What is an Email Blacklist? 

The email blacklist is an extensive database of public domains and IP addresses marked as suspicious for sending spam emails through the internet. It’s also known as DNSBL (Domain Name System-based Blackhole List) or RBL Real-time Blackhole List. Organizations like Email Service Providers (ESP), Internet Service Providers (ISP), and anti-spam agencies (ASA) use this list to detect, monitor and block any spam emails entering their network. 

Am I Blacklisted? What Are the Signs?

There are many signs to alert you of your IP’s status. When you’re blacklisted, you can’t send emails to the recipient’s mailbox properly. Now, this doesn’t mean you’re going to be blacklisted from every mail server in the world. If you’re blacklisted with one DNSBL service, there are hundreds more that may not have blacklisted you. A few key signs:

1. There are an increased number of emails lost. 
2. You experience deteriorating delivery rates.
3. You find a high number of email bounce rates. 

These don’t confirm you’re blacklisted but are some warning signs. If you check a few of the boxes for delivery issues, you can now check to confirm the blacklisting of the domain or IP address. 

Checking Your IP address and Domain in an Email Blacklist Directory

There are various email blacklist services on the internet. It’s not practical to check every single one of them, but some applications maintain a list of live RBL (real-time blackhole list) directories to save your time. They provide a page dedicated to that RBL service and also offer a service to delist your domain or IP address. 

Here are a couple of popular RBL applications:

• MXToolBox: This checks for domain blacklisting across multiple RBL lists. It provides detailed information and suggestions on your domain’s current status. 
• MultiRBL: This is a free DNSBL lookup site that can scan 100+ DNSBL lists to check for domain blacklisting. It also details the steps to remove your domain from the blacklist. 

Malicious sites can be blacklisted by Google Safe Browsing, which will warn visitors of potentially unsafe pages. Dropmysite includes a feature that sends you alerts if your site is listed on this blacklist monitoring program – so take immediate corrective actions before it gets too late! A2 Hosting offers Dropmysite as an add-on cPanel plugin so that you can back up your data and monitor your websites. These services can help you actively monitor your IP address so that you can ensure swift delivery of all of your emails. 

Blacklists are an important tool for email deliverability. They help protect email users from spam and phishing emails and improve the deliverability of your legitimate email campaigns. If you’re not familiar with blacklists or aren’t sure if your IP address is on one, we encourage you to use a blacklist checking tool. Use this information to clean up your email practices and improve your chances of getting delivered to the inbox. If you have any more questions or concerns feel free to contact our support team 24/7/365!

Related Articles:

• How to stop unwanted e-mail using Spam Filters
• How To Prevent Outgoing Email From Being Marked As Spam
• How to monitor blacklisted sites using Dropmysite

The post What Is An Email Blacklist? appeared first on The A2 Posting.

So, What is URL Masking? 

Masking a URL means disguising its true destination, making it harder for someone to track where you are going. This can be an important tool for privacy and security, but there are also some potential downsides to consider. Developers mask URLs to obscure the true destination of a link. In order to understand URL masking, it’s important to understand what URL redirects are. 

URL redirections send a domain to an alternative URL. The HTTP protocol categorizes the URL redirects. 

There are three major types of URL redirects:

• 301 (permanent) 
• 302 (found/moved temporarily)
• URL frame (masked)

301 redirects are used when the destination URL of any website’s page changes. It’s commonly used when a website needs to be migrated to a new domain. 

302 redirects direct traffic to a new URL for a brief period. This is common for A/B testing. 

When migrating your website to a new domain name, the new domain doesn’t have a search engine optimization (SEO) authority. However, a 301 permanent redirect eventually gives 90% of the old website’s authority to the new domain. 

Google, a search engine, must verify the new website, which can cause a delay as it ranks the new domain. Some developers use 302 redirects for migration to avoid Google’s aging delay, but the 301 redirect is the proper method to use in this instance. 

Both 301 and 302 redirects display the new destination URL in the address bar in URL masking. Masked redirects allow you to use content from another domain while maintaining the address bar’s original name. 

This way, you use your homepage as the URL for every page of your website. Masked redirects are also called URL cloaking or domain masking. 

In other words, the mask refers to how the URL displays in the address bar. So your user thinks they’re on one domain when, in fact, they’re on another. 

When to Mask URLs

There are specific instances when website owners might want to mask links, including: 

• Masking affiliate links: Some users prefer to link cloaking to hide their affiliate links so that users won’t see they’re making money off of a purchase.
• Link shortening: long links aren’t visually appealing. Some users choose to shorten their links instead of changing their domain names.
• Hiding free web hosting URLs: Some users use free subdomains provided by their host, like store.a2hosting.com. So, you can use domain masking to make it appear as though the website has its domain. 
• Tracking: Some link tracking software use URL masking to hide tracking tags in the original URL. 

If you are looking for a way to improve your website’s security, or if you are trying to keep your website visitors from seeing where your website is hosted, domain masking may be the solution for you. Our support team would be happy to help set up domain masking for your website. Contact us today and let us know how to help make sure your website is as secure as possible.

Related Articles:

• How to set up URL frame forwarding
• How to rewrite URLs in Apache with the mod_rewrite module
• How to configure redirects in cPanel
• What Is A Parked Domain (And How to Use It)

The post What Is URL Masking? appeared first on The A2 Posting.

1: Promote Weeks Before the Holidays

Be sure to run your holiday email marketing campaign at least a week before holiday festivities begin. The holiday season formally begins during Cyber Week, which includes Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

These events see a huge number of online transactions annually and it only increases every year. Experts still expect holiday sales to rise despite the global pandemic, making this season a great opportunity to promote your products and services.

2: Offer Last-Minute Deals

The days closest to the big dates require the most intensive holiday email marketing efforts. You want your prospects to rest assured that they have options that ship their orders on time. On-time or even overnight shipping deals are some campaigns you can adopt to convert prospects.

Meanwhile, setting deadlines for orders brings out the urgency in potential customers who may end up taking the deal.

To set a deadline, consider sending emails stating that customers can get their order shipped on time if they order before a certain date.

3: Offer Real Reasons to Buy

While you offer last-minute deals, be sure to avoid giving customers false urgency. Give a real reason that wouldn’t devalue your brand and turn off customers. Perhaps you only offer two discount deals a year, making this holiday season a great opportunity.

4: Analyze Previous Strategies That Worked for You

Although the pandemic brings lucrative opportunities for online shopping during the holidays, auditing your marketing campaigns in the past can still help improve your performance. Review the strategies you adopted and then identify which areas need finetuning.

Consider auditing customer statistics as well. Identify which items they value most and tailor your messages to target them.

5: Understand Your Customer

The previous strategy can help you understand who your buyers are. Be sure to create a marketing campaign that speaks directly to your customers. Consumers who feel that a brand can solve their pain points are more likely to support their products and services.

Once you know who you are selling to, you can adjust your strategy to grab their attention. You would also set yourself apart from your competition by having a loyal consumer base.

6: Segment Your Email List

Segmenting your customers helps you sell different products to existing customers and even upsell to them. It is also related to identifying your audience. Dividing your customer demographics helps you target variations of your messages that match their voice. In other words, you would speak one way to VIP customers and another with newer customers who have yet to close a purchase.

7: Remind Loyal Customers Why They Subscribe

If your brand has a mission that’s months in the making, the holiday season may be a great time to remind your customers of their goals outside of the products you offer. This mission may be the reason why your customers stuck around in the first place.

8: Limit Your Emails

Avoid sending out too many emails to the point that customers get turned off from buying. Too many promotional emails may even make customers unsubscribe.

Conclusion

The best holiday email marketing campaign involves understanding your audience, prompt preparation, and careful limitation. Once you know you know your target audience, you can tailor your messages to reach specific members of your audience.

Your emails should lead your subscribers to your website and convert sales. You’ll want to optimize your site to keep up with your customers this holiday season. Get in touch with our experts at A2 Hosting and ask about our hosting plans. We can help speed up your site so all traffic from your holiday email marketing campaign converts.

Related Resources:

• A2 Hosting’s Ultimate Guide to Getting Your eCommerce Website Holiday Ready
• A Developer’s Checklist for Getting Your Site Ready for the Holidays
• How Your eCommerce Business Can Nail Holiday Customer Service
• How to Handle Heavy Traffic to Your eCommerce Site During the Holiday Season

The post How to Create the Best Holiday Email Strategy appeared first on The A2 Posting.

ANN ARBOR, MICH–NOV 22, 2021–Black Friday sales in 2021 are forecasted to break $900 billion in online shopping globally, according to the Adobe Digital Economy Index. To prepare, eCommerce companies have begun to buckle down and enhance their websites for the recording-breaking traffic coming their way. A2 Hosting, a leading player in the web hosting industry, just released an accompanying ebook to aid online entrepreneurs in their preparations. “With the impacts of Covid 19 in 2020 and 2021, we know that now more than ever it’s imperative for our customers to experience a win during the holiday sales. We’re trying to give them as many resources as possible to help them succeed,” says Bryan Muthig, A2 Hosting’s CEO. 

This ebook is changing the game for eCommerce owners in 2021. It covers backend technical website improvements, front-end website optimization, and digital marketing do’s and don’t. eCommerce owners will find a thorough guide with step-by-step instructions on how to upgrade their websites as well as insight from A2 Hosting’s top-end development team, marketing team, and support gurus. Along with this ebook and a number of preparatory guides on their blog, A2 Hosting is also offering a Black Friday and Cyber Monday sitewide discount with their lowest prices of the year from 11/22-12/5. 

“We want to give our customers the right resources to succeed,” says Muthig. “Not only does that include the right hosting, but it also encapsulates the hosting experience in general. Our guru support crew will be available 24/7 for our customers throughout the holiday season so we’re here for you when it counts. Whether it’s a website crashing on Christmas Day or client questions on Black Friday morning, we’re a team that values supporting our customers in any way we can all season long.”    

About A2 Hosting

Recently awarded Leader in Web Hosting for Summer 2021 by G2 and Best Cheap Dedicated Web Hosting by Digital.com, A2 Hosting, Inc. is a high-performance hosting services provider located in Ann Arbor, MI. The company delivers ultra-reliable solutions and 24/7/365 US-based support from its Guru Crew team. Since 2003, A2 Hosting has offered innovative, affordable, and developer-friendly hosting for small- and medium-sized businesses as well as web development agencies worldwide. Customers seeking the fastest hosting options in the industry can host websites of any size on A2’s Turbo Performance server platform featuring page load speeds up to 20X faster compared to competing solutions. To learn more, visit https://www.a2hosting.com.

The post Win 2021 Black Friday Website Preparations with A2 Hosting’s Free eCommerce eBook appeared first on The A2 Posting.

Why is Google Tag Manager Right for You?

Google Tag Manager is a great tool for any website owner. Google Tag Manager (GTM) allows you to manage code script, track conversion, and efficiently use a single dashboard. It comes with templates for Google Analytics, Adwords, and works well with some tracking platforms. Any edits to scripts can be done via GTM and then applied to the whole site.

Installing and Setting Up Google Tag Manager for WordPress

To begin, you must have a google analytics account before you proceed with the Google Tag Manager installation. If you don’t, go to the Google Tag Manager website and sign up using the same Google account you used with Google Analytics.

Follow these steps to install and setup Google Tag Manager:

1. Sign up for the Google Tag Manager using the same account used for the Google Analytics account.

2. On the create new account page, give a name for your account and click on the continue button.

3. Give an account name, container name, choose the target platform, and click on the create button to create a container. You can have multiple containers in one account:4. Next you will be redirected to the container dashboard:

5. Once you have created a container, the next step is to create a tag.

Creating Page View Tag on Google Tag Manager 

Now we will show you how to create a new Page View Tag. Follow these steps:

1. On the dashboard, click on New Tag:

2. Give a name for the tag, and then click on the Tag Configuration section, to choose the tag type:

3. Choose the tag type. For this blog, we will use the Google Analytics: Universal Analytics

4. Next step is to configure the tag. On the Tag Configuration screen, check the “Enable overriding settings in this tag” option. Get the Tracking ID code from your Google Analytics account and paste it into the Tracking ID.

5. A tracking ID is a special code that allows Google to identify your site. Login into your Google Analytics account, under the admin tab, copy the tracking ID from the tracking info.

6. Next on the Trigger section, choose the trigger type. Here we will choose the Page View trigger for All Pages:

7. Click on Save after you enter your tracking ID. You should see the tag on your dashboard:

Adding Tag Manager Code in WordPress

1. To begin, click on the GTM ID on the top navigation bar to retrieve the GTM code. Edit the header.php template and paste the code right after <body> tag.

2. Alternatively, you can use Insert Headers and Footers plugin and use it to paste the GTM code.

3. The final step to complete this Google Tag Manager setup is to use the Google Tag Manager dashboard to publish the container.

Conclusion

There are many different ways to install and configure the Google Tag Manager for WordPress. This blog showed you how to set up the Google Tag Manager and create a page view tag. Google Tag Manager has many useful integrations. Visit the Google Tag Manager page to get more information. 

Looking for great hosting for your WordPress site? Look no further! With A2 Hosting’s Managed WordPress plans you can get 24/7/365 support, 99.9% uptime, and all the tools you need to better manage your WordPress website. Contact our sales team today with any questions!

Related Resources:

How to use Google Analytics with WordPress

Using Google Analytics & WordPress

How to Integrate Google Analytics With WordPress (In 3 Steps)

The post How to Install and Set Up Google Tag Manager on WordPress appeared first on The A2 Posting.

During the Holiday season, your products and their descriptions should be well displayed so you can increase your conversions as you drive lots of traffic to your eCommerce website. Read our blog about how to take your product descriptions to the next level. Before explaining what makes up a well-written product description (i.e. a description that increases your sale conversion rates), we first need to ground ourselves on what a product description is.

What is a Product Description?

A product description is a statement that gives the characteristics of some type of product or service that should elicit a mental image to your customer. The real power of product descriptions comes from the intent behind them. When you’re writing product descriptions you shouldn’t just be writing copy about the characteristics of what you’re selling, you need to show your target customers what they will experience if they purchase your product. This is a great example of experiential marketing. You want to immerse your target customers in your products so they can see how what you’re selling them will change their lives for the better if they decide to purchase it. 

Who Is Your Target Customer?

Before you can properly describe this “ideal product experience” to your customer you need to identify who they are and empathize with them. If you don’t know who your target customer is, you won’t be able to write proper descriptions and your efforts will fall short of the mark.  If you’re saying to yourself “but I sell to a wide audience and I have more than one target customer” then now’s the time to pinpoint the consumers that are most important to your business.

You can do this by using the 80/20 rule. On average, 80% of sales come from 20% of your customers. If you’re trying to narrow down and find your target audience it would make sense to start by examining the top 20% of those who purchase from you already. Use past purchasing data and gather customer profiles of your top 20% of customers. Now examine these profiles and look for patterns in their demographics and psychographics. Use these patterns to create personas. Personas are fictional customers that you can give a name, sex, age, career etc. By visualizing your customers in this way it is easier to write directly to them and create product descriptions that they would find appealing. 

How Do I Show and Not Tell?

When writing product descriptions, it’s important to remember to use clear and descriptive language. You need to show your customers the benefits of your products rather than just telling them what they are.

For example, for a service product don’t just tell your customer, “Our _______ service is reliable.” Instead, show them how reliable it is in your description: “Our ____ service is backed by uncompromising Service Level Agreement that guarantees 99.9% uptime, a support staff with expert admins availability 24/7/365, and a 30-day hassle-free 100% money-back guarantee.” 

Now that you’ve written the second description put yourself in your personas’ shoes and see how reading your description makes you feel. When you read the second attempt do you feel safer in your choice of purchasing the above service? Do you visualize the support that is available and understand how this service is actually reliable rather than it being an abstract idea? If you answered yes to both questions then it means this description is effective. It’s showing your customers what you want them to experience with your services rather than just telling them something that they can easily forget. 

Can’t I Just Use Pictures of My Products?

While high-quality images are important, search engines can’t see images – or not yet anyway. Images of your products may speak 1,000 words to your target customers and convey the emotion you’re trying to share, but they do little for SEO (Search Engine Optimization). To get your site to rank and become visible to potential customers, you must include product descriptions that are loaded with potential keywords. That way your site will begin to rank for related words to your products and your site will show up in more relevant google searches. 

How Do I Make My Product Descriptions Uniquely Mine?

The bottom line is, your brand needs to be authentically itself and your product descriptions should embody this.  To get noticed, your description copy needs to break through any commoditization noise that may surround your product.  Don’t just look at your competition and try to write a description that’s 10% better, add something unique in your product’s description copy that directly taps into your brand’s authentic self.

In Conclusion

Business owners that take the time to write great product descriptions can gain an edge over the competition. Great product descriptions can mean the difference between success and failure for eCommerce sites. So remember: embody your target customer, show rather than tell the experience you’re promising, include keywords for better SEO, and let your brand’s unique personality shine through. Follow this simple advice to boost your conversions and eCommerce sales during the Holiday season!

Do you know what else has a big impact on conversions? Your website’s speed and uptime! Keep coming back to our blog this week to read advice from our A2 Hosting experts on how to get your site ready for Q4! We’re also running a sale on all of our A2 Turbo products so check out our website today for deals and discounts you don’t want to miss!

Related Resources:

• A2 Hosting’s Ultimate Guide to Getting Your eCommerce Website Holiday Ready
• A Developer’s Checklist for Getting Your Site Ready for the Holidays
• How Your eCommerce Business Can Nail Holiday Customer Service
• How to Handle Heavy Traffic to Your eCommerce Site During the Holiday Season

The post How to Write Better Product Descriptions that Drive eCommerce Sales During the Holidays appeared first on The A2 Posting.

The holidays are fast approaching and many e-commerce retailers will be looking to increase sales. During this busy time, it’s easy to lose track of those potential clients who might have had additional questions and didn’t end up making a purchase. 

However, a little extra time spent addressing those questions now can go a long way when it comes to building a relationship with your clients and having a repeat customer. Investing in interaction now with a potential client could lead to a fruitful relationship for you both in the future.

Here are a couple of fundamental tips to help reach those clients who aren’t yet comfortable making a purchase:

Adding a human element to a website can help potential clients feel more comfortable and be more willing to make a purchase. This provides a method of receiving expert advice about a particular product that’s being offered on the site. There are many options available to help discuss options with potential clients:

• Live chat is a popular solution as it allows real-time conversation and proactive chatting if desired by a prospective client.
  
• A separate telephone line for the business is another fantastic option. Of course, while the live formats are best, it may not always be possible to keep them active 24 hours a day.
  If a separate telephone line isn’t feasible for your business, then a simple contact form would also work.
  
• Ultimately, the idea is to have an open line of communication with your potential clients for further discussion.
• Once that line of communication is opened, then it’s time to start thinking about conversations with potential clients. When discussing options with clients, take the time to get to know them and their situation. The reasons they’re shopping with you will vary, and each individual interaction should be given the proper attention and assistance to help find the right solution. The goal here isn’t just to answer generic questions about a product or sell the most expensive option available. Instead, try to find out:
  
  • why the client is looking to make a purchase
    
  • if they have any particular pain points
    
  • what is the reason they’re interested in your product
    

By investing the time to properly understand the client, it’ll help set up future interactions and hopefully create a long-term relationship. In the days of internet selling and fast purchases, the human element can be the difference between a client purchasing from you or another retailer. While these tips may be simple, the fundamentals of human interaction can often have the largest impact.

Do you know what else has a big impact on conversions? Your website’s speed and uptime! Keep coming back to our blog this week to read advice from our A2 Hosting experts on how to get your site ready for Q4! We’re also running a sale on all of our A2 Turbo products so check out our website today for deals and discounts you don’t want to miss!

Related Resources:

• A2 Hosting’s Ultimate Guide to Getting Your eCommerce Website Holiday Ready
• A Developer’s Checklist for Getting Your Site Ready for the Holidays
• How Your eCommerce Business Can Nail Holiday Customer Service
• How to Handle Heavy Traffic to Your eCommerce Site During the Holiday Season

The post How to Increase eCommerce Conversions This Holiday Season appeared first on The A2 Posting.

The holidays are right around the corner so it’s a great time for eCommerce companies to capitalize on the opportunities that come with an increase in traffic. With proper preparation, online stores can gain brand recognition and increased conversions as they sail into the new year. Read more to learn about our top marketing tips for the upcoming holiday season.

1. Plan Out Your Target Audience and Social Media Advertising Strategy

To ensure your promotions are a success it’s important to start out with a target audience in mind. That way it’s easier to decide how you want to strategically choose the products you are featuring. When determining your product choice and targeting within the campaign, each social network has different options to choose from. Here’s a list of the different types of audience segments on some of the most popular social platforms:

• Facebook/Instagram:

• • Location: You can choose by city, community, and country.
  • Behavior: Base your ads on behavioral attributes like prior purchases or device usage.
  • Demographics: Choose from different demographics like gender, age, education levels, job titles, and more. 
  • Interests: You can segment your audience by hobbies or traits like the type of movies they like to watch or their dietary preferences. 
  • Connections: This allows you to decide if your audience is currently already connected to your business or unfamiliar with your products. This can be important if you’re trying to target an audience that is currently already interested in your business for an easier conversion rate.
  • You can also use lookalike audiences which are created from source audiences of people that already interact with your ads! This connects you to people that are very similar to people that already follow your page.  

• LinkedIn:

• • Job Experience: This includes job titles, seniority, job functions, member skills, and years of experience.
  • Education: You can target based on degrees, subjects studied, schools attended.
  • Demographics: Unlike Facebook and Instagram this is only split by age and gender.
  • Company:  You have access to target audiences based on industry, company names, company followers on LinkedIn, the growth rate and company size, and company category.

• • Interests and Traits: Segment your audience by your potential customer’s interests, the groups they are a part of, and their traits

• Twitter:

• • Demographics: You can filter by location, language, device (like phone type), platform (like phone carrier), Wifi (like internet provider), age, and gender. 

• • Targeting Types:

• • • Conversation: This is based on the content of people’s tweets and conversations.
    • Event: Target people who attended various online and offline events. 
    • Tweet Engager: Market to people that have organically engaged with your previous tweets.
    • Keyword: This allows you to search based on words your target audience used in previous tweets.
    • Movie and TV: If people mentioned any tv or movies this is how you would interact with them. 
    • Interests: Twitter offers over 350+ present interests to choose from. 
    • Look-Alikes: Like Facebook, Twitter lets you target people who behave similarly to accounts that already follow you. 

• YouTube:

• • Audience targeting: Find people based on their interests, who they are, their daily habits, what they’re looking up, and their interactions with your business. This is split up based on google analytics.

• • Affinity: Reach people based on their lifestyles, passions, and habits.

• • Life Events: This narrows your audiences based on milestones like graduations or getting married.
  • In-Market This allows you to target people who are looking up products and businesses similar to yours. 
  • Custom: Craft this audience based on keyword research, URLs, and apps. 
  • Remarketing: This helps you reach people that have already had some sort of historical engagement with your videos.  
  • Detailed Demographics: This is more like the other platforms and helps you create target audiences based on shared traits like their hobbies, occupations, or ages. 
  • Similar Audiences: This is like the lookalike audiences from above and allows you to find people that are similar to consumers that already follow you. 

2. Pricing and Promotional Techniques

Now that you’ve picked your audience and who you will target with your ads you can cater your pricing to meet their needs. Before you begin to decide on your promotional pricing strategy here are some basic pricing techniques:

• Price Skimming: To price skim, start your prices high and then lower them as you become more competitive in the market. 
• Marketing Penetration Pricing: When your company is first starting out, set your prices low so you are more competitive than your competition.
• Premium Pricing: If you have a more wealthy target audience and are selling high-quality products you can start your prices high to signal quality and luxury appeal. 
• Economy Pricing: This is when you set lower prices and target customers who are looking to make larger savings overall.

While these are good long-term pricing strategies, you may want to implement short-term pricing and promotions for the holiday months. Here are some examples of different promotional strategies to use to encourage quick conversions.

• Refer-a-Friend: Tap into your clientele’s social networks and use social proof to your advantage! Give your customers some type of reward if they refer their friend to your products.
• Buy One Get One Free: This is a great way to entice your customers to try out multiple items from your store. 
• Free Shipping: It’s always difficult to get to the checkout and see that shipping costs are going to add $10 or more to your purchase. By swallowing this cost you may raise your overall conversion rate. 

• Free Item with Purchase of $X or More: Some customers may be buying holidays gifts in bulk. This is a great way to encourage customers to buy more of your products. 
• Loss Leader: A loss leader is when you discount a product or service lower than its production cost. Some companies use this strategy to try and attract new customers or to sell more expensive products. It can also be a smart tactic if you’re trying to penetrate a new target market.

3. Publicize Your Sales with PPC and Google Ads

Now that you have a well-thought-out marketing strategy in place it’s important to promote and publicize it! PPC and Google Ads are a great way to increase the traffic to your site. Get that keyword strategy together and start bidding on the words that are most relevant to your business. It’s amazing what a good PPC strategy can do to garner traffic and conversions. Here are some things to keep in mind:

• Make sure the landing page you’re linking to is relevant and optimized for conversions. 
• Optimize your negative keywords so your ads aren’t showing up on searches that don’t align with your strategy. 
• Research and understand the basics of keyword matches:
  • Broad: match searches with any words or synonyms of your target words
  • Broad Match Modified: match only with searches that include all of your keywords within the query
  • Phrase Match: match only when searches use the exact phrase you are targeting plus searches that include the meaning of your keyword
  • Exact Match: match search that have an exact keyword match and order (searches must contain all keywords in the exact order you list them plus close spelling errors)
• Adjust your bids for geotargeting. If your products are weather dependent or popular in certain areas you can adjust geotargeting spending so your ads show up to people in the most appropriate locations. 
• Run mobile-centric campaigns. We recommend checking your campaign conversions by device so you can see which ones to shift to target certain users’ search preferences.

4. Be Strategic About Your Email Marketing Tactics

It’s important to tap into your established leads list with a well-thought-out email drip campaign. You want to make sure you’re touching your pool of potential holiday shoppers more than once to remind them about your upcoming sale and create some urgency. This is a great opportunity to use some advanced email tactics like last-chance opportunities and special offers catered to certain mailing lists. Here are a few rules of thumb to follow:

• Split your email lists into segments and groups so you can specialize the copy, graphics, and promotions displayed.
• Use perfect timing setting options when sending your emails so it lands in your customers’ inbox at the time they are most likely to open it. 
• Use A/B testing on your sales emails to see which strategies worked the best so you can utilize them for your next sale. 
• Optimize your emails for mobile. Around 47% of emails are opened on people’s phones according to email marketing firm Litmus. Here are some quick optimizations you can use:
  • Use one-column templates. 
  • Increase your font size.
  • Make your call to action easy to identify, in the middle of the page, and easy to tap.
• Measure your performance as you go by looking at open rates, click rates, and eCommerce data through UTM tracking and your email marketing providers’ tools.
• Implement a last chance email list. Look at your email results a few days before the end of the sale and send a last chance email offer to some of the mailing lists with the highest open rates.

Some email marketing plans have begun to change since Covid-19. Read our blog to see how it may impact your strategies this year!

5. Create Holiday Content Converts By Adding Retargeting Pixels to Your Ads

Did you know that 96% percent of customers will leave a website without actually purchasing anything? Utilizing retargeting pixels in your ads is a great way to bring customers back to your website! But what is a retargeting pixel and how does it work? By attaching a small piece of code to your site you can track potential customers that leave your eCommerce stores and display more advertisements on Facebook and Google to remind them of your sale! This is a very effective marketing strategy because it helps you turn some of your bounced traffic into conversions down the line. Check out our blog that describes how to implement retargeting pixels into your marketing campaign!

Now Go Get That Cash!

Marketing is important to drive traffic and increase conversions during the holiday season. If you’re looking for more information on how to get ready, keep checking A2’s blog for more guides and expert advice on making sure your eCommerce site is prepared! We’ll be running a guest blogging series where experts from our team inform you on all types of topics: from the best way to make sure your site is secure to common types of fraud to look out for as the conversions roll in. If you’re looking for hosting with speed, support, and security to make sure your eCommerce site is up and ready to handle all that holiday traffic, make sure you check out our discounted turbo plans! 

Learn More: 

Interested in learning more? Get access to The Ultimate Guide to Getting Your eCommerce Website Holiday Ready. 

The post Top Tips to Master Your Holiday eCommerce Marketing Strategy appeared first on The A2 Posting.

According to Google’s latest Core Vitals update, Part 2 will be rolling out in the next couple of weeks. Before this next update occurs, you’ll want to anticipate how this may affect your website and make changes accordingly. 

Introduction to the Core Web Vitals

Google’s Core Web Vitals initiative provides streamlined guidelines that aid in promoting a quality user experience on the World Wide Web. Wait, huh? 

They are metrics measuring the overall perceived user experience based on interactions with your website. You will receive a score based on your page’s overall UX. This page experience score is an official Google ranking factor. The question is, will you be among the mighty or the fallen?

How can I find my site’s Core Web Vitals?

First, you will need to sign up your domain with Google Search Console. Once your domain is verified and you have an account, you can continue to the enhancements section.

So what are the Core Web Vitals?

A quick Google search will show you this image,

Google loves their acronyms (and their primary colors), but what exactly do these acronyms stand for?

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) measures perceived page load speed. Strive for <=2.5s. 

What this means: This is the time from when the link is first clicked to when the main content is loaded and visible to the user on the screen.

Okay, but how is this any different from Time to First Byte? (TTFB) This measures the user’s experience and not simply the responsiveness of the web server.

How can I improve my site’s LCP? 

• Upgrade your server. Not a member with A2 Hosting or already a member and interested in upgrading? Let us help you.
  • Our Turbo servers use a drop-in Apache replacement called Litespeed, but are also built with NVMe storage, and the AMD EPYC processors making these the perfect upgrade for sites in need of additional power. 

• Consider a Content Delivery Network (CDN). Since your content is hosted on a single server, users farther from this server will have slower load times. A CDN will provide a link to both your server and any faraway users. Our servers are CloudFlare compatible so you can easily set this up.

• Compress images. In many cases, images are the largest element on a page. Improving the load and render time for these images has a direct impact on improving your LCP score.

For more suggestions, Google has a guide on optimizing LCP. Here are 3 platforms we recommend for measuring your website’s performance.

First Input Delay (FID) measures load responsiveness and interactivity. Strive for <=100ms.

What this means: This is the time from when a user first interacts with the site to the time it takes for a browser to respond.

What are some examples of these interactions?

• Clicking a link
• Tapping on a button
• Choosing an option from the dropdown menu

I get it but how is this different from page-load speed? FID does not simply measure load responsiveness, it measures the time it takes for users to interact with a page. 

How can I improve my site’s FID? 

• Reduce Javascript Execution. Optimize how JavaScript functions on your website. 

• Use a web worker. 

• Use a browser cache like Litespeed. Our Turbo servers include Litespeed, the fastest caching agent you can find. 

Read Google’s full guide on optimizing your FID. Here are 3 platforms we recommend for measuring your website’s performance.

Source.

Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) measures visual elements and overall design stability. Strive for <=0.1s. 

What this means: The elements on your page are stable as the page loads.

Users don’t want to play a game of “Link Tetris” where elements of your page are constantly moving around as it loads. Users want stability and reliability.

How can I improve my site’s CLS? 

• Include width and height size attributes to images and video elements. This guarantees image stability as the image is loading on the page.

• • Reduce ad shift. Strategically place, reserve static space, and include set dimensions for advertisements.

• Avoid inserting new content above existing content. The user remembers your site layout a certain way. Be careful with dynamic content or else your user will be left confused and frustrated.

Read Google’s full guide on optimizing your CLS. Here are 3 platforms we recommend for measuring your website’s performance.

How can I measure my Core Vitals?

Google offers a myriad of tools for measuring these elements. These tools include: 

• Lighthouse 
• PageSpeed Insights
• Chrome DevTools
• Search Console
• Web.dev’s measure tool
• Web Vitals Chrome extension 
• Chrome UX Report API

What other web vitals are there?

Is my website mobile-friendly?

Your site should be fully optimized for a mobile device with responsive themes, larger font sizes, and an accessible site navigator, among other practices. 

Check if your site is mobile-friendly here.

Does my site allow for safe browsing?

Your site should be free of malware, other harmful content, and deceptive downloads.

We’ve partnered with Sucuri services to provide superior website monitoring, firewall protection, and enhanced malware scanning services. 

Is my connection safe with HTTPS?

The connection to your website needs to be secure. To achieve this, you will need to add an SSL certificate.

Not sure if you have an SSL certificate? The method of finding out will depend on your browser, either:

• Look for https:// in your address bar. If it says http:// then your URL is unencrypted. 

OR

• Look for a closed padlock icon at the beginning of your address bar. If it isn’t present, your browser may say “Not Secure.”

An example of a site with a secure connection and encrypted data.

Beware of hackers! An example of a site with an insecure connection and unencrypted data.

Is my site free of intrusive interstitials?

Your site should be free of extraneous content and unnecessary pop-ups covering the majority of a webpage. 

Hopefully, by now you feel educated on Google’s Core Web Vitals. 

And now your homework for this week:

1. Test each of the Core Web Vitals.
2. Make sure your site mobile is friendly.
3. Add safe browsing-friendly services like Sucuri.
4. Get yourself an SSL certificate.
5. Just say no to those intrusive, pestering interstitials! 

If you’re still a bit confused on how Google Core Vitals impact your website or you’d like to purchase an additional search signal-friendly service, please contact our sales team today.

The post Google’s Core Web Vitals Is Updating and So Should You: A Guide to Optimizing your Site’s UX appeared first on The A2 Posting.

Many businesses start out small and use blogging, social media, and creative content to grow their brand and their online presence. At the beginning, it may be easy to come up with creative ideas and content and post them as they come to you; but as your business starts to grow and you require more and more content it can become challenging to stay organized. A content calendar and well planned social strategy can be helpful when trying to market your growing business strategically. 

One of the best ways to drive traffic to your site and your social accounts is through consistency and organization. To ensure both of these, try using a content calendar to inform your social strategy. Many businesses use different types of calendars to organize their posts into campaigns and grow their social following. There are different templates you can find online or through applications like Loomly or Trello. We recommend online options because they give you the capability to store links to your graphics, see real time edits from team members, and connect to scheduling apps like Hootsuite. 

Once you have chosen your calendar option it is important to take inventory of your resources and ask yourself some important questions before beginning to plan your content. First, identify what resources you are working with: 

• What team members are available to help with content creation and planning? (graphic designers, tech writers, social media manager, SEO experts)
• What resources do you have to help you create and organize content? (apps like Penji, Powtoon, Hootsuite etc)

Now it’s time to plan some overarching goals for each platform:

• What’s the main goal you want to achieve from each platform? (things like new lead generation, brand awareness, or thought leadership)
• What’s a way to track your ROI? ( stats like the number of likes, new sales, or follower count)

Next come up with your content workflow strategy. Here is an example:

1. Brainstorm Ideas
2. Create graphics
3. Write copy
4. Edits and checks from other sources
5. Schedule your posts
6. Monitor your audience’s reactions and respond to comments
7. Check social analytics and record new trends
8. Analyze analytics and refine content strategy for next campaign

Once you have your resources accounted for, your goals set, and your content flow down, you can focus on identifying your audience and coming up with ideas for your platform. Your strategy should be a combination of your brand’s purpose, or the value you bring to your customers, and your customers’ interest, or what they care about in relation to your services.

Identifying Your Audience

You need to know your consumers’ wants, what they care about and what they need, in order to understand the content you need to deliver. You can start by doing a deep dive online. Take a look at how people interact with competitors ‘ products. Check social media and see who people are following and what is trending within your field. Look at online forums and the places your customers talk and post. By listening to people: what they say, how they say things, and why they say it, you can start to come up with a list of topics potential customers may want to hear about and where they’ll be more likely to hear it. Once you have identified some trends from your research, you can create personas that represent the different types of buyers you are working with.

For example: Maybe you’re selling web hosting online and you notice that everyone is commenting on the new WordPress Esperanza update. You listen to the feedback and you identify a few different types of users:

• Customers who are confused with the update who’s sites have broken or now have errors they can’t fix
• Customers who love the update and have already improved their sites

You can use this information and how people are discussing it to create two different types of personas and feed content to each of them. 

Brainstorming Your Content

A good feed has a solid content mix. This could include blog posts, email drip campaigns, social posts, white papers etc. There are three layers of content that are important to include in any good feed.

The Top Layer

The first, most basic level has the highest amount of content with the least amount of brand value. These posts are based on your customers’ broad interests and are loosely connected to your brand. They should be aimed at people who may not be aware of who you are or what you do, but are interested in the subject you are posting about and will therefore connect with you if they see you posting about it. These posts are to get consumers attention and to lead them to look into your brand. 

For example: Based on the previous approach, let’s say you’ve decided to target your less technical crowd who had questions about the latest WordPress update. They may be asking themselves things like: I keep getting these updates with no warning. I don’t understand how to work this new menu. Why are my pictures suddenly not showing up correctly?

There are three main things your top layer of content should do while addressing these problems:

• Get potential customers’ initial attention
• Have a long standing, positive impact on your brand
• Reveal how your business can help consumers with their problems

In order to accomplish this you need to know what types of media your customers are consuming, what will attract their attention, and their demographic information so you can properly target them.

Some examples of types of content that you could use to inform them are:

• Social media post and ads
• Short video content
• Influencers and endorsements
• Blogs with high SEO value
• Introductory emails

The Middle Layer

The middle of your marketing funnel is content that is speaking to customers that have just begun to consider to buy your products or services. There should be less of this content than the previous section, but each post should have a little more value. At this point you have formed some sort of previous relationship with the customers you are targeting and you are running a platform where you are able to  produce educational content for them. Now, each post you make should have some type of call to action to convince the buyer to move to the next stage of the buying process.

For example: At this phase your consumers may be thinking: I found a few different web designers and businesses to help me figure out how to optimize my WordPress off of Instagram and blogs. But maybe I can fix this myself with a google search? That guy on YouTube last week probably submitted a video that could help me too! Or I could look into hosting solutions are well to see if they can help me.

Your next layer of content needs to:

• Explain the problems your customer is having and how you can solve them
• Answer any issues your customer might have about your offered solutions
• Tell your buyers the benefits of going with your solution over someone else’s

The buyers you are targeting with this content are not ready to purchase from your company yet and they need to know you are an intelligent voice in the industry. This is your opportunity to make a good impression on potential customers and prove to them your brand value and expertise.

Some examples of types of content that fit this area are:

• An email drip campaign
• Newsletters
• Blogs that are more in-depth and less SEO based
• How to’s and content that teach your customers something
• News that is relevant to your business area

The Bottom Layer

Finally, the bottom of your marketing funnel is your chance to convince your customers to buy from you. This is where you use your most valuable brand content. This content is meant to convert serious shoppers into buyers. You’ve already created a relationship with this audience and they are already interested in choosing your specific brand for their problem, so this is your chance to close the deal. 

For example: At this last phase, your buyer now would be thinking: So I’ve established the guy on YouTube didn’t help and there’s companies online that I could pay to do it right in half the amount of time I would have to spend figuring this out. Should I do a price comparison to pick which one? Maybe take a deep dive into their reviews and go from there?

Here are some main things this content should accomplish:

• Represent your product without directly asking for the sale 
• Demonstrate how your solutions work and the specific features you offer
• Explain how your customer would benefit if they bought from you

You want this type of content to naturally flow into a place where you customer is willing to purchase. Did you include a link to your store? A coupon for in purchase discounts?

Here are some examples of content that would fit:

• Customer testimonials
• Case studies
• Webinars
• Products features and demonstrations of how they work
• Coupons
• Giveaways

Now Go Implement that Content Strategy!

Now you have your flourishing business, your employees to help market, you know your audience and how to contact them at each step of the customer buying process… So what’s left? 

It’s time to start planning those campaigns! Figure out your posting frequency, the best times to post, and how much of each type of content to post on each platform. You have all the tools and types of content you need for each funnel. You have the calendar ready. Now it’s time to go meet with those marketing teams and start planning out what you want your company to communicate to your audience and when you want to do it!

Click below for more helpful posts on how to push traffic to your site and build up your following! And if you’re looking for blog hosting or fast and reliable web hosting for your new online store, we have you covered as well!

Related Resources:

• How to Conduct a Content Audit for Your Blog
• 7 Ways to Grow Your Blog Traffic with Social Media
• How to Maximize SEO with Permalinks
• How to Install WebCalendar Using Softaculous
• How to Install Booked Using Softaculous

The post How to Create an Effective Content Strategy to Grow Your Brand appeared first on The A2 Posting.