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Invest In The Best Hosting For Your Website

Invest In The Best Hosting For Your Website

Why Good Hosting Is Important for Your Company Website

Once you have decided to create a site for your business, you choose a domain name and select the most ideal web hosting company to help you through. Some individuals overlooked the importance of good hosting to their companies that is why choosing a reputable company is being taken for granted.
You become overly confident that even though you failed to choose the best company you can still manage to keep going. This is not actually true at all times. Sticking to the wrong web hosting company entails many negative effects that will pose pessimistic impacts without you knowing. When the time you realized this, it is already too late.

The Negative Effects of Making the Wrong Web Hosting Choice

A company or business owners, most individuals are probably more concerned about maximizing profits. Your choice for a hosting company, therefore, matters so if you are thinking that making the wrong choice will not cause a negative impact to the consistent flow of cash or profit, well think again. To make you see things clearly, the worst things that can happen when you stick with the wrong hosting choice are outlined below:

Negative Impacts on SEO Ranking

One of your online goals is to get a high ranking on search results so that customers can access and locate you easily. If your website seems it does not exist and this goes down dramatically when search giants are attempting to visit, your ranking will surely be affected adversely. Aside from the worst downtime, slow websites can also hurt rankings and many SEO experts can attest to this.

Malware and Security Attacks

There is no really perfect solution in maintaining and keeping your site ultimately secured. However, a trusted web hosting company will back your data up to remote servers making it easy for you to retrieve data when your site is hacked. An ideal company can also give you assistance and technical support, security and maintenance round the clock. Seeing these aspects will make you realize the possibilities of contrasting effects that may occur when you choose the wrong hosting company.

Revenue Loss

In case your website goes down, potential clients and customers can no longer view and learn about your services, products, and blog posts. The worst effects can happen when you try to host an online store. You will surely lose out potential income or sales. Your losses might not be that big however these are still considered as revenue losses

Tips in Choosing the Most Ideal Web Hosting Company

In order to save yourself from all the negative effects of making the wrong choice, you need to be very careful and mindful when it comes to the process of selecting a hosting company. If you are still stuck in a web hosting company that does not offer significant results, it is about time to shift. There might be a long list of web hosting service providers but Host Gator is an excellent choice. Many have undertaken the following helpful steps and are lucky to end up with this reliable and functional web hosting:

Pricing Packages

Choose a company that offers pricing packages that match your needs and level of expertise. An ideal company must be capable of providing you with easy tools needed to set up and organize your site. These tools are essential in terms of delivering messages across the internet. You need to choose at least five prospects. Having multiple choices is not really bad however, you need to make thorough analysis and comparison and start to maximize your options.
You need to take down the features and benefits of every web host and choose the one that you are confident with. This can take some time but the effort is all worth it for the reasons that you are provided with the learning that can help you complete the tasks.

Technical Support

It is highly beneficial to choose a company that offers round the clock technical support. In case you and your web hosting service provider live in opposite worlds, see to it that you can still access technical support anytime you will need this.

Refund Policy

It is imperative to know the service level and refund guarantee. See to it that in case you are not satisfied, you can still get the money that you have paid for back or at least the portion of your fees that remains unused. There are some companies that are really not seriously concerned with this one. When you pay these companies, assume that the money will all be gone. It is therefore essential to choose a web hosting company offering refund policy or money back guarantee in case you are not satisfied with the service.

Unlimited Bandwidth

Do not get easily carried away by companies giving you the promise of unlimited bandwidth. Proper planning comes to play. However, before looking for a host, make sure to determine the amount of bandwidth and space you actually need. This makes the decision process easier. However, do not be lured about unlimited bandwidth because when you buy this, you actually get less.

Server Stability

Research a company and see if this involves a third party site. You also must determine how the company rates. There are three vital areas that need to be looked upon to as far as rates are concerned. These include downtime percentage which seems to be the most critical. Even if the needs for web hosting are not solely for the business purpose, excessive downtime will surely make it hard for you as well as for people who are trying to access and view your site. The acceptable downtime must be 40 minutes and every month and this is equal to about .1% of downtime. Anything above 1 to 2% signifies that something is really going on with your company. Whether it is external issues such as common hacking attempts or internal business issues, server stability should encourage and trigger you to move on.

Customer Service

This is also an important aspect to look upon to if you are aspiring for good hosting. You need to make extensive research regarding this matter and by doing so, you can easily figure out which company is capable of handling customer service or issues well. Taking, for instance, the case of scheduled server maintenance, this should be announced to customers always however, there are some companies fail to alert customers and this can really affect their online businesses.
Understanding the technical support availability is important knowing that this is the area where cutting cost is easier. If you are certain that you will need technical support during late hours, then you need to choose a company that offers customer’s service matching your unique needs.

Application

You can never tell when you might need this so as much as possible, research the quality and availability of server applications. Though you do not really intend to utilize the applications today, making them available for future use is extremely important.
If you are tired of sticking to a hosting company that does not work, then it is better to make a change and commit with the one that you are confident to work with. In situations like this, only one name can save you from the catastrophe and this is none other than Host Gator. There have been lots of changes in the business environment and competition can really be tough. Having a good hosting such as Host Gator is therefore important in order for your company or business to get on top of the competition.
If you have a business, you probably open about establishing a website just like other business individuals do but good hosting is important in keeping and maintaining this. Website and good hosting are an essential part of doing business and it is true that companies regardless of size and type can never survive a highly competitive environment without an effective website and excellent web hosting.
You do not need to be hesitant about hiring the service of the best web hosting company. In fact, you can take full advantage of these services for the benefit of your own company. The best web hosting company has all the means and capacities of providing services and web space. You can even avail for additional services in enhancing your company.
Another important thing is that good hosting is also important for Search Engine Optimization. If you have enough of the slowness and unreliability of your side, never be afraid to take the move. Shifting to another company is a beneficial and pragmatic option and this is perhaps the right thing to do. No need to spend lots of time to a hosting company that cannot really make your company grow and succeed.
Avail the good hosting offered by the best service provider and reap the surprising benefits linked with this shift or move. These obvious benefits include easy setup and migration, an organized and snappier site, better support, no downtime and great understanding linked to web hosting.
Your bad experiences with your previous hosting company can be valid reasons why you make a shift and go with a hosting company such as Host Gator that can give help and support that your company needs. You are advised to be more careful this time so that there will no longer be the chances of looking for another web hosting company again.

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SEO

Easy Tips On How To Choose a Domain Name

Easy Tips On How To Choose a Domain Name

How To Choose Domain Name for Your New Website

How to choose a domain name doesn’t have to be hard. If you know what you want and know how to look for it then there is a methodological approach to how to choose a domain name. Many companies are inflexible with their stand that the domain name has to be the name of the company or the brand. That works in many cases and doesn’t work in many cases. Some companies are absolutely clueless what domain name they should go for. They are not even certain of the significance of a domain name. It is all these factors that you must bear in mind when you go about the methods of how to choose a domain name.

Think Of 5 Most Relevant Keywords

Having a website is not sufficient today. The website needs to be optimized, the contents should be relevant and should target keywords to be ranked high on search engine result pages and eventually your target audience must be able to find you for the most relevant keywords. If you are a marketing company then you need to figure out five most relevant keywords that best define your business and then play with those keywords to come up with a domain name. If you are in real estate or mortgage then you need to target keywords such as finance, interest rate, mortgage and home equity among others.

A Domain Name Should Be Unique

No matter what you sell or make, what your marketing strategies are and what kind of website you want, your domain name should be unique. Imagine Flickr, Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest among others. These domain names are truly unique. The moment you hear such a unique domain name, you remember it. That’s your target, to have your audience remember your domain name.

Always Go For Dot-Com Domains

You may be convinced by some that alternative domains, such as dot-biz, dot-net or dot-us, would be good enough but there is absolutely no replacement of the dot-com phenomenon. People, till now, are still acquainted with adding a dot-com to any domain name by default. This will take a long time to change and till then you must look for domain names that are available in dot-com.

Domain Names Should Be Easy To Type

Why do you come across phone numbers displayed on mobile vans and hoardings with a word depicting the numbers after 1800? This is simply because when you dial that number it is easier to dial when you know a word instead of a number. Also, people can remember words or a word more conveniently. If you make typing your domain name easier, then people will find it convenient and will get to your site more often.

Domain Name Should Be Easy To Remember

Unique domain names, easy to type domain names and those that instantly create a connection with the target audience would be easy to remember. If every time a prospective customer has to look for your domain name or forget it and ask for help from others then your domain name is simply not good enough and you will lose a lot of potential clients in the process.

Short Domain Names Are Better, Barring Exceptions

A short domain name is easier to remember, it is easier to type and easier to mention to someone. You should go for a short domain unless you have a compulsion to opt for a long one. It is not so that long domain names don’t work at all. But if a domain name is long then it must be easy to read, remember and type.

A Domain Name Must Offer A Sneak Peek

A domain name must offer a sneak peek into the kind of website it is. Today, people are unlikely to spend time visiting your website unless they get an idea beforehand of what they are about to explore. AutoTrader or WebMD are some domains that are bang on while Zillow & Monster don’t offer any idea of what they are or what they have to put forth.

Avoid Copyright Infringement

Copyright infringement pertaining to domains doesn’t happen too often but there is a faint possibility of someone having registered the domain or might have copyrighted it. You can check this on copyright.gov.

Avoid Special Characters

Keep things simple. No hyphens or any fancy special character. Remember how the typing of your domain name has to remain simple?

Domain Name Is The Gateway To Your Brand

You should choose a domain name that enhances your brand value. A domain name that is lame will not present a very desirable brand image. For instance, shoesnandboots.com or mortgageforyourhome.com is not a very desirable domain name if you wish to present your company as a brand. These domains may be good for optimization but not otherwise. Domain names like lendingtree.com or bankrate.com are brands. Interestingly, these domains are also great for optimization and can be easily remembered.

Act Fast

Domain names can be purchased very fast and easily because most of the time they are so inexpensive. So if you think of a good domain name purchase it as soon as possible! Thankfully to service providers like GoDaddy if the domain you want is not available they will suggest a different one which sometimes can be better than your original idea.

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SEO

Whats The Difference Between WordPress.org & WordPress.com?

Whats The Difference Between WordPress.org & WordPress.com

WordPress.org vs. WordPress.com

WordPress is the world’s most popular content management system and blogging tool.
Millions of websites are already hosted using WordPress and there are many millions more that are about to be hosted now and in the near future.
The fact that WordPress is an open source software makes it all the more interesting because there can be infinite amendments and upgrades as time goes on, unlike closed systems that are not available for adventurous and ambitious developers to suggest or make changes to the software.
Now, there are two types of WordPress sites that you can host.
One is WordPress.com. When you put up your sites on WordPress.com, it is a free hosting account and you don’t need the hosting infrastructure. Your website will be hosted on WordPress servers.
The other one is WordPress.org. When you host on this domain, it has to be self-hosted, which implies that you need to have the hosting servers or you need to hire a web host to put up your website.

Differences in Wordpress.org vs. WordPress.com

If you have been wondering whether you should go with WordPress.org or WordPress.com, then you can really get some help from this list of differences. After all, you need to compare the pros and cons and only then can you make up your mind. Take a look at WordPress.org vs. WordPress.com and make an informed decision.

First

With WordPress.org you would get support for all kinds of themes. You can come up with unique themes, customize existing themes and can also modify the themes as you go ahead using them for your website.
In effect, you have full theme support.
With WordPress.com, you get limited theme support.
There are some free themes that you can use but you cannot customize them and there are very few you can actually choose from considering their quality even when there are quite many at your disposal. However, there are paid upgrades that you can opt for on WordPress.com to expand your theme options and support.

Second

You get all the plug-ins on WordPress.org.
You can use the free plug-ins, paid ones and customized ones that you may develop on your own. You actually get to explore WordPress with all its potential as a state of the art content management system.
With WordPress.com, there is no plug-in support.
You cannot use any paid or customized plug-ins. There are some built-in plug-ins and you have to be confined to that. However, here again, you have upgrades available which you can pay for and get more plug-ins and support for the same.

Third

WordPress.org will cost you money.
You have to pay for the domain and you need to pay the monthly charges to your web host. If you are hosting a website that is expecting a lot of traffic then you need a lot of bandwidth, disk space and the web host must offer you a horde of round the clock support services. This cost can be anywhere from a few scores to hundreds of dollars.
WordPress.com is absolutely free.
You get 3GB space for storage and you can have your own site. However, if you need an exclusive or customized domain and not a sub-domain then you need to pay and if you need any more storage space or additional services then too you have to pay.
The limitation with WordPress.com, although it is free, is that you cannot host a website that would be very busy. If you want to do that then you will end up paying hundreds of dollars anyway which is what you would have paid to your web host for a state of the art high traffic site on WordPress.org.

Fourth

You control all the monetization on WordPress.org, a luxury you don’t have on WordPress.com.
On WordPress.org You can customize the ads, choose what is going to go on your site and make all the decisions pertaining to money matters.
On WordPress.com, you cannot sell ads or put up ads unless you have more than 25,000 page views every month.
WordPress.org sites would need to be maintained and any cost will have to be taken care of by the website owner. With WordPress.com, one doesn’t need to bother about maintenance. The platform will update and upgrade itself, troubleshot and maintain itself as and when needed.
A WordPress.org site is an independent site and will not benefit from the network of WordPress or the traffic that the network draws by the virtue of its popularity.
With WordPress.com, you can get a share of the traffic or at least be noticeable in the network and that just might work to one’s advantage. Other site optimization requirements still apply to both platforms.

Conclusion

Weigh your priorities and see what you need and what you can do without. Following such an objective and comprehensive analysis, zero in on your choice.

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SEO

10 Easy Steps To Writing A Great Blog Post

10 Easy Steps To Writing A Great Blog Post

blog writing formatblog writing format

Simple Steps To Writing an Excellent Blog Post

Are you planning to set up a blog for your business? Do you need to write blog posts that attract your target audience? If yes, this article is designed for you. Here are the 10 actionable steps that will help you create an excellent blog post that your audience will like and share;

1. Select a topic

Before you start writing a blog post, you need to decide on the topic that you want to write about. It is advisable that you choose a topic that you are passionate about and will enjoy to write it. Selecting a topic that you are passionate about will make writing even much easier.

2. Understand the Needs of Your Audience

You need to understand the kind of audience that will read your blog post. This will help you to craft a blog post that speaks their language and addresses their needs. This will make it possible for you to connect with your audience. You need to think about your target audience demographics including their age, personality traits, marital and education status.

3. Create a Working Title

Choose a title that resonates with your topic. It should convey a rough idea of what your topic is
all about.

4. Arrange the Content

Divide your content into various sections and give every section a heading. The heading should describe what the entire section is about. Make sure that each section educates your readers on a specific issue. As you write the headings, it is advisable that you add keynotes to be discussed in your posts. These notes will help you write the main post later on.

5. Write Your Intro

Your introduction is very crucial. It grabs the attention of your audience and keeps them hooked to reading your entire post. You need to capture the interest of your audience within the first few lines of your introduction. You must explain how your post will help to solve their problems.

6. The First Draft

Time to write your post has come! Go through the notes and heading you had made previously and expand on them. Don’t worry about grammar and spelling mistakes right now. Remember that
writing a blog post is not like doing a thesis paper. Always write blog posts in a friendly and personal tone and try to connect with your readers as much as possible.

7. Review

Read through your post and make notes about things that you will revisit later. Make sure that your post flows naturally from start to the end. Ensure that you have discussed all the major points in your blog post.

8. Tidy Up

Proofread your work keenly to spot any spelling or grammar mistakes and correct them instantly.
Remember that you need to give your readers an excellent first impression.

9. Optimize Your Content for On-Page SEO

There is no point in writing an excellent blog post yet no one will see it online. Make sure that your page is optimized for major search engines like Google, Bing etc. Follow the best On-page SEO practices to ensure that your post is seen online. Offer high-quality content to your readers while adding the primary keywords to the headers.

10. Add a Call-to-Action (CTA)

Once your audience has finished reading your excellent blog post, try to encourage them to take action. For example you may request them to sign up for your newsletter or subscribe to your mailing list.

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SEO

What Your About Page Needs To Be About

What Your About Page Needs To Be About

What Should Be In The About Page Of Your Website?

You have been tirelessly working to ensure everything is in order for your grand business blog launch. It has been an overwhelming yet exciting journey and now you can proudly say you have a social media identity, a business logo and all you need to trigger the curiosity of the world towards your brand. But there’s still one thing remaining and that’s letting your audience know a little bit more about you. And what better way to ensure that than coming up with the “About page?”
Yes, you definitely require one. In fact, you MUST have one.
And that’s why we have dedicated this article to educate you on how to come up with the “About Me Page”. Read carefully so that you make yours one of the most outstanding pages on your blog.

What Should The About Me Page Include?

Contrary to common assumptions that the About Page is all about you as a business, it should actually be about both you and your audience. They have to feel like part of you. And you have to trigger that sense of belonging right from the beginning by clearly highlighting why you both need each other What do you have in common? Because it has all the power to either elevate your status or lead to our total failure. You decide.
Achieving this might not be a walk in the park, but you still have the power to. Want to know how? Here’s the perfect order to follow;

  1. Know Who You’re Speaking To
  2. Understand Their Dire Needs
  3. How Does Your Work Relate To Their Needs?
  4. What’s Your Expectation Of Them?

Let’s now get a comprehensive look at each of the above points;

1: Know Who You’re Speaking To

Before you draft anything, this is one of the biggest questions you should be able to answer. And you should know that every time you spend time drafting a blog post, you are doing it for your readers. So it’s all about them and their needs.
Have a clear picture of who they are, their age, education level, income rates, etc. This will help you write to and for them. Being specific is the way to go.

2: Understand Their Dire Needs

Now that you’re specific about your audience, you should let them know that you totally relate with where they are coming from and your blog is dedicated to helping them deal with their everyday issues. Gather in your mind all the possible situations that can befall them and fix them.
You can divide their needs into two;
#1: What negative issues are they facing now? It could be anything from unproductive marketing strategies, worsening eating habits, undesirable body image to low self-esteem, etc
#2: What do they describe as an ultimately positive experience? Is it feeling content? Eating delicious meals? Visiting places? etc
This will help you know how to smartly turn their negatives into positives. So you typically have to create a connection between #1 and #2. Here’s what you can come up for someone who’s struggling with unhealthy eating;
” Like you, we love delicious meals. And that sometimes gets us indulging in some unhealthy eating habits as most of the foods out there are fast foods. That’s why we came up with a list of “quick to fix meals” recipes to help us fix sumptuous meals at the comfort of our homes. We both need to stay healthy if we want to enjoy life”
Craft your story in a way that will inspire people into being ” together in this” with you.

3: How Does Your Work Relate To Their Needs?

Share with them that one experience that drove you into starting your blog. That one unheard of story. The negative of them all, the challenges you faced and how you overcame. Let them see that they can also do it. Your story should help them see you as a bridge from their present point to their ideal future. Let the emotions run high.

4: What’s Your Expectation Of Them?

Don’t be shy to let them know what you expect of them. Do you want them to subscribe to your services? Turn notifications on? Read your posts? Make it easy for them.

Conclusion

Now that you know whom you will be addressing, their dire needs, what you will do for them and what you expect them to do, it’s time to exhale all those feelings you have been harboring inside, by create a mind-blowing and luring About Page for your blog/website. Let your star shine!

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SEO

Are Your Skeptical Of SEO Services?

How to Create a Strong Brand Identity for Your Home Service Business

How BlackStorm Design + Marketing Helps You Overcome SEO FOBRO

No industry is 100% clean from unscrupulous people; not even the search engine optimization (SEO) niche. There will always be that bad apple capable of spoiling it for the entire bunch. That’s why making a critical decision like SEO for your online business can be overwhelmed by FOBRO, i.e. the Fear of Being Ripped Off.
But will you allow this fear to prevent you from revolutionizing your business? Below are a few questions to help you determine if your SEO company has in mind your business’ best interests:

  • Is the company based in the US?
  • How much are they charging for SEO services?
  • Do they have any past client rankings as proof their process works?
  • Can they link you to such real clients they’ve worked with previously?
  • How knowledgeable are they of their work?
  • Can they really make you money or they just want to get paid and disappear?
  • What guarantee do they really have on your ROI?
  • Do you have to sign a long-term contract in order for you to work with them?
  • Do they guarantee exclusivity in your market/niche or are they also working with your competitors?

How to Overcome FOBRO

Location

If my prospective SEO provider isn’t US-based, for me that’s an automatic red flag. It’s not that I believe anything from outside of America can’t be good. No. My reason is simple. From research and experience, many of the folks claiming to be SEO experts from places like India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and even China are applying outdated techniques to rank sites. Some are even using illegal methods that could put you into Google’s bad books. And just because an SEO firm is situated in your locality or state, it isn’t a guarantee that they’ll be good for your SEO needs.

Pricing

Do your self-proclaimed SEO guru’s charges seem too good to be true? Be careful with companies whose only strength is the affordability of packages. Many of them will neglect essential SEO aspects to maintain costs on the minimum and may end up killing your website’s ranking potential. They may not focus on things like on-page optimization or backlinking as they should. But that doesn’t mean that SEO needs to cost you $10k a month. Your ROI should be the focus point. Your SEO provider should be in a position to help you understand how much is out there to be made via SEO and have a sustainable plan to grow your business.

Knowledge about the industry

A good SEO provider should also be able to explain to you what SEO is all about in simple layman language. Not all of us can be SEO experts in order for us to venture into online business. Nevertheless, they need to give you an overall description of how they’ll rank your site, how people are gonna find you, and that kind of thing. But if you’re well versed with the more technical stuff, then you’ll be better placed to ask the more important questions.

Proven Results

Your SEO company must have some history. Ask to be shown past results from real clients. If such businesses are in your specific market or niche, the better. You may even go a step further and ask them to connect to some of these clients. If they get dodgy here, that’s another automatic red flag!

Critical Guarantees

One surefire way to keep your FOBRO in check is by getting a guaranteed service from your SEO provider. That way, you’ll be sure that you’ll come out of the entire deal with results or your money back. Some Indian or Chinese company may guarantee you top ranking. But can they really deliver or they’re just desperate for your dollars? What knowledge, experience, and/or legitimate results can they show to prove themselves? Further, are they tying you down with a long-term contract to secure your money or they can actually deliver? Are they also working with others in your niche such that there may arise cases of conflict of interest?

For Your Peace of Mind, Use BlackStorm!

Have you found yourself in bad situations of FOBRO before? We’re ready to help at BlackStorm Marketing. We have lots of legitimate client rankings to prove our mettle. Our SEO deals are based on month-to-month agreements. We assure exclusivity in your niche and/or market. What’s more, we’ll offer you a risk-free guarantee!
Book a consultation session with us today and we promise not only 100% value for your money but also SEO ranking results and your desired ROI! With BlackStorm Design + Marketing by your side, FOBRO will soon be a thing of the past!

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What plugins I use to run a multi-location wordpress site for lead generation. 

What plugins I use to run a multi-location wordpress site for lead generation.

Multi-Location WordPress Websites

When I first started getting into marketing to several locations I started by using the multisite function WordPress has. I loved it at first because I was able to create/duplicate sites that I built for smaller cities effortlessly. But I began to notice a couple flaws. Some of the plugins I was used to using didn’t work well with the multi site. Another thing was I found it was much harder to rank for each new city/site. After doing some more research I switched back to a WordPress single site.
By doing so I didn’t have the plugin conflicts like I had before, but I have a new problem. With just a single WordPress website, most plugins/themes are built for one site-one location. And the problem was that you could not customize things for the multiple locations you are trying to market to.
So below are the plugins I use to have  a single wordpress site function for multiple locations.

Mobile call button


For single location sites I like to use a free plugin called Call Now Button. This plugin allows a call button to automatically pop up when a reader is viewing your site on their mobile phone. The problem with this plugin is that it only has only one phone number settings. Because I’m in lead gen I have different tracking numbers for each specific location so I needed the ability to create multiple numbers and buttons. I couldn’t find a plugin that offered this so I hired a developer to custom design one for me. It’s called Mobile Call Button you can get it here.

Changing Menus


For a single location you most likely have never needed to change the menu on a specific page. But for a multi location you want to change the menu to be specific to the location the reader is on. For example if you have a location for San Fransisco you want the menu on all of those pages to be specific for San Fransisco.
The way I am able to achieve this is with a plugin called Zen Menu Logic.

CTA Management


Every website should have a purpose that it is trying to achieve with its readers. Since I mostly deal with local service company niches most of my sites have two calls to actions; usually two buttons side by side one being a ‘call xxx-xxx-xxxx’ button and the other being a ‘get a quote’ or ‘get an inspection’ or ‘schedule appointment’ type button.
For a single location to accomplish this is easy. I use a free plugin called Advertisement Management and it has empty blocks that I’m able to insert code and it will automatically put it in that section go Tempe website. For example I would paste the code to the ctas I mentioned earlier in the below page/post content section. So my CTA would show up under the text of each page or post. It works great, unless you want different CTA to show up on different pages. You don’t want just one phone number to show up for every location. So I had my developer design a custom plugin that allows you to create multiple CTA and choose what pages it shows on. This plugin is called CTA Management and you can get it here.

Bad Review Filter


I did some client work for service company’s that already had an account with Review Buzz to manage their reviews. It’s a pretty good system but they do charge some thing like $150 a month. I saw some of the things that they did and the biggest feature that they offered was something like a review filter. What they did was have a customer rate the service company on a scale from 1-10. And if it was like 6 or below they would automatically redirect the customer to a survey and if it was 7 or above it would redirect the customer to a list of the service company’s major review sites.
I wanted to implement this same feature on all my lead gen sites so I can try and keep a handle on the reviews on auto pilot.
Instead of a 1-10 numbering system I wanted a 5 star system. So I searched for plugins and code to do this simple task for me. I tried to add some code myself because I saw one on GitHub. I couldn’t make it work so I had my developer design one that your able to choose the colors and direct even a half star to a URL. And guess what you can create several for.. you guessed it multiple locations!
If you want more info on how to create a review funnel read this.
If you want the WP 5 Stars plugin you can get it here.

Conclusion

So there you have all the extra plugins that I use for a multi-location website. If you want a list of my regular go to plugins- contact me and I’ll send you a list. The custom plugins I had developed I am currently charging a nominal fee just so I can cover the cost of having them developed. Once the cost is covered I may lift the cost all together just to help my fellow marketers out.
If you have any other plugin suggestions for a multi-location website or just for wordpress in general please let me know.

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SEO

Does Your Knoxville Business Need More Business? Consider Lead Generation…

Does Your Knoxville Business Need More Business? Consider Lead Generation…

Lead generation is an ideal and effective way to jump-start your sales margins and put appointments up on your calendar. For Knoxville Lead Generation, BlackStorm offers fresh and qualified leads from a wide range of sources, some of which include:

Knoxville SEO & Lead Generation

knoxville-lead-generation-2Mobile phones

Businesses tend to gain quite a bit their phones are constantly ringing. This is because it is a critical part of any business, whether large or small. The truth is that mobile devices have become one of the best ways for consumers to get in touch with businesses. According to Google, adverts that include phone numbers receive 8% more views as opposed to those that don’t. This cements the fact that such customers plan to purchase or engage with the business.
Due the fact that smartphone usage is steadily increasing, BIA/Kesley agrees that mobile search will affect other search services. However, calls to businesses will stand at 65 billion, therefore making pay per call an inevitable advertising investment.
It is crucial that SMBs in Knoxville formulate the right procedures now if they wish to increase their lead generation and optimize on their ROI. The fact is that pay-per-call is a great tool for SMB’s since it brings in first-rate clients without too much investment.

Realistic goals

Pay-per-call is basically a better or rather improved version of the pay-per-click advertising which is offered by Google. It is a type of lead generation that is performance based. As opposed to pay for clicks, a business is only charged for phones calls made by actual consumers who are seeking your business’s services in real time.

Track Everything

Being your lead generator, we will provide you with access to an intricate system where you will have the opportunity to track the efficiency of your lead generation. Using an analytic system, you will be able to track and record all incoming calls. This basically means you will get to know the volume of calls received, their duration, and you can even playback to make sure consumers are dealt with efficiently and professionally.

Pay for actual leads

Pay-per-call Knoxville lead generation occurs when a business purchases incoming calls from potential consumers, but is only charged when a call is made, therefore ensuring that you only spend funds when the potential of a sale arises.
As you can see, this means you can make savings because the aspect of uncertainty is removed. Paying for actual phone calls made also offers the possible chance of increasing your sales margins whilst keeping your advertising costs low.

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SEO

7 Surefire Ways To Increase Your Traffic Starting Yesterday

7 Surefire Ways To Increase Your Traffic Starting Yesterday

Website Traffic ASAPInternet. Business. Profit. To fully integrate all of these words into a successful merging you will need another word. Traffic. Every article you will find about making your site or company successful would always include the importance of generating traffic.

So, we all know that in the core of it all, traffic is the most essential thing to a successful Internet based business company. Aside from ensuring that you have a great product to sell, and you have your company’s internal organization well taken core of, it would be time to get to the nitty gritty of things, generating traffic.

If you already have a site and you want think that you’re not getting the traffic that you’re supposed to be getting, then its time to reconsider. If you are contending in these very competitive business, you should always be a step ahead of your competition, increasing your traffic flow should have been done starting yesterday.

Timing is essential, that’s an old adage known to everyone. But with generating traffic, you should always be on your toes and be a day ahead of everyone. Never think of today and tomorrow as a starting point for making your site traffic laden, it should always have been yesterday.

To help you out in generating more traffic for your site, here are some seven surefire ways to increase your traffic starting from yesterday.

1) Invest in good advertising with search engines

Google’s Adwords and Bing Ad’s provide great advertising schemes that are very truly popular and assures great traffic. Although with this surefire way to increase your traffic would cost some money. While some would shy away from spending money to increase traffic, it is imperative in this case to do so because Adwords and Bing Ads is the top surefire way to increase your traffic.

You could see for yourself the success this search engine advertising methods have reaped rewards for so many companies. Lots of site feature these advertising system and many have signed on to reap the benefits. Do not be left behind. Every penny is worth it with using Google and Bing advertising.

2) Exchange or Trade Links with other sites

With exchanging links with other sites, both of you will benefit from the efforts both of you do to enhance your sites traffic. When one site features another sites link, they could provide one another with the traffic one site generates. The efforts are doubly beneficial because it would seem like both of you are working to generate more traffic. The more links traded with more sites the more traffic could be expected.

3) Use Viral Marketing

Viral marketing allows you to spread the word about your company and product without any costs or if ever low costs only. This is a marketing method that can be quite sneaky; you can attach your company’s name, product or link to a certain media such as a funny video, entertaining game, an interesting article or a gossip or buzz. With this method, people get infected with the creativity and entertainment of the medium that they will pass it on to many people.

Website Traffic ASAP4) Search and use proper keywords or keyword phrases for your sites content

Search engines look for certain keywords that they would show in their results page. In doing so, having the right keyword and keyword phrase is a high requirement in ranking in high in search engine results. You could write your own content or you could hire someone to do it for you.

5) Write Articles that can lead traffic to your site

Submit articles to sites that would contain the same subject that your site deals in. If you sell car parts write press releases and articles about cars and car parts. Attach your sites description and services at the end of the article as well as the link.

6) Join forums and online communities

Capture a market and show your expertise and credibility. When you found a good foundation for your site, people will trust you and your site and will pass on to many people their trust. Traffic will certainly increase because they know that you can provide what they need.

7) Lastly, Offer newsletters.

If many people know what you are about and your existence is shared with many others, you will find a loyal traffic that can provide you with more traffic by recommendation. If you arouse the curiosity of your customers they would be pushed to help you with your traffic.

Categories
SEO

Here’s Why Paying For Your Traffic Is A Smart Move

Here's Why Paying For Your Traffic Is A Smart Move

There are so many success stories you will hear about businesses making it good in the Internet. The troubling thing is, there are maybe a tenfold or even a hundredfold of stories contradictory to theirs. Many have unsuccessfully launched a business enterprise that is Internet based but only a handful shall succeed.
Is this through luck? That is even more remote. It takes good business sense and a lot of help and team effort. Most importantly, it is the eagerness to succeed and the determination to learn and the willingness to invest in a lot of hard work and some money.

The Very Basic

bigstock-Increase-Web-Traffic-Concept-32354933Like Neo, traffic is ‘The One’. Without traffic, all your effort would just go to waste. Every business needs customers, without them you wouldn’t have anyone to sell your products to. In the Internet world traffic is the walk in customer. The more traffic you have the more people would be able to sell your products to.
But like any business that’s in every corner building or in the mall, not everyone that goes in will buy, but the greater of number that do come in to browse your merchandise, the greater number of people that will buy your products. It is a simple and known fact.
But, how do you get traffic, traffic large enough that could make a small percentage of eventual buyers enough to make a good profit. Many big companies generate traffic of tens of thousands a day and a measly ten to fifteen percent actually buys, but that small percentage is enough to provide them with good business.
Many of these success stories get their traffic from paying others. Yes that’s right; you have to spend money to make money. Advertising is the key. The more people that knows that your site exists; the more people would of course go to your site, that’s common sense.
While there are many ways that can get you advertising for free, this do not generate the same high volume as those methods that are getting paid. These paid advertisements include advertising schemes by Google and Bing/Yahoo.

The Value of Searches

The search and will be the easiest and fastest medium in finding what a person needs in the Internet. Search engines have been very popular because they provide a vital service to many people. They are free and easy to use. With this popularity, they get many visitors and clicks that they are the most common sites that people go to. It is easy to understand why so many companies would pay to advertise with these search engines.
Search engines provide information to the millions of users that they have each day. They provide links to many sites that a user may be looking for. If your sites link pops up in the high ranks of the search results page, you get a great chance that they will go to your site. While search engine optimization is a cheaper and low cost way to get your site a high rank, paying for advertisements will ensure that you will be on the top ranks.
paying-trafficWhen you pay for your advertisements, it is like paying for your traffic. This may sound like not such a good idea, but the payoffs would tell a different story. When you pay for your traffic, you are guaranteed of a consistent traffic flow to your site. You will never go with an empty sales day.

Paying for your Traffic

Usually, you will be charged with the number of hits a link gets when your ads is clicked, this is called pay per click. For some search engines, you will be charged with the number of times your ad shows up when a certain keyword or keyword phrase is searched. It is imperative that you have good keyword content in your ad. There are many tools that aid you in using the right keyword for the right moment.
All the money you spend in paying for your traffic will not be for naught. You will get an impressive boost in traffic, which will also result, to a great boost in your sales figures. Paying for your traffic would be a really good idea and you will get all the benefits it has to offer.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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