Poper

As you know, your business is your means of survival that you’ve built it into a money-making machine, but it’s so much more than that – it’s your dream made reality. The value of your business is of no importance to hackers, however, your business is nothing more than a potential cash cow, yes! And given half a chance, they’ll take everything they can. The sad truth is,  60% of SMEs that are hacked go out of business within six months . The potential reasons for a hacked SME going out of business are as obvious as they are frightening – it could be a loss of customer trust, regulatory fines or just a straightforward pilfering of assets by the hackers. Of course, hackers don’t care whether your business flourishes or fails. All they’re interested in is making a quick profit. Here are some more startling stats about SME cyber security which highlight how important it is to get things right: SME Cyber Security stat by Godaddy. So what can you do to boost your SME cyber security? Firs...

SEO relies on organic search, and is the art of  getting your website into the best position to be found naturally when people are searching through Google  (or another search engine). Google links to sites it considers relevant and authoritative, so the more you can do to make your site’s content relevant to people’s searches, the better your SEO. And the more links you can get to your site, the higher you rank in a Google search. PPC uses the Google AdWords advertising space at the top and side of Google search pages. These small ads appear when someone’s search matches the advertiser’s keywords. Each time someone clicks on an ad, the advertiser pays a fee, usually up to a pre-set limit. Paid search results Digital marketing question 2: Which one’s better? Although they both form crucial parts of search engine marketing (SEM – okay, that’s enough acronyms for now), and they both aim to get your brand and messages seen by as many people as possible, SEO and PPC are reall...

Being in this post shows that you definitely have been trying to find an answer to some SEO related questions. Well, we know that Search engine optimization (SEO) can be tough to get your head around, especially if you’ve just launched a new business. Some of the most common beginners’ SEO questions relate to how to ensure that Google and other search engines are aware your site exists. In this article, I’ll discuss these basic steps in SEO and of course look into the question  “Do you have to submit a URL to Google?” . Do you have to submit a URL to Google? As a general rule, if your site is designed with SEO considerations in mind, then Google and other search engines will be able to find and crawl new pages so they can be included in search results when appropriate. You do not have to submit a URL to Google for it to be included in its search results. But if you don’t necessarily have to submit your links to Google, why does the thought that you should exist? There are a few rea...

For every online business, the importance of Search engine optimization (SEO) cannot be overemphasized. SEO has proven to be a great marketing tool, and it’s often overlooked. In this guide, I’ll explain the importance of SEO for online businesses and business website, and also provide some resources to help you improve the SEO of your website. Why search engine optimization is important to a business As the owner of a business website, what the one thing you always want more of? While there are several potential answers to this question, at the top of the pile is always “website visitors who want to buy my products/services”. So if you could secure a regular stream of website visitors who are actively search for a product/service like the one you’re offering, you’d undoubtedly want a piece of the action. Well, that’s exactly what SEO offers to all businesses of all sizes. Of course, you need to put in the groundwork first to reap the rewards. But if you do, you could end up with a reg...

So, you’ve launched a business? That’s great! Now the next step is promoting it so that you can start driving customers to buy your products and services. Luckily, this is not as expensive or complicated as it once was. There are plenty of easy ways to promote your business and a mountain of tools and resources available to help you. In this article, I’ll be rounding those up, so you can get started. How to promote your business with social media Setting up social media pages is a must for building an online presence – it’s a great way to direct users back to your website and interact with your potential customers. Avoid setting up on every single one and just choose the platforms that make the most sense for your business, so you can put as much time and energy into running them as possible. Refer to this article  to know the social media platform that’s right for your business. And for when you can’t be there – you’ll want to automate. Use tools like  Hootsuite  or...

Learn before you leap Part of your planning has to be learning about how to run an online business. The best way  is to read about e-commerce online (on sites like The Profit Club) or in books and chat to people who are selling online already – maybe via a forum, or by contacting the owners of sites you like (provided they are not big retailers). Learn from your own shopping experiences too. What do you like/dislike? Attending a few small business and e-commerce exhibitions will help as well. Know the competition You can see what the competition is like by searching on Google for some of the products that you plan to sell. You could even test their service by buying something. Get your proposition and pricing right Why would anyone want to buy from you? What can you offer that’s different to other sites? Beware of competing just on price – it’s a mug’s game. Add value instead and charge more! Eg offer related consumables (like batteries) for a bit more, suggest associated item...