editor, Author at Mediastreet

In News

When You’re Stumped in a Meeting, Here’s Why You Shouldn’t Say ‘That’s a Great Question’

March 18, 2020 No Comments

Try these 10 practical and thoughtful responses instead, which help you stall for time–until you can get it right.

Whether you’re a startup, a new leader, or a seasoned professional taking on new responsibilities, you’re trying to master every aspect of your business. But you can’t have all the answers. No one does. Even so, the thought of getting bombarded with questions from clients or prospects that you can’t answer quickly and intelligently probably keeps you up at night, and it doesn’t get better the next morning.

Theoretical physicist Richard Feynman once remarked, “I would rather have questions that can’t be answered than answers that can’t be questioned.” (That certainly sounds like something a theoretical physicist might say, doesn’t it?) And while the sentiment is sound–that we should strive to be both curious and challenging about our questions and answers–if you’re facing questions in a meeting or a presentation, you may need a more practical approach.

While you may have already prepared thoughtful responses to the most common questions, there’s the chance a client could ask something you couldn’t have anticipated. (Or, you could have anticipated it, but didn’t). When that happens, you’re going to need to buy yourself a few seconds to collect your thoughts–and your emotions.

In my decades of work as a communication and presentation skills coach, I have found most people use the same phrase to do this: “That’s a great question.” But that’s not a great response. Here’s why:

1. It’s a reflex.

People say “that’s a great question” in the same way my Uber driver says, “Have a safe flight,” when she drops me at the airport, and I reflexively respond with “You too!” My Uber driver is not taking a flight, so my answer makes no sense. Your audience will quickly pick up on the fact that you’re saying it after every question, without thinking. And that detracts from your credibility and likability.

2. You may offend someone.

Imagine that you respond, “That’s a great question!” to the first three people who ask a question, and then don’t say it to the fourth person. He or she may think: “Wait a second. Why wasn’t my question a great question too?”

3. It’s not true.

Yes, some questions are great. But many may be irrelevant, premature, unclear, pointless, hostile, confusing, or personal statements in the form of a question. While you don’t have to opine on the quality of each question (especially aloud), don’t call a question a great one if it isn’t.

So, what can you say in response to a question that will allow you a short stall? Here are 10 thoughtful replies:

“I’ve given that question a lot of thought…”
“I haven’t thought about it from that perspective. But through that lens…”
“I’m so excited that you asked that!”
“We love that question around here, and here’s why…”
“This question keeps us up at night, too.”
“That’s a very timely question because…”
“Can you give me a little more context for that question?”
“There’s more than one way to answer that, but for now, let me share the simplest answer…”
“I need a moment to think about that.”
“You raise a thoughtful question that calls for a thoughtful answer. May I take some time to think this through and get back to you?”

A great question is one that helps you and your clients build trust, credibility, connection, new awareness, and fresh insight. When you avoid answering solely based on reflex, you can save “that’s a great question” for the ones that truly are.

Feature Image Credit: Getty Images

By Deborah Grayson Riegel

Sourced from Inc.

In News

What the Hell Is That Device, and Is It Spying on You? This App Might Have the Answer

March 18, 2020 No Comments

Sourced from Vice.

Since companies won’t secure the internet of broken things, researchers are trying to educate consumers as to the security and privacy risks.

There’s really no escaping the internet of broken things.

On any given day, Americans connect thousands of internet-enabled devices to the internet, despite repeated warnings from cybersecurity experts that such devices often lack even the most rudimentary privacy and security protections.

The results haven’t been pretty. From “smart” televisions that hoover up your living room conversations to webcams that can be hacked and used in DDoS attacks in a matter of seconds, the problem is monumental. And it’s enabled by companies that routinely prioritize profits over consumer privacy, security, or the well being of the internet.

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have released a beta of an app they hope can address some of these problems. Dubbed the The Internet of Things (IoT) Assistant, (iOS, Android) the app will scan any unidentified IOT nearby, tell you what they do, and guide you toward the ability to opt out of data collection (assuming such an option exists).

IOT devices are often designed with little to no end user transparency into what devices do once they’re connected to the internet. Studies have shown IOT devices routinely collect far more data than consumers realize, then sell and share that data with a laundry list of companies.

One recent study showed a popular IOT camera made contact with 52 unique global IP address destinations when transmitting data, while one Samsung television made contact with 30 different IP addresses. Some of these points of contact are innocuous, and some aren’t. Few are revealed to consumers, and often the data isn’t secure in transit.

“Many people do a pretty poor job disclosing what data they collect and what they do with it,” Professor Norman Sadeh, a CyLab faculty member in Carnegie Mellon’s Institute for Software Research told Motherboard. “Sometimes this is intentional, sometimes it’s due to a lack of expertise, and sometimes it’s a combination—privacy engineering is challenging.”

Some efforts, like Princeton’s open source IOT Inspector, have tried to help consumers take a closer look at IOT device traffic itself in a bid to see what’s collected and where it’s sent.

Sadeh says his group’s new app takes a different approach.

“We don’t rely on scanning in this release,” Sadeh said. “In general, it’s not sufficient—especially when the traffic is encrypted, which ideally would always be the case. Even if traffic is unencrypted—which is a red flag—this will not tell you how long the data is retained.”

Instead, the new app relies on a database compiled by volunteers, cybersecurity experts, and companies trying to simplify compliance with new privacy legislation like the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) or Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

“People need to be informed about what data is collected about them and they need to be given some choices over these processes,” Sadeh said. “We have built an infrastructure that enables owners of IoT technologies to comply with these laws, and an app that takes advantage of this infrastructure to empower people to find out about and control data collected by these technologies.”

Sadeh said such solutions are particularly important in bringing some transparency to the ever expanding use of IOT surveillance in public areas, where signs will sometimes inform the public they’re being watched, but little else.

“These signs tell you nothing about what is being done with your footage, how long it’s going to be retained, whether or not it uses facial recognition, or with whom this is going to be shared,” Sadeh said. He’s hopeful his app, once the database is fleshed out, can help fix that.

Sadeh’s team at Carnegie Mellon aren’t the only ones trying to address the IOT problem. Consumer Reports has also been building an set of open source standards to include privacy and security issues in product reviews, letting consumers avoid dubious products before they even have a chance to make it into your home.

Sourced from Vice.

In News

To boost subscribers and ad revenue, publishers should grow social media followers

March 16, 2020 No Comments

Sourced from WNIP What’s New In Publishing

Social media has quickly become one of the most valuable ways for people to discover and engage with sites they love.

Whether you measure your social media following through the number of Twitter follows, YouTube subscribers, Facebook likes or other social metrics, having a loyal group staying connected to your website or brand is essential to growing Average Revenue Per Visitor (ARPV) and Lifetime Value (LTV).

Check out some of the reasons that the value of social followers is critical to growing digital publisher audiences, subscribers and revenue.

You will have a consistent presence in front of your target audience

Social media followers have already shown an interest in your site, which gives you an audience of people who want to read your content and learn more about the products and services you offer, including articles, newsletters, digital subscriptions and more.

In fact, consumers who are brand loyal are most likely to engage with the company through social media.

According to MarketingSherpa, 95% of consumers aged 18-34 will follow companies or brands they love through their social media outlets.

To keep your audience engaged and make them loyal followers, you want to make sure that you consistently post to keep their interest.

Your content can reach an exponential audience

One of the beauties of social media is that information can be shared with a simple click. Your social followers become part of your marketing campaign by re-posting content on their feeds and sharing it with other users.

This can help you grow your readers since they are most likely to forward the information to others they think will be interested as well.

If done well, one simple post can be circulated numerous times and for months to come, all for little cost to the company.

Followers are more likely to have higher conversion rates

The ultimate goal of any marketing campaign is to turn leads into customers, and for publishers, this means turning those followers into active subscribers.

By them following your company on social media, you have already achieved the most important first step to conversion, which is interest and engagement.

By following you on social media, they have shown that they like your content and what you have to say, and becoming a subscriber is likely the next logical step.

Social media is here to stay

Even though social media marketing has been around for a long time, and there are numerous competitors vying for attention, it is and will continue to be one of the most widely used digital platforms that can reach a large audience in a short amount of time.

According to We Are Social, there are more than 3.84 billion social media users active in 2020, which is an increase of 288 million since January 2019. It is also estimated that a large portion of users will spend an average of two and a half hours each day interacting with social media — finding your content or your competitor’s.

For digital publishers, this means a significant time frame to capture their audience’s attention every day.

Michael Yeon, VP Marketing, Admiral

Sourced from WNIP What’s New In Publishing

In News

1000 Infographics Templates Presentations

March 16, 2020 No Comments

Sourced from weandthecolor.com

Download 1000 infographics templates for Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop or presentation software such as Powerpoint, Keynote, and Google Slides.

Today we are glad to present to you another outstanding bundle of infographics templates designed by Oleksii Kolosov. Equipped with 1000 fully editable infographics, this bundle includes everything you need to create business reports, presentations as well as other diagrams and charts. The infographics can be edited using professional graphic design tools such as Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator. They are also well suited for presentation tools such as Powerpoint, Keynote, and Google Slides. If you download the bundle today, you get free lifetime updates.

This amazing bundle includes Parallax slides, abstract infographics, flowcharts, cycle infographics, isometric illustrations, line infographics, medical infographics, ecological presentation templates, arrows, diagrams, maps, minimalist graphics, business infographic presentations, doodle infographics, puzzle infographics, photo slides presentations, timeline infographic presentations, and flat animated illustrations. For further information, just click on the following link.

Download at Creative Market.

Download at Creative Market.

Do not hesitate to browse through our Templates category to find other graphics. In addition, you can find lots of inspiring projects in our Graphic Design category.

Sourced from weandthecolor.com

In News

12 low-cost business ideas for introverts

March 16, 2020 No Comments

By Rose Leadem.

If you identify as an introvert and are interested in your own low-cost startup, you could be an ideal candidate for starting your own business.Introverts are powerful in their own right. They are productive thinkers with strong opinions who can achieve much. Despite what the media says — often stereotyping them as “shy” or “socially awkward” — introverts can make great business leaders and entrepreneurs. In fact, many successful business leaders are introverts, including Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and Warren Buffett.

At least one-third of all Americans are introverts, says Susan Cain, author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking and the leading voice today on lost opportunities when undervaluing introverts.

“They are the ones who prefer listening to speaking, reading to partying; who innovate and create but dislike self-promotion; who favor working on their own over brainstorming in teams,” she says.

Here’s a list of 12 low-cost business ideas under $1,000 to get you on your way.

Tech-related services

Graphic designer

Startup costs: up to $1,000

Equipment: computer, design software

For highly creative and visual introverts, freelance graphic design can be a great way to make a living. With digital businesses on the rise, demand is higher than ever.

Jacob Cass is a graphic designer who started design business Just Creative in 2012. Solving clients’ business problems through visual communication such as creating logos, websites, stationery and marketing materials are only some of the many projects he undertakes on a daily basis.

“Web design can be self-taught — that’s how I learned,” Cass says. “You need to know software to do this, but most importantly you need to understand the principles of design as well as understand clients needs, not wants.”

It’s simple to get started. Cass registered his company with the government as a sole proprietorship, then began reaching out to clients. Both tasks that can be done from your computer. Other than acquiring certain software such as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign, startup costs were minimal, he says.

Coder

Startup costs: up to $1,000

Equipment: computer, training courses

Detail-oriented and meticulous, introverts make excellent coders. The combination of patience and focus makes coding a great option for an introvert seeking self-employment. Because coding is such a niche skillset, there is high demand for freelance coders, and much of the work can be done from the comfort of your home.

It gets better. There is an abundance of free resources online such as Code Academyand Udemy where you can educate yourself. Also General Assembly offers one-shot classes and intensive six to 12 week training sessions online and in-class for a cost ranging from $140 to $3,500 — that’s what jumpstarted coder Yin Mei’s career.

Mei enrolled herself in a 12-week General Assembly Bootcamp where she developed the necessary skills to become a front-end developer. (Front-end development is the part of a website that you can see and interact with like fonts, drop-down menus, buttons, contact forms and other aesthetics of a site.) It requires fluency in HTML, CSS and JavaScript, plus coders should know front-end frameworks such as AngularJS and ReactJC.

To the contrary, back-end development refers to the “server-side” — basically everything you can’t see on a website. It operates the site with updates and changes made on the front-end. If it’s back-end developing you’re looking for, Java, Scala and Python are the primary languages. And don’t let those technical words scare you off.

“If you are a functional human being, you will be able to learn to code,” Mei says.

Related: Low Cost Business Ideas

Online retail consigner

Startup costs: up to $1,000

Equipment: digital camera, computer

Passion for fashion? Or just own way too many clothes you don’t need anymore? Rather than hoarding those unused belongings in your closet — or trashing them — sell them online. Online consignment offers introverts a great opportunity to make money through a completely virtual process. Today there are a number of online platforms — such as The RealReal, Tradesy and ThredUp — specific for selling your unwanted clothing, jewelry and accessories.

Linda Lightman, an eBay seller of 15 years, built an e-consignment empire, Linda’s Stuff, which currently brings in $25 million a year. She began her online career by simply selling her son’s old video games, eventually moving to items in her closet and later selling items for friends.

It only took passion and a can-do attitude for Lightman to start her business, now operated out of a 93,000-square-foot office space in Hatboro, Pennsylvania. “I was always so passionate about fashion and for me it was a no-brainer,” she tells Daily Mail.

Startup materials? You will need a computer and a camera to take photos of your clothing. The rest is easy. Do your research, pick a great user ID or name for your shop, using quality images and vivid descriptions of what you’re selling and providing online customer service. And once you get the hang of it, you’ll be able to start selling for others too!

Instagram consultant

Startup costs: $100 to $500

Equipment: smartphone with a good digital camera

Social media doesn’t necessarily mean “social.” Many businesses today have abandoned traditional marketing methods and taken to social media networks such as the ever-popular Instagram to promote their products and services. A majority of companies may not be well-versed in this new marketing technique, which is why outsourcing an Instagram consultant is often a great option.

Instagram consultant Emelina Spinelli helps firms grow a sustainable Instagram following and influence. She’s passionate about the photo app and providing resources for others to learn about this unique and extremely popular social channel, which has over 1 billion users worldwide.

Like Spinelli, if you have a love of Instagram, knowledge of basic marketing and simply, motivation, Instagram consulting can be a great path for you. You’ll be able to monetize these skills by charging a flat rate per project or by the hour. Market and promote your services online, blog on other related sites providing free tips (don’t give all the secrets away) and, ironically, using social media channels, build a following and reach out to businesses or individuals. All of which will come with little to no startup costs.

Writing service

Writer/copy writer

Startup costs: up to $1,000

Equipment: computer

You don’t need to be a best-selling author to craft a compelling narrative. If you’ve got the drive, copywriting is a great option for many introverts. Megan Hill has been a freelance copywriter for 13 years. She’s written for a number of publications, from Upscale Living Magazine to Forbes Travel Guide.

Although freelance writing doesn’t require a formal education, it does require a certain level of motivation. Networking and marketing are key to get your name out there and pick up projects, which Hill was able to do mostly online by creating a website and social media accounts.

“[Being] driven, focused, organized and able to go with the flow,” are what it takes to become a good copywriter, Hill explains. For a writing career that exists almost entirely online, costs are minimal, she adds.

Online blogger

Startup costs: up to $1,000

Equipment: computer

Have a specific interest but don’t know how to make money from it? Blog about it!

Many successful entrepreneurs have found success in blogging. As a marketing blogger and owner of Fluxe Digital Marketing, Joel Widmer says that writing, editing, copywriting and marketing are requirements for a successful blogger. It helps to have good content marketing skills, such as knowing how to create content that will engage readers and meet your client’s goal and knowing how much content to give away — and Google analytic skills too — if you want to be a marketing blogger like Widmer.

All you really need is a computer and good internet connection to start. Today, there are plenty of platforms (mostly free too) that will basically build your blog for you — all you have to do is add information about who you are and what your blog is about and start writing.

To build a strong client list, Widmer recommends blogging for other people and companies for free. Once you’ve developed deep personal connections with these people and/or brands — which introverts are naturally inclined to do — you’ll grow your network and can begin charging as a contributing blogger for others’ sites.

Technical writer

Startup costs: up to $1,000

Equipment: computer

As naturally deep thinkers with the tendency to connect things in their minds, introverts who have a good understanding of technology make great technical writers. Amy Winkler, a technical writer for more than 18 years, in 1999 helped launch Alva Consulting, Inc., a firm for technical and business communications. Winkler says that a day for her can consist of writing content for software user guides, online help, FAQ’s, job aids and instructional designs.

If you can write, interview subject matter experts, be organized and have flexibility, then you have the potential to be a great technical writer, Winkler says. There’s no specific academic route to develop skills as a technical writer except writing and the ability to pick up technology software quickly.

Winkler, who’s had much success as a technical writer, went to business school. Freelance technical writers are highly sought after in a variety of company, from Fortune 500 companies to smaller technology startups, most are willing to pay big bucks.

Fashion and the arts

Landscape photographer

Startup costs: up to $1,000

Equipment: high-quality digital camera

Landscape photography takes focus and observation, qualities many introverts naturally embody. Opportunities for a landscape photographer can be enormous, and there’s immense room for learning. There are a number of ways to generate income from being a photographer: shooting for websites or publications, selling prints or usage rights of your images or, if you’re skilled enough, offering classes to other aspiring photographers.

Today, the internet makes it easy as ever to market your services. Jason Benjamin has been a fashion and wedding photographer for six years and has run his own company, Wedding Headline, for four. He markets his services on social media, a great way for introverts to build a client list.

“Anyone can be a photographer, depending on your level of creativity. … I am completely self taught,” Benjamin says. “I went to school for software engineering to write code. I taught myself everything I know about photography using YouTube.”

The steps to create his business were simple: coming up with a name and purchasing an LLC. Although equipment can be expensive, there are alternative ways to keep down costs — renting equipment and studio space is a viable way to save money in the beginning.

Related:

Music teacher

Startup costs: up to $100

Equipment: musical instrument, sheet music

Stick to something you know and love. You’ve spent years — maybe decades — of your life developing your skills as a musician. So why not make money while doing it?

That’s what musician-turned-music teacher Kaila McIntyre-Bader did. After getting her bachelor’s degree in music, this music lover took her fine-tuned talents to the classroom, where she taught private lessons as well as voice and flute classes at Red House Studios, a music school, concert venue and recording studio based out of Walnut Creek, California.

Teaching and creativity are the main components of being an excellent music teacher. As an introvert, using personal knowledge to help others and developing deep one-on-one relationships with students and peers is a major strength. By creating individualized curricula for each student and asking them about their goals, McIntyre-Bader helps students “achieve the level of musicianship they desire.”

As a musician, it’s likely you already have the instruments and gear you need to jumpstart your teaching career. Startup costs are limited, according to McIntyre-Bader. For the most part, all you would be paying for is gas driving to and from students’ homes, or you can simply teach out of your own home.

Consulting services and education

Business and life counselor

Startup costs: up to $1,000

Equipment: life coach certification (not required)

Introverts are great at listening to and empathizing with people. Author of The Successful Introvert: How to Enhance Your Job Search and Advance Your Career Wendy Gelberg says introverts tend to have a calm demeanor, they think before they act and speak and they use analysis and thought to add an important dimension to any situation. Their ability to internalize events and closely listen to others make them great for a career in consulting.

Business and life coach Val Nelson began her self-employment journey in 2009 by coaching people to thrive in business as well improve their lives. As an introvert herself, her listening and empathy skills drove her decision to help others. Nelson chose to get life-coach training, which took her six months and cost her around $5,000 — something she recommends — although you are not required by law to get certification to call yourself a “life coach.”

“Good coaching training combined with strong business experience” is what it takes to excel as a successful life coach, explains Nelson, who adds that the “overhead for a coaching business can be fairly low.”

Another plus: most coaches work solely through the phone or online with their clients — a setting that most introverts thrive in.

College application advisor

Startup costs: up to $1,000

Equipment: computer

Rather than working in groups, introverts typically prefer to build deeper one-on-one connections with individuals. Often possessing an ability to provide thoughtful advice through planning and research, an introvert makes an excellent college application advisor.

Gael Casner has been an independent educational consultant for 14 years through her business, College Find. Helping students explore educational options, creating college lists for students, reviewing admissions essays and helping students narrow their options to make a final decision are only a few of the things Casner does on a daily basis.

She develops relationships with parents and students, and spends much of her time researching colleges and industry trends. Like Casner, if you do your research as well as get to know the strengths of your students, you’ll be able to successfully guide them toward their future while generating some income for yourself.

A quick way to find clients is to tap into some school networks in your area and get your name out there. It starts with a simple email. Setting up a time to meet with the local principal of some schools and faculty members to introduce yourself and your services will help build your credibility and rapport with parents, plus create partnerships with schools for referrals.

Online tutor

Startup costs: up to $1,000

Equipment: computer

Creating your own online tutoring business is a great way to explore your intelligence and provide assistance to others. Carl Arnold is an online tutor helping middle and high school students develop composition skills, as well as assisting with application essays for aspiring college students.

You too could hone in on your academic specialties and use them to teach and guide students. Arnold communicates with students through phone, Skype or email, so for those introverts who thrive in a virtual medium, this career path could be a great option.

With fees ranging from $65 to $80 an hour depending on a student’s needs — sought-after SAT and standardized testing tutors can charge up to $150 an hour — you can charge per session or offer a package deal, which also covers the costs of materials.

This article first appeared on Entrepreneur.

By Rose Leadem

Sourced from Ladders

In News

What happens if you stop doing SEO?

March 13, 2020 No Comments

By John E Lincoln

The ugly truth is that it’s hard to reverse momentum once a website starts going in the wrong direction.

Often, businesses want to stop and start SEO.

Some feel that taking a break won’t cause any issues.

But when a client suggests taking a break, you can explain the details of what will happen.

If you stop posting content correctly

When you stop publishing content, the following things happen:

You stop targeting new terms consistently. This results in fewer new keyword rankings and new traffic.
You stop creating new pages that can be linked to, and the number of links you earn goes down.
You stop capturing new visitors to add to your remarketing audiences, email list and push notification list.
You stop generating content that can be used to create hub pages, which are master pages that link to all other pages on the topic. These often rank very well.
You stop generating content that gets shared on social media, and thus, generates social media shares and traffic.
You stop encouraging people to return to your website for new posts. This reduces your branded searches, which are an indicator of quality to Google.

Overall, if you stop creating content, it says to Google that your website is no longer as active as it was and thus beginning the process of dying a slow death.

If you don’t watch for technical issues

Those without web experience often don’t understand that from a technical perspective, things often break for no real reason.

I’ve never seen a website that did not have at least a handful of technical SEO issues.

If you don’t monitor the technical aspects of your site, issues such as the following could arise:

You block your website with robots.txt.
You generate duplicate content.
You accidentally push your development site into the index.

You can read more about common technical issues here.

When you don’t monitor these things and fix them consistently, they start to add up. Think of it as a garden – it takes maintenance, or it starts to become overgrown.

It is incredibly important to stay technically correct, especially with new developments such as mobile usability, page speed, AMP and more.

If you don’t, you are sure to have an error at some point that will cost you down the line. Similarly, your tech stack will become so out of date that you can no longer compete in the market.

If you stop refreshing pages

When you refresh a page correctly, traffic will generally increase to that page 10% to 30%, sometimes more.

The reason for this is because Google sees the new text and the value it provides and wants to rank it higher.

Now, there are many ways to go about doing refreshes. Some of those include:

Adding FAQs to the page
Adding links to other articles
Updating facts
Updating dates
Making the text longer
Adding schema
Changing a page template
Etc.

Lately, the most important thing to look for when refreshing a page is whether or not it matches search intent, and if the page in question is better than the #1 ranking page.

My process includes doing a search, categorizing the query based on intent, analyzing the top pages, creating a new strategy for the page we are trying to get ranked, and refreshing as a result of that.

If you stop building new pages

Building new pages are harder for some industries than others.

For example, when I worked with a few firms in the outsources accounting space, the lower funnel terms were minimal. If you compare that to a large e-commerce site like Amazon, its terms are endless.

While that is the case, I believe websites should always be targeting new terms and organizing them by segment. Those segments should be prioritized based on business goals and tracked in a dashboard.

But if you stop building new pages, you’ll lose keyword growth momentum.

I highly recommend creating these pages for SEO, but additionally, these new pages can be excellent landing pages for paid search and paid media, in general.

As a website grows, it’s a great idea to create more landing pages that target specific keywords and audiences. This will improve quality score on the page side and conversion rates all around.

If you stop this process, you’ll lose your competitive advantage. The people who win in the future of the web will be the ones converting traffic for less.

If you stop watching out for bad links

If you stop doing SEO, your backlink profile can get out of control.

Lately, spammy links are worse than ever before.

When you watch your backlinks, you will see the following happen:

People scrape your website content and keep the links in by accident.
You get Google alerts from sites hacked by malware.
Competitors try to do negative SEO on your site.

If you don’t update your disavow file once a month, you are putting your website rankings at risk. Lately, we have been doing it weekly for clients in competitive spaces.

If you stop watching out for stolen content

Go to your top landing page on your website right now.

Copy a block of text about three sentences long.

Put that text in quotes and search for it in Google. What do you see?

I’ll bet some of you will see other websites coming up for that content. Some might have even stolen from your website.

Now, think about the impact that can have if it happens across multiple pages on your site. Honestly, it can be devastating. Many times we find others have wholly duplicated a website, stolen key pages, or taken individual sections of a page.

When this happens, you need to address it.

Rewrite the content on your site.
Ask the other site to take it down.
File a DMCA on them if needed.
Consider sending them a cease and desist.
Sometimes, you can contact the hosting company and ask them to remove the site.

Regardless, if you stop watching for stolen content, it could have an extremely negative effect on your business and rankings. This is something you need to catch right away.

Bottom line: Why you should not stop doing SEO

Obviously, you’re not going to stop doing SEO. We all know it is an amazing asset to improve search ranking and help your business grow. The work you do to create and update content along with the technical issues that are easily solved if they’re on your radar, all improve your bottom line. But you also need to ensure you are compliant with privacy regulations if you wish to remain on top.

The ugly truth is that it’s hard to reverse momentum once a website starts going in the wrong direction. I am a firm believer that all things online should be scaled as the business grows, SEO included.

By John E Lincoln

Sourced from searchengineland.com

In Uncategorized

Video: Marketers discuss challenges around technology, scaling-up and more

March 13, 2020 No Comments

Sourced from DIGIDAY

For brand marketers, the still-new year brings new opportunities and new priorities alike. Changes in platforms and measurement are keeping some execs on their toes, while others remain restless over ROI and attribution.

At the Digiday Brand Summit in Scottsdale, Arizona, we asked five prominent marketers about what’s keeping them up at night. Their concerns ranged, but one thing remained consistent: these marketers are ready to tackle these worries head-on.

Here are some highlights:

Rachel Finley, content & community strategist at Hero Cosmetics, is kept awake by concerns about scale, particularly with influencer marketing. It’s one thing to maintain personal relationships and a level of intimacy with a set number of people — but what happens when that number goes from 100 to 1,000?
Antonia Hock, global head of the Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center, wants to see a world in which business leaders better understand their power. She discusses people at brands and companies that simply punch in and punch out, and says that’s a waste of human energy.
Ben Conniff, co-founder and CMO of Luke’s Lobster, names communication as his chief concern. He says he wants to ensure that all of his teams are moving toward the same goal — a constant challenge for a business that’s growing in multiple verticals.
David Zane, managing director, marketing, NASCAR, stays up thinking about emerging platforms. He says the goalposts are always moving, and so it’s up to marketers to stay ahead and determine what constitutes success.
Erica Chan, strategy and operations, North America B2B at Alibaba Group, says her team operates like a startup: that means worrying about prioritization and ROI. Being able to attribute cause and effect is difficult — and figuring out how to make that case compellingly is what keeps her up at night.

Sourced from DIGIDAY

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3 Simple Digital Marketing Strategies to Transform Your Business

March 13, 2020 No Comments

By AJ Cassata.

A great product isn’t enough to create a successful business – what turns a business into an empire requires an excellent product combined with exceptional marketing.

Thanks to the Internet, it’s easier now more than ever to get a brand or startup in front of target customers.

With all of the free distribution tools like social media platforms, the playing field is equal now! You don’t need significant media connections or large upfront investment to advertise your brand like you would 40 years ago.

Although marketing & communicating with potential customers has never been easier, most businesses still struggle with this. They never seem to get the traction they want online, while some companies see amazing results from online marketing efforts.

What makes a difference is having the right strategy & approach.

The tools to help your business grow are out there, but you need to know how to use them. You need to understand how these platforms work and how to make them work for your business – and if you don’t, hire someone who does!

Digital marketing strategy development can be a bit overwhelming due to the abundance of options you have. Sometimes it seems like a new social media platform or revolutionary software pops up every day!

For the past five years, I’ve been helping other entrepreneurs scale their business, and I’ve seen what works and what doesn’t across dozens of industries. I’ve created & managed campaigns on tons of different platforms & social media channels. Through all of my experimentation, I’ve learned a lot.

In hopes of simplifying digital marketing while giving some actionable steps you can execute on, I want to layout 3 strategies that work across the board in any industry. These strategies will work regardless of if you’re a brand new startup or a 7-8 figure company.

The 3 Strategies That Work Across The Board

Google Ads
Facebook Advertising
Automation In The Sales Process

To help you understand how these strategies work in a real-world setting, I’ll walk you through how we applied them for one of our clients, a naturopathic medicine clinic in Arizona.

We helped the clinic max out its sales capacity. After implementing the three strategies just mentioned and nothing else, the clinic became so busy to the point where the soonest patients could book an appointment was three weeks. That’s an excellent problem to have, isn’t it?

On average, our online marketing campaigns had resulted in an additional 60-80 new client consultations per month for a Stem Cell Therapy service that’s worth $6000-8000 in revenue to the clinic – and that’s just upfront revenue, that’s not including the life-time value of the client.

Digital marketing can also do more for a business than make money – aside from helping to skyrocket sales of this business, we also lowered costs and helped to streamline operations & patient communications.

Our digital marketing campaigns had become such a stable source of new client acquisition that the clinic was able to stop spending on TV & radio advertising, which saved about $5000 a month in advertising expenses.

Like many companies, the clinic also had an inefficient & unorganized sales process, which cost the staff and the business owner extra time & expense.

By introducing automation to the business & its operations, we were able to organize their client communication process, reduce the work-load for the front-office staff, and alleviate pressure on the whole team. As a result, they could focus more on taking care of the patients, and less time on follow-up and scheduling.

So, let’s dive into these strategies so you can replicate the same success into your business!

Google Pay Per Click Ads

Placing ads on Google is extremely useful, as you can get in front of users with a high intent to purchase your product/service.

You pay to advertise on certain search-terms & phrases that your target customer enters into Google – this means that you get in front of the people that are already searching for the solution your business provides.

This is the low-hanging fruit, and where you should start. When my agency is onboarding a new client, nine times out of 10, we begin by rolling out campaigns on Google. The prospects you’ll find from Google ads are the farthest down the buyers’ journey and the closest to making a decision.

These people are already aware of the problem they have and the solution they need.

In the medical clinic’s case, we bid on terms like “Stem Cell Therapy In Scottsdale.”

Somebody who’s performing that search already knows what Stem Cell Therapy is, and they are likely familiar with what it costs, and they are just looking for the best provider.

A big part of marketing is about being in the right place at the right time, and that’s exactly what Google can do for you.

The beautiful thing about Google Ads is that you only pay when someone clicks – so your marketing dollars are only being spent towards people that are interested in your service or product.

However, you have to watch your costs to remain profitable. Before we were hired, the clinic ran campaigns on Google and was paying about $5 for each click. After we audited the account and performed optimizations, we were able to get the Cost-Per-Click down to between $1.50-$2.00, roughly a 70% decrease in cost!

A few tweaks to your campaigns can make a huge difference, which is why you must know what you are doing before you put your credit card in and start launching ads.

Facebook Pay Per Click Ads

With over 3 billion active users, Facebook is an excellent option for just about any business. Similar to Google, due to the sheer size, you’ll be sure that your target market is on Facebook.

Coming from a marketer’s perspective, I can say that Facebook has the most advanced advertising platform & AI, and when you learn the ins and outs of the ads manager, you can make magic happen to your business.

The benefit of Facebook is the hyper-targeting. Great marketing requires substantial targeting. Think about this – you wouldn’t be able to sell meat to a vegetarian, no matter how good your meat is. Getting your ads placed in front of the right people is arguably an essential part of any marketing campaign.

With Facebook, you can create your hyper-specific audience and hone in on your ideal customer. Facebook allows you to select parameters of who you want to see your ads. For example, you can choose based on demographics like income, age, gender, location, and psychographics like interests & personality.

For our medical clinic client, we were promoting a very niche service – Stem Cell Therapy & Bio-Identical Hormone Therapy. The doctor we worked with did not want us to promote everything his clinic offers; he wanted us to help promote those two services so that he could stand out in his local market as a specialist in those areas.

We were able to run particular ad campaigns to different market segments to promote Stem Cell Therapy, such as athletes, golfers, 60+-year-old men & women, even people who are considering getting a knee replacement. Regenerative Medicine is expensive as well, and to prevent people that couldn’t afford the service from booking consultations, we limited the ads to only show to people in the top 25% of income based on zip codes. This level of targeting just isn’t available with other forms of advertising!

Automation In The Sales Process

Facebook & Google are excellent platforms that help to drive traffic & leads for your business or startup, no matter the industry. However, gaining attention is just the first step! Once you have campaigns running & generating leads, now you have to convert those leads into customers! Leads don’t grow a business, sales do.

The medical clinic we worked with, like most businesses, had a sales process that needed much improvement. Lots of leads were coming in, but the clinic didn’t have enough staff to follow up with new inquires and leads consistently.

So, we implemented two new technologies into the business to solve this problem – email follow up, & an online scheduling system.

Before this client had hired my agency, he was having his front office staff call any leads that came in, to schedule appointments. We decided to eliminate this step – when it comes to your sales process, the more steps you have, the more opportunities there are for your leads to drop-off and lose contact.

We found that most of the leads the clinic was paying to generate, were never even getting in contact to schedule a consultation. The front office staff was too busy to follow up with every single lead coming in, which means the business was wasting money on all of the leads that didn’t convert.

To fix this, we created a funnel that directed all of the incoming leads to an online scheduling system, where the prospects could directly book an appointment with the doctor, instead of waiting for the front office to call and schedule them.

Not only did this take a load off of the staff and help the lead conversion flow, but it also made for better customer experience.

We also implemented automated email follow up, which would email the leads every day for three days after signing up for a consultation, to remind them to schedule online, and remind them to show up on time for their appointment.

As you can see, digital marketing can help your business with more than the front-end process of getting awareness, traffic, & leads. These technologies available to us can help convert your leads into customers, make your entire sales process more efficient, free up-staff time, and improve your customer experience.

In conclusion, digital marketing can seem a little daunting with all of the different strategies we hear experts preach, and with all of the different platforms, it’s hard to know where to even begin. So – keep it simple! For getting traffic, stick to the big two – Google & Facebook. From there, use tools like email marketing, SMS marketing & automated scheduling to help convert the leads into customers!

By automating the marketing and sales process, you free up time to focus on other essential and high-level tasks that your business depends on, such as business development, strategic partnerships & developing your team.

By AJ Cassata

Sourced from TechDay

In News

How to Determine Your Team’s Marketing Objectives

March 12, 2020 No Comments

By DP Taylor.

Clear and actionable marketing objectives are vital for an organization seeking to improve their sales. This guide will help you understand how to craft a strategy with effective marketing goals.

One of the chief principles of marketing is that you have to understand your target market. But even if you understand your niche, it won’t do much good if you don’t have an effective marketing campaign — and you can’t put one together without first defining your marketing objectives.

But doing so can be intimidating because it requires a fundamental review of your company’s mission and your resources to figure out what are the clear, actionable steps you should be making to market your brand. This is especially important for small business marketing when the company doesn’t already have a strong foothold in the market.

Once you’ve done that, you will find your integrated marketing efforts will be far more effective.

There are a few things to understand about marketing objectives before you get started.

Overview: What is a marketing objective?

A marketing objective is a goal that an organization sets to achieve a competitive advantage in the marketplace and build a brand.

While there are many types of marketing strategies and varied approaches to creating a marketing plan, a marketing objective in general focuses on laying out a clearly articulated accomplishment that an organization could achieve, such as brand recognition in 10% of target customers or 250 qualified leads per month.

What to consider when determining marketing objectives

While ultimately your marketing objectives are up to you and will be highly dependent on your business, there are four things you must consider when choosing your marketing objectives.

Have a strong company vision in place

To lay out good objectives, you first need a comprehensive company vision that lays out what you’re trying to accomplish as an organization.

Determine what your niche is as a business, and then figure out what you’d have to do to communicate that message to your target audience.

For example, GoPro has successfully built a customer base from young, active customers by putting together an ad campaign spanning many marketing channels that focuses on daring and adventurous feats by people using their equipment. Some of their marketing objectives could be to sponsor a certain number of extreme sports competitions around the globe, or to make deals with X number of social media influencers.

Track the data

Business metrics are vital to your marketing team’s success. You should be able to identify how many leads you are creating, how many influencers you’ve signed up to promote your product, and any other metric that is important to determining whether you met that marketing objective.

Use email marketing software, social media software, or CMS software to track your team’s activities.

In the GoPro example, they likely track views of their many YouTube videos or mentions on social media.

Make objectives specific

A lot of organizations make the mistake of not properly defining objectives. They leave those objectives, like “become more relevant in the IT security sphere” when they should create a more specific, numbers-based goal of “get 20% more leads in the next quarter.”

Going back to the GoPro example, total views of YouTube videos and mentions on social media is something quantifiable, as opposed to “make lots of quality videos on YouTube” or “get involved in the social media conversation.”

GoPro’s marketing message of adventure is unmistakable the moment you go to their website. Source: GoPro.

How do you set marketing objectives?

Creating a marketing proposal is relatively straightforward, but this is a step that is not to be rushed: you need to involve everyone and craft measurable marketing objectives that fit with your organization’s mission.

Step 1: Review your organizational goals

Every objective, marketing or otherwise, must build toward your overall organizational goals.

Read through your company’s vision and strategy and come up with ideas on what steps you could take that would get you one step closer to realizing the dream that your strategy lays out. If the objective doesn’t move you in that direction, it’s just a distraction and should be discarded.

Tip: If you’re having trouble finding organizational goals, that could be a sign you need to go back a step further and put together a firm and clear vision for the company.

Step 2: Brainstorm with the team

It’s important to not try to do all of this on your own. Set up a meeting with your marketing team to hash these out. They can tell you what is possible and what is not.

Ask everyone to prepare for the meeting by coming up with some of their own objectives, and then go around the room to talk them out and determine what marketing collateral will be necessary to do the job.

Tip: You should also involve your sales team, because they can tell you what kind of output from the marketing team would help them close more deals.

Step 3: Define the objectives

With everyone having weighed in, you should put together an initial list of objectives and then set up a follow-up meeting to go over them. Here you can talk in more granular detail about these objectives, such as whether the time frame is realistic, or whether the right people are assigned to the right tasks.

Tip: Remember, these objectives need to be clear and measurable, nothing vague. Ask yourself, how would I prove that we achieved this objective? If you aren’t able to articulate what success looks like, you need to do more work to define the objective.

Step 4: Create a marketing strategy

Now that you have marketing objectives laid out, it’s time to build a marketing strategy around them. Create a step-by-step process that describes how you will achieve each objective, and in what time frame. It should also identify the stakeholders, and who will be responsible for what.

Tip: Being specific when defining marketing objectives should help you identify clear next steps. Break down the steps as much as possible to create easy actions the team can take to increase the likelihood of achieving the objective.

Step 5: Measure the results and then regroup

Think of the objectives as a cycle rather than a journey to an end goal. Once you’ve completed steps 1-4, you need to measure how you performed on a regular basis, perhaps quarterly, and then get together to talk it through.

What went right? What didn’t? Did we achieve marketing goals? What should we do differently in the next quarter?

Tip: Use software to track important marketing metrics, such as leads and website traffic. Many software options can create detailed reports that can help you spot trends or weaknesses.

Spotify has exploded in popularity by positioning itself as a brand that helps people find new music. Source: Spotify.

Examples of common marketing objectives and KPIs

But what should your objectives look like? Again, that will vary widely based on factors such as your industry, what your overall goals are, and what your target market looks like. However, here are a few common marketing objectives that might help you come up with your own.

Increasing brand recognition

A common goal of marketing campaigns is to increase people’s awareness of your brand. If people don’t know who you are, they will not buy your product or service, so it’s important to know just how many customers in your target market have heard of you.

Improving brand trust/reputation

A corollary to brand recognition is brand trust or reputation. You want customers to not just know who you are, but think of your brand as one they can trust to provide a good experience.

Increasing incoming leads

When it comes to making sales, incoming leads can make or break your organization. It is important for most companies to increase the number of qualified leads coming into their sales funnels.

Increasing website traffic

An increasing percentage of websites these days rely on Internet sales, so increasing website traffic is a common goal for companies hoping to put their products in front of more people. You might focus on digital marketing terms like click-through rate (CTR), cost-per click, and impressions.

Identifying new lead sources

Having all of your eggs in one basket when it comes to marketing is a risky strategy, so it’s important for organizations to identify new sources of qualified leads.

Improving customer service

Customer service is vital to customer retention, and it raises the prospect that those customers will buy other products from you in the future or spread the word about how great you are to other potential customers. As a result, companies often seek to improve their customer service as a marketing strategy.

Defining marketing objectives now will help marketing efforts later

Determining your marketing objectives will help you determine what steps you should be making, such as whether to spend more time on website marketing, account-based marketing, or other types of marketing efforts.

When you properly lay out marketing objectives after spending a sufficient amount of time researching them, you make your marketing more focused and therefore more effective across the board.

That’s why it’s important to schedule time now to, even if it’s just a couple of hours, to get the ball rolling. The sooner you do it, the sooner you’ll see positive results in your company.

By DP Taylor.

Sourced from the blueprint

In News

13 Mistakes Business Owners Make When Trying To Differentiate Their Company

March 12, 2020 No Comments

Sourced from Forbes.

Standing out from the crowd is essential when competing in the business world. However, when trying to differentiate their company, entrepreneurs can sometimes make serious mistakes if they don’t have a clear strategy in place. In trying to make their business or service offerings stand out—especially in a saturated market—leaders can sometimes create the opposite effect, and either not get noticed at all or make their company somewhat unapproachable.

These mistakes can ultimately drive people away from the company instead of turning them into loyal customers. Below, 13 entrepreneurs from Forbes Coaches Council examine some of the worst mistakes that business owners can make when attempting to differentiate their business from the competition, and explore why those methods are so ineffective.

1. Not Niching Down Enough

Owners worry that if they focus too much, they’ll “miss out on an opportunity.” But focusing all marketing and messages on a specific market niche that values your best work allows ideal clients to easily recognize you are the right resource among all options. – Dodie Jacobi, Dodiodo Inc.

2. Targeting The Wrong Audience

Business owners often target the masses, thinking they will easily reach their consumers. This tactic doesn’t allow them to narrow their demographics to their ideal customers who are most likely to buy, nor align key brand messages. This tactic is ineffective and costly. Before designing your campaign, execute a customer segmentation and profile for your products and services and your company brand. – Lori Harris, Harris Whitesell Consulting

3. Not Being Bold Enough

If you’re trying to differentiate yourself, you have to actually differentiate yourself. Too often, businesses who want to differentiate themselves don’t take the steps to take a bold stand to be different. They stay generic and subjective, and simply too vanilla. Staying vanilla doesn’t work for obvious reasons, so give yourself permission to be bold and stand out! – Jon Dwoskin, The Jon Dwoskin Experience

4. Not Being Clear On Their ‘Why’

In a saturated market, what makes you stand out is getting clear on your purpose (knowing your “why”) and being true to it in your messaging, your recruitment, your processes and your branding. This is how you connect emotionally to your target market and create loyalty with your customer base. First know what you’re about, why you’re in business and your message will stand out and make an impact. – Daphna Horowitz, Daphna Horowitz Leadership

5. Making Stuff Up

A common mistake is to claim you have something no one else has. Your competitors likely have all that you have (or will soon) and you look foolish to claim it’s uniquely yours. Instead, differentiate your company by creating a personality for it. Zappos and Toms Shoes are great examples—people connect to the humanity of these companies. Have the tools and be likeable too. – Anita Hodges, Anita Speaks 2U

6. Jumping On Trends

With the internet, we face daily competition from businesses who can look, sound and feel like yours every day. For example, there is a trend toward online, step-by-step coaching that is driven with zero face-to-face meetings. That can work, but we have gone against the grain and made our services more exclusive, highly personalized and relationship-based. We don’t ignore AI, but we pair it and it works. – John M. O’Connor, Career Pro Inc.

7. Trying Something That’s Not Proven

It makes sense that when you are trying to differentiate yourself, you would want to “zig” when everyone else is “zagging.” Being innovative will make you stand out, but you have to test the market and prove that your tactic will work. Putting your time, money and energy into unproven methods can be a costly mistake for your business. – Jenn Scalia, Million Dollar Mommy dba Jenn Scalia

8. Mimicking Others

When business owners say they want to differentiate, I cringe when I see a list they’ve compiled of what others in their industry do. While the knowledge is helpful, some owners try to mimic what others are doing instead of moving into more competitive-free waters. The key to business survival is to maintain the “wow” factor for your customers. This can only be accomplished through originality. – Karan Rhodes, Shockingly Different Leadership

9. Competing On Price

Focus on premium pricing. Without exception, I will always be the most expensive solution in any market. That creates exclusivity and differentiation. If you are a low-priced solution, you are forgettable and nobody is served well. The best clients are the ones who want the best and will pay for it. Ignore the rest. Your pricing is a direct reflection of your personal and business brand. – Mike Koenigs, MikeKoenigs.com

10. Bashing The Competition

Forty years ago, IBM sales training taught me to say “competitor X company is adequate.” There is nothing worse than a company bashing the competition. Say only positive-to-neutral things and focus on your company’s differentiators. Even if a prospect asks for the differences, come back to your key messages about what you do better or similar. Script your team on your killer value proposition. – Dana Manciagli, Job Search Master Class

11. Always Comparing To Others

Though product and services comparison may work, it is a short-sighted approach. Comparison in a crowded market may, in some cases, even be harmful by providing additional exposure for competitors. A more sustainable approach, however, is a combination of providing education and creating a customer-centric organization. These organic differentiations are long-term and not subject to fads. – Kamyar Shah, World Consulting Group

12. Overspending On Marketing

Businesses in a saturated market may feel obligated to spend more in marketing; however, they need to develop an effective marketing strategy and develop a unique sales methodology. They also underpriced their services. Being the cheapest option devalues your services or products. Instead, offer something so valuable that people will pay your price. – Katrina Brittingham, VentureReady LLC

13. Not Researching What The Market Wants

Asking potential and current customers is the first step to breaking through a saturated market. Ask what’s wrong with the current solution providers and find out what consumers really value. Create a solution to the problems and innovate your offerings. It could simply mean educating the customer on your differentiation, or a marketing tweak. Knowledge is power. Use it to be disruptive. – Christine Nielsen, Contrast Coaching & Consulting

Sourced from Forbes