Martech

Significance of Online Reputation Management – How to enhance it?

on June 20, 2019

For every business owner or entrepreneur, reputation is currency! In this online world, business reputation is permanent and secure. A decade back, concepts like online reputation, online brand awareness, and search results were gaining prominence in small ways. Today, all these are critical elements of a successful online business.

Online users count on search results more than ever! Hence, it’s imperative to manage and maintain your online reputation effectively. The digital domain has shifted from the era of information to reputation. According to a Pew Research Center, report, about 91% of online users trust what they read and see in search engines. The Edelman Trust Barometer highlights than 65% of people believe online search results more than anything else.

Your online business reputation defines you! It means the information that’s available about you online make people form a perception about you. The news updates can change as your business expands. However, the online footprint never goes away. Posts, reviews, photos, comments, social media profiles, and the like – all these forms the basic structure of your online data, that you’ve put in. Each one has an impact that goes beyond Google page one search results. They influence decisions and reputation. Hence, it is essential to execute effective online reputation management in the online space.

Do you want to manage your online reputation management (ORM)? If yes, then you need to get in touch with a reputed SEO agency to execute the best ORM strategies. You can search based on your location. For instance, if you are in Philadelphia, you can search for the top Philadelphia SEO agencies and make your selection.

Important statistics to keep in mind

Not many people realize the importance of ORM. Here are a few essential statistics to establish its relevance:

  • About 91% of users resort to search engines to look for any information
  • Close to 655 of people count on online search as an authentic information source
  • Almost 50% of the US adults use Google to find out about their brand, report that they find both positive and negative news
  • Close to 90% of online users don’t go beyond Google first-page. Instead, they only count the first ten search outcomes and have an opinion
  • Business houses lose almost 22% of their customers when there’s a negative review about their company on Google page one
  • If your brand has two negative reviews on Google page one, you can lose as much as 44% of customers. If there are three negative reviews, the loss increases to 59%
  • Most people Google a brand online before making an online purchase or booking a service
  • About 45% of people have counted on online facts and reviews, which made them either to join hands with a company or not
  • About 56% of people base their business decisions with a company based on digital information

How to manage your ORM strategy?

It is essential for online business leaders to shape their online reputation management well. For that, they can opt-in for the following steps:

1. Participate proactively

Staying away from online platforms is not a smart call. Instead, you need to be present on social media channels, like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and others to connect with your existing and potential customers. It will also increase your online brand awareness. Your users are always using these platforms to seek more information about you.

Having a profile is not sufficient! You need to engage your audience so that they can have a perception of your brand. Go ahead and share interesting posts, relevant industry news, update the audience about new releases, and many more. All these will aid your ORM process. When people have a positive idea about your brand, they will think twice before attaching a negative thought to your brand, should there be a sudden negative review.

Also, look at the people who are following you. It will help you to understand your audience better and create a better ORM strategy. When you have increased customer base and substantial customer goodwill, it will reflect on your work.

2. Understand your audience

Your participation will work well only when you have the correct understanding of your audience. When you collate data from social networks, make sure to cater the content to your target markers, influencers, and followers.

Not every content gets equally created! If you want to leverage ORM, you need to manage your brand message. You should know what you are saying, to who, and how. ORM is not self-promotion. Brands who have done that have suffered severely. You can move beyond advertising for your business and develop content that will add value to your users. Your content should holistically impact the audience. When you can successfully engage your users in interesting conversations and develop a positive association, you can witness your presence on various platforms. You might want to remedy a current crisis or enhance your online business awareness – but for all these, you need to say the correct things about your brand, in a non-promotional way.

3. Stay aware and well updated

The guidelines mentioned above will enable you to navigate the online world and enhance your ORM strategy! But the digital world is always changing. Hence, it’s crucial to stay updated with the constant changes so that you can plan your marketing, SEO, and ORM strategies better. Twitter, Google, and Facebook update their algorithms continually, and it is essential to stay updated with the changes so that your brand can perform better online.

Monitoring Wikipedia and other open-source platforms is a wise decision. Today, most people can make changes to these platforms. So, if you have a Wikipedia page check once in a while to see if there have been any wrong additions that might give out a negative impression about your brand. You need to correct that at the earliest.

There’s no way you can overlook ORM today! If you are online, you come under the ORM radar in all ways. Instead, it’s a smart decision to get proactive and ensure that you are taking the correct measures and steps. It helps in fostering a positive brand image. Also, during a crisis, your ORM team or tactics can you pass through it successfully.

Development

How Does the Best Coaching Training Program by Professional Executive Coaches Help You?

on June 20, 2019

The growing popularity of executive coaching programs is proof of its effectiveness. Some organizations either hire an executive life coach or send their leaders for this training, ensuring growth for the team as well as the business at a large scale. However, you may still feel to ask what is so special about these types of learning courses. For understanding, you can read this article.

Makes you self-aware

Having clarity about who you are is critical, especially when it comes to engaging with people. Studies show that most of us don’t understand ourselves well because of the lack of self-awareness. A self-aware leader can be a valuable asset to the organization and its profitability. Employees also can connect and depend on such leaders for guidance. When you take coach training, you get an insight into others’ perception about yourself when you first engage them, and also how your coach perceives you so that you can have a rendezvous with your strengths and weaknesses. You will also learn skills to see yourself with clarity discovering what makes you strong or weak, and how you can evolve.

Helps you understand others better

Lack of proper assessment of the people and their abilities is one of the main hindrances when it comes to ensuring a sustainable system. Your employees may leave you because they didn’t find support from you. And it can ultimately result in losing good ones and retaining weak performers in the organization. However, if you have the training, you can identify individuals, and their positives and negatives effectively and leverage this understanding to the company’s benefit.

Enables you to change your mindset

What worked for you as a mid-level employee may not be adequate for your growth to a senior-level despite having a required amount of skills and behavior. However, it doesn’t mean you can never attain a leadership position in your organization. It can happen, but for that, you need to shift your mindset. Getting work done from the team is crucial, and it is undeniable. But to be a leader, you need to integrate your team towards the ultimate goals. How you perform matters. At the same time, how effective you can be in motivating and directing others about their performance is equally important. Through an accredited executive coaching program, you can develop this skill and utilize it too. Nowadays, many such courses are available in the market, promising to deliver the best results for leaders, managers, and for everyone who wish to do well in their profession. However, don’t fall for their marketing gimmicks. Trust only those who have license and acknowledgment of the reputable associations. For any idea about a trusted executive course, you can visit – www.newfieldasia.com/professional-executive-coaching-singapore-coach-training. Simultaneously, you can search online to get more information on credible coach training programs. No matter where you join, make sure you enjoy every moment of learning. After all, it can show you a path to conquer all your weak points and work on your strengths so that you emerge as a strong leader and an inspiration for many others in the organization.

ProductsSaaS

4 Reasons Everyone Should Learn to Use Arduino

on June 20, 2019

If you’ve heard of the Raspberry Pi, then you already have a pretty good idea what an Arduino board is. In short, this is a circuit board that you can use as the basis of a simple computer. Like the Raspberry Pi, the Arduino encourages you to learn to code and apply that knowledge directly to modular hardware.

You don’t have to be a particularly tech-savvy individual to use the Arduino. In fact, those who have no prior coding experience at all will probably benefit the most from it. Not only will using an Arduino be a lot of fun, but it is also a genuinely useful learning experience. Because it is a completely hands-on approach to learning, the lessons that you learn will set in pretty quick.

Let’s take a look at some of the key reasons that everyone, regardless of technical ability, should consider learning to use an Arduino. It will be a learning experience like no other, and whether you are an experienced programmer, or you are completely new to it, you will love the Arduino.

You Can Make Lots of Stuff

There a few limits on what you can do with an Arduino, once you’ve learned how to code and how to use the various pieces of modular hardware that are available. If you want to get an idea of the sheer scope of what you can do with an Arduino then have a look on Google. There are so many applications that there are far too many to list in this article, but to give you an idea, Arduinos are increasingly being incorporated into smart Home setups.

When you buy the Arduino, what you are buying is the basic circuit board, but there are a plethora of things that can be plugged into this circuit board. All of these things are controlled using the same coding language, which you can learn freely online with ease. You don’t need a full Smart home setup to enjoy the Arduino though; it works just fine as a stand-alone unit. If you enjoy gadgets and tech, there are loads of ways you can incorporate an Arduino into your home.

A Fantastic Introduction to Programming

If you have any interested in learning to program, then the Arduino will make a fantastic introduction. In the past, there has been a fairly steep learning curve attached to programming. However, there are now many websites where you can learn to code for free online. Arduino is superior to other methods because it is interactive; you get to apply the coding that you learn to actual practical applications as soon as possible.

The variety of projects that you can undertake with your Arduino will also present you with more variety than most free online programming courses as well. If you think you’re going to learn to program at some point, you might as well do so with an Arduino.

It Will Also Introduce You to Electronics

When learning to code, the Arduino is a fantastic way of learning how electronics work.  The Arduino itself is a simple circuit board, and you add modular hardware to it depending on what you want to do with it. You don’t need any knowledge of electronics to get started with the Arduino, however, and you will soon pick up a lot of the basics. You will find you’ll learn more advanced stuff as well.

Even when you’re only playing about with the basics, you will get to use LEDs, resistors, capacitors, motors, and if you want to go a little deeper then you can also have buttons, displays, and more. If you remember playing with LEGO as a kid, the thrill of playing with an Arduino is similar, but it’s better suited to adults.

It’s Easily Affordable

Considering everything that the Arduino can do, and the benefits it brings to the owner, it represents fantastic value. there are numerous packages available online that include a variety of peripherals along with the Arduino. There are also a number of Base kits which just include the circuit board, as well as a case and everything else you need to get started. You should take a look at the Arduino Uno from Vilros for an example of this.

Arduino is a fantastic introduction to the world of programming. If you have ever thought about learning programming but have sat on the fence about it, then the Arduino should persuade you to get off and start learning. Not only will you learn how to program, but you will also be able to apply your knowledge to practical applications.  There is an infinite number of things you can do with the Arduino and new capabilities become possible all the time as new modular hardware is released. The Arduino represents fantastic value for money once you consider everything that it is capable of.

DevelopmentInsightsSaaS

Deciding on the Best Software for Structural Designing and Analyzing

on June 20, 2019

When it comes to the importance of technology in the construction industry, the majority of people immediately assume that one’s talking about the construction equipment, improvements in PPE or construction material. However, what they often ignore is the fact that the majority of work starts in the planning stage, which usually implies the design of the construction in question. Here, the role and importance of adequate tool are unparalleled and there are many different fields where proper modeling and analysis could make all the difference. With that in mind and without further ado, here are several things you need to understand when choosing the best software for structural designing and analyzing.

1. Static analysis of the structure

The first step when it comes to the assessment of structure in the development process is its static analysis. What this means is the analysis of components caused by loads that do not induce significant inertia and damping effects. We’re mostly talking about factors like strains, displacements, stresses, etc. One of the most important things when it comes to structural designing and analyzing is how the model will behave in a real-life environment. This is why you need a software that allows inputs for wind and seismic loads, as well as one that’s able to generate stability checks for nonlinear load cases. This is not just important for the safety of the structure but also for the overall business efficiency of your organization.

2. 3D modeling

The issue of 3D modeling is the most definite must in 2019 for several reasons. In fact, there are a lot of people who believe 3D modeling to be the best thing that has happened to the construction industry in a long time. First of all, it gives designers more creative room to try out different solutions to the same problem and pick the best one. Second, the designs made this way are much easier to share, which helps in the decision making the process, as well as enhances the collaboration. Most importantly, it gives you a chance to experience the building long before the construction works actually begin.

3. Cloud-based tool

The next thing worth mentioning is the fact that the best structural design and analysis tools like Autodesk Fusion 360 are cloud-based is an enormous plus. This is mostly due to the fact that it allows for a greater level of collaboration and makes the end result more impressive. Even if there’s just one person working on the project, cloud-based software can allow one much greater flexibility of work, especially when it comes to the issue of off-site designing. Remember that BYOD (bring your own device) trend is getting more and more popular amongst architects and this is something that a cloud-based tool can greatly help out with.

4. Open source vs. premium

When it comes to the issues of budget, you need to keep in mind the fact that a professional architect needs to approach the cost of a software license as an operational expense. Still, open source tools have some advantages that one shouldn’t ignore. First of all, if you decide to use a plethora of tools, you can opt for open source ones as back-up, due to the fact that they’re free and, therefore, don’t contribute to your operational expenses. Second, they usually have an amazing community, which can be a major turning point in this industry. Lastly, they offer greater transparency and outstanding security. Needless to say, both of these features can become an important asset.

5. Impressing the client

One of the reasons why a lot of people use tools like Photoshop in this field is due to the fact that they have a responsibility towards their clients to present them with a visual representation of the end result of the project. One of the benefits that you can get from this is the possibility to integrate the image created and rendered this way into your digital marketing. This is important for both firms and freelance architects who are quickly becoming a bigger and bigger part of the industry. In other words, the quality of the image and the effect that it makes is just as important when choosing your tools.

6. Integration with other tools

The last thing you need to check before picking the adequate software is the possibility of integrating it with other tools, platforms, and plugins. For instance, SketchUp can be integrated with Google earth in order to help you make a much better positioning of the structure on the property in question. This and other plugins can make your job a lot easier. This particular trend is also quite important if, in the future, your company decides to start developing their own specialized tools and apps. While this may still be just a distant possibility, it’s also a concept that you should definitely not rule out.

In conclusion

In the end, it’s important to mention that you’re in no way restricted to a single tool or a single software that you can use and that you have a plethora of options and combinations to choose from. Also, as a freelance architect or a person in charge of a small construction business, you’ll also need to use a range of tools that aren’t necessarily related to the structural design and analysis. For instance, you’ll need a reliable construction accounting software, a platform for comparing material and equipment prices, etc.

DevelopmentInsightsMartechSaaS

How Modern Data Centers and SaaS are Changing Each Other

on June 14, 2019

They say the key to any relationship is the ability to bring out the best in each other. This has definitely been the case in recent years between most SaaS providers and major data centers.

SaaS evolves and data centers adapt. Data centers evolve and cause SaaS to evolve again, and the cycle repeats.

Let’s take a closer look at how this perfectly harmonious relationship has looked over the last few years. Also, if you’re currently exploring your options for a new data center, you can get more information by clicking that link. Another tip, you can take advice from companies that provide ultra-fast connectivity, business focused cloud and cyber solutions to organisations around the world like 4D Data Centres.

SaaS Cloud Computing Is Driving Data Center Evolution

In recent years we’ve seen the rise of mega-SaaS providers such as Salesforce, SAP, and Workday. We’ve also seen software companies like Microsoft and Adobe reach new heights by properly transitioning their SaaS proposals and offerings into SaaS-based solutions.

The most obvious impact is the sheer number of data centers now required to facilitate a market-wide mass exodus across all boards.

The move towards SaaS has also caused a surge of data centers moving to private cloud deployment to implement new software, using a combination of internal or hosted private clouds, managed by a third party.

According to data from Gartner Inc., 46% of data centers surveyed said they’re pushing for private clouds for deployment across all software markets over the next two years. Only 24% said they will push for a public cloud.

We’re also seeing a higher demand for the flexibility of a hybrid model of on-site data, coupled with colocation data center providers and public infrastructure as a service (IaaS). This opens the door for better efficiency through cloud bursting within a hybrid model.

How Data Centers are Changing SaaS Companies

In previous years, front-line employees enjoyed the simple convenience of a SaaS-based solution. However, department leaders may have found it difficult to get high-level data. Getting richer analytics may have been stalled or cumbersome.

This often meant that leaders would lose time to manually requesting data from the SaaS provider, followed by a frustrating cycle of FTP protocols and encrypted email attachments. Or they may have even had to wait for a manual shipment of data stored on hard disks. By the time leaders got their hands on the data they requested, it may have been outdated, devalued and stale.

However, that “trapped” data can be freed up by data centers evolving from a data warehouse to a data share-house. A data share-house takes away the waiting and inefficiency by removing the steps previously needed to manually move data around via FTP, email, or even courier. This is the end of data silos and gives everyone access to the same data at any time.

No two other industries are doing more to help each other evolve than SaaS providers and data centers. SaaS companies are constantly pushing to improve the customer experience, while they also look to solve any problems a customer may have with a data center. The same can be said for data centers, as they look to solve issues customers may have with a SaaS.

With this type of true synergy in place, it will be exciting to see where both industries are in 5, 10 and 15 years time.

Insights

How to Get Traffic to Your New Store

on June 14, 2019

Starting from the bottom can be one of the most difficult times for your eCommerce website. Not only is it hard to get backlinks, it is hard to convince people to visit your site and buy from you.

But you have to start somewhere. You need to start with one visitor before you can get a million. Similarly, you need to start from one customer before you can get a thousand. If you will let this problem faze you, you will not get anywhere.

Today, you’ll learn about 6 strategies that you can use to get more traffic to your eCommerce website. These are designed for new eCommerce website owners. So you don’t need to worry even if you don’t have a list of customers. I’ll handhold you from the bottom so that you can reach the top.

Start with Your Family and Friends

You cannot reach a hundred if you don’t start from one. So start small. Often, business owners would set their goals high. They would set their bar as high as getting a hundred customers per day right from the launch of the website. But this is a setup that is doomed for failure. After all, a website’s popularity grows over time. No one will read your blog just because you have written it. You are not as special as you think.

But there is one segment of the market where you are special. To these people, they will support anything that you will do. In fact, some of them may even bend backwards for you. The people that I am talking about are your family and friends.

If you have just launched a new website, it may be best to start with your family and friends. These people will not judge you and they will not be skeptical about what you have to offer. Sure, they may not give you your initial boost of sales but they can help you jumpstart your marketing.

Remember, every family member or friend also have their network. They also have family members and friends that they can refer your website to. The good news is that direct recommendations from family members and friends are usually stronger. This means that people tend to act on recommendations given by people who are close to them. So you should use this to your benefit if you are marketing your eCommerce website. You should use exhaust your existing network before you proceed with the next strategy.

Offer Something More than the Regular Online Store

If you have done the first strategy, you should already have at least 10 visitors or customers in your website. Getting 10 people is not that hard. As long as you have at least 5 family members or friends that know another person, you are on your way to getting 10 new people into your website.

But getting people into your website is just one part of the picture. You also need to give your visitors a reason to stay. You need to give them a reason to choose you over your competitors.

This is where most eCommerce marketers fail. Often, they will set up a website with the same items as their competitor and offer the same service. Then, they will stand back and wait for sales. When no one is coming to buy their stuff, they start to wonder. “Why are they not buying my stuff when I am already doing what my competitor is doing?”

But that’s the problem. The problem is that you are content with providing just what your competitor is providing. You don’t want to offer more. You don’t want to exceed expectations. So you stay in the safe zone hoping to be noticed.

In this world where the Internet is loaded with businesses and information, it is time for you to step up and offer something more. It can come as a simple free shipping or it can be in the form of the product that you are selling. As long as it is unique and it fulfills a particular need in your target market, you are bound to make some sales.

Target Big Influencers By Featuring Them

One of the best ways to get more traffic to your website is to be featured by influencers. These people are more than just online celebrities. They have command over what people will buy or use. So if they recommend you, you can expect an influx of sales.

However, getting a big influencer to feature you is easier said than done. After all, these people are busy. On top of that, they are so used to getting business proposals that they expertly ignore them. They are so used to it that when they get an email from a business, they delete it right away.

So how can you get past their ignore zone? Here’s a secret. While influencers often appear cool on the outside, they are not as cool as you think. Just because they have cool videos or they talk cool in their blogpost doesn’t mean that they are not human. Inside is an ego that is constant need of stroking or a business owner that desperately need some sales. If you know how to approach these, then you can easily get them to promote you. 

Fortunately for you, it is not that hard to do. In fact, this is a strategy that has been done by business owners in the past and it instantly got them in the good side of influencers. All you need to do is be part of their community. Join their coaching program or buy their products. From there, you can review their products and show the world how the product has helped you.

From here, all you need to do is email the influencer. You’ll be surprised that a simple act like this can instantly gain their attention.

Get Social Media Influencers to Promote You

Let me introduce you to a different breed of influencers. These are the influencers that don’t have millions of followers yet there are people who follow them everyday. These influencers may not have a huge following but they are still called influencers because they influencer their audience’s buying decisions.

These influencers are called social media influencers. You’ll rarely see these people on television and they will often post in their Youtube channel or just update their blog. But while they may not be on mainstream media doesn’t mean that they have less of an influence. In fact, some of them have massive influences in highly targeted niches.

The good news is that reaching these influencers are not that hard. Since they are available on social media, their contact information are often shown on the Internet. From here, all you need to do is contact them.

But here’s a technique. Instead of just contacting them to say ‘Hi’, you can do something more. You can offer them your product for free. Why should you do this? It is a way to get on their good side as well as getting them to review your product for you. Of course, it’s a risk. But if they like your product, they would be more than happy to promote it to their followers.

Of course, there is a chance that the strategy will flop. Some influencers will not reply to your proposal while others will just take the free product without giving it a review. Even if that happens, you should just dust yourself off and look for the next influencer.

Free Samples Can Get You Traffic

You have seen the power of free samples in the previous strategy. This is where you send influencers some samples with hopes that you will get a review in return. While this may not work all the time, its percentage for working is pretty high. Why is that? It’s all because of the ingrained concept of reciprocity.

You see, human beings are very fascinating. While most of them close themselves off from the world, they will often open up with the slight show of care. Sending free samples can show that your business cares about them no matter how they feel. And this care can often move their hearts and make them move according to how you want them to move.

Because of this, free samples really has its power. And it is not just for influencers. I think that you can also use the same strategy for your customers. You may have already observed how free samples work in a grocery store. People tend to buy the product once they taste it. It works in the same way online. If you will give people some free samples, they are often more than happy to recommend your product to their family and friends.

Don’t Forget about Micro-Influencers

Now that we are talking about influencers, let’s stop and define what influencers are for a minute. These are people who have a significant but indirect influence in the purchasing decisions of their audience. Celebrities are natural influencers. Once people see them using or wearing a particular item, they would often like to get the same item. However, it is an entirely different world online. While celebrities may have millions of followers online, they are not the only people that you can target. There are also the micro-influencers – people who have a small but highly engaged market.

A good example of micro-influencer is a blogger in a particular niche. This blogger may not be the most popular but his website is steadily getting some traffic each month. This is an example of a micro-influencer and they are highly valuable when it comes to promoting eCommerce products.

You see, micro-influencers may have a small market but that doesn’t mean that you should ignore them. That’s because these people are more open to collaborating or promoting online stores than the big guys.

Since they are more open, their chances of agreeing to your offer is often higher. With this, you can ask multiple micro-influencers to promote you with a higher chance of success. The result? You’ll get more people to promote your site.

Have a Referral Marketing Program

If you can only use one strategy out of this guide, you should use this one. Referral marketing is by far the easiest and best way to build traffic to any eCommerce website.

Let me illustrate this by narrating the experience of PayPal. PayPal started as a small player in the industry – This means that they only have a few signups. But when they implemented their referral marketing program, everything changed.

Here’s what PayPal did. They opened a program where they will pay every person that get them a new signup. They paid real money and they were losing money in the beginning. But they didn’t care. They know that this is crucial to getting them off the ground so that they can become the primary payment processor online.

And they managed to become like that after a few years. Today, no one tops PayPal when it comes to online payment processing. It is the most used online payment platform today.

You can learn from PayPal’s story. It really helps to encourage your audience to refer their family and friends in exchange for a reward. This is the quickest way to boost your eCommerce traffic.

NOTE: If you don’t know how to code, you’ll need a referral marketing software. The software should be able to set up the program automatically for you.

Conclusion

Looking at the strategies above, you’ll find that starting from the ground is not that bad. In fact, most online businesses that already made it on top lack the tenacity of those at the bottom. So even if it is hard to get that first visitor or sale, don’t give up. Just keep on promoting. Change your strategy if needed. Eventually, you’ll break through and make that sale.

So what strategy did you like from the list above? What do you plan on using? If you have any questions on the implementation part, don’t be afraid to ask me.

DevelopmentInsightsSaaS

Do You Really Need to Hire a Software Testing Company for Penetration Testing?

on June 12, 2019

The United States of America proposed a budget of US $17.43 billion just for cybersecurity for the fiscal year 2017-2019. According to another survey, the firms which have 20,000 or more employees spend an average of 10.6 million US $ on cybersecurity in the USA alone. These stats clearly show the importance of cybersecurity of a company and also the country for that matter. In this blog, we’ll focus on the importance of hiring the software testing company for penetration testing. Before we move forward, you need to understand what penetration testing is and why it is important.

What is Penetration Testing?

Penetration testing also known as pen testing or pen-test is a type of testing which is specifically performed to test the security of a software or an app. Penetration testing is very important because your software or app contains very sensitive database and any kind of data leak or cyber-attack can cost you a fortune. Therefore, penetration testing is important. However, the real question is do you really need to hire a software testing company for penetration testing? In order to find out the answer, give a read to the following:

Great Talent Pool

Software testing companies make sure that they hire the best talent pool. Therefore, if you hire a company for penetration testing, then you’ll be getting the services of the domain experts. However, if you go for other options like hiring a freelancer, then there is a big possibility that companies won’t get the desired results. It is because they lack the resources which a proper testing company has.

Attention to Detail

Since you hire a company specifically for penetration testing, they will help give their best to find out all the security lags in your project. Hence, you can sit back and relax because your project is now in safe hands. They will pay attention to every single detail since they have domain experts which will ensure the quality of the project.

On-Time Delivery

Outsourcing testing company can save you a lot of time. The testing company is bound to deliver the product on time. Above all, they offer real-time testing. Hence, you make the required changes in the code and get your code check for security leaks at the same time. This makes the whole process smooth and streamlines the workflow. Hence, you are able to deliver the product at the ideal time.

Cheaper Option

You simply can’t hire a complete testing team for penetration testing for a single project. It will cost you a lot of money and efforts. Above all, you will not be able to hire domain experts since they are not that easy to find. Therefore, hiring a testing company is a cheap and convenient option.

Conclusion

Now you know all the benefits of hiring a testing company for penetration testing. Therefore, you can decide for yourself if you really need to hire a testing company for penetration testing or not.

Author Bio

Ray Parker is a senior marketing consultant with a knack for writing about the latest news in tech, quality assurance, software development, and travel. With a decade of experience working in the tech industry, Ray now dabbles out of his New York office.

DevelopmentInsightsMartech

Here Are the Reasons that Web Development Is Essential for Business

on June 9, 2019

Do you want to expand your business? If so, then this place is very beneficial for you. In today’s world, the development of the website is becoming the main requirements of our business, which across different industries. As we know that some of the people are still don’t aware of this method and its importance in the business.

Nowadays customers buy their things online, that’s why on the internet millions of the consumers are present. So many companies are there who take benefit by creating their online website to attract many customers as they can. But before all these things, companies need to create their website according to the competitors. Today, we are here to tell you about some reasons for the web development which you need to know.

After knowing those reasons, you will be able to understand that Nicholls Web Consulting Adelaide SEO professionals play a vital role in expanding our business.

  • Convenience

If your website is well-developed, then it is beneficial for both you as well as your users. By developing your website, it makes your website simple and even creates it. Due to this, your site becomes straightforward; it means that every people can easily understand what you are offering them?

If the visitors know what is your exact business? And what are you offering them with the help of the website? Then it creates lots of chances that they all are converted into the customer.

  • Marketing on a global scale

If you have a better online presence with the help of the balanced website, then you can easily achieve your target. All those customers are not only from your local area, but they are also from different areas of the world. On the internet, we can see that there are millions of people who are all around the world.

You must make your website and wait to find out your website. When all the things have done, then you can easily do a conversation with your customers.

  • All-time business accessibility

If you are running the online business, then it means that your business becomes available every time. People can be able to visit your site at any time when they need. Due to these reasons, so many customers attracts towards our business. If you are doing the offline business, then you can’t get that type of ease.

  • Believable source

When you are creating your website then with the help of the web development company, make their features very easy and good approach, which is easily understandable. Due to this, you will be able to get all the important information related to your company in just a few minutes.

When people realize all these things, then it will make your site a believable source, and you must promote to your friends. It means that web development optimizes your website and makes it a credible source and a good source of information.

These are the reasons which express that web development is beneficial for business.

DevelopmentInsightsMartech

5 Ways to Boost Your SEO With Visual Marketing

on June 7, 2019

Visual marketing can propel your SEO strategy, but it is often overlooked by companies who focus on optimizing their text for search engines, without giving proper credence to their visuals. Strong imagery can have a measurable impact on how your website ranks on Google.

With all the innovation we have seen in the digital medium over the last few years, Google is still the leader in determining which websites get the highest rankings, and that impacts the number of sessions the websites receive. It is with Google’s organic rankings in mind that you need to create your plan for visual marketing before you put in the time, effort, and money to design visuals, especially if you’re a small business with limited resources.

Here are five simple tips that will help boost your SEO:

  1. Write optimized alt tags
  2. Don’t use stock photos, create infographics
  3. Create accompanying text for your infographics
  4. Keep an eye on file sizes
  5. Capitalize on image shareability

1. Write optimized alt tags

Keywords are crucial to creating any piece of content, but they also make a difference to the images you use. One of the easy-to-miss steps when creating visual content is with regards to optimizing alt tags. The alt tag is a text alternative to the image attributes which allows images to show up in Google’s text searches. You can already see why this would be so important in your website’s Google ranking.

Consider uploading an image without an alt attribute or alt tag. Google’s search algorithms will not be able to read the image as it is not equipped to do so, but it can read the text you add in the alt tag section of the image. This will give Google the ability to read the image in context of your website’s text and rank the website accordingly.

Alt tags are usually easy to edit. Most content management systems allow you to change the text in the alt tag or attributes text box, so you can make adding alt text to your image part of the uploading process. Here’s an example in WordPress:

When creating your alt text, you should keep it short as Google will find it easier to index shorter tags. As you wouldn’t include too many keywords in your text content, you should avoid doing the same when using keywords in the alt tag. Search engines pick up on keyword stuffing and can actually lower your website’s rank as a consequence.

Instead, focus on using the alt tag as an opportunity to describe what is in the image with words, as alt tags are generally used for screen readers for the visually impaired. By optimizing your alt tags, you will not only boost your SEO on Google but reach out to a demographic that may not have been able to properly access your content before.

2. Don’t use stock photos, create infographics

Source: https://infograph.venngage.com/ps/vW02fA1pnzc/infographics-and-visual-marketing

The quality of your visuals will impact the way visitors to your website engage with your content, and will, as a result, affect your SEO. But when we talk about high-quality visuals, many companies immediately turn to stock photos that are of high quality. It is not the same thing.

Because of the proliferation of stock photo providers, and the increased savviness of users, stock photos have become easily recognizable. So much so that users can become bored by their appearance on websites and may even feel that they are unable to trust a site that has not created its own visual language.

Investing in overused stock photo properties may be the cheaper option, but it isn’t the best one to use if you want to enhance your SEO. You should be working towards creating strong visuals that not only grab the attention of users but make them stay on your website. You need engaging visual content that gives visitors information in a quick, concise way, while still being attractive, and shareable.

One way to do all this is to use infographics. This is particularly true if your website is data-heavy. Infographics can relay a wealth of information in attractive and interactive ways. Venngage’s timeline Infographics give you the option to convey a variety of information – historical milestones, event calendars, product deliverables, even superhero origin stories – that will make the user experience that much more engaging.

If you want proof, use heatmaps to analyze how your readers spend time on individual pages and what images they engage with more.

Here’s an example of an infographic we created for Mention to visualize their unique research:

3. Create text for your infographics

Once you have begun using infographics to deliver your information and data in an attractive way, you need to ensure that your infographic is optimized for Google. As with images and alt tags, infographics are not easily indexed by Google without proper text accompanying it. Google’s image search will be able to index the infographic but to boost your site’s SEO, you will need the infographic, and the page it is uploaded to, to appear in Google’s text search as well.

The best way to do this would be to write accompanying text on the page featuring the infographic. This will help Google scan the text and evaluate the content so as to give the page its deserving rank. To do this, you should create written content that complements your infographic.

Here’s an example we did at Venngage. We teamed up with SurveyMonkey to do a study of logo styles, made an infographic with the results and put it on our blog. Check out the introductory text:

It is best to avoid explaining what is in the infographic because the user does not want to read a repeat of what they can easily see in the infographic. With the combination of a strong infographic and relevant text, you will add value to your page, the user experience, and to your site’s Google ranking.

4. Keep an eye on file sizes

We have stressed on the importance of good quality visuals but it is also important to keep your file sizes small when uploading them to your website. Large file sizes will slow down your website’s loading time, and that is guaranteed to frustrate users enough for them to leave your site. This is not something you want.

Beyond the user, what many companies don’t realize is that Google’s organic search ranking is also affected by site speed. The faster your site loads, the better your rank is likely to be; on the flipside, Google will penalize your site if it loads slowly.

One of the major factors in your website’s loading speed is the size of your images. You should be testing your site speed using Google’s Page Speed Insights Tool, and if your site isn’t loading quickly enough, you should take a look at your images to see whether their sizes are slowing your site down.

Here is a screenshot of Venngage’s site speed using the Google Page Speed Tool:

Some points to keep in mind about uploading images and infographics. PNGs, SVGs, and GIFs are good for graphics as well as infographics, because they maintain the quality of the image even in small sizes, while JPEGs are best for photographs. You can also use image compression tools like ImageOptim before uploading images on to your website to ensure that the site loads quickly.

5. Capitalize on image shareability

Source: https://infograph.venngage.com/ps/X5EkhFNfmhs/image-shareability-simple-chart

Images, and infographics, in particular, are excellent for sharing because of their visual appeal and the ease with which they can be shared widely.

When you create visual content to accompany your text, it is likely that others who view it will share it with others or re-use it on their own sites, hopefully with permission and with backlinks to your site. This process not only taps into audiences that you may not have been able to reach, but the use of backlinks increases your Google ranking.

If someone uses your images without your permission, you are well within your rights to ask them to credit you. You can use Reverse Google Image Search to find sites that are using your visuals to ensure that you are receiving due credit and to find out about backlink opportunities.

Another way to capitalize on image shareability, and to get more backlinks, is by pitching to the media or influencers. Images enhance text properties, and if you are able to create high-quality infographics that will enhance a news piece or help an influencer get more traction on their guest post, you can build a partnership that will be mutually beneficial for you and your partners. Do remember that Google has strong backlink policies that you need to keep in mind. SEO best practice says you should not request backlinks directly. Allow the relationship to evolve organically and you will most likely get the backlinks you deserve.

Conclusion

Images and infographics can make a world of difference to how your content engages with users and can help your rank on Google. Following these few helpful tips will make a difference to how your visual marketing boosts your SEO because if you are spending the time and money on creating beautiful and informative visuals, you should be getting the most out of them.

About the author

Ronita Mohan is a content marketer at Venngage, the online infographic and design platform. Ronita is interested in a variety of topics with regards to digital marketing, visual content, and online engagement, which she enjoys researching and writing about.

DevelopmentInsightsMartech

3 Massive Benefits of Deploying a Sales Engagement Platform

on June 4, 2019

Technology has touched nearly every aspect of modern business, and sales are no exception. Whereas before, sales reps had to manually choose which leads to follow, schedule their follow-ups, dial their phones and log information – a process as inefficient as it was non-systematized – technology has gifted sales teams a better solution.

It’s called a sales engagement platform, and it’s an easy-to-integrate, easy-to-use software that helps your reps engage and qualify leads with greater efficiency. If your sales team is just operating with a simple SaaS CRM, you only have part of the equation: you need a way to put your CRM’s info into action and push those leads through the pipeline.

Still unsure? Here are three, massive, undeniable benefits of deploying a sales engagement platform.

Enjoy a Boost in Productivity

A sales engagement platform automates reps’ workflow and therefore, increases productivity. You can check out Vanillasoft.com for the stats (for instance, they measured a 94% increase in productivity when using their sales engagement platform) or read client testimonials – either way, the proof is pretty apparent.

How an engagement platform does this is, basically, by removing as much keyboard activity as possible. The auto-dialing and auto-email-population functions of a sales engagement platform save reps a lot of time, as does the queue-based lead routing (more on that below). It allows sales development reps to touch more leads, more often, qualifying more leads for your AEs to close.

Don’t Let Leads Slip Through the Cracks

Without a sales engagement platform, an SDR has to hunt their CRM for their next lead. Inordinately, they will choose the biggest lead in terms of size, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the best lead – they overlook the mom-and-pop business hiding in plain sight in the CRM, who just expressed interest in the product, for instance.

A sales engagement platform takes the guesswork out of lead prioritization. With queue-based lead routing it constantly pushes the next best lead up to the top of your SDRs’ lists, meaning that the moment they’re done contacting the last lead, they are onto the next best one. It also means that “speed to lead” is optimized – that is, the time it takes SDRs to make the first contact, a metric that is of crucial importance to successful engagement.

Develop & Automate an Effective Sales Cadence

If you’re unfamiliar, sales cadence is a term used to describe the choreography of touch points a salesperson makes to engage a lead. Together, the number of touches, the type of touch (email, phone, voicemail, SMS, etc.) and the timeline of the touches create a cadence.

Without a sales engagement platform, that cadence can be all over the place, totally at the mercy of an SDRs whims. With one, however, you can automate the cadence, and ensure that each prospect receives the right amount and type of touches, over the right amount of time.

If your sales team isn’t already making use of a sales engagement platform, maybe it’s time to try one out. It’s not simply about modernizing for the sake of modernizing – it’s about better productivity, more qualified leads and an automated sales cadence.

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