Marketing FAQs - About Digital Marketing Services (for Small Business)

Dear Reader,

Are you too frustrated from the multi-faceted complications of digital marketing?

I talk to small business owners often to know about how they are fighting against challenges when it comes to digital marketing.

Not surprisingly, most of the business owners hired commercially an agency for their services but surprisingly, most of them are now want to get out of the contract because they want to develop a DIY SEO mode.

Many of these business owners have experienced that, even though they formed a digital strategy at the beginning but somehow disconnected along the way.

Therefore, until there is enough cash flow to budget for outsourcing the work to an agency, they now prefer to do SEO on their own.

Sometimes hiring is the only option. Sometimes it just is not. Either way, the more business owners come to know about SEO PROPERLY, the better they make informed business decisions. Not only that, a more transparent relationship we will able to build which the industry now needed badly.

Note that, the majority of the business owners need right now is not implementation so much as they need a digital marketing strategy. They are operating offline. They know the importance of moving to the online market now. However, they have lack of real knowledge how and where to start.

As an entrepreneur, you can have a healthy marketing budget or ready to hire a team of SEO to work for you, but if you are not utilizing your money and time in the right places, you will never get where you are trying to go.

Here in this blog, I am sharing the experience I have gathered working in the SEO industry for the past few years so you can derive some guidance at least.

For example, if you need suggestions on:

• How much to spend on digital marketing and where to spend?
• Which digital media channel is most beneficial for a specific type of brand?
• How to exploit opportunities by choosing the right keywords for a specific type of business?
• How to take care of technical SEO and make sure a website is ready to generate organic traffic?
• How to start building an email list?
• How to scale business?
• Etc. etc.

If you have, queries that are not covered in the list above drop an email to me! Chances are I can help you.

Never ever feeling stuck; you do not need to be. Let us build a digital marketing community where everyone helps each other to gain clarity and move forward with confidence and direction.

Talk to you soon,

Partha

P.S. If you are looking for digital marketing tips and hacks quickly, just Google! Here I am trying to create a group that shares the latest industry news, case studies, and more. Would love to see you here!

Google's August Core Search Algorithm Update: Time to Panic or NOT?

I’ve always had this theory that, if you help enough people (and Google too) get what they want, you’ll always get what you want.

Hi All,

You should have heard the news.

Google updated its algorithm on the 1st of August.

The result for some sites is positive in terms of gain positions. While some lost ranks on search engine result pages.

Worried, right?

The question now on everyone's mind is –

What does Google want this time?

I have seen many times in my professional webmaster career, during algorithmic uncertainty, typical site administrators often look for something to fix. Will a change in back-links generation strategy help with the new algorithm? What about keyword density? Or maybe the title tag needs some fine-tuning?

Here's what you as a website optimizer should do –

Nothing!

Google broadcast the algorithmic change as a “broad core update”, which says it wasn't targeting any specific spamming technique. Instead, Google is on a mission of perfecting its algorithm to “do well to responsible site owners who were previously un-rewarded”.

Simple, if as a webmaster you noticed that a website page you are working on lost its rank a lot, it's because Google “found” another page (better than yours) and decided to allot your SERP position to it.

I bring this up because there is a lot of feud going on in the webmaster world. As I said earlier, companies and “specialists” who offer SEO services are always waiting for this kind of uncertain time to make the most out of it caused by Google's recurring algorithm twists. They will certainly propose to you some “new” digital strategies and “advanced” marketing tactics..

..of course not free of cost.

Sure, some Google updates are more critical than others. And sometimes, you do need to consult with an expert webmaster. But, this is not the time.

If you want more information, this blog has more curated posts on the update and reactions from the SEO community across the world.

Isn't it nice to feel a bit relaxed now when there's nothing to worry about? Yes.

But slow down and take a deep breath –

If you notice a steady fall in your keywords rank – it's time to go for a fix.

As Danny Sullivan from Google said, “Want to do better with a broad change? Have great content. Yeah, the same boring answer”.

A position drop or two is normal over time but a consistent drop means your competitors are now creating better (as per Google’s revised algorithm) content than you unfailingly.

Content that is measured as more authoritative than yours.

If this is true and you honestly figured out that the content is a problem, then I suggest you check out Google's Quality Rater Guidelines once. You probably discover something that will take your content from “ordinary” to “extraordinary”.

In this case, you (as a layman website owner) can take the help of an expert content writer to analyze your content thoroughly. Before you start spending on writing and promoting, it makes sense to know the root cause, the severity of the damage, and plan accordingly to estimate the time to recover.

So, cool down now!

If you get hit by Google’s update, you should act reasonably this time around because you know you can overcome it ethically. Just, do not panic. It will take time but you can do it. Anyone can do it. Just stay persistent.

And, if any “professional” comes to you with his “readymade broad algorithmic update fix solution pack” – you can let him go with his bag full of offers.

Do not get overwhelmed by information and rumors when you hear about an algorithmic update from next time. Stay calm and composed as a webmaster to figure out a practical yet effective solution for you.

Let others know if you have anything else in your mind!

In SEO, self-help is the best help you may get!

Apparently, as a webmaster, you have to stay alert no matter whether you hit by any of Google’s core search algorithm update or not to keep your spot at the top.

How intriguing. No?

There are two ways you SEOs can do – learn and fight against the odds ethically for long-term gain OR do something illegal for the quest of a quick fix.

I am not advising you to not try anything exotic but be responsible as a website owner. Just to beat your competitors, it’s not a good idea to always react instantly especially after every Google algorithm updates.

I may miss something bigger in my write-up – I am curious if any of you are point that out in the comments.

Stay tuned!

Partha

NB: The big core Google search algorithm update has also now gained popularity as Google Medic Update.

"Fanatic SEO" vs. "Fantastic SEO" in the Need for Site Speed Game

A 1-second delay in page load can affect adversely your conversions, according to research reports. It can also hurt rankings, according to Google's statement. These facts can get you nervy (if you are an entrepreneur); turning on and off addons (if you are a webmaster), and most importantly, refrain from applying wrong optimization ideas onto the website pages (if you offer digital marketing services).

In this post, I help to calm you all down, as well as revert from the path of what I call "fanatic SEO work", that quite opposite of "fantastic SEO work", ends up hurting "SEO" more than helping it.

How "fanatic SEO" is against "fantastic SEO" work?

This explanation is a bit difficult to understand, so stay with me here. Fanatics take “everything unnecessarily” to the extreme.

If you are a fitness fanatic, there is a good chance you end up hurting your own body. If you are a health fanatic, you perhaps taking excessive medication which may neutralize bacteria, but in return damaging your immune system.

In SEO, fanatics mostly focus on imaginary problems, chasing and ending up with ugly situations - spending all their time optimizing except for creating fabulous content and market it with responsibility.

What loading time is the best loading time?

When optimizing, you in reality should set your target speed and performance for your website. Google’s reference is to check the competition and make sure you don’t fall short.

Key is monitoring the "page timings" and "user timings" reports in Google Analytics alongside “speed suggestions”. In general, the home page has to load in 2 seconds, product pages (for e-commerce sites) in 2.5 seconds and all other pages in 3 seconds is a considerably good target to follow.

Many recommend a fully developed homepage should load with content (both text and multimedia) in 3 seconds or less. Regarding HTTP requests, they suggest completing requests under 60 requests.

How design and content affect speed?

For speed and performance, starting out with a simple page layout is a good idea. Do not much stress on UX things now. Keep in mind that UX is important and has to consider when you laying out content and designing a page. But focusing on simplicity means you are already taking care of it to great extent.

All you need to place the content in their proper position and shapes.

Even if you have to deviate from your original page layout, you could always perform the speed test of the same template’s content with tools.

What I do is test the speed of a page’s variations in the Google tool to see which version has the best performance. Before finalizing anything, I would like to have a quick comparison to allow me to do the changes.

You can check "crawl stats" in the Search Console to validate your changes on page load time. In a chart format, Google gives webmasters some data to get an idea of how much time search crawlers are spending download a page in milliseconds which is a very good indicator for the overall measurement of speed and performance of the site.

A case study -

As an SEO I might not have set the world alight, but this case study is still a significant lesson for me.

This is a story of a digital marketing agency and one of their big clients.

Once a business owner was looking for a digital marketing service provider to digitize his brand. So he interviewed an agency.

The agency was capitalizing on the weakest point, and from the start of the interview - the client’s limited knowledge about SEO.

It was definitely a positive move for the agency owner, who ultimately won the project against difficult opponents - and when there is a commercial aspect involved.

This is digital marketing, and we are an agency - this is how we convince clients.

After the contract signed, the business owner was sure that the agency is capable of what he is looking after, and they certainly a good selection.

Yes, they started with a website audit report and claimed the website has SEO issues, but what was important was the way they went after "page load time" right from the off.

They were outstanding in the early stages of diagnosing issues and the client was happy at the way they came out and took control of the SEO operation.

There was a fantastic atmosphere everywhere and it was very exciting to watch the SEO progress the first 20 or 25 days but, when they presented their first monthly SEO progress report card, the client realized there is nothing to quantify.

Agency responds to being given responsibility -

Things were a lot worse for all stakeholders when the agency repeatedly pinpointed the issue with page load time behind no conversions.

Sure, the web design and development team had a lapse right at the slow page loading issue.

That was down to the organization and discipline of the stakeholders that one could call upon, and how hard they worked together as a unit when they did not have an understanding of SEO.

That's not surprising, because the agency owner knew from experience that most clients are interested in either conversions or keywords rank, and if any question arises, page load time issue will be an escape route.

The agency still got to lose the project despite pressed everyone badly for improving page load time every month through their reports. Because the agency’s own website also with very poor load time. And a website’s page speed isn’t the reason to hit the first page automatically.

It's pretty simple: the faster the page loads of your website, the happier your visitors will be. Optimizing page load time leads to obvious developments in reducing bounces means positive customer experience, conversion rates, and in the end, your ROI. But that doesn’t mean you should focus solely on improving speed all the time.

Final thoughts

I can list many steps on how to reduce or control the page load time for SEO advantages but that’s not in the scope of today’s post. Keep in mind, if you want to do less coding, make landing page changes faster, more ease when educating your clients how to edit & update their site, creating more engaging conversion driving pages, then avoid a fanatic mindset.

We all webmasters know that SEO is a continuous process. So focusing only on improving the speed at every cost will do more harm than good. You can of course take into consideration the use of CDN, caching plugins, faster yet reliable hosting services, improve your mobile experience with AMP, etc. to get pages load as fast as possible, and still enjoy the UX parameters and better conversions.

If this post on improving your mindset and how it pertains to your SEO work was helpful, feel free to comment below.

Infographic on Indian Search Advertising Market and Digital Ad Spend Growth Trends

Search engine advertising illustrates ad placement that is appeared on search result pages next to organic search results served by search engines. These advertisements are typically text-based but can be appeared as images where valid.

Claiming sponsored listings by bidding on keywords is a fundamental part of search engine advertising which can be targeted to a local audience or globally.

Google Ads is the biggest provider of search advertising on the global market as well as in India.

Here is an info-graphic focusing on Indian search advertising trends.

reference: statista.com

Revenues generated through search engine optimization (SEO) are not considered here.

All figures are indicating gross values here.

Also, some key stats will give you additional insight into the Indian digital advertising market in 2018.

• The Indian digital ad industry is estimated to grow at 32% CAGR
• By 2020, the industry will be valued at Rs. 18,986 crore
• Digital ad spends will be approximately 19,000 crores in the next three years which is roughly the same as the print ad industry today
• It is expected that the digital ad spend to grow at 3X of the industry average and will cover almost a quarter of total ad spends
• Mobile is expected to take 60% share of total ad spend will happen digitally
• Digital Media spends will grow from 15% to 24% of the entire market by 2020
• The majority of the ad spends are occurring on Social Media (29%) followed by Search (27%) and Video (20%) through desktop computers
• At the same time for mobile, the figures are Social Media (27%) followed by Search (25%) and Display (23%) respectively
• Currently, 85% of the digital media buying are happening directly media buyers and sellers
• 50% growth of programmatic digital media buying in India by 2020 is expected to happen

Reference: Dentsu Aegis Network report 2018

See you soon!

SEO: Check the Checklist Before, During, & After the Website Redesign

Many website owners (entrepreneurs) still think that SEO is a one-time job. Unfortunately, the reality is just the opposite. For example, during the redesign of a website, multiple facets can be altered. If not properly handled the changes, it may have an adverse effect on the website’s SEO which may ultimately slow down the long-term growth of the site.

On the other hand if done correctly, redesigning a website can boost your SEO effort.

In this edition of my post, we will run through a top ten list for webmasters on how to revamp a website without disturbing SEO.

1) List all URLs from the existing website

URL restructuring is very common in the website redesigning. It is important therefore to keep a backup of the existing site for further reference. For example, new URLs can possibly impact your website ranking. So in that case, you can always check back the old URL to find the root cause behind the drop in rank.

Solution:

Plugins like Yoast SEO for WordPress can be useful to get the URLs. You can use the XML sitemap file(s) to get a trace of the URLs. I also suggest you take a look at tools like Screaming Frog SEO Spider. Keep a full backup of the old site in your computer’s hard drive or on any removable disk.

2) Setup a beta site

Do not start the redesign work on your existing live website. It can cause issues for your site visitors which in turn will give you problems in the long run. Instead copy your existing site and set it up as a temporary web directory. Make sure the beta version is robots excluded completely. Now you can start making changes to the beta site. Switch the domain once all done.

Solution:

If you can do all these on your own then good otherwise, either you can take help from your developer or ask your hosting company to do it for you. Remember, a website migration job has to handle with delicacy to protect none other than you from unexpected issues in the future.

3) Test thoroughly the new website

After you copied your existing website and done changes to the beta site, now is the time to do a thorough checkup. In this process, you should look at multiple aspects of your website including functionality check, usability check, browser and device compatibility check, etc.

Solution:

You can also use a tool like XENU’s Link Sleuth to find all the broken links on your beta site besides manual testing.

4) Do URL mapping

The next step is to do redirects between old and new URLs (if at all REQUIRED). Keeping the URL structure as it is will be the best way, however, sometimes is not possible. In that scenarios, implementation of proper 301 redirects from old URLs to their corresponding new versions will ensure no sudden loss of SEO benefits.

Do it without fail, else the search engine will get a 404 page not found error at the indexed web address. By doing 301 redirects, you will send the message to search engines that the old URL does not exist anymore and consider the new one instead permanently. Accordingly, search engines like Google will follow your direction about URL redirection while ranking pages on SERP.

Solution:

You can add redirects using the .htaccess file. For example,

Redirect a Single Page with .htaccess

Redirect 301 /oldpage.html http://www.yoursite.com/newpage.html

Redirect 301 /oldpage2.html http://www.yoursite.com/folder/

Redirect an Entire Site with .htaccess

Redirect 301 / http://newsite.com/

You can also do the work with redirect plugins for WordPress if you are not confident about .htaccess.

Note: .htaccess file is very important, and you should not touch it without adequate knowledge.

5) Launch the new design

Switch to the new site once all are satisfactorily done regarding design and redirection. Depending on the size of your site, you may opt for incremental change in stages.

6) Check Google Search Console data

To ensure everything is according to plan, you must validate the effort put in so far. To do so, you can utilize feature sets available inside Google Search Console. This free tool will let you know all the criticality they found on your site and suggest you fix it according to their importance.

Note: It is advised to check if the redesigned website is verified in Bing Webmaster Tools too. It’s another fantastic free tool for webmasters to check their website’s health.

7) Check Google Analytics data

Like Search Console, Google Analytics is another free yet effective way for you to check whether accidentally developers or designers done any mistake (for example, blocking the search engine to crawl the areas of the website). If you see the traffic drop is huge from any channel then you can start investigating. Once you find the root cause, you can again make your website entirely crawlable and may start seeing again the same level of traffic flow to your site.

Note: Re-check your website’s conversion data in Analytics and try to figure out the reasons behind if any sudden drop you see. Accordingly, you may need to reverse-engineer the site migration process.

8) robots.txt

After the migration, please check the robots.txt file once to make sure no corrupted line of command exists in it for ethical search engines.

9) sitemap.xml

After the migration (no matter whether your website now has a new URL structure or not), create/generate new XML sitemap files to Bing and Google will be a smart move. The reason is the more quickly search engines come to know about the changes, the less you will see the impact on SEO.

10) Keep monitoring

Even if you not encountered any major backlash during the site redesign process, it is important to monitor the changes continuously for understanding the actual after effect. Keep a close tab on every performance data to measure how much progress you gained by doing a redesign.

There are many SEO tools available that enable you to keep track of the performance alongside monitoring keywords rank. If there is a considerable fluctuation, then figure out why this is happening and look to find a solution to keep your site’s performance up after redesigning.

You should monitor your website enough until you are sure about its stability in terms of SEO effort.

Bye for now!