Lula Digital's Blog

Your website should be your calling card, or your business front door

tessatristianti@icloud.com (Tessa Tristianti) — Mon, 21 May 2018 14:08:01 GMT

A lot of company owners create a website to have an online presence. But used properly, a website can be a company’s calling card and the business front door. When you create a business website, the last thing you want is for it to be an online brochure. You want it to inform people, to offer them discounts, value and a great return for their time.

If you have a website, you can double or even triple your income. But that doesn’t mean you just have to create a website for your retail store, and that’s it. You have to continually update the website to bring in front higher quality results and better value for your money.

What should you do to make your website stand out?

For starters, make sure that you treat your website as an online store, as an extension of your business. Offer great products, but also include deals that are only on the site. Exclusivity is what will push people towards online purchases. Also, try to put a lot of items on sale from time to time. Yes, limited time deals and online sales for events and holidays will help you quite a lot. The idea is to adapt all of this depending on your needs. As long as you do that you will have no problem getting the best possible experience and results.

It’s certainly a challenge to make your website feel as an extension of your business. The primary benefit is that it’s open 24/7, so people can easily buy stuff online from it and the return on investment can indeed be huge from that perspective.

Why does your business need a website?

• You can start generating a lot of sales without investing too much
• Your website and business get more influence both online and offline
• It helps you reach your business goals
• There’s a low entry barrier, so every business can create a website.
• Open 24/7
• You get to seamlessly communicate with customers
• Immediate customer support
• You get to have a voice for your business

Is your website better than a storefront?

There are pros and cons for each one. Your website will be able to promote your business non-stop, and you can add a huge range of products in there. Plus, you can easily sell directly from the manufacturer without actively holding any items. And you get paid online, which is more secure than regular transactions. Having a storefront is great only if you want to have an offline presence, but it won’t give you the type of benefits and exposure that you usually want from something like this!

Encourage people to visit your retail store too

When you own a business website, you want to generate a lot of sales there. But you have to promote your retail store too. In case people want to get the item on the spot instead of waiting for home delivery, they can go to the store. However, you should do the same in your store.

Make sure that your website is more than just a place to put in items for advertising. You want your website to be visually impressive and also your company’s front door. Showcase what makes your business great, offer customer support 24/7 online and bring in some exclusive deals and features. This is the only way to make your business shine, by making your online presence as meaningful when compared to your retail store. Once you do that, you will obtain some incredible benefits!

Free Places to Start Promoting Your Website Online

info@luladigital.com (Admin Luladigital) — Fri, 09 Mar 2018 16:33:41 GMT

As a small business owners, you have most likely spent the majority of your website budget on creating the site, but you have little to less money to spend more on promoting your website. Promoting your website doesn't have to be costly, in fact below are some great ways to promote your website and business for free.

So here is the list:

1. Submit your URL through Search Engine

As you may know, search engines are the primary platform used by people all over the world to find the information they need on the internet. Since most of the internet traffic goes through search engines, being ranked highly by search engines will send you a huge number of prospective customers. With that said, search engines should be the first place that you turn to promote your online presence. Make sure that search engines know your website exists by submitting your URL to them directly. These 3 search engines are known to generate the most traffics.

2. List your company to Online Directories

Most website owners, who're on the lookout for ways to raise their Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and wish to improve their traffic to their website, submit their website to web directories. Getting listed in the online directories is a free, fast and easy way to promote your website due to the increasing need for web presence. To give you an idea to start listing your business online, this is the list of top-quality free local business directories for your local business in Canada:

3. Build your Social Media Links

With around 1 billion people using Facebook and billion more using different social media sites, there are no excuses not to use social media to promote your website. You can use social media to share links to new or existing website content. Building your social media for your website promotion increases brand awareness in the social networks increases good quality traffic to your website and improved good quality backlinks for the websites as well. Most of us are already familiar with these social media sites:

4. Blogging

Articles that sounds genuinely well-intentioned and have a less aggressive marketing tone, will likely draw more interest to your site than self-promotion alone. Blogs and articles are also great for promoting link building for SEO benefits. Blog content is generally crawled and indexed much faster than regular pages on a static website, so consider having a blog that supports your website. These are free blogs you can take advantage of:

There are many free online places to promote your website, those listed above are some of the many of them. If you know other free places, please do share! With a small fee, we can help you save your time to do this listing for your business. Contact us by email at info@luladigital.com for more info!

How Businesses Can Adapt To The Latest 2018 Facebook Algorithm Change

info@luladigital.com (Admin Luladigital) — Fri, 09 Mar 2018 01:51:21 GMT

Mark Zuckerberg announced a change in Facebook algorithm in January 2018. After suggesting the harmful effect of passive use of social media, Facebook argued for a more active approach to using the site. The social media company wants to promote active interactions between users and their loved ones while demoting activities which encourages only surface interactions. This follows an academic research which concluded that using "social media is best for users if it is used in connecting with people who are cared about". The recent change will prioritize contents from loved ones above contents from brands, news media and businesses. It will also ensure the promotion of meaningful interactions at the expense of passive interactions.

Facebook's history with algorithm change

It is noteworthy that algorithm change isn't a new concept with Facebook. In 2013, the social media site had its algorithm changed in a bid to promote high quality articles. Through the years, similar changes had taken place. Transitions from 'instant articles', to promotion of 'videos', 'live videos' and 'Facebook groups' have been experienced as Facebook aims at building a stronger community and enhancing user experience.

IMPACT OF THE NEW ALGORITHM CHANGE

Users:

The news feed of many users are dominated by professionally crafted contents from news outlets, brands and businesses alike which have relegated interpersonal relationships between users and loved ones. The new update will improve the relationships of individuals, bringing them together and building the desired strong sense of community.

Facebook:

Overtime, a decline in 'organic sharing' have been observed. Promoting experiences of users will increase organic content, hence the concerns by the company over organic sharing is eliminated.
Also, Facebook have been seen as a breeding ground for false information and bad press in recent times. An instance is the 2016 US election when it was used to mislead many individual. The advent of this update will prevent a re-occurrence of this.

Businesses, Brands and News Outlets

Businesses and brands thrive on the views of users and the new algorithmic change will decrease their traffics. In Guatemala for instance, readership has been observed to fall drastically with the algorithm change. Another business outlet known has LittleThings has blamed its shutdown on Facebook algorithm change as its organic traffic dropped by 75%.

How can businesses remain on top?

The new algorithm change will significantly reduce the organic traffic of businesses.
For brands and businesses alike to maintain their levels, they need to make some adjustments to work with the new algorithm. Some of these are:

Creating quality contents.

This involves digging deep on their fanbase and ensuring their contents fits in with their interests and promotes interaction between users. So, provided a page keeps producing great content that is relevant, prompt conversations which resonates with their audience, the page keeps trending.

Targeting the right audience

This is a skilled approach which increases the organic reach of a brand. Persons with such skills can be employed by brands to target the desired audience, this requires an increase to the brand's ad budget.

Facebook groups

Since inception, this feature aims at increasing user interactions. Businesses can engage their clients through this feature. This will increase the brands chances of staying on top.

Live Videos

The new algorithm favors live videos. A brand can use this feature to promote interactions between users.

Using the 'See First' option

Facebook retains the option for its users to choose what posts they want to see first. Brands can profit from this by asking their followers to make them amongst their 'See first' list.

Facebook business page is much more complicated then Facebook profile for personal use. We can manage your social media, especially Facebook & Instagram and do your Facebook & Instagram Ads properly to boost your brand, engagement with your targeted audience! Contact us by email at info@luladigital.com for more info.

How to Make Your Instagram Work For You

info@luladigital.com (Admin Luladigital) — Sun, 11 Feb 2018 22:57:20 GMT

There are no hard and fast rules as to how to make sure your Instagram posts are working for you. There is only a few rule of thumbs and I think Neil Patel, author and internet entrepreneur, nailed quite a few of them down in an article.

But I'll make it short if you don't have the time to go through each of them yourself and I'll toggle the importance according to what I think is important to an Instagram post without beating around the bush.

Invest in a Good Picture

Not every single one of your posts has to be postcard-ready - all you need is a few good quality pictures that highlight the best of your products. There was once a food delivery site that I followed on Twitter who made the best food but had the worst-lit pictures on Instagram. I thought it was a waste of potential and asked them if they could possibly tweak their pictures a little with filters before posting it. They did and their pictures have been mouth-watering ever since!

Get Personal

Give your Instagram account a face, someone they can relate to or post a behind-the-scene picture. There is a good reason why people hunt down BTS YouTube videos before/watching a movie or television series. Human beings are curious that way. Once they can relate to you, they're half-way hooked.

Be Funny, Be Quirky, Be In-the-Know, Be Cool or Any One of Those

If you can't be funny, be quirky. If you can't be quirky, be in-the-know. If you can't be in-the-know, be cool. Pick one. This way, people remember you whenever you peek around the corner. They see you from the corner of their eye and know it's you and they're interested all over again. That's branding.

Get an Influencer

I was born in the day and age when you call someone an influencer, your parents probably thought that they were drug pushers. But in the digital age, it means someone who has a large following on their social media accounts. If you can afford to pay one of those Youtubers or Instagrammers to highlight your product or service, great. If you can't, find someone affordable you can work with, preferably within the same industry BUT not your competitor. Did I really have to say that? =) The is a list on the internet that shows you the ones with an International platform. If you're going local, don't be afraid to negotiate with them.

Use Instagram Ads

As long as you keep to your budget and have a pretty eye-catching short video, GO FOR IT. You shouldn't be spending thousands on the ads, anyway. Once you've split the cost up between Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Google, you might enjoy a decent ROI. What you want to enjoy, at the end of the day, is eyeballs.

Run Contests and Encourage Positive Engagement

Posts that offer something nifty or simple will surprise even the best of us. Some people will try their darnest to win a notebook, a pair of tickets to a theme park, a bottle of hand lotion, a holiday, air tickets or a grand piano. If it's free, not many will complain. And besides, compared to Facebook, [ https://www.shortstack.com/blog/how-small-to-medium-sized-businesses-can-advertise-on-instagram/]Ins... got fewer rules to follow... for now.

Use Hashtags

I can't say enough about how some people are using hashtags wrongly. You don't post a picture of your baby and use a hashtag like #AngieandBobsBabyisSoCute. 1) Nobody else is using that hashtag so it's a complete waste of time (and space); 2) You want to use a hashtag that people can search for and are already using; 3) Find other similar posts for inspiration and like for exposure. You can also come up with your own cool hashtag and promote it everywhere. I mean, EVERYWHERE so that your friends, family, and followers will use it too. Now, THAT's the purpose of a hashtag.

Good luck and have fun!

Marsha Maung is a copywriter, ghost writer, blogger and social media consultant who believes that everyone deserves a level playing field. The internet is such a place. Let's learn how to empower each other and play with the big boys in a game. Learn writing tips and services offered on her website and get in touch with her soon! https://wordwizadrette.wordpress.com/

Article Source: [ http://EzineArticles.com/?How-to-Make-Your-Instagram-Work-For-You&id=9844030 ] How to Make Your Instagram Work For You

No More Excuses for Small Business Owners for Not Growing Their Businesses

info@luladigital.com (Admin Luladigital) — Sun, 11 Feb 2018 22:42:42 GMT

When talking about business related issues, solutions, and technologies, you will almost always group businesses as small and large. While the separation is there, it won't be wrong to say that in a modern where digital technologies prevail, it should not be a problem for small businesses to compete with large ones. The large corporations have the advantage of having more resources without a doubt. However, there was not a time in the past when growing and expanding was as easy for small businesses as it is today.

Digital Marketing for Everyone

Digital marketing starts with a website today. When it comes to website designs, more money does not always mean a better design. If you are working with the right people and are clear about your requirements, your website can be just as impressive as the website of a large business. In fact, internet users today are more in favor of simplistic websites with a focus on the information they are looking for rather than the glitter and sparkle.

As for social media marketing, there is no difference in the size of the market that small and large businesses have to target. They are both targeting global audiences and how good they are at it is not defined by how much money they put in their marketing efforts. Social media marketing is free marketing, so there is no excuse as to who has more resources.

And if you believe that the large corporations make it to the top of the search engine results, you always have a better and more effective niche to compete within - local. With local search engine optimization, small businesses can compete with the medium and large businesses head to head. In simple words, regardless of the size of the business, everyone has access to the same market and same people today. What matters is who does it better.

Digital Solutions Are Available Specifically for Small Businesses

When it comes to software solutions for businesses, the focus is not on large corporations anymore. Today, all types of software solutions have their versions built specifically for small businesses. These digital solutions allow small businesses to cut down their costs and make use of the same technologies that large companies are using.

Take the example of CRMs. At one point, there was a notion that customer relationship management software are only for large businesses, but the things have changed quite a bit today. Web-based CRM are a revelation for small businesses. First, these CRMs provide great marketing, database, customer service and sales solutions to the businesses. Second, they are unbelievably affordable. If you own a small business, you don't even have to worry about software integration, hardware compatibility, updates, and upgrades, etc. Keep in mind that with in-house solutions, these are the costs that make it difficult for small businesses to grow financially.

With web-based solutions designed for small businesses, you can now have access to a world-class CRM at a fractional monthly or yearly cost. Other affordable digital solutions available include invoicing software, bookkeeping software, payroll software, etc.

Customers Have the Power in Hands

The Internet has empowered customers like never before. You can't say that just because a business is in multiple countries, it will be impressive enough for people to buy its products. The amazing thing about today's economy is the power that customers have in their hands. Online reviewing websites, YouTube videos, blogs, etc. are among many platforms that allow customers to know more about businesses. In fact, even Google now puts business ratings and customer reviews right within its search results.

What this means is that when a customer searches for a business today, he/she is already able to see the reputation of the product they are going to buy. Furthermore, negative reviews from customers can greatly affect the sales of business, giving other businesses a chance to make their name.

Furthermore, it's not just the quality of products that matters today. In the modern world, businesses are competing for better customer experience. If your business can give customers the experience they are looking for, your growth is inevitable despite the small size of your business.

Funding Is No Issue for Startups

It is always the starting days that matter the most for business. When you are a startup, you are looking for ways to fund your business so you can materialize your idea and polish your product/service according to the requirements of the customers. Finding a platform where you could connect with investors was a challenge in the past. This is not an issue anymore.

With like our websites, it is easier than ever for small businesses to get in touch with investors and get the right amount of investment that sets them on the path of growth. These are websites that act as a bridge between investors from all around the world and startups. With traditional banks and lenders, you are only limited to a local audience of investors. When you can't find an investor in your local market, your hopes are almost dead.

With online funding websites, all you have to do is create a convincing pitch that explains the viability of your startup to the investors and its scope. Your pitch along with all the necessary information that you think investors should see goes on the website where it is visible to hundreds and thousands of investors. If you have done your homework and have a team of right professionals on board, getting the right investment is just a matter of hours or days.

Final Words

You can see that a [ http://www.funded.com?utm_source=SEO-ezine]small business can overcome almost all of their challenges much more efficiently today. Starting a business has become so easy that even students can be entrepreneurs today. They can lay the foundation for a business using just their pocket money. From connecting with the right investors to cutting down operational costs, all can be done from the comfort of a person's home. The only thing that makes the difference today is if you are confident enough to take the first step.

More detailed information and useful advice can be found at http://www.Funded.com

Article Source: [ http://EzineArticles.com/?No-More-Excuses-for-Small-Business-Owners-for-Not-Growing-Their-Businesses... ] No More Excuses for Small Business Owners for Not Growing Their Businesses

Social Media Marketing Tips & Tricks for 2018

info@luladigital.com (Admin Luladigital) — Sun, 11 Feb 2018 22:29:59 GMT

As we enter into a new chapter on a new calendar year, it's time to start thinking about effective social media marketing strategies for your small business. In order or you to stay ahead of the competition it's imperative for you to adjust your marketing strategy to take advantage of prevailing trends and the ever evolving market for various business industries. The small business platform has changed a lot within the last few years and staying up to date with those changes can be a challenge.

Below are a few social media marketing tips To keep you ahead of the competition in 2018.

Increase Your Visibility - The reason social media marketing is so huge is because so many people spend time there. You can't increase visibility for your business and online personality with a private page. During the year 2017, I saw a lot of this and it made me scratch my head a bit. I'm not sure why but the drawbacks to this can hurt your brand. If your biggest concern is unwanted spam comments, this can be controlled and eliminated with the block button and by updating your settings. The goal is to accommodate your audience and generate leads. Make sure every piece of your social media strategy serves the goals you set and the people who will see it. Refine your social media presence. It's vital to the survival of your brand. Increasing your visibility drives traffic and invites engagement.

Focus on Mobile - Most searches and website visits are done via mobile. Unfortunately, most businesses are yet to truly embrace mobile within their marketing strategies. Make it a point to optimize your website content and digital assets for mobile users this year. The efforts will improve your ROI from all digital channels and will drive prospects to your website boosting traffic from search engines in the proceeds. I'm not only talking about design and loading speed, but truly optimizing the user experience for site search, commerce, form entry, navigation and general mobile usability.

Make Engagement a Priority - You need to be social on social media. It's not a soap box for you to stop by to stand on to make an announcement once in a while. It was built so that individuals around the world could connect with one another. The size of your "followers" on social media doesn't matter if no one is paying attention. Large followings make you feel good but if there is no message for them to follow it's unlikely your brand will make much impact. What really matters is engagement. Engagement is what earns you shares which generates leads that turns into sales and having loyal customers. You also should make it a point this year to frequently revisit your buyer personas to ensure your message stays fresh and relevant to your audience. This level of interaction is what solidifies your brand.

Content - Planning your calendar and content strategy for this year should be at the top of your to-do list. If you haven't got started yet, yesterday would be a good time. Paid ads on social media are great. They generate good leads. But, it's equally important to learn how to create a reliable, predictable and scallable flow of traffic that converts into clients and customers so that business it stays afloat with or without it. This can only be done by producing great content. All it takes is some it takes some effort, trying out a few different tactics and consistency. If you're willing to invest the time, you can have all the perks of a well-trafficked business and website without spending an astronomical sum on paid ads. As a business owner and content creator, it's part of your job to deliver compelling info to your customers about your products and services. Great content, compelling headlines, back-links, optimized SEO, sales campaigns and email marketing generated excellent, reliable traffic, and sales long before the social media paid ad game was invented. It still does.

Video Streaming - Video in real-time is becoming more and more popular with consumers. Many social media platform giants are all investing more money into improving their video streaming capabilities and with good reason. It offers new opportunities for content marketing as well as customer engagement. It is a format that has gained serious momentum in the last 12 months and is the future of branding. It's a great idea to add it to your business marketing strategy this year.

In general, the more specific and strategic you can get with your social media marketing plan, the more effective you'll be in its implementation. Whether it's Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest or Instagram, there's so much you can do in the way of marketing and creating new opportunities for yourself while adding tremendous value to your clients, customers and readers. Don't make your social media marketing strategy so lofty and broad that it's unattainable. Balance is key. Always keep your customers and audience in mind. A good business objective will guide your actions, but it will also be a measure by which you determine whether you're succeeding or failing.

Original Author:
Faye Bishop is a Philadelphia native turned Real Estate entrepreneur, Mommy, Writer, Foodie & Philosopher of Self-Determination. To read more articles like this one about small business, marketing and life interests tips visit http://www.fayebishop.com

Article Source: [ http://EzineArticles.com/?Social-Media-Marketing-Tips-and-Tricks-for-2018&id=9858346 ] Social Media Marketing Tips & Tricks for 2018