A business proposal is critical in the expansion and growth of any small business. However, if you’re a beginner you might be wondering where to start.

It’s critical to note that business plans differ from business proposals. To be clear, a business plan functions as an overall plan for the business itself.

A business proposal, on the other hand, is intended to invite new business into the company. To that end, a business proposal must have a professional appearance. It also needs to provide for easy collaboration. It must be well protected. These things you can accomplish with PDFelement as shown below.

 

RELATED ARTICLE: HOW TO EXTRACT MULTIPLE INVOICES TO A SINGLE FILE FROM SCANNED PDF FILES

 

1. Internalize the Proposal’s Requirements

Read the client’s requests and internalize them. Study the information they provide. Then you’ll understand what’s needed. The client’s information will help you to know how best to satisfy their needs.

Ask yourself who will be managing the entire project. Where and when will the proposal need to be delivered? At what location will the project be worked from? How will customer satisfaction and quality assurance be determined?

State the project’s start and end dates. Set the dates for milestone reporting. Explain your reasoning for the approaches you propose.

Finally, plan for how you will describe the qualities that make you the best candidate.

 

2. Calculate the Cost

It’s also critical to consider the full cost of the business proposal. Only in this way will you know what to charge.

To do this, go through the entire project in your mind. Come up with a realistic estimate of the number of hours each task will require. Total these hours, then multiply your total by 1.5.

For instance, if you estimate that the work in your proposal will take you 20 hours, multiply 20 by 1.5. This gives a total of 30 hours. Therefore, in the proposal, your estimated total time will be 30 hours.

Overestimation mitigates against the unexpected. If you complete before that time you can discount the final invoice and make your client happy.

 

3. Follow This Systematic Process

Once you have your estimates, begin writing.

Start with introduction. In the introduction, present your business and its goals in relation to the needs of the client. The introduction shouldn’t be longer than one page. Next, include an executive summary. In the executive summary clearly explain why you’re the perfect business or person for the job. State your case objectively but persuasively.

In the main body of your business proposal, take a deeper look into the specifics you indicated in the executive summary. Provide all details here, including:

• Scheduling
• Costs
• Logistics
• Data
• Charts
• Images
• Illustrations of main concepts
• Your website URL
• Disclaimers and caveats

Conclude the main section by inviting the reader either to visit your site or give you a call.

You can include an optional table of contents for easier navigation. Additionally, if you have details such as customer testimonials, projections, or photographs, create optional appendices for them.

 

4. Revise the Business Proposal

Once you have finished with the first draft, put it aside for a while. After a few days, review it. Rectify typos and other errors. Ensure that all the numbers you have included are accurate.

Reread the client’s call for proposal. Ensure that your business proposal includes everything client has requested.

Where possible, make the proposal as short as possible. You want to ensure that the client can read it in less than 10 minutes. You can move charts, graphs, and images to the appendix. This will shorten the time it takes to read through the body.

 

5. Protect the Proposal and Give It a Professional Appearance

Next, give your business proposal a professional shine. You want the client to have a collaborative, professional proposal. Additionally, you want the proposal to be secure, especially given the information you’ve included.

Whether you’re an expert or a beginner, save your proposal in PDF format. This is essential. However, don’t settle for just any PDF. Instead, use a feature-rich tool such as PDFelement.

PDFelement allows you to collaborate efficiently and seamlessly. In this way, you can complete group work with your partners. It also makes version control and group collaboration super easy in real time, especially if you’re writing a shared proposal. Just create and split a single PDF draft into several parts. Once each group member has completed their individual section, PDFelement makes it easy and fast to merge the separate PDF’s into a single document again.

Also, the editing functions make correcting your business proposal quick and simple. The tool allows you to proofread the merged PDF. Then you can either make changes directly to the essay text, or you can circle questionable areas. Plus, you can leave notes for each other right inside the file.

Safety is key. This is a great reason to use PDFelement for your business proposal. Ensure that only authorized group members can edit the essay. Do this by using PDFelement’s protection functions. These include password protection of the document as well as user permissions set up for different levels of access.

 

6. Submit the Proposal and Follow Up

Once you’ve given your business proposal these professional touches and added protective safeguards you can now hit send and deliver it to the client.

However, your work is not yet complete. After a short time, follow up with your prospective client. Use tracking tools for email to know when the recipient has opened the email.

The following morning or a few days later, ask your prospective client whether they have any questions or require any clarification. However, don’t wait too long to follow up. In other words, you want your business proposal to still be fresh in their mind.

 

Best of Luck with Your Business Proposal

Not every business proposal will bring new business into your company. However, you can increase your odds of winning new clients by carefully crafting your proposals. Then polish each of your business proposals to a professional shine with PDFelement. You’ll soon be winning new business like never before!

Image Credit: Pixabay

Are you working on a college degree in order to further your business goals? If so, you might need a little help from time to time. For example, if you’re struggling with writing college essays, read on for suggestions about where you can find some help.

 

RELATED ARTICLE: STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS FOR LAW SCHOOL STUDENTS

 

Do Your Own Work, Then Have It Checked for Quality

Of course you want to make the best grades you possibly can. But if you’re trying to write your college essays in a language you learned to speak as an adult, this can be difficult.

Therefore, do the work as your professor has assigned it to the best of your ability. Next, turn to OnlineCollegeEssay.com for editing help. They will review your request at no charge. Then they’ll make your college essays sparkle and shine, based on the research that you have done and the guidelines you give them.

They work on academic assignments for schools, colleges, and universities in the UK as well as in other parts of the world. They consider every order a custom order, and they will adhere to your professors’ requirements for your college essays in every respect.

In addition, their talented experts have various backgrounds. For instance, some will edit college essays for your literature classes. Others are available to work on your history or sociology papers. Still others are certified for college essays about programming or even accounting. Therefore, you can count on their assistance with any kind of assignment.

 

Do You Need Help with Any of These Types of College Essays?

The writers and editors at OnlineCollegeEssay.com can help with with any of these types of college essays:

1. Admission
2. Argumentative
3. Descriptive
4. Discussion
5. Expository
6. Reflection
7. Response

In addition, their writers and editors can even help you with your dissertation. So whether you need some assistance with your regular coursework, a term paper, or a laboratory report, contact them online. What’s more, they are dependable, and their rates are reasonable.

 

Get Help Online with Your College Essays

OnlineCollegeEssay.com offers other services, as well. That’s because they are committed to quality customer service. For example:

• Money-back guarantee. If for any reason you are not satisfied with the expert help you receive from OnlineCollegeEssay.com, you’ll get your money back. In other words, you pay only for quality work.
• Reasonable prices. Although their pricing is among the lowest you’ll find online, you can count on only top-notch work.
• Fast completion. Their experts can meet the tightest of deadlines.
• No plagiarism. Your college essays will be free of plagiarism, as their experts check all texts through a reliable plagiarism checker.
• Data safety. Your personal data will be safe with OnlineCollegeEssay.com.
• No-charge reviews. Order a free sample on any part of your project. An example will show you that you can count on their competent editors to check your work for quality. This is true whether you’re working on a simple outline or crafting a thesis.

 

Conclusion

If you want to learn more about OnlineCollegeEssay.com, surf the web for independent reviews. You’ll find that the students who rely on their services give them high marks for quality and service.

It’s not easy trying to go to school while you’re building a business. From time to time, you might need a little help with your college essays. Rest assured that assistance is only a few clicks away.

Whether you’ve recently launched an online business or have been running one for a while, you surely know that reviews are important not only for attracting new customers, but also for building a strong brand reputation. However, have you ever stopped to consider that a methodical customer review program could boost your profits?

As a matter of fact, there are multiple benefits that come from consumer feedback. After all, 97% of online shoppers look at reviews when searching for a business. Furthermore, 93% report that reviews influence their decision to purchase. Additionally, customer feedback plays a significant role in SEO and search marketing. This means that the more reviews you have, the higher your business will rank when customers conduct organic searches.

Therefore, picking the right custom software solution for customer review management is a major decision. This is true not only because of their generally high price points. Moreover, because of so many options and promises, it can be difficult to determine whether or not a customer review program will even help your business.

 

RELATED ARTICLE: KNOWING WHEN IT’S TIME FOR A CUSTOM SOFTWARE SOLUTION

 

Trustpilot is a great option for many online businesses. That’s because it provides numerous features. Additionally, it also offers flexibility and customization options so it can fulfill your precise needs.

Here is a breakdown of what Trustpilot is and what it does. Let’s dive in.

 

1. Pricing Plans

There are lots of variables when it comes to online businesses and their budgets. Each has its own marketing strategies and service needs. This is why a flexible plan for a customer review program is a great option. This is especially so for smaller or new online companies that don’t have a lot of funds.

Trustpilot offers four different packages. These even include a free starter program that offers the basics to get new companies up and running. From there, the Lite platform offers some additional features. For instance, there are personalization options and a greater number of review invitations that you can send out each month.

The Pro and Enterprise plans offer even more options. These include customization and multiple integration options for a more comprehensive strategy.

Image Credit: Trustpilot

 

2. Review Collection Process

Collecting feedback can be tricky. However, customers are more likely to leave a review if the business asks them to. According to the Pew Research Center, only 10% of customers leave feedback regularly on the products or services they buy. However, when customers are specifically asked to leave a review, that number jumps up to 68%.

There are several strategies that Trustpilot offers for collecting feedback.

Trustpilot offers a simple and easy-to-use review collection form. This form asks customers to provide a star rating. It also requests an optional typed review.

Both of these features are important for a business’s feedback system. That’s because customers report that the overall star rating and the sentiment of the reviews are the most important factors they pay attention to.

Image Credit: Trustpilot

The sooner you reach a customer after their purchase, the better. You can set up automatic review invitations through Trustpilot to be sent via email. In this way, you’ll capture customers’ attention while the experience is still fresh in their memory.

Feedback reviews provide valuable keywords that can connect future customers to your website. Further, listing reviews on your website allows you to optimize your SEO strategy for the RankBrain algorithm. This could help your website ranking over time.

RELATED ARTICLE: RANKBRAIN ALGORITHM FORCES TO DEVELOP NEW SEO STRATEGIES

The embedded review form feature means that each review you receive can be posted directly on your website. This will increase its visibility for both Googlebots and customers checking out your site.

If you are an ecommerce company, chances are that you have partnered with an online merchant platform to launch your site. Trustpilot offers several app integrations with big names like Magneto, WooCommerce, Shopify, and BigCommerce. Therefore, you’ll be able to post reviews on your website seamlessly with Trustpilot’s customer review program.

An API (Application Programming Interface) is a software-to-software interface that allows two programs to transfer data automatically. Trustpilot’s customer API works with other software tools you may already have, such as a CRM system. You’ll be able to organize the consumer data that it collects from these reviews and apply it to other databases.

 

3. Review Reminders

Of course, not all of your customers will fill out a review form as soon as they receive an invitation. However, it is important to gather this feedback fairly quickly after the purchase has been completed. This will ensure that the review is relevant and accurate. With a quality customer review program, you can automate this process.

Your team can set up automatic review reminder email messages to be sent out if a customer does not leave feedback within a certain amount of time. According to Trustpilot’s research, this little reminder is enough to increase feedback by 35%.

Image Credit: Trustpilot

 

4. Editing Existing Reviews

While it is certainly tempting to remove or hide negative reviews, this can actually hurt your business and destroy consumer trust. According to this report, a mix of positive and negative reviews actually makes the majority of customers trust a business more.

Image Credit: Source

Trustpilot is committed to offering an open review platform. This means that everyone—invited or not—has the option to leave a review. Fear not. This is a good thing!

A customer review program that allows businesses to selectively pick who gets to leave a review is not presenting genuine information to consumers. Essentially, this allows brands to cherry pick their feedback. What’s more, this is something that most consumers will see right through. For this reason and more, Trustpilot does not allow companies to hide, change, or remove negative reviews.

However, you can request Trustpilot’s compliance team to take a look to see if the content violates its feedback policy. You can also request a review if you have reason to believe the review is spam and/or fraudulent.

On the other hand, a customer who leaves a review can edit that same review. So if you receive a scathing review, you can reach out to the customer and attempt to resolve the issue. Perhaps you can even change the customer’s perception and persuade them to modify their review.

 

5. TrustBoxes

The TrustBox widget feature makes it easy to display all of your customer reviews on your website. This provides more content for search engines to read. Additionally, it makes customers more confident with their purchase decisions.

You can even customize these boxes to show reviews for specific tags or keywords. For example, you could tag your customer service department’s rating or the overall sentiment for a specific product.

Remember, while you cannot edit a review, openly displaying it on your website can potentially boost customer confidence. Customers spend 31% more on purchases if a company lists reviews. What’s more, 68% say that reviews make them trust the business more, too.

Image Credit: Source

 

6. Marketing Assets

Customer feedback is a great source of user-generated content (UGC) that you can integrate into your marketing program. According to this report, 80% of customers believe that when brands use UGC regularly, it makes their content more authentic and trustworthy.

Image Credit: SocialMediaToday.com

By using a customer review program to gather lots of feedback, your marketing team will have far more content to work with. This will help them to create UGC-focused materials that can help your business grow.

 

7. Social Media Integration

Social media continues to have a significant effect on day-to-day life. This is especially evident in how it influences our shopping habits. For example, nearly three-fourths of online shoppers use social media to check out reviews and comments. They then use this information to determine whether or not they should buy. As a result, 52% of online and offline purchases are now influenced by an ad or a post seen on Facebook.

You can take advantage of this trend by transferring your Trustpilot customer feedback right into your Facebook page. Or create customized Tweets and Instagram-worthy content to share with Trustbot’s image generator. You can create these posts manually. However, if you go with the Enterprise plan, Trustpilot will automatically update your Facebook feedback for you.

Image Credit: Trustpilot

It is always wise to learn about the product through the eyes of its consumer. That’s because customers who have used the product can offer valuable insights about their experience. Go through Trustpilot Customer Reviews to know what Trustpilot’s verified customers have to share about this valuable customer review program.

 

Let a Quality Customer Review Program Take Your Business to the Next Level

A quality customer review program can help your business to collect quality reviews. It can also help you to integrate those reviews into your business strategies successfully.

When it comes to choosing a customer review program, Trustpilot has a lot of great features to offer. Further, those features will bring your brand’s marketing strategy and customer experience to the next level.

Brainstorming YouTube video ideas can be tough. And if ideas aren’t coming to you, that can eat away at your motivation. In order to save you time and energy, and to help you stay enthusiastic about YouTube, filmora.io created both an infographic with 701 YouTube video ideas and the free 701 Video Ideas eBook.

Scroll down to find the infographic.

Plus, below are five tips that can help you generate even more of your own original YouTube video ideas.

 

RELATED ARTICLE: 5 WAYS CORPORATE VIDEOS WILL HELP YOUR BUSINESS

 

1. Be Ready to Write Your Ideas Down

If you think you have an idea, don’t let it get away! By carrying a notebook (or using your phone to record notes) you’ll be ready to capture ideas when they come to you. Never assume you’ll remember an idea later. You might, but you might not.

Knowing that you are ready to record ideas, as well as being in the frame of mind that you are hunting down ideas and inspiration, will help more ideas to come to you as you go about your daily life. Writing ideas down may even prompt you to come up with similar ideas. Instead of having a couple ideas while waiting in line at the grocery store and then forgetting one by the time you get home, you’ll end up with a nice list of thought-starters.

 

2. Think About Your Life

You don’t always have to look outside yourself for ideas. Viewers on YouTube love getting to know the creators they follow. So when you’re stuck for ideas, the easiest thing to fall back on might be to tell your audience a bit more about yourself.

If you have a gaming channel, for example, you could post a video about your favorite five games. Alternatively, you could get specific and choose a top five with a theme, like horror. If you have a tech channel, you could do a “What’s on My Phone?” video showcasing your favorite apps. Even if you have a lifestyle or vlogging channel where you already talk about your life, there’s probably something you can share with your followers that you haven’t yet (so long as it’s something you’re comfortable with). What’s a book that inspired you? Did you enjoy high school?

 

3. Find a Niche

If you can choose anything in the world, that makes it pretty hard to make a decision. Coming up with video ideas is a lot easier if your channel has a narrower theme. For example, beauty is a huge category. A more niche category could be something like “natural beauty” or “styling curly hair.”

It’s easier to come up with ideas for a niche channel because you’re more focused when you’re brainstorming. Also, your niche will usually be something you’re passionate about or something that directly relates to your life. For example, if you like baking and you also love comic books, then you could make a comic-themed baking channel where you make things like Spider Man cupcakes. Zooming in on something you really care about makes ideas come more easily.

 

4. Let Yourself Just Be

Sometimes it can be hard to come up with video ideas just because you’re too busy, or your mind is focused on something else. If you are constantly playing games, or scrolling Instagram, or talking to friends, then maybe those things could inspire you with video ideas. Sometimes, though, it’s a good idea to go on a nice long walk by yourself. Or sit on your porch and watch the sun set.

Try giving yourself time just to breathe and not think of anything in particular. Let your mind wander to the most random places, and that’s where you’ll find some of your best ideas.

 

701 YouTube Video Ideas

5. Play This Game

Choose five ideas from the graphic above. Or read the 701 Video Ideas eBook. Then write your five ideas across the top of a piece of paper. On the right side of the paper, make a vertical list of five things you love (that are somewhat related to your YouTube category). Make this into a grid.

Look at the places where the ideas and the things you love intersect. Consider whether there are potential videos there. Sometimes there are, sometimes there aren’t, but even when there aren’t, answering the question, “Why not?” can sometimes lead you to some video ideas.

 

Welcome to the Universe of Endless Video Ideas

Combine the ideas in this infographic, or the 701 Video Ideas eBook, with these methods of brainstorming. You’ll then be able to come up with an endless supply of video ideas for YouTube.

If you’re never stuck for video ideas, you’ll be able to post new videos more often. Posting on a consistent schedule can be the key to attracting subscribers and growing your channel faster. Success on YouTube has a lot to do with whether or not you can come up with lots of ideas. And—by using these methods and free resources—you can!

Search engine optimization (SEO) is an ever-evolving market. And many people want to learn how to make money as a freelance SEO writer and marketer. However, if you want to start an SEO multimedia agency, take the time to read this article for a few tips on mindset, marketing, and sales.

 

RELATED ARTICLE: 5 STEPS TO HAVING THE BEST SEO MARKETING STRATEGY FOR YOUR BUSINESS

 

To Be Successful, Maintain the Right Mindset

 

The most vital thing to remember is that you are a disposable commodity as a freelancer. This means you must maintain the right mindset. Don’t allow yourself to become complacent in content production. Remember that your client is always right. When it comes time to shave their budgets, the freelance SEO will be the first to go. You must have a plan B even when Plan A is working out for you in the short term.

 

You must also learn to focus your mindset on business strategies. In other words, maintain a 70/30 profit margin. Just as your clients have budgets, so should you. This means you have to be mindful of not overstepping your profit potential for any reason. When you’re focusing on profit, you must put the needs of your business first. This will help you establish boundaries, policies, and procedures.

 

A Freelance SEO Must Also Be a Marketer

There is much competition on the SEO market. That said, not all SEO companies have the ability to rank on the first page of search engines. If you want to market your business successfully, practice what you preach. To do that, show prospective clients how highly you rank. If you have never ranked with keywords, you are not an expert. Therefore, do not claim to be an expert until you have the results to prove it.

 

Generate Sales Organically

 

Sales leads do not just pop into your email. For every lead you miss, your competition will gain. When it comes to SEO, established experts understand the value of outbound leads and take advantage of them. When that happens, the market gets smaller for you. Sometimes, it is the agency that responds first that gets the work. Therefore, if you want to generate more leads, try these tips:

• Open an email address solely for leads that have push notifications.
• Respond immediately to inquiries.
• Have a designated routine with your company’s benefits so you can sell your services.
• Follow up on sales leads every time you do not hear back.
• Prepare for calls by determining a set of questions to value client potential, such as:
  • Has the client engaged in SEO in the past? Local? National?
  • What marketing campaigns does the company currently engage in?
  • Is the client interested in services like social media management or PPC?

 

You Have One Chance

You will only get one chance to show prospective clients your value. Therefore, you must make sure that every moment counts.

However, when you set up a system for lead generation, sales, production and retention, you have a system in place that works. You will learn with experience that search engine marketing is about smart decision-making. You will also find that with hard work and a committed attitude the rewards are worth it.

This post is written for beginning bloggers, so we’re going to start at the very beginning.

A blog is a kind of website that focuses on written content. Each entry is called a blog post. The word “blog” is a hybrid of the words “web” and “log.”

From a personal perspective, a blogger writes. Their writing allows bloggers to connect directly with their readers. Some blogs contain a comment section where readers can respond to whatever the blogger has written. This interaction between reader and blogger provides feedback for the blogger and the sharing of ideas for everyone involved.

From this direct connection derive several benefits of starting and maintaining a blog. For instance, it allows you to develop trust with your reader. Trust opens the doors to making money with your blog.

 

RELATED ARTICLE: BLOGGING: THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT IT BEFORE YOU START

 

How to Start a Blog

Beginning bloggers might be wondering where to start.

It’s not that difficult. You can easily learn how to create a blog in five steps. By following these simple steps you will be able to start a blog in about 20 minutes or so.

1. Select something unique to write about and pick a suitable name for your blog.
2. Choose a blog host and register your blog.
3. Write and publish your first post.
4. Choose innovative ways to promote your blog.
5. Get creative and find ways to monetize your blog.

The most difficult thing for beginning bloggers—or a seasoned ones, for that matter—is making the time to maintain a blog over time. Post regularly if you want to have regular readers. People are always hungry for new content.

 

What Type of Blog Will You Have?

People love reading about others’ interests and hobbies. Do you have a unique hobby? Are you interested in a topic that’s currently hot?

On the other hand, just about any topic will do. You can choose to write about cars, sports, fashion, travel, cooking, and many other topics for your blog. Beginning bloggers have plenty of topics to choose from.

However, before you choose a topic for your blog, be sure to study the trends. If you can write about something that’s trending now, you’re sure to attract a wide audience.

 

For Example, Create a Food Blog

Are you fond of cooking? Which food blogs do you follow? Can you provide a new twist on some old favorite dishes? Have you inherited authentic recipes from an older person in your family? Have you studied nutrition? Can you write about cooking and eating for gluten-free, vegan, or Paleo diets?

Lots of people browse online when they want to find something new and intriguing to make for dinner. Just try it yourself. You’ll find that scrolling through all those mouthwatering photos and recipes on the food blogs is a tempting activity.

Beginning bloggers who want to write about food should study plenty of food blogs before they dive in. Once your mouth is watering, be sure to stir your blog into that hearty mix.

On the other hand, if you’re not all that into cooking, there are plenty of other topics beginning bloggers can write about, as we mentioned earlier.

 

 

Here’s How to Get Started

Check out this quick tutorial for creating your new blog.

Be sure to define your mission statement in one of your earliest blog posts. Additionally, remain true to this vision whenever you create a new post. This clear voice and sharp focus is vital to accomplishing your goals with your blog.

Also, be choosy when it comes to picking a name for your blog. You want to attract attention but still remain professional. What’s more, you need a name for your blog that’s descriptive of what you’re about.

Above all, aim for creating unique content that is based on innovative ideas.

 

Beginning Bloggers Need Simple Blog Hosting

Choosing the right blog host is one of the most important elements for making your blog well known online.

Beginning bloggers will want a web hosting platform that is easy to set up and maintain. However, you’ll also want a platform that allows for flexibility. After all, as you gain experience as a blogger, your blog will surely change and grow over time.

Competent marketers recognize the importance of smart SEO strategies. Such strategies are essential for growing a loyal audience, increasing site traffic, and accelerating conversion rates. What’s more, what it takes to optimize landing pages for top keywords—a central piece of SEO—has changed fundamentally. This has been true ever since Google implemented its RankBrain algorithm. Therefore, it’s becoming increasingly important to develop new SEO strategies for better SERP rankings.

SEO, by the way, stands for “search engine optimization.” And SERP stands for “search engine results page.” We’ll get into more details about both in this article.

 

What Is the RankBrain Algorithm?

RankBrain is Google’s machine-learning artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm. Google uses it alongside its other human-engineered algorithms to sort search results.

The RankBrain algorithm looks at SERP’s for various keywords. Then it tweaks the importance of such ranking signals as backlinks, domain authority, content length, and so on. These tweaks result in different SERP’s. The RankBrain algorithm then analyzes how searchers interact with the new results. If they find the new SERP displays better content, RankBrain keeps the changes. If not, it reverts back to the old algorithm.

The point of these exercises is to provide searchers with more useful results.

When RankBrain makes tweaks to SERP’s, certain pages will get more attention. When that happens, those pages rise in the rankings. If searchers find any particular page not to be useful, RankBrain will replace that page on the SERP with a different page. The RankBrain algorithm will then analyze how that page performs.

 

How Does RankBrain Determine If Searchers Like the New Results Better?

Here are a few of the ways in which the RankBrain algorithm determines if searchers like the new results better:

• Organic click-through rate
• Time on page
• Bounce rate

Before implementing the RankBrain algorithm, Google displayed SERP’s simply by matching words in a search query to words on an individual page. With RankBrain, the AI attempts to learn what the words mean together. In other words, the RankBrain algorithm tries to understand the intent of the keywords, including the context. This results in more fruitful search results for the searcher.

 

 

How Does the RankBrain Algorithm Affect Optimizing Keywords on Landing Pages?

Before RankBrain, the most commonly agreed-upon and effective SEO keyword targeting strategy was to build many different landing pages. Each landing page was then optimized for a number of different long-tail keywords.

For example, an SEO strategy for optimizing a travel blog would be to create one landing page targeting “best hiking routes in Hawaii.” Another landing page would target “best hiking trails in Hawaii.” After that, Google would rank each of the landing pages for their individual long-tail keywords.

However, since Google implemented RankBrain, the Google algorithm now understands that these long-tail keywords are essentially the same. The RankBrain algorithm therefore delivers almost identical SERP’s for both phrases. This makes it ineffective to optimize around long-tail keyword phrases anymore.

 

New Strategies: Optimizing for the RankBrain Algorithm

In short, instead of optimizing landing pages for long-tail keywords, SEO strategies should target mid-tail keywords. Below is a screenshot from Ahrefs showing keyword difficulty, cost per click (CPC), search volume, and other metrics for six keyword phrases related to “New Zealand Hiking.”

 

 

As expected, the shorter keyword phrases have significantly higher search volume than their long-tail counterparts. In the past, these mid-tail keywords would be more difficult to effectively target. In other words, it would be more difficult to break into the top three search results by using them. However, with the introduction of the RankBrain algorithm, these mid-tails present a new opportunity. That is, they allow SEO’s to target more generic, mid-tail keyword phrases. Now, when they do, the Google algorithm understands their intent.

 

How Do I Decide the Best Mid-Tail Keyword to Target?

There are myriad SEO tools and metrics that you can use to analyze keyword viability. To name only a few, there are SEMRush, Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, and Brightedge.

However, one brilliant strategy involves something much more basic. That is, conduct some simple Google searches yourself with a single keyword phrase. Then compare broad-match results, exact-match results, and the total number of both for that phrase. It’s also useful to compare the domain ratings for first-page SERP’s during the comparison process. This will give you an idea of how difficult it will be to rank highly.

For example, using the “New Zealand Hiking” search metrics above, you’ll notice that the two most searched phrases are “New Zealand Hiking” and “Hiking in New Zealand.” These two phrases average 600 and 450 monthly searches respectively. Compare this with the 150 or fewer average monthly searches for the remaining keyword phrases.

 

How to Use This Deceptively Simple Method

Therefore, the first step in deciding which keyword phrase to target is to perform a Google search using one of the phrases you are considering. Then perform another with the same keyword phrase in quotes. Finally, compare the number of broad match and exact match search results.

The first thing you might notice is that the keyword phrase “New Zealand Hiking” has significantly fewer search results in both broad and exact match instances. This is despite its having an average of 150 more searches a month than “Hiking in New Zealand” (600 vs. 450).

On the surface, this simple comparison shows that there is more search volume and less competition and saturation in the “New Zealand Hiking” SERP. This points to this particular keyword phrase as the better choice. However, before we draw any final conclusions, it’s important to analyze the sites ranking on the first page for each of the keyword phrases. This will allow us to determine what their domain authorities are, and how our site stacks up in this space.

 

Here’s an Example

Below is a screenshot from Ahrefs showing the first page SERP’s for both “New Zealand Hiking” and “Hiking in New Zealand.”

In this instance, and likely because of the RankBrain algorithm, the SERP’s are nearly identical, with a few exceptions. Because of these similarities, you could choose a mid-tail keyword based on overall number of results displayed, contrasted against average monthly search volume. In this example, that proper choice would be “New Zealand Hiking.”

 

RELATED ARTICLE: HOW TO CREATE A WEBSITE DESIGN THAT EMPOWERS YOUR SEO EFFORTS

 

Optimizing Landing Pages to Generate Maximum SERP Positions Will Increase Traffic and Give You More Conversions

Well targeted keywords is an important factor in raising your SERP rankings, increasing site traffic, and having more conversions. However, without well optimized landing pages much of your hard work can go unnoticed. In that case, growth can be slow.

However, Google has provided SEO marketers with tools that help the web spiders better understand what the on-page content is all about. First and foremost among these tools is schema markup.

 

What Is Schema Markup?

Schema markup, also known as structured data markup, is a vocabulary that you can add to a wide variety of encodings. These include RDFa, JSON-LD, Microdata, and others. Every page on your site that can have schema should have one.

Depending on the type of page you wish to mark up, whether it be product pages, informational content, blog posts, or anything else, Schema.org provides a selection of items and associated properties that you can add to the HTML/CSS of your page. These items will help Google’s web crawlers better understand the intent and purpose of your content.

The better Google understands your content, the more likely your content will rank higher. Below, you can see an example of schema markup for a blog post from Instasize entitled “5 Ways to Utilize Instagram Stories to Boost Sales.” Notice how the markup code is nested above the <h1>, between the <div> and <script> tags.

A Detailed Explanation

This is best explained by the Moz blog in a post entitled “Unlocking Hidden Gems Within Schema.org”:

“When you first enter a Schema.org item type’s page, notice that every page has the same layout, starting with the item type name, the canonical reference URL (currently the HTTP version*), where the markup lives within the Schema.org hierarchy, and that item type’s usage on the web.

“An item type is a piece of Schema.org’s vocabulary of data used to annotate and structure elements on a web page. You can think about it as what you’re marking up.

“At the highest level of most Schema.org item types is Thing (alternatively, we’d be looking at DataType). This intuitively makes sense because almost everything is, at its highest level of abstraction, a Thing. The item type Thing has multiple children, all of which assume Thing’s properties in a cascading hierarchical fashion (i.e., a Product is a Thing. Both can have names, descriptions, and images).”

You can find a visual representation of schema’s hierarchy in the image below.

Image courtesy of technicalseo.com

One of the easiest starting points for acquainting yourself with schema is to use the schema generator from Merkle. Using the Merkle schema generator is fairly simple. Just choose a type of markup from the drop-down menu.

Once you’ve chosen a markup type, you’ll be prompted to fill in various fields. Then the schema markup code will be automatically generated in the right field.

Once you’ve filled in all the necessary fields, copy and paste the auto-generated schema into Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool. Make sure the code is functioning properly, then paste the code above or below the <body> tags of your page.

 

Targeting Featured Snippets to Rank Above First Position for Top Keywords

A featured snippet is a box that appears above all results for various question-and-answer based queries. Below is a screenshot of a search for, “Are dogs colorblind?” Here you can see a short paragraph with an answer pulled from one of the pages listed in the SERP.

(Note: Featured snippets only pull from the top 10 results of any given SERP. Therefore, you must already rank 1-10 for a specific keyword phrase to be eligible for a feature placement.)

With more and more SERP’s for similar search queries returning similar results because of the RankBrain algorithm, the chances of securing a featured snippet across multiple similar queries has greatly increased. This could create a massive traffic and conversion boon for sites with savvy SEO practitioners who are willing to invest time in targeting featured snippets.

 

How to Target Featured Snippet Opportunities

Featured snippets appear for a wide array of search queries. What’s more, they can increase page visibility, conversion rates, and traffic to your site. So how do you go about targeting these opportunities?

Most of the time, though not all, featured snippets appear as an answer to question-based queries. Let’s say you run a food blog and have posted an article about making spaghetti and meatballs. Further, your targeted keyword phrase is “spaghetti and meatballs.” Of course, the quality and thoroughness of your content is a major factor in determining if Google will pull your information into a featured snippet. However, how you organize and label your content is also important.

 

Use Headings with How-to Formats

Therefore, instead of using simple headings, try writing some of your headings in how-to format. For example, you could make your first H2 something like, “How to Make Spaghetti and Meatballs.” As an example of this, notice the screenshot below showing the SERP’s for two similar queries. The first search for “spaghetti and meatballs” returns without a snippet. However, “how to make spaghetti and meatballs” returns with a snippet pulled from a Youtube video.

 

One of the best ways to generate this type of headline is with answerthepublic.com.

Answer the Public describes itself as a “free visual keyword research and content ideas” tool. It can provide you with a wide range of useful data. For example, entering a simple keyword phrase into the search bar returns multiple lists of related question-based, preposition-based, and comparison-based search queries. Check out the example below using the keyword phrase “spaghetti and meatballs.”

You can use the results from this page to brainstorm a question-and-answer style headline. This can greatly increase the chances of your content being pulled into a featured snippet.

Other factors Google seems to like when pulling snippets is content built in lists or html tables. What’s more, your content needs to be free of grammatical errors.

 

Snackable Takeaways: Creating Traffic and Conversion Rate Growth with Actionable SEO Strategies

1. The RankBrain algorithm has changed the way we look at keyword targeting. In short, it forces us to reorient the focus from long-tail keywords to mid-tail keywords.
2. As the RankBrain AI continues to learn and further understand the meaning of keyword phrases and their context, semantic variation of similar queries will matter less and less. That’s because they largely return identical results. This causes SEO marketers to shift focus. That is, SEO strategies should now primarily be about ensuring that everything you publish is evergreen and of only the highest quality. In other words, chasing keywords will no longer work.
3. Schema markup is relatively simple. What’s more, in today’s SEO climate it is an absolute must if you want to remain competitive for your top keywords.
4. With more and more SERP’s for similar search queries returning similar results because of the RankBrain algorithm, you have a much better chance of securing a featured snippet across multiple similar queries.
5. Targeting featured snippets by optimizing your on-page content can propel your top landing pages to the very top of Google SERP’s. This greatly increases your pages’ overall visibility, site traffic, and conversion rate.

 

About the Author

Sam Schuler is an SEO strategist at Instasize.

When you’re running a business, it’s easy to get caught up in everyday tasks. For example, sales, marketing, and customer service require your continuous monitoring. You need to pay attention to product development and human resources as well. However, you want to steer your business toward your major financial goals. Therefore, it’s important to keep a close eye on the finances of your venture, too. To that end, there are some key business metrics you should be tracking.

Of course, you’ll watch cash flow. You’ll also look for ways to cut costs and increase profits. Therefore, you need to handle relevant accounting tasks.

However, you should also spend time each month examining the main finance-related metrics of your business. Tracking these key business metrics will help you to spot potential problems. Better yet, you can learn about existing problems before they become major ones. All of this will make it easier to see which areas have the best potential for growth. What’s more, tracking key business metrics will give you insights for better strategies going forward.

Most online graduate degrees in the business field detail this side of business management thoroughly. Therefore, they are worth exploring for this benefit alone. Nonetheless, there are some key business metrics you can start tracking today. Read on to find out more.

 

RELATED ARTICLE: 4 STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE YOUR ONLINE MARKETING AND ADVERTISING

 

Customer Acquisition Cost

One of the first things you need to know is your customer acquisition cost (CAC). This refers to the amount you have to spend to acquire each new client. This is an important metric. That’s because it shows you if you’re spending too little or too much on your marketing and sales strategies.

Once you’ve determined your CAC, you can decide whether the amount you’re budgeting is right for your business. The items that go into this metric are things like advertising, search engine optimization, events, giveaways and the like. This key business metric varies significantly from business to business. Moreover, the customer acquisition cost usually goes down as organizations grow and build a more recognized brand name.

To work out your CAC, divide the total amount you spend on customer-building strategies in a set amount of time (for example, a month or a year) by the number of new clients you land over that same time period.

 

Lifetime Value of Customers

Another key business metric that relates to your customer acquisition cost is the lifetime value of customers. This metric also helps you analyze your marketing and sales budget. The term refers to the net profit you will receive from your clients over the course of your relationship with them.

The lifetime value indicates the repeat business you’ll get from shoppers over time. As a result, it helps you to know how much money is sensible to spend on “buying” each new customer. The higher the lifetime value, the more you can outlay. That’s because you’ll have more chance of earning this money back.

You can determine the likely lifetime value of customers in your venture. To do that, take the average value of your sales (that is, how much on average clients spend per transaction), and then multiply this by the number of repeat transactions you get per customer. Multiply this total by the average time period you retain a typical client.

 

Client Loyalty and Retention Rates

You won’t likely achieve the business results you’re after if you don’t spend time thinking about ways to continually improve client loyalty and retention rates. In other words, you need to consider how long you can keep a customer around. The more loyal a client is to your business, the more likely they will keep buying from you again and again as the years go by. In most cases, they will also purchase in larger quantities or at higher transaction amounts.

Customer loyalty also leads people to recommend you to their friends, family members, and other contacts. In turn, this helps you obtain new customers in an affordable way. This word-of-mouth advertising is invaluable.

 

 

If  you have a high “churn” rate, this means that most people only ever shop with you once and never return. In this case, you probably have various problems with your business that need to be addressed immediately. For example, your product range or quality could be low. Or, your customer service might be lacking. Likewise, your shipping times may be too long.

As you can see, it’s vital that you analyze retention rates regularly. There are a few different methods of measuring this metric. For example, you can send out customer surveys. Or ask clients for direct feedback when they purchase from you. Alternatively, you can examine transactions to work out what percentage of customers buy from you after their first purchase. It also pays to determine the average number of times customers spend money with your firm. Additionally, calculate the average amount of each transaction. Then look to see if this changes over time.

 

Keep Your Hands on the Wheel by Watching These Key Business Metrics

Pay close attention to the key business metrics we have discussed here. Then use the insights they give you to steer your business toward greater success.

Photo by rawpixel.com from Pexels

Research has shown that the number of people suffering from workplace stress is at an all-time high. This probably comes as no surprise considering how competitive the job market is these days. As a matter of fact, it seems that more people are pushing themselves to the limit so as to achieve more on a daily basis.

 

Signs of Workplace Stress

A small amount of workplace stress is normal. However, excessive amounts can soon start to affect your physical and mental well-being. This can disrupt your life at home and even mean the difference between success and failure in your career. Therefore, it’s important to recognize the signs of stress so that you can deal effectively with them.

You might be experiencing workplace stress if you feel:

• Irritable and wound-up
• Depressed
• A sense of dread
• Anxious or afraid
• Unable to enjoy your social life
• Lonely
• Unable to switch off

Additionally, stress may start to affect you physically, in ways such as:

• Constant tiredness
• Muscle tension
• Headaches
• Chest pains
• High blood pressure
• Insomnia
• Panic attacks
• Feeling sick, dizzy, or faint

 

 

Some Tips for Managing Workplace Stress

If stress is becoming an overwhelming part of your life, affecting your work performance or personal life, then it’s time to take action. Therefore, here are some ways you can begin to regain a sense of control.

 

Photo by rawpixel.com from Pexels

Be Positive in the Morning

Your mornings might be filled with a sense of dread. Perhaps you have knots in your stomach and a feeling of hopelessness. However, feeling stressed about work in the morning is only going to make you more reactive to workplace stress later in the day.

Instead, make an effort to get up early. Take a relaxing shower and eat a healthy breakfast. Then you should find that you’re walking into work feeling a little more positive.

 

Know What Is Required of You

Being unclear about the ins and outs of your role can make you feel more workplace stress than necessary. If you feel that you’re not doing enough at work, for example, ask your manager for feedback. Ask about areas where your manager feels that you could improve. Working on these improvements will lift some weight off your shoulders.

 

Stay Organized

Sometimes the biggest stress inducer at work is a complete lack of organization. Failing to be organized with your time will mean you’ll be rushed in the mornings. You’ll feel under pressure with deadlines and struggling under the weight of a cluttered desk. Instead, sit back and consider how you might be able to organize your time more efficiently. That might even mean asking to reduce your working hours.

 

Avoid Conflict and Unwelcome Confrontation

Interpersonal conflict can encourage symptoms of stress. Therefore, if you work in an office where conflict between coworkers is often difficult to avoid, try to stay clear of these people. Additionally, avoid gossip or office humor that might offend. In instances where conflict is impossible to avoid, keep a clear head. Look toward conflict resolution strategies.

 

Make the Most of Your Breaks

Think of your lunch hour as a time to escape. If you can, leave your place of work and go for a walk to clear your head of anything that might have happened during the day. Spending eight hours a day sitting behind a desk will affect you in more ways than you might think. So take this chance to do a little exercise to help to lift your mood.

 

RELATED ARTICLE: 7 WAYS EXERCISING CAN HELP YOU SUCCEED AS AN ENTREPRENEUR

 

You Can Master Your Workplace Stress

Workplace stress is a normal part of modern day life. However, you don’t have to allow it to overtake and ruin your life. Take control now by making use of these simple tips.

Image Credit: Thomas Angermann on Flickr

A business never collapses without cause. The crash is nearly always preceded by a tiny detail that managers overlooked for a while. The reverse is true for a company’s success. The bottom line is that you need to think through every little thing. That is, you need to ensure that every aspect of your company works efficiently at full speed with every other aspect. That’s why you need to know about these killer free tools before you start your new business.

 

RELATED ARTICLE: GET THE TOOLS YOUR SMALL BUSINESS NEEDS WITHOUT GOING BANKRUPT

 

The Internet is loaded with resources. Many of these resources are focused on helping entrepreneurs solve the seemingly endless issues they face. For example, some of the free tools we offer here will help you to organize your work. Others will aid you in promoting your business.

On the other hand, if you’re not careful, you could end up wasting your time with tools that are inconvenient, poorly executed, or, frankly, “buggy.” That’s why we’re offering this list here. We want to draw your attention to some excellent free tools for your business. Further, we have compiled a selection of resources, such as https://www.customwriting.com, that will help you to optimize and launch your business.

 

SugarCRM

CRM stands for “customer relationship management,” and SugarCRM is among the best. This online CRM platform provides you with multiple opportunities to create and monitor your relationships with your customers.

Among its many functions are events, calls, appointments, tasks, notes, and personnel lists with contact details. But wait. There’s more, including a common calendar, contacts, counterparts, and preliminary contacts. The transactions function includes both potential orders and invoices. The appeals function allows you to describe important situations. There’s also a Bug Tracker and more.

You can try it for free before choosing one of the paid subscriptions.

 

MailChimp

Marketers love MailChimp. That’s because the application automates such activities as scheduled e-mails, bulletins, and targeted campaigns. For small companies, the service is free.

 

Buffer

Buffer gets five-star reviews for its efficient social media management. It allows you to link all your social media accounts in one place. Plus, you can schedule automated posts to your accounts as well. The service is free for one Twitter account, one Facebook page or profile, and one LinkedIn account with up to 10 updates in your scheduler.

Image Credit: Tuncay on Flickr

SlideShare

You can upload ready-made presentations in PowerPoint, PDF, Keynote, and OpenDocument formats to SlideShare. Then click on the link and give your presentation wherever you happen to be.

 

Zoho CRM 

When you place a call to a client or prospect with Zoho CRM, you’ll see almost everything about that person. This will help you to interact with them more authentically. And that will naturally lead to more sales.

Among Zoho’s advantages:

• Detailed documentation
• Responsive technical support
• Convenient integration

 

Drupal 7 

If you need to build a website, you need Drupal 7. Among its benefits are easy translations and a large number of plug-ins. What’s more, you’ll find that your site will be easy to edit, even after it’s up and running.

Drupal 7 is convenient to administer. Plus, it’s an open-source platform, so it’s absolutely free.

 

Join.me

Of all the web conferencing services, Join.me is probably the easiest to use. The service works well for both Windows and Mac. To use it, just go to the Join.me site and press the orange share button.

You won’t even need to register unless you want to use one of the paid versions.

 

 

Hootsuite

Manage multiple social networks, schedule posts, and interact with your followers with Hootsuite.

Built without using Flash or any other weighting technologies, this service is available for all popular browsers and multiple operating systems, including Windows, Mac, and Linux. You won’t need to install anything, either, which allows you to save space on your own system. What’s more, Hootsuite works well with multiple browser plug-ins.

 

Microsoft Power BI

Microsoft Power BI will keep you abreast of developments within your company. Dive deep to further study the data in each of the application’s reports about your company. (The “BI” in its name stands for “business intelligence,” after all.)

Further, you’ll be able to creatively combine multiple data sets as well, so as to provide yourself with a visual of all the data you need in a single place.

 

H5P.org

With H5P.org you can select any existing template and create interactive content. Then you can embed that construct in a web page or into a series in a learning management system (LMS).

All its components are made in an HTML5 format with the additions of JavaScript and CSS styles, allowing users to easily study the content on any device.

 

Take Them and Run

Use this article as a handy guide as you look for ways to streamline your operations, whether you’re just starting out or you’ve been in business for a while. When you find free tools that work for you, take them and race with them toward your company’s success.