All posts by brainwork

In today’s time, mobile apps have become a part of our daily lives and businesses are looking more into it. Applications play a key role in the mobile internet usage. With the help of apps, users can easily access the web content that is already optimized for their smartphone without a mobile browser. Digital media has exploded over time and it is seen that web searches done on the mobile devices have surpassed desktop searches. Google now allows the indexing of mobile apps that allows them to rank in search engine results.

As mobile marketing continues to grow, more and more businesses are hopping on the mobile app to connect with on the go consumers, drive more traffic, increase sales through better product promotion and most importantly be available to their customers on their mobile devices. Having an app for your business takes marketing efforts to a whole new level. These apps are not only beneficial for huge companies but also for medium and small size organizations. Medium and small businesses are now enhancing their marketing strategies and reaching out to their targeted audience.

There are many benefits that mobile app offers and a few of them are:

Reinforces your brand
Builds relationship and loyalty with your customers
Enhances social networking strategies
An app is easy to access and loads faster than a website
Increases customer engagement and provides value
One touch access to your contact information

About Mobile App Indexing

App indexing was introduced by Google so that it can include app content in its search index. App indexing not only offers you the chance to improve your mobile rankings, but you can also ensure that users stick to your offers. As a result of app indexing, you can directly click on deep links that point to specific app offers in the mobile search results. App indexing plays a key role and also offers diverse benefits to both users and webmasters. As a user, you get profited from deep links that take you directly to the respective app without having to search and scroll for too long on your smartphone. This redirects the user to the respective app right from the mobile browser. If supposedly, the app is not installed on your phone, then you are also offered the option to download the app. By clicking on the respective link or button will take you directly to the play store.

However, Mobile apps are quickly becoming the standard component of businesses be it large or small. Although the mobile app may look very good, but you should still check out its usability. Take suggestions from friends or people who have a higher idea about such apps. Therefore, choosing an app today can set the foundation for the future of your business that will be the reason for the growth of your business.

Internet

Contemporary Social Media Strategies for Greater Engagement

June 29, 2016 brainwork Leave a comment

One cannot overemphasize the fact that social media branding lies at the heart of business entities looking to draw maximum engagement from potential customers. However, it is equally important to employ right social media strategies and improvise as and when appropriate. While lesser known brands look down the barrel at challenges from their elite rivals, the established entities, on the other hand, look to stay afloat as competition continues to go through the roof with a growing number of start-ups popping up every day. To survive in such a challenging environment, it is important that you align your marketing campaign with right social media practices.

Leverage Videos on Social Networks

Stats have showed that many a number of brands have not stressed on videos as a potential social media tool. Further, these stats suggest that on Facebook, video draws three times as much engagement as any other kind of content. But by the same token, it has been observed that the 7 posts that brands share on Facebook per week feature less than 1% videos while the remaining 99% feature 80% links and 19% photos. With the introduction of Facebook’s new live feature, however, these brands must look to tool around more with videos on Facebook.

Optimum Utilization of Links

While videos remain underutilized on social media platforms, links, on the other side, are available in overwhelming numbers. These links occupy almost 50% of the content on social networks. Speaking of engagement, however, the devil lies in the details. Links lag behind video on Facebook and photos on Twitter so far as maximum engagement is concerned. Links, as an integral part of social media strategies, are intended to drive traffic back to the website. Such a fact may suggest that utilizing visual content to good effect may drive more engagement and reach for links when posted.

Internet

Latest Google Dev Tools to Assess Reviews and Ratings

March 3, 2016 brainwork Leave a comment

Recently, Google came forth with an array of tools, intended for the developers to gain an insight into how the customers use and respond to their apps through monitoring activities. Earlier, the product manager for Google Play, Fergus Hurley, announced that their latest version of Developer Console will come in handy for the developers to make a better analysis and conduct better management of ratings and reviews. This would, in turn, allow them to enhance app experience of the users for the maximum engagement from them.

Gauge Reviews and Ratings

As a matter of accomplishing the needful, Google has administered dedicated pages. These pages render various data from the reviews and ratings, accumulated by the apps, for the developers. As a result, developers can keep a tab on changes in ratings on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis, for that matter. The rating page will serve the purpose in a better way when it comes to tracking how the users respond to new editions of their apps. Moreover, Google has rolled out a feature, which allows developers to break down ratings on the grounds of country, device, language, or app version.

Miscellaneous Features of Development Tools

On the other hand, the review page will let developers identify or search common themes in the reviews of their apps. Additionally, the latest version of the console automatically highlights these themes when the app has drawn in a high number of reviews. Besides this, developers have the option to search reviews for specific keywords or topics. Moreover, there exists a device metadata feature, which enables developers to access specifics of the device, including CPU, RAM, and screen size.

News

Google Introduces Latest Penguin Update

January 25, 2016 brainwork Leave a comment

The much-awaited moment is just a few weeks away when Google will lift the veil on its latest Penguin update. A Google insider revealed that the company should roll it out by the end of the first quarter. It has been more than a year since Google came forth with an update to its link spam algorithm, Penguin 3.0, launched back in October 2014. Technically speaking, it was viewed as more of a “refresh” than an update. The major reason attributed to it is the fact that it did not affect US English search queries by any chalk.

Before digging any deeper into it, let’s illustrate the difference between an algorithm update and an algorithm refresh.

Difference between Update and Refresh

An update does not introduce any additional signals to the algorithm. Unlike it, a refresh demotes sites, featuring spam signals, which were absent when the previous update was in operation. Apart from this, a refresh serves to assist sites who have their spam issues fixed since the last update.

Advancements in Algorithm over the Years

Prior to the introduction of Penguin 3.0, the Penguin 2.1, hit the market on October 2013, made huge waves across the digital landscape. The algorithm update was considered as the follow-up of Penguin 2.0, introduced way back in May 2013. As per Google, Penguin 2.0 was equipped with new spam-fighting technology. Moreover, it was the last instance when the search giant confirmed introducing new signals to the algorithm.

While the rumours have already begun to make rounds regarding what Google lays in store for us this time, we are less likely to hit the nail on the head until the update finally rolls out.

News

Brace Yourself for Twitter’s Extended Character Count

January 8, 2016 brainwork Leave a comment

Twitter aims to roll out a new product, intended for the users to share tweets longer than 140-character, the limit previously enforced on Twitter. Although a cloud of indecision hangs over what the product would look like, sources have confirmed it will be primarily employed for publishing long-form content to the service. This is likely to change the face of Twitter as the 140-character limit has been associated with Twitter since it hit the market.

Long Awaited Notion

Individuals, who brought Twitter into use, thought things through from every conceivable angle. Further, expansion of character limit was fuelled by arguments among these individuals over the years. As a result, it prompted even people, who work in close association with Twitter, to chew upon the notion of increased character limit.

Necessary Proposition to Sustain Standing

Expansion of 140-character limit has been long overdue and it received an approving nod in recent months under interim CEO Jack Dorsey. This has been viewed as a decisive initiative along the lines of Twitter’s plans to dig up new ways to broaden its user base. While other prominent social networking avenues aspire and improvise to run Twitter off the digital terrain, this course of action will be an ideal counteract to it.

Follow-up of Recent Initiatives

Apart from the long-form product, execs have been tossing around ideas of integrating tinkering into Twitter by removing overheads of stuff such as links and user handles from 140-character count. However, some add-ons have been introduced in the recent past in this regard, Twitter cards, for instance. Although the 140-character limit still holds good for Twitter cards, they let the users, including advertisers, to harness potential abound of Twitter, by sharing lots of information. In April, Twitter introduced a “retweet with comment” option to widen the scope of comments on shared tweets.

Dorsey’s critical standpoint has paved the way for this potential change. Apart from this, it has always interested the multitude to witness Twitter evolving. As a result, this seemingly positive change may lure more numbers of users towards it. Furthermore, it is likely to set the trail for Twitter to mainstream audience, which gives a dim view to its 140-character count feature.

SEO

Capitalize on Search Plug-ins for Your WordPress Site

December 18, 2015 brainwork Leave a comment

In case you use a WordPress site, with gazillions of articles residing in the repository, then there is a need to integrate it with a powerful search feature, intended for simplifying the search of specific posts by regular visitors. In many instances, the default WordPress search feature renders the purpose of visitors, who visit the site for a specific post, futile. As a result, you would need a customized solution, especially when you turn out loads of posts every day. Search functionality and user’s search experience, both can be improved with plug-ins, available with WordPress.

Here are some of the top search plug-ins for an enhanced visitor experience:

Relevanssi

Counted among the most widely used search plug-ins for a better search experience, Relevanssi is equipped with a feature for an improved display of search results. Also, it lets visitors employ search based on partial results. For instance, when you search on “append”, it will render the results for “appendicitis” as well. As the name suggests, it churns out the sorted results, based on relevance, instead of date. It comes handy for visitors aiming for better posts for a keyword, regardless of date.

Custom Google Search

This plug-in feature replaces the standard WordPress search with a Google-powered search. Some of the notable features are:

Customized interface for more appealing search
Facility to limit the search to any number of sites
An inbuilt widget integrating a search box to sidebar
Numerous options for the display of search results, pop-up, for instance

With numerous styles and themes to make a pick, you can accommodate your page style into a search box, resulting in consistent layout and appearance. Further, it is worth noting that as the results are Google-driven, you are assured of the accuracy of search results.

Dave’s WordPress Live Search

If you seek something which delivers instantaneous results while typing in expression in the search field, then you should contemplate Dave’s WordPress Live Search. This plug-in triggers an instantaneous query into the WordPress database while visitors type search words. Also, it turns out the sorted list of posts in response to the words typed. This indicates that you will be yielded refined results, as deem fit what is typed.

SEO

Real-Time Content for Overwhelming Traffic

November 30, 2015 brainwork Leave a comment

“Content is King” is a dictum that has held the field since the digital landscape grew out of its cloistered dimensions to gain a wide prominence. However, it is not the case that content strategies, combined with painstaking efforts, always bear due fruits. Some marketers live in fool’s paradise and overlook the fact that content creation is principally geared towards directing the traffic to a targeted location. Further, if the traffic goes off the drift, purpose of content creation is defeated. Considering the fact that competitors endeavour to occupy a major chunk of space on the digital terrain, marketers struggle to counter them in a lack of content ideas to steer their boat. However, real-time live blogging grease the skids in this regard, to a significant extent.

Exploit Real-Time Twitter Chats Recaps

Twitter chats serve as a connecting link to an audience, engaged in a conversation, relevant to your brand. In many instances, twitter chats feature more than 3,000 tweets within their scheduled time slot. In addition, twitter recaps cut down on time and efforts invested into creating relevant information content.

Here are some of the points that should not be overlooked:

Make it a point to jot down good notes during the twitter chats. It may seem challenging in the first instance if you try to participate at the same time. However, your efforts would get doubled if you sift through the information later.
If your post is due for the next day to get live, just ensure that people, you have quoted, are acquainted with the fact that they have been featured. Further, prompt them as well into passing the words down.

Newsjack Relevant Topics

Fundamentally, newsjacking means pitching into a trending topic and contribute something valuable to the thread of conversation. As a result, you need not rummage through a stream of internet marketing ideas and simply share your perspective. Some of the eminent brands in the industry have mastered the art of exploiting newsjacking to their SEO purpose and have born due dividends of it.

Newsjacking, being a potent social media instrument, can double up as a major driving force to direct traffic back to your content by live-blogging the concerned post. News sites like Search Engine Journal, for instance, are adept at creating content on the trending topic and spread the information across wide, sprawling digital overland.

Here are some of the tips to employ newsjacking in the best way possible:

Act on your Feet

Invest painstaking efforts in widening the reach to your content. Further, get acquainted with content creation hierarchy ahead of time to get the content out quickly.

Show your Acumen

Although edgy campaign through newsjacking will steer your ship in the right direction, so not turn a blind eye to the fact that newsjacking something which projects the weird image of your brand will be damning to your prospects. So, act shrewd while newsjacking.

Wrap up with Call-to-Action

Once your brand goes viral in a conversation, make it a point that you incorporate something which leads the viewers to the concerned location. A call-to-action will serve your purpose in this regard.

These two aforementioned strategies will pull your content down across the audience and simplify the content creation process. As a result, you can commit the time thus saved into distributing your new content.

SEO

Strategies to Optimize B2C Lead Generation

November 5, 2015 brainwork Leave a comment

In case your business employs paid search for the B2C lead generation, you must be acquainted with intricacies and overheads associated with paid search options such as Google Adwords. Drawing in visitors to your website and prompting them into clicking on your ad before following it up stresses on a highly strategized paid search campaign.

Here, we have set out effective strategies to seize leads through search advertising:

Align your Campaign with RLSA’s

RLSA (Remarketing Lists for Search Ads) is a feature, which comes with capabilities abound and makes use of your website’s remarketing lists to reel in leads to your website. RLSA bid adjustments convey Google that you are not hesitant to shell out some percentage more for the click generated by a former site visitor.

Test an RLSA-Only Competitor Campaign

Once you have gained an once-over of RLSA, the next step involves reaching out to visitors, who have overlooked you in favour of your competitors. As running advertisements on competitor terms can be an annoying proposition, and it might trigger a string of CPC (Cost-per-click) hikes among every participant involved. The only feasible solution to regain potential leads amidst all this digital chaos is an RLSA-only Competitor Campaign.

Lay Stress on Query-based Campaign

A well-structured lead generation campaign will yield the proportional results. Also, it is worth noting that your campaigns and ad groups should be central to your target customer’s online searches. Due efforts should be employed into bringing the relevance of your campaign to your goal of widening the customer base. Such efforts will help you to dig up what lies underneath the rocks and deliver the message, which strikes the chord with prospective customer’s online searches.

SEO

Dig Deep into Capabilities of Google Analytics

October 14, 2015 brainwork Leave a comment

Google is way ahead of the pack when it comes to free analytics solutions in the market, despite the fact that it has some trivial limitations. A number of webmasters focuses their attention on the basic graphs and stats yielded by Google Analytics (GA) and can easily turn blind to other advanced features of this amazing analytics solution. Additionally, although it is equipped with capabilities abound, all the features are easily implemented.

Significance of Conversions over Traffic

Traffic is a matter of primary concern for a good number of webmasters. However, it is worth noting that conversions take the precedence over traffic if you seek to establish a strong web presence. Regardless of the number of visitors on your website, it will render your purpose futile if they opt not to subscribe or buy from you. As an aspiring marketer, you work relentlessly towards the improvement in your conversion rates. However, it is imperative to keep a close watch on conversions in order to gauge statistically significant improvements over a course of time.

Goals in Google Analytics

In Google Analytics, conversions are called “goals”. These are specific actions by visitors on your website, which are worth tracking. There exist only a few options as far as goals are concerned. However, it comes with a facility for customized features. Activities or actions prompted by a visitor, including loading an exclusive page, rendered following a sign-up for an email newsletter, are deemed as the best for a webmaster to keep a tab on.