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Get a Sharper Image for Your Brand Through Sharper Images

  If content is king (and it is) in the realm of digital marketing, images are the jewels in the crown. While our June 8 blog post, “What is Quality Content” focused on written content, the importance of images is ignored at your peril. “Sometimes, it’s easy to forget that images are also content,” says marketing sensei Neil Patel. “In fact, images are an essential part of any content marketing effort.” After all, humans are hard-wired to respond to images faster than the written word, and have an ever-shortening attention span.

Upping your image game in the right way can boost SEO, build your brand and keep your business top-of-mind with your target audience. Going a step further by using visual storytelling (more on that later) can even give you a reputation as an industry thought leader.

How far you should go depends upon the nature of your business and target demographic. Business-to-consumer products and services geared toward generation Z and millennials need to present a polished, Instagram-ready brand image. This is definitely the demographic for visual storytelling tactics. Business-to-business companies can benefit by presenting a high-quality, visually consistent look throughout their photo images. If your B2B product or service isn’t particularly glamorous, there are ways to make it look dynamic. Because budget is usually a concern, you may be wielding the camera yourself. Unless your business is professional photography, it’s possible you need some basic instructions for photo framing and composition, angles and lighting.     Using Real Photos in Digital Marketing    

Utah-based photographer Jeremy Jensen shared his expertise in a user-friendly guide to shooting quality social media photos for workplace collaboration tool Redbooth.

Tips include:

• Apply the rule of thirds to create dynamic compositions. Jensen modifies this somewhat for cellphones, recommending the subject be placed directly in the center of the frame, being aware of foreground, midground and background.

• Pay attention to resolution. Facebook compresses images – they need to be the right size to prevent blurriness. Richard Lazazzera of A Better Lemonade Stand provides helpful instructions on optimizing images for the web.

• Put a story behind the image. As Jensen writes: “One of the best strategies for sharing meaningful content is taking the time to understand your audience and what they’re looking for.”   Using Stock Photos in Digital Marketing  

If you’re not comfortable with doing your own photography – or need images to supplement your in-house efforts – stock photos are an option. Unfortunately, what can be a good solution is all too often misused.

Poor stock photography choices can call attention to your website and social media presence in the wrong way through cheesy subjects and over-used images. Even worse, it can damage your company’s credibility and trustworthiness. As noted by graphic designer Gareth Hardy of Down With Design, that classic stock photo of an attractive call center representative “… makes the business in question look fake.”

Several services offer royalty-free stock photos, including Unsplash, Pixabay and Pexels (the source of our cliché photo example). But keep in mind, there are no bad free stock photo services – just bad stock photos.

Here are a few simple rules for making wise choices:

• Don’t use photos you’ve seen on other websites or social posts.

• Don’t select the first photo you find, even if you’re pressed for time. Chances are many others have also used it.

• Look for photos featuring people who reflect the culture of your business as closely as possible. Avoid photos of people wearing business suits if your company’s style is casual.

• Chose photos of people in settings and groupings that look like they would actually occur in your organization.

On the SEO side of images, infographics have long been a popular means of presenting facts and statistics in a visual way to get shares and boost search rankings. But other images can work just as well. According to marketing expert John Lincoln, image optimization might be one of the most overlooked elements of SEO – and one of the best ways to outrank your competitors and build brand-name awareness. Lincoln covers the three goals of image optimization in detail:

• Include images that support your page ranking and traffic.

• Rank well in Google Image Search.

• Make sure that images display correctly on social media and in pay per click.

For those prepared to go the extra mile, photos can establish and build your brand image. Not only should you show your company’s culture through photos, but have those photos tell a compelling, consistent story. Look at the Instagram accounts of popular brands, and style your photos with attention to every detail: background, accessories and even color coordination. Do you have a blank wall in your office? Paint it a bright color, or with graffiti-style graphics, and use it as a background for photos and videos. If your business doesn’t lend itself to great visuals, think about what you consider interesting about your field, and show others your business the way you see it.

Whether you’re handling your web design and social media in-house or partnering with a digital marketing agency, providing your marketing team with quality images is essential. Of course, we recommend the latter solution. Virtual Stacks Systems is a full-service digital marketing agency that handles all aspects of web design, SEO and social media management so you can focus on your business. Contact us to learn how we can create content that reigns supreme in meeting your marketing goals.

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Social Media Automation Tools That Make Getting Down to Business Easy

  Our story so far ...

Marketing automation is essential to attracting and cultivating qualified leads.

As covered in our previous blog post, marketing automation is comprised of a variety of resources to more effectively market on multiple channels and automate repetitive tasks to  nurture prospects with personalized, useful content that helps convert prospects to customers and retain them. Now, as promised, we’re taking a look at tools that make managing your social media scheduling, postings, campaigns and analytics easier.

The Benefits

As succinctly stated by entrepreneur and writer John Rampton for Mashable, the advantages of social media management automation software and apps is that they all allow you to schedule social media posts for different social media platforms in advance and monitor your accounts when someone mentions your brand or leaves a comment.

“While having a social media marketing strategy is a necessity,” says Rampton, “it can become extremely time consuming. Between updating your profile, responding to customers, coming up with content and sharing content, managing your social media accounts can become a full-time job.” For business owners – as well as digital marketing agencies in behalf of clients – who are looking to connect with customers, influencers and even potential investors through social media, management tools are essential.

A big advantage for businesses that have more than one person writing social media posts is the collaborative capability of social media management solutions. Multiple users can schedule posts, allowing greater efficiency. Some solutions incorporate a publishing calendar to help you visualise or better plan a posting schedule.

However, knowing your target demographic is extremely important. Unless your content and information target the right people, you won’t receive the traffic to show for it. This comes back to a fact that bears repeating ‒  content marketing can not succeed without quality content and SEO. The best content is credible, relevant and will last longer than a week. Although regularly achieving such a high standard can be difficult, as long as you are reaching for it, you’re on the right track.

Getting the Big Picture and Extending Your Reach

 The cherry on top of social media automation is real-time analytics and performance data. You can measure engagement results to continually alter and improve your strategies. Progress requires constant evolving to stay ahead of trends and cater to the preferences and interests of your target demographic. Users can boost their relevance by utilizing automation software features to search for influencers and curate content. Some of the best content is that which is already written. Chances are if you find relevant content worth hunting down, so will a number of your viewers. It is for this same reason that social media influencers can lead to significant conversion rates.

Once your brand has reached the right audience and is proving to be well-received, social media automation can help you (or your client) retain customers through reinforcing brand loyalty. All of these actions can be completed in the software as well, reducing the time it takes to directly engage with traffic. This is accomplished by composing personal messages to make a brand more inviting. It also builds your credibility as a trustworthy and reliable business, hopefully providing you with impressive reviews. Automated content can be beneficial for highly trafficked sites, but unless it is quickly followed up with a personable response, it will not assist in building strong customer to business relationships.

Costs vary among social media automation solutions. As budget is usually a major factor, do your research, and be sure to compare features to avoid paying for bells and whistles you don’t need. For a comprehensive breakdown, take a look at the 11 Best Social Media Automation Tools to Use in 2018, by Pankaj Narang for Jeff Bullas.

The Tools to Succeed

Here are some of our favorite social media automation solutions that will make your goals easier to achieve.

Each brings a different specialty to the table that may best address the primary needs of your social media strategy and long-term goals.

 • HootSuite  - A household name for most marketing professionals, HootSuite encompases end-to-end social media automation. Beyond channel-agnosticism and live brand monitoring, HootSuite includes SEO and personalized lead management. While favored for being user-friendly, it also provides in-depth analytics for seasoned marketers.

   • Sprout Social - Featuring smooth collaboration and engagement capabilities, Sprout is ideal for CRM. The software is concise, such as single-steam messaging and a shared content calendar, and is accessible from any device, anywhere. Its well-renowned analytics also include an impressive reporting suite that is presentation-ready.

   • Agorapulse - Self-described as “simple and affordable,” Agorapulse is a triple threat. The software features include team collaboration, scheduling and performance tracking, to name but a few. Agorapulse also offers some tools for free, such as Facebook Barometer and Twitter Report Card.

   •  Buffer - Prominent for its “comprehensive analytics,” Buffer users can keep an eye on how their marketing strategy is performing to make the rapid changes necessary to succeed. Direct content is their forte, with seamless scheduling and browser extensions for work on-the-go.

Virtual Stacks Systems stays on the forefront of social media trends, employing the most advanced strategies and effective tools to set you ahead of the competition. We offer several social media management plans to ensure you only pay for the services that will benefit your business. Contact us with any questions, and learn how we can take your social media presence to the next level.

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Social Media Automation Tools That Make Getting Down to Business Easy was originally published on Virtual Stacks

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Successful Marketing Automation - The Know-How You Need!

  Successful Marketing Automation - The Know-How You Need!

Marketing is the driving force that makes business boom. As digital marketing strategies evolve, marketing automation has become integral to their successful execution. The right marketing automation software for your organization can streamline campaign management and help retain customers over the long term. Here is a look at how effective marketing automation helps the sales process to attract a greater number of qualified leads and close more sales – plus a rundown on the industry’s leading marketing automation solutions.

The Benefits of Marketing Automation

Not all marketing automation is equal. The right software for your business will perform the functions necessary to meet long-term goals. A common misconception by first-time users is that the software will churn out leads. This mistake can be costly. While marketing automation will effectively simplify and implement your tasks, it is not a solution to a failing campaign. After all, how can you further engage leads who have already lost interest? With a successful campaign and inbound leads to prove it, marketing automation can assist you by better catering to targeted leads’ interests. How exactly will it do this?

Marketing automation is like a well-stocked tool belt, increasing productivity and revenue. It keeps all of your preferred tools in an easy-to-navigate area for precise management.

Even with success, proper marketing automation constantly needs evolving to accurately respond to the behavioral data provided by leads. For example, when and where they are looking for and receiving their business recommendations, or the challenges they are facing. Solving these problems will make for personable and engaging content, in turn creating a better path for leads to convert to customers.

The worst habit marketing automation users can fall into is administering stale content – see our blog post, “What is Quality Content?” Maintaining quality content and appropriately responding to the data from leads is how you keep interest. How is this possible? By utilizing the key functions of marketing automation, you can use personalized, quality content to build prospective customer relationships, convert these leads into buyers, then retain them as satisfied customers over the long term.

The Key Functions

Marketing automation software provides a central marketing database for all marketing information and interactions. It is the belt that holds all of your tools in one convenient place, instead of several different toolboxes.

Here are the functions required to qualify as a marketing automation software, according to G2 Crowd:

• Automate two or more of the following: email, social media, SMS and digital ads.

• Provide advanced email marketing capabilities, including A/B testing, spam filter testing, scheduling, segmentation and detailed performance reporting.

• Act as a central marketing database for marketing information and interactions.

• Allow dynamic segmentation of marketing campaign targets.

• Contact targets across multiple channels after specific actions, triggers or periods of time.

• Perform lead management to include lead nurturing and lead scoring.

• Generate forms and landing pages to collect prospect information.

• Provide analytics and reports that track the entire lifecycle of a campaign, including ties to revenue and/or campaign ROI.

In unison, these functions not only simplify the execution of a marketing strategy, but assist in measuring campaign ROI and their impact on marketing KPIs, as well as company revenue.

Choosing the Best Tools

Selecting the right marketing automation solution for your business is critical. Making a well-informed decision can prevent the hassle of switching software and transferring campaigns down the line. Keeping the key functions in mind, here are some of the leading marketing automation tools:

 • HubSpot – The top-ranked inbound marketing software among marketers, HubSpot offers enough features and functions to suit most inbound marketing needs, and all of the resources to go with it. Regarded in the marketing industry as the “#1 inbound marketing platform,” it is a highly popular choice for small businesses. HubSpot also incorporates HubSpot Academy, which offers free online inbound marketing strategy courses and certification.

   • Marketo – As another inbound marketing software leader, Marketo ranks high for email campaigning and sales teams. Geared toward small-to-midsize businesses, Marketo’s  features include customer engagement, investment measurements and a collaborative workflow. Marketo boasts great integration with Pardot (Salesforce).

   • Pardot (Saleforce) – The Pardot CRM platform provides a full suite of tools designed to help marketers create connections, generate more leads and empower sales teams to close more deals. Pardot allows the creation of personalized campaigns and captures marketing ROI through tracking and reporting features.

As mentioned earlier in this post, even the best marketing automation software will be of limited success if your content is poor quality. Virtual Stacks Systems offers full-service digital marketing ‒ including website design and redesign, SEO, content creation (including video) and social media management. Contact us to learn how we can help you achieve your goals.

By the way, look for our blog post next week, where we’ll look at social media automation tools – what they do, how to use them and best-in-class solutions. See you then!

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Successful Marketing Automation – The Know-How You Need! was originally published on Virtual Stacks

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What is Quality Content? We Answer the Question of the Ages!

  What is Quality Content? We Answer the Question of the Ages!

“Content is King” is the inescapable mantra of content marketers. A seemingly endless number of blog posts extoll the importance of providing “quality content,” but very few define it. As if the product of spontaneous generation – the archaic belief that living organisms arose from inanimate materials – quality content is expected to just appear and magically boost SEO rankings and move the needle for the client’s business. Today, this example of quality content is here to explain itself and the process. And understand that “content” includes video and graphics – not only the written word.

First, quality content is original.

Google favors original content, and will penalize sites containing articles appropriated from the posts of other websites. Google’s major 2011 Panda algorithm update effectively drove “content farm” e-zines off its top rankings (and out of existence). Many of these sites “spun” articles by paraphrasing the original and replacing large parts of the copy with synonyms, and tried to rank for keywords the original didn’t.

However, there’s a caveat: Even original content can be awful. Search Engine Land’s informative history of bad content provides the back story and context for Google’s wrath. Examples of such – including instructions for bathing a small rodent and “How to Play The Xylophone”– are unintentional works of comedy.

Which brings this quality blog post to the next point: quality content is well-informed.

The writer already has a strong command of the subject, or possesses strong research skills – preferably both. The writer knows how to find credible, authoritative online sources for the appropriate industry, such as websites for trade groups, professional accreditation groups, etc., and can write knowledgeably about the subject based upon such research.

Quality content does not come from clickbait sites offering articles with headlines like “The world was not ready for the dress she wore!”

Closely related, quality content is accurate. Information is attributable to legitimate sources; statistics can be verified and linked to their source. Accuracy helps establish your organization as being reliable, trustworthy and committed to quality in every other area of business. Accuracy also includes fact-checking, as well as using correct grammar, spelling and punctuation – which necessitates careful, consistent proofreading.

Quality content is informative and actionable.

It is written to the wants and needs of the target audience, giving people answers to questions and/or useful information they can immediately or quickly incorporate into their life. Our blog post for client Adams and Son Plumbing – “It’s 4 ‘O Clog! Here Are the Top 4 Causes of Clogged Toilets” – provides practical advice on how to avoid this particularly expensive (and unhygienic) plumbing emergency. A major SEO benefit, of course, is that others will link to your content because it has information worth sharing.

Quality content connects with its audience.

This goes beyond merely providing information to making a connection based upon understanding and empathy – the sense that the author of the post “gets it” regarding the audience member’s experience with or feelings about the subject matter. A good deal of establishing this connection is writing in the right “tone of voice” for the topic. For example, our blog post for client Daniel’s Lawn Service – “Spring Flowers You Want In Your Central Florida Garden” – is written in an engaging, personable style to appeal to gardening enthusiasts. The invitation to step into a colorful backyard paradise to enjoy a neighborly cup of coffee is irresistible!

In contrast, our blog post for client DocuServe – “Blockchain 101: What You Need to Know About Blockchain” – covers a very technical topic. The post features insightful perspective from Blockchain pioneer Ian Kane, giving it extra appeal and credence to DocuServe’s target market of businesses in need of document security solutions.

Finally, quality content is created for people, but keeps SEO top-of-mind. After all, what good is quality content if no one reads or sees it because of poor search engine rankings? Search Engine Land’s Patrick Stox discussed the role of Google in determining what qualifies as quality content in his column, “What is Quality Content?” It may surprise some to learn that Google’s concept is basic golden rule principles:

• Make pages primarily for users, not for search engines.

• Don’t deceive your users.

• Avoid tricks intended to improve search engine rankings. A good rule of thumb is whether you’d feel comfortable explaining what you’ve done to a website that competes with you, or to a Google employee. Another useful test is to ask, “Does this help my users? Would I do this if search engines didn’t exist?”

Our quality blog post now concludes with the self-promotion you’ve been anticipating. Virtual Stacks Systems provides full-service digital marketing – including social media services – for a one-stop solution that can meet your company’s goals. We invite you to tell us what you want to achieve, and look forward to providing needle-moving quality content for you. If you happen to sell xylophones, we definitely will write a much better blog post than the one referenced in the third paragraph.

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Nine Tips for an Effective Email Marketing Campaign

  Nine Tips for an Effective Email Marketing Campaign

If email had died when the self-proclaimed digital pundits said it did, we must be witnessing a zombie apocalypse.

According to statistics portal Statista, global email users worldwide in 2017 numbered  3.7 billion – with projected growth to 4.1 billion in 2021. The Radicati Group reports the total number of consumer and business email received and sent on a daily basis reached 269 billion, which is projected to grow at an average annual rate of 4.4% in the next four years, reaching 319.6 billion by the end of 2021. Then there are the statistics provided by DMA and Demand Metric, which place email with a median ROI of 122% – more than four times higher than other marketing formats (paid search, social media and direct mail).

However, even though email is very much alive as a marketing tool, it can only be as effective as your marketing strategy.

Here are nine tips for creating one that can help your organization thrive.

1. Have a clear-cut objective – Know what you want your email campaign to accomplish. Do you want qualified leads in your conversion funnel? Additional business from existing customers? Additional information from recipients so you can fine-tune future messages and offers? You’ll need to craft the message accordingly.

2. Create relevant, quality content – That is, relevant, compelling copy and visuals targeted to your demographic to motivate them to answer your call-to-action (CTA). Keep your message simple and direct. People are continuously bombarded with email, and don’t have time to read lengthy pitches or product/service descriptions.

Use the appropriate “tone of voice” in your copy. Sound businesslike but approachable for a professional, B2B audience; personable and conversational for B2C. Use high-resolution images and a clean, attractive layout – which is especially important for an e-commerce business. Please read the closely related Tip Number Six: Be sure to optimize for mobile.

3. Make relevant offers – Offering your target audience something they consider useful is a great way to boost response. Booklets, white papers and webinars should, of course, be part of every strategy that uses a marketing automation solution. Special discounts, giveaways or invitations to a real-world or online event also have great motivating power.

4. Have a strong CTA – This leads back to Tip Number One. If you know what you want the recipient of your email to do, your marketing message can build on features and benefits, culminating in what action needs to be taken to start the customer journey. If you’ve done the job right, the recipient will click on the “yes” button, considering it to be the next logical step. After all, if they miss out on your white paper, they won’t have the edge over their competitors!

5. Have a good subject line – It doesn’t matter how sharp and compelling your content is if the subject line gets your carefully crafted email sent directly into the spam folder. The second worst-case scenario is that the recipient will just decide it isn’t worth opening. Be upfront about the subject of your email (don’t make a sales pitch seem like the recipient has won a prize) and avoid words that are likely to trigger the spam filter (like “prize”).

6. Be sure to optimize for mobile – It’s a mobile-first world now, as you learned by reading our blog post of April 12, 2018, “Is Your Business Website Ready for Mobile-first Indexing?” An email with graphics and text that don’t display well on smartphones will quickly go in the Delete can.

7. Don’t skip testing and tracking – Make sure that whatever you send works properly before distribution. Test it in-house among your team members. Ensure that personalization shortcodes are working properly and that the links are opening accurately. Performing A/B testing with your subject lines, CTAs and the text of your message can help you learn what gets the best results. After your email is sent, keep a tab on analytics and check out your click-through rates, open rates, forwards and unsubscribes. This will help in fine-tuning future campaigns.

8. Keep adding to your subscriber list – Use every opportunity to grow your database. Include sign-up or subscribe fields on your website, as well encourage sign-ups at tradeshows and industry conferences.

9. Make it easy to unsubscribe – Sometimes, your B2B subscribers leave their company or change fields, while B2C customers no longer fit the demographic for your product or service. Give them a positive lasting impression of your organization, and they may recommend it to others who are still in the market.

As you can see, many elements go into implementing a successful email marketing strategy. Virtual Stacks Systems provides comprehensive digital marketing and email hosting solutions for organizations of all sizes. Contact us to learn how a highly targeted, robust email campaign can help meet your goals.

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Website Explainer Videos: What Not To Do

  Search Beyond Google: Seven Alternative Search Engines

By now, every business knows the value of video as a marketing tool. Or, we should say, every successful business knows. As noted by online marketing guru John Rampton in his article for Forbes, “User engagement with video material is higher than other forms of content, video is more accessible than ever before (thanks to mobile devices and faster internet), and it’s easier to produce than it has been in previous generations.”

Statistics provide the support. WordStream reports the following:

• 87% of online marketers use video content. • 51% of marketing professionals worldwide name video as the type of content with the best ROI. For more on this, read our blog post of April 6, 2018, “Measuring the ROI of a Video Marketing Campaign – How to Capture the Unicorn.” • Marketers who use video grow revenue 49% faster than non-video users.

So how can you best use video for your brand? Rampton recommends starting with an explainer video, which is designed to give prospective customers and new users a run-down of what your products or services are and how they work. But while creating an explainer video may seem straightforward, there are pitfalls to avoid.

Here are 7 Common Explainer Video Mistakes to Avoid

1-Don’t forget your target audience – Every product, brand or service is made for a specific demographic. Your explainer video should represent your brand identity – be it young and hip, upscale, down-home, etc. – as well as that of your buyer persona. Whether your video is animated or live-action, be sure the script, manner of speech and appearance of characters/talent reflects (or appeals to) those of your target market. Keep the focus on your audience and their needs, rather than delivering a hard-sell about the greatness of your product or service.

2-Don’t make it too long – In this fast-paced world, people don’t have time to watch long videos. Experts recommend an average of 60 seconds, with a maximum of 90 seconds.

3-Don’t forget that you need a good script – Like any other effective marketing tool, an explainer video requires a clear, concise message with a strong call-to-action. Don’t try to convey your company’s entire history, philosophy, etc. in a single video. Introduce your product/service, describe the need it meets, describe its features/benefits, then conclude with a brief recap and the CTA. If possible, hire a professional scriptwriter.

4-Don’t talk too much about the features –People don’t want to hear details about what went into making the product during its initial development, or the difficulties you faced during the product testing stage. All they want to know is how your product will help them save time and add value to their life. Don’t speak only about the technical aspects of your product – emphasize how it will solve their issues. It is better to connect with your target audience on an emotional level than focus on specs.

5-Don’t sound too serious or boring – If appropriate, a little levity can be welcome. Just be cautious in using humor, as not everyone finds the same things funny – and, in the worst-case scenario, may even be offended. It’s easier to create an entertaining explainer video using animation than live action, as people tend to find animated characters and settings more engaging. Again, knowing your target audience will go a long way in conveying the right tone.

6-Don’t neglect the quality of your video – Constantly bombarded by videos all over the internet, audiences are more demanding than ever – and will immediately dismiss a poor-quality explainer (or any kind of) video. Invest in professional animation, voice-over talent, editing and sound mixing. If your video will be live action, hire an actor, or invest in a session with an acting or broadcasting coach to help you polish your on-camera delivery technique. Hiring professional talent should not be difficult or particularly expensive.

7-Don’t poorly distribute your video – Once your explainer video is ready, you need to upload it to all the right platforms. Many people think that uploading it to YouTube is all it takes to get an audience of prospective customers. Because your video distribution strategy is vital for getting the desired results, upload it to your website (home page, about us page, services page(s) and/or blog). Videos greatly improve website SEO, creating a win-win situation. Also post on your social media platforms, in advertising and on landing pages – which is proven to increase conversion rates and sales.

If you’ve noticed a theme running through this list, it’s summed up here: Making an effective explainer video is not a DIY project. Virtual Stacks Systems produces informative, entertaining explainer videos for a wide variety of businesses and industries. Contact us to discuss your digital video marketing needs.

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Search Beyond Google: 7 Alternative Search Engines to Google for 2018

Search Beyond Google: Eight Alternative Search Engines

In the early years of the World Wide Web, Google was just one of several search engines organizing information from web pages. While it eventually came to dominate much of the Western world, Google is still not the only game in town. Alternative search engines are now getting more traffic from savvy web searchers for numerous reasons – such as the need for specialized information, privacy or frustration over Google’s frequent, seemingly arbitrary, algorithm changes.

Here is a look at seven Google alternatives, and why they may be a better choice in certain situations.

1 -  Ask – Starting life as Ask Jeeves in 1996, Ask is one of the original search engines out of the starting gate with Google, MSN Search and the long-defunct AltaVista. It quickly grew in popularity with its focus on natural language queries in addition to keyword search.

After a series of setbacks, Ask reinvented itself in 2010 with a new version designed to deliver real answers, as opposed to just links, and introduced a community element to deliver human answers to subjective and complex questions. Ask features a focus on highlighting trending questions from the community, semantic search with answers displayed on the page, a large Q&A database and a user community element that targets members for answering questions based on their areas of expertise.

2 - Bing – From the ashes of Microsoft’s MSN Search, Bing rose to become the second most popular search engine in the word, and also powers Yahoo’s search engine. Even with that, as of 2016, Search Engine Watch reports this second-place status represents only 15.8% of the search market.

Lifehacker weighed in with its own points in favor of Bing, including:

• Better video search, with Bing providing a grid of large thumbnails that you can click on to play or preview by hovering over them.

• Its linkfromdomain: feature, which will highlight the best-ranked outgoing links from the selected site.

• Prediction of when airfares are about to decrease or increase.

3 - Dogpile – This is a metasearch engine, meaning that Dogpile gets results from multiple search engines and directories, then presents them combined to the user. Dogpile currently gets its results from Google, Yahoo, Bing, and others. According to Lifewire, Dogpile’s metasearch technology can search 50% more of the web than any single search engine, as evaluated by an independent search engine expert who verified its methodology and validated that its metasearch technology can retrieve 50% or more additional results.

4 - DuckDuckGo – Created with user privacy first in mind, DuckDuckGo doesn’t collect or share user information. The stealth search engine also doesn’t track searches when you’re in private browsing mode – which others do – and returns a wider range of results because they aren’t based on previous searches, as are Google’s.

Adam Heitzman – co-founder and managing partner of search marketing agency HigherVisibility – examined the growing demand for privacy among users increasingly concerned about what happens to the information Google gathers about them. According to his article for Forbes:

“In light of users becoming more aware of just how much of their information is tracked, used and sold to both advertisers and the government, DuckDuckGo has had success. It’s a search engine that doesn’t track or sell user browsing history or information yet still delivers high-quality search results and a strong user experience.”

DuckDuckGo has business-world proponents, as well. Mike Lindamood, founder and CEO of Lamood Corporation – which includes Lamood Big Hats and WalletGear – reports an increase in sales because of the search engine.

“Not only am I using DuckDuckGo more often, but so are our customers. DuckDuckGo referrals to our sites has grown at an enormous rate since 2012, when we first saw traffic from the search engine. It's probably the best search engine if you want to be free from being tracked.”

But DuckDuckGo’s appeal isn’t just about respect for your privacy. NerdBusiness reveals that the search engine’s !bang command allows you to search another site directly. For example, if you want a distraction from your workday (during designated break time, of course), type !youtube funny cats and you'll see the results directly on YouTube. Or use !yt for short.

5 - Ecosia – If you’re committed to sustaining Earth’s resources, Ecosia may become your search engine of choice. Describing its purpose as “Restoring lands and empowering communities,” Ecosia plants a tree for every search. Visitor clicks on ads and online purchases generate revenue for Ecosia, which uses at least 80% of its profits to support tree planting and community programs all over the world. The search engine does not track or sell data to third parties. Search technology is from Bing, enhanced with Ecosia's own algorithms. 

6 - StartPage – Like DuckDuckGo, StartPage allows private search. Although it uses Google, the search engine acts as an intermediary between the user and Google. The advantage is that Google only “sees” StartPage, not the user, and therefore cannot collect data on search history. StartPage collects the results, strips out the tracking cookies, and delivers completely private, anonymous search results to you.

Also like DuckDuckGo, StartPage returns a wider range of results than a direct Google search, does not store IP addresses or other personal information, nor does it turn them over to Google. Every search result also offers a Proxy feature, which lets you visit websites anonymously. No ads, of course!

7 - Yippy – This is a search engine for the deep web, which refers to the portions of the internet not accessible through standard web searches – which only scan indexed pages linked to domain homepages. The deep web contains material such as unlinked content, limited access content, private content and information archived in searchable databases. Using a deep web search engine provides access to this otherwise hidden content.

Because the deep web is unregulated, Yippy uses industry-leading security measures for safe searching. Even so, warns It Still Works, Yippy is intended for serious, painstaking research, not for simple questions and basic web surfing. Despite any security measures in place, exploring results may lead you into the internet's darkest corners, leaving you vulnerable to individuals and/or groups with criminal intent and sites designed to spread malware or hack your computer. In other words, know what you’re doing and proceed with caution.

So what does this mean for your website if people start making more frequent use of search engines other than Google? Virtual Stacks Systems’ SEO Services department has experience in optimizing websites to rank high on any search engine’s SERPs. Contact us to be sure your website can be found by as many search engines as possible – and your business found by as many potential customers as possible.

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Eight Ways to Improve Your Website’s User Engagement

Eight Ways to Improve Your Website’s User Engagement

Website user engagement is one of the most vital factors that determine the ranking – and the success – of your site. There is a tremendous amount of competition on the internet, where every website is vying for the top spot on search engines, but not all of them achieve success. Even if the traffic on your website is high, it will not make much of a difference if visitors don’t take the desired actions.

User engagement is the crucial first step to start the conversion process. You need to first engage with your target audience, and only then can you convince them to buy your product or service. Also, visitors who fail to quickly find what they’re looking for – or simply don’t like the appearance of your website – leave after viewing just one page, resulting in a high bounce rate.

According to a study by Microsoft, the average human attention span is now eight seconds – four seconds less than what it was in the year 2000. If eight seconds is all you have to impress and attract customers, it is all the more essential that you pay a lot of attention to user engagement.

Why is user engagement so important?

It helps promote familiarity and increases loyalty – The more users engage with your material, the more they integrate with your brand community. The more you become familiar, the more are the chances that they would be loyal to your brand.

It increases visibility – Engagement increases your visibility, which means you get a wider audience.

It means your content is more effective – The more engagement your content generates, the more it is able to generate leads and sales.

Eight ways to increase your website’s user experience

There are various ways you can increase the user experience of your customers. Here are the eight most effective:

1. Increase the load speed of your website – Visitors have no patience with slow-loading web pages. According to a study by digital performance management company SOASTA, bounce rates increased by as much as 56% for pages that loaded just one second slower than pages that loaded in 2.4 seconds. As discussed in our February 28, 2018 blog post, Why Your Website Needs to be Up to Speed, website speed is vital to providing a good user experience – just as important as user-friendliness and site reliability. To owners of ecommerce websites, speed continues to increase as a factor in conversion rates.

2. Make sure you have a responsive design – As discussed in our blog post of March 26, 2018, Mobile-First Indexing is Coming: Is Your Website Ready, Google is now rolling out its transition of using the mobile version of web pages – instead of the desktop version – for indexing and ranking. According to Statista, mobile internet traffic accounted for 42.41% of all internet traffic in North America by August, 2017. Optimizing for mobile is no longer a nice extra – it’s essential to survival. Which segues into Number Three:

3. Make your website easy to navigate – It is a serious problem if your visitors leave your site because they’re unable to find what they want. Hard-to-navigate websites lead to high bounce rates. Organize your navigation menu clearly so that it is easy for users (especially mobile users) to reach their destination. Make your navigation bar readily accessible and organize categories in a clean, logical manner.

4. Improve your internal linking and display related content – It becomes easier for your users to navigate your website when you improve your internal linking structure. Proper internal linking can also improve your SEO rankings. An improved SEO ranking and easy to navigate website will increase your page views and reduce your bounce rates, which improves website user engagement. Make sure that the links have descriptive anchor texts, they are specific and relevant, and they reach a new destination.

5. Add video – Video is an excellent way to increase visitor engagement. As noted in our December 26, 2016 blog post, Add Video to Your Content Marketing Plan, video increases your SEO, as well as your chance of a front page Google result by 53 times. Google is paying more attention to video and placing it in prime real estate on the search engine results pages (SERPs).

6. Collect email addresses – Website user engagement is not just about making visitors come to your site once – you need to find ways to make them repeat visitors. Use inbound marketing principles to collect email addresses in order to supply prospective and existing customers with fresh, relevant content – such as white papers, case studies and survey results. Or put them on your mailing list for alerts to sales and/or special offers. Keep in mind, however, that many people have “email fatigue,” and may be less likely to opt in due to heavy bombardment with emails from other businesses they engage with. Take home-message: if you want someone’s email address, you need to offer something they consider worthwhile.

7. Know what your audience wants – Knowing the preferences and values of your audience is another way of increasing website user engagement, and you can do it by conducting a survey. You can use the survey to find out what your customers want from your business, their likes and dislikes, and suggestions. This will help you generate relevant, well-received website content.

8. Add a search box in a prominent place – The top left is ideal for the desktop version of your website, but since the emphasis is now on mobile-first design, top of the screen is the only logical location. Add a drop-down menu if it will improve the search experience for your website’s visitors. According to econsultancy, up to 30% of visitors on ecommerce sites will use the site search box, and each of these users is showing a possible intent to purchase by entering product names or codes.

Creating a website that provides seamless integration of elements that create optimum user engagement will achieve the best results. Virtual Stacks Systems offers comprehensive website design, website redesign, SEO, hosting and video production services. Contact us to learn more.

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What is GDPR? Does Your Website Need to Be GDPR Compliant?

Ready or Not, Here Comes GDPR: What You Need to Know – and Do – to be Compliant

You’ve probably heard about the European Union’s (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that takes effect on May 25. Although it’s receiving scant attention in the news, GDPR is sounding a depth charge among American companies as it implements sweeping changes on businesses that deal with customer data – which may very well include yours. In other words, GDPR compliance isn’t just for EU-based companies. Here’s what you need to know.

What is GDPR?

In TechRepublic’s cut-to-the-chase terms, the GDPR was put in place to protect the personal data of EU residents and affects any business that has customers located in the EU. There is no restriction based on location, company size or scope of business, meaning any entity with an internet presence could be affected. As reported by TechRepublic’s Brandon Vigliarolo, fines for non-compliance will be high. Any service offered to an EU resident – regardless of whether the service is free and which country hosts its servers – has to play by the rules.

The Big Difference

Calling the GDPR a “seismic shift in the digital information space,” Kimberly Simpson – regional director of the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) – noted the major differences in the approach to collecting personal data in the United States and the EU.

“In the U.S., personal information is often collected as a matter of course, with only an ‘opt out’ offered to consumers. By contrast, GDPR requires that in order to collect information from EU data subjects, an affirmative ‘opt in’ consent must be obtained that clearly specifies how the data will be used. Privacy policies must match. Then, once information is obtained, the EU data subject has the right to request that his or her data be deleted; that is, to invoke the right ‘to be forgotten.’ Incorrect information must be corrected upon request. These rights may seem simple enough, but when data is held in multiple locations, developing a process to handle such requests may be quite difficult.”

WordPress & GDPR Compliance

As implied in all this, a key part of GDPR is the business’ responsibility to secure customer data and websites to prevent data breaches, phishing and other forms of malicious online activity. Search Engine Watch turned attention to WordPress, noting that estimates show WordPress is used by 25-40% of the internet – and given its widespread popularity and usage, it is a prime target for hackers.

WordPress is prepared for GDPR, introducing its GDPR Compliance Team and providing information on how WordPress is paving the way with new privacy tools.

The GDPR Compliance Team is focusing on four main areas:

• Adding functionality to assist site owners in creating comprehensive privacy policies for their websites.

• Creating guidelines for plugins to become GDPR ready.

• Adding administration tools to facilitate compliance and encourage user privacy in general.

• Adding documentation to educate site owners on privacy, the main GDPR compliance requirements and on how to use the new privacy tools.

WordPress has also added a roadmap for adding privacy tools to core. These tools will help website owners comply with GDPR and other privacy laws and requirements.

Social Media Marketing and GDPR Compliance

Social media marketers now need to ensure that the data they collect – as well as how they collect the data – from EU members is GDPR complaint. According to Social Media Examiner, collection of personal data from an EU resident requires obtaining explicit consent, which generally means that the consent should be:

Voluntary – Have the user take affirmative action.

Specific and informed – Make sure people are aware of what you’re collecting, how it’s being used, and whom it may be shared with.

Unambiguous – Don’t disguise with redirects to terms of service overflowing with legal jargon.

Ready or Not, Here it Comes!

However, many organizations are still not ready. According to Crowd Research Partners’ 2018 GDPR Compliance Report, only 40% of organizations are either GDPR compliant or well on their way to compliance by this month’s deadline. Other key findings include:

• A whopping 60% of organizations are at risk of missing the GDPR deadline. Only 7% of surveyed organizations say they are in full compliance with GDPR requirements today, and 33% state they are well on their way to compliance deadline.

• While 80% confirm GDPR is a top priority for their organization, only half say they are knowledgeable about the data privacy legislation or have deep expertise; an alarming 25% have no or only very limited knowledge of the law.

• The primary compliance challenges are lack of expert staff (43%), closely followed by lack of budget (40%), and a limited understanding of GDPR regulations (31%). A majority of 56% expect their organization’s data governance budget to increase to deal with GDPR challenges.

Becoming GDPR compliant doesn’t need to be an overwhelming process. Virtual Stacks Systems offers comprehensive web design, web hosting and social media marketing services that can help you make compliance seamless. Contact us to learn more.

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Shared Hosting – What it is and Why You Should Go for it

Shared Hosting – What it is and Why You Should Go for it

Shared hosting is like renting an apartment and having roommates. You have to share the common spaces, such as the living room, kitchen and bath. Of course, you are also expected to pay your share of the rent. This is a good solution if your needs are limited, you are on your own and cost is your main consideration. In shared hosting, all accounts must share the available resources with all the other accounts on the server – such as CPU time, memory, and disk space.

When it comes to website hosting, you have two crucial decisions to make as a business owner. Apart from selecting the company that hosts your website, you also have to choose a hosting option that meets all of your business requirements. Shared hosting is a popular, economical solution that may be right for your needs.

What is shared hosting?

When a single server is used to host several websites, it is known as shared hosting. It allows multiple websites to use a single server. The hosting package defines the server resources that you are allowed to use. In comparison, a dedicated hosting plan means that your website is the only site hosted on the server.

Shared hosting is by far the most economical option for hosting your website. It is best suited for businesses that are starting their operations and those looking for economical hosting options, as well as those that do not expect a high volume of traffic.

The most important consideration for a shared hosting plan is a package that offers adequate space and storage so that your operations won’t be hampered. The service package should offer sufficient disk space, FTP accounts, traffic, email accounts, databases and other services.

What are the Advantages of Shared Hosting?

Shared hosting has several advantages, including:

1.      It is cost effective – The biggest advantage of shared hosting is that it is affordable, and you don’t have to worry about investments. In fact, there is no initial investment required and you can get plans on a monthly basis. With intense competition in the web hosting market, it is not difficult to get a good deal for a 40 GB space. There are also packages available that offer unlimited space.

2.      It is convenient – It is difficult to concentrate on your business with the same focus when you have to look after the website management, as well. When you opt for shared hosting, you don’t have to worry about managing your website, as professionals handle the day-to-day operations.

3.      It is customizable – Despite the fact that resources are shared, the website is managed by the webmaster with the help of control panel tools. The control panel is not just user-friendly, but is also a powerful tool that customizes your website. The control panel allows allows management of a host of features, such as checking site statistics and uploading images and files.

4.      It provides high efficiency – For a website to function efficiently, you need an ample amount of bandwidth and sufficient disc space, and shared hosting allows you both. Packages are available that offer unlimited bandwidth and disc space.

5.      It is secure – Contrary to the perception that shared hosting is not secure, a reputable company will uphold best practices to provide clients with safe, seamless service.

6.      You get technical support at all times – When you opt for a shared hosting option, you don’t have to worry about assistance, be it technical or otherwise. Shared hosting service providers give you all the technical support you need for the smooth functioning of your website. Even if you are not a technical person, the site upkeep, maintenance and technical equipment are all responsibilities of the hosting provider.

7.      You get additional features, such as email and an FTP account – When you opt for a shared hosting option, you get email and an FTP account in the same package, increasing functionality and convenience.

If you find that shared hosting is the right option for your business, Virtual Stacks Systems offers web hosting packages so you can select the plan that best suits your needs. Virtual Stacks Systems has powerful data centers around the world that make our web hosting plans more effective, yet are designed to save money. We also offer 24/7 technical support to all customers. Contact us today to learn more.

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Using Smart Web Design to Boost Your Conversion Rates

Using Smart Web Design to Boost Your Conversion Rates

There’s an old saying, “All dressed up and nowhere to go.” The pitiful image this evokes all too often applies to websites that seem appealing to the eye, but fail to convert visitors to customers. If your company’s website was designed or redesigned with the main goal of maximizing traffic – with the assumption that more eyeballs would result in more sales – you may be wondering what went wrong. Unfortunately, increased traffic has no value if most of those visitors leave without taking the first step into the conversion funnel by downloading your informative white paper, or completing a transaction. Conversion web design makes the difference between a website that boosts conversion rates and your bottom line, and one that may actually be working against you.

Web design that drives conversion rates and sales begins with a fundamental understanding of your website’s purpose. No matter what you’re selling or how you’re selling it, keep in mind that your website is a sales tool – not just a fancy online brochure. Working from this premise, you can begin to see the design and performance elements necessary to build a website that does the heavy lifting.

Also keep in mind that people are now more likely to access your site from a mobile device than a laptop or desktop computer – which means that every element on every page needs to work smarter and harder.

We went into detail about the importance of website design to conversion rates in one of our recent posts, How to Tell if Your Website Needs a Redesign.

To elaborate, here are a few design principles that help improve conversions.

Limit the number of choices that visitors to your site have - As reported by Barry Schwartz in Harvard Business Review, a landmark study was conducted by psychologists Sennea Iyengar and Mark Lepper in 2000. An excerpt from Schwartz’s report follows.

“On one day, shoppers at an upscale food market saw a display table with 24 varieties of gourmet jam. Those who sampled the spreads received a coupon for $1 off any jam. On another day, shoppers saw a similar table, except that only six varieties of the jam were on display. The large display attracted more interest than the small one. But when the time came to purchase, people who saw the large display were one-tenth as likely to buy as people who saw the small display.”

This behavior demonstrates Hick’s Law – named after British psychologist William Edmund Hick – which states that the time it takes for an individual to make a decision is directly proportionate to the possible choices that person has. In this case, action was lost in proportion to the number of jam varieties being presented. In the case of your website, limit the number of decisions that a visitor has to make in order to take the action you intend.

Have a strong visual call to action - If you’re doing inbound marketing and want visitors to download a case study, white paper, infographic, etc., make sure the download button is easy to see, and related graphics and text deliver a strong message instead of visually blending in with other text, graphics and photos. While text-heavy CTAs discourage action, those erring on the minimalist side may provide too little motivation for a potential lead to click.

For ecommerce sites, avoid a cluttered appearance - A common mistake is feeling the need to put as much information – photos, descriptions, etc. – as possible on the page. However, this often has the opposite effect, with visitors unable to cut through the clutter and giving up. Go for a clean layout, with large product images and clearly stated features and benefits.

Follow the 8 second rule - Yes, studies have shown that you have only eight seconds to get a visitor’s attention. Use the limited time wisely by using a benefit-driven headline, the previously-mentioned strong CTA and – if possible and highly recommended – video content.

State your value proposition -  Why should visitors want to download your white paper? Use power words and tell visitors how your white paper will help them do business better – how they’d be missing out on tips and insights for getting the competitive edge if they don’t. Of course, for this insight, they enter your conversion funnel, taking the first step in allowing you to build a relationship that will hopefully result in gaining their business. Assuming your white paper – and your company – lives up to its value proposition, you’ll increase your chance for them to say yes!

Make it fast! - Also as discussed in our February 28, 2018 blog post, The Importance of Getting Your Website Up to Speed, Google’s engineers have found that potential customers will visit a site less often if it’s slower than that of a close competitor’s by more than 250 milliseconds. According to a study by the Aberdeen Group, a one-second delay in page load time results in a 7% reduction in conversions.

We’ve only scratched the surface on web design to boost conversions. And again, the recent dominance of mobile is changing the game as we read these words. Our web design team at Virtual Stacks Systems is at the forefront of these rapid developments, ready to incorporate them into a website that can help your business reach its sales and growth objectives. Contact us to learn more.

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Mobile-First Indexing Is Coming: Is Your Website Ready

Is Your Business Website Ready for Mobile-first Indexing?

The day of reckoning is upon us. On March 26, Google began its great rollout of mobile-first indexing. And websites that are not optimized for mobile shall know the great pain of plummeting search engine rankings. As mobile views continue to overtake desktop views, websites must be mobile responsive. According to TechCrunch, the majority of people who use Google search now do so from mobile devices, and have done so since 2015. Lagging behind is no longer an option for businesses that want to be visible and competitive.

Google's Mobile-first Indexing: A Brief History of Mobile Overtaking Desktop

Google began to prioritize mobile sites in 2015 by boosting the rank of mobile-friendly webpages on mobile search results. The following year, Google detailed its plan to change the way its search index operates, explaining how its algorithms would eventually be shifted to use the mobile version of a website’s content to index its pages – as well as to understand its structured data and to show snippets from the site in the Google search results. 

In December 2017, Google began transitioning a small handful of sites to mobile-first indexing, but did not identify which ones had made the move.

Now, the rollout is officially underway. To avoid misunderstanding, Google explains that it will still have only one index for search results – the mobile-first index is not separate. This means that Google will look to a website’s mobile web pages first to index your website, not the desktop version – so change your mindset about the latter being the “real” version of your site that gets all the SEO, content, and structured data markup attention, and the former being an afterthought.

Google likens this switch to the move from analog to digital

With mobile-first indexing, Google is like a a single library that is now beginning to replace print books (desktop pages) with ebooks (mobile pages). Over time, library will be mostly ebooks (mobile). But print books (desktop) will always remain part of the mix in the library.

— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) March 26, 2018

  In a related development, Google recently announced that starting this July, page speed will also be a ranking factor for mobile searches, with slow-loading content being downranked. Don’t say we didn’t warn you in our blog post of February 28, “The Importance of Getting Your Website Up to Speed!”

Mobile Responsive Website Design: Ensuring Your Business is Ready

Continuing with our self-reference, our blog post of March 7, “How to Tell if Your Website Needs a Redesign,” discussed how a responsive website that changes based on the needs of the users and the device they’re viewing it on is mandatory.

Responsive web design allows a website to respond to the user’s behavior and environment based on screen size, platform and orientation. The practice consists of a mix of flexible grids and layouts, images and an intelligent use of CSS media queries. As the user switches from laptop to mobile devices, the website automatically accommodates for resolution, image size and scripting abilities.

Responsive web design gives visitors a seamless user experience (UX) on all mobile devices. 

According to Google, 61% of users are highly unlikely to return to a website that doesn’t work well on mobile, with 40% moving on to visit a competitor’s site. Couple this intrinsic drawback with diminished rankings from not having a website optimized for mobile-first indexing, and you can see how detrimental a non-mobile responsive website can be to your bottom line.

SEMRush offers the following advice for getting your website ready for mobile-first indexing:

• Aim for a loading speed of less than two seconds. • Make sure your content is the same from desktop to mobile. • Be aware that there is no longer a need to block CSS, JavaScript or images. • Consider including expendable content on your mobile site – such as accordions, expandable boxes and content hidden in tabs. While this wasn’t weighted very high on desktop sites, it will be on mobile.

Of course, the best way to ensure your website is ready for this transformation is to work with a web design company that keep up-to-date with industry changes. Virtual Stacks Systems is a full-service digital marketing company with 25 years of experience that includes developing websites for a wide range of businesses and organizations. Contact us today, so you can be ready for high rankings tomorrow!

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Measuring the ROI of Video Marketing – How to Capture the Unicorn

Is Your Video Marketing Strategy Working?

Video marketing has matured beyond the “next big thing” or “shiny new toy” stage. Digital consumption trends have shifted heavily toward video over the past six years. That is, people would rather watch video than read. However, grabbing eyeballs for cat videos is different from making sure your marketing video is not only being seen by members of your target market, but that its viewers are taking the desired action to make your investment worthwhile. For those wondering if it’s possible to measure the ROI of video marketing, the answer is yes. In fact, 51% of marketing professionals worldwide name video as the type of content with the best ROI.

Achieving measurable results with video marketing takes planning and some amount of work – it isn’t as easy as posting to YouTube and waiting for views. And for those expecting your video to “go viral,” even if lightning strikes, it doesn’t mean that everyone who watches will be your customer. Approaching video in the same way as other components of your marketing campaign can help your business reach its goals – whether to draw in qualified leads, increase sales, etc. Here are the main steps.

Establish a goal – It may seem obvious, but first determine what business objective the video content addresses.

Video marketing goals typically fall into one of the following categories: • Brand awareness • Engagement • Lead generation • Lead nurturing • Increasing sales • Customer service • Education (product demonstration videos, for example)

Determine what specific action you want the viewer to take after watching the video. Keep in mind that a video is one piece of your larger conversion funnel, which should also consist of social media, blogging, email marketing, etc. Tracking ROI is easier when you are more accurately able to identify each video’s place in the conversion funnel and its specific objective.

Make sure your content is designed to accomplish its goal – A video intended to generate leads should link to a demo request landing page instead of standing alone. Again, this goes back to identifying a video’s role in the conversion funnel and making sure all of the components work together. Creating a dedicated landing page for your video rather than relying on YouTube as its sole host can make a big difference, because 60% of visitors will watch a video before reading text on the web page. When visitors click on the link, they’ll be drawn to engage further with social calls-to-action, promotions of your blog, and other related materials on the page.

Establish your KPIs – Having established your goal, you need to link them to key performance indicators. KPI benchmarks are measurable and closely related to the underlying goal. KPIs provide metrics that tell you how well (or below par) the video performs.

Best KPIs for Measuring Video Marketing

• Awareness: Determined by the number of views and/or the percentage of viewers who watched the explainer video all the way through, etc. • Engagement: Includes the percentage of completed video plays, average length of viewing, referral traffic to your website, shares on social media and comments. • Lead generation: The number of sign-ups to a mailing list or the number of downloads of a report/booklet/whitepaper, etc., after viewing. • Lead nurturing: The number of requests for an initial consultation, product demo or free trial product/service. • Sales: The amount of revenue attributable to video views.

However, be aware that many of these KPIs depend upon a basis of reference. You can’t measure the impact of video on the effectiveness of a landing page without recording a baseline of how that page performs without video. Or be able to track video’s effect on purchase behavior if your content analytics aren’t integrated with a CRM (customer relation management) system – such as our own eZnetCRM platform for integrated business operations.

Establish the right frame of reference – Measurement is even more valuable when put into the context of a frame of reference that helps guide future decisions.

The basic frameworks are absolute, relative and attribution modeling ROI.

Absolute ROI  - looks at what result spending X-amount of money on the video creates. If it costs $500 to produce and nets 80 brochure downloads (your key benchmark), determining the amount each lead costs tells if the video was a profitable investment. Relative ROI  - compares how well a video performed with your other marketing strategies. If spending the same amount of money on another strategy, like PPC text ads, which produced the better result? Attribution Modeling ROI - measures the impact of each marketing component – such as display, social, print, etc. – on the overall results in a comprehensive manner.

The Take-home message – If your business is just looking into the marketing value of video, or is currently exploring it but not quite satisfied with the results, getting the right focus will justify your long-term investment. Our video production services at Virtual Stacks Systems produce a wide variety of marketing videos – and we provide social media marketing services for a comprehensive solution. Contact us to learn more.

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Measuring the ROI of Video Marketing – How to Capture the Unicorn was originally published on Virtual Stacks

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Why Your Business Needs a Custom Email Address

Still Using a @GMail.com Address for Business?

It is practically impossible to do business these days without a custom email address. Whether your business is an online only ecommerce store, a brick-and-mortar, or a combination, a custom email address allows you to convey a professional image of your organization and increases its credibility. The message your email address sends is just as important than the message your email contains. For example:

• Custom email address = This is a real business

• Your personal gmail.com (or other) address = This is a side-hustle/hobby – or, even worse, a scam

According to a recent survey by Verisign – an internet domain name and security company – two thirds of consumers consider a branded, professional email address to be much more credible than a personal one. 

 While email may have fallen out of favor as the primary tool for everyday social interaction, it remains the most popular platform by far for business communication. According to Forrester, 87% of all corporate communications are carried out via email.

For budget-minded small businesses, a free email address might seem like the ideal solution. But the drawbacks far outnumber this single advantage.

Disadvantages to using a free email address for business

1- Lack of credibility/perception of your business as unprofessional or dubious.

2- Increased chance your email will be sent directly to the recipient’s spam folder.

3- Decreased data security. Yahoo’s massive data breach was reported in 2016, but occurred two years earlier, exposing sensitive personal and business for a long period of time. Major public email providers undoubtedly will continue to present an attractive target to cybercriminals.

4- Increased vulnerability to viruses.

Advantages to using a custom email address for business

In addition to helping establish credibility and strengthen branding, a custom email address can serve your business in the following ways:

1- More efficient collaboration with your team members – custom email addresses are rich in other features that help you collaborate with your team. Such features as contacts, tasks, calendar and outlook collaboration help you streamline your business operations. You can send, receive, and manage meeting requests, check your team members’ availability and view their calendar, which improves the overall functioning of your organization.

2- Greater flexibility and customization – You can create separate email addresses for people in various departments of your business. For example: service@ or admin@, which will allow messages to reach the appropriate departments or individuals, thereby providing a higher level of customer service.

3- You always have your files and data backed up – All of your contact information is vital to the success of your organization, and you cannot afford to lose any of it. When you get a custom email address from a reliable service provider, all your data is constantly backed up, and there is nothing that you stand to lose at any given point in time.

4- Greater security – Free email accounts are vulnerable to viruses that can compromise or destroy your company’s data, as well as infect the email accounts of others and steal their personal information. A custom email address provides greater protection. An email service provider should be able to supply adequate safeguards for your online data.

Virtual Stacks Systems has been providing affordable email hosting solutions for more than 20 years. Our services include anti-virus and spam protection, constant back-up with our global servers and experienced technical support. If your business needs help in reaching the next level of branding, customer service and security, contact us to learn more.

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Don't Get Locked Out! Why Your Website Needs SSL

Don't Get Locked Out! Why Your Website Needs SSL - Even if You Don’t Think it Does

It seems that every week brings news about yet another high-profile hack or data breach exposing the personal information of millions of people to cybercriminals. While the increasing occurrence of such acts has inspired a thriving industry based on data protection, there is one common – yet powerful – security technology proven to prevent identity theft and other types of online crime: Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). Here, we provide a look at the basics of SSL technology, why you should use it even if your website isn’t for ecommerce, and its advantages beyond security.

SSL is the industry standard used by millions of websites in protecting online transactions with their customers. In order to meet Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliance, an online business needs an SSL certificate with the proper encryption of at least 128-bit. PCI standards verify that the SSL certificate is from a trusted source, uses the right strength of encryption and provides a private connection on any page that requires customers to enter personal information. Without a certificate that meets these standards, a site won’t be able to take credit card payments.

SSL is also essential in gaining customer trust in the integrity of your business by guarding against phishing emails, which contain links that lead unsuspecting customers to a convincing replica of an otherwise reputable site. Often disguised as advertisements or shipping confirmations, these emails attempt to get credit card information. When customers don’t see the signs of security on a site, they’re more likely to navigate away without entering information. According to HubSpot research, up to 85% of website visitors will not continue browsing if a site is not secure.

How Does SSL Work?

Elegant in its simplicity, SSL establishes an encrypted link between a web server and a browser (such as an ecommerce website and browser), or between two servers (such as an application with personal identifiable information). This link ensures that all data transferred between the web server and browser or between two systems remains private and integral – preventing criminals from reading and modifying any transferred information, such as credit card numbers, other financial information, names, addresses and comparable personal details.

To be able to do this requires an SSL Certificate. SSL Certificates are small data files that digitally bind a cryptographic key to an organization’s details. An SSL Certificate typically contains the domain name, as well as domain and company name; company address, city, state and country. It also will contain the expiration date of the Certificate and details of the Certification Authority responsible for the issuance of the Certificate.

During the process of creating an SSL Certificate, the web designer is prompted to answer a series of questions about the identity of the website and company. The web server then creates two cryptographic keys: a Private Key and a Public Key. The latter is placed into a Certificate Signing Request, which is submitted during the SSL Certificate application process. The Certification Authority then validates the details and issues a SSL Certificate. The web server then matches the issued SSL Certificate to the Private Key. The web server will then be able to establish an encrypted link between the website and customers’ web browsers.

When a certificate is successfully installed on a server, the application protocol (also known as HTTP) will change to HTTPs, where the ‘S’ stands for ‘secure.’ Depending on the type of certificate purchased and which browser is used, the browser will show a padlock or green bar on a website that has an SSL Certificate installed.

When a browser connects to a secure site, it retrieves the site’s SSL Certificate and check that it:

• Has not expired

• Has been issued by a Certification Authority the browser trusts

• That it is being used by the website for which it has been issued

If the SSL Certificate fails on any one of these checks, the browser will display a warning to the website visitor that the site is not secured by SSL.

SSL certificates are available online at a variety of annual fees, depending upon the CA and level of validation/protection desired.

One such CA, Let’s Encrypt, has issued more than 50 million active certificates at no cost – that is, for FREE– to further Let’s Encrypt commitment to encrypting the entire web. While web developers implement SSL themselves, professional web development companies (such as Virtual Stacks Systems) include it as part of their service offerings.

Google Sets an SSL Ultimatum – Chrome Will Enforce It

With all the emphasis on personal information security, some business owners and decision-makers may think that SSL is only necessary for ecommerce websites. However, websites that have pages with a search box and/or forms for visitors to fill out and submit – such as to receive an ebook or whitepaper for lead generation purposes – are being strongly motivated by Google to enable SSL across the entire site.

As of October 2017, version 62 Chrome began labeling HTTP pages as insecure if users can input any data – which applies to any page with a search box. The browser shows the ‘Not secure’ warning when users type data into the HTTP sites. The expanded warnings for HTTP pages are intended to add pressure on site owners to acquire the necessary certificates and set up HTTPS on their web servers. The clock is ticking, as this July, Google will label all non-SSL websites insecure with the dreaded 'Not secure' warning in red, and although everything in SEO is debatable, no one can debate that the worst thing for your SEO is a website no one can visit! 

SSL Improves SEO – Plus the Take-home Message

Enabling SSL across the entire website provides an additional advantage: it’s good for SEO. According to Google Webmaster Trends Analysts Zineb Ait Bahajji and Gary Illyes, SSL is part of Google’s search ranking algorithm. In addition, Google has publicly stated that two websites that are otherwise equal in search results, if one has SSL enabled it may receive a rank boost to outweigh the other – providing a clear benefit to enabling SSL on your website and across all content. In fact, SEMrush.com lists SSL as one of the top 10 ranking factors in its 2017 ranking factor study.

CAs recognize and promote the SEO benefit as well. For example, the Enterprise EV SSL/TLS Certificate offered by SSL.com lists “Improves Search Engine Rankings” as a feature – and, of course, an incentive to purchase this premium security level.

To recap, SSL provides secure data transfer for online transactions to protect consumers and businesses, helps prevent existing or potential customers from falling victim to phishing schemes, prevents red flags from being raised about your website and boosts SEO. To ensure the best win-win scenario for your business, our web development team at Virtual Stacks Systems can answer your questions about SSL. Contact us to learn what we have to offer.

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What is Internal Linking, and How Does it Help SEO?

What is Internal Linking, and How Does it Help SEO?

Search engine optimization has become a necessity for businesses trying to rank high in Google, and other search engines like Bing, and Yahoo, but many business owners still don’t realize all of the aspects that go into improving these rankings. One of the largest factors that is often overlooked in SEO is the practice of internal linking.

What is Internal Linking?

Internal linking is, essentially, when you connect one page of your site to another page on the same site as a reference, like we did in the first paragraph of this post. This confers the authority of what you are writing about upon your own site, rather than sending potential customers to a competitor.

For example, if you own a farmers’ supply store, your website could include a page about what’s better for growing: store-bought soil (which you sell) or home-made compost. You can use “home-made compost,” as a branch off to a list on your site – “The Top 10 Things You Can Put in Your Compost.” From there, you can link back to your store where you sell composters.

This creates a spider-web effect. Each link can draw visitors in further and further. As long as you have a strong web, you can realistically keep capturing their attention with other pages that would interest them, and eventually convert their traffic into a sale or a lead to be cultivated into a customer. To do this, you will want to incorporate strong anchor text.

What is Anchor Text?

Anchor text are the words that are linked to another page. As we all know, web links look like “www.website.com/info.” However, using that verbatim can lose your visitors and pull them away from the post. By using anchor text, anyone can read without being interrupted, and get hooked into another page. Anchor text also sends a clear signal to Google that this page is relevant to search users typing in that phrase.

What Are the SEO Benefits of Internal Linking?

There are two main benefits to incorporating internal links.

1- The first, and more obvious, is that readers will stay on your site longer. You can add multiple links to increases the likeliness that they will stay on your site, and eventually direct them to take the desired action – such as make a purchase or take the first step in becoming a business lead.

2- The second, and harder to track, is that it will actually increase your ranking, and move you up the search engine ladder. Part of this is because you will be increasing the authority of your site, and so Google’s algorithm will be able to index it better. The other part, is that through implementing strong anchor text, you can hit keywords that people are looking for, and create an index for Google to pull from. With a strong network of internal links, and keyword anchor texts connecting them, people searching for those keywords can find your site more easily through search engines.

Because anchor text and internal links are integral to the building of any website, it’s essential that business owners and decision-makers choose a web design firm that has strong experience in incorporating SEO best practices.

Our dedicated team at Virtual Stacks Systems will identify how to meet your needs and build your site to increase your traffic. We also offer tailored packages for every budget. We welcome you to contact us for more information.

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What is Internal Linking, and How Does it Help SEO? was originally published on Virtual Stacks

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How to Tell If Your Website Needs a Redesign

How to Tell If Your Website Needs a Redesign

Your website is more than the face of your business online – it is your 24/7 salesperson. So imagine if your salesperson was poorly groomed, lacked the tools and technology to properly represent your company to prospects, and couldn’t answer relevant questions or easily conduct transactions. You’d be looking for a new salesperson, right? Should your website fit this dismal description, consider redesigning it using today’s best practices to generate leads, improve conversion rates and nurture customer relationships.

7 Signs It’s Time for a Website Redesign

1- Your website delivers a poor user experience – User experience (UX) is a critical factor in website design. A site that’s difficult to navigate, has slow load times or is too complex will lose visitors – most likely to your competitors. In fact, 88% of online consumers are less likely to return to a website after a bad experience.

Other contributing factors to poor UX include broken links, outdated offers and a layout that isn’t optimized for the latest browsers. Links to pages that no longer exist and weren’t properly redirected is an all-too common offense. Poor shopping cart performance – as well as an overly-complex checkout protocol – on ecommerce sites is a common cause of user discontent.

Because it is sometimes hard to look at your own website objectively, put yourself in the place of your target audience. Identify their buyer personas – which will give you insight into their goals and behaviors – and think of what actions you want them to complete when visiting your site. Also, visit your competitors’ websites to see what features and functionalities they incorporate. If you see your site is lagging, your visitors will likely be fewer and farther between.

2- Your website appears outdated – In extreme cases, the web design in-joke, “1998 called – it wants its website back,” applies. But if you think you’re saving money by holding back on an update, consider the findings of Stanford University’s The Web Credibility Project, which reported that approximately 75% of people judge the credibility of your business based solely on the design of your website. That’s right – refusing to change with the times can actually cost your business in terms of lost customers, reduced sales/market share and an overall poor brand image.

Is your #website looking dated? Don’t let the first impression visitors get be the last! We can redesign your site to increase its visual appeal and functionality – without all the expense of starting from scratch. Learn how today! https://t.co/aatvJ4bBbw#webdesign pic.twitter.com/z59Tj5nkIx

— Virtual Stacks Systems of Orlando (@VirtualStacks) February 20, 2018

3- Your website is not meeting the objectives of your business – Even if your website appears to be well-designed, it still may not result in the desired conversion rates (the sales funnel/customer journey from website visitor-to-lead-to customer). Review your site quarterly to see if it’s working toward your specific goals (for example, increased traffic, leads, etc.) It may be a matter of improving your landing pages and calls-to-action (CTA), or other conversion paths.

Considering that high conversion rates are desirable, a website that has high bounce rates (the number of visitors who leave your website after viewing just one page) and low conversion rates strongly indicates that a redesign is needed. Also, be sure that your website aligns with your current branding, value proposition and marketing and business strategies, as well as your product/service offerings.  

4- Your website is not ranking well in search engines – But let’s make this clear – we mean Google. The reasons may be numerous, yet interrelated. Perhaps your website wasn’t originally developed with search engine optimization (SEO) as a consideration, which is typical among amateur web designers (your brother-in-law, for example, who 'did it on the side' for you). However, the same often applies to advertising or marketing agencies that offer web design, but don’t specialize in it. Or the SEO that had been built into your website is outdated, as Google constantly changes its algorithms.

If your website was built with Flash, it definitely needs to be redesigned – immediately. Once very popular, Flash is unreadable by Google and other search engines – which means your site’s pages are, for all practical SEO purposes, invisible. Flash also is not supported on such devices as iPhones and iPads.

5-  Your website is not mobile-responsive – Consumers expect a seamless UX on all mobile devices. Period. Otherwise, you’ll lose out on leads and customers. According to Google, 61% of users are highly unlikely to return to a website that doesn’t work well on mobile, with 40% moving on to visit a competitor’s site.

6- Your website’s content is poor quality – The content marketing adage, “Content is King” holds true. Visitors respond favorably to well-written copy and attractive photos and graphics. Landing pages should have a specific focus and CTA.

7- Are you blogging? If your website doesn’t include a blog, you’re missing a valuable opportunity to improve SEO, as Google rewards fresh content on websites with higher rankings! A blog also helps your business connect with readers and customers by giving them worthwhile information about your business and industry – and, in turn, builds customer relationships while helping to establish you as an expert or thought-leader.

Should any of the above situations apply to your website, leave your brother-in-law to his day job. Virtual Stacks Systems provides comprehensive website services that include redesign, website audit, company rebranding, content writing and digital marketing. With more than two decades of experience in the software industry, we know how to develop a successful online strategy. Contact us today to learn more.

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How to Tell If Your Website Needs a Redesign was originally published on Virtual Stacks