Starting an eCommerce company doesn’t take much effort either. If you’re familiar with WordPress, you can learn a few things on YouTube about WooCommerce or BigCommerce and launch your eStore. If you don’t, then there’s always an option to hire an agency that provides eCommerce website development solutions.

In either way, you’ll be able to create a store. But if you won’t do the necessary things, it will be challenging to stand out from the crowd.

Here are seven must-do things after you launch your eCommerce store.

1. Install a Backup Plugin

Your new site is up & running.

You’ve invested a lot of time, energy, and money on the website.

The next wise choice is to set up a backup plugin and ensure that everything on the store remains safe and protected.

The internet is full of crashes and security breaches. What you need to do is to install a security plugin that will take regular backups of your website. This will keep your mind at peace in case you lose your website. Having a backup will enable quick recovery, thereby reducing the risk of losing customers and creating a bad reputation.

In fact, it is the most logical thing to do after you’re done with the website.

2. Get your XML Sitemap ready

Say you went to your brother’s cupboard to find a pair of socks. But when you opened the cupboard, it was like you just opened a rubbish bin full of trash. From one end, there were shoes; on the top, there were boxers, and right at the bottom, when you pulled the shirts, everything collapsed. Will you ever go to your brother’s cupboard again? I am afraid not.

A similar thing happens when you create an eCommerce website. Once the website is completed, you need to store all the links in an organized manner. An XML sitemap is something that gives Google a clear picture of what is the structure of your website.

There is a slight chance that your brother might force you to find another sock from the cupboard, but once Google figures out that your sitemap.xml file is not organized properly, Google will not bother to visit again.

A well-organized sitemap.xml file helps Google to index your page better.

A good thing about WordPress is that you can install the Google XML Sitemap plugin, and everything will be taken care of. It’s like screaming out loud, “Hey Google, notice me!”

3. Promote your website on Social Media

The first aim of any eCommerce website is to increase traffic on the website.

One of the fastest ways to do it is to promote your brand on social media.

When you know the best time to post on social media, it will be easy to reach millions of users on social media platforms.

Take advantage of the audience. It’s time to engage with all your Facebook friends and Twitter followers and tell them about your eStore.

Post beautiful pictures of your brand on Instagram, share videos on YouTube and let the people know that you’ve launched an amazing eCommerce website.

Are you worried about social media traffic? SEO Dubai agency can help!

4. Track your mentions with Google Alerts

Whether you are a startup or a well-established business, in either case, you need to be aware of your brand mentions online.

A tool like Google Alerts enables you to know exactly when you are mentioned on the internet. When you track your brand mentions, it gets easier to communicate with the customers.

This feedback is critical for your brand. You can take this feedback and improve your brand. And if people are happy, you can keep doing what you are doing in the first place.

Moreover, you’ll know which of the things are liked by people and what you can do to improve them.

5. Take Help from HARO

If you are serious about getting your name across the internet, take help from a free press.

If you sign-up with HARO, you’ll get questions from journalists every day.

When you answer those questions, it will give you free publicity. When a detailed answer engages a journalist, they might contact you for your services.

This will give you a chance to exchange a link with big brands.

6. Customize your Permalink Structure

Permalinks are those links that Google uses to recognize various pages of your website.

If you try WordPress default permalink, that won’t be a smart choice because it’s not SEO-friendly.

After all, who will prefer “yoursite.com/?1237”?

Instead of leaving everything on default, it is your time to step-up and make the eCommerce store links relevant.

Google is more inclined towards relevance towards customers. So, in that case, a link like “yoursite.com/flower-gift-combos” is more relevant to the user and Google will treat it with respect.

7. Produce Relevant Content

If you think that launching an eCommerce website is the hard part, then you are at a loss.

Developing an eCommerce website is the easy part.

The hard part is to produce relevant content that engages the customers and keeps them coming back for more.

No one loves a boring website.

If the product descriptions on your eStore are boring, who will read them?

Make it humorous, make it relevant, and make it relevant to the user.

You must test landing pages, product pages, and even the emails and see which content is grabbing the attention of customers. Highlight that on the website.

Final Thoughts

A product idea or a set of products might motivate you to start an eCommerce store. But the real thing on an eCommerce website is sales. If there are no sales, there is no point in running the business.

Use all your resources. Spread on social media like ants. Listen to every complaint and transform an annoyed customer into a lifelong fan.

There are thousands of eCommerce stores out there, which means there is a huge opportunity for your eStore to generate great sales. Now, the only question that remains is that, are you willing to do everything to generate leads on your store?

The post 7 Must-Do things after launching your eCommerce store appeared first on Branex Official Blog.

If you’ve been following our blog, you might have come across two of our most popular Instagram posts, how to write Instagram captions for business and how to find hashtags to drive more sales, that made it clear that engagement on Instagram is the new model of success.

You might be a budding startup that desperately needs some killer Instagram hacks to spice up your brand image on social media.

So, fasten your seatbelt people, here are some mind-blowing Instagram hacks that you can add in your social arsenal and gain a competitive edge over your rivals.

Without any due, let’s dive in!

1. Post Content at the right time

Timing on Instagram is everything. Posting the right content at the wrong time won’t give you any engagement and views. Instead, if you craft a post and post at the right time, it will gain much attention.

It’s easy to figure out when is the right time to post on Instagram. The next step is to understand that the latest content performs a lot better than the older content when it comes to ranking the content at the top. This means that you must post the content when your target audience is relaxing and browsing all the other content.

These days no brand is a local brand. Every brand on the internet can reach a wider audience and make a name in the global market. That’s why you must keep a log of various time zones so that you can post at the right moment.

Moreover, you must keep your audience in mind when you post. For instance, if you have a local coffee shop in Dubai, the chances are that when the coffee shop is closed, people in other states might want to know when the coffee shop will open again, so they will surely check on Instagram feed to check for any latest update.

2. Share a Photo, tell a Story

There is a reason why Instagram stories are called, well, stories. When you create a story on Instagram, it becomes a real, in-the-moment connection with your audience.

You don’t even need a professional graphic designer to make all those beautiful photos. Just click a photo and use Canva to give your photo a professional look.

Check out this fantastic story shared by Starbucks on their page.

Photo Courtesy

Notice the quality of the image. The amount of content used and carefully crafted hashtag that will bring maximum traffic because of the contest. And just like every other brand, you can add “link in bio” and encourage your followers to check your content.

3. Post for the right number of times

Social media is quite tempting and unpredictable at the same time. You never know which of your photos will get 10 likes, or which photo can bring traffic on your homepage, or which metric made all the difference.

But, just like real life, you need a trial and error method to understand the dynamics of your target audience. You cannot post once a day and wait for the traffic to clog your server.

Similarly, you cannot post absurdly and expert users to like every post.

What you need is balance.

And for balance, you must try out a couple of things.

If previously, you’ve been posting once a day, now is the time to post twice a day for one week. Monitor the engagement over the week and figure out what’s the nest for your brand.

4. Engage Actively with your audience

Next up is the most popular Instagram hack that you can use.

This tip is for startups who are short with budget but willing to create a significant impact.

• Take your followers behind the curtain and show them the “making of” moments of your product or service. Please encourage them to take part and engage them at an emotional level.
• If it’s difficult for you to come up with tons of fantastic content, then don’t fear because you can always ask the followers to contribute their content. Run a contest, give a gift, and engage as many users as you can handle.
• Do you want users to trust your brand expertise? Teach your followers something regarding your brand. Prove your talent and let them know that you have a steady hand on some skills. It can be tips or tricks or in-depth product demos.
• Ask followers to give feedback and post it on your account. This will provide the user with a sense of belonging with your brand.

Lastly, it’s better to collaborate and build a relationship with old followers. They already trust your brand, so they’ll be the first to share the best of your brand with others.

Photo Courtesy

5. Use Strategic Hashtags on your profile

The best approach is to use the industry keywords strategically in your profile. Doing so will help your profile show up more in Google search results.

Because on Instagram, users prefer to search by keyword rather than usernames. When you add a keyword in your profile name, it increases the chances of being found.

For instance, McCall’s Pattern Company used “Sewing Patterns” in their profile name so that they can gain some edge over competitors.

Photo Courtesy

6. Share Highlight of your Story

Do you know what the best way to engage your audience is? It is to build curiosity among them.

Why show your complete story in one-go? You can take help from human psychology and use it for your advantage.

If you give a preview of the coming attractions via a sneak peek of Instagram story, this will force the user to come back to check the complete story. And if you want more engagement, you can even use two or three posts before you reveal the whole story.

Photo Courtesy

7. Try Instagram Private Account for a change

Recently, some of the brands are leveraging private accounts to gain massive success. The element of curiosity rises when people see that a brand account in private.

When people get curious, they will follow the brand, and before unfollowing, they will think twice.

In a world where a brand needs a public-facing Instagram account, there is no harm in going against the status quo and see if going away from the crowd can work.

Bottom Line

Regardless of whatever you think about Instagram, it is benefiting brands in unimaginable ways.

If you want a substantial following on social media, Instagram is the quickest way to gain a following and trust for your brand. The above seven hacks can help you to give a tough time to your rivals.

Moreover, if you are looking for a digital agency to manage your social media, we are here to help you out.

The post 7 Instagram Hacks to Increase your Sales and make your Competition Irrelevant appeared first on Branex Official Blog.

Those were simple days and, no doubt, one of the best days as long as I can remember. You had genuine friends. People were hard-working, and everyone loved the simplicity.

I still remember me, and my elder brother used to play video games for eight hours straight — no distraction, just plain old focus. Even the advertisements on the television were easy to understand — a simple story behind an ad followed by a CTA.

Move the wheel a decade later, and everything feels like a mess. Today the average attention span of a normal human has dropped from 12 seconds to 8 seconds, which is even lower than a goldfish.

Can you recall the number of brands trying to connect with you every day on your smartphone?

Most of the people will say that the number is too big to remember.

So what can your brand do to break away from the clutter?
As they say, desperate times call for desperate solutions. One of the solutions for capturing the attention of today’s consumer is programmatic advertising.

With over a billion websites and mobile apps out there, it is nearly impossible to know which of the channels are the best fit for broader audience reach.

Several ad platforms can be used to target and find customers. But will these ads reach your target audience?

Of course. With programmatic advertising, you’ll be able to target your customers in an AI-based efficient manner.

Let’s get a more in-depth look at what exactly is programmatic advertising.

What is Programmatic Advertising?

Programmatic advertising is a form of advertising that uses artificial intelligence and real-time bidding to automate, streamline the ad buying process.

Programmatic advertising is more like how modern investing works. You specify your portfolio on what amount of budget do you want to invest in various stocks and bonds and what your risk tolerance is, and then the software program will determine the best path to your financial success.

Put, the brands and agencies use the Demand Side Platform (DSP) to buy and understand how much they should pay for it, while the publishers use Supply Side Platform (SSP) to sell the available ad space to brands.

I know what you must be thinking, acronyms like DSP, SSP, or even DMP ( Data Management Platform) can make programmatic advertising seem hard to understand, but in reality, it is simple.

One significant advantage of programmatic advertising is that it offers guaranteed impressions. Even before the impressions are shown, the buyer and seller decide on a price upon which impressions will go live. When a brand needs to extend its reach, marketers can bid for real-time impressions.

Is Programmatic Advertising even Necessary?

All humans always wanted was efficiency. Right from the caves, they looked for bigger stones to lit fire, in the 90s it was all about efficient personal computers, and up till now, it is about efficient workforce,  efficient business, and efficient people.

Before programmatic ad buying or programmatic media buying, it was all about humans buying ads from expensive platforms that are, at times, unreliable.

With Programmatic advertising technology, buying and selling ads got cheaper. By removing humans, who can get sick or need to sleep or even get work hungover, systems got more efficient because machines never stop.

The Three Myths of Programmatic Advertising

Robots replacing humans, is that a good sign?

It’s good and bad at the same time. Till now, technology was being used for menial tasks that took so much time for humans. Tasks like dealing with ad tags and sending updates to publishers, but still, when it came to optimizing campaigns and strategizing things, humans were used.

With programmatic technology, it will give both marketers and sellers to spend to invest their precious time in more sophisticated activities like customizing campaigns.

Is Programmatic Buying the Same as Real-time bidding?

No, it is not. Real-time bidding is a form of programmatic ad buying.

In real-time bidding, the ad purchase is made via real-time auctions. While the programmatic software allows marketers to purchase ad impressions in advance that are guaranteed to deliver results, this form of buying is frequently known as “programmatic direct.”

Is it the future of ad buying?

Maybe yes. For now, it is impossible to tell what portion of advertising is done programmatically, but it is trending in the digital market. Some of the professional social media marketing agencies are now keen to buy as much digital space as possible with programmatic channels, while large-scale brands have a team of in-house experts that handle their programmatic ad buying.

As of now, it is just online ads that are sold programmatically, but there is no doubt that ad agencies will figure out a way to sell “traditional” media ads, including TV spots and out-of-home ads.

The Final Say

If you are not taking advantage of programmatic advertising in some capacity already, you are missing out on the potential to save money and see better performance in your online advertising campaigns. If you need help launching your digital marketing efforts, feel free to drop us a message.

The post From Nobody to Glory: How Programmatic Advertising Makes Your Brand Pop appeared first on Branex Official Blog.

Luckily, you don’t need an Amazon-sized account for an effective branding strategy. There are ways in which you can attract potential customers without spending plenty of money.

1. Start by Defining your Brand identity

Branding is more than a logo or a jingle. Your branding is a collection of values, mission, statement that your brand holds. It is the way you treat your customers; the way customers perceive your brand from the outside.

Before we even dive into all about branding your business, here are two steps that you must take to point you in the right direction.

• Figure out who you are
• Figure out who your target audience is

If you already know what your brand intentions, good for you. But if you don’t know, you need to do a little corporate soul-searching.

Retrospect yourself as a brand. Who do you want to be? What does your logo represent? Can you describe your company in three or fewer words?

What difference will your brand make in the industry?

The clearer you are towards yourself, the better you’ll be able to portray a sharp brand image in front of the consumer.

Next is, figuring out who your target customers are.

There is a considerable number of small brands that put effort into figuring out what products they are willing to sell, neglecting the fact that whom they will sell.

Before you further define your ideal customer. What is their income? What about education and what they look for when buying online from new brands?

Will your product be any right to them?

No matter what business you are in, if you want to stand out from the crowd, you must do things that make you different from your rivals.

You need to figure out your point of difference (POD). For instance, if you sell Big Mac, then your POD is that “special sauce”; this makes your company unique.

Do you use ethically sourced ingredients? Do you offer the best customer service on the go? Whatever your POD is, ensure that you figure that out and do everything to protect that POD.

Photo Courtesy -https://www.pinterest.ch/pin/65443000820773277/

2. Make yourself visually appealing

Once you’ve defined who you are, who your customers are, what makes your different – your POD. Now, you can design things with the right mindset.

To make your brand visually appealing, you must begin with a brand guideline. Learn about how famous brand create their brand guidelines. The font, the colors, and even the background image that you use must speak something about your brand.

Every element in your brand guideline will give the feeling of the overall brand.

Your logo, which is the face of the company. The first thing that the consumer will experience. Pick colours, background, and even the shapes carefully.

When it comes to business cards, we can surely help you create some jaw-dropping business cards for you. We will take your logo (if you don’t have one, we can create it for you) and synchronize it with your website theme.

Every material that you use on your website or even offline in the physical world, it is necessary that you do it with a clear conscience.

3. Right Content is the key

You are just starting, or you are struggling financially. There is only one thing that can save you from being lost and forgotten: content marketing!

Content marketing can do wonders for your brand in a couple of ways. When you create content, it gives a signal that you are a go-to resource for quality content on the subject. Just as SearchEngineJournal is for SEO professionals, the Entrepreneur is for startups, and Copyblogger is for copywriters and bloggers. You can create content and market it so that people will recognize you as the industry leader.

Content marketing is a fantastic strategy to build a brand voice for your brand. By a strong brand voice, you’ll be able to drive the brand personality anywhere you want. What is the relationship that you are willing to create with your customers, don’t tell, show it with your content?

And between the two of us, content marketing is pretty affordable; you can make your content work for you.

The only thing that you need to work on is the right content. When the customer reads Do some research and figure out the type of content that your audience demand.

Photo Courtesy – http://www.joelesina.com/

For example, for a local bakery, your customers are looking for recipes, guides on making the best bread, and other food-related tips and hacks. You can start by creating a blog and listing down every problem that the user faces in the form of a blog post.

The point here is to give your consumer quality information regarding your industry. If you add value, answer questions asked by the consumers with your content, you can earn the trust and convert it into a business opportunity.

4. Collaborate Wisely

People prefer to do business with someone they trust. But if you just started, it will be challenging to earn that trust. There is a smarter way to do that, which is collaborating wisely with a similar but non-competitive brand.

For instance, if you sell energy drinks. It will be wise to collaborate with your local racers and offer them a free sample. You can go to a sports shop and leave a few samples there. Lastly, you can write a guest post on high-end sites that will help you get the attention you need.

These high-profile blogs already have the attention, the target audience, but they are not your competitors. So, grab this golden opportunity and make it work for you.

5. Be a Spiderman for your customers

There is a high-competitive market out there, and to make something out of it, you must become a friendly-neighbourhood-spiderman to save your customers.

Consumers want someone they can trust. The branding you do will grab the attention of your customers. The way you interact with customers will create a reputation for your brand.

That’s why you need to be someone friendly, helpful, wise, and someone who loves dealing and serving customers.

Ensure that you portray as someone that provides the highest level of service to customers. If your customers leave you with a positive experience, they will keep coming back and they will happily mention you to their friends.

One thing that you must keep in mind is that customer service is not just a department. Every person in your team is a customer serving agent. Every interaction, every comment, and every phone call can bring tons of business or make people angry.

In a Nutshell

You surely don’t need and arm and a leg to brand your business effectively. All you need is an ounce of creativity and tons of hard work.

Everything that you do – the interaction, the phone call, and even the comment that you leave on social media will create a perception of your brand in the eyes of the customer. Before doing anything, ensure that you leave the customer in a positive state of mind. With a clear mind, customers will be happy to give you some good business.

The post 5 Branding Strategies to make your brand stand out in 2020 appeared first on Branex Official Blog.

Marketers of today know that the majority of people buy products from brands that incites an emotional response in them. The same principle stands true for making a buying decision on the website.

“Reason leads to conclusions. Emotion leads to action.” ~Donald Calne

The millisecond study mentioned above is perhaps not a bad thing at all. The consumers of today are busy and well-informed. They can sense the underlying intention in your website from a click away. Customers crave integrity, need fulfilment, transparency, an emotional connection and a simple solution that can cure their pain.

94% of the first impressions are design-related

A research conducted on health-related sites concluded that the information presented on the website influences the trust of the customer. The study showed that the look and feel of the website is the primary driver of the first impression.

The study found that the core design of the website is leaving a strong impression on the user than the content.

The customers were found complaining about the complexity of the design, the overly busy layout, boring web design, complicated navigation, too much text, and poor search capabilities.

Only 6% of the feedback complained about the content. Visual appeal is something that leaves a good or a meh first impression on the visitors.

A great design will get people to trust you and stick them around. The poor design creates skepticism and drives people away.

How to make an excellent first impression with design?

1. Go for a unique website design

Imagine you are walking down the road and you come across a cow. It’s just a cow so you’ll pass-by. But what if it is a Purple cow. You’ll not only stop; you’ll take a selfie with the cow and even and go Facebook Live.

After all, you don’t get to see a Purple cow every day. The same theory applies to your website. Every day thousands of sites make it to Google search results, and out of those, most of them feel the same.

To grab the attention of your customers, you must showcase something different. Something that no one else is displaying to the customer. Something like a Purple Cow in the middle of the road.

It is normal to give high-fives when the website is launched. In the midst of all this, the owner often forgets to ask the customer why they liked shopping from your site in the first place.

Brand identity is more than just the brand image. For an eCommerce website, brand identity is all about website navigation, presentation, security logo, and adopting the latest technology.

Think for a moment on this. If your website is not indistinguishable from other websites, why would people want to stick to your site at all?

2. Use Inspiring Elements to Entice Customers

A study found that if a website can inspire visitors on their first visit, the deal might end by them purchasing the product, even if it is sometime later.

If you can create a visually appealing stimulus it will force people to stay longer on the site which means, and there is a good chance that they will buy something from you or return to your website when need something.

When creating the first impression on the visitor, usability is something that will lead to credibility.

“We don’t sell lipsticks. We sell dreams.” ~Charles Revson

Are you able to sell the dream to your consumers? If someone is willing to travel to Turkey, why not showcase photos that will entice him to book a ticket right now.

Check the picture, the content, and even the usability of the website. Ensure that you give users more reasons to engage with the website. Whether it is by a picture, video, or even the content that can inspire the visitor to stay on your website.

3. Make a robust above-the-fold impression

A research shows that people don’t mind scrolling on a website.

When the visitors grace your website with their presence, you have an instant to create an impression. An inspiring above-the-fold will help users scroll down the website for more.

Heatmap studies show that people take navigation seriously.

If people think that the website is too complicated, they won’t waste time to understand the usability of the website. People get frustrated with unclear terms and conditions (hidden shipping costs, etc.)and even the complexity of the website. When the visitor hits a snag, there must be an option to get them out of there. Either by call or customer support chat, the user must feel comfortable to order from your website.

Mostly, it is just about the navigation of the website. The user expects a search bar that can lead them to their desired product. The first time customers often look for discount coupons or even time-sensitive promotions. Don’t make them wait too much for something they need.

You can use the product on sale, a rewards program or even free shipping to get hold of the attention of the customer.

How about increasing the size of the search bar, removing the trust symbol, and using a “Grand Sale” button instead. With an eCommerce website, there is always much room to experiment and see which of the things are working and which are not.

To Conclude it all

It is all about stealing the attention of the customer for the first few seconds, and from then onwards, it becomes easy to gain the trust of the customer.

The first impressions will leave the last lasting impact of the visitor. If you don’t work hard on creating a memorable first impression, there is a good chance that you will be forgotten in the digital cosmos just like every other website trying to get ahead of their competitors.

The post Gone in 50 milliseconds: Practical Tips to Enchant Website Visitors Instantly appeared first on Branex Official Blog.

Digital marketing offers unimaginable ways to access which elements of the strategy are working and which are wasting time, energy, and money of brands.

Simple new digital marketing techniques give every company – be it a four-person startup or a multinational corporation – the chance to make an impact online.

With that in mind, here are some digital marketing techniques in 2020 that will help you get started.

Create an emotional appeal

Kevin Roberts, in his masterpiece book, Lovemarks, talks about emotion in much detail. The crux of the matter is that human beings are powered by emotion, not by reason.

Building an emotional appeal is a must technique for digital marketers. It is one of the most persuading techniques to build a relationship with the customer.

Time and time again, we’ve seen videos, ads, and even social media campaigns that are used as vehicles to incite human emotions. But whatever emotion you evoke, it must relate to your brand personality.

Look at this beautiful example from TOMS shoes.

Get good at Search Engine Optimization

Not having a website in this digital world is out of the question. But the most important factor that website owners need to focus their efforts on is Search Engine Optimization (SEO). After the launch of the Google BERT update, it is impossible to rank your website with stuffed keywords or even low-quality backlinks.

Whether you are writing product descriptions or page content of the website, it is necessary that you use the power of storytelling to engage, inspire, and entice your users. The more time the user spends on your website, the greater will be the chances that they will make the purchase.

The best advice is to hire a professional digital marketing agency that will take care of your marketing woes in the digital world.

The point is that even if you upload a YouTube video, ensure that your title, tag, and even the description is SEO-optimized.

Keep track of the traffic on your website. Note which of the backlinks are giving you the most traffic. Work hard to generate more backlinks. Instead of producing low-quality content, focus on developing high-quality persuasive content at each touchpoint that can inspire a user to act in the desired way.

Be on every Social Media Channel

We live in a world where 3.4 billion people are already on social media. If you are not on every social media channel, you are missing a lot out there.

Facebook is already one of the most popular social media channels, Instagram launched a feature where people can buy products directly from the photo, and brands are using Twitter to drive traffic on their website.

Is Snapchat better than Twitter or Tumblr? It is hard to say which of the platform will be right for your audience. For example, don’t try to build an audience for B2B hospital products on Snapchat, a social network popular for teens and young adults.

Get Influencers on your side

In a study by eMarketer it was revealed that 84% of the marketers expect to use at least one influencer marketing campaign in a period of 12 months.

Influencer marketing is quite effective even for startups. And the best part is that it is inexpensive as compared to traditional marketing channels.

Let’s look at some of the reasons why influencer marketing can benefit startups.

• Traditional marketing is quite immune to most customers, so a change is necessary.
• Influencer marketing is less expensive than most of the traditional marketing strategies.
• Influencer marketing is easy to implement.
• With influencer marketing, word of mouth travels fast and builds trust for your brand.
• Consumers will engage with your brand because of the authenticity of the influencer.

If you are a startup and cannot afford a high-value influencer, you can always go for micro-influencers for your brainchild.

Trust me influencer marketing will give a boost to your sales and leave some memorable audience engagements associated with your brand.

Blog your Expertise

Do you want to know the quickest way to earn the trust of customers? Create a value-oriented blog and make people subscribe to it.

We are living in an age where you never know who your customer is. It can be your neighbor or even someone from across the street.

When you start blogging as a company, people will know that you have something valuable to offer. When customers start trusting you with information, you can always direct them to your service pages, where they will be happy to make a purchase.

Do you think that Amazon needs a company blog? Of course not. Everyone knows Amazon unless you live in a cave far far away.

But Amazon did it to show a point. It wants to help people genuinely and in doing it, help people become a bridge between the consumer and the brand.

A successful brad blog will generate thousands of new readers every day, and this will eventually boost your sales.

Use Video to Win Heart & Soul of Visitors

A study suggests that 76.5% of marketers and small business owners are getting results with video marketing. Just like blogging, video marketing can be used to inform visitors about new things or give them free video tutorials about the product.

Coca Cola always uses some innovative approach to market their product on a global scale. Every ad they create is crafted to perfection.

Those video ads are then promoted on social media channels, and the brand can increase its presence on a global level.

Final Thoughts

There were a few advertising techniques that you can keep in mind when planning your next digital campaign. Hopefully, this will be helpful for you. Do remember that the best form of advertising is to be relevant and useful to your customers.

The post The Ultimate Guide to Digital Marketing Techniques in 2020 (for startups) appeared first on Branex Official Blog.

Whether you’re a bridal dress designer or manage a mom-n-pop restaurant in Upstate New York, if you’re internet-savvy, you can always carve a lucrative niche for yourself.

One of the ways the www helps you recruit ardent followers is through the social media. Social media allows you can generate direct leads without agonizing people to click on those click-bait emails.

The good thing about social media lead generation is that you can focus on potential customers in an organized manner. You can find the right people to engage in various ways. We have some tips that might interest you and help you generate some genuine leads from social media.

The good thing about social media is that there are a lot of ways in which you can attract customers and generate leads. But the only problem that businesses face is to entice users to enter the sales funnel which is the first step towards generating a lead.

The techniques mentioned here are simple yet effective, and they will generate the unimaginable amount of leads on social media in 2020.

Eavesdrop on your Brand Mentions

A little eavesdrop can get you a lead. I mean seriously. When you know what customers are talking about you on social media, you’ll be able to help them out either by answering their queries or helping them improve the reputation of your brand.

When a customer mentions your name on any social media platform, it is your opportunity to do something about it. The way you respond to social media mentions directly affects the reputation of your brand.

You can avoid being too pushy and try to pitch your product/service when the customer is in the mood to listen. If the customer is angry, you can calm them down by listening and resolving their issue before you give them some incentive to order from your brand.

Use Live Streaming to engage more customer

Live streaming is an effective way to generate genuine leads with social media. You can take an interview or share a live webinar with your customers. When you share the live link on your social media page, it will be easy for anyone and everyone to join your live streaming and become part of your brand.

You can also share your personal stories or how you do what you do. The stories that you share with the consumer will leave a powerful impact on them, and this might lead them to a landing page or in a customer’s buying cycle where they are tuned to make the purchase.

Seek Help from Social Media Influencers

In a research, it was revealed that 22% of the people of ages 18-34 made a large purchase after seeing an influencer endorsing the item.

Social media influencers are good for brands that are willing to expand their brand’s reach on social media. Influencers already have a good following which makes it easy for them to reach a brand’s target audience.

When you partner with the influencer, people might feel happy and safe to buy your product/service. You can send your products to influencers and ask them for a genuine review of the product.

You might engage the influencers on Twitter by messaging them or on Instagram by engaging them on posts.

Reach more people with Hashtags

Since the day Facebook decreased its organic reach, the only way to increase reach is by adding hashtags. While it is okay to use your hashtags, it is even better to use hashtags that people are already using in their business. This is an excellent way to build your followers so that you can then share content with them and collect more leads.

You can use an online tool like Hashtagify.me allow you to find out the reach of any particular hashtag. This will help you to use already popular tags.

Optimize Profiles & Pages

As they say that a brand is a complete personality. You must build and present your brand’s personality in a way that people can relate to it and learn to trust it.

When your profile will appear in the timeline of people, do you want to leave a lousy impression? I think not. It is your responsibility to optimize your social media profile and pages so that it will deliver the values that align with your business.

For instance, on your profile or social media page, add a link that will take visitors to a landing page. Once the visitors are on the landing page, they’re in the sales funnel cycle, and it will become somewhat easy to persuade them from there onwards.

When customers visit your social media page for the first time, they might ask what does this brand stand for? This is your opportunity to attract those customers. In the about us section of the Facebook page, add as much detail as you can about your business and how your business can help the customers solve their problems or complement their strengths.

Always Use an Optimistic Tone

When you read a comment or brand mention about your business, you might rush to clear the air. But before you do so, take an in-depth look at the following quote:

“We see our customers as guests to a party, and we are the hosts. It’s our job every day to make every important aspect of the customer experience a little bit better.” ~Jeff Bezos

Do you think that your reply is positive? Or the tone of your response sounds a little negative? As a brand, it is your responsibility to maintain a positive brand personality out there. All it takes is a single negative comment to destroy your brand’s reputation.

You need to use various tones on different platforms. For instance, a formal language might work on LinkedIn, but it will bore customers on Facebook. If your brand voice is lost, you can use social media channels to regain your lost reputation.

The Wrap-up

It doesn’t matter if you use social media or not. Your customers are already using social media to search, buy, and refer products to their friends. It is up to you to establish a powerful brand reputation in the digital world out there.

Don’t worry about what your competitors think about you; focus on building a positive, reliable, and persuasive reputation of your brand in the digital world and people will rush towards you to buy from you.

The post Best Practices for Social Media Lead Generation in 2020 appeared first on Branex Official Blog.

Of course, WordPress has certain advantages that make it the favourite among other CMSs. WordPress is a site architecture, and sometimes those come with extra baggage – or additional benefits. The question is, does it this time?

Did Your Know: You can Boost your Website performance by 10x Times & Maximize Your Leads & Sales

Our WordPress Website development can help you in growing your business profits by 500%

Grow Now!

Here are some ways in which you can make sure that your WordPress website tops the Google search rankings.

Install a WordPress SEO Plugin to Rank Higher on Google

We all know that SEO takes a lot of time and energy. If you plan to do manual SEO of a website, it will take a plethora of your time. As a quick fix, you can install a WordPress SEO plugin that will offer you suggestions to boost your rankings in Google.

When you install the plugin, it will give you control over the optimization of the website. If you want to use the most popular SEO plugin, I would suggest going for Yoast SEO or Rank Math. The installation is super-easy, and you will get suggestions to improve your SEO at every step. You will even get tips on what is wrong with the website SEO.

When you install the Rank Math or Yoast SEO plugin, you’ll gain full control over your SEO. In terms of popularity, everyone knows that Yoast SEO is an all-in-one pack of tools that can give end-to-end optimization. It is highly recommended to use this plugin

The Yoast SEO plugin will allow automatically generate XML sitemap, create breadcrumbs, and a multitude of other optimizations.

Do WordPress Sites Rank Higher on Google well?

If you know someone familiar with WordPress, you’ll notice how they couldn’t stop talking about how great WordPress is with all its gorgeous SEO plugins.

The deluge of positive feedback is right. As soon as you launch the dashboard of WordPress, you’ll notice tons of SEO optimization tools and features waiting for you.

Part of marketing your website is to increase the number of times people can share it on social media. A good thing with WordPress is that there are tools like Blog2Social, Social Auto Poster, or Sassy Social Share that will help you to share your product with the world in the most straightforward manner.

One major factor in ranking a website is the loading speed of the website. With WordPress, you don’t have to worry about it at all. WordPress speed optimization tools will help you make the website load faster without much technical knowledge.

The near-infinite variety of plugins allows WordPress users to rank higher on Google faster than any of its competitors.

What big websites use WordPress?

Here is a list of top ten websites that are using WordPress:

1. TechCrunch
2. The New Yorker
3. The Official Star Wars Blog
4. Sony Music
5. Blog
6. Microsoft News Center
7. Bata
8. Quartz
9. The Walt Disney Company
10. The Walking Dead – AMC

Visit each website and see how they are using WordPress for their advantage. A tool like Built with will help you to know everything that you need to know about a WordPress website. You can reverse engineer a popular site and figure out which of the things you can use on your website.

What percentage of websites are built on WordPress?

With 27+ Million live websites, WordPress shares 51% of the market share. WordPress continues to lead the market by a wide margin.

The super-easy nature of the CMS allows even novice users to get in the gear and start optimizing the website with just a few clicks.

Although it is best advised to use a professional Dubai SEO agency to take care of the SEO, with WordPress, you need to learn a few things to get in the game.

Watch out which if the plugins your competitors are using and think of ways in using them better.

With the recent launch of mobile-first indexing, it is imminent that the emphasis is on creating websites that work smoothly on mobile.

Gone are the times when users would browse a website on mobile, even if the experience is frustrating. The users of today are smart. If you are not able to give them a seamless experience on their mobile phone, they will close the website and move to your competitors.

It would help if you covered the main SEO bases, whichever platform you choose to use. Make sure your metadata is sorted out, make sure your site loads quickly, has the right domain, has a strong brand and has a fast-loading mobile version. Produce high-quality content on a regular schedule, even if it’s a relatively slow schedule. These are the elements Google looks for and you can optimize them regardless of whether you’re using WordPress or a custom solution.

The post How Will WordPress Website Help you Rank Higher on Google? appeared first on Branex Official Blog.

Nothing comes easy in life. But if you have a guide with you, even the hardest challenge and the mightiest of storms can easily be defeated.

Starting a business in an unknown country takes a lot of patience and guts. If you have already planned for setting a business in Dubai, the good news is that we have developed this 7-step guide that will help you to start a business in Dubai and scale your business on a global scale.

Before we give you the steps on how to establish a company in Dubai, let’s answer some basic questions first.

Can a foreigner own a business in Dubai?

Dubai welcomes foreign entrepreneurs with arms wide open. If you are serious about starting a business in Dubai, it won’t take more than a week to get started.

Here are few points to ponder before you initiate a business in Dubai:

• Type of Business: What business are you trying to establish? A commercial, professional, or industrial enterprise. The next step is to get a license for your business.
• Ownership: If you plan to start the business in the mainland, then 51% will be for UAE nationals and 49% will be given to the expat. The business must have a minimum of 2 shareholders and a maximum of 50. If you want a 100% ownership of the company, you must opt for a location in the free trade zones of UAE.
• Business name: When you select the business name, it must represent the nature of the business.
• Local agent: It is mandatory to start a business with a local agent. This will serve as excellent support for foreign nationals in all aspects.

What kind of business should I start in UAE?

There is numerous type of profitable businesses that you can start in Dubai. Here is a list of hottest companies that are generating many opportunities for anyone who aspires to do business in Dubai.

Related Read: Incredible Business Ideas in Dubai

• Advertising Agency
• Apparel
• eCommerce
• Food processing
• Handyman
• Home cooking business
• Jewellery making
• Logo Design Company
• Real Estate business
• Recruitment agency
• Security business
• Tourism

Steps on how to Establish a Company in Dubai

1. Choose your business wisely

The nature of your business will decide where and how to establish a company in Dubai. For instance, some free zones will only allow a specific type of activity, such as medical, media, and transport. While for some projects like import and export, you need to initiate your business near an airport or port.

The final decision will take some preparation so that you can eliminate the extra options and focus on just one. At the start, you might begin with one type of business, but there is no need to pigeon-hole your business; you can start multiple businesses listed under a trade license.

2. A Company Name

When it’s time to name your company, Dubai has some restrictions that need to be followed. For instance, you cannot use any offensive or forbidden language. Any names that include ALLAH or any religious figures that also include political figures, mafia are strictly forbidden.

If you plan to name your business after a person, then the person must be your partner or owner, and their full name must be used – no initials or abbreviations.

A business expert can help you with the naming conventions for your organization. This will help you to save much time as these experts know and understand the local market pretty well.

3. The Paperwork

You must complete an application for your company that includes copies of shareholders’ passports and send it to relevant government authorities.

Some of the free zones will demand additional documentation such as a business plan and no-objection certificate (NOC), which is a letter from the sponsor confirming that you are allowed to do business in UAE.

While the steps might be overwhelming, it should not take too much of your time. Ask your business partner – the local person to deal with the paperwork as they’ll know more about the paperwork.

4. License your Business

One of the most natural steps is to get your application approved by the government. Obtaining a license is easy; just fill out a form and a person will contact you from the government agency.

5. A Bank Account

Once you have all the documents in hand, you must open a bank account. In UAE, there are various banks, both international and local, including Emirates NBD, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank and even Commercial Bank of Dubai. You can either approach the bank yourself or ask your partner to do so.

6. Process your Visa

This step is for expat people who moved to Dubai for business, for Dubai residents skip this step.

Many of the free zones allow you to put applications for staff. For instance, if you are willing to get a visa for your spouse, maid, or even a driver, then you should consult expert advice and ensure that you can get the visa in your free zone.

Secondly, you must ensure that you and anyone who you are willing to sponsor must meet the entry criteria for the visa.

7. Create a website

The last and the essential step in establishing a company in Dubai is to make a website or a mobile app to sell your service/product. If you don’t have a clue on how to create a website, we can help you take care of that.

Our passionate web designers and developers take ideas and turn them into reality before the deadline. Yeah, I know that sounds cheesy, but this is something you cannot run away from. To put it, whether you need a website or a mobile app, we make it happen for you.

The post A 7-Step Complete Guide to Establishing Your Company in Dubai appeared first on Branex Official Blog.

You’re at work and having an informal chat with your colleague.

During the conversation, you also mention that you wish to purchase a mid-range smartphone for your wife this holiday season.

Your colleague, who by chance happens to be your friend as well, tells you about a few phones that were on the top of his mind.

After a few minutes, the conversation ends and you guys get back to work.

As soon as you log in to your computer and start browsing the web, you’re bombarded with ads about mobile phone and their accessories.

You freak out and ask your colleague wt* is going on and he has no clue as well.

I’m sure some of our readers might have experienced this creepy phenomenon.

Now the question is, how and why does this happen?

It’s because Google is listening to your conversations.

Now you might ask does Google records everything you say. Or does Google only record your searches?

These might seem like silly questions to ask, but those who know a cent or two about the technology understand the influence that Google has in our lives. And the eavesdrop doesn’t come free. The myth is that Google voice records everything that you say to a bot, even those things that you don’t want the world to listen to.

If you don’t believe me, here is Mark Zuckerberg, who has taped his laptop for some reason. Why? Because he knows things that you and I don’t, but surely, he had some concerns with his privacy.

Coming back to the question, is Google listening to everything that you say, or a quick question is why is Google listening in the first place? Some say that Google looks to your conversations for their ads; others claim that there is no certainty of why Google or any of the tech companies is doing so.

The internet went furious when a personal conversation between Danielle and her husband was recorded by Alexa and sent randomly to her husband’s colleague.

Danielle pulled the plug on Alexa immediately after her husband’s friend called that someone is hacking it.

How Google Home Works?

When you request Google Home or any other Alexa device, they record the stream of audio clips of whatever you say and send them to a server. Here is where the actual magic happens. The audio clips are analyzed and a response is created for the user.

Every device needs “wake words” to activate them, from “Alexa” to “OK Google” these are activation phrases that bring voice assistants to life.

This means that mics are always listening and picking up conversations even when you are not requesting anything from them. Although these conversations are not sent over to a network, they are stored somewhere.

Why Does Google Device Need to Eavesdrop?

Listening to words before you say the wake-up phrase is essential for the whole concept to work. The process is borrowed from the pre-buffer option of cameras burst modes, which captures a few frames before you press that shutter button.

Just like in-camera, the pre-buffer helps in not missing a shot due to slow shutter; the voice assistants help systems handle requests instantly. Without perked ears for that “Alexa,” “OK Google,” or “Siri,” these assistants would need physical buttons to activate them.

If you are serious about your security, you must go for a push-button voice assistant for your home. Devices like Google Home, Alexa and Amazon Echo, are listening to you even when they are turned off.

Can Hackers listen to me?

Of course, there are security measures that prevent hackers from listening to your devices. The data in the voice assistants are encrypted, so even when the home network is compromised, and it is unlikely that the devices can be used for listening.

Having said that, nothing is impossible. And that is why Amazon and Google both have security measures to prevent wiretapping your home. The audio zipping from your home is encrypted at the centers of Amazon and Google, so even if the device is hacked, no one can decrypt your data.

To prevent hackers from listening to you, there is a manual mute button that prevents the Echo and Home from listening to you.

What Happens to your recorded Audio Clip?

If you want to listen to past queries, you can always listen to them by visiting myactivity.google.com while you’re logged into your account. This link doesn’t just contain your audio clips. It stores your web searched, YouTube videos and apps that you’ve used.  It’s all presented in a neat, searchable chronological stack.

There are benefits to these personal audio catalogs. In cases where search queries are unable to work, Google Home presents personalized content based upon your data.

How to Delete or Stop Google from Listening to You?

An easy way to prevent Google Home from eavesdropping your conversation is to tap the “Mute” button at the back of the device. This will indicate the Assistant not to record the conversation. To resume listening simply press the button again.

What if you want Google Home to work without stopping the recording, more like an “Incognito Mode.” Unfortunately, this is not possible. When you pause Google from myactivity.google.com, it will just temporarily disable the Assistant on Android phones.

The semi-good news is that you can delete saved audio clips after the fact. To do that, go to myactivity.google.com, tap the three vertical dots in the “My Activity” title bar, and select “Delete activity by” in the drop-down menu. Click the “All Products” drop-down menu, choose “Voice & Audio,” and click delete. Google says this may affect some of Google Home’s personalization features because it mainly wipes its memory.

Conclusion

It is not just about Google Home or Alexa, security is a significant concern with these devices, so either you don’t use the device at all, or you use it with some security measures.

The post Sshh! Google is listening – Lemme Show you How to Stop it from Eavesdropping appeared first on Branex Official Blog.