Business Plus Baby

December 17, 2015

5 Ways to measure & track the success of your SEO campaigns

If you’re currently using SEO techniques on your website, then this post is for you. Whether you’re doing SEO yourself or hiring a company, it’s not easy to measure results. We know, for a fact, that making your website search-engine-friendly takes time to kick in. Some experts say that you should wait at least three months before you’re likely to see real results. All this under-the-surface movement makes it very difficult to track your success. Is your SEO really working? Today, we’ll show you a few simple ways to measure your performance. We’ll show you what’s working, and what’s not.

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Google ranking

Obviously, the best method to measure your SEO success is your Google rank. Are you moving up the pages for your preferred search terms? Now, this isn’t always the most reliable measurement. There are all sorts of factors involved, but this will help you figure out if your main strategy is working. The trouble is that this takes time to kick in. But, if you’ve noticed that you’ve moved from page 5 to page 4, then things are heading in the right direction.

Search engine referral figures

The best way to really tap into your search engine success is by looking at your analytics data. This is a trick we learnt on an SEO training program, and it’s become one of our favourite measurements. Log into your Google Analytics account, and load up the acquisitions page. You’re looking for the figures that demonstrate the volume of traffic that arrived through search engine referrals. If your search engine referrals are on the rise, then your SEO campaign is clearly kicking in. Now it’s just a case of pushing that number higher.

Referral phrases

Of course, numbers aren’t your only concern here. You’re also looking for the specific phrases that people are using to find your site. This is an indication of how well your keyword strategy is working. I.e. are you using the most effective keywords? This part of Google Analytics will tell you which exact phrases and keywords people are using to find you. Do they match up with your targeted phrases?

Are all pages receiving search traffic

A good all-round SEO strategy should have a positive effect on all website pages. If you’re seeing search traffic on one page, but not the others, then your strategy is too specific. Remember, you’re looking to boost your overall site authority. Check that each of your web pages are starting to receive search traffic, and monitor what keywords are driving them.

Domain authority and page authority

There is one specific ranking system that online experts take very seriously. That’s Moz’s domain authority and page authority metrics. It’s a figure (measured out of 100) that determines how strong a website’s search engine presence is. In other words, it shows you how much authority you have in the eyes of Google.

Don’t be alarmed if you aren’t seeing immediate results. SEO takes a while to kick in, but these metrics here should help you measure how far you’ve come.

December 15, 2015

The benefits of renting private offices

There are a lot of things that business owners need to think hard about. Many business decisions are simple and obvious. But a lot of them aren’t, and they take time and dedication to make. One of the tougher decisions you’re going to face is your business headquarters. You might get away with working from home for a while. But, eventually, you’re going to need to get an office.

Now, a lot of people think that they just need to rent some space, and they’re sorted. But, in reality, you need to take the time to pick a perfect office. And this can sometimes be more difficult than you might imagine. To get the best outcome for the business, you need to choose to rent private, ready furnished offices. Here are a few reasons why they’re such a good idea.

You Don’t Need to Furnish

One of the most annoying things about getting a new business office is the furnishing aspect. This might sound fun to begin with, but it can soon become a nightmare. It’s time-consuming and stressful, not to mention expensive. You need to measure up to make sure you get furniture and equipment that fits and you’re bound to forget something important as well. Level Office offer furnished private offices that come ready to use, and this makes things much easier for everyone.

Affordable Rates

As a business owner, you’re going to be more conscious of money than you have been in the past. Everything is a cost these days, and you will need to work with a budget. That means you have to consider the cost of an office. Renting a private and ready-furnished office is going to work out much cheaper than having to turn an empty room into an office. The rates are very affordable, and will fit in well with your projected budget. That’s why this is such a good option for business owners.

Saves You Hassle

When you’re getting your company up and running, you need to make sure it’s hassle free. There’s enough stress already involved in the running of a startup. And trying to get your office sorted can add extra hassle and stress to proceedings. That’s why it’s so useful to be able to rent a place that’s ready to go. This makes things a lot less traumatic and arduous at the beginning. It means you can get in there and start using functional and organised offices right away

Can Use Them for Anything

Another benefit of these types of offices is that you can use them for anything. Of course, your office is generally used for work. But, what if you need to have a team meeting? What about a conference with important clients? Some offices are not nice enough to be able to do this. Others are just simply too small, or not laid out well enough. But these rental offices are designed so you can use them for meetings as well as day to day running of the business.

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When it comes to trying to pick the right office for your company you need to consider rental options. An office plays a huge role in the development and evolution of your brand. So you need to make sure you give plenty of credence to how important this is. Make sure you pick private rental offices and you’ll reap the benefits.

December 14, 2015

Easy ways to simplify your web design

Any professional web designer will tell you that their number one priority is simplicity. The cleaner, and more simple your website, the better your sales and conversions. It’s that simple. As web users, we’re looking for simple, speedy information. Unfortunately, not a lot of website owners got the memo! Many are still running fussy, complicated websites. They’re not appealing to the eye, and they’re tricky to navigate. Remember, you’re looking for the best possible user experience. Here are five low-hanging fruits you can easily implement to simplify your web design.

Highlight the essential elements. Lose the rest!

Your website is designed for a purpose, right? Your goal is to sell products or attract signups. Highlight that goal, and make sure everything leads straight to it. The crucial elements of your site are as follows. First, the logo and branding. Make sure they are prominent, and powerful. Second, your value proposition. That’s the part that tells people exactly what you do, and why they should trust you. Thirdly, your call to action. That’s what people should do next. It could be signing up to the mailing list or downloading a trial version. It’s hard to make the cut, but lose anything that doesn’t serve a purpose!

Speed up your checkout process

One of the most complicated aspects of any website is the checkout process. Websites always ask us 100 questions before we make it to the end. This process is so convoluted that more than half of people abandon their cart along the way. That’s a huge loss of profit! You need to direct people through this process quickly. Ask for as little information as possible, and help them along the way. You can do this with a postcode address finder API. That will find your customer’s full address from the postcode. It’s little things like this that make your site simple.

Put more above the fold

‘Above the fold’ refers to everything you can see before you scroll down. A large portion of your visitors won’t even bother to scroll below the fold. With that in mind, put all the useful information at the top of the page. Make sure all the useful information is right there in front of your visitor’s eyes!

Simplify the colour scheme

Every designer has an internal battle going on inside. Part of them wants to create something artistic and colourful. The other half wants to make sure the design is simple and user friendly! It’s all about finding a balance between creative and practical. A simple colour scheme is the best way to stay on the right side of that balance. Choose a simple colour palette, and try to stay within it.

Reduce the number of pages

The last thing you want is your visitors clicking through lots of pages to get where they want to go. Try to keep all your information on just a few web pages. Remove any pages that take the visitor away from your ultimate goal.

That’s all for today, folks! Check back soon for more web design advice.

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December 12, 2015

What do the highest converting websites do differently to everyone else?

Every self-respecting company has a website. The Internet has become such a big part of a firm’s success that there isn’t a firm who can afford not to have an online presence. The problem is that there are so many websites out there now. That’s why yours needs to be different to stand out from the crowd, otherwise, your conversion rates will suffer. Conversions are essential to your sales and your reputation, so you really do need to take your conversion rate seriously.

Let’s look at what your website could learn from the highest converting websites:

Test Before It Goes On The Site

Everything that goes on your site needs to lead to a conversion, even if this takes several visits. Because you cannot read minds, you don’t know for sure whether a new technique is going to be a hit, or whether it is going to flop. Where you and the top sites may differ is that you take the risk while they do their research. Before it goes live, the test whether the new function adds value to the site. If it doesn’t, the function doesn’t go anywhere near the site. Cluttering up your website with useless add-ons will only annoy users.

Ask The Pros For Advice

So, how do you test a new idea before it goes live? The first way, and the least expensive way, it is to talk to your customers. Thanks to social media, you can converse and interact with your customer base much more easily than before. However, the best of the best go to the pros for help. They understand that paying for a conversion optimisation service is money well spent as they have the tools to turn leads into sales. Their expertise and experience are just two reasons that businesses turn to them to transform their websites.

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Shorter Is Better

If an expert is not within your budget, you can tackle the things yourself. The first thing you need to take care of is the sign-up forms. When a consumer comes to register to make a sale or for more news, they don’t want to see lots of boxes in front of their eyes. The boxes suddenly make signing up to your site seem like a big task, which is something they would prefer not to waste their time with. Instead, make the forms smaller by only asking for the necessary information. That way, the process will seem far less daunting.

Make The Benefits Clear

Sometimes, website visitors need encouragement to make a conversion. When it comes to spending their time and money on a service, they need to know it really is worth it. Until you show them that you are the one for them, they will avoid ‘being converted’. What you need to do is show them why your product or business is the best choice. Tell them what you do and promote your good points, but don’t go overboard.

Security

The Internet is great, but it is also dangerous. You know it, I know it, and the customer knows it too. So, when it comes to sale time, they want to know that everything is safe and secure. By displaying the ‘HTTPS’ sign at the start of your URL, you are showing them that your online transactions are encrypted.

As a result, security should not be an issue.

December 11, 2015

How much could you save by selling your house online?

The days when you went straight to an estate agent when you were ready to sell your home are over. But if you’re like me and it’s been a while since you last bought or sold a house, you might not know just how much has changed. Or maybe this is the first time you’ve sold your home and you don’t know much about it?

This infographic which shows how you could save thousands by selling your house online. And if you’re getting ready to sell, good luck!

Provided by HouseSimple