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Display Ads vs. Search Ads: Which One Is Better?

When it comes to Search Engine Marketing (SEM), search ads aren’t the only way to capture the interests of potential customers. There is also the alternative of having display ads that solve a different purpose. While both are forms of paid ads, they can differ as beginners and experts alike often  don’t  know with what ad to go for. Here is a handy blog on the difference between the two, and which one you should go for. 

Search vs Display

Search Ads are the ads beside organic searches in the search engine results pages (SERP). Moreover, they comprise of a headline, URL, and description text, designed to direct users to click the ad. Basically, what determines the rank of these search ads would be the bid and quality score. 

While search ads are “pull” advertising, meaning that there has to be intent expressed by users for an ad to show up, Display ads are a form of “push” advertising. Additionally, paid ad placements appear on different targeting parameters. The display ads can show in many different websites and even on social media. 

Search volume

Search volume is one factor to look into if you can’t decide between both ads. If you see that you have a good search volume, then you are in a good position to start a search ad. However, if the volume is not much, then having a display ad would be better for your products as it helps with brand awareness.

Brand awareness

For new businesses, or businesses offering new products, the best way to generate awareness is through display advertising. The Google Display Network helps you reach a wide audience who might be interested in what you have to offer. 

Moreover, if you actually know the sites your target audience visits, then you can target those sites in particular. Search ads aid your display ads by including the same branded terms used in your display ad.

Urgent services 

If your business offers professional services like dentistry, then search ads would be better. Usually, people searching these terms are in need of the services already. 

Moreover, your target audience may be using mobile to search urgently for a service that they want. Targeting mobile users is key in capturing these users. 

Budget 

For those with limited budgets, it is best to turn to search ads. Display ads can incur a larger budget and not guarantee a positive return on investment.

If you have a larger budget, you can focus on your successful search campaigns to keep the traffic flowing. You can also choose to expand also to the display network. 

Using the right strategy, you can get the traffic you need to gain new customers. The world of paid advertising and digital marketing can be quite confusing and daunting to beginners. Don’t know what to do? Worry not as there are experts that can guide you in how to deliver compelling campaigns through search or display advertising. 

With 25 years of experience in the industry and an IT company at its core, iManila, having been one of the first Internet Service Providers in the Philippines, is committed to providing our clients with innovative online marketing services in the Philippines. We are a full-service business website development and advertising company ready to help you with your web design, web hosting provider, email hosting, technical support, and digital marketing services needs.

iManila is an expert digital marketing agency and web design company in Manila that has helped a lot of brands with their online campaigns. See how we can work together — talk to us!

Handle Your Social Media Like A Pro With These Techniques!

Social media is almost a must when it comes to establishing your brand’s presence online. In fact, it is the second most popular way to research brands next to search engines. However, having a good social media page is hard to achieve than what people expect.

Social media management takes time, agility, and continuous engagement and posting. Here is what you need to do to handle your brand’s social media pages like a pro. 

Quality over quantity

Just because your competitor is posting every day doesn’t mean you should too. Making sure that each post has a reason to be there and that they are of quality is a must. Moreover, ensure that you create posts with the goal of raising awareness. While it is good to jump on trends for content, create content that can remain relevant. 

Use analytics to guide your posts 

Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram all come with native analytics. They help businesses raise awareness of how their posts are doing. Engagement rate is one metric to look out for. This is why you must study the data as it is based on your actual followers. Try to draw insights from it to help you figure out what works for them. 

Social media workflow tools

There are many people working in social media from content creators, to designers, to the person making approvals. There is also more than one account they use. Thankfully there are social media management tools such as Hootsuite that make the planning easier for everyone involved. 

Being able to mass schedule posts is very convenient and will add to your quality of life. Not only that, but these tools help give better insight into your platforms. They even let you compare performance across platforms. 

Add a human touch

It is much easier for people to connect with real people over businesses. Give them something to relate to and try your best to let your human touch show in your posts. Also, try cracking a joke or two, tackle a trending topic, and engage sincerely with your followers especially when dealing with complaints. Things like these remind people that there are people underneath your brand. This will make you look better in the eyes of your followers. 

Social media is not a one-and-done thing that if you find what works, you just stick to it forever. It also takes constant work and close attention to what works and what doesn’t as that constantly changes over time.  Pay attention to your metrics and create content based on what works for your followers.

Digital marketing is a vast umbrella and social media marketing is just one of them. Partner with a top advertising company in the Philippines to help you get started on an effective social media strategy for your brand that helps your other digital marketing channels. 

With 25 years of experience in the industry and an IT company at its core, Manila is committed to providing our clients with innovative online marketing services in the Philippines. We are a full-service business web development company and advertising company ready to help you with your web design, web hosting provider, email hosting, technical support, and digital marketing services needs. Work together with iManila and make your brand goals become reality. Talk to us!

Reasons Why You Need To Backup Your Website Regularly blog banner

Reasons Why You Need To Backup Your Website Regularly

What’s the use of a good website if it is not well protected? 

This is why keeping your website safe should be one of the major priorities of any business owner. One of the best ways to keep your website protected is by performing regular backups. Backing up a business website is easier than you might expect and can help safeguard your site in the event of a hacking incident. Here are the reasons why you need to back up your website regularly. 

Prevent data loss

Keeping your data safe is the utmost priority in any backup system. This is very relevant for websites with a ton of blog posts and libraries of content and you want to safeguard it against human errors and other incidents. 

With sensitive data, it is even recommended to have not just one backup, but multiple backups available and keep them stored in different locations. Uploading backups to the cloud and keeping a copy in your server is ideal. 

Protection against compatibility issues 

If you are familiar with how Content Management Systems, then you know that they deal with a lot of different add-ons like plugins and themes. However, each time you add one to your site, you are introducing a new element in your current site’s ecosystem. Moreover, they can have an undesirable effect on your website, resulting in poor performance as compared to before. 

Not only that, but backups are a good way to ensure that you don’t avoid the use of these add-ons. For this reason, make it a good practice to backup your business website. That way, if any compatibility issues arise, you can revert it easily.

Fix malware issues 

People may not be aware that websites, just like computers, can also be affected by malware. No matter how big or small your website is, they are not exempt from any attacks. It can be very tricky to deal with malware on your website. The longer it takes for you to fix that security hole in your site, the more vulnerable your site becomes. The easiest fix in this scenario would be to have your backup ready to restore your website.

Create easy staging sites for testing 

The best way to make a big change to your site is by testing it first. Having a recent backup of your site can help you stage a copy in mere minutes. Should anything go wrong when you test your new site out, it would not affect your live website. 

Develop secure best practices 

When it comes to keeping your website secure and in good shape, prevention is always better than the cure. So, it is better to develop security practices such as regularly scheduled backups than solve the damage human error can do to your site. 

Additionally, there are many ways to backup your site and making this a habit is always good practice. Brushing up on this and other best practices for websites is always a good must-have. 

Have a top digital marketing agency to help keep your website secure with each backup. With 25 years of experience in the industry and an IT company at its core, iManila, having been one of the first Internet Service Providers in the Philippines, is committed to providing our clients with innovative online marketing services in the Philippines. We are a full-service business website development and advertising company in the Philippines ready to help you with your web design, web hosting provider, email hosting, technical support, and digital marketing services needs. Schedule a consultation with iManila and see how we can work together. Talk to us!

What Google Analytics Can Tell You About Your Business

If you own a website, you must know the people who are visiting and where they are located. Thankfully, Google Analytics is a powerful tool that can answer all of those questions above and more. Here we will go through the things Google Analytics can tell you about your business website.

Your website’s first impressions

Ever wondered how visitors feel when they visit your website? Google Analytics provides you with the necessary data to piece together their first impressions. Checking the bounce rate tells you the rate at which people leave your website after landing. A high bounce rate can mean that they might not be finding what they are looking for. So, maybe it’s time to rethink the content in your site or the copies of the ads that brought them there. 

Checking site duration also tells you which pages in your website users stay longest at. This can be a signifier that you are doing something right on this page, and that your content can be really engaging. 

Which keywords attract your audience 

Keywords are important for SEO because they are how your audience would typically find you. Targeting keywords that generate the right qualified traffic can mean a step closer to getting that lead. Google Analytics can give you insights on what keywords perform the best. It can show you what keywords generate the most web traffic and to which page on your website they are landing. 

Your best social media channel

Google Analytics can give you insight into which social media channel of yours generates the most traffic. Additionally, this can help you narrow down which one to focus on as it can be quite costly to constantly put out paid social media ads. Save on additional budget and instead concentrate on your best-performing channels. 

Location of your visitors

At a glance, you can find out where your visitors are coming from. This is important as it helps you figure out where there is interest and target those visitors for a marketing campaign. You can see which areas you are already popular in and which areas there is potential for further growth. Moreover, can help you in your segmentation, to further provide a more targeted and localized campaign messaging.

More insights into your customer and their journey 

Another vital insight would be finding out the device that your visitors use to check out your website. This helps you learn more about where they are coming from. Are they more mobile users? Then having your website mobile responsive is a must-have. You can even view their interests and professions to give you a better understanding of your market. 

Tracking their journey is another thing — how did they get to your website? Are they coming from your Facebook page? Are they coming in via organic search? This information helps you map out a customer journey and figure out which channels to focus on in getting customers on your business website. 

Google Analytics is an important tool for digital marketing companies as it can pull from so many sources such as your website and social media. Moreover, it also gives you data that is useful in telling you more about your client’s website and its customers. The next step is building the right plan of action to make the most out of this data and you can do that with help from an experienced digital marketing agency in the Philippines like iManila. 

With 25 years of experience in the industry and an IT company at its core, iManila, having been one of the first Internet Service Providers in the Philippines, is committed to providing our clients with innovative online marketing services in the Philippines. We are a full-service business web development and advertising company ready to help you with your web design, web hosting, email hosting, technical support, and digital marketing needs. Learn how we can work together and help build you an effective digital marketing campaign with Google Analytics.

Why the Ber Months is the Perfect Time to Update Your Website

If you are a website owner, you may have heard about the importance of updating your website. But why should you? The short answer is that keeping your website up-to-date can make it relevant. Moreover, it helps it stay at the top of the searches. Digital advertising agencies in the Philippines today are highly competitive so keeping your website fresh in terms of functionality and appearance is vital. 

As the holidays are fast approaching, here are reasons why you should be making that website update now. 

Technology updates

Given how fast technology is evolving, it is vital that your website is in on these new advancements. Updating regularly can give your website visitors the best possible website experience that the market can offer. So, you must ensure that you are not left behind on what everyone else is doing to their websites. 

With the upcoming holidays, more people will be browsing different websites in preparation for buying products. For this reason, upgrading your website’s tech with the latest version can help turn them into customers. 

Data security 

Since important data is often stored in the web hosting servers, there is always that present threat of hacking attacks. The best way to combat this is to update your business website as these updates often come with bug fixes that aim to fix any gaping holes present in the current system.

Leaving your website’s content management system (CMS) outdated can leave you in a vulnerable position to have your data stolen.

Do you have a WordPress website and are still wondering why you should be updating this regularly? Here are some reasons why you should. Read our blog here.

Improve ranking in search engines 

Major changes to Google’s algorithms for their search engine often occur in the middle of the year. On the contrary, minor ones are sprinkled throughout the year. This is why you need to make it a habit to regularly update can help you rank better in Google’s eyes. For this reason, ensure that you are up-to-date with the latest technologies and outrank your competitors. 

Consider the “content” you’re making all the time. Try to update your business website information to make it relevant and regularly churn out content such as blogs and informative articles.

SEO is crucial for any website! Here are more tips on how you can drive more traffic to your website during the holiday season.

Keep your website design trendy

Looking plain and outdated can increase your bounce rate and make visitors leave your website for long. This goes beyond just your web design fonts and colors, but the actual user experience of the visitors. 

Try to visit the business websites of your competitors and compare them to how your website holds up against them. Current trends have opted for a sleeker way of presenting your information and simplified navigation. Make sure that your website is mobile responsive to help attract customers.

Integrate, integrate, integrate

Websites designs today contain many different plugins and apps that can be integrated into your website. These can add more to your base website to give it more function. Some of the most popular ones are:

  • Social media
  • Banners
  • Payment gateways
  • Booking systems
  • Content management systems (CMS)
  • Google Analytics

Overall, these can help keep your website more cohesive and fresher to the eyes of your visitors. 

Don’t get left behind during these -ber months as the Christmas season is fast approaching. Have your best foot forward when marketing your business online by updating your website. An effective, well-designed, and functioning website can make or break your business turning the next visitor into an actual customer. Work with one of the best web development companies in the Philippines with years of experience. Bring your brands to life with the right website through web design, web hosting provider, email hosting, business website development, technical support, and online marketing. Learn more on how we can help your website for the upcoming holidays.

Why You May Need A Dedicated Server for your Business

So you have decided on launching a website for your business. The next step would be to decide on the hosting solution that would be best suited for your business needs. Should you go for a dedicated server?

In this article, we will be exploring specifically what a dedicated server is here.

What is dedicated server hosting? 

Dedicated server hosting is a type of server web hosting that provides the best infrastructure available for your website. This is because you would be having the entire server dedicated all to yourself. 

This is the opposite of shared web hosting. This means sharing some of the server space and resources with other business websites. Moreover, it is easy to see that dedicated server hosting would be more costly than shared hosting. This is because of the benefits that it brings to the table. 

Try to have better security and overall performance.

If you are wary of security, then it is in your best interest to go with a dedicated server. This gives you full control of the server. It lets you tweak its security to your needs and specifications. You can have access to better security especially if you need to handle transactions over SSL or FTP. 

Dedicated servers maximize your web uptime. This is why dedicated servers make your website more reliable and stable performance-wise. 

Ensure your flexibility and scalability.

When you have a new website, you have no idea just how expansive your site will be. With dedicated web hosting, you will have the flexibility to customize your website. It can accommodate the needs of CPU, disk space, software, and more. The server environment is flexible to fit your business needs. It also gives you control over its specifications. 

Make sure to save on time and resources.

Managing a web server can be a lot of work that means purchasing and maintaining equipment. Dedicated hosting is a cost-effective way to get all the benefits of having your own full server. A dedicated hosting provider would be in charge of handling the costs. This helps save you on time and hassle which are also valuable to any business. If you don’t have anyone with the knowledge, most providers also offer Server Management Service contracts. 

Is your business ready for a dedicated web server? 

Dedicated servers are a good option as they serve a lot of businesses well. At the same time, you might like to read more about Cloud Hosting and why this is a great hosting solution. 

Overall, consider a dedicated server if your website has high traffic. It has sensitive information and has a lot of content. Work together with an experienced dedicated web hosting provider to get the best website performance for your business.

As one of the first Internet Service Providers in the Philippines, iManila is committed to providing our clients with innovative online marketing services. We are a full-service business web development and advertising company ready to help you with your web design, web hosting, email hosting, technical support, and digital marketing needs. Inquire now and message us today!

Digital Marketing 101: Simple Ways to Generate Leads Through Your Website

Digital marketing is at a really unique spot that allows businesses to generate leads through many different channels. Where before the ways of marketing often involved ad placement or cold calling, digital marketing opens up a connection with the customer through multiple touchpoints. Don’t get lost behind the new trends of online marketing and get a better understanding of the basics to help your business. In this article, we have got you covered through this simple guide on how to increase leads through your website through digital marketing!

 

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) 

You may have probably heard the term SEO or Search Engine Optimization if you are looking for ways to improve the visibility of your website. SEO is one of the sure-fire ways in being able to reach your customers. What it does is that it makes your website more relevant by helping you ‘rank’ in the search engine for certain keywords and phrases that you want to bid for. 

Why is SEO so important? Most people don’t make it past the first page of search results when they are looking for something online. This means that you must be on the first page, and at the very top if you want that traffic and visibility. Ranking poorly can throw away all the effort you have poured onto your actual website if no one else can see it. 

There are many aspects to SEO, but it all starts with doing keyword research which involves brainstorming all possible types of keywords. You must select the keywords you want to target and know the keywords that your customers search with. 

Optimization is another aspect of SEO which are the steps that can enhance your presence on search engines. This involves on-page optimization by ensuring that your desired keywords are visible on your site as well as the back-end of link building which links your content to reputable sites to boost your site’s trustworthiness. 

The last aspect of SEO is user experience which matters as giving your website visitors a great experience can make them stay longer and become a lead. This has to do with factors like how fast your page loads, how well your website is designed, and how easy it is to navigate on your website. 

If you want to know more about the latest SEO trends in 2021, read more here. 

Pay-per-click (PPC) ads

Another way to rank your site at the top is through paid advertising also known as pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. PPC also involves keywords so doing your research on your keywords is just as important. How it works is through a bidding system where advertisers bid an amount they are willing to pay for each click. Similar to SEO, the longer and more specific the keyword you have, the less competition and the less money you will pay for that click. 

How do you get your ad placement to rank on top? PPC relies on both your bid and quality score which is determined by the search engine based on the relevancy of your business website to the keywords you are bidding for. 

PPC is a good way to generate quality traffic as these clickers would have a clear intent. Doing PPC can also help you see where your money goes for those who want to see a return on their ad investment as you only would pay when someone clicks on your ad. The key here then is to make sure you are bidding for things only relevant to your business as you can overspend if you make your keywords too generic and broad. 

Content marketing 

Generating blogs, long-form articles, infographics, and videos are all part of content marketing. This helps show that you are visible as you are churning out content that helps add to your credibility. Content marketing can greatly make a positive impact on your website as they stay longer on your page and see what you have to say. The key is to provide some valuable information to your audience, giving them content that they would be interested in. 

This helps build your authority which is an important aspect of any business, showing everyone that you know what you are doing. People who view your content can not just learn the information you promised but also learn more about what your business is offering and turn it into a lead. Unlike ads which can be intrusive and disruptive, content draws your audience in if there is already that initial interest in what you have to say. 

Social Media 

Social media can be a valuable channel for growing your leads and nurturing them. In these channels, you can share images, videos, and content to help your audience know more about your business as well as share all important business information such as your contact information, website, business hours, etc. 

The biggest difference social media has is that it is a source of engagement where you can interact with your audience through the comments, reactions, and messaging features. This can let you not just see what they have to say but build and grow your relationship with your audience to make them ready to become your next leads. The right social media strategy is all about knowing what channels your audience frequents and then create accounts for those. 

Generate leads with ease by utilizing these digital marketing channels to help give your business more visibility. Using these channels together can help make for cohesive multi-touchpoint marketing for your business. Grow your leads by working with one of the top advertising companies and make the most out of your channels. 

If you still have any questions regarding digital marketing or how to generate leads through your website, then let us help! With 25 years of experience in the industry, iManila is committed to providing our clients with innovative digital solutions. We are a full-service business website development and digital marketing company ready to help you with your web design, web hosting, email hosting, technical support, and online marketing needs. Visit our website and see how we can work together.

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Are You Regularly Updating Your Website’s WordPress Version?

Seeing prompts to update your current software is a common occurrence. WordPress users are not exempt from this as prompts are sent via email whenever a new software update comes out. If you are not the type to frequently update your WordPress CMS, here is a quick guide on why it is vital to regularly update your WordPress version. 

 

Security purposes 

WordPress is known as the most popular website builder and is a familiar name to many web designers and developers not just in the Philippines but all over the world. WordPress was built by a community of developers who regularly work in ironing out the software and checking for any bugs to improve the overall performance of the site. This is the reason why WordPress plugins and features get better over time and sites are able to keep up with industry standards. 

Because more than a third of websites are powered by WordPress, it can be an easy target for hackers and data thieves. Added to this is the fact that WordPress is an open-source software, leaving it open for anyone to figure out new ways to hack into it. 

Whenever there are bugs, the web developers at WordPress work to put out an update that patches that bug so leaving your website outdated means leaving your site with security weaknesses. WordPress also comes with a wide array of plugins which can also be susceptible to hacking so updating these alongside the various themes is always a must. 

Bug fixes 

It is normal that bugs exist even with the amount of testing done by any web developer on a major update. This is why there are more incremental smaller updates to patch those issues. Even if you are not experiencing any of the said bugs, it is best to update your website nonetheless to prevent any encounter which can hamper your website. 

Website speed 

Speed is an important part of any website not just in SEO but in creating a good user experience. As web developers behind WordPress strive to always better their software, each update is intended to make WordPress run faster. 

Up-to-date on new features 

Performance is not just a goal of WordPress website developers. They also make sure to bring changes to WordPress such as through the addition of new features. These features can add to the quality of life of any person building a website in WordPress with the added improvements and accessibility to their interface. 

Staying up to date on new features also benefits anyone trying to troubleshoot WordPress website issues as support forums would often revolve around discourse using the most updated versions of the software. 

Keeping your WordPress updated 

Luckily, it is fairly easy to update your WordPress version and numerous themes and plugins. With the notification section of WordPress, you are updated for any available updates up for download. Go to Dashboard then click on Updates to install the updates and you are good to go. For those who do not frequently visit the WordPress backend, they can opt to turn on the automatic updates for major releases, minor releases (includes security updates and bug fixes), themes, and plugins. They can also turn on email notifications so that they get properly notified whenever a new update is released. 

Keeping up to date with WordPress along with its best practices can help any company make the most out of their website. Make sure you are utilizing your WordPress to the fullest for your website by partnering with a web design and web development company to help boost your overall business website’s performance. iManila specializes in business website development and design that has helped numerous companies have great websites. Connect with us and see how we can help take your website to the next level.

With 25 years of experience in the industry, iManila is committed to providing our clients with innovative digital solutions. We are a full-service website development and digital marketing company ready to help you with your web design, web and email hosting, and digital marketing needs. Inquire now and message us today!

Why Go For Cloud Hosting Over Traditional Hosting?

The emergence of cloud technology has taken the world by storm and for hosting, it is no different. What exactly is the cloud and why is cloud hosting the better choice over the more traditional hosting option? We will take you through everything you need to know about cloud hosting and why you should migrate your website and emails to the cloud. 

Cloud technology 101 

Transitioning to cloud technology means moving or migrating your data, software, applications to the cloud where they can be accessed anytime and anywhere. This is a far cry from traditional means of storing your data which involve disks and drives in order to be accessed. 

The cloud has become very prominent to the point where most of the things that we interact with on a daily basis involve the cloud from storing our data online in drives, listening to music shared across multiple devices, and more. The defining characteristic of the cloud is that it is easy to access, making it extremely convenient for everybody. 

Why businesses should migrate to cloud hosting

There are many considerations for businesses to move to the cloud but one of the main reasons to do so would be to meet the ever-growing needs of customers. Companies that do not adapt to this can risk getting behind the trend and their competitors. The cloud can also help give easy solutions and offer a better environment for scaling in the future as it does not have any of the limitations traditional hosting faces. 

Benefits of cloud hosting 

    • Increased uptime of server – Hosting on the cloud can give you the maximum network uptime possible with no single point of failure. If one server is unable to take your request, any of the other servers can take its place — something that traditional hosting cannot do. 
  • Better security – Cloud hosting equips businesses with an infrastructure that ensures data is secured at different levels from data, application, and physical security. Companies can rest assured that they get firewalls and backups, data isolation and storage segregation, customer identity management, and encrypted solutions. Traditional hosting lets you share your resources with other websites on the same server or get a costly private dedicated server. 
  • Scalability – One of the biggest advantages of the cloud is scalability. Resources can be instantly allocated to meet the growing needs of your website. While the traditional hosting method requires physical machines which have their limits on resources, cloud hosting allows sites to add or remove resources such as storage, RAM, and bandwidth from the network of servers. 
  • Backup options – Disaster recovery can be tricky with traditional hosting with just a single server. Cloud hosting is superior as they automatically back up data in their interconnected servers. 
  • Cost-effective – Cloud hosting lets companies only pay for the resources that they need so there is no need to invest in any infrastructure that might not be used. This lets companies allocate their resources to more important areas. 
  • Better performance – Cloud hosting benefits from the latest technology. This means that you can customize and integrate your software depending on your company’s needs. Sites hosted via cloud, in general, perform better than those hosted in a more traditional method. 

Ensure your company’s website is reaping the benefits of hosting on the cloud. Having the right kind of web hosting can help not just in your brand’s overall image but also help you achieve your business goals by having good performing and reliable business websites. iManila is a digital marketing company and one of the best web hosting providers in the Philippines with years of expertise in web hosting, email hosting, and web design and website development. Connect with us and see how we can help improve your business website today!