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Nishad Jiwa

Nishad Jiwa has over 15 years of web content and article writing experience. His work is proudly displayed on several websites and interactive forums. He has written for a number of publications including Urban Beat, the Houston Chronicle, and online sports media outlets. From automotive and health to finance and telecommunications, he has facilitated a wide array of industries with a diverse writing style. Nishad is currently a member of SIGGRAPH, and has extensive knowledge in commercial and creative writing. His specialties also include promotional videos, SEO enhancement, and web development.

Reputation ManagementReviews

The Best Tools for Monitoring your Online Reputation in 2020

by Nishad Jiwa
written by Nishad Jiwa

Managing your online reputation is as crucial as ever for brand validity and awareness. What was once dominated by word-of-mouth referrals is now a smorgasbord of digital information that is publicly accessible. Access to your company’s industry ratings and client-customer reviews requires an internet connection from any device.

You must keep track of your online reputation to attract more clients and consumers. Even the slightest negative review can have a dramatic impact on your brand’s status in the industries you serve. As a business owner, any harmful statements about your products or services can turn away potential buyers. This can affect the number of leads you amass on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. These leads may result in higher web traffic to your online stores, blogs, and websites; higher conversions result in greater profits and revenue for your business.

For protecting and preserving your online reputation, there is a range of paid and free tools on the internet. These apps can highlight the positive aspects of your business while reducing the negative sentiment left behind by bad reviews. We have compiled a list of the four best online tools for monitoring your online reputation in 2020.

1. Brand 24

Brand24 is a popular brand management tool that allows you to create projects that improve your online reputation. Each project is designed to track social mentions of your respective company or commercial entity. This platform has three paid tiers for media monitoring:

  • Plus Package – $49/mo – this plan allows up to 5 users to track different keywords and mentions related to your brand. Data analysis, mentions, and citations are updated every 12 hours for your review. You also get in-depth tracking with a convenient mobile app; this lets you see who is trash-talking or leaving positive reviews for your company while on the go.
  • Premium Package – $99/mo – the premium plan allows up to 10 users and a maximum of 100k mentions per month. You also get timely analytics that covers your daily social media reaches and specifics on who mentions you the most. Real-time compiled data can be exported to Excel files or PDFs for your convenience. There is also live assistance via chat, email, or phone 24/7.
  • Max Package – $199/mo – the max plan allows up to 99 users and a maximum of 250K mentions per month. All data is updated in real-time, including tracking interactions and mentions. The max plan connects you with a brand management consultant who sets everything up for you with a precise analysis of the loads of data that flows in daily.

Brand24 crawls the entire web looking for mentions of your brands or companies. The tool stockpiles keywords related to your businesses and collect mentions from socials, blogs, videos, news sites, PR platforms, websites, discussion forums, Google reviews, and much more.

2. YouScan

YouScan is another popular social tracker that helps businesses’ tune into their customers’ online conversations. This social media intelligence platform is ranked number one among influencers, clients, and customers alike. As a media listening tool, YouScan scans the social platforms and web in search of your brand’s mentions and reviews. It analyzes Google reviews, industry citations, mentions, and other social gabs about your company. Here are some of its perks:

  • YouScan scans social media and the web for all your brand mentions.
  • It pinpoints data that you can sift through with user-friendly analytical tools.
  • Customers can create search criteria with strategic keywords that are relevant to their brands. YouScan will scour the internet and collect data that match your searches.
  • Its Visual Insights tool is powered by artificial intelligence (AI) for accurate results, charts, and numbers that reflect your brand’s image and reputation on the web.
  • This tool manages your brand reputation with actionable insights, texts, and visual media so you can see who is saying what about your company.

3. BrandMentions

BrandMentions digs every corner of the web to find relevant mentions about your brand or business. This platform uses the power of social media to help you make worthwhile, informed decisions about customer and client engagements.

This popular tool searches Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and other social platforms for mentions. It also scans blogs, review sites, news sites, and websites. While it might take some time to configure the tool as needed, BrandMentions is worth it, according to industry monitors. Each data return can be filtered accordingly. You also get a detailed breakdown of all mentions, reviews, citations, and even your competitors’ keywords for monitoring.

Using this tool is an ideal way to grow your pool of data. You can even respond to social posts directly from this platform’s user-friendly interface.

4. Buzzsumo

Buzzsumo makes this list for its excellent reviews and ratings. This tool takes a different approach to brand management and online reputation monitoring. It allows users to comb the internet for any content that relates to their search terms. The latter may include company names, brands, products, and even services within a specific industry or sector.

The platform delivers several search results that engage customers with real-time data and statistics. Customers can filter out searches using dates, countries of origin, B2B publishers, language, domains, and content-type. Similarly, they can check to see which publishers or influencers have cited or mentioned their brands within specific date ranges.

The brand management network provides engagement figures from Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Reddit, and other social or non-social platforms. You get a number of links per search result, as well as detailed graphs and charts. For effective online reputation management, the tool creates alerts for clients covering brand mentions, competitor mentions, keyword, back-links, and content from sites and blogs.

These are but four of the top online reputation monitoring tools in 2020. As always, you can check Google by simply entering your name or brand/company name to see mentions. However, an online tracker and tool provide detailed analysis and statistics that regular searches on engines cannot offer.

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Google AdsSEO

How to use Google Ads Callout Extensions

by Nishad Jiwa
written by Nishad Jiwa

Google Ads remains a useful platform for advertisers wishing to promote their products and services. This network is ideal for showcasing product listings, videos, service offerings, and other marketing content that is always mobile-friendly.

As a form of paid advertising (PPC), Google Ads help client businesses appear on Google’s searches and Maps. Customers only pay for actual results, like clicks to their websites, blogs, online stores, or calls to their businesses. The platform is accessible via laptops and wireless devices – with ads that appear in minutes after creation for targeting traffic to desired websites.

Here are some more essentials to keep in mind:

  • Google Ads operates on an auction system with businesses that have high-quality ad campaigns receiving rewards. These include better ad placement for higher visibility and lower costs per ad.
  • The average cost per click on Google Ads is $1 – $2 on the search network. The most expensive keywords in Google and Bing Ads cost around $50 per click.
  • As part of your customized Google Ads campaign, you can manage costs with geotargeting, device-targeting, and ad scheduling. Their Smart Ads Creator also helps you create business ads and banners that display in minutes.

How can Google Ads Callout extensions help my marketing strategy?

Now that we have covered some basics of Google Ads, let’s explore some of the tools available for brand marketing enhancement. One of the most popular additions to Ads is Callout Extensions. These are mainly small snippets of text that appear with your search ads. These content bits showcase the additional benefits of your products or services.

You can add up to 4 callouts per ad with 25 characters long. Here is a sample of Google Ads Callout Extensions:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1YMKaanl7HgPe8GEHfS-KCRFWpppAErGj

The snippets are streamlined to highlight deals, discounts, or special promotions. They can be a few keywords with commas or sentences around 25 characters long. In this ad, Insignia SEO in Austin is offering 10% off its services on orders over $2,000.

Why should you use Callout Extensions?

As you can see in the sample ad above, Insignia SEO has used the callout extension to add two additional messages to their main ad.

  • Deal: 10% off Services
  • Mention Ad on orders over $2,000.

While the main ad focuses on promoting the company as the best agency for SEO services in Houston, the additional snippets relay essential information about a discount available to all existing and potential clients/customers. This is done in a crafty manner – one that does not overburden the ad but seamlessly blends in the additional content.

Callout Extensions allow you to double the amount of text in your ad for effective messaging. While Google Ads limits content to 25 characters for headlines and 70 characters for the body of the advertisement, Callout ads give you more space for reaching wider audiences. These additions even help your brands stand out on crowded search engine results.

How to set up Callout Extensions

You will need a Google Adwords account for building and displaying business ads online. If you already have one, log in and click on the Ad Extensions tab. Since Adwords has several ad extensions, make sure to use the drop-down box and select Callout Extensions. You can also click the red “+Extension” button to add your extensions.

There will be a section to add Callout text to your new or existing ad. Enter up to 25 characters of writing within this section. Once this is done, go to Device Preference and choose whether you want your ads to display only for mobile search users or everyone.

You can then set up your ads’ Start and end dates. This is good for exclusive promotions, which may only run for a limited time. By setting up start and end dates, your Callout Extensions will run collectively with your Ads – and you don’t have to go back in and turn off the promotions when they expire.

The last step is Scheduling, which enables you to run the ads only on specific days. If you want them to run daily or only during certain hours of the day, there are options available for those as well.

Build better ads with Callout Extensions

The presentation of your online business ad is just as important as the content within. You need an ad structure that is easy to scan and digest for brand awareness and higher conversion rates. While Google Ads remains at the top of the heap of pay-per-click marketing campaigns, adding Callout Extensions is a savvy way to place more information in front of potential clients.

Not only can you get more visitors to your websites or online stores – the chances for product engagements are also higher with captivating ads that are aesthetic and entice consumers to take desired actions.

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SEOSite OptimizationWeb DesignWix

Wix and SEO: Myths Busted

by Nishad Jiwa
written by Nishad Jiwa

Wix.com is considered one of the top website builders on the internet today. This Israeli-based company provides cloud-based web development services for new and existing users. Customers may create HTML5 websites and mobile-friendly sites with a range of online drag and drop tools. There is even a user-friendly interface for laptop/desktop clients as well as a convenient app.

The platform offers both free and paid memberships with the World Wide Web (www) URLs for paying customers. With over 644 million live websites on the internet, chances are there is a site out there similar to yours. With this in mind, you need to go above and beyond to pull audiences and visitors to your pages.

The last thing you need is to get lost in the neverending stream of web pages. With 26 percent of the market share, Wix is only second to Squarespace (at 42 percent) in terms of content management system (CMS) user engagements. However, how well does this platform stack up to other site builders like GoDaddy, Jimdo, WordPress, and Weebly?

We have busted five of the myths floating out there with facts and realities about Wix:

1. How do Wix websites rank on Google?

Myth: Wix is not SEO or Google-friendly.

A common misconception is that Google favors websites that are built on specific CMS networks. These include WordPress, Magento, OpenCart, and other reputable site builders and platforms. The fact is that Google’s algorithms do not distinguish or differentiate websites’ visibility based on their CMS builds.

So, where does Wix rank among Google’s algorithms and search engine optimization (SEO) best practices? They dominate over 50 percent of the market with Squarespace. Even with this partial clamp-on website building, is the service Google-friendly for webmasters and site builders? Here are some facts to ponder:

  • The fact is that this service features an SEO optimization plugin called Wix SEO Wiz. The plugin automates several protocols for Wix users, so their sites stand in good with Google’s guidelines.
  • Wix users have access to measurable results and metrics that are easy to scan and digest for SEO purposes. They can see their pages in Google’s search results within minutes of updating them or creating new sites from scratch.
  • The Google I/O 2018 Developer Conference also praised Wix for taking care of SEO/technical requirements for users, so their sites have excellent visibility on SERP results.

Fact: Wix is both SEO and Google-friendly with site-building templates that produce high-quality content for audiences and search engine bots.

2. How well do Wix URLs perform?

Myth: Wix URLs do not rank good on Google

Another common myth is that Wix’s URLs don’t rank well on Google and other search engines. While the platform was once riddled with long and messy URLs, that is a thing of the past.  You can customize and shorten your website addresses, which are ideal for SEO purposes.

Having a clean web address is essential for brand visibility and messaging. However, Google usually does not drop websites because they have messy URLs. Even with that, Wix removed long versions and hashbangs in 2016 for optimal convenience and aesthetic appeal. If you are working hard on your website with quality content, links, and social media integration, your sites should perform nicely on Google and other search engines.

Fact: Wix URLs do rank on Google, but it’s more about site content than the length of your website address.

3. Are Wix titles and meta descriptions relevant?

Myth: Wix does not give its users control over meta titles and descriptions.

Titles and meta descriptions are just as important as the content you are presenting on your pages. After all, page titles and meta descriptions are the first impressions your visitors see in search results. Therefore, they have to be crafted engagingly to rank well across Google.

For a while, Wix did not give its members control of meta descriptions and titles. However, this was only during the platform’s initial launch phase. While this may have turned some users away, Wix now gives you complete control of metas and descriptions. This allows you to edit the metadata per page manually and as desired.

Fact: Wix gives users control of meta descriptions and titles for their websites.

4. Are my blog posts optimized on Wix?

Myth: Wix’s Blog cannot be optimized

Google tends to reward websites that produce high-quality, industry-specific content. This also goes for blogs that should feature helpful information for your website visitors. Blogging is a vital part of any online SEO marketing campaign. It even promotes your brands in their best light while making you a reputable resource in the industries or niches you serve.

Wix’s Blog is already optimized for SEO with plenty of tools for keyword placement and content structuring. As long as you are creating original, valuable content with relevant keywords and links for your audiences, your blog should rank in SERPs – especially for targeted keywords that attract visitors and meet Google’s guidelines.

Fact: Wix’s Blog is optimized for SEO.

5. How are Wix’s page loading times?

Myth: Wix still has slow loading pages

Websites must be able to load fast or experience high bounce rates. For  Wix, there was a time when their sites loaded slower than other website builders. However, they have increased site speed by improving the coding of templates and other features. There are now little to no issues with site speed over at the platform.

Customers can also upgrade from free websites to the paid Wix version. This automatically removes any advertisements and increases page speed for business and social web developers alike.

Fact: Wix no longer has slow loading pages and is up to par with any other website builder on the internet.

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Content WritingGoogle

Top Duplicate Content Checkers For Website Content

by Nishad Jiwa
written by Nishad Jiwa

Plagiarism remains a big issue for website content specialists across the world. While some copy content from Wikipedia verbatim, others may steal your work for use on their websites or blogs. Literary piracy is not restricted to unscrupulous webmasters that want fast, deliverable content. The writers you hire may also accidentally or intentionally copy existing text from other sources.

These infringements may result in dwindling page rankings and visibility on Google. Repeated infractions can even lead to suspension from the search engine altogether. While Copyspace is still considered one of the best online checkers for duplicate copy, there are other platforms and apps available for you to consider. Here are eight of the top duplicate content checkers for website content that we have compiled for your convenience.

1. SEO Review Tools

SEO Review Tools is one of the best duplicate content checkers for website content. This program is designed to process URLs and plain text input with near accurate results. The platform even searches for internal and external duplicate content for single webpages or entire websites. Internal text that is plagiarized will be highlighted and presented to you for review. Similarly, the external tool searches for duplicate content across several domains, blogs, and content distribution platforms.

2. Dupli Checker

Dupli Checker also makes this list with its fast and precise plagiarism checkers. The platform offers a myriad of tools on its website, including backlink checkers, word counters, and reverse image searches. Users also get access to paraphrasing tools, domain authority checkers, and keyword position options that check short-form and long-tailed keyword placement.

3. Copyscape

Copyscape has long been the go-to website for checking duplicate, plagiarized content. While it is still considered the most popular content tool to date, users get a few tiers at different prices for consideration. This includes Copyspace Premium, which is more powerful than the regular content checker version. There is also Copysentry, an essential tool that sends you updates and weekly reports via email. These alerts let you know which of your pages or content were recently copied on the web.

4. Hive Digital

Hive Digital continues to receive stellar industry ratings and user reviews. It is considered one of the most comprehensive duplicate content checkers on the web today. The tool is free and effective in pinpointing plagiarized content for writers and website developers alike.

5. Siteliner

Siteliner is also free and looks for plagiarized content on your internal website pages. Here are some of the benefits of this popular online content checker:

  • The free content checker scans and analyzes duplicate content across the internet.
  • It lets users know where their website content has been copied and plagiarized on other sites or content platforms.
  • The tool specializes in enhancing your website content by finding duplicate content and broken links. It summarizes all findings within detailed, user-friendly reports.

6. Grammarly

While Grammarly is mainly known for its grammar and punctuation checkers, it also has a pretty good online plagiarism checker. Simply input your website content, and it searches for duplicate or similar content on the web. Grammarly’s tools detect copied content from billions of websites, web pages, and even academic databases. Whether looking to see if your content is similar to others or vice-versa, this program delivers fast and accurate results.

7. Quetext

Quetext is ranked the number one plagiarism checker by over 2 million students, teachers, and academic professionals worldwide. The free version works well, but the paid version offers better access to more words and features. Quetext scans websites, educational blogs, e-books, and e-papers for duplicate content. It also lists the sources of inputted and outputted text to credit relevant authors and writers.

This platform allows users to upload different files from Microsoft Word, Adobe Acrobat PDF, and plain-text (.txt) documents. The pro plan is priced at $9.99 per month with unlimited searches. The free plan is limited to three searches and only 500 words per search.

8. Unicheck

Unicheck features a free online plagiarism checker for documents up to 200 words. With full-scale interactive reports and access to over 40 billion web sources, this tool highlights all similar sources for searches. However, it also provides clickable adjustments for all types of citations and references. This is why so many academic professionals prefer this platform to other online content checkers.

There is also a paid option, which delivers highly-accurate results within a sleek interface. This program checks pages faster than other leading content checker apps.  Many corporations and professors rely on Unicheck for scanning all types of documents and website content.

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Content WritingWriting

How To Write Website Content: Top 20 Do’s And Don’ts

by Nishad Jiwa
written by Nishad Jiwa

Creating website content is one of the essential steps in attracting potential clients and customers. Today’s content has to be engaging and compelling to draw in and connect new readers to your blog. Similarly, it must be industry-specific, relevant, and reflective of your brand’s products or services.

Successful website content has to be appealing and search-engine friendly with on-page SEO and strategic keywords. If you are unsure about what you should and should not be writing, we have compiled 20 do’s and don’ts that will make your content easy to scan and digest.

1. Avoid plagiarizing content from other sites

Plagiarism can lead to penalties and possible removal from Google and other leading search engines. No matter how tempting it may be, never copy content from other sites to increase your brand visibility or Google page rankings.

Always create original, fresh, organic content that speaks volumes about your company and its services. Your text must be streamlined, centralized, and answer questions or promote products to mass or targeted audiences. Make sure you run copy checks to ensure your content is not conflicting with existing content on the web. Also, use grammatical checkers to correct mistakes and present your writing in its best light to viewers.

person proofreading a document with red pencil 300x300 - How To Write Website Content: Top 20 Do's And Don'ts2. Do not use run-on sentences

Keep your sentences short and direct. This is visually appealing to readers and search engines alike. Break up your content using smaller paragraphs, bullet/number lists, social/page links (inbound and outbound), keywords, and other scannable portions.

3. Keep your content simple

Simplicity is the key to success for quality content writing. When your new site goes live, your text has to be easy to understand and process. Avoid highly complex words and write with the average person in mind.

4. Stay away from lengthy paragraphs

Long gone are the days of lengthy website articles and long walls of text. Try to keep your paragraphs to 4-5 lines or 80 words at the most, if possible. This will keep readers on your pages longer while reducing bounce rates. As mentioned above, lists and visuals will break up your content and make it easy to skim.

5. Get to the point of your content

Repetition is a sure-fire way to turn off potential clients and customers. Remember, visitors are coming to your website and blog to learn something new. It is essential to design your website content with precision while making it a valuable resource for readers. Stay away from bombarding them with repeat concepts, keyword stuffing, or marketing your point over and over.

This will get your message across to readers – one time – and enable them to perform desired actions on your pages.

6. Do not oversell your products or services

Crafting high-quality content must have the right balance of promotional and non-promotional text. Unless product or service-specific, your blog posts should also be informative and educational. Keep the following in mind:

  • Promote your brands and services without blanketing readers with constant reminders to buy or sign up for something.
  • Give your readers valuable content and leave a call to action (CTA) for them to contact you with product or service related questions or concerns.

Man Writing Content for the web 300x300 - How To Write Website Content: Top 20 Do's And Don'ts7. Keep your target audiences in mind

While it’s great to attract new visitors to your website, keep your target audiences in mind. Make sure to post content that your visitors will find useful and informative.

8. Use your own images for products

Do not use photos that are copyrighted or do not belong to you. This might result in infringement lawsuits and bring you unnecessary problems. Instead, take pictures of your products and post them as needed. If you must use existing imagery, make sure they are royalty-free and from certified stock photo collections.

9. Be creative with anchor text

“Click here” has been overused as CTAs for decades. While once a mainstay in getting visitors to perform actions on your website, this term is as saturated as ever. Be creative with your anchor text and make it descriptive and invitational. This will entice potential customers to click on links, increasing conversion rates and possible revenue.

10. Understand the goals for each page

Make sure the content for each page is reflective of that page’s goals. For example, your products page should feature detailed text and information about each product on sale. This might differ slightly from your about us or contact us pages. Keeping the goals of your pages in mind makes it easier to write relevant content.

11. Outline your website content

Structure your website content, so it’s easy to manage and put ideas into fruition. Create outlines for pages you’re writing about and see which trends might enhance their look and aesthetic appeal.

12. Humanize your website content

Most website visitors do not like content that appears to be copied or robotic. Add a human element to your writing by being down-to-earth and friendly. Let your creative juices flow and build personal connections with your readers and potential customers. This will more likely get your readers to perform calls-to-action organically.

Couple reading off a tablet in the park 300x200 - How To Write Website Content: Top 20 Do's And Don'ts13. Convert visitors to consumers

The ultimate goal of any company’s website is to convert visitors to consumers. Always have a call-to-action (button, link, images, graphic, etc.) for each page but do not force visitors to buy products or sign up for services. Give them the information they seek and let them make their own informed decisions.

14. Use headers and sub-headers

These are effective in breaking up your content (like lists) for better readability. Headers and sub-headers make your content more attractive as well as properly structured.

15. Give your readers the answers they want

Your website content should be much more than just promoting products and services. It should serve as a valuable resource for your existing and new customers. Therefore, answer the questions your readers ask with relevant information and links. These inquiries may come from e-mails, social media posts, or even within CTAs and contact page forms.

16. Organize your website’s paragraphs

Use only one idea per paragraph and stick to it. Make sure each section has a subject and avoid writing irrelevant, unnecessary information. Organizing your ideas is as important as organizing the visual presentation of your content.

17. Capture your visitors’ attention right away

You only get one chance to make a lasting impression on clients or customers. Therefore, use catchy slogans or messages that get your points across expeditiously. Display your most important information first and build content around that. Remember, most website visitors only take a few seconds to scan content before leaving a page. Give them what you feel they might want to see and read prominently.

18. Consider a writing service or local SEO agency

If you are pressed for time or simply lack the skills to put pen to paper, consider hiring a professional SEO agency with copywriting services. A local writing service can create the content you need while ensuring it is organized for SEO optimization and mobile readiness.

19. Review your content before going live

Check your content for any missing information you want to add. Read all your pages out loud and see if they make sense to you. This allows you to assess the text and enhance any sections before going live. Whether hiring a local writing team or going the DIY route, this is a vital step in the website content process.

20. Keep your website content fresh and current

Once your website content goes live, keep it fresh and current by periodically checking links and making necessary adjustments. You can rewrite any sections if needed or add evergreen text to keep your content relevant year-round.

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GoogleGoogle PlusYahoo

Yahoo Shutting Down Yahoo Groups on October 21

by Nishad Jiwa
written by Nishad Jiwa

The one time king of the search engines, Yahoo, announced today the official shutdown of its platform’s groups on October 21, 2019. The news does not come as much of a surprise to existing users with Yahoo e-mail accounts and/or group memberships. Since the acquisition of the brand by Verizon Communications in 2016, the telecommunications giant spearheaded the move to revamp and revitalize Yahoo’s online services. This includes Yahoo Groups – which for a long time – served as vital entities for both social and business engagements.

According to the announcement, all Yahoo Groups content will be removed by December 14, 2019. Existing users will no longer be able to upload new content to groups but their pages will remain on the network. This move follows the closure of Google+ back in April of this year due to security and data breaches. Google also cited the dominance of new social networks as another reason for its discontinued support of the service.

This cements the fact that older search engines and social media outlets can no longer compete with the big-hitters. With Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram continuing to grow by leaps and bounds, legacy platforms are on their way out. While Yahoo does remain a competitor in the search-engine realm, Google continues to sit atop the social media totem pole. The domination of Google and Amazon (for global marketplace shoppers) has even led to worldwide businesses refiguring their presence across multiple online networks.

Which content will be removed from Yahoo Groups?

Yahoo is planning on removing the following content from Yahoo Groups on December 14, 2019:

  • Attachments
  • Calendar
  • Conversations
  • Database
  • Email Updates
  • Files
  • Folders
  • Links
  • Message Digest
  • Message History
  • Photos
  • Polls

If you have a business or brand group on Yahoo Groups, now is the time to save all your content before it’s removed. Simply sign in to your Yahoo account and download the files from the group’s page. Like the Google+ content acquisition, you will have to request Yahoo to send you the data. Once the content has been gathered and saved, Yahoo will send you a link via e-mail.

Can people still join existing Yahoo Groups?

Moving forward, Yahoo Groups will be harder to join for the general public at large. Any currently public groups will become private or restricted. While they will still have a place in the search results, users will have to submit requests to join these groups.

Today’s announcement of the closing of Yahoo Groups was done somewhat quietly. While the news has spread like wildfire across the web, Yahoo only mentioned the closure in a support document to its platform’s users. The service will only exist in minimal capacity after December 14th. Similarly, administrators will have limited access to page tools and features.

While the closing has puzzled some users, many have already migrated to other social networks with wider reaches for content distribution. Still, there are others – like Jason Scott of the Internet Archive – that have vowed to preserve as much content from the Groups as possible. With Yahoo collaborating with other providers like Google for shared ad revenue, is there a chance that it might revive Groups for brand owners in the near or distant future? Only time will tell.

 

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BNIBusiness

BNI: Business Network International, Is It Worth It?

by Nishad Jiwa
written by Nishad Jiwa

What is BNI Group?

Business Network International (BNI) is a business referral group that claims to be the world’s leading ‘referral organization’. With over 240,000 members in 8,500 local chapters across the globe, BNI holds regular meetings to discuss business incentives and goals. Members support each other’s brands by sharing referrals for optimal growth, visibility, and expansion.

With BNI continuing to grow, is it truly worth its annual fee and time investment? Is it a scam that promises networking opportunities without delivering measurable results? The answers to these questions seem to vary among members and former members alike. While some claim it’s a money cult with no promises of ROI, others continue to defend the group against mixed and negative online reviews.

With this in mind, let’s break down BNI and see if it’s legitimate or nothing more than your run of the mill pyramid scheme.

Business Network International – The Networking Essentials

At its core, BNI is a global networking platform for businesses of all sizes and industries. Its signature referral marketing program helps owners increase business via referral sharing. The latter is designed to develop long-term relationships – with other businesses – that increase leads, profits, and revenue.

The official BNI website states that “members of BNI passed millions of referrals that generated billions of dollars for business for each other.” They also list the following facts for those that are unsure about joining their referral network:

  • 98% of businesses rely on referrals to secure new business.
  • Only 3% of existing businesses have strategies geared towards referral generation.
  • BNI member referrals generated $13.6 billion USD in business revenue in 2017.

While these figures are directly from BNI, the fact is that many new and established brands do not have sound strategies for generation referrals. With this in mind, BNI offers a platform to build greater business through ongoing referrals. In fact, some members have groups of people that regularly send them referrals; a compelling and engaging way to foster sales teams online and remotely.

How does BNI work?

BNI takes a user-friendly approach for joining their global business marketing and referral network. However, existing members send invites to guests or stand-ins to experience a day of business referral networking. This is done in what is called the Breakfast Club: weekly breakfast meetings with local BNI chapters (groups) to understand how they operate and whether they appeal to you or not.

Invited members get access to the following:

  • Learn how to pitch your business and gain referrals from other members.
  • Schedule 1-on-1 meetings with members within your local chapter for the following week.
  • Review educational workshops from an existing member and report any new referrals you have generate for others in your group. This includes referrals that have come in from other members.

With these particulars, you may be asking yourself is BNI worth it? Well, generating business leads via referrals may seem promising on paper. However, there is an annual membership fee of at least $690 US (A$1,000) plus $20 per breakfast as part of your membership cost. You will be required to attend breakfast referral meetings weekly while generating referrals for your fellow BNI members. It all starts by finding your local chapter and checking to see if you know members within that chapter/group.

BNI – The Downside

As with any global referral network, there are downsides to investing in these ventures. For one, nothing is ever guaranteed and you get out what you put in. BNI may seem profitable to many but it’s not exempt from complaints and horror stories. In fact, here are some mixed reviews/concerns from former members and folks (unnamed) that attended a breakfast meeting or two:

  • While BNI may pique your interest, the time commitment is something to weigh. Again, weekly meetings are required for all local chapter members. One interested member in Sydney felt the weekly meetings were very difficult to commit to. There is travel involved and it may place an obstacle for members building lifestyle businesses.
  • New brand owners are finding upfront investments too high for their self-funded and bootstrapped businesses. There are also different classifications for those that allocate their time entirely to the business referral process – and those that do not. In essence, the more you commit, the more you may see results.
  • As part of your application and review, you must commit to finding referrals for other members within your BNI local network. This may be a hurdle too since there are members involved in different businesses and industries. Unless you are super confident that you can cater to their needs and vice-versa, BNI membership may create more problems than solutions.

Will BNI work for your business?

There is no clear cut answer to this question that continues to be asked by many interested individuals. According to Amanda Griscti of the FlyingSolo online community, BNI is only worthwhile if you know what you want and need from the group. You also have to ask yourself if the local BNI group can meet your referral needs within time and budget. The last thing you want is to be out-of-pocket due to the failure of your teammates to deliver on referral promises.

Still, Griscti recommends attending one breakfast meeting to make an informed decision. Again, you will need to be invited by an existing member of your local chapter. You may be just a guest or an official stand-in for someone in the group that cannot make the meeting. Also, you must review the BNI FAQ to get or stay informed about the Group’s updates and policies. It is important to look into other network groups too if this industry piques your interest.

BNI – Final Thoughts

BNI may not be for everyone but does seem to offer potentially lucrative opportunities for its members. However, there are so many things to keep in mind about this multi-faceted organization. This includes the ongoing debate between BNI members about ethics and choice. For example, should you refer a friend who has the same specialty as someone else already in the group? If so, does BNI allow members with similar business specialties to join the same local BNI chapter?

According to the Group’s rules, they only accept one person per business specialty in a BNI Chapter. So if you are an SEO expert wishing to join a group that already has an SEO expert, you will be referred to another chapter. BNI may also work with you to open a new Chapter geared towards your specialties. Just remember that the decisions of the Membership Committees per Chapters are final in all cases.  BNI claims its only agenda is to substantially increase your business through its proven referral program. Yet, the terms of membership agreements may not be as clear as one would assume. Therefore, it is crucial to go over their policies with a fine-tooth comb before making an investment that may or may not improve your business.

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MarketingReputation Management

Building Digital Bridges with a Reputable Austin PR Agency

by Nishad Jiwa
written by Nishad Jiwa

Digital branding is an intriguing way to build company awareness and visibility. In fact, long gone are the days of cookie-cutter advertising in the hopes of amassing clients and customers. Today’s public relations firms are all gearing their products and services towards digital marketing promotions. With this in mind, you need a sound online campaign that delivers measurable results at every turn.

With years of extensive industry experience, an Austin PR agency has the tools and expertise to convert leads to profits and revenue. With seamless integration of automated technologies and cutting-edge apps, they are able to foster brand growth across multiple, digital content channels. However, there are still essentials to keep in mind when looking for the right PR team in the Capital City.

Understand your Goals

Building digital bridges begin with understanding the goals you want to achieve. While PR marketing is designed to meet client goals and aspirations, there must be a precise and clear vision. This may include higher brand visibility for new ventures or increasing customer patronage at the grassroots level.  Your vision may also be to become or remain competitively viable in the industries you serve. By defining your goals, the local firm is able to formulate strategic plans that build stronger engagements.

Here are some questions to ponder when determining your business goals:

  • If your brand targeting geo-specific audiences? Do you want to entice and engage new customers while securing maximum ROI on your PR investments?
  • Are you interested in generating higher profits and conversion rates via pay-per-click (PPC) marketing?
  • Do you wish to become a thought and industry leader in your business niche?
  • How many products and services does your brand offer to the general public? What makes your company stand out from the rest?

You must have at least a few of these questions answered before approaching a PR agency. This will give you the foundation to build your company with the help of seasoned marketers. Most agencies also feature digital advertising teams, content specialists, web developers, and SEO professionals to help achieve desired results.

Know your Options

When selecting the right PR firm, adequate research is essential. You must check how long the agency has been in business and the services they provide. Look for success stories that the agency can claim about past marketing campaigns. While each firm will have a different approach to your campaign, the decision will ultimately be yours to make. With this in mind, make sure you are working with a knowledgeable and experienced agency with a proven track record of success.

Here are some more essentials you must address before making a choice investment:

  • How will the PR firm in Austin tackle your digital campaign?
  • Do they outsource projects to contractors or utilize in-house teams?
  • Make sure the firm you choose is actually managed by someone that understand public relations campaigns.
  • Look for core digital services like online reputation management, social media marketing, mobile readiness, PPC, content distribution, business ads, and digital banner advertising.

It’s okay if you do not have the answers upfront. This is why you are seeking out professional assistance in growing your online business. However, it is important to have a general grasp of the market and its current trends. This will give you an edge over competitors when it comes to launching your PR marketing campaigns.

Know your Budget

Budgeting for digital marketing campaigns is important for all-sized businesses. While larger companies may have expendable income, the same cannot be said for smaller companies and newer upstarts. It is imperative that you set aside sufficient finances to cover the costs of PR campaigns. Also, check to see how big or small the agency is you may hire. This is vital in securing the personalized, grassroots connections you are looking for. Look for agencies with closely-knit teams that are committed to meeting your PR needs within time and budget.

Reputable agencies will be able to help you with:

  • Grassroots marketing plans for local brand exposure and visibility.
  • Getting your new or existing brands listed on Google Maps and related business networks.
  • Enhance your brand’s online reputation with the best reviews, industry mentions, citations, keywords, and promotions for higher placement on Google.
  • Help your business grow with fresh and engaging blogs, content marketing, social media integration, mobile marketing, and handle all customized requests.

These are but a few ways to choose the best public relations firm for your brands. As always, you should see if the agency specializes in the industries you serve. For example, if you are a tech start-up then hiring an IT or SEO firm makes the best sense. Also, the agency should be an extension of your brand – not just a firm that treats you like a statistic and wants to make the most money out of the campaigns.

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BusinessInvestorsMarketing

Finding Investors for your Startup Brand

by Nishad Jiwa
written by Nishad Jiwa

Finding the right investors for your startup is a crucial step in building your business. In fact, failure to secure proper funding can make it difficult for your brand to get off the ground. Even with a sound business plan and marketing campaign, you need financial capital to cover startup and related costs.

Is it Hard to Get Funding?

Getting funding for your new business is easier said than done. Unless you are willing to dip into your savings, you will need to secure a business loan from a financial institution; banks, credit unions, lenders, etc. Another option is to seek assistance from family and friends or private investors that have enough capital for funding entrepreneurial launches.

According to Andrew Rinaldi, co-founder of Defendify – a leading cyber-security company, it was difficult to secure money from private investors for their startup funding. However, Andrew and his team were successful in securing $1.6 million in pre-seed funding to get their business afloat. This was courtesy of investors from the Maine Technology Institute and 3dot6 Ventures.

Here are some of the ways the company was able to get the right funds:

  • Effective business planning that cuts through the clutter of what you will need and not need to start and grow.
  • Identify your needs and correlate them with funding needed to turn ideas into realities.
  • If you do not have sufficient funding from bank accounts, look for alternatives. This includes traditional business or private loans, along with potential investors looking to diversify their portfolios with unique and profitable investments.
  • Create early projections and forecasting for your business leads and revenue generation. Stay abreast of all the latest developments and trends in the industry you plan to serve.
  • Paint a picture of potential profits, brand visibility, and market share for your startup. Present these materials to investors in a professional manner – so that they can make timely, informed and worthwhile decisions.

Investors vs Family & Friends

One of the biggest obstacles in starting a brand is financials. After all, you will need to cover initial startup costs, along with monies for trademarks, copyrights, materials, and social media – SEO advertising campaigns. Similarly, you will need enough capital for product launches, payroll, overhead and related costs. These are just the basic essentials of business building and do not include future brand growth and expansions.

With this in mind, how do you know if you are ready for an investor as opposed to asking a family member or friend for assistance? For one, you need to take stock of your personal investment and see if that is enough to cover startup essentials. If not, you need to extend the conversation to new resources with sound planning and timely deliverables. This, of course, should only be done if friends and loved ones can no longer fund your business startup. You also need to take into account how many investors have poured in funds and exactly what their returns or ROI will be?

Here are some benefits of seeking private investors for your new brand:

  • Access your professional network for potential investors that might be interested in your new company. This can expand your base and possibly include friends-of-friends that might want to come in as well.
  • Outreaching and sharing is the best way to generate leads, interest, and finally investments. However, the right investors are the ones that are genuinely interested in seeing your products and services off the ground.
  • Private investors may open the doors to new opportunities for your brand. This includes access to new investors across extended networks that may align with your business goals and aspirations.
  • Use all your available resources to find the right investors – phone calls, e-mails, social media, and other forms of correspondence without being overly pushy and aggressive.
  • Investors can give you the right resources to fund your new commercial startup. However, make sure they know both the short-term and long-term financial impact of their investments. This includes potential losses, along with potential gain with projections based on the current business scope and market forecast.

Finding the Right Investors for your Startup

The right investor(s) must align with your business’ core values and goals. In other words, they must share your vision and believe in meeting the needs of clients of consumers. They must also be flexible and willing to operate in ways that work for and with you. Similarly, investors should have a good grasp on business investment essentials and monitoring your industry, market, and niche.

As a business owner or co-owner, pay attention to your gut. Use your instincts to know if an investor is a good fit or not. Sometimes, you will know right away but consider all aspects before you withdraw your business proposal. Remember, the last thing you need is to start off on the wrong foot with someone who can possibly be a vital resource down the line.

What Should Investor Proposals Include?

Investor proposals should be easy to scan and digest. Be precise, concise, and list the benefits of investing in your startup. While going through the economics and investment particulars is essential, do not limit your proposal to rigid projections and numbers. Instead, entice and engage your investor(s) with practical ways your products and services can achieve desired results. This includes how they will help buyers and industries while churning out profits and optimal ROI for investors.

The key aspect of business proposals is to secure a healthy and mutually beneficial relationship for all parties involves. While any business will go through trials and tribulations, staying the course and being unified is the only way to overcome adversity and obstacles. Make it abundantly clear that you’re willing to give investors more of a role in your startup – if that is what they desire.

Being a successful entrepreneur is also about timely communications with your investors, clients, and customers. You must maintain discipline while staying on track of your business strategy and goals. These are crucial in turning your startup brands and initiatives into lifelong dreams.

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GoogleSERP

How Smaller Sites Can Rank Higher on Google with a Few Adjustments

by Nishad Jiwa
written by Nishad Jiwa

Having a website is a great way to promote your products and services to mass audiences. However, how does a smaller site compete with more established sites and brands? Can your site rank higher on Google even with competitors using the top keywords for higher conversions? The answer to these questions lies in Google’s latest diversity update. The latter rolled out earlier this month and is designed to help smaller sites rank better for competitive keywords.

Here are some essentials of this recent update:

  • Google will limit the number of times a domain (URL) can appear in a single SERP.
  • No more than two URLs from the same domain will appear within a single SERP.
  • The update helps upstarts and smaller websites compete for keywords and rankings previously dominated by heavy hitters.

With this in mind, you should adjust your keyword searches to see which ones are not in use by competitors. However, make sure to bid for higher-ranking keywords as well; your site may have a chance to rank better among seasoned sites with high-volume conversions.

Is the New Update Working for Webmasters?

While the rollout is still relatively new, Searchmetrics continues to analyze and assess its results. So far, the study conducted between March 2019 – June 2019 shows that zero results were found with more than 3 URLs from one domain. Similarly, 3.5% of searches containing 3 URLs from one domain were down 6.7%. This means the promise to limit domains from hogging SERPs with more than two ranking positions is working. Here are some more findings from the recent study:

  • 2% of searches with two URLs from the same domain are up by 1%.
  • 3.5% searches returned unique domains for queries and keyword searchers alike.
  • Google is also correlating search/user intent with site diversity to showcase smaller brands that want to become competitive.

As a site owner, you must continue to produce relevant and industry-specific content. While Google is opening the doors for smaller brands to compete, they will not sacrifice quality for site visibility. Similarly, you cannot increase your keyword volumes in the hopes of ranking better in SERPs with just one domain. Simply adjust your keyword sets to reflect brand messaging and URL correlation. Do not forget to include images, videos, and content lists for featured snippets as well.

Other Adjustments for Smaller Sites

While Google’s diversity update is in full swing, it will not affect all search results. In other words, the change will not be reflected across the board for all site owners. In fact, this is more of a slight adjustment than an actual update to existing algorithms. Still, Google will continue to show more results from single domains depending on content, context, and relevancy. They will also scrub and crawl keywords to give smaller sites better chances of competing with bigger brands. While sub-domains will be treated as a single domain, you can still promote your main URL and sub-site (blog, store, etc.) within a single SERP. If this is not sufficient for promoting your brands to local or geo-specific audiences, here are a few more things you can try:

  • Target keywords (low and high relevance) that bigger sites aren’t interested in competing on.
  • Long-tail keywords are now the norm as opposed to the exception. Expand your bases with detailed keywords that help users find exactly what they are looking for. For example, “Austin SEO” to “best SEO agency in Austin for marketing”.
  • Provide more valuable content for users and aim to become a relevant resource in your niche. This can bypass the competition that tends to scale back on this vital technique.

Smaller sites can even benefit by building 1-on-1 engagements that bigger sites tend to ignore. Remember to associate your brand in every piece of content without overwhelming your audiences. Google rewards sites that solve problems and give meaningful content for users looking for answers to their problems and searches.

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