a link back to your blog in your guest post, so that readers can follow you back to your website to become loyal subscribers. Just always make sure your guest post is the highest quality of content you’re capable of producing as it’s your one chance to impress a new audience.

2. Allow others to guest post—In addition to writing on other blogs, you should also allow other popular bloggers to guest post on your blog. This will bring the guest blogger’s readers over to your blog, increasing your exposure and earning you new readers.

3. SEO your posts—The search engines love blogs because they provide fresh, up to date content, allowing the search engines to provide the most relevant results possible. To further enhance your blog’s search engine presence, optimize your posts for relevant keywords. Spend time before writing your posts performing a little keyword research so you can target phrases that will bring you the most traffic.

4. Get blogroll links—Most blogs have a blogroll on their sidebar which includes links to other quality blogs in their niche. Once you build relationships with other bloggers, kindly ask them to include a link to your blog in their blogroll. It might not drive a ton of traffic to your site, but it will bring highly targeted clickers.

5. Use your own unique voice—With hundreds of millions of blogs online covering every topic imaginable, your blog’s success relies on your ability to stand out from the crowd. Do you want to know what the best way to do this is? Be yourself. Give your true opinions on matters instead of simply mimicking what everyone else is saying. Also, write the way you talk. This will create a conversational tone that instantly creates a personality readers can connect with.

6. Submit to blog carnivals— A blog carnival is basically an online magazine that collects the best from blogs in its niche. Blog carnivals exist on every topic you can think of. Find a blog carnival
that covers your industry, and submit your best posts to them. This will put your content in front of a new set of eyes.

7. Leverage social media apps—Between Twitter, Facebook, Digg, ReddIt, Mixx, LinkedIn, and other social media sites, there are more than enough outlets available to promote your blog content on. Build strong networks with interested followers who will click your links and become subscribers to your blog.

What have you done to get more readers to your blog? Leave a comment with your best tips!

The question of whether or not to hire a professional SEO agency may not be as deep as what Hamlet was pondering, but it is an important consideration, especially for small business owners.  An entrepreneur is only capable of addressing  a limited number of business issues without sacrificing the well-being of the company.  An I-know-it-all or I-can-do-it-all mentality limits the business owner from concentrating on running and building the business. It also places an owner on a fast track to becoming burned out.

An online presence is a must for 21st century business.  At the very minimum this entails a website.  A website and search engine optimization (SEO) goes hand in hand or else the site is merely a needle in the proverbial Internet haystack.  Accepting this premise moves the question forward to include Who and How.  Who will perform the required SEO and how will it be accomplished?

As far as the company is concerned, the question of  Who is easily determined by a process of elimination.

• Who in the company is an expert in SEO?
• Who is capable of developing SEO rich content?
• Who in the company has the time and skills to focus on SEO and rankings?
• Who is qualified to determine which search engines will be the most beneficial?
• Who can keep up with the changing algorithms of several search engines?

After completing the inquiries, a blank page is a good indication that hiring a professional SEO agency may be in the best interest of the company.  If not totally convinced as yet, then also consider the following:

Cost-Effective Measure
There is a great deal of truth in the old adage, You have to spend money in order to make money.  You can also save money in order to make money.  Hiring professionals in SEO will lessen the cost of the inevitable mistakes made in-house and speed up the ROI with increased traffic to the site. To further  this, conduct research and compare both domestic and international agencies in order to secure reputable services at the most cost-effective pricing.

Dedicated Services
Outsourcing to a professional SEO agency ensures a dedicated commitment to the promotion of the company without sacrificing in-house resources. These resources will be best used preparing the back-end operation to receive the increased traffic and sales that will occur over time.  Opt to receive reports from the agency in order to plan for ramping up operations in line with SEO progress.

Professional SEO Strategies
Strategy is at the very core of search engine optimization.  The most effective strategies are born out of a combination of expertise and optimal implementation.  SEO agencies can supply both, as well as the ability to keep track of and forecast changes in the field.  In this time of unprecedented technological change, an SEO agency is poised to shift strategies commensurate with technology. They also keep the client informed of any new trends that will impact other business strategies as well.

Professional Tools and Analytics
It is the business of SEO agencies to possess all of the state-of-the-art content marketing,  analytic and reporting  tools necessary to provide their clients with optimal results. Their expertise also affords their clients with the tools that address their specific promotional needs. There is no way a small business, absent a fully equipped SEO division, could replicate these benefits without a greater expenditure of time and money.

Access To Learning SEO Standards and Best Practices
Learning is a key component in the success of any business enterprise.  A part of hiring a professional SEO agency is the knowledge that can be garnered about the best standards and practices in the field.

As owners know the story of their own business and industry, the SEO agency is knowledgeable in how to best implement SEO across a number of industries.  The client also benefits from learning what works and what doesn’t work for their particular field without experiencing the pain involved in trial and error processes.  The learning curve is expanded with the professional feedback received from SEO experts.  As the company grows and readies itself to take over some or all of the SEO responsibilities, the existing agency relationship can serve as a continuing learning resource.

For those of us who are not accountants, preparing budgets is one of those I-would-rather-be-hung- by-my-thumbs exercises. Even when an accountant is engaged, it is still dependent upon the owner and department heads to address the line items in need of budgeting. Both entities tend to budget for items they prioritize and underfund or even leave by the wayside those items they consider to be of lesser value.

Traditionally, marketing is one of the line items that is not fully appreciated, especially in a sales driven enterprise. Sales people tend to believe that they can sell without marketing and marketing people believe that sales are the end result of effective marketing. As a marketing professional myself, I hold the latter to be true.

This opinion is especially valid when it comes to content marketing for a business with an online presence. It is virtually impossible to sell a product or service online without a content marketing strategy. Inherent within this strategy is planning for search engine optimization (SEO). It is not enough to merely post a website. Budgeting for driving traffic to the site is essential for the sales process to take place.

In most cases, the more knowledgeable someone is about a budgetary line item, the more value it holds for them and the other way round. Except for an IT savvy business owner, or in-house IT department, there are few within an organization who fully understand the function of SEO and therefore how critical it is to achieving online sales.

The following are a few reasons why budgeting for outsourcing to SEO professionals is important to the success of an online business.

1.  How Do I Find Thee? Let Me Count The Ways

What would happen if a traditional brick and mortar business opened up a store or office in the middle of nowhere and did not let anyone know where they were? Nothing, that’s what would happen, no foot traffic, no calls, no sales. Now, if a business launches a website and does not let anyone know how they can be found, the same thing happens…Nothing. The value of search engine optimization is as simple making it easier for people to find a business online. How it works is far more complex and is best left to professional SEO agencies.

2.  Keyword Rich Content

Content marketing relies on how the written or spoken word is best constructed to influence consumer response. This includes content that brings value to both the consumer and the business. For the business, this incorporates employing keywords that have the greatest impact on SEO. Keywords are the fuel that drive search engines and allows for higher SEO page rankings. This includes the keywords chosen for the website domain name, page names and associated industry categories. If these were not considerations in developing the original site, then a current review of the site by a professional may be warranted. If you want a website to perform like a premium vehicle, you do not fill it with economy grade fuel. Content marketing and keywords also come into play in developing adjunct sites such as social media and blogs. In these matters, professionals are worth the investment in achieving premium results.

3.  An Investment In The Future

Change is the one constant in conducting business online. The technology is going to change, but it is never going away, so budgeting for outsourcing to professionals in areas that are neither fully understood nor addressed within a company, yet critical to company success, is a wise move for the present, as well as the future. It is more advantageous to approach budgeting for SEO professionals over the long term so that the funds will be available for whenever changes occur in optimization techniques. Companies who had already budgeted for SEO were financially poised to hire or continue to fund professionals to take charge of the social media phenomenon.

Any savvy business owner knows the key to success is a sound understanding of not only the products or services they provide, but also the environment in which they face their competitors.  With the public’s voracious appetite for online sales, social media, and tailor-made discounts, the most visible sites are those which flourish.  An aggressive SEO strategy and the budget to fund it helps even the smallest small-business Davids of the world face down  their particular Goliaths.