How to Optimize Websites For Mobile And Two Validation Tools

Smartphone usage is increasing at a rapid pace. Millions of people worldwide own a smartphone and with larger screen sizes, better resolution and faster data streaming, users are more inclined to using tablets and smartphone devices for Internet access. 

Industry experts predict that 2/3 of online shoppers are using mobile devices to access the Internet and the number of users will soon exceed desktop and laptop users. 

Therefore, webmasters simply cannot ignore the huge number of mobile users, as they are viable potential customers and prospects in online business. This mobile trend makes it necessary to optimize websites for mobile to ensure proper viewing compatibility no matter the size of the screen the visitor might be using.

3 Options for Mobile Ready Websites

There are three main ways to make sure your site is compatible with the smaller screen sizes seen in tablets and smartphones.

• First, there is the option to use a mobile ready theme that will render correctly in any size screen. 
  
  
• Two, is the option to use responsive themes that adjust for each user’s device. 
  
  
• Third, there is the option to offer two versions of the site, one mobile and one non mobile. Sophisticated technology assess the user’s device and then serves the appropriate version of the site for that user.

Developing a different website for mobile users is the most suitable alternative that is becoming more popular today. 

But don't despair.  It is VERY EASY to optimize your website for mobile, smartphones other androids, tablets or iPhone as well as laptop sizes - IF you have the right software.

There are 3 types of mobile devices that can be used to access the web: 

• Smartphones: Smartphones can be used to access the web in the same way as any other computer device. These Android and iOS enhanced handsets can use HTML5 and have browsers where people go to the websites just as they would on any computer. The issue is that screen sizes are much smaller than on desktops and tablets, an issues that needs to considered in serving a suitable design that will render correctly and allow for proper viewing.
  
  
• Tablets: Tablets are smaller versions of laptops, and some of them also have very small screens where websites may not render properly without help.  
  
  
• Feature Phones: The browsers (WML, cHTML, WAP etc.) in these handsets are not compatible for viewing desktop optimized webpages. 

Recommendations from Google

1. Responsive Website Design: Google is one of the most eminent search engines used by billions of users worldwide. Google recommends configuration that uses single HTML for an URL website which is implemented in the responsive website design technology. Responsive designing facilitates site owners to apply CSS media queries to respond to the clients’ way of access. This allows sufficient flexibility to web page layouts to adjust the widths and height of the site according to the device used to view the site. 
   
   
2. Dynamic Serving: The other configuration supported by Google is Dynamic Serving.  Dynamic Serving allows website owners to use different HTML for one URL. To ensure proper identification, different HTTP headers are used. 
   
   
3. There is also a third configuration option recommended by Google. In this case websites with two different destinations for different types of devices are used. When users enter the search through a mobile device they are redirected to a different destination URL through a bidirectional link. This sort of link annotation allows the search engines to recognize the connection between the two URLS. 

Webmasters can choose any of the three configurations recommended by Google. However, in any case, essential and appropriate resources like CSS and Javascript has to be implemented for proper search engine indexing. 

Testing Tools to View a Website on Different Screen Sizes 

• Quirk Tool: Quirk tool allows users to view how their site looks on various screen sizes. It also permits webmasters to perform a number of actions. The screen fly feature not only allows users to view screen size on PCs and mobiles, but, also on television screens. Using the Smap feature designers can build the client’s site map on the browser. This tool can also be used to build wireframes. 
  
  
• Responsinator: Checks how websites render in many different devices, including popular brands of smartphones, and tablets. These include, iPhones, iPads, various Android phones and tablets. 

A proper testing period and multiple trials are important before making the site live, not only to ensure a positive user experience, but, to make sure that you don’t lose out on a big chunk of traffic and potential customers. 

An Introduction To Search Engine Optimization

If you are new to internet marketing, and you want to cultivate your knowledge of SEO, then you have come to the right place. In this guide, you will learn all the basics and important things to keep in mind as you optimize your website for the search engines. 

In addition, you will find out how search engine optimization and getting right is essential to ranking well in the search engines to get the most amount of organic traffic possible. 

SEO In A Nutshell 

Search engine optimization, also known as SEO, is a marketing technique that’s end goal is to increase rankings in search engines. 

The techniques that are involved in SEO help to position your site higher in SERPS (search engine page results) so that it may get as much organic traffic as possible and can be easily found for its keyword terms when people make those searches. 

This, in turn, will increase the number of people visiting your website, which can potentially boost your sales and revenues. It should also be noted that search traffic tends to convert better than that from other sources, including social media. 

Importance And Benefits  

Successful online businesses and high authority sites, for the most part, get their web traffic from major search engines like Yahoo, Bing and Google. Despite the escalating popularity of social networks, search engines remain a very important source of traffic for most websites. For most consumers and Internet users, search engines are the main method of navigating through the web. 

Search engines can be very beneficial to your online business in a lot of different ways. For one, they can help generate targeted traffic from web users who are searching for topics within specific niches.

 As online research and surveys have confirmed, the traffic coming from search engines can determine the success or failures of an organization or business. Basically, getting targeted organic traffic to your website can provide exposure, publicity and increase revenues unlike any other marketing medium. 

It is also a fact that organic traffic converts better than other sources, with the only exception being email marketing.

The Purpose Of SEO

Search engines are advanced and sophisticated, but they still need some help from webmasters when making websites visible in their search results. The top search engines are constantly looking for ways to improve their technology, so they can search the internet deeper, and yield better results to consumers and end users. 

But, search engines have a limitation in terms of their operations. With that in mind, it is the responsibility of the webmaster to make his or website optimized in appropriate ways and provide the proper relevance in order to gain the visibility and rankings that search engines offer. 

Basics of SEO

Search engine’s goals are to provide results that relevant and useful to what search traffic is looking for. Basically, this relevancy can be determined through:

• Correctly Optimized For Keywords And Topics - It is important that search engine bots can interpret the topics or keywords the site is targeting. But, it’s important to keep in mind that over optimization can land penalties in Google, so, it’s important to use a good balance, and not stuff pages with keywords. The basic rule of thumb is to create pages for users not search engines, and all will fall into place.
  
  
• 
  Website Content – The content of your site should be relevant to the product or service you are offering. It should also be fresh, unique and updated regularly. Search engines feed on content, and statistically content that is on Page 1 of SERPS is on average 2000 words. 
   
• Natural Link Profiles – There was a time when one can build 10,000 spammy links for their site and rank on page 1 of Google for various terms. Those days are gone. A lot more thoughtfulness needs to be put into the link building aspect of SEO. These days it’s important to choose quality over quantity when it comes to link building and stay away from spammy
  links that can cause ranking penalties.
  
  
• Website Speed Performance – Search engines prefer websites that load quickly and that has been confirmed as a ranking signal in the Google algorithm. 
  
  
• Low Bounce Rate – A bounce rate is a metric that measures how long visitors stay on the site once they arrive. The lower the bounce rate the better sites will perform in search engines, especially Google that uses this metric to gage how users view websites. 
   
• Authority sites – Authority sites tend to rank better than any others. Establishing authority takes time, work and focus, but, the results can be remarkable and can create a business that will be stable for the long term. 

Implementing An SEO Campaign

SEO can be rather complex and intricate, especially for those are new to internet marketing. There are, however, a lot of honest online sources that can help you become an expert in search engine optimization. With practice and practical application the art and science of SEO can go a long way to serve in you gaining a very valuable traffic source. 

The Pros and Cons of Choosing Highly Competitive Keywords and Niches

Most of the Internet is based on keywords, they are how web surfers find the information they are searching for and it’s how websites get found.

Some are more popular than others and are capable of bringing mass traffic, others not as much. 

All of this depends on the amount of searches a keyword has, how often people use them when searching online and also the amount of competition that exists for them in the search engines.

Some marketers claim that picking extremely competitive keywords is key to earning a fortune online, while, others point out that the more competitive the market, the more challenging your competition, the more complicated the optimization process and so making any real money is impossible because it will be too difficult to rank for these terms. 

So, who is correct? 

The truth is both viewpoints are correct, and choosing highly competitive keywords has its pros and cons.

Pros And Cons Of Choosing Very Competitive Keywords And Niches

Pros:

For the most competitive terms the market is actually big enough to permit numerous businesses to flourish and, for those who have competitive products in addition to great ideas, the only real limit to the amount of money that can be made is the search volumes of the keywords in that market. 

There will be a lot of examples of what sells and what doesn't, and also what search traffic finds appealing, as well as, the sites Google chooses to rank for those keywords. 

If you don't have a product or service of your own, you can certainly locate a competitive top quality product to market as an affiliate. There will be an abundance of affiliate programs to choose from in popular markets. 

You can cater to many thousands of web surfers, and depending on the keywords you choose for your site, this number can easily climb to millions of visitors per month.  

In highly competitive markets you have many alternatives to make money online.  

There are many marketing methods to promote high competition keywords, including, but not limited to, pay-per-click, email marketing, forum marketing, content marketing, social media, blogging, etc. 

Word of mouth marketing and social media are such venues that can make anything popular and if you have a top notch product or really offer something of value, these can be the ideal venues to get the word out about your site and build a loyal following. Once you get mass traffic on your own, and become known online, Google will often rank you after the fact. 

Cons: 

There will be a mass amount of competitors, in both organic and paid search results. You will have to invest a serious amount of time, cash and effort in order to rank for competitive terms, some terms that are dominated by big brands may be impossible to rank for. 

Search engines, especially Google know which keywords are the most valuable, those “money keywords” will be the hardest to rank for and sometimes impossible as the top pages of the SERPS will be dominated by aged domains who have earned trust from Google and well known brands.

It will likely take serious time to let the world know of your products existence, and to engage a following. Nonetheless, as stated before, whenever you do get that following, and make headway in SERP rankings, the income opportunities are unlimited, your online business can easily grow and the possibilities will be infinite because the demand is so great. 

Bottom Line

When you choose a competitive niche and you target competitive keywords, you make the first step towards becoming a brand in that niche and, when you offer high quality products or services your success is that much closer in sight.

 Focus on getting noticed, networking with bloggers in your niche, and social media, build a following and Google will follow you. One thing is sure, in competitive niches with highly searched for keywords, there are no limits to earning potentials.

What Is Content Marketing and Its 7 Benefits

These days traditional marketing just doesn't cut it anymore. Long gone are the days when people actually had to sit and watch commercials in between their favourite shows. Now they can set their DVR and skip all the television advertising. Magazine advertising isn't as effective as it once was anymore either. People just simply ignore it. And those banners and buttons that used to get clicked online, well web traffic has become somewhat immune to those too. 

Smart online marketers know this type of traditional marketing is no longer effective. And that's where content marketing comes into play. Content marketing is a simple marketing technique that requires website owners to create and distribute valuable content on consistent basis. The objective is to get visitors to take a specific action, such as, sign up for a mailing list, make a purchase or simply to develop brand and establish expertise in a given niche or industry. 

Benefits Of Content Marketing

As you can imagine there are a ton of benefits associated with this type of marketing. Below I will share seven benefits of content marketing with you. 

Benefit #1 – It Generates Sales

As a business owner you depend on large sales to survive. The problem is the average small business doesn't have the customer base of their large competitors. That means they have to do much more to generate any sales they get. Content marketing is without a doubt one of the most efficient ways for any business to draw in more customers and ultimately more sales. 

It is a fact that being of value to customers, and offering content they can actually use builds relationships, and loyalty that can last a lifetime.

Benefit #2 – It Establishes You As An Expert 

Content marketing is a great way to separate yourself from all the other businesses in your market. If you are not afraid to say something bold and to express a different point of view on a particular topic it will really make you stand out in the crowd. It will make you look like the expert everyone should follow. When you establish yourself as an expert there is no limit to the amount of money you can make. 

Benefit #3 – It’s Cost Effective

When you compare content marketing to other forms of marketing you will see just how cheap it is. While it won't cost you a lot monetarily it will cost you a lot as far as your time goes. It takes time to create content and it takes patience to continue to do it on a regular basis. If it makes sense for your ROI (return on investment) then outsourcing is always a great option.

The rewards from content marketing won't be instant. It will take some time before you start to see any returns. But once the ball starts rolling it will all be well worth it. 

Expect to spend at least 40 hours a month creating content. If you can't do that you may want to consider hiring someone who can. Again, the results will take time but it will be well worth it in the long run. 

Also, it’s important to think outside the box when it comes to content, sometimes we instantly think of written text, but, did you know that video converts 80% better than text on sales pages? And, YouTube has millions of views each month? People love video and so that is a great form of content.

 Benefit #4 – It Makes You Money

This is the best benefit of all. Content marketing is one of the most effective strategies on the internet. It delivers your message in a very quick and efficient matter. If done
correctly a good content marketing strategy can bring in quite a bit of money in conversions for calls to action on your site. 

Benefit #5 – Brand Building

Brand development is another important benefit of content marketing. The fact is that when people get reliable, useful and accurate information the payoffs for establishing brand reputation can be significant. A smart strategy is to go beyond how the content serves the company or business, but, to consider how it serves the user. Make sure to consider what are and how to solve their problems as they pertain to your niche and industry, and once you do so on a consistent basis you will establish long term and prosperous relationships from a grateful audience. 

Benefit #6 – It Brings Traffic

The simple fact is that the more site pages you have the more traffic you will get. Content brings search engine bots and the more pages of a site those bots index the more traffic they can bring back and traffic means more opportunities to convert any calls to actions that are on that site.

Benefit #7 – Social Media Benefits

Content marketing is the food for social media campaigns. High quality can go viral, it gets shared and it can be posted on the various popular social platforms, in turn, social media marketing campaign brings more traffic, more leads and allows companies to build relationships with their customers.

What Is Internet Marketing And Its Methods?

By definition Internet marketing is promoting something online. This includes promoting products, services, brand or even yourself as a blogger.

Sounds simple enough right? 

Well truth be told it’s not as simple as it might sound. Internet marketing merges two of the most important aspects of marketing together. That would be the technical and the creative. That means advertising, development, design and sales are all one. 

The internet really became popular back in the early 90's. Since then its popularity has grown immensely. Back in 1998 the average number of searches per day was just under 10,000. Fast forward almost 20 years and that number has skyrocketed to well over 1 trillion per year. 

That alone should tell you how popular internet marketing is. It should also tell you how profitable it can be.  In fact, as compared with traditional offline forms of advertising, such as, television, newspapers and magazines, the Internet offers significant advantages, some of the major ones are:

• Global reach 
• Instantaneous mode of conveying marketing messages 
• Cost effectiveness and a high ROI (return on investment) 

In 2011 Internet marketing revenues surpassed cable television and came to close to beating those seen in broadcast television commercials.

2013 saw historic increases in online marketing revenue with an 18% rise from 2012 for a total of $20.1 billion in the first two quarters. 

Methods Of Internet Marketing

So how exactly does Internet marketing work? It’s made up of several different strategies that all work together to help you drive traffic, increase conversions and make sales. 

There are various methods that fall under the umbrella of Internet marketing, all with their own specific designs, end goals and strategies. 

Smart marketers implement more than one method, and best case scenario all of the above in order to appropriately diversify their marketing plans to achieve the desired results and engage the highest amount of leads that can be converted into customers. 

Each of these strategies work to help boost the online visibility of your business. 

• Email Marketing
• Social Media Marketing
  
• Video Marketing
• Display Advertising
• Mobile Marketing
• Affiliate Marketing - that comes in the form of 
  low ticket affiliate sales where you can earn a smaller commission or get paid for leads and high ticket affiliate sales where commissions are much higher such as programmes Groove and ReThink Social Media.   These are my current favourite affiliate programs for online marketing but in other niches there are a multitude of programmes on Clickbank and elsewhere too, offering both lower and higher ticket prices.
• Search Engine Marketing (Pay Per Click)
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Top Rankings (SEO)

When you consider just how much new business is being conducted online every year you will understand how much competition there is out there for that coveted #1 spot in the search engine page results (SERPS) and especially Google since they are the most widely used search engine in the world. 

It is crucial that every business, be it local or national, have a strong online presence in search engines. When you have a spot on the first page of the major search engines it not only facilitates the highest possible level of organic traffic, but, it can create a significant level of trust with consumers. 

They believe you are a reputable and a credible company all because you have the top spot. When you are able to build trust you will be able to make a lot of money through Internet marketing. 

End Goals 

The end goal of all Internet marketing strategies is to increase a brand or business’s online visibility and to increase conversions of calls to actions.

A call to action is simply what you want your site visitors to do when they come to your website. This could be a landing page where you want to entice them to sign up for more information so you get their email address, making a donation, making a purchase, filling out a form or buying a service. It is whatever you want the visitor to do. 

The key is to figure out which Internet marketing strategy will work best for your business. Don't try to implement all the strategies at one time. This will never work. Start with one and add in others as you see success. You don't want to overwhelm yourself as that will lead to inaction, which in turn leads to self-sabotage. 

Dress for Success Even When Working from Home

When you work from home, treat your venture as a professional business - not a hobby.  Therefore you need to feel like you are a professional. Just because your home base isn’t an office building doesn’t make you any less serious about your business venture. One way to “get into character” is to look the part.

Getting into Character

You are playing a part – the part of a business entrepreneur. Internet marketers, freelance writers, bloggers, online coaches and virtual assistants (to name a few) are professional people who happen to be fortunate enough to conduct their businesses by making their own hours. This brings with it a lot of responsibility that those who work in offices might not experience. For one, motivation comes from within instead of without. 

Motivation, focus and discipline are all challenges for the working at home parent. With small children under foot, the line between business and family can get blurred. That is not the way that your business and your dreams will grow. 

What can you do? Get out of those pyjamas and get ready for the day as if you are about to leave the house. Changing your frame of mind is simpler when you are dressed for success. Remember how you prepared when you worked in the office? Do something similar at home. The one advantage is that you don’t have to get up so early and you won’t be required to spend gas getting to your destination.

Dress for Success

What will make you feel like you are at work? It all depends on the nature of your business. Let’s begin with enterprises that are conducted solely online. Most of the time, you do not have direct face-to-face contact with clients. Your dress code can be business casual. If a teleconference comes up, you don’t have to rush and change. This look is also appropriate for promotional videos that you create for the internet.

The game changes a bit when your business involves going out and meeting clients. This is the case with MLM, or multi-level marketing. As a representative of Mary Kay, The Pampered Chef, Avon and the likes.  The clothes that you wear are a part of your presentation. You Are Your Own Advertisement and Ambassador.  Who wouldn’t want to buy a product from a smartly dressed person?  One of your customers may also take advantage of the business opportunities you represent because you looked the part at your product shows. 

Service businesses that are conducted from home (cleaning, landscaping and etc.) may require work clothing when you are actually doing the job, but a smart outfit is advisable when meeting clients for the first time or promoting your business in the community. You feel more professional and potential customers can feel that as well.

If you haven’t given any thought to your business dress because you are at home while you are working, consider getting into character. 

Benefits of Working Online for Stay At Home Moms and Dads

Being a parent is a round-the-clock job. It is the fullest of full-time jobs. It never ends. It is a wonder how supermoms are able to juggle work, chores, being a wife, a mom or a husband or a dad. It is definitely a miracle if any parent excels in all of the above. Usually, one or more of the other roles suffer. 

Nowadays, a lot of people choose to work at home over having office jobs. This is actually advantageous for both employers and employees. Mostly, this is great for SAHPs or stay-at-home parents. 

It means less time preparing and traveling to and from the workplace and more time for chores, for the husband, and for the kids.

It also means making your own hours, and being able to better manage time for work, kids and other responsibilities because there is no set schedule to follow.

Time in a Bottle: The Perfect Schedule

Stay at home parents who work online can have the perfect working schedule according to Online Parent Advisor. With a specific number of working hours that may be used straight or at different times of the day, it is the perfect arrangement for mothers. 

As parents, there are doctor and dentist appointments, kids’ school, kids’ extra-curricular activities, errands, and chores that need to be done in specific times of the day. Working online allows them to schedule these tasks and have their free time for work. As long as deadlines are met, it does not matter at what time of the day you do the actual work.

No Cons: Convenience

One of the best things about working from home is that a parent can continue contributing a significant amount to the family income minus the stress caused by the daily commute including enduring heavy traffic to go to and from the workplace. 

There is also no need for time and effort to adjust to co-workers and the working environment. This is great because by working online, parents earn money without being exposed to stressful circumstances.

Family First: Fulfilling a Parent's Role Above All

Any mum or dad would definitely choose to be there for their family whenever they are needed, especially by the kids. When a parent needs to travel to the workplace, it would take time to get home in case one of the kids got sick. 

It would also take time to seek permission to go home early. While when a parent works from home, they can attend to their sick kid’s needs without having to ask anyone for permission. It is a luxury that SAHPs have that other working parents do not have.

Every second spent in waking up extra early, leaving early, and dressing up, commuting to and from the workplace is a second spent away from the family.  Being able to work from home allows a parent to have more quality time with the family.

Be Your Own Boss

Parents who work online, as freelancers, are their own bosses. They do not get shouted at, they do not get pressured, and they are rarely criticized. They can choose their own clients, their own assignments, and they can choose deadlines that are more convenient and achievable for them. They work at their own pace and follow instructions and orders only from the clients they choose to work for.