Influencer Marketing: Choosing the Right Partners for Your Brand
Hey there, marketing mavens and brand builders! Ready to dive into the world of influencer marketing? Grab your favorite snack, because we’re about to embark on a journey that’ll transform your approach to partnering with influencers and skyrocket your brand’s reach. Whether you’re working with an SEO agency or handling your digital marketing in-house, influencer partnerships can be a game-changer.
Before we jump in, let me share a quick story. Last year, I worked with a small skincare brand – let’s call it GlowUp. The founder, Jessica, was hesitant about influencer marketing. “Isn’t that just for big brands with deep pockets?” she asked. She was already working with an SEO agency to improve her online visibility, but wanted to explore other avenues. Fast forward six months, and a carefully chosen group of micro-influencers had helped GlowUp increase their sales by 200%, complementing the work of her SEO agency perfectly. How’d we do it? Well, that’s exactly what we’re going to explore today.
Understanding Influencer Marketing: More Than Just Celebs and Millions of Followers
First things first, let’s break down what influencer marketing really is. At its core, influencer marketing is a form of social media marketing involving endorsements and product mentions from individuals who have a dedicated social following and are viewed as experts within their niche.
But here’s the kicker – it’s not just about getting Kim Kardashian to post about your product (unless you’ve got a few million dollars lying around). Influencer marketing can be incredibly effective with smaller, more niche influencers too.
The influencer marketing industry is set to reach $15 billion by 2022. That’s a lot of sponsored posts! But why is it so popular? Well, 49% of consumers depend on influencer recommendations for their purchase decisions. That’s right – nearly half of consumers are looking to influencers to help them decide what to buy.
Why WordPress Is Perfect For Small Business Websites
According to Web Design Perth, if you have decided to undertake the web design of your site in-house, either by yourself or one of your team, then you need to seriously consider the benefits of using WordPress. By this, we mean installing WordPress (available from wordpress.org) on your domain and building your site there, and not going to wordpress.com. You can build a site at wordpress.com, but it effectively remains their property, which is not recommended, especially if you are building a business website.
With WordPress (WP) installed on your domain, and ideas in your head about your WordPress front page design, here are the many advantages of using it to build your website.
#1 Easy to Use and Update
One of WP’s greatest assets is how easy it is to both use and update. Often this is achieved by simply clicking a link in the WP back office. You don’t need to have any special skills or knowledge of HTML coding to create and build a great looking site. The back office that you’ll use for WP is very easy to understand with the use of menus and sub-menus for the various functions that you can operate within your WP site.
#2 Great Looking Themes
Whatever niche or industry sector your business is in, there will be themes available that can give your website the look and feel you want. Some of the better ones may cost, but generally, this is not going to be any more than $100 which is a small price to pay for a stunning looking website.
#3 Plugins For Added Functionality
The number of plugins which you can use with your WP website is vast. They enhance your site for visitors and for you and your team in relation to both building and maintaining the site. Some the functions that plugins can add include SEO, security, design, email marketing, multimedia players, visitor interaction, and payment processing to name a few.
Why WordPress is Better than a Website
Even though WordPress did not get much recognition when it first came out several years ago, it quickly blossomed into a critical online platform that has given the humble website a run for its money. The following are some of the main reasons it’s gaining rapid popularity with bloggers and especially in eCommerce.
Affordable and Easy to Use
If this is your first time starting a business, online or off, then money must be tight. However, since today’s consumers are typically dependent on online reviews and eCommerce websites, it’s always a good idea to take your brand online. But rather than hiring a web designer to maintain and create a website, you can just maintain a WordPress account and place all the information for your products and services there.
For successful blogging your blogging platform is very user friendly, so you can add more pages on your own as well, without downloading additional software. This way you can save money and use it to make your business more profitable. Of course, once it takes off, it would be a good idea to hire someone experienced in WordPress to manage your account for you.
Time Management Capabilities
Even if you are a great writer, your blog will hold no water if it’s not updated on a regular basis. This won’t be a problem if you host it on WordPress though. All you have to do is add the content you want and just schedule the posts according to the time and dates you want them to be published.
How to get recognized on the Web using WordPress
Make your mark on the World Wide Web with WordPress
For those who are unaware, WordPress is a CMS or Content Management System that is a good alternative to a fully functioning website. As a website’s content grows, so do challenges on how to represent it to target readers. However with a content management system such as WordPress, you can manage as many pages as you need with the range of options it has to offer.
Attract search engines
Straight out of the box, the content management system comes ready to cater to search engines. Besides guiding them through pages, posts and categories, it can help them collect the information they need to propel your site to the top of search engine results.
Of course, that would not be possible without utilizing the in-built digital marketing tools the CMS comes with. This includes htaccess which can be used to create static URLs called pinging and permalinks to name a few. This is a configuration file that can be used to change a server’s settings for the directory it is based in. Permalinks are used by other bloggers who wish to connect with your blog and you can also use it to link a blog to an email. However, you should not change the URL of the posts if you want this to work. Since WordPress allows users to create permalinks with keywords search engines prefer, creating them will be worth your while. Read more about WordPress SSL
Choosing The Right Hosting Provider For Your WordPress Website
WordPress is the world’s most popular content management system, with a huge percentage of websites using it to publish, edit and maintain their content marketing for your wordpress site. However, one of the keys to building a successful WordPress website is choosing the right hosting provider.
A lot of beginner web developers fall into the trap of using cheap web hosting that offers shared services. Unfortunately, these packages are usually unreliable and insufficient, especially if you want to scale your website and become a powerhouse in your niche.
With this in mind, we’ve put together a short guide to choosing the perfect web hosting provider for your new WordPress website.
Start By Identifying Your Needs
Think about what sort of website you’re planning on building, how much and what sort of content you’re planning on creating and how much traffic you envision having. If you’re planning on creating a small niche website with a limited number of visitors, then you probably won’t have to spend a lot on hosting. However, if you want to create a large site with a lot of visitors and a lot of content, then you will probably need to purchase dedicated hosting, or at least a VPS.
Setting Up Your First WordPress Website
Creating your own website can be an extremely rewarding process. However, it can also be somewhat difficult if you don’t really know what you are doing. WordPress is the most popular option for beginners to set up their first website. In this article we will look at the two types of WordPress websites you can set up, along with how you should go about setting them up.
WordPress.com
If you want to set up a simple blog or informational website, WordPress.com is almost definitely your best option. It is free, extremely easy to set up, and very simple to use. This platform offers everything from free hosting to a free domain name (within reason).
However, there are a few cons when it comes to using WordPress.com over WordPress.org. These include having .wordpress.com attached to the end of your domain name, a difficulty in monetising your site, and a significantly reduced customizability compared to open source website building platforms. Setting up a WordPress.com website can be done in just a couple of steps:
- Head over to WordPress.com and create an account. During the account creation process you will be asked to create a domain name and website name.
- Once you have your domain and website address, you are ready to start installing WordPress plugins and building your site!
- Although limited, WordPress.com does offer a few different ways of customizing your blog, including using different themes and colour schemes. Choose one which suits the image you are trying to create.
- Start creating content, learn some WordPress SEO techniques and encourage people to visit your site!
Yes, it actually is this easy to start designing a website with WordPress.com. This is great for people like hobby bloggers or parents looking to document their family lives.
5 Security Extensions To Consider For Your Joomla Website
If your CMS of choice is Joomla then you are in good company, with over 30 million websites using the platform, not to mention a developer community of around 200,000. You’ll already know of Joomla’s advantages in terms of features and extensions but how familiar are you with Joomla’s security.
As with other platforms such as WordPress and Drupal, websites built using Joomla are viable targets in the eyes of hackers and cyber-saboteurs, so if you haven’t made the time or effort to protect your site, you are leaving yourself wide open to an attack.
Thankfully there are a number of very impressive security extensions designed specifically for Joomla sites which can protect your content, data and other information, and prevent your site from being infiltrated. Here are 5 of the best which can keep your Joomla site safe.
JomDefender: This extension prevents ‘drive-by’ hackers from identifying applications within your site which are vulnerable by keeping them hidden and protected. It also has security features which make it very difficult for hackers to gain access to your site via the login page by requesting two unique passwords instead of one, and thus making it twice as difficult for them to break in.
Content Management System or Static Site: Which Is Best?
Asking whether a content management system (CMS) is better than a static site is a bit like asking whether boots or shoes are the better footwear. The answer is very much dependant on what they are being used for and what the user wishes to do. With footwear, obviously boots are better for hiking, but sandals are better for walking on the beach. When applied to building a website there are circumstances where a CMS is more appropriate and others when a static site would be the best option.
The first difference is the actual building of the website in the first place and how it is done. A static site needs to be designed and coded from the outset, therefore unless the website owner has programming and design skills, this work will need to be contracted out. The programmer you hire will need to have a comprehensive knowledge of HTML and must be happy and willing to work in conjunction with the designer to ensure the functioning and the look of the finished site meets your specifications.
WordPress Websites: The Latest and Best Solutions for SEOs
WordPress is an online, open source site creation instrument written in PHP. Web designers, free-lancers and at-home-tinkerers all love it which is the reason it is the most popular CMS in the World today. However, in the non-nerd talk, it’s likely the simplest and most effective blogging and site Content Management System (CMS) in presence today.
The Benefits of Using WordPress
The Programming is Free
How often have you been given something for free that is completely utilitarian and ready to use? With this free Content Management System (CMS), if you need to upscale your website a little more with premium topics or new modules, you will save a great deal over what you would have paid for a professionally made website.
WordPress has a Web Search Tool (SEO) Points of Interest
Web search engines love websites that are easy to list, like WordPress says, and that have regularly overhauled content. That is where blogging comes into play. Just by maintaining your business or individual site and writing your blogs in a way that is characteristic of you, you’ll be delivering the kind of crisp, applicable content the search engines will love. You need visitors to discover your site, so you have to ensure it can be found.
The best way to do that is to concentrate on SEO. SEO is the procedure of making the kind of changes and adding conformity to your site that search engines like so they’ll rank your website higher.
Appearing higher in indexed lists means more visitors will discover your site. There are some basic methodologies that can help your SEO. Having more substance gives web crawlers more items to rank, which in turn helps a prospective client to find your website. It also implies you have more important substance in your information so individuals will find the information they are looking for and become customers. Utilizing WordPress is a great approach to enhance your SEO more easily
5 Ways to Generate Revenue Through Drupal
Drupal is a free software package used as a content management system which can be improved by installing modules and by personalized modification. It is a publishing platform for different industries to run an online store. Utilizing its e-commerce feature has helped many organizations generate more income in the past decade.
It is well-designed, renowned, and flexible. Drupal consists of an extensive collection of elements that are considered to be extremely important for the purpose of generating profits by webmasters, administrators, and marketing experts.
Here are five easy ways through which you can generate revenue using Drupal:
E-commerce
E-commerce is the demand of the information age we are living in. Drupal E-commerce mainly consists of small modules which simplify the task of setting up a shopping cart, reviewing product and using checkout pages. Furthermore, it also manages balances, taxes and discounts, and facilitates in the organization of inventory and lists of products.
This feature provides you with detailed reports, history of orders, and reviews. Even with all these added benefits, Drupal E-commerce is free of cost, unlike its other competitors. It guarantees a picture perfect e-commerce experience for both customers and users alike.
How to Keep the Costs of Your Website Down
If you are new to building websites you may not realise you don’t have to go with the Content Management System (CMS) your web hosting company promotes. In fact, many offer the option of installing others, often free, CMS that is easier to use and needs much less of a learning curve than others. For instance, you can usually install WordPress, which is one of the simplest and easiest to use.
You might want to have your digital agency set it up for you so you don’t have to worry whether it is done correctly in the first instance. But then you would want the convenience of being able to make simple changes or additions yourself, rather than having to contact them to do it – and have to pay extra each time.
It is really easy to add posts or pages to a WordPress site once it is up and running with everything on it that you need. You simply go into your administration area and click on Page or Post, then copy and paste what you have typed into the page that appears. Or you can type it directly onto the page because it works just like Word on your computer. This is what is called a “what you see is what you get” or “WYSIWYG” editor.
It’s important to make sure you’re only putting quality content online, because your website affects your SEO results, ask yourself – is your website harming your SEO? making sure your content is SEO ready can keep your costs down in the long term.
You don’t need to know even simple code, because WordPress does all that for you on another page. You can click a link to view it if you want to, but there’s no need.
Websites Made Easy
If you have had anything much to do with websites, you’ll know that it is possible to create something as simple as a blog with no knowledge of HTML. But when it comes to a business website or an online store, it’s not quite as simple. A website designer is the best one to create such a website, but you’ll still need to be able to change things or add more product in the days and years to come.
Rather than depending on the web designer to make small changes, it is far better to use a content management system (CMS) that you can understand; one that does not require any steep learning curve or knowledge of HTML. This is possible by using certain software that has been offered up by the many creators for free. It allows anyone to get into the ‘back-end’ of their website, through an admin link, where they can easily remove outdated content and add new, be that images or text.
Such software has its own editor and is as easy to use as your computer, since it has all the same functions in the same order, or at least along the top where they are easy to see and use. For instance, if you want to bold or italicise words you only have to highlight them and click on B or I up the top, just like on your computer. You can also add bullet points, change the font size or style and add colours to the text, just like you can in Word.
Why Joomla is Trusted by Millions of Websites
The reason Joomla CMS is trusted by literally millions of websites online, is because it is one of the very few that can be used to create, edit, publish and manage content. This is why it is considered a good alternative to employing a full time web design professional. The following are some of the main reasons it is so trusted:
Easy and fast editing – If you are not using a CMS and want to make some edits on the pages of your website, Joomla has your back. Using another CMS may not ensure data integrity the way Joomla can. It does this by locking the content so that no one is able to access or make changes to a document that is being edited apart from the approved person. Since the software uses powerful editors to make changes, the person editing a document will have no trouble making adjustments. In fact, a simple document will seem just like a Word file when it is being changed.
Customizable Core – Even though Joomla’s core is called hackable, that is not a cause for concern. It just means that it can be customized by anyone who has a modicum of knowledge regarding PHP. That’s because this open source software is very clean and quite well documented. It is ‘hackable’ so adjustments can be made to optimize it for a specific reason.
Up the Ante on your Blogs with WordPress Plug-ins
Even if you consider yourself a WordPress guru, you will only go so far unless you install appropriate WordPress plug-ins to fulfill all of your needs. The following are some that are preferred by the CMS community, but whatever you do, don’t try and install all of them. Pick those that seem relevant if you don’t want your website to slow down.
W3 Total Cache
WordPress can be great if you have a lot of content to share, but it can get slow fast if it is not managed with plug-ins or is hit with loads of traffic every day. For instance, once your website hits 500 page views, you will need to start caching them. That way they won’t need to be re-generated each time. You can do that easily with W3 Total Cache. The plug-in is affectionately known as The Swiss Army knife of performance plug-ins since it can manage almost everything from delivery to miniaturization.
CloudFlare
If you are looking for a solution that can fix loading speeds, then you should download CloudFlare. This is a free to use plug-in that can act as a replacement for your current DNS, work as a firewall against malicious requests and can even cache content. Since you will need to modify your domain for it, you may face a little difficulty during installation. However, it will be smooth sailing once you do.
Why You Should Use Drupal for a CMS Website
From personal website to community portals, Drupal has been helping site owners make an impact online ever since it was launched. Offering more than 2,000 themes and design options as well as 20,000 modules, it’s loved by both owners and developers alike. In fact, it serves as the back-end infrastructure for several notable custom websites on the World Wide Web today.
Besides the above mentioned, the following are some of the main reasons why this CMS platform is making waves in its industry:
Highly Customizable – With its vast number of themes, designs, layouts and ease of operation, Drupal designers and web developers have a smorgasbord of choices when it comes to creating custom websites. This includes addressing complex client requirements.
Allows Rapid Deployment – Regardless of complexity, this CMS allows business owners and companies to launch functionalities and core features easily and quickly. Using Drupal, developers can also make changes to their creations even after deployment, which is critical post feedback and when making tweaks according to business requirements.
Pros and Cons of Using Drupal
Drupal has come a long way from its humble beginnings as a simple, open source CMS platform. It has effectively evolved into a strong web development program loved by programmers and developers alike. It’s widely used in 200 countries across the globe, is available in more than 180 languages and is used by the likes of Sony Music, Ubuntu and even the White House!
However, just like any tech, Drupal also has its fair share of downsides along with benefits.
The Pros…
- Customizable – Drupal has a number of design features and development tools that programmers absolutely love. Besides literally 1000s of readymade and customizable themes and templates, it has the ability of streamlining web development. This has proven quite handy for developers, especially those who have to maintain an online presence for ever-changing brands.
- Feature filled – The CMS platform comes complete with a number of features that are designed specifically to cater to serious developers. This includes a comprehensive menu, system admin, RSS feeds to name a few and which can be used to manage large websites as well as blogs. This includes the ability to create new user accounts quickly, which can be tweaked for custom permissions for users.
Joomla vs. Drupal – Which is Better?
Joomla and Drupal may be considered some of the best open source content management software out there, but the one you choose should be based on your specific requirements. Even though they are similar in several aspects, they differ in the type of content they can effectively manage. Of course, that is not to say that either is better than the other, but it’s better to look at what you need first before downloading either one. The following guide can help you narrow down your choice:
Drupal is Best for…
Even though large brands such as Yahoo!, McDonalds and Best Buy use Drupal, they use other software for their main websites. For instance in Yahoo it is used to manage style guides, while it is used to manage Best Buy’s online magazine. It is also preferred in the education sector by universities such as Duke, Stanford and Rutger to name a few who use it for their mail site. In fact, MIT also uses it to manage its media lab since it is very easy to use. The CMS may not be suitable for everybody, but it is still popular with those whose skills are not technically strong.
How to Choose between CMS platforms
Choosing a content management system (CMS) that can fulfill all of your requirements can be a challenging endeavor. Without clear cut requirements, you might be tempted to download the first one that has the fanciest features! The following analysis will help you narrow down your choices to pick an appropriate one:
Check Functionality
Now when most people are looking for a CMS, they look for one that can help them edit, organize, create and manage content on their websites. This is an incorrect assumption since not all content management systems are capable of all of those features. For instance, not every blogging platform allows users to manage pages in a hierarchy. Some even go so far as to post blogs at random or according to date. This may be ideal in certain circumstances, but this limitation can be quite frustrating if you wish to say, post a large DIY tutorial in one go.
Your job is to first ascertain what you need from your CMS along with the basic features you need to make changes if necessary. Be wary of those that do not allow you to accomplish core tasks such as structuring and organizing pages. There are literally thousands of such open source software out there and you will need to test a couple out before sticking to one.
5 Benefits of Using Open Source Software
As more and more businesses and government entities opt for open source software such as Linux, it’s clear that the platforms have more to offer than meets the eye. Perhaps its definition can best be explained if we take a look at the benefits it offers.
Flexibility
As the name implies, open source software is open to all, meaning that its code can be accessed by anyone who wants to make changes in it. In other words, no single company owns it and any business can create their own software without facing copyright issues. It is easy to manage as well and can be outsourced to multiple vendors thus eliminating entry and exit barriers. Plus, you can always choose another vendor if the one you chose does not pan out.
Quick Deployment
Consumers can launch new software solutions in days rather than the years it used to take before. Software that is created using it can be tested prior to deployment and is quite beneficial when it comes to collaborations between two entities and experimentation. Additionally, developers can anticipate the needs of existing and potential users with the results they receive from the number of tests that they will be able to do.
Securing Your Website through Expressionengine
Internet security has become a growing concern for users and breaches are even more alarming when it comes to conducting businesses online. ExpressionEngine provides users security elements that are most inclusive and broad, comprising of highly developed features that can carry out business without having to worry about security breaches.
Security has never been an issue for ExpressionEngine users for almost a decade and it has only had one security advisor in the span of three years. The data you use on this CMS is bound to be safe because of the following features it offers:
Managing Session and Processing Forms
Depending on the security needs of your business, ExpressionEngine is secured by three separate session management systems. Choice on the type of session depends on the control panel and public sites. Duplicate submission of forms and spamming are prevented by allowing single submission of forms for each page.
Understanding WordPress
If you have a blog, the best thing to do is to maximize its readership through a CMS such as WordPress. Over the years, the portal has evolved into a state of the art blogging platform that can be used to create, edit and publish highly customizable content in real time.
If you have used WordPress even once then you know that in order to access your account all you have to do is log into your administrator dashboard using ‘your-site/wp-login.php. You can easily upload new content, modify old blogs or publish new, install plug-ins, themes etc. However, have you ever thought how you can maximize its potential?
The ultimate aim of the CMS is to generate HTML pages on a dynamic basis which is why an HTML page and web page are considered synonymous with each other. WordPress uses SQL and PHP to store data and the PHP code makes up the core for the CMS while the database makes up its memory. Each installation of WordPress gets its own database and the following information you enter is stored there:
Is ExpressionEngine right for your business
If you are an up and coming entrepreneur, then you know your business website is a virtual expression of your brand for the masses. ExpressionEngine (EE) is a CMS that took this fact to heart and made it evident with its flexible and scalable solutions. Using this open source software, you can express your brand message in almost any way you want utilizing the innumerable features EE offers. However, just like any other CMS, this one also has some features that might not prove as lucrative.
Useful Features
ExpressionEngine offers a limitless list of features but some of the important ones are:
- Image management
- SEO friendly URLs
- Ability to create multiple categories
- Add sticky posts
- Status creation for posts
- RSS and ATOM Syndication
These are self explanatory, but other features deserve a proper introduction, such as EE’s
Template Engine and Commenting System – Creating a website will be easy if you depend on the template engine’s innumerable tags. Besides this, you can sustain a healthy social experience for commenters by allowing new ones to join in key discussions via the commenting system.