E-commerce Business Basics: Respect Your Customer Now More Than Ever

Do What You Do So Well That They Will Want To See It Again And Bring Their Friends. ~ Walt Disney

Hi Ecommerce Business Strategists,

We are living in a smart age. Most of the shoppers are now take smart steps too. The way they use information, compare and make purchases has changed.

It’s imperative to stay impressive all the time as a seller or buyers will shop somewhere else.

According to a research report, 75% of customers hope for an unfailing familiarity anywhere they connect with your brand.

Another study claims, 50% of customers are likely to change brands if a business doesn’t think likely.

If you want to make your trade a sensation, there’s only one way: take a customer-first approach.

This may sounds cliché to you now but the real question is how? How to draw customers’ attention and feel satisfied?

• Develop a durable relationship with them
• Offer personalized service/solution
• Pay equal attention to all

From my previous experience, I can tell you, you do not have to do special things, rather stick to the basics to make an impact on your potential customers. All you need to understand their pains and offer them a timely solution.

Bear in mind, if you keep your customers happy, then prospects can come to you again-n-again to do business with you.

So to convince a customer, first emulate their psychology. Then try to sell your service to them.

Just listen to them and realize what their actual problem is. And then present you as a solution provider.

Here are five common ways to make an impression on your customers and influence them to do business with you.

• Do not show them your power by displaying ads wherever they are on social media
• Do not send them every day or every alternate day emails full of offers
• Do not treat first-time buyers and returning customers separately
• Do not stop listening to what they are trying to say to you
• Do not see them as ATM machine for you

Have a nice day.

Best,
Partha

How To Win Over Audience Through PPC Text Ads?

What is it that good ad managers have in common? And what is the secret to their huge success?

Hi PPC Enthusiasts!

Before I tell you the answers, I first want to let you know what poor campaign management looks like.

Forget what your current job profile is, you just like it, but you do not like your manager.

Not only s/he ever praises your work, but also depressed with his/her own role and overall with the company. On top of this, s/he is unsystematic, which often leads to chaos among the team.

In other words, despite putting in your best efforts, you’re trapped in a team that is performing poorly due to bad and useless management.

Here are some characteristics that you have found in your manager:

• S/he do not trust anyone
• S/he do not praise anyone for their work
• S/he is arrogant and do not show respect to others
• S/he never put goal-setting into practice
• S/he only interested in self-promotion and pay package

So how do good managers set them apart from the bad and mediocre?

First of all, they are likable.

They’re able to effortlessly communicate with others. They are humble, optimistic, and with empathy. They are inspirational with beautiful hearts and logical minds.

They do not use fear to convince others to follow them.

Also, they have the ability to see the invisible and determination to achieve something which to others is impossible.

For example, without vision (a combination of imagination and creativity), Google cannot reach its current state with just a mere goal that a manager sets one day.

It’s the same with Apple or Microsoft. With hard-to-believe vision, they have started their journey, and today, just imagine where they are now?

What’s your vision while you are writing text ads?

Millions of advertisers are out there who are competing with each other to attract the audience through PPC text ads. Billions of dollars are spent on the Google Ads platform to maintain supremacy on market by companies. Now if you don’t have the vision, then you will end up spending too much on campaigns without much in return.

For best results, I recommend you, "think outside of the box" while creating text ads. As I explained in this post, you have to earn all the traits of a good manager to influence your audience on the web through ad copies. Your ad copies are the medium through which you are connecting with your potential customers.

If you want to boost your ad performance, then bring your audience’s vision inside the text copies – how they feel, how they see, how they react – every little thing. The more your ad copies are aligned psychologically with your audience, the more they tend towards you – your offers!

No matter how much you willing to spend, how stunning your landing page is, how lucrative your keywords are, without a proper ad (powered by vision), you remain invisible.

So here are three more quick tips to start writing better ad copies:

• Make viewers feel welcome
• Write with purpose
• Pay attention to little things

It’s over to you now.

Understand the true value of the tips in this blog article and take action accordingly, and let all others know the results you achieve!

Cheers!

Partha

10 Questions To Ask In Your Next Client Meeting (Preferably First) To Avoid SEO Project Disaster

If you are reading this, possibly you are preparing yourself for a brand new SEO project. Good for you! You deserve to start as organized as possible.

You certainly do not want to take any uninformed decision and work without any objective. As you’re managing the project, make sure you ask these 10 crucial questions to get to the bottom of the client’s expectations from you.

If the meeting is direct with your client:

1. How would you measure the success of the project? Whatever they say take a note and make sure you genuinely can deliver what s/he is looking for.

2. How do you like to give your feedback/comment/approval when required? Make sure s/he not only does give feedback on time as and when required but also happily connect to develop a mutual care and concern. This in return not only helps make your job easier (less oversight needed) but also helps you understand the client’s mind.

3. What’s the process for reviewing and evaluating progress? Related to the one above: is there a proper review cycle in place? Does it seem like the client often evaluates resource performance? And, do they mind helping hired resources achieve project goals?

4. How long has your current team been in place and why replacing them? Check for any signs of unhappiness or conflict. Are there legitimate reasons?

5. How would you like to receive progress reports? This is a self-awareness check for you and your team. You should prove to him/her that reports are properly managed and everything is transparent.

6. Who are your business role models? Asking about competitors is quite common and expected. Ask why they chose this industry – this gives you an idea of what they value and want to try to be like.

7. How do you celebrate success? This is a great way to transmit a sense of how confident you are to bring success with modesty and value work-life balance.

If the meeting with someone who knows the client:

8. What’s his/her style of work? Do s/he supportive or a micromanager? Chase unrealistic goals or value work ethics?

9. What’s your experience working with him/her? Watch out for the response. Take note. Any additional information about the client’s nature and business will give you an edge later.

10. How about the teamwork culture? Many people still think, hiring an agency means they are obliged to work for money. In reality, how your client is involved in your work culture or vice versa, will define the project’s future largely.

Two other points keep in your mind -

One is timing - do not offend by your questions if the client seems disgusted. Always wait for the right time to ask the right questions to the right people.

And the other is your own SEO principles and ethics. To win the client’s confidence, do not promise anything which is beyond your capacity.

So, before you enter any client meeting, make sure you did your best to gather information about the client and project so you can ask genuine questions only.

Finally, if you do sense something going against your will during your meeting with a client, consider reaching out to superiors in your department who have more experience and request their honest opinion.

No matter if it feels awkward or not, since you are the project manager, so the more you know, the more informed your decision will be.

A Master Plan for Taking Back Control of Your PPC Campaigns

Here is the problem of my life – I know as a PPC campaign manager, nearly every Google or Bing ad campaigns that generates positive ROI consistently requires determination, thoughtfulness, and even some embarrassment along the way. However, I like to avoid discomfort (and who not!).

When I was new in PPC work, I used to let myself exposed to more discomforts than ever. The world of knowledge is literally at my fingertips, a few keystrokes away to explore the secrets of successful PPC ad campaigns. Every campaign was largely under my control.

However, after some successful years of work, I started putting off the hard work. Settled for the easy way out. In addition, one fine morning, I discovered myself in a position where every PPC campaigns are out of my control.

What went wrong? I discovered a few things later that are some most essential traits in any successful campaign manager. It is not how technically sound you are, it is how you approach as the running ad campaigns are not less than any psychological game now.

1. Take more actions repeatedly

Because the updates Google and Bing bring to us very quickly, our best defense is to create a precise list of actions that you need to perform repeatedly after a specific time, so it becomes habit.

2. Take yourself out of comfort zone

Avoid doing things that are not challenging and make you or your work proud when done.

3. Don’t react unnecessarily

Take actions from instant gratification or impulse decisions will cause more harm than good in long run. In most circumstances, managing a campaign profitably need reflect before you react.

4. Do the essential thing first

Regular maintenance or check-up of old campaigns are as much essential as developing new. So prioritize important work and divide your time to make yourself aligned with proper campaign management every day.

5. Do not over do (read over optimize) anything

Sometime over enthusiasm kills us. The best practice is not just to have a precise goal, but also to find out the best route for reaching the target on time.

6. Do one thing at a time

With so many things to manage and do relentlessly – moving between tasks may create conflicts. But practice help you focus on each tasks according to their individual merit and complete without compromising much even when you shift attention from one to another.

7. Divide the whole in parts

Try to work in sprints. Managing a complex PPC campaign is not an easy job. As a manager you have to watch a lot of things simultaneously. So it is always a good idea, divide your bigger objective behind running PPC ads into small milestones for better and clear measurement of the progress. By doing so, you can find the loopholes too easily and correct them if required.

8. Food

Eat healthy foods always. Unfortunately, this is true for many that if your body do not get sufficient energy; forget about managing an enduring source of energy and therefore your work.

9. Sleep

Like body, your mind also need proper rest, if you are not at your best psychologically, feel sleepy or tired every time, you just cannot run your campaign with out of the box ideas.

10. Exercise

To meet #8 and #9, doing regular work-out is the best way. The more you stay fit, the better you manage everything. It’s as simple as it is.

Lastly, above all, it’s your values which will help you especially when the going gets tough, and avoid the temptation of taking easy route. If you are clear about your goal in any given situation, with proper dignity, sooner or later you will reach your destination.

What About You?

How do you stay focused and motivated in managing PPC ad campaigns?

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!

The Secret Of Job Success: 10 Webmaster Skills To Thrill

Many webmasters like me struggle to construct a perfectly written CV and a cover letter for digital marketing jobs. Start building with these 10 skills that will reduce your struggle!

Ten webmaster skills that will give a direct lift to your digital marketing career - in no particular order:

I. Microsoft Office Skills

 
MS Office Suite used by 80% of businesses universally. It is simple yet with dynamic features. Among the series of applications, the most popular ones are - MS Word for desktop publishing, MS Excel for spreadsheets, MS PowerPoint for visual presentations, MS Outlook for email messaging service.

II. Foreign Language Skills

 
Studies show that up to 30% of jobs stay unfilled every year due to the unavailability of foreign language skilled professionals. Learning a foreign language means standing out and develops your employability.

III. Leadership Skills

Inserting leadership skills in CV designates (to your potential boss) that you can help a business grow well, no matter for which position you are applying. Emphasizing skills like taking initiative, achievements and in your role within it, team building and management skills will help you impress firstly, and demonstrate that you are likely to thrive under pressure.

IV. Creative Thinking

Representing you as innovative and able to think outside the box is imperative for all professions. If you are either creative or able to think critically, then the skill will definitely be an asset in your career.

V. HTML & CSS Skills

Knowing HTML and CSS are the two in-demand skills for most of the jobs associated with websites and apps. From a front-end developer to a back-end programmer, these are important “additional” skills. For a digital marketer or blogger, basic tech and design skills also become mandatory now to achieve success.

VI. Communication Skills

Whether writing an important official letter or interacting during a corporate gathering, effective communication is an essential life skill. Adding this to your CV and performing it during interviews will surely help you build a positive impression in the mind of your interviewer.

VII. Team Working Skills

Being a team player is essential in productiveness. From cooperating with your team members for everyday tasks to managing conflicts among different teams in the workplace, being a team player is a crucial skill to manage all these efficiently. So highlighting the skill in your CV will give you an edge over others for sure.

VIII. Design Skills

Be it for web page designing, or app user interface designing, or for a career in graphic design, or even as a digital marketer, basic design skills are a key ingredient to mastering the digital world. Proficiency in tools like Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, etc., and mention in your CV will actually set you apart.

IX. Presentation Skills

An interactive and easy-to-understand presentation with focused action items is a desired skill for almost all occupations. Your effective presentation skill will not only save time for your boss or clients or your subordinates but also your own. Therefore, it is a remarkable skill to mention. For example, no matter how much skill you are, if your CV is unable to present you accurately, then the opportunity goes against you. So designing and presenting your CV properly is very important.

X. Analytical Skills

Analyzing and measuring data is essential to identify the success blocks of the business. Expertise in tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console and understand the reports derived from those tools are vital for job seekers. So without any doubt, highlight your analytical skills on your CV. After all, driving with data means you are a result-oriented person.

Whether you are looking for your first employment or seeking a better opportunity, getting into can be challenging. Obtain a better understanding of the present job market and be ready for future trends by optimizing your job search efforts.

Digital Marketing Training Is NOT Learning To Lie

Last week, I wrote about the current crisis facing the digital marketing world by the lack of skilled practitioners. You may agree or may not with my viewpoint. However, what I saw and understood, shared accordingly here with all to think about it at least.

Anyways, are you preparing yourself to join any digital marketing class? If you are a rookie digital marketer, a novice developer, or a small business owner who wants to run a business online - then this is the time to select the right way.

Since my first sneak peeks of the "educated digital world" agenda last week, I am sharing below the three reasons behind the ongoing crisis the market is facing:

• We do things only when we are in trouble
• We are prone to waste our time and stop halfway while doing things
• We often forget why we do the things we do in the first place

I am trying to share my life experiences here, which will walk through you real-life applications of digital thinking in the context of marketing and overall mastering the web.

A deeper understanding of SEO (search engine optimization) is the key driver for reducing "the growing unrest in the digital world".

Learning how to think digitally and accepting customer insights to focus on what matters within our existing online marketing education system is now more important than ever.

For self-learners, six particular tools you can start using today, with real-world case studies of how others (leading companies and/or individuals) at different maturity levels have applied and seen an immediate impact.

• Google Search Console
• Bing Webmaster Tools
• Yandex.Webmaster
• Moz Pro
• SEMrush
• Ahrefs

Fortunately, I have experience working with all these tools and thus recommending you. If money is a constraint, then use the free versions of these and leverage the power of each in your work customarily.

So, if you are considering taking a crash course on digital marketing from any institute to start your professional career, you should better hold your fire now – think first why the friends (or batch mates or pass-outs) of yours are struggling in their own professional career.

Lastly,

Remember, a good digital marketing institute is -

• Offer blended curriculum of marketing, technology, and advertising topics that uncovers new possibilities and emerging opportunities
• Offer unlimited one-to-one Q/A sessions
• Offer practical training on leading marketing tools
• Encourage students to become leaders; dare to deliver exceptional results from their experiments
• Create a dynamic, intelligent community that will help students accelerate their career and empower them to become a stronger, more confident professional

To me, a bad digital marketing institute is -

• Focused on stereotype industry standards
• A place to learn “how” not “why”
• The focus is on issuing certificates at the completion of the course

Do not miss the opportunity to learn marketing technologies independently – open your mind before they rob you.

See you soon!