Mediastreet
Tag

Online Presence

Browsing
In News

9 Ways to Improve Your Online Presence

No Comments

By Diwas Haldar

Establishing a robust online presence is imperative for businesses seeking sustainable growth and increased visibility in the ever-evolving digital landscape.

This comprehensive guide will outline eight crucial steps every business should undertake to improve its online presence. By implementing these strategies, you can position your business for success and outrank competitors in the digital realm.

1. Develop a User-Friendly Website

To captivate online visitors and enhance their browsing experience, it is paramount to have a well-designed and user-friendly website. Ensure your website is visually appealing, easy to navigate, and optimized for various devices, including desktops, tablets, and smartphones. Incorporate intuitive menus, clear calls-to-action (CTAs), and visually engaging elements to guide users seamlessly through your website’s content.ll

2. Create a Visual Aspect That Leaves a Lasting Impression

A visually captivating logo and a well-defined brand colour scheme are vital to establishing a solid and memorable brand identity. Let’s explore how incorporating these visual elements can enhance your online presence.

Design an Eye-Catching Logo

Your logo visually represents your brand and can leave a lasting impression on potential customers. It should be unique, easily recognizable, and reflective of your brand’s values and personality. Consider the following principles when designing your logo:

  • Simplicity: Aim for a clean and uncluttered design that is easily understandable.
  • Memorability: Create a distinctive and memorable logo, leaving a lasting impression on viewers.
  • Relevance: Ensure your company logo aligns with your brand’s identity, industry, and target audience.
  • Versatility: Design a company logo that can be scaled and adapted for various platforms, including websites, social media profiles, print materials, and signage.

Select an Appropriate Colour Scheme

Colours evoke emotions and play a crucial role in brand perception. Choose a colour scheme that resonates with your brand’s values, personality, and target audience. Consider the following factors when selecting your brand’s colour palette:

  • Brand Identity: Determine the emotions and qualities you want your brand to convey. For example, blue can signify trust and professionalism, while yellow can evoke feelings of energy and optimism.
  • Audience Preferences: Research your target audience’s preferences and cultural associations with colours. Different colours can have varying meanings across different demographics and cultures.
  • Colour Harmony: Select a harmonious combination of colours that work well together and provide visual cohesion. Consider using colour theory principles such as complementary, analogous, or monochromatic colour schemes.

Investing in a well-designed logo and a thoughtfully selected colour scheme can enhance your brand’s recognition, establish a consistent visual identity, and leave a lasting impression on your target audience.

3. Implement Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Strategies

Enhancing your website’s visibility in search engine results is crucial for attracting organic traffic. Optimize your website using targeted keywords relevant to your industry and niche. Furthermore, conduct thorough keyword research to identify high-value keywords your target audience will likely search for. Incorporate these keywords strategically within your website’s content, meta tags, URLs, and headings to increase your chances of ranking higher in search engine results.

a. Conduct Keyword Research

Keyword research is the base of successful SEO. You’ll want to identify words you will use throughout your content that are relevant to your customers and align with your industry. Check if your target audience uses search to find what they want.

Use keyword research tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, or Moz Keyword Explorer.

b. Optimise On-Page Elements

On-page optimization involves optimizing various elements within your website to make it search engine-friendly and user-friendly. Pay attention to the following elements:

  • Title Tags: Craft unique, concise, and keyword-rich title tags for each page. Place the primary keyword towards the beginning of the title tag to maximize its impact.
  • Meta Descriptions: Write compelling meta descriptions summarising each page’s content. While meta descriptions do not directly impact rankings, they influence click-through rates (CTR) and can drive more traffic to your website.
  • Headers and Subheadings: Organise your content using headers (H1, H2, H3, etc.) and subheadings to improve readability and help search engines understand the structure of your content. Incorporate relevant keywords in these headings to signal the content’s relevance.
  • Then, URL Structure: Create user-friendly URLs that are concise, descriptive, and include targeted keywords. Avoid using numbers, symbols, or generic parameters in your URLs.
  • Keyword Optimization: Incorporate relevant keywords naturally throughout your content, including in the opening paragraph, headings, subheadings, and body text. However, avoid keyword stuffing, as it can harm your rankings.

d. Build High-Quality Backlinks

  • Earning high-quality backlinks from authoritative and relevant websites is a fundamental aspect of SEO. Backlinks act as votes of confidence and signal to search engines that your website is trustworthy and valuable.

4. Create High-Quality and Engaging Content

Content is king in the digital realm. Producing high-quality, informative, and engaging content is a powerful way to establish credibility, attract visitors, and encourage repeat visits. Develop a content strategy that aligns with your target audience’s needs and interests. Moreover, regularly publish blog posts, articles, videos, infographics, and other forms of content that offer value and keep your audience informed and entertained.

5. Build a Strong Social Media Presence

Harness the power of social media platforms to amplify your online reach and connect with your target audience. Create and maintain active profiles on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube, depending on your business type. Regularly share compelling content, engage with your followers, and foster meaningful conversations to cultivate a loyal community around your brand.

6. Leverage Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing has emerged as a potent strategy to expand your online presence and reach new audiences. Identify influential personalities, bloggers, or industry experts whose values align with your brand’s identity. Collaborate with them to create content, reviews, or endorsements highlighting your products or services. By leveraging the influence of these individuals, you can significantly boost your brand’s visibility and credibility.

7. Harness the Potential of Email Marketing

Email marketing remains a highly effective tool for nurturing leads, fostering customer loyalty, and driving conversions. Build a subscriber list by offering valuable incentives such as exclusive content, discounts, or free resources.

Craft engaging newsletters, personalized offers, and automated email sequences to deliver relevant and targeted messages to your subscribers. Segment your email list based on user preferences and behaviours to enhance the effectiveness of your campaigns.

According to oberlo.com (Email has made its way from simple messages between academics to widespread global usage. In 2022, the number of email users worldwide was forecast at 4.3 billion (Statista, 2021). This figure is set to grow to 4.6 billion in 2025, making up more than half of the expected world population.

8. Optimise for Local Search

For businesses with a physical presence, optimizing for local search is essential. Claim and optimize your business listings on prominent online directories such as Google My Business, Bing Places, and Yelp. Ensure that your business information, including name, address, phone number (NAP), and operating hours, is accurate and consistent across all platforms. Encourage satisfied customers to leave positive reviews, significantly influencing local search rankings.

9. Analyse and Adapt

Tracking and analysing your website’s performance and user behaviour is crucial to continually enhancing your online presence. Utilize analytics tools such as Google Analytics to gain insights into key metrics like website traffic, bounce rate, conversion rate, and user demographics.

Also, Identify areas of improvement, experiment with different strategies, and adapt your approach based on data-driven insights to optimize your online presence effectively.

Conclusion

In today’s digital landscape, businesses must prioritize their online presence to thrive and surpass competitors.

By following these eight essential steps – developing a user-friendly website, implementing SEO strategies, creating high-quality content, building a solid social media presence, leveraging influencer marketing, harnessing the potential of email marketing, optimizing for local search, and analysing and adapting.

you can strengthen your online presence, attract a larger audience, and achieve sustainable business growth. Embrace these strategies and unlock the immense potential of the digital realm for your business.

Featured Image Credit: Monster, Pexels

By Diwas Haldar

A seasoned professional specializing in digital marketing and blogging. With expertise in various approaches such as content marketing, SEO, SMO, and PPC, his experience in crafting informative and engaging blog content and strategy has proven instrumental in boosting business growth and driving increased traffic.

Sourced from readwrite

 

Read More
By
In News

How to Find the Best Affiliates for Your Program?

No Comments

By Vlad Orlov

In today’s digital landscape, affiliate marketing has emerged as a powerful tool for businesses to expand their online presence and drive sales. 

By partnering with affiliates, companies can tap into a vast network of marketers who promote their products or services in exchange for a commission. However, finding the right affiliates for your program is crucial to ensure its success.

While the idea of having numerous affiliates promoting your personal brand may sound appealing, not all affiliates are created equal. 

The key lies in attracting and working with high-quality affiliates who align with your brand values, have a strong online presence, and can effectively drive targeted traffic to your website.

Importance of finding the best affiliates for a program

Finding the best affiliates for your program is essential for several reasons:

  1. Enhanced Brand Alignment: after having started a business, partnering with affiliates who align with your brand values and target audience ensures that your products or services are promoted in a way that resonates with your target market. This leads to higher credibility, customer trust, and ultimately, better conversion rates.
  2. Increased Reach and Traffic: The right affiliates bring their own audience and can drive targeted traffic to your website or landing pages. By leveraging their reach and influence, you can tap into new markets and expand your customer base.
  3. Improved Conversion Rates: High-quality affiliates possess the necessary marketing skills to effectively promote your products and services. They know how to create compelling affiliate content using AI, optimize landing pages, and engage their audience, leading to improved conversion rates and increased sales.
  4. Cost-Effective Marketing: Affiliate marketing is a performance-based model, meaning you only pay affiliates when they generate a desired action, such as a sale or lead. By focusing on attracting the best affiliates, you can ensure that your marketing budget is invested in affiliates who have the potential to deliver real results.
  5. Long-Term Growth Potential: Building strong relationships with the best affiliates can generate ongoing revenue streams and establish long-term partnerships. These loyal affiliates can become brand advocates, consistently promoting your products and services, and contributing to sustained growth for your program.

In a nutshell, finding the best affiliates for your program is crucial for maximizing your program’s potential, increasing brand visibility, driving targeted traffic, and ultimately boosting sales and revenue. The following sections of this guide will outline the steps to help you identify and collaborate with top-quality affiliates for a successful affiliate program.

Utilizing search engines and affiliate directories

Utilizing search engines and affiliate directories can be highly effective in finding affiliates for your program. Here’s a brief explanation of how to make the most of these resources:

  1. Search Engines:

   – Identify relevant keywords: Start by identifying keywords related to your industry, niche, or specific products/services. Consider using variations like “affiliate program,” “affiliate partnership,” or “join our affiliate program.”

   – Conduct targeted searches: Use search engines like Google to search for these keywords along with terms like “affiliate,” “partnership,” or “join.” Visit the top-ranked websites and explore their affiliate programs or contact information.

   – Evaluate potential affiliates: Assess the websites and their content quality, traffic, engagement, and audience relevance. Look for potential affiliates that closely align with your target audience and have a strong online presence.

  1. Affiliate Directories:

   – Research reputable directories: Look for well-established affiliate directories that list reputable affiliates. Examples include ShareASale, ClickBank, CJ Affiliate, and Rakuten Advertising.

   – Explore categories and filters: Browse through the directories using relevant categories and filters that match your industry or niche. This helps narrow down the list of potential affiliates.

   – Review affiliate profiles: Evaluate the profiles of potential affiliates, checking their track record, performancemetrics, commission structures, and promotional methods. Look for affiliates that demonstrate a strong alignment with your brand and have a history of successful partnerships.

Analysing competitor’s affiliate programs

Analysing competitor’s affiliate programs can provide valuable insights and help you identify potential affiliates for your own program. Here’s a brief explanation of how to effectively analyse competitor’s affiliate programs:

  1. Identify your competitors: Start by identifying your main competitors in the industry or niche. Look for companies offering similar products or services and have an established affiliate program.
  2. Research their affiliate program structure: Explore your competitor’s website and navigate to their affiliate program section. Take note of details such as commission rates, cookie duration, payment methods, and any specific requirements or restrictions they may have.
  3. Evaluate affiliate benefits and incentives: Analyse the incentives and benefits your competitors offer to their affiliates. This may include exclusive offers, promotional materials, training or support, affiliate contests, or performance bonuses. Understanding what your competitors offer can help you create a compelling value proposition for potential affiliates.
  4. Assess affiliate qualification criteria: Look into the criteria your competitors use to qualify affiliates for their program. This may involve analysing factors such as website traffic, audience demographics, content quality, or social media following. Understanding these criteria can help you identify potential affiliates with similar qualifications.
  5. Analyse affiliate network presence: Explore the affiliate networks or platforms your competitors are using to manage their affiliate program. This can provide insights into where affiliates in your industry are active and which networks are popular among your competitors. Consider joining these networks or platforms to gain access to a pool of potential affiliates.
  6. Identify affiliates promoting competitors: Analyse the websites, blogs, or social media profiles that promote your competitors’ products or services. Look for affiliates who consistently drive traffic and generate conversions for your competitors. These affiliates may be interested in promoting similar products or services, making them potential targets for your program.

Using social media to discover potential affiliates

Using social media is a powerful tool to discover potential affiliates for your program. Here’s a brief explanation of how to effectively leverage social media:

  1. Define your target audience: Before diving into social media, clearly define your target audience. Understand the demographics, interests, and behaviours of your ideal affiliates to help you navigate through the vast social media landscape.
  2. Research relevant hashtags and groups: Search for hashtags and groups related to your industry or niche on platforms like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. These hashtags and groups can lead you to potential affiliates who are actively engaged in conversations and discussions related to your niche.
  3. Engage with relevant content and followers: Engage with posts, comments, and conversations related to your industry or niche. Connect with individuals who demonstrate knowledge and expertise in your field. This can help you build relationships with potential affiliates and establish yourself as a valuable resource.
  4. Explore influencer marketing platforms: Many social media platforms have influencer marketing platforms or directories that connect brands with influencers. These platforms often allow you to filter influencers based on industry, location, following size, engagement rate, and collaboration opportunities. Explore these platforms to discover potential affiliates with a strong social media presence.
  5. Utilize advanced search features: Platforms like Twitter and LinkedIn offer advanced search features that allow you to search for specific keywords, job titles, or industries. Utilize these features to find individuals or businesses who mention terms related to affiliate marketing, partnership, or specific industries relevant to your program. This can help you identify individuals or companies that may be interested in joining your affiliate program.
  6. Direct outreach and collaboration: Once you’ve identified potential affiliates on social media, reach out to them directly through private messages or by commenting on their posts. Introduce your affiliate program, highlight the benefits, and express your interest in collaborating with them. Personalize your message to show that you’ve done your research and understand their audience and values.

Pro tip: One often overlooked yet critical factor when qualifying potential affiliates is their marketing tech stack. Affiliates that leverage advanced conversion tracking software are typically more adept at optimizing campaigns and generating meaningful results. Such platforms allow for granular data analysis, better attribution, and ultimately, higher ROI. Brands should prioritize these tech-savvy affiliates as their expertise often translates into better performance and more successful partnerships.

Additionally, leveraging sophisticated tools can significantly enhance your ability to identify, vet, and manage potential affiliates. One of the standout platforms in this domain is Respona. This platform offers a comprehensive suite of features that streamline outreach, track communications, and provide analytics to gauge affiliate performance.

For businesses serious about maximizing their affiliate program’s potential, understanding and harnessing the power of such tools is crucial. For a detailed insight into how Respona can support your affiliate management process, we highly recommend checking out this comprehensive Respona review.

Crafting a personalized and compelling outreach email

Crafting a personalized and compelling outreach email is essential for inviting potential affiliates to your program. Here’s a brief explanation on how to do it effectively:

  1. Research the potential affiliate: Before reaching out, take the time to research the potential affiliate. Visit their website, blog, or social media profiles to understand their content, audience, and values. This will help you personalize your email and demonstrate that you’ve done your homework.
  2. Use a clear and attention-grabbing subject line: The subject line is the first thing potential affiliates will see. Make it clear and concise, highlighting the value or benefit of your program. A subject line like “Join Our Exclusive Affiliate Program for [Their Niche]” can pique their interest.
  3. Start with a personalized greeting: Address the potential affiliate by their name to add a personal touch. Avoid generic greetings like “Hello” or “Dear Sir/Madam.”
  4. Introduce yourself and your brand: Briefly introduce yourself and your brand, highlighting what makes your products or services unique. Provide a compelling and concise overview that grabs their attention.
  5. Highlight the benefits of your program: Clearly outline the benefits of joining your program. This may include attractive commission rates, access to exclusive promotions or offers, dedicated affiliate support, and any additional resources or tools that affiliates will have access to. Emphasize how partnering with your program can help them monetize their online presence or engage their audience.
  6. Mention specific reasons for reaching out: Explain why you specifically reached out to them. Highlight their expertise, relevant content, or audience alignment that makes them a good fit for your program. This shows that you’ve researched and selected them intentionally.
  7. Show familiarity with their work: Refer to specific examples of their content or campaigns that you found impressive or aligned with your brand values. This demonstrates that you’ve taken the time to familiarize yourself with their work and appreciate their efforts.
  8. Provide clear next steps: Clearly outline the next steps for joining your program. Include a call-to-action, such as a link to your affiliate sign-up page or a request for further discussion. Make it easy for them to take the next step without any confusion.
  9. End with a polite and friendly closing: Express your appreciation for their time and consideration. End the email with a polite and friendly closing, such as “Looking forward to the possibility of partnering with you” or “Thank you for considering our affiliate program.”
  10. Follow up: If you don’t receive a response after a reasonable period, consider following up with a polite and brief reminder email. Sometimes, potential affiliates may have missed your initial message or may need a gentle nudge to take further action.

Conclusion

Finding the best affiliates for your program is a crucial step towards achieving success in affiliate marketing. By attracting and collaborating with high-quality affiliates, you can enhance brand alignment, drive affiliate traffic, and boost conversion rates. Through this comprehensive guide, we have explored various strategies to help you identify and engage with potential affiliates effectively.

By Vlad Orlov

Read More
By
In News

9 Ways to Improve Your Online Presence in 2023

No Comments

By Diwas Haldar

Establishing a robust online presence is imperative for businesses seeking sustainable growth and increased visibility in the ever-evolving digital landscape.

This comprehensive guide will outline eight crucial steps every business should undertake to improve its online presence. By implementing these strategies, you can position your business for success and outrank competitors in the digital realm.

1. Develop a User-Friendly Website

To captivate online visitors and enhance their browsing experience, it is paramount to have a well-designed and user-friendly website. Ensure your website is visually appealing, easy to navigate, and optimized for various devices, including desktops, tablets, and smartphones. Incorporate intuitive menus, clear calls-to-action (CTAs), and visually engaging elements to guide users seamlessly through your website’s content.ll

2. Create a Visual Aspect That Leaves a Lasting Impression

A visually captivating logo and a well-defined brand colour scheme are vital to establishing a solid and memorable brand identity. Let’s explore how incorporating these visual elements can enhance your online presence.

Design an Eye-Catching Logo

Your logo visually represents your brand and can leave a lasting impression on potential customers. It should be unique, easily recognizable, and reflective of your brand’s values and personality. Consider the following principles when designing your logo:

  • Simplicity: Aim for a clean and uncluttered design that is easily understandable.
  • Memorability: Create a distinctive and memorable logo, leaving a lasting impression on viewers.
  • Relevance: Ensure your company logo aligns with your brand’s identity, industry, and target audience.
  • Versatility: Design a company logo that can be scaled and adapted for various platforms, including websites, social media profiles, print materials, and signage.

Select an Appropriate Colour Scheme

Colours evoke emotions and play a crucial role in brand perception. Choose a colour scheme that resonates with your brand’s values, personality, and target audience. Consider the following factors when selecting your brand’s colour palette:

  • Brand Identity: Determine the emotions and qualities you want your brand to convey. For example, blue can signify trust and professionalism, while yellow can evoke feelings of energy and optimism.
  • Audience Preferences: Research your target audience’s preferences and cultural associations with colours. Different colours can have varying meanings across different demographics and cultures.
  • Colour Harmony: Select a harmonious combination of colours that work well together and provide visual cohesion. Consider using colour theory principles such as complementary, analogous, or monochromatic colour schemes.

Investing in a well-designed logo and a thoughtfully selected colour scheme can enhance your brand’s recognition, establish a consistent visual identity, and leave a lasting impression on your target audience.

3. Implement Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Strategies

Enhancing your website’s visibility in search engine results is crucial for attracting organic traffic. Optimize your website using targeted keywords relevant to your industry and niche. Furthermore, conduct thorough keyword research to identify high-value keywords your target audience will likely search for. Incorporate these keywords strategically within your website’s content, meta tags, URLs, and headings to increase your chances of ranking higher in search engine results.

a. Conduct Keyword Research

Keyword research is the base of successful SEO. You’ll want to identify words you will use throughout your content that are relevant to your customers and align with your industry. Check if your target audience uses search to find what they want.

Use keyword research tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, or Moz Keyword Explorer.

b. Optimise On-Page Elements

On-page optimization involves optimizing various elements within your website to make it search engine-friendly and user-friendly. Pay attention to the following elements:

  • Title Tags: Craft unique, concise, and keyword-rich title tags for each page. Place the primary keyword towards the beginning of the title tag to maximize its impact.
  • Meta Descriptions: Write compelling meta descriptions summarising each page’s content. While meta descriptions do not directly impact rankings, they influence click-through rates (CTR) and can drive more traffic to your website.
  • Headers and Subheadings: Organise your content using headers (H1, H2, H3, etc.) and subheadings to improve readability and help search engines understand the structure of your content. Incorporate relevant keywords in these headings to signal the content’s relevance.
  • Then, URL Structure: Create user-friendly URLs that are concise, descriptive, and include targeted keywords. Avoid using numbers, symbols, or generic parameters in your URLs.
  • Keyword Optimization: Incorporate relevant keywords naturally throughout your content, including in the opening paragraph, headings, subheadings, and body text. However, avoid keyword stuffing, as it can harm your rankings.

d. Build High-Quality Backlinks

  • Earning high-quality backlinks from authoritative and relevant websites is a fundamental aspect of SEO. Backlinks act as votes of confidence and signal to search engines that your website is trustworthy and valuable.

4. Create High-Quality and Engaging Content

Content is king in the digital realm. Producing high-quality, informative, and engaging content is a powerful way to establish credibility, attract visitors, and encourage repeat visits. Develop a content strategy that aligns with your target audience’s needs and interests. Moreover, regularly publish blog posts, articles, videos, infographics, and other forms of content that offer value and keep your audience informed and entertained.

5. Build a Strong Social Media Presence

Harness the power of social media platforms to amplify your online reach and connect with your target audience. Create and maintain active profiles on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube, depending on your business type. Regularly share compelling content, engage with your followers, and foster meaningful conversations to cultivate a loyal community around your brand.

6. Leverage Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing has emerged as a potent strategy to expand your online presence and reach new audiences. Identify influential personalities, bloggers, or industry experts whose values align with your brand’s identity. Collaborate with them to create content, reviews, or endorsements highlighting your products or services. By leveraging the influence of these individuals, you can significantly boost your brand’s visibility and credibility.

7. Harness the Potential of Email Marketing

Email marketing remains a highly effective tool for nurturing leads, fostering customer loyalty, and driving conversions. Build a subscriber list by offering valuable incentives such as exclusive content, discounts, or free resources.

Craft engaging newsletters, personalized offers, and automated email sequences to deliver relevant and targeted messages to your subscribers. Segment your email list based on user preferences and behaviours to enhance the effectiveness of your campaigns.

According to oberlo.com (Email has made its way from simple messages between academics to widespread global usage. In 2022, the number of email users worldwide was forecast at 4.3 billion (Statista, 2021). This figure is set to grow to 4.6 billion in 2025, making up more than half of the expected world population.

8. Optimise for Local Search

For businesses with a physical presence, optimizing for local search is essential. Claim and optimize your business listings on prominent online directories such as Google My Business, Bing Places, and Yelp. Ensure that your business information, including name, address, phone number (NAP), and operating hours, is accurate and consistent across all platforms. Encourage satisfied customers to leave positive reviews, significantly influencing local search rankings.

9. Analyse and Adapt

Tracking and analysing your website’s performance and user behaviour is crucial to continually enhancing your online presence. Utilize analytics tools such as Google Analytics to gain insights into key metrics like website traffic, bounce rate, conversion rate, and user demographics.

Also, Identify areas of improvement, experiment with different strategies, and adapt your approach based on data-driven insights to optimize your online presence effectively.

Conclusion

In today’s digital landscape, businesses must prioritize their online presence to thrive and surpass competitors.

By following these eight essential steps – developing a user-friendly website, implementing SEO strategies, creating high-quality content, building a solid social media presence, leveraging influencer marketing, harnessing the potential of email marketing, optimizing for local search, and analysing and adapting.

you can strengthen your online presence, attract a larger audience, and achieve sustainable business growth. Embrace these strategies and unlock the immense potential of the digital realm for your business.

Featured Image Credit: Monster; Pexels

By Diwas Haldar

A seasoned professional specializing in digital marketing and blogging. With expertise in various approaches such as content marketing, SEO, SMO, and PPC, his experience in crafting informative and engaging blog content and strategy has proven instrumental in boosting business growth and driving increased traffic.

Sourced from readwrite

Read More
By
In News

Powerful Personal Branding Prompts: Using ChatGPT To Build An Influential Online Presence

No Comments

By Jodie Cook

2023 is a great year for the personal brand. Influential CEOs are securing investment, winning customers and grabbing the attention of the media. Thousands of dollars are flowing towards popular YouTubers, LinkedIn profiles and Twitter personalities. If your name isn’t well known by now, you might feel like you’re at the bottom of a steep hill. But that can change in an instant.

You might not need to jump on a call with a personal branding specialist. You may be able to utilize ChatGPT to get the answers you need. With these 7 clever prompts, you can get clear on your mission, vision and values and be ready to get famous for the sake of your business.

Use ChatGPT to develop your personal brand: 7 powerful prompts

1. Define your personal brand

Use this prompt to set the scene and uncover your unique value proposition. This is where you describe who you are and what you do, in as much waffly detail as you like. ChatGPT doesn’t care how coherent you are, it will take your words and make them make sense. It will wade through the details to find a catchy premise that you’re proud to get behind.

Here’s the prompt: “I describe myself as a [your professional role] and I help [specific target audience] achieve [main outcomes you help your audience achieve.] What are the key elements that define my personal brand and make me unique?”

2. Craft your brand story

Stories sell. A well-written story, with a catchy beginning, intriguing middle and exciting end will ensure you’re memorable for all the right reasons. Engage and connect with your audience by sharing your story in a way that compels them to work with you. As you’re defining your personal brand, get clear on the story that surrounds your message.

Fill in the gaps and type this prompt into the same chat: “Throughout my business journey I have faced these challenges [summarize any challenges you have overcome.] Given this information, what is the compelling story behind my personal brand? How can I craft a brand narrative that engages and resonates with my target audience?”

3. Establish your online presence

Not every platform will be right for you, and you shouldn’t waste your energy going in multiple directions. Choose one place and double down. Whether it’s Twitter, LinkedIn or Threads, do it really well, and think about the others when you’ve nailed the first. Use this prompt in ChatGPT to help choose the right platform, prioritizing based on your audience and business goals. While you may not agree, it’s worth hearing the advice.

Here’s the prompt to retrieve this information: “Which online platforms are most relevant to my personal brand and target audience? Recommend in order of where my target audience are most likely to be. How can I establish a strong online presence on these platforms?”

4. Curate engaging content

Now you know your value proposition, your compelling story and where you should show up, prompt ChatGPT for the type of content you should share. Provide value and showcase your expertise, networking online with the types of people who will become your client or introduce you to their audience. Use what you have so far to expand the plan, and get ideas for engaging content that will work for you.

Use this prompt to start generating suggestions: “What valuable content can I curate and share with my audience to establish myself as an expert in my field? How can I consistently provide value and showcase my expertise?”

5. Engage with your audience

It’s not enough to share on a social network. To build your personal brand, you have to engage. You have to foster meaningful connections by talking to new people every day. You have to keep in touch with the people you meet. You wouldn’t arrive at a party, do a quick scan of the room then swiftly depart, and this is no different. Get ideas of how to engage to never be lost for words, and action them daily to watch your metrics increase.

While you’ll have your own ideas of how this should be done, add this prompt and see what comes up: “Using [the main social media platform you’ll focus on], how can I actively engage with my audience to foster meaningful connections? What specific strategies can I use to encourage interaction and conversation? Create an action plan of 3 things I should do every day.”

6. Leverage visual branding

The stage is set and you know how to perform. Now it’s time for your costume. Use ChatGPT to create a cohesive and memorable image of you as a professional, that represents your brand in its best possible light. Scruffy profile pictures, wonky headers and a colour scheme that doesn’t fit are not part of the plan. Use this prompt to be guided through your visual brand, based on who you’ve told ChatGPT you are so far.

“How can I develop a visual brand identity that aligns with my personal brand? What elements and design choices can I use to create a cohesive and memorable image?” Use the resulting recommendation to brief a designer or AI graphic design tool accordingly.

7. Monitor and enhance your brand

To break records, you have to make records. Make a note of where you are today and write it down. Number of followers or connections, monthly hits, average engagement per post. Keep the information somewhere safe to benchmark your progress. Your personal brand should continuously evolve and adapt. Over time, you’ll hit upon new topics. You’ll go down rabbit holes. You’ll learn more about what your audience wants and you’ll head in the direction of your interest and passion.

For ideas of how to improve, ask ChatGPT: “How can I monitor and assess the perception of my personal brand online? What steps can I take to enhance and adapt my brand as needed?”

Prompt ChatGPT to be your personal brand consultant

Get set up for success with your personal brand by training ChatGPT to be your personal brand consultant. These seven prompts might be exactly what you need to start the creativity flowing and get some ideas. Think of ChatGPT as less of a coach and more of an interactive journal. You know yourself, your vibe, and how you should show up. You have nudges in the right direction with some options for testing. All that’s left is to get on and do.

Feature Image Credit: GETTY

By Jodie Cook

Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn. Check out my website or some of my other work here.

Founder of Coachvox.ai – we make AI coaches. Forbes 30 under 30 class of 2017. Post-exit entrepreneur and author of Ten Year Career. Competitive powerlifter and digital nomad.

Sourced from Forbes

Read More
By
In News

Three Tips For Translating Your Creativity To Your Online Presence

No Comments

By

That you have to be a creative professional to build amazing creative online is a myth.

A critical piece of our work at Meta is talking to small business owners about their wins, and, perhaps more importantly, their challenges, so that we can take those learnings to better serve the small- and medium-sized business (SMB) community. And while all small businesses are unique, in many cases, their challenges are the same– whether they’re starting out, or they have been in business for decades.

This is especially true when it comes to marketing, with new tools and trends popping up continuously. A common refrain from business owners is that rather than feeling empowered by the new digital tools at their disposal, they can feel intimidated. In fact, 40% of small businesses say a “lack of experience and understanding of digital marketing” is a top marketing challenge.

Additionally, through our work with small businesses owners, we have learned that time and budget constraints are key blockers when it comes to creativity. Even though entrepreneurs are inherently creative -the ingenuity of small businesses throughout the course of the COVID-19 pandemic proving that beyond a doubt- many business owners have shared that it can be difficult to translate that creativity to their online presence.

I believe it’s essential to help business owners embrace their creativity, allowing them to showcase their companies and connect with customers online and offline. I’m here to myth-bust that you have to be a creative professional to build amazing creative online. Here are three tips to help entrepreneurs tap into their creativity, and effectively market their business online:

1. MAKE FOR MOBILE While the criteria for big ideas haven’t changed, mobile-first is no longer a luxury, but a necessity. So, what are the keys to success when building content for mobile? I recommend following a few best practices. First, we’ve seen that vertical videos perform best, allowing you to take advantage of more real estate on people’s phone or tablet screens. (Imagine if you rent out a massive billboard, and instead of using the whole advertising space, you use 10% of it.) Some other notable insights: content that features people (vs. just product shots) tends to perform better. Think about how you can incorporate humans into your content- whether its employees, paid models, or customers who’ve given you permission to use their images. You also want to communicate clearly and succinctly. Our research has found that ads with short text overlays and captions below 300 words are optimal.

2. ADD VIDEO TO THE MIX Across our platforms, we’ve seen that the majority of video-only or video-plus-static-image campaigns outperform static-only campaigns in both increasing conversions and driving top-of-mind awareness. When experimenting with video and video-plus-static combined content, remember that short is sweet. There is no magic duration- your content should be as short as it can be, but also as long as it needs to be. Think of it as a game of Jenga: you build your content, and then start removing bits and pieces until you reach that critical point, where if you remove one more word, the whole thing will fall apart- this is when you know you’ve reached the right duration. Given this limited amount of time, don’t try to do too much– highlight your brand, and focus on a singular message. If possible, end with a clear call to action that indicates what you want your audience to do next– like visit your website, purchase a specific product or service, or contact you for more information.

3. GIVE REELS A SHOT Reels already make up more than 20% of the time that people spend on Instagram, so we know there is an appetite to explore a brand’s story in this format. When you’re building this type of content, think of it as infotainment. You want the content you’re presenting to be useful and engaging, while inspiring your audience to get to know more about your brand. For example, think about what are some of the most common questions you get from customers, and build video content that answers your top three queries. If you’re launching a new offering, develop a video that previews the new product or service, showing how it benefits customers. Make sure you’re entertaining and informing for optimal results.

From making for mobile, educating while informing and entertaining audiences, and understanding how to add video into the mix, there are a variety of ways business owners can expand their marketing horizons and tap into their creativity. Also, I want to remind all business owners: don’t doubt yourself. You are creative, and your business is unique. Now, you have the tools and skills (to continue) to show the world.

Feature Image Credit: shutterstock

By

Sourced from Entrepreneur Middle East

Read More
By
In News

8 Ways to Improve Your Online Presence in 2023

No Comments

By

A robust online presence is crucial to the success of your business.

Regardless of the kind of business you operate, there are many things you can gain from having a strong online presence. With a powerful online presence, you can boost brand awareness, increase leads and increase sales. So, as we are moving closer to 2023, every business must plan to take its online presence to the next level.

In this post, we will explain some important things every business should do to improve its online presence in 2023.

Build a user-friendly, attractive website

When creating an impressive online presence in 2023, the importance of having a website cannot be overemphasized. Your website can make it easier for people to know what you are capable of offering them. Additionally, it can tell people more about your work process, work hours, location, contact information and lots more.

But you shouldn’t just create any site. It must be user-friendly and visually appealing. This is because the expectations of consumers are high nowadays. As a result, they will not waste their time on a low-quality, hard-to-navigate website. So, you should hire the service of experienced website developers and designers to ensure your site meets the required standard.

Use SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a digital marketing strategy for increasing your brand’s visibility in search results. As your website ranks higher in search results, more people will be able to come across your brand. Therefore, SEO can make a big difference in your online presence.

To optimize your site for SEO in 2023, you should invest in finding the most relevant keywords. Afterward, use the keywords appropriately and naturally in your headers, meta description, blog content, social media posts, etc.

Also, you shouldn’t forget the three most crucial aspects of SEO, which are:

When done correctly, SEO will help you to reach more potential customers, thus, boosting your online presence.

Take advantage of local directories

Although it may seem that local directories are only meant for local businesses, all businesses can gain from them. With the directories aid, many would-be customers can check out your business without going to your site. So, as you are trying to boost your business’s online presence, you need to create profiles on local directories such as Google.

Invest in online ads

While a business can grow online organically without ads, online ads can make the job easier and faster. Therefore, if you want to improve your business’s online presence, you need to invest in online ads. Facebook, Google, YouTube and other platforms now allow users to pay for ads. These ads will showcase your offers, ensuring that more people know about your business.

Online ads are helpful for businesses in different ways. Firstly, it can be tailored to suit your target audience. You can use age, interests, location, gender, behaviour and other parameters to determine who will see the ads. Secondly, the ads can be done in varying formats, such as images, texts, infographics and videos.

Focus on only the most important online platforms

You can explore numerous platforms when it comes to boosting the image of your business online. However, you must be careful, as being present on several platforms may not be advantageous to your business. Generally, you will have to spend lots of time online marketing your business through numerous platforms. This can be pretty distracting and even prevent you from offering quality services and products to existing customers.

As a result, you should only focus on the most vital platforms. If you can only maximize the use of your website, emails and three social media platforms, you should concentrate on them. You just need to select the best platforms that will assist you in getting the most from your online presence.

Post shareable and emotional content consistently

Another way to improve your online presence is to post content your audience can share with friends. By sharing your content, it will be able to reach more people, thus, boosting your online presence. Nevertheless, most users will only share content that resonates with them emotionally. So, creating emotional and shareable content from time to time on your website and social media pages is paramount.

Infuse emotional phrases and words into your headers, captions, blog posts, etc. Add exciting images, videos, stats and emojis to your content. Also, you can directly encourage the readers to share your post.

Use email marketing

Even though email marketing is one of the oldest means of digital marketing, it is still crucial today. Many internet users utilize emails and check their inbox messages regularly. According to Optinmonster.com, about 99% of email users open their emails at least once daily. So, if you can reach out to existing and would-be customers through emails, you will increase your online presence in 2023.

To optimize email marketing, you must build an email list and craft unique subject lines and content. Also, you must send emails regularly, but don’t spam your audiences.

Explore guest posting

As you continue to look for ways to improve the online presence of your business, you shouldn’t limit it to your platforms. For instance, guest posting can be a great way to let more people know about your business. Guest posting refers to the process of creating a blog post on another platform’s blog. You need to add a link to your website or blog in the blog post. When people engage with your post on the website, they may click the link and visit your website.

When choosing a platform for guest posting, ensure it is a platform with many audiences. Such a platform will allow you to reach more people.

After doing everything above, you should keep track of the progress of your effort with Google Analytics, SEMrush, Ahrefs, etc. Keep updating these things until you have accomplished the goal of improving your business’s online presence in 2023.

By

Sourced from Entrepreneur

Read More
By
In News

5 Simple Practices That Will Boost Your Online Presence

No Comments

By Hillel Fuld

The best strategy to maximize social media is to be human.

Whether you’re running social media for your company or as an individual, remember that there are two components here: The media part, which everyone seems to already understand, and the social part, which is often ignored.

To get the most out of social media, you need to address both social and media. That said, here are five easy ways to maximize the human aspect of social media and make sure you’re being social.

1. Don’t start an email or post with, “Dear all.”

This is such a pet peeve of mine. If you’re sending me an email or a message on any platform, then talk to me directly–not me and 100 other people. This is true for mass tagging on your posts and it is true for starting a message with, “Hey all.”

Even if you are sending a mass email, you don’t have to rub it in my face that you don’t consider me important enough to send me a personal email. Besides, when you send a message to a group of people, everyone assumes the next person will deal with it and most people will automatically delete the email. I know I do.

2. Become acquainted before pitching an idea.

It is mind-boggling to me that in 2021, this even needs to be said. Not a single day goes by in which someone doesn’t add me on LinkedIn and upon accepting their request, they instantly begin pitching me. Most of the time, it’s a pitch for something that is completely irrelevant to me, but that person skipped the five minutes of looking at my profile to determine whether their product is something I need or not.

Just like you would not walk up to a total stranger offline and start selling them on something without establishing any trust, don’t do it online.

Whether it’s on LinkedIn or any other platform, try sending that initial message by saying hi and that you’d love to hear what that person is working on. You’ll find that to be a great ice breaker because people like to talk about their work.

3. Use a real profile picture.

I know this might seem trivial, but I assure you, it is not. People like to do business with people. People do not like to do business with a logo or a picture of a nice landscape. Now don’t get me wrong, I am all for beautiful landscape photography, but not to be used as your profile picture.

When I see someone who has no profile picture, or they have a picture of a view, I think to myself, “If this person couldn’t be bothered to have a normal profile picture, I can’t be bothered to do business with them.”

Putting a face to your company is super important, and even if you’re just an individual and not a company, people want to know who they’re talking to.

4. Reply to all comments or tweets.

Again, why does this even need to be said? If someone took the time and effort to consume your content and comment or share it, don’t they deserve your recognition? You don’t have to write a whole essay on every comment, but a quick like or thank you would be nice.

Now, you don’t owe anyone anything, and just because that person commented on your post does not mean that you must like their comment. It’s not a question of obligation, it’s a question of decency and etiquette.

5. Highlight others.

I deeply believe in giving others the spotlight. No one wants to engage with a company or a person who spends all day self-promoting. However, a person who highlights others and gives others the stage? That is someone I find worth following.

Besides, highlighting others is a fantastic marketing strategy. You strengthen the relationship with the person you’re highlighting, you get their followers to consume your content after that person shares it, and you elevate your own brand by associating with thought leaders who you are featuring.

In summary, don’t be like most people and only focus on the media part of social media. Be social, be human, and then you’ll truly see how powerful these platforms can be.

Feature Image Credit: Photo: Getty Images. Illustration: Reagan Allen

By Hillel Fuld

Tech marketer and start-up adviser @hilzfuld

Sourced from Inc.

Read More
By
In News

Why And How To Diversify Your Business’ Online Presence

No Comments

By Akram Atallah

Naturally, as a business owner, you want to spread awareness of your brand to as many people as possible. Developing an online following — whether of viewers, readers, customers or clients — is a common tactic for doing so. But, later on, the tools you use to build this following can significantly weigh on the success of your brand.

Many entrepreneurs make the “either/or” mistake: They either build their own domain on the open web or establish a presence within a walled garden. The best method for reaching the largest possible audience, however, isn’t either/or. It’s leveraging both walled gardens and a personal domain, as well as online marketing and advertising channels, to gain insightful data, independent brand equity and a corner of the web that’s managed entirely by you.

Sow Seeds Within A Walled Garden

From Facebook and Instagram to Amazon and Etsy, odds are you’ve used a walled garden before. Simply put, walled gardens are external platforms on which you can anchor your web presence or e-commerce store — but the perks don’t stop there. You can also advertise, market and sell goods, receive payments, offer content and perform a range of other online activities. The “garden” is the platform itself, and the “wall” represents its closed community of members, merchants and other registered users — in contrast to the open web.

Walled gardens come with millions of pre-existing users, making it easy to reach people as soon as you establish a presence on them. The best-known include Amazon and Facebook, but there are thousands more, including LinkedIn, Etsy, Angi, WhatsApp and Shopify.

In addition to letting you tap into an existing audience, walled gardens allow for easy account setup. Their platforms are often user-friendly, requiring little to no technical knowledge on your part. Using this turnkey solution, you can set up a free profile and begin reaching customers almost instantaneously.

Although walled gardens come with many benefits, you’ll want to ensure your brand isn’t contained exclusively within one for maximum long-term growth. To diversify your audience and unlock valuable data, it’s important to establish a simultaneous presence with a consistent brand look and feel outside the garden walls.

Own Your Online Presence With Your Own Domain

According to the results of a 2020 study by OpenX, 84% of consumers search the open web for business information, and 81% for products to buy. Far from obsolete, the open web is still the place many customers turn to first with a pressing need or question.

So, before you launch a presence within a walled garden, be sure to secure your own domain and build a website that’s entirely your own. If you’re not sure where to start, begin by looking for a domain name that successfully represents your brand. Consider securing a descriptive domain extension like .io, .live or .studio, which are often more readily available than .com names and can be both more memorable and relevant to your business.

From there, it’s time to establish a website and, fortunately, you don’t have to be a technology whiz to build one. Simply go to your registrar of choice, purchase the domain, then connect with a website builder that can develop you a new site using WordPress, SquareSpace, Drupal or another content management system. (Website developers can typically also secure the domain you want.)

Consider Other Avenues For Marketing And Advertising

Once your new site is up and running, and you’ve linked it back to the walled gardens you have a presence on for greater reach, what next? There are countless other avenues at your disposal to maximize the number of people who engage with your brand.

Despite the quick rise of social media, emails remain relevant and effective. According to the results of a 2020 study by AWeber, 79% of small business leaders believe that email marketing is important to their business strategy — and for good reason. Emails still ensure a sizable return on investment at $42 for each $1 spent, as noted in the Data & Marketing Association’s 2019 report (paywall). If you can secure people’s email addresses, you can use email marketing to stay top of mind — and, hopefully, capture their views, clicks and dollars.

But email isn’t the only manoeuvre for driving people to your website. Building a strong SEO strategy can help boost traffic, too. Start by researching the top keywords used by your target demographic on the open web, and strategically pepper those words throughout your site, especially in headings and subheadings. Next, consider creating a regular schedule for publishing high-quality content that hits on those keywords. This will increase organic traffic and the odds that other websites will backlink to your site, which, in turn, improves your search rankings.

You can also use your own website to gather valuable data about site traffic and visitor demographics. With these new, relevant insights about your customer, reader or viewer base, you can calibrate your digital approach to resonate with and reach your target audience. With that, you’re ready to build brand recognition, broadcast to a wider crowd and position yourself for future success by diversifying your presence across the web.

Feature Image Credit: getty

By Akram Atallah

Akram Atallah is CEO of Donuts Inc., a global leader in next-generation top-level domains and digital identity. Read Akram Atallah’s full executive profile here.

Sourced from Forbes

Read More
By
In News

4 Pointers To Help You Get Hired In The Post-Pandemic Era

No Comments

By William Arruda

“Help Wanted” signs are everywhere, and they’re not going away anytime soon. A shortage of workers is gripping the nation: April saw a new record of 9.3 million open positions.

As employers struggle to fill critical roles, the time is ripe for you to pursue your dream career. Just remember that you still have competition. Anthony Klotz, an associate professor of management at Texas A&M University, says the business world is entering a “great resignation,” as more and more workers seek to switch jobs.

What does this mean for you? If you’re interested in starting post-pandemic life in a new position, don’t wait. The most coveted roles with the most in-demand benefits (yes, including remote work) are likely to attract hundreds of qualified applicants. You have to find a way to stand out from the crowd. Here’s how:

1. Highlight transferable job skills on your résumé.

According to Isaiah Hankel, founder and CEO of Cheeky Scientist, today’s employers are less worried about highly specific skills. “You might have been told to tailor your résumé for each role you apply for, but from what I’ve seen, that strategy won’t work in 2021,” Hankel says in his recent article for Harvard Business Review. “Many companies are nervous about hiring more specialized candidates because they’re unsure what the business landscape will look like after the pandemic. To show you are adaptable, generalize the skills on your résumé into three main areas: systems-oriented, people-oriented, and self-oriented.”

A study by global staffing firm Robert Half found that 84% of companies are willing to hire and then train candidates who might not meet specific job requirements. Considering 62% of employees reported landing a position they weren’t qualified for, it appears companies are largely being honest about their intentions.

2. Focus on personal branding by updating your online presence.

Anne Pryor, a Reach-certified personal branding strategist shares my passion for urging all applicants to spend time working on their digital personal brand. “Regardless of the current economic climate, it’s absolutely critical for all professionals in job search mode to understand their unique promise of value and be able to express it in the virtual world,” Pryor says.

Today, your personal brand is intrinsically tied to your online presence. In fact, your first impression will be delivered online. A study by CareerBuilder indicates that 58% of employers use social media to verify candidates’ qualifications—and 50% see a professional online presence as a reassuring sign of a candidate’s potential. Tailor your profile on broad networking platforms like LinkedIn and other mediums that fit your desired position or industry. An established GitHub profile, for example, can cement your status as a software engineer.

3. Go beyond the traditional résumé format.

Remember when a résumé had to fit on a single page with your entire work history neatly organized in chronological order? As proof that these formats have gone out the window, check out TikTok Résumés. The popular video-sharing platform is partnering with companies like Chipotle, Shopify and Target to invite job seekers to apply for in-demand positions.

Today, your imagination is the only thing limiting what form your résumé can take. A video résumé might be a great way to show off your visual work if you’re applying for a role as a videographer, graphic designer, or illustrator. If you’re looking for a job as an accountant, make a résumé in Excel that shows off your highly relevant knowledge of complex or obscure formulas. One student applying for a position at Spotify even made a playlist-themed résumé—and it’s fantastic.

4. Use stories to convey experience during the interview.

Storytelling isn’t just an interesting way to convey information. Research indicates stories can be 22 times more memorable than facts on their own. When hiring managers think back to interviews with dozens or even hundreds of different candidates, your ability to tell a story will make you and your experience stand out from the crowd.

Lily Zhang, a career counsellor at the MIT Media Lab, understands the power of a compelling story. “A good place to start when preparing your narrative for a particular interview is to figure out what main points—personal experiences, skills or qualities—you want to get across to show the interviewer you’re right for this job,” Zhang advises. “Then, look for opportunities to tie these points together in a cohesive way and find supporting stories from your work experience that back these points up. Connecting your career story to the job you’re applying for to create a bigger narrative is the goal.”

If you’ve been thinking about applying for a new job, now might be a good time. But the abundance of opportunities shouldn’t make you feel complacent. Instead of relying on a cookie-cutter approach, make yourself stand out by incorporating these four key ingredients. After all, effective personal branding is about authenticity and differentiation.

Feature Image Credit: Getty

By William Arruda

William Arruda is a keynote speaker, author, co-founder of CareerBlast.TV and creator of the LinkedIn Profile Type Indicator (LPTI) which measures your LinkedIn profile likability and credibility. Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn. Check out my website. 

Sourced from Forbes

Read More
By
In News

Wix vs Squarespace: which is better?

No Comments

By

Flexibility or structure, the choice is all yours

When it comes to picking the best website builder for you to build an online presence, many have similar features that could make picking the right one for you quite challenging.

Two of the most popular names in easy-to-use website builders are Wix and Squarespace.

Behind over 50% of the websites created using website builders, on the surface you may think that there’s not much distinction between Wix and Squarespace in terms of their offerings, but there are actually key differences you may want to consider before making a final decision on which one to pick.

From awesome templates to user-friendly navigation, website builders gaining popularity these days is not at all surprising. After all, these website building tools are a big help for businesses to gain online presence.

In this article, we will thoroughly examine the differences between Wix and Squarespace, highlighting all their pros and cons so that you can then decide for yourself which of the two is right for you.

1. Wix – a top-notch website builder
Wix is top dog when it comes to free website builders, but it also offers some powerful paid plans. These start from as little as $8.50 per month for the Combo plan, which gets you 3GB of storage space, a free domain and free SSL certificate.   View Deal

Build your next website for as little as $10.80 per month
With world-class designers creating templates for every use case, Squarespace can help make your idea stand out online. Get started with one of our best-in-class website templates and customize it to fit your needs. Use the exclusive Squarespace voucher code TECHRADAR10 to get that price on the cheapest package.   View Deal

No coding skills? No problem. Both Wix and Squarespace utilize tools known as ‘software as a service’ or SaaS, which allows the creation and maintenance of a website to be done by a novice. Be that as it may, here are some identified differences between the two.

Wix relatively makes creating the website without coding skills a lot easier than Squarespace. The latter, however, becomes easier with practice, and for website builders who don’t have a lot of time to spare, Wix is an easy choice.

Wix vs Squarespace: the main difference

Wix allows a lot more freedom to customize your website pages whereas Squarespace has a structured editor. Wix has more overall features to work with but Squarespace is designed to make the features it does have easier to apply and use.

Page Editor

Here's some of the Wix templates available 

Here’s some of the Wix templates available  (Image credit: Wix)

Wix offers drag-and-drop by the pixel. That means any element can be moved to any space on the page. This drag-and-drop editor makes it easy to start designing your website as you can do so freely. Wix’s editor is intuitive, which is ideal for beginners who have very little experience of building a website. This also makes reverting to previous versions easier as well as recovering content in the event that the need arises.

Squarespace has a more structured drag-and-drop feature in that it’s more section-based as opposed to the drag-and-drop anywhere feature that Wix offers. This means that when you drag elements, you’ll essentially be dropping them into specific columns and rows where they can snap into. This takes away a great deal of the creative freedom Wix offers, but it only takes some getting used to and it becomes just as easy to manoeuvre.

Pricing

Wix pricing plans

Wix is a cheaper option for users who aren’t too concerned with bandwidth and storage  (Image credit: Wix)

Wix offers a free plan where the most basic tools can be utilized. Its paid plans are divided into two categories: website plans for when you’re creating a professional website, and business and eCommerce plans for when the website needs to accept online payments.

With prices ranging from US $4.50 to $24.50 per month, users who avail of the website plans get from 1GB to unlimited bandwidth, up to 35GB of storage space, up to five hours of video, Site Booster and Visitor Analytics apps free for an entire year, a professional logo, social media logo files, and 24/7 dedicated customer support.

Business and eCommerce plans, on the other hand, range from US $17 to $35 per month. These plans allow users not only to accept online payments, but also scale their business and access to the full VIP suite. All plans offer unlimited bandwidth, 20, 35, and 50GB of storage, and the same level of dedicated customer care as the website plans.

Choosing a Squarespace plan is less complicated as there are only four. It follows the logic of getting more features made available the higher the tier of the plan users choose. The cheapest plan called the Personal plan gives a user a custom domain whereas Wix’s Connect or most basic plan doesn’t. This basic plan also gives users unlimited bandwidth and storage, as opposed to Wix’s 1GB bandwidth and 500MB of storage for the same plan.

Though noticeably different in features, it is important to consider the price difference between the two basic plans. Wix Connect Domain plan has a monthly recurring charge of US $4.50, whereas Squarespace Personal plan costs $12 per month. It is also worth noting that Wix Connect Domain plan displays Wix ads, something a user would not have to deal with if they went with Squarespace.

For users who aren’t as concerned about bandwidth and storage and want to focus on design and having a website and don’t mind ads, Wix is a cheaper option.

Extra Features

Squarespace extensions

Squarespace’s extra features can be added in-house unlike Wix’s preferred method of using apps (Image credit: Squarespace)

With over 200 apps for third party integration (both paid and free) found exclusively in its own dedicated App Market, Wix lets users maximize how they can personalize their website even further. The App Market offers a wide selection of “made by Wix” apps as well as third party apps that help add an extra layer of functionality to sites easily. The apps featured in the App Market include email marketing apps, call conversion apps, interactive videos, dropshipping tools, calendars, notification tools, and a lot more.

Squarespace, on the other hand, doesn’t offer extra features in the form of apps. Instead, anything that isn’t already offered by Squarespace in-house can be added via third-party integration. Instead of an app store, Squarespace has extensions that help users manage, optimize, and expand their site. There are extensions for shipping and fulfilment, finance, inventory and products, and sales and marketing.

Wix definitely outdoes Squarespace in the number of apps to choose from, making customization much easier, however, quality-wise, we think Squarespace has the edge over Wix.

Ecommerce: Wix Store vs Squarespace Shop

Squarespace online store

Squarespace’s online store has a slick overall design (Image credit: Squarespace)

Wix Store lets users create a professional online store with features such as custom product pages, shopping cart, multiple sales channels, and a lot more. Mainly, it’s geared towards small and medium online stores alike, and it’s affordable and convenient.

Squarespace does not fall behind Wix in terms of features, and certainly has the upper hand when it comes to a sleek overall design. It’s main disadvantage, however, is that it does not have its own store, which means if the feature is not built-in, it can’t be implemented.

Verdict

If you’re ready for your business to take off, choosing the best builder can help you get started. Unless you’ve found the perfect tools and have found comfort in either option, you can opt to try them both and see where the most benefits are.

As Wix is for anyone who wants to give website creation a try, it comes highly recommended as the interface is intuitive, and there are tons of extra options. You can get your creativity working, and personalize your site as much as you need to.

Squarespace is the perfect option if you want to achieve giving your site a sleek look with premium features, never mind how limited the options are.

Feature Image Credit: Wix vs Squarespace: which is better? (Image credit: Pixabay)

By

Sourced from techradar.pro

Read More
By
Load More