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Don’t be a Scope Creep: Defining website project scope well

 

Having a physical store or an office is not enough these days as businesses move online at a faster rate. This prevailing business diaspora has made the website an in-demand business tool for most businesses who can afford to have one. But the usual pitfall of businesses wanting to have a website is that most business owners think that having one is just like setting up a social media page. Little do they know that a website is entirely a different story.

Like any other projects, doing a website isn’t just about telling your business objectives and showing your peg design, then that’s it. Many project owners, who are usually also the business owners, think that a little chit-chat with the provider is enough to keep the ball rolling. This is the most common misconception that brings a lot of confusion and finger-pointing between providers and project owners.

Now, the truth about having a website is, starting one needs a lot of preparations on the project owner’s side. And preparation usually includes extensive consolidation and finalization of the content that you need. The content should be aligned with your business objectives. Now, to give you an idea on what to do, what follows are things you should consolidate and finalize before sending out a project brief (or Terms of Reference)

  • Relax

Do not overwhelm yourselves with the ‘what ifs’. Focus on the important things that you think the website should address. Is your website merely informative and will serve as a bulletin about your company’s progress and new offerings? Or do you envisioned it to be more than that? Think clear about that kind of things – BUT, do not overthink.

Overthinking is like a last-minute packing of your suitcase. Believe me, you’ll end up having excess baggage which you won’t like.

  • Clearly define your objectives

All projects begin with series of objectives; otherwise, what’s the point of doing so, right? On a website context, the business objectives always serve as the cornerstone of your website. The design, the content choices, the content architecture, and functionalities are all anchored to your objectives.

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  • Keep the non-negotiables and weed out the wish lists.

Drafting the scope and the brief for your website project is like making a list of the things you need to buy for your new house. Certainly, not all of things you want can be bought all at the same time. You can proceed with the essentials first, then buy the other stuff when the time is right.

The same thing goes for the website. You should always begin with the aspects that matter most to your websites like products and services page, and the compelling story about your company.

Fancying some cool transitions and functionalities? Or maybe drooling over the e-commerce module? Stop right there! Think again. Is this something that you really need to up on your website? If YES, then write it down and explain briefly the rationale of this element in your website.

When you’re done, go through it again. Does including it make any sense to your business and urgency? If it doesn’t, then weed it out.

  • Coordinate with other stakeholders or business unit people

The scope of your project should include all-encompassing business objectives from various business units. It shouldn’t just include yours as the project proponent, but also the other project owners. Get their feedback and seek what they intend to include or remove from the initial scope. Set up a meeting or a brainstorming session if you need to. That will be helpful in trimming down the scope to the most important ones and to keep the objectivity in the brief.

  • Make it official

Brainstorming is not the end of the line for the brief. Make sure all key people involved in the planning – even those who will benefit from it – are acknowledged with all indicated items.

This will also help the project proponent avoid blaming and finger-pointing internally.

  • Oops, make sure you are ready with the materials.

This is what most project owners and proponents tend to overlook – securing materials to be uploaded such as service/product specs sheets, images, and articles. They think that all of these should be under the website developer and provider. In most cases, it isn’t.  Clients provide content and other materials necessary for the success of the website.

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As a matter of fact, 75% of website project delay is attributed to insufficient materials for uploading or the lack thereof.

If you do not have these materials, web development companies like iManila provide content writing service for an additional cost. In some cases, even photo shoots can be provided too. However, like content writing, it comes with a premium cost.

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Nothing beats a well-written website brief. It is helpful for both the developer and the project owner to track the progress of the development. Also, it will serve as a binding document to check if everything in the website is well-delivered. After all, a happy developer has an equally fulfilled client (project owner).

Thinking of putting up a website? Or perhaps a revamp? Leave it to us! We’ll make sure you’ll get the website that you want. Just shoot us an email containing your project scope at [email protected] or call us at (02) 565-4064 to schedule a face-to-face meeting.

 

Online Duopoly: Which One Is Suitable For Your Business, Facebook or Google?

 

Facebook or Google? This could be one of the common questions business owners kept on asking themselves. One of the digital truths that you need to deal with is that a business cannot grow online on organic alone. That is true in some cases, especially when venturing into digital marketing for the first time. But with so many platforms available, from search engines, apps, websites, and to social media networks – you might be wondering which one to choose when advertising your business online.

The truth is, these overwhelming choices shouldn’t be your primary concern.

Why?

Because there are only two dominant leaders in online advertising today namely: Google and Facebook. And you should stick with them quite often when dealing with digital ads,

The Duopoly

Admit it or not, there are only two entities in so far, who have valuable profile data of online users in the world – Google and Facebook. They are the two titans who earn a lot from their ad platform businesses, thus calling them a duopoly.

Why duopoly? You probably asking yourself.

To begin with, Facebook owns Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp. These four are the top social media networks and social messaging platforms in terms of numbers of active users.

In the recent quarterly report of Facebook, the flagship platform has reached a 1.9 Billion user base per month. Instagram has 700 million each month while the two leading social messaging platform – Messenger and WhatsApp – both have 1.2 billion user base.

Facebook earns a staggering 97% of its 2016 revenue from its digital advertising business.

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Meanwhile, Google – a world renowned search engine brand that reached immense trust and popularity for having a spot in the Oxford dictionary is also a leader in transforming digital marketing these days. This brand has earned an accepted scholastic use of its verb variations such as “googled” and googling” making Google undeniably one of the greatest modern enterprises of the millennium.

Google owns YouTube – the world’s largest video streaming site. It also expands its services through consolidating its core businesses under the name Alphabet Inc. Alphabet is responsible for developing and reshaping its services that are linked with their core mission to improve the user experience. Alphabet Inc. from the name of the company itself covers almost the entire Roman alphabet including the Ad platform of Google for search and display networks.

Google digital ad business generates 32.8% of the total revenue of this tech conglomerate.

Which One is Right for Your Business?

A good approach to this question is to try both and see which works well with your business. But since most of the SMEs marketing budget are strictly limited, doing so is not in your priority list. To weight which one is right for your business. Below is our weigh in:

 

  • B2B and Service-oriented business

Does your business belong in this category? If YES, then Google search engine marketing (SEM) fits your business well. Why? The reason is plain and simple. A B2B model relies heavily on website transactions, and this is out of corporate custom revolving around the idea of legitimacy. When a website is your primary contact point online, Google’s search engine marketing is a go-to platform.

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  • B2C and Consumer Goods / Retail

The good thing about this category is that the risk of losing money when investing in both platforms is low compared to B2B and Service-oriented businesses. The reason is, reaching the end consumers with products (tangible trades) that they really need is one foot ahead than business offering services (which are intangible).

In this kind of business, if one looks after brand awareness, social ad via Facebook is a good avenue. With most retail business in the country relying on brick-and-mortar store than e-commerce, social ads by Facebook fits just fine. Be it engagement or web clicks (or visits), Facebooks ads can surely reach to the end consumers with ease.

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In the Philippines, there is a preconceived notion of having comfort in purchasing tangible trades than the intangible ones. If you are in the business of providing services, you got to build a solid reputation to compete well with your competitors online. If you are dealing with consumer goods and retail, the challenge is to create a way to sift through the clutters of other consumer-centric ads online.

Be it Facebook or Google, the success of an online ad relies on understanding your audience and your business. Once you all had it in your mind and in your heart, sending the message across these two platforms won’t be too much of a pain.

If by chance that a business like yours is looking for an assistance in starting your brand presence online either through Facebook or through the search engine of Google, iManila is capable of helping you get noticed by your target audience online.

Give us a call at (02) 490-0000 / (02) 565-4064, or send your inquiries through our website portal at https://imanila.ph/lets-talk/

WordPress as an ideal website platform

 

A content management system for all – that’s what WordPress is all about. For the longest time, it has been the universal, not to mention the largest content management platform in the world. So, if you are new to the industry and thinking of venturing a solid web presence for your brand, you might want to give WordPress a try. What’s the deal with this platform, you ask? Well, here are some reasons why it should be your top pick.

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  • Easy setup and navigation
    One great reason why WordPress remains to be the top-choice platform of both individuals and businesses is because of its easy setup and navigation. Because of its straightforward Content Management System (CMS), people find it to be the most reliable CMS web tool. The world won’t be shocked if a fifth-grader manage to modify a WordPress website.

 

  • Fully-customizable
    WordPress is flexible in terms of customization. You can modify pages depending on your specifications, 360 degrees. With its wide variety of interactive designs, special features, and advanced plugins, surely you can make your website standout from the million websites present on the web.

 

  • Manageable content
    One of the best things about WordPress is the trouble-free ways you can manage and update website content. You can create, modify, and edit a certain page without learning how to code or asking for support from a professional web developer. All the changes that you are going to make can be previewed before you actually publish it.

 

  • Backup and security
    In just a few clicks, you can have your website backed up in WordPress and get the best secure tools out of it. Along with its easy backup feature are the security tools and plugins that can help you safeguard your website from loopholes and attacks.

 

  • SEO-friendly
    Brands compete to be on the first page of search engine results page. That is why optimization of websites are in highest demand today more than ever. And WordPress offers the simplest possible coding to its users so that Google can crawl and index your website on SERP at ease.

 

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Websites are a good avenue for your business to reach a wider audience in this digital era. And it’s good to know that there is a platform like WordPress, the one-stop website platform for everyone who desires to increase online brand awareness, generate leads, and increase profitability. No doubt the Fortune 5000 companies opt to choose WordPress above all.

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Planning to build up your own WordPress website? Let iManila handle it for you. Having more than 5,000 websites published online, we assure that iManila can design a website that is suited for your brand and help you develop a solid online presence. Send us your requirements at [email protected] and we will take care of the rest.

 

Reference: Branding Personality

Usual Mistakes SMEs Do with Their Websites

 

Doing business this 21st century means having a website – even for the small businesses. However, in the Philippines, there are only a handful of small businesses who realized the use of the website in their operations. However, despite this realization, small businesses and even medium scale ones are prone to crucial mistakes with their websites.

Below are the usually mistakes that SMEs do with their websites that they need to address before its too late:

Top 6: Bad Mobile Experience.

  • In the Philippines, 66% of the population uses a smartphone in doing their searches or in doing inquiries in websites. Having a non-mobile responsive website ruins search experience that may lead to bounce rate.

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Top 5: Fonts that are hard to read.

  • Simple and readable texts deliver more results than fancy and hard-to-read ones. Why? It is obvious for one good reason: readability. No one wants to go through a website word per word just because the fonts are outrageously exasperating to the eye. If you want your audience to digest the essence of your content or to grasp the exact message of your branding in your website, you should make every character easier to read for all – regardless of the ages.

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Top 4: Unprofessional design or color scheme.

  • Design and colors are as equally important as the website’s content. The overall look and feel of your website are what greets your audience. And if they don’t like what they see, the greater the chances of moving out of your website (hence the higher bounce rate). Just like having fonts that are hard to read, a very strong and striking colors on the website – that don’t match – can hurt the eyes even more. Color schemes should be pleasing to eyes. Choosing the right Pantone for your website is the first step in correcting this mistake.
  • Tacky and obsolete designs can ruin a website surfing experience. Filipinos are natural suckers for beauty. It is always the things that are pleasing to the eye which always get more attention.

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Top 3: No Product or Services information.

  • This is one of the most unforgivable mistakes in some of SMEs websites. One of the key search intent of users is informational (know). And usually, most of the key phrases searched in Google or in other search engines have products and service search strings.
  • In the Philippines, 60% of the population with access to the internet still uses search engines as their portal for searching products and services. If your website doesn’t have any substantial information about your products and/or services, then the higher the likelihood that you’ll lose business online.

Top 2: No address, directions or business hours.

  • Number two in the list is not including the business address, map, and business/operation hours. These details are some of the crucial information that should be reflected on your website especially if your business is gearing towards the retail side. This information should be present not just in your contact us page, but also in every footer of the pages in your website.

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Top 1: Outdated Contact information.

  • Of all, this is the most unforgivable mistake businesses do. You are putting up a website online as a tool to help or boost your online operations. And one of the most important information in your website is your contact information. Outdated contact information only assures you a failing online business.
  • It is a rule of thumb that as you change contact numbers, it is immediately updated on your web page to refrain from confusions.

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Keeping a website surely takes some resources. But keeping it well and updating it always pay you back. If you are having a hard time making your website look fresh and updated, iManila is the best digital service provider that you are looking for.

For more information about our web design and development service, email us at [email protected] or at [email protected]. You can also give us a call at (02) 490-0000 or at (02) 565-4064.

 

Three Tips on Keeping our Website Fresh

 

To most businesses, websites could be considered as part of gaining competitive advantages. It is mainly used for widening your market reach not just nationwide but worldwide, in increasing the accessibility of your potential customers to your products and services, and showcasing what your brand is fully capable of. It is like having your own identity in the virtual world. Although the idea itself is not really a “Eureka!” moment, for anyone now can actually have their own website given the advent of technology and that everyone could be tech-savvy with just a few clicks away. In addition, in this era of social media, people tend to use it more often which could also be very effective for businesses in their promotion and exposure. But that is exactly why there is a greater need now more than ever to keep such websites fresh, relevant and most importantly, worth visiting. So, here are some tips on keeping your websites stick to its A game:

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Tip # 1: Aim High, Rank High.
Unlike a good bottle of wine which gets better as it ages sitting in the cellar, websites cannot be just left alone and let it stagnate with its contents. With its fast pacing trends, lots of businesses couldn’t really manage to cope up, which is never a good thing. This is why you should make sure you continuously update your contents and maintain its relevance. Here at iManila, one of the country’s premier companies in fields of web design and development, we are more than willing to provide you quality contents for your websites up to five main pages for free. This will give you a better shot at being top-of-mind brand in your industry. How’s that for starters?

 

Tip # 2: Let your website do the talking.
Anyone might agree if we say that everything now could be very aesthetical. People can easily give their attention to things that are visually appealing. We can somehow bid our goodbyes to Traditional Marketing strategies which rely on simple and conservative styles. The trend nowadays is inclining more on contents with good graphics or what we call infographics where you are not just discussing your contents with mere words, you are showing what would your products or services would actually look like. Informative yet entertaining thus could pull more traffic on your website.

With our competent website developers and their freshest ideas in UI and UX design, we can assure you of an interest-tickling website which could result to more visits and may lead to more sales for your company. Now who wouldn’t want that?

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Tip # 3: Being mobile-friendly.
Here in the Philippines, you could actually name quite a handful of smartphone brands. From the cheapest to the ones with the most prestige. Nevertheless, it only shows how Filipinos prefer their information, transactions and communications be all compacted in one gadget which fits in their pockets. Its ease of use and it being handy are really vital factors. As a result, the emergence of digital marketing; promotion of your products and services online and actually conducting the entire business virtually. The strong WordPress development and E-commerce background of our company which is at par with the industry standards would give you assurance that your websites will defy its limitations and be mobile-friendly so that anywhere, anytime, and anyone could easily connect with your business. Just one touch away eh?

 

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Change is inevitable, but that doesn’t mean that we cannot do something about it. Remember that it is innate to every human being to adapt to change. For some, the process might be a challenge, but this challenge adds meaning on every success we accomplish. With its excellent track record in maintaining websites with our own hosting servers, iManila would be honored to help you on weaving your success. Give us a call and let’s see what we can achieve together. Oh, it’s in the middle of the night? No worries, our 24/7 phone and email support team are very much willing to be of help. Hear from you soon!

#Achieve: The road towards a successful SEM campaign

 

On an average, Google processes over 40,000 search queries every second. If you do the math, this means that 3.5 billion searches are made per day and more than 1.2 trillion searches per year worldwide. Given these numbers, how do you think can your business manage to compete online? How can you make your business be seen on search engine results? The answer is simple: Use search engine marketing.

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Search engine marketing is an internet marketing strategy that is utilized to improve the position of a website in search engine results through online paid advertising. It’s a big competition. You cannot just shoot and pay Google to get your online ads visible on search engine results. It needs precise planning like any other marketing strategy. In case you are planning to give SEM a go for your business, we laid out a few things you can contemplate on before launching your online campaign.

  • Know what your campaign goals are
    There are many reasons why you want to put up an ad campaign. You might want to increase brand awareness, increase web traffic, or increase your sales. Each goal requires different approach that leads to different directions. So, for you to prevent the incident of mismanaging your campaign specifically your budget, you must deliberate your campaign’s objectives.
  • Use the best and the right keywords
    In SEM, keywords are your bread and butter. It is important to select the most relevant keywords for your campaign. When this step fails, all else will. It is also important for you to think like a client searching for your business. Think what keywords and terms they might be using in the possibility of looking for your products or services. You can use Google AdWords’ Keyword Planner tool to have an idea and an estimate if the keywords you have selected fit perfectly for your campaign.
  • Optimize your landing page
    Another crucial facet of creating an SEM campaign is the optimization of your landing page. Google’s algorithm also considers the landing page of your ad. The relevance and coherence of your ad to your landing page is one factor that Ad Rank takes into account. Start with putting up informative website copy that viewers can view and visible call to action buttons that will lead the web visitors to your contact page outright.
  • Set the right bid for your campaign
    Of course in any marketing campaign, budget is significant. You should determine the period of your campaign and allocate budget for how long you planned it to last. You have to bid strategically with your desired keywords to stand the pace with your competitors.

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  • Evaluate results
    One of the advantages of online ads is its capability of showing immediate results. You can monitor your campaign on a regular basis to know its performance. See if you are really meeting your goals or ensure that you are gaining high ROI from it, because it’s what this is all about. Moreover, since you have the full control with your campaign, you can also make certain adjustments if necessary.

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These are but basic factors in achieving success with your SEM campaign. There are many other strategies you can experiment with. But if you experience trouble in making your own campaign, better opt hiring a professional help. For more than two decades, iManila have helped many businesses reach their marketing and business goals through its experienced and knowledgeable digital marketing team. Want to know more about SEM? Contact iManila now, give us a call and we’ll be happy to accommodate your concerns.

 

Reference: SVM E-Marketing Solutions

Why online ads are the new titan

 

We’re so used to seeing an advertisement that runs down the lengths of buildings along the most traversed roads in the Metro. Billboards. Enormous billboards towering over us in all their titan glory.

But sometimes, titans lose their strength. After all, nothing is forever.

No one can deny the seeming effectivity of these billboards that eat up the attention of anyone who lay eyes on their monstrosity. But the thing is, billboards are only as good as the next one.

Out of sight, out of mind, right?

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But the internet; the internet is ubiquitous, which only makes it a perfect avenue for advertisement.

Online advertising is a new form of marketing which uses the internet and the world wide web to deliver promotional messages in various digital formats. These formats range from search engine marketing, social media marketing, email marketing, mobile advertising, and display advertising.

Here are all the reasons why online advertising should be part of your marketing campaign.

Online ads let you customize your target audience. In today’s society where everyone has internet access, you can reach the world. Or at least a specific part of it. With online ads, you can “filter” out your reach based on your preference. This is an assurance that your products and services are getting to the right kind of audience who has a high chance of buying your products or availing of your services. Closing a sale? You can bet on it.

Marketing online is much cheaper than traditional advertising approaches. You don’t have to spend a generous chunk of your bank account in securing a placement on posts or buildings or printing papers that will only be considered eyesore later on. With online ads, you can reach as much engagement as your budget allows you. And the best thing about this is that you don’t just throw your advertisement for everyone to see like a town parade or a motorcade. Online ads let you know how much of the internet is seeing your ads so that you also get the idea of how much you can expect to turn into leads. Kind of leveling up your expectations, eh?

The internet is a huge place. And at present, more and more people are spending a considerable amount of their time doing their shenanigans in it. If you place your advertisements online, the chance of making your brand known is high. In fact, your brand can get by with just online advertisement alone. With numerous social media platforms getting born by the minute, how the hell can you doubt that?

One big difference that the traditional marketing and digital marketing has is the ability to have a two-way communication. In TV, radio, newspaper, and billboards, one can see and grasp your message but cannot respond to it right away – a situation that online advertisement has taken care of. The Web is such an interactive space. Information and ideas can get passed on in a matter of minutes despite a distance of miles. If you put your advertisement online, that alone eliminates the barrier that traditional marketing stumbles with. The chances of seeing a brand online can immediately stir action on the part of your audience.

 

Frankly, it’s obvious enough that utilizing the substantial number of internet users and the time they spend online is what anyone who wants to truly make his brand known should be doing.

The internet is ubiquitous. Use it to your business advantage.

After all, out of sight, out of mind, right?

Want to advertise your brand online? Help is on the way. Establish your brand online and build up a sustainable online following with iManila. We have a variety of services that cater to each and every social media needs, including Facebook ads. *winks*

See you online!

Why do you need an SSL Certificate?

 

The demand for data security these days is increasing as e-commerce sites and social media networks continue to grow at faster rate. You cannot go online completely without having to log in your important details and credentials. From as simple as subscribing to a webinar to as confidential as online shopping and e-banking, a netizen has to log in their credentials. This particular setup has online phishers and hackers drooling.

For some users, sharing information is not a big deal. However, there is a huge portion of the global community who take these matters seriously as incidents of identity theft and malicious activities have gone on the rise.

On the other hand, businesses and organizations who ask for personal information from their users must protect their user’s information by securing their website against online theft. And this challenges most of the online sellers and e-commerce sites regardless of the extent of their daily online transactions. And that is what SSL addresses – data encryption.

What is SSL?

According to GlobalSign.com, Secure Socket Layer (SSL) Certificates are small data files that digitally bind a cryptographic (secretly written) key to an organization’s details. When installed on a web server, it activates the padlock and the https protocol like this:  2017-03-09_105446 and allows secure connections from a web server to a browser.

Different Levels of SSL Validation

Secure Socket Layer certificates vary depending on the level of encryption needed to be implemented on the website. And there are some trust indicators that you can see in the address bar of the browser about SSL certificate of a certain website:

Standard SSLs are classified into two:

 – Domain Validation SLL:

Domain Validation is the basic form of SSL certification which automatically signals the browser that the connection between the server and the browser is secured using SSL certificate, thus a change in the standard HTTP to HTTPS.

EXAMPLE:           2017-03-10_131942    Domain-validation

– Organization Validation SSL:

The organizational SSL Validation is a high assurance SSL certificate that provides instant identity confirmation of the organization owning the website and a stronger SSL protection. It activates a green browser padlock and HTTPS. When you click on the trust indicator padlock, it will reveal the corporate or organization identity of the website owner.

EXAMPLE: Organizational-Validation-Incapsula

Extended validation is the highest level of data encryption of the three. This activates both the padlock, “https” and the green address bar in all major web browsers.

EXAMPLE:  imanila-extended-validation

 

Why do you need to get SSL now?

In line with their mission to promote secured browsing and responsible data protection, Google just recently updated their Chrome browser with a security feature that flags unsecured websites. Yes, you heard that right!

Have you noticed the left-most part of your address bar that indicates whether a site is safe or not? That is exactly what the update is all about. So imagine yourself as a business owner with an unsecured website. Every time audience goes to your website and sees no trust indicator, all your marketing efforts will go to waste.

Why? Because your business bottom-line – which is conversion – is not fulfilled.

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Firefox also moved towards a safer online browsing

It was just a few months back when Google updated their Chrome with security plug-in that flags websites that are not secured. This time, Firefox moved forward with the same goal – to promote a safer online browsing.

Firefox will display a gray lock icon with a red strike-through in the address bar when a login page you’re viewing does not have a secure connection. This is to inform you that if you enter your password it could be stolen by eavesdroppers and attackers.

This is a new feature that is available starting in Firefox version 51. Starting in Firefox version 52, you will also see a warning message when you click inside the login box to enter a username or password.

 

Don’t wait for that moment

Don’t wait for the updates to completely roll-out before moving to HTTPS. The right time to secure your website and your users is now. iManila offers a wide range of web security from SSL Certification (HTTPS) to Malware removal.

SSL (secure socket layer) is all about website security. Give your clients more reason to trust your brand online with iManila’s SSL certifications. With this standard security technology, you’ll be able to provide your market the guarantee they need to feel secure about any transaction they make on your website.

Remember, security is all about trust, and trust means business.

Secure your the website now with iManila. Contact us to learn more.

Social media trends that you should follow this 2017

As of January 2017, there have been over 3.77 billion active social media users around the world. This rate increases day by day and there’s no way we could stop it. Why douse a blazing fire when we could add more fuel to it?

More than being a virtual billboard of events, photos, promos, and updates, social media creates online connections that our business needs – connections that can eventually create engagement. These are the small gestures we do online such as liking, commenting, retweeting, responding to comments and messages. Not only do these actions create engagement but also pave the way for lifetime brand loyalty, as luck would have it.

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As social media continues to establish itself as a great avenue in achieving our online marketing goals, it is our duty to adapt with the constant changes it confers. Here, we have three of the most anticipated social media trends for us to consider applying this year.

  • Chatbots, talkbots, and chatterboxes

Social messaging is not new to us but in recent years, it has been repurposed to as a virtual customer care application for businesses. Often called as a chatbot, talkbot, or a chatterbox, this additional function of online chat is used by many netizens. And we can’t blame them. It works as if they are just sending a private message to one of their friends. It’s the easiest and quickest way for them to ask questions and raise their concerns without them going to a physical store or calling customer service only to be answered by a voice operator.

One prominent social messaging application today is Facebook Messenger. An instant, free, user-friendly and has distinct features that fit perfectly to be an online social messaging tool for every business. Through this, netizens exert less effort but get more prompt resolutions. Just imagine how the 1.15 billion daily active Facebook users will love your brand once you start utilizing this new social media trend.

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  • Virtual reality

Virtual reality (VR) hyped the public when it was re-invented in 2014. From its first onset during the 1800s, VR has come a long way. Today, when you are using VR, you think and act as if you are on the very location of what you see. This developed technology offers an extraordinary medium for us, marketers. It pushes our marketing strategies to its limits. Making us think how could we use such technology that is hardly used by other brands. Moreover, it carries a lot of advantages that we shall consider it to give people a new and best experience they can’t get anywhere else.

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  • Videos and more videos

All things video will continue to take over the social media sphere this year. If almost everyone can watch a video and even capture one using our fingertips, our brand shall, too. You see, social media is more about psychology and sociology more than technology. It lets us show that our businesses have a personality, just like anybody. In this case, we better express how collaborative we are with our audience through the use of 360-degree videos, snaps, stories, live streams, and even the recorded videos. People love to see our human side through authentic content and we shall give it to them. We can use videos for live events, holidays, behind-the-scenes, interviews, contests, and a lot more. It offers a diverse opportunity and diverse business results either.

VIdeo blog

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Let’s not deny it, social media is proven to be the most powerful online medium more than anything else. The more inventive it gets, the more our brands should get by it. However, the main concern here is to provide the more personal interaction our market wants and needs in an instant. In case you’re having trouble crafting your marketing plan for your business, iManila is here to help you out. Contact us now and let’s catch on these trends together.

 

Reference: Forbes