Traditional marketing is marketing that isn’t online. Marketers reach potential customers through printed media, television, radio, direct mail, phone calls, or billboards. Digital marketing is marketing that is exclusively online. Digital marketers focus on potential customers who engage with online content, including search engine results, email, video, blogs, or social media.
This reading describes the advantages digital marketing has over traditional marketing and some definite challenges, too.
Digital marketing uses content in a variety of formats that can be easily converted from one format to another, making spending more cost-effective. Digital marketing also reduces wasteful spending. For example, television or billboard ads are equally seen by those who have an interest in your company or product and those who don’t. Traditional marketing always wastes some budget on people who will never buy a product or service. In contrast, digital ads can be selectively shown to people who are more likely to have an interest in that product or service. Digital marketing that is more strategically focused on the right people yields a better return on spending.
Technology
Various technologies enable organizations to engage and interact with customers more effectively, which is a big part of digital marketing. Developing a good online relationship with customers makes them more likely to find your business, become loyal customers, and even share their recommendations with others.
Digital marketing tools also enable companies to collect data and measure the results of their marketing efforts more effectively. When marketers receive data faster, they’re able to change direction easily if a marketing effort isn’t producing the results expected. Measuring the success of digital marketing campaigns is key to ensuring that you get the results you want.
Digital marketing adapts to new technologies. There are always new opportunities to reach customers in different ways, especially compared to traditional marketing.
Target audiences
Digital marketing tools and data enable you to expand your customer reach well beyond that of traditional marketing. Ad visibility and audience coverage can be tailored to meet your specific business needs and goals. When you reach the right audiences, you’re more likely to increase sales and develop sustainable customer loyalty programs.
Digital marketing challenges
Digital marketing also has certain challenges that are associated with spending, technology, and target audiences. For each advantage previously identified, there are also associated challenges.
Spending
Advantage: Digital content is easier to create.
Challenge: Organizations engage in omnichannel marketing—the integration or synchronization of content on multiple channels—so customers can have a consistent brand experience. This increases the amount of content required, so even if it’s easier to create digital content, much more content needs to be created overall. Furthermore, it’s not just about the amount of content created, but its quality. Advertising is a crowded space. Content must be distinctive to positively impact customer awareness and change their behavior.
Advantage: Digital marketing is more cost effective than traditional marketing.
Challenge: If an organization is working towards an omnichannel presence, the cost of marketing on all channels adds up quickly. Getting support or buy-in for extra or additional budget to cover the cost can be difficult.
TechnologyAdvantage: Digital marketing adapts to new technologies.
Challenge: As a marketer, learning and keeping up with new technologies and tools is a constant requirement. Marketers must also stay up-to-date with and follow all user privacy and data sharing regulations worldwide. Omnichannel marketing also makes it more difficult to track where sales come from. Marketers must rely more heavily on analytics tools to help them do that.
Target audiencesAdvantage: Digital marketing tools expand customer reach using specific audiences.
Challenge: The digital space is a crowded field that’s getting even more crowded. It’s harder for marketers to stand out with their advertising, even when they are targeting the right audiences.
Key takeaways
Various technologies make digital marketing more cost-effective and adaptable than traditional marketing. Digital marketing tools also enable more advanced and targeted audience selection for marketing campaigns. However, these benefits come with some challenges. In a digital space that’s both crowded and noisy, it’s harder for a company’s brand and advertising to stand out. Marketing professionals must keep up with technological advances and customer behaviours that change rapidly.
There are several essential soft entrepreneurship skills sets that you can develop to increase your entrepreneurial success if you are an entrepreneur or considering becoming one. Soft entrepreneur skills can ensure you grow your brand and get clients choosing you over your competitors. In this article, we will explore soft entrepreneurial skills are and how to develop them effectively to outgrow your competitors.
What are soft entrepreneurship skills?
Entrepreneurship is an individual’s ability to turn ideas into action. Soft entrepreneurial skills encompass a broad range of various skill sets like customer service, leadership skills and creative thinking. It includes creativity, innovation and risk-taking, as well as the ability to plan and manage projects. It is seen as vital to promoting innovation, competitiveness and economic growth. For instance, to be a successful business owner, you may need to develop your communication and listening skills. To build successful project teams, you might need to improve your leadership and teamwork skills.
Examples of soft entrepreneurship skills
Developing your soft entrepreneurial skills can increase the growth of your business and brand. Here are some examples of soft entrepreneurship skills you need to excel:
Business management skills
Teamwork and leadership skills
Communication and listening
Customer service skills
Analytical and problem-solving skills
Critical thinking skills
Strategic thinking and planning skills
Time management and organizational skills
Branding, marketing and networking skills
Business management skills
Successful entrepreneurs will most often rely on their business skills to manage and run a business or brand. Developing your business management skills can mean building up your ability to multitask, and make decisions regarding the health and profitability of your business.
Teamwork and leadership skills
Becoming a successful entrepreneur can also mean taking on leadership roles and working as part of a team. Being a business owner means you will most likely act as both a supervisor and as part of a team. You will need to rely on effective leadership skills to help motivate your team.
Communication and listening
Business owners and entrepreneurs should also develop effective communication skills. From active listening to clients, being able to communicate effectively can help you work with others. Likewise, effective communication can also translate to how you promote awareness of your brand. For instance, effective messages through content marketing, social media and other advertising methods can positively influence how you reach your target market.
Customer service skills
No matter the industry you venture into as an entrepreneur, you may still need to develop effective customer service skills. From talking with potential clients to discussing opening partnerships, effective customer service skills can help you connect with your customer base. Good customer relations can also ensure your brand is providing the products or services your market needs.
Analytical and problem-solving skills
Successful entrepreneurs may also have exceptional analytical and problem-solving skills. This is because there can be many aspects of building a brand or business that can require difficult decisions, finding solutions to obstacles. Using creative thinking to develop plans and strategies that will also help you achieve your business goals.
Critical thinking skills
Critical thinking skills can be necessary for developing your overall entrepreneurial skills. Being able to look at problems, and operations from different perspectives can help in decision-making. Critical thinking skills can also be necessary for strategic planning and evaluating the approaches you’re using to improve your business strategies.
Strategic thinking and planning skills
Critical thinking skills can also translate into strategic thinking skills. Entrepreneurs who have built brands and businesses most likely applied their strategic planning skills to develop strategies for growth. To be successful as an entrepreneur, it takes planning and being able to think strategically. This will allow you to find ways to beat out your competition, and implement effective strategies to reach your goals.
Time management and organizational skills
Time management and organization are also important skills for entrepreneurs to have. Strategies that can help develop these skill sets include to-do lists, and setting achievable objectives for yourself and for your team. Additionally, you might implement technology to help keep business files organized. You can also employ an office assistant to help you keep paperwork, business records and customer files organized.
Branding, marketing and networking skills
Entrepreneurs may spend the majority of their time marketing and networking with other professionals to promote and grow their brands. Being able to implement successful branding and marketing strategies can be an essential aspect of becoming an entrepreneur. You might take a free online course to get started with branding and marketing basics, and you can also meet with other entrepreneurs to help grow your network.
As you develop these skill sets, you can increase the successes you see as an entrepreneur. Get in touch to know more!
In order to achieve success on your Facebook business page, you need an engaged community. Without it, no one will see or read your content, making it difficult to build brand awareness and deliver ROI. New social networks crop up all the time, generating buzz and excitement among businesses and tech media, but Facebook remains the giant, with has 2.80 billion monthly active users. To keep up with changing needs and trends, Facebook continues to evolve, introducing new features and functionality for users and advertisers. If you are unable to keep up, you could miss out on potential customers.
However, it’s not just about the quantity of Facebook Likes, it’s about the quality. You need to attract the right audience and engage them in ways that align with your business goals. Here is the latest checklist to ensure you have enough quality likes and following on your Facebook business page.
Optimize your Facebook Page Information
First things first! Most of the time, the only thing people see from your company’s Facebook Page is the profile picture, cover image, and short description. Make sure your brand’s images and description are engaging, encapsulate what your company does, and encourages people to like your page.
Don’t stop there, make sure you fill out as much of your Page Info as you can. Select the categories and subcategories that best describe your company, include your website URL, list your address, phone number, and hours of operation (if applicable). All of this information will help your page appear in Facebook & Google searches when people are looking for companies like yours, which can increase your Facebook likes even more!
Post engaging content
It’s important to post engaging, entertaining, and compelling content on your business Page. Facebook constantly updates its Edgerank algorithm and rewards posts that receive engagement (likes, comments, shares) with increased reach. Facebook will reward your content by letting your engaged users’ friends know on their newsfeed that they’ve engaged with your content. Recently Facebook announced that it will update its algorithm to track how long users spend reading posts. Videos are the best type of content to post on Facebook for capturing attention and driving engagement. But make sure the videos are at an optimal length to grab your followers’ attention and keep it long enough to digest the content.
Page URL
Take a quick look at your Facebook business page now – what does the URL in the browser bar look like? If it’s something like this:
https://www.facebook.com/kente-house-ghana -162166373456878/
(see all the numbers at the end?) then you’re missing an opportunity. In less than a minute you can easily change the web address of your Facebook page to something a bit more memorable, like www.facebook.com/kente-house-ghana. Click the ‘About’ tab below your Facebook cover photo, then click the Facebook Web Address option and type whatever you’d like to appear after the Facebook.com URL.
Make your Facebook business page easy to find
People looking for your brand on Facebook will be searching for your brand name. Keep things simple and make it easy for them to find you by using your brand name as your Page name. Don’t add unnecessary keywords—these will just make your Page look spammy rather than like a legitimate business presence for your brand. Your username should be consistent with your handle on other social channels will make it easier for people who already follow you elsewhere to track you down on Facebook. Like your Page name, your username should be closely related to the name of your business.
Someone who has just discovered a valuable tip or strategy on your website or blog is primed to want to hear more from you. Make it easy for them to connect with you on Facebook by adding Facebook follow and Like buttons to your site.
Know when to post content on your Facebook page
Think about how often you post on Facebook. Is it once per day? Once a week? Only once a month? You also need to analyze the time of day you’re posting on Facebook. All of this matters when it comes to increasing engagement and getting more likes. Research shows that higher engagements happen later in the week and on the weekends. If you think about it, this makes sense. People have jobs and are usually busier during the week. But as the weekend nears, they may be getting a little bit antsy and slack off if they are ahead of schedule. So they can spend more time on Facebook. People are also happier on the weekends so they are more inclined to like, share, and comment on your posts.
You also need to consider who likes your Facebook page. For example, if 90% of your followers are from Ghanaian, posting at 3 AM EST isn’t going to yield high engagement rates. Use automation tools to schedule your Facebook posts at the most optimal times so you won’t have to do it manually each day. Your posting schedule also needs to remain consistent. Stick to your strategy. Don’t post regularly for a month or so and then go silent. But you don’t want to spam your followers and post too frequently either.
Posts on your Facebook page should be kept short and concise
Nobody is going to read massive blocks of text on social media. There is just too much for them to see from their friends and family. Reading long posts from brand pages won’t be at the top of their priority lists. Social media platforms such as Facebook are designed for users to scroll through content quickly. You also need to consider how many Facebook users are accessing content from their mobile devices: Paragraphs on your computer screen will appear even longer on mobile devices. Plus, long blocks of text are difficult to read.
If you’re currently posting long content, it may be the reason why you’re not getting enough likes. A good rule of thumb is that shorter is always better. If people see your posts aren’t long, they will be less hesitant to like your page.
Invite your existing community
You have a community that’s easily within reach: employees, friends, current customers, business & industry partners. They are likely to be your first advocates and find your content interesting and shareable. Why not send a friendly personal invitation to ask them to like your company’s Facebook Page if they haven’t already?
One way to do this is by simply adding a call-to-action in a personal e-mail (i.e. “P.S. Like us on Facebook”). Add a slide at the end of your presentations or webinars to encourage customers and business partners to remind them to like your Facebook Page, if they haven’t already.
As for your industry ‘buddies,’ find their Facebook Pages and Like them as your brand. To do this log into Business Manager > click the Use Page button > click the Use Facebook As Your Page link (top right, in a skinny grey bar). It’s a great way to Like your industry partners, colleagues, & other influencer brands. Plus you’ll be able to view your News Feed as your brand and keep watch on what’s happening in your industry on Facebook.
Use Facebook Ads to reach more people
Facebook offers very detailed ad targeting, so you can laser-focus your advertising efforts and make the most of your ad spend. Putting your brand in front of your ideal audience is a great way to pick up more Facebook Likes. By boosting a post, you can extend the audience beyond people who already like your Page. This can be a great option for a post that’s already proved to be compelling. It can bring in a large number of Facebook likes from people who already follow your Page.
Facebook also offers campaign objectives relevant to every type of business. Since this post is about how to get Facebook Likes, we’ll focus on the Engagement objective, which is designed to expose your ad to a wide audience to increase the number of posts or Page Likes. Go to your business manager page for options on running a campaign or boosting posts.
Run competitions, or promotions on your Facebook page
Your business can run competitions or promotions on its Facebook to build an audience and get more likes. Even better, liking a post is a popular form of contest entry and one that’s allowed under Facebook’s contest rules If you decide to do so, make sure your competition follows Facebook’s Promotion Guidelines. Also ensure your competition is fun, easy, relevant to your audience, and encourages users to share their participation with friends. Don’t forget to utilize Facebook Ads to promote your contest. And If you use an app to run your contest, make sure it’s mobile-optimized.
Use social media monitoring to measure, analyze, and learn
Use Facebook Insights or other automated apps to find useful metrics on your Page performance. You can view metrics like reach, the number of engaged users, engagement rate, and new Page likes. These metrics will help you understand what’s driving your likes and engagement so that you can adjust your posts accordingly.
Did I forget anything? Have a question about any of the suggestions above? Please add a comment and, if you like the post, feel free to share it with your friends. Now that you know how to get more likes for your Facebook Page, it’s time to increase your Facebook reach content. Contact us today! Please Don’t forget to Like us on Facebook if you haven’t already.
Protecting your privacy online is a critical area of concern for many individuals, especially when using a credit card. If you are worried about how much of your private information is online and vulnerable to theft, you’re not alone. Online has become an extensive playground for cyber hackers and security threats because users are increasingly sharing their private information online. Protecting your privacy online an important issue. How can you know that your private information is safe online? Knowing how to protect your website and yourself while online will ensure that your private data is kept private.
All e-commerce websites require you to put in your credit card information, which potentially compromises data and allows hackers to get your information. How sure are you that your information is safe with the domain that you are using?
There are ways to protect your personal information while still enjoying much of what the web has to offer. In this article, we shall consider basic things you need to know so that your financial and personal information is protected while you visit your favorite sites. Get to know the main goals of hacking and tips on how to evaluate website security.
There are various goals when hacking websites, but the main ones are:
Exploiting site visitors.
Stealing information stored on the server.
Tricking bots and crawlers (black-hat SEO).
Abusing server resources.
Pure hooliganism (defacement).
Protecting your privacy online means not sharing everything about yourself on social media
A smart way to protecting your privacy online is by not sharing everything about you on social media. Providing too much information on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram could make it easier for cybercriminals to obtain identifying information. This could allow them to steal your identity or to access your financial information.
For example, could an identity thief determine your date of birth, spouse’s name, information of your children, your location, travel plans, or your mother’s maiden name from your Facebook account? This information is sometimes used as security questions to change passwords on financial accounts.
Unfortunately, many people don’t take this advice. In a 2018 study, the Identity Theft Resource Centre found that approximately 52 percent of respondents shared personal information through social media sites. To protect your online privacy, ignore the “About Me” fields in your social media profiles. You don’t have to let people know what year or where your hometown is located— which could make you an easier target for identity theft. You might want to limit who can view your posts to those you’ve personally invited.
Create strong passwords, too, for your social media profiles to help prevent others from logging into them in your name. This means using a combination of at least 12 numbers, special characters, and upper- and lower-case letters. And never use personal, easy-to-guess information — such as your birthdate as your password.
Look out for legitimate Domain
One of the most basic steps in checking the security of the website you’re visiting is taking a look at the URL. Many people fail to look up the URL of the website, especially if they’re already reading the content on the page. Others may give it only a basic glance–and if it looks right, they’re convinced. However, one of the most common scams simply mimics the existing content. The scam site copies the content exactly as it appears on the original page—aside from a few key details.
In many cases, phishing sites use a very similar URL to the original. For example, instead of http://www.ebay.com, it may appear as http[:]//www.ebay.com. The simple addition allows scammers to convince gullible individuals that they’re visiting the site they thought they should be on. As a result, they simply hand over their credit card information without hesitation. It’s important, therefore, that you take the time to carefully check over the URL before making a purchase.
The “S” in HTTPS stands for “secured.” Websites with this simple logo indicate that they’re transferring information through an encrypted network. Not every site offers the secure technology of an HTTPS lock. If you don’t see the lock icon on the site you’re looking at, it means that HTTPS security isn’t working or that the site doesn’t offer that secure connection. And you most likely should take your shopping elsewhere.
Browse in incognito or private mode
If you don’t want your computer to save your browsing history, temporary internet files, or cookies, do your web surfing in private mode.
Web browsers today offer their own versions of this form of privacy protection. In Chrome, it’s called Incognito Mode. Firefox calls its setting Private Browsing, and Internet Explorer uses the name InPrivate Browsing for its privacy feature. When you search with these modes turned on, others won’t be able to trace your browsing history from your computer.
But these private modes aren’t completely private. When you’re searching in incognito or private mode, your Internet Service Provider (ISP) can still see your browsing activity. If you are searching on a company computer, so can your employer. The websites you visit can also track you.
So, yes, incognito browsing does have certain benefits. But it’s far from the only tool available to help you maintain your privacy while online.
Browse with other search engines
If you’re like many web surfers, you rely heavily on Google as your search engine. But you don’t have to. Protecting your privacy online is one reason people prefer to use anonymous search engines. This type of search engine doesn’t collect or share your search history or clicks. Anonymous search engines can also block ad trackers on the websites you visit.
Switch to a virtual private network
A virtual private network (VPN) protects your privacy online by creating a private network from a public internet connection. VPNs mask your Internet Protocol (IP) address so your online actions are virtually untraceable.
Using a VPN is especially important when you’re on public Wi-Fi at a library, coffee shop, or other public location. A VPN will make it more difficult for cybercriminals to breach your online privacy and access your personal information.
You can find many free VPN solutions, but if you want maximum privacy, pay for the service from a trusted security provider.
Don’t click on just anything
One of the ways in which hackers compromise your online privacy is through phishing attempts. In phishing, scammers try to trick you into providing valuable financial or personal information. They’ll often do this by sending fake emails that appear to be from banks or credit card providers. Often, these emails say you must click on a link to verify your financial information otherwise you risk your account getting frozen or closed.
Don’t fall for these scams. If you click on a phishing link, you could be taken to a spoofed webpage that looks like the homepage of your bank. But when you enter your account information, you’ll be sending it to the scammers behind the phishing attempt. Before clicking on suspicious links, hover your cursor over the link to view the destination URL. If it doesn’t match the financial website you use, don’t click. If you receive such an email, immediately log a complaint to your bank.
Security Seals
Most eCommerce websites understand the critical importance of securing traffic to make their visitors safer. As a result, they frequently work with security providers to ensure they’re providing the highest possible level of website security. Each website security provider offers a scan seal or security seal option that can be viewed by users. Usually, this is in the form of an Iframe that can be placed on the protected website, letting visitors know that the website is credible. Any time you visit a new website for your shopping needs, take the time to check out its security seal.
Use strong passwords for your mobile phones
Many of us spend more time surfing the web, and watching videos on our smartphones than we do on our laptops. It’s important, then, to put as much effort into protecting our online privacy on our phones as on our computers.
To start, make sure to use passwords to lock your phone. It might seem like a hassle to enter a code every time you want to access your phone’s home screen. But this password could offer an extra layer of protection if your phone is lost or stolen. Make sure your password is complex. Don’t use your birthdate, your house number, or any other code that thieves might be able to guess.
Use caution when downloading apps. Some games and productivity tools could come embedded with dangerous viruses. Only buy games from legitimate sources. Don’t ignore software updates, either. These updates often include important protections against the latest viruses. If you continue to ignore them, you could be leaving your smartphone’s operating system and programs vulnerable to attack.
Use quality antivirus software
Finally, always install antivirus software on all your devices. This software can keep hackers from remotely accessing your personal and financial information, and tracking your location. And once you install this software, frequently update your antivirus protection.
Do you want to know more about protecting your privacy online whiles having fun on your favourite sites? Do you want to have your website thoroughly checked for malware, suspicious activity, or want to know more about the threats we check for and how that information can benefit you, your website–or the websites that you’re visiting–contact us here.
An alt tag or “alt attribute” is an HTML attribute applied to an image tag that describes the function of an image on a page. Applying images to an alt tag such as a product photo can positively impact an eCommerce store’s search engine rankings.
What role do alt tags play?
Its primary purpose is to describe images to visitors who are unable to see them using screen readers and browsers that block images.
Visually impaired users using screen readers read alt attributes to better understand an on-page image. Including alt text with your images ensures all users, regardless of visual ability, can appreciate the content on your site.
Alt text will be displayed in place of an image if an image file cannot be loaded.
Alt text provides better image context/descriptions to search engine crawlers, contributing to how the page is indexed and where it ranks.
With on-page keyword usage still pulling weight as a search engine ranking factor, it’s in your best interest to create alt text that both describes the image.
Optimal Alt Text Format
The best format for alt text is sufficiently descriptive but doesn’t contain any spammy attempts at keyword stuffing. If you can close your eyes, have someone read the alt text to you, and imagine a reasonably accurate version of the image, you’re on the right track. Let’s look at this example of alt text for this image of a delicious bowl of jollof rice:Okay:<img src=”rice.png” alt=”Jollof”> This alt text is only “okay” because it’s not very descriptive. Yes, this is an image of a plate of Jollof. But, there’s more to be said about this image.Good: <img src=”rice.png” alt=”A plate of delicious jollof rice with loaded meat and salad”>This alt text is a better alternative because it is far more descriptive of what’s in the image. This isn’t just a rice plate of “Jollof” (as the first alt text example demonstrated); it’s a plate of delicious jollof rice with loaded meat and salad.
Where is an alt tag located?
Alt text is contained within the image tag: <img src=”myimage.png” alt=”nike_air_zoom” />.
Best practices
Keep product image optimised for site speed and use the same keyword as the product page itself.
Keep it (relatively) short. The most popular screen readers cut off alt text at around 125 characters, so it’s advisable to keep it to that character count or less.
Refrain from keyword stuffing. You’ll be in trouble with Google if you use your alt text as an opportunity to stuff as many relevant keywords as you can think of into it. Find the best keywords to use here.
Don’t prioritize alt tags over SEO deliverables such as titles, inter-linking, and meta descriptions. Alt tags should only be prioritized for image-heavy pages that are very light on text.
Describe the image as specifically as possible. If an image truly doesn’t convey any value, it should live within the CSS, not HTML.
Alt text provides you with another opportunity to include your target keyword on a page. Thus, an opportunity to signal to search engines that your page is highly relevant to a particular search query. While your first priority should be describing and providing context to the image, include your keyword in the alt text of at least one image.
Don’t include “image of,” “picture of,” etc. in your alt text. It’s already assumed your alt text is referring to an image, so there’s no need to specify it.
Don’t neglect form buttons. If a form on your website uses an image as its “submit” button, give it an alt attribute.
A favicon (pronounced “fave-icon”) is a small iconic image that represents a website in web browsers. If you take a look at the address bar of your browser right now, I’m sure you’ll see several favicons. Well-designed ones are styled to feature a logo, the first letter of the company name or simply an image that reflects the specifics of the website it represents. In the small chance that a website doesn’t have a favicon, the browser will display a generic browser symbol.Here are examples from famous brands:Which of these favicons do you recognise?While favicons may seem small and insignificant, having one can make a huge difference in terms of user experience and online branding. In this post, we’ll figure out where favicons come from, what kinds are used in modern browsers, and how to create one for your website.
Why is a favicon important for your brand?
Favicons attract user attention and boost brand awareness. If users visit a website with a memorable favicon a couple of times, they will then easily distinguish it from others in the future. Think about a famous brand you interact with daily—like Facebook or Instagram—you should be able to easily picture its favicon with your eyes closed. Again, If you‘re like me and tend to keep dozens of tabs open simultaneously—ultimately being unable to read their names—favicons are your best friends that make finding the website you need much easier.The favicons for Facebook and Twitter have look exactly like their respective logos. So, does it mean that all you need is to minimize your logo image and upload it onto your website? Let’s dive deep into all the technical details and talk about what it takes to create a favicon.
What type of image is a favicon?
Although most modern browsers will recognize PNG, GIF, and JPG formats for favicons, Internet Explorer currently does not. It is recommended to use the Microsoft ICO format, which works in all browsers.
What size should your favicon be?
Another good reason to use the ICO format is that it can contain multiple favicons of different sizes in one ICO file. It is best to have, at minimum, a 16×16 pixel version. I usually include 32×32 and 48×48 versions as well. That way, if users drag the bookmark to their desktop they will see a nicely scaled version of the icon instead of the 16×16 version stretched out. Google recommends going with the largest possible resolution of 192×192. At the moment, Google simply stretches existing low-resolution favicons when a bigger size is required. As a result, all of the images look blurry and take away from the user experience.
General tips to consider
So, if you don’t want to lose out on clicks, consider “upgrading” your site’s favicon. And here are some general guidelines you should stick to:
Use a square icon.
A favicon should represent only your brand and not contain inappropriate symbols (like swastikas) — otherwise, Google will not show it and will use the generic symbol instead.
Favicon file should be accessible to Google crawlers.
How to create a favicon
Although there are many ways to create favicons, the easiest is to use an online tool. Use an existing image of, for example, your logo and upload it to an online generator like a site heaalth checker. Once you download the generated favicon, all that’s left is to add it to your site.
How to link to your favicon
Now that you’ve created a nice little favicon, you need to tell web browsers and other applications where to find it. Adding this line to the <head> section of your HTML will ensure that your favicon will be found:The location of the favicon isn’t really important, as long as the href attribute is accurate. Most are, however, placed in the root directory (the directory that contains the homepage). Keep in mind that it is not necessary to have multiple instances of the same favicon on one website.If you add a favicon without linking to it within your HTML, you may notice that some browsers will still find and display it. This only occurs if the favicon is in the root directory. It isn’t good to rely on this method, so if you want to make sure that applications will see your favicon, <link> to it!
Conclusion
Favicons help websites stay afloat in the vast ocean of online resources, plus make them more attractive and professional in the eyes of the visitors.If you need any help with yours, turn to our website audit for help. Among other things, it can run a full technical check-up for your website that includes finding your favicon. Well, your favicon is a very small detail that can affect the public perception of your site and brand, their recognition and even the volume of traffic it gets from search, so don’t underestimate it. It’s worth every second that you invest in it.
If you have already audited your website and have walked here to understand how meta-description works, I’m here to help remove that confusion. This article will cover everything you need to know about the basics of meta- descriptions and what makes a perfect one. You’ll also learn why your site’s meta descriptions are so important, as well as the best length for your meta descriptions (especially taking into account Google’s changing policies) and some great meta description examples.
What is a meta tag?
A meta tag is an HTML element that provides information about a webpage for search engines and website visitors. Two elements must be placed as tags in the <head> section of an HTML document. These elements are:
Title tag
Meta description
We’ve already discussed title tags in a separate post, and now, let’s move straight into meta descriptions.
What is a meta description?
The meta description is the short paragraph of text placed in the HTML of a webpage that describes its content. This is also known as a snippet. The meta description appears under your page’s URL in Google’s organic search results. The meta description will often appear when people share your articles across other websites and social channels.
Where is meta description added?
You can add a meta description in the <head> section of your site’s HTML. It should look something like this:<head><meta name=”description” content=”Here is a precise description of my awesome webpage.”></head>Here are examples:If you use an SEOplug-in, that comes with a content management system, you can add a meta description to the ‘meta description’ section, and you can preview an example of how it will look in search engine results pages (SERPs):
Why is the meta description important?
Since meta descriptions appear with your title and URL on the results pages, they have the power to influence the decision of the searcher as to whether they want to click through on your content from search results or not. The more descriptive, attractive, and relevant the description, the more likely someone will click through. Research has shown that having your content focus keyword in the meta is a relevant signal for search engines to discover you.
How to write a perfect meta description?
A great meta-description will compel the reader to visit your website and read more. Here’s an example of what it usually looks like.
1. Keywords
Do make sure your most important keywords for the webpage show up in the meta description. Often search engines will highlight it in bold as a clue to where it finds the searcher’s query in your snippet.
2. Write legible, readable copy
This is essential. Keyword stuffing your meta description is bad and it doesn’t help the searcher, as well as robots, discover you well. They’ll assume your result leads to a spam or phishing website, so make sure your description reads like a normal, human-written sentence.
3. Treat it as an advert for your web page
Make it as compelling and as relevant as possible. The description MUST! match the content on the page, but you should also make it as appealing as possible. That is what we call SEO copywriting.
4. Length
Google cuts off the displayed description tag at about 150 characters but may index up to 185 characters. Other engines may index up to 250 characters, but will still only display about 150. Therefore, try to say what you’ve got to say in 150 characters or less, but feel free to use up to 180, and even up to 250 if you’re not concerned with the entire thing getting indexed by all the search engines. Aim for about 1-2 sentences (140-160 characters) long
5. Keyphrase
Use your primary keyphrase at the beginning of your description tag, giving it higher “keyword prominence”. Don’t overuse your keyphrase though, or it can be considered “webspam”. Higher than zero keyword prominence is good, but higher still is not always better.
6. Use natural-sounding language
Use proper grammar, and try to peak interest in the subject. Also, consider making an actual “offer” in your description tag. Remember, you want the reader to click your ad, but not just to record impression. Now let me ask you? how many times have you skipped over a search result because the two lines of text you see (the description tag) in the SERPS looked gibberish?
7. Do not duplicate meta descriptions
As with title tags, the meta descriptions must be written differently for every page. Google may penalize websites that indulge in mass duplicating of meta descriptions.
Examples of good meta descriptions
Since you only have 160 characters to work with, writing a great meta description takes more than just throwing a few words together. To help you get your creative juices flowing, here are some examples for your inspiration.
Helpful online tool for checking your meta descriptions
Below is a helpful tool that you can use to test your meta descriptions as you write them.SEO Analyzer— This tool analyses the health of a website. It will provide you with a list of issues that makes it easy to see where exactly a website is struggling, including missing and duplicate meta descriptions:
Conclusion
Remember, the primary reason for a perfect description tag is NOT so you can rank higher, (since Google, for example, is currently not using the description tag in their algorithm). The primary reason for a good description is to compel the reader to click on you, instead of the competitor.
Have you ever wondered what heading tags (H1) are? If you’ve thought about either of these questions, this article is meant to teach you all about using the h1 tag to improve your onsite SEO. Heading tags (H1) are pieces of HTML code that allow you to make certain words stand out on a page. Content must be useful and unique to attract your target audience. But if it’s not visible, people will not know about your compelling, informative content. Thus, before you can have your audience’s eyes, search engines must see your content. To attract search engines, you need to think about your heading tags (H1). To understand how headings work on a web page, let’s consider a writeup in a Microsoft word document. The title of the article is usually bigger and more pronounced than other words. It may be bold, coloured, or have some other format quality that makes it stand out. Whatever the case, this allows you to scan a word document and pick out the sections you want to read.They differentiate the heading <h1> and sub-headings <h2> to <h6> from the rest of the content. The number from 1 to 6 determines the importance and the position a heading has in the overall hierarchy of the heading structure.Header tags and H tags are some other ways to describe the same thing.
Why are heading tags (H1) important?
An H1 tag is critical. The heading acts as an information guide for the search engine bots. It makes certain words stand out, which allows readers of your website to see what the page is about immediately, and determine whether or not they want to read it. It also helps tell search engines what your page is about, and when used in conjunction with the page title, meta description, keywords and keyword-targeted content, it helps improve your search engine ranking. Search engines generally give this tag more weight over other headings.
Heading tags (H1) SEO tips
Always include an H1 tag.
Use only one per page.
Include the primary keyword for your content.
Avoid populating the tag with too many keywords.
Ensure that your target audience can easily read the H1 tag.
Use up to 70 characters in the tag length.
Make the tag unique.
What about H2, H3, H4, etc?
Whereas your H1 tag is used for your document’s main heading;
Your main points are wrapped in subheadings known as H2s. In other words:A <h2> tag defines the second-level headings in your webpage.But, heading tags don’t stop at H2s.Sub-points below your <h2> tags use <h3> heading tagsSub-points below your <h3> tags use <h4> heading tagsSub-points below your <h4> tags use <h5> heading tagsSub-points below your <h5> tags use <h6> heading tagsH4, H5, and H6 tags are used less frequently. They are useful for breaking up content in long reads.But be careful about using too many H tags, as that could be interpreted as spammy and decrease the value of all the headings in the eyes of search engines. Google treats such content as less informative.
SEO tips for your headings
Write a brief, well-articulated H2 through H6 tags.
Do not use other tags within your H tags.
Don’t use links in heading tags unless you want to take readers away from your content.
Conclusion
To make your content effective and actionable, heading tags optimization is vital. In short, make sure to:Use one <h1> tag.Don’t forget about hierarchy <h1> through <h6>.Apply keywords within headings based on their search volume.Keep headings brief and to the point.Don’t overuse H tags.Clear styles and format headings within the CMS to avoid unexpected/extra symbols within the tags.Do you have additional tips for creating SEO-friendly headings that convert and meet the target audience? Please share them in the comments below.
Defining title tags rightly is very crucial for your business. The title tags in SEO are the title of your document to your most important types of readers; people and robots. The page title is used by search engine algorithms to decide the order when listing pages in search results. Title tags are shown in the browser’s title bar or in the page’s tab and are the most prominent and noticeable part of a SERP result. The contents of a page title are very important for search engine optimization (SEO). People need to know what they can expect to find on your page when they click the link.
What are Title Tags?
The <title> tag defines the title of the document.
Your title tag is the “headline” that people will see in the search results. It’s also one of the primary factors for the search engines in determining your ranking for a given search phrase, although that’s declining in importance.
In the HTML code of your web page, they should appear as:
<head><title> Your Title Goes Here </title></head>
These titles can appear in:
Search engine results
Social media posts
Unfurled chat messages
Browser tabs
Why are title tags important?
Defining title tags are important because they let readers know what information will be present when a user clicks on a page. They also function to determine the relevancy of the web page as a result of a search query. If your title tags do not appeal to Google, then they may change it to better suit their/user needs. If this happens, you can bet it most likely won’t be to your liking.
Tips to defining your title tags
Here are some tips and best practices to ensure your title tags are optimized for crawlers and readers alike.
Your wording
Stay away from all capital letters in your title tag as they’ll use up more character space than lower case letters will and like emails, it is considered improper. Instead of the title, “BEST SELLING SHOE SHOPS IN GHANA” use “Best Selling Shoe Shops In Ghana”.
Search engines will display about 50-60 characters of the title, so try not to have titles longer than that. Keep your titles shorter. This makes for a nice headline for the SERPS and prevents the title from being cut off in the mid-sentence. Google has not specifically come out and said that title tags should be this length; however, if your title is longer than 60 characters, you risk the chance of it becoming cut off in the middle.
Avoid stop words in your title tags such as A, And, But, So, On, Or, The, Was, With, etc. Sometimes it might not seem impossible to have a title tag without stop words, but if you try different combinations of the same title, you can find them.
Your creativity
Write the title in plain English, using proper grammar, make it easily readable, and not just stuff a jumble of keywords in there. As a headline, it should captivate the reader’s attention and motivate them to click. What do you think is more effective to draw in a customer” “SEO Ghana – Evans Stevens” or “SEO Ghana – Secrets to Boosting Your Online Presence”?
Put in your most relevant and desired keywords you want to be ranked in the title, but don’t overdo it. Google can easily recognize keyword stuffing and may change the title of your web page if it feels you’re just throwing different variations of a keyword into it.
Having action words in your title tags can help entice users to click through. Some examples of action words often used in titles are: Get, Take, Boost, Learn, Make.
Try to feature your brand at the end of the title if there’s space. If not, shorten your page title and make space. Having your brand featured can further convince users that the web page is reputable, trustworthy, and has solid information. By using your company name in the title tag, you’re possibly also wasting space that could otherwise be used for a secondary persuasive keyword or phrase. What do you want here? New customers or bragging rights? You decide!
Conclusion
Title tags play an extremely important role and the way you use them can impact your SEO significantly. Use all the SEO tools at your disposal wisely and ensure that you’re getting the most out of each SEO facet, no matter how small it seems.
Remember this is the headline for your search listing!
Many website owners don’t give their websites the needed care, and so they get astonished when things get bad. Rebuilding your website can be costly but this can be avoided by having simple tools to regularly check on your site. This will ensure that your website is competitive and up-to-date with changing trends in your field of work. You can use many free website tools to grow your business in Ghana. However, in this article, we shall talk about these 3 free website tools: SEO analyzer, keyword planner, and site health checker.
SEO Analyzer free website tool
SEO simply consists of multiple strategies, which have the end goal of improving your website’s position in search engines.The analyzer, a free website tool is used by businesses to improve their website’s ranking on search engines. With an SEO analyzer, you can spot issues on your site and get a full list of strategic actions you can take to fix them. SEO analyzer tells you what aspects of your SEO strategy are working and what isn’t working. You can utilize SEO analysis results to help you rank higher, expand your reach, and drive traffic.If you want to get more visitors to your site, Get a FREE report of your website here. If you want more search traffic, all you have to do is follow the website analysis report. It will give you a complete list of errors that are hindering you from achieving the top spot on Google. Our SEO Analysis tool doesn’t just point out errors but gives you step-by-step instructions on how to fix each of them. Once you make changes, you can re-run the report and check to see if you did it correctly.
Keyword planner free website tool
Are you familiar with Keyword Planner? Choosing the right keywords and phrases can get your promotions closer to the top of Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs) and in front of the right clients. After all, to drive increased traffic, you need to know which keywords customers are using when looking for your site and the role these words play in SEO. If you don’t know how searchers are looking for your products or services, you are working blind. The right keywords planner is a tool that every search marketer needs to familiarize themselves with. The good news is that keyword research doesn’t need to be a daunting task. One of the best places to start to gain an insight into the search terms you need is free here. With this free digital checker, just start with a solid list of keywords, and a column or two of variables, and you’re good to go. This free tool sits at the core of your SEO or PPC toolset and helps to discover new keywords, and plan your Google Ads budget. If you need to find the right keywords for your business, it is a great place to start.
Site health checker free website tool
Often when we’re asked to build a website, the client expects it to work flawlessly forever. The truth is, it won’t. Websites break most of the time because they’re out-of-date, or some plug-ins just stopped working, or it’s taking time to load. With 2020 properly underway, it’s a good time to take a step back and assess the health of your website. While you’re unable to tell immediately if your website is performing at its best, there are a few regular checks that can help. We all know how important page speed is, slow site drive visitors and search engines will drop your ranking. On-site SEO should always be top of mind. As your website grows, remember that good on-site (or technical) SEO is the foundation for any successful SEO strategy. Also, having a responsive website is essential. In 2019, 80% of users used a mobile device to search the internet. Besides, your site in 2021 should be using several security measures such as an SSL security certificate (HTTPS). This is both for ranking and for customers to have confidence in your website’s security. If your website gets hacked, it will have a big impact on your brand. Check the health of your website for free by simply pasting the URL here, with no other characters, and wait for the magic to happen!
Conclusion
Regular analysis of your site with these free website tools will ensure your site always performs at its best. If you’ve found this analysis useful, you may even want to do it once a month. Constant small improvements are the most direct path to a high-performing website.
Traditional marketing is marketing that isn’t online. Marketers reach potential customers through printed media, television, radio, direct mail, phone calls, or billboards. Digital marketing is marketing that is exclusively online. Digital marketers focus on potential customers who engage with online content, including search engine results, email, video, blogs, or social media.
This reading describes the advantages digital marketing has over traditional marketing and some definite challenges, too.
There are several essential soft entrepreneurship skills sets that you can develop to increase your entrepreneurial success if you are an 
Defining title tags rightly is very crucial for your business. The title tags in SEO are the title of your document to your most important types of readers; people and robots. The page title is used by search engine algorithms to decide the order when listing pages in search results. Title tags are shown in the browser’s title bar or in the page’s tab and are the most prominent and noticeable part of a 
In the HTML code of your web page, they should appear as:
<head>
<title> Your Title Goes Here </title>
</head>
These titles can appear in:
