Tag: search engine marketing

Data shows that people spend over three hours on their phones on average, per day. App stores house millions of mobile apps which many businesses have joined the trend on. As a business owner, it always seems like a good idea to join the bandwagon and get an app developed. Apps can be a great avenue for gaining exposure and be a great channel as active app users can be of great value to the business. 

But before you get started into building your new mobile app, there are things to keep in mind and consider first, because the reality is, building an app requires a lot of resources. In this article, we will lay out the points to consider on whether or not your business needs a mobile app. 

Your website’s mobile friendliness

Before diving into a whole other channel, it’s best to look back at your current website and see how it holds up with mobile users. Because a majority of people use their phones when browsing the internet, the readiness of your website to meet those demands is of great value. If your website has a responsive web design, then it is optimized for viewing in smaller screens such as phones and tablets. There are a lot of essential elements for website success this 2021. If your business website is still lacking in the mobile-friendliness department, then now is a good time to reconsider this first before considering investment in a mobile app. 

How the app can solve a customer problem

The purpose of an app is to provide additional functionality that mere websites or social media pages cannot offer. If you find that the website will not be providing additional convenience or added use to your customers, then it is best not to build an app in the first place. This will just be a waste of resources as your app will find a hard time resonating with potential customers. Having an app that will not resonate with your potential customers, essentially means investing in an app that your users will not bother to download on their mobile phones or worse – will opt not to use simply because it doesn’t add any value to them.  

Retaining customer data

If your business is one that is reliant on repeat customers, having an app can help in the entry of information. This is applicable in e-commerce stores or food delivery service types of businesses as these require customers to fill out their information. An app can help in this issue so that your customers would not have to enter the information each time, helping boost your sales. But again, if your business does not yet have a loyal customer base, it might be good for you to consider investing in your website or on digital marketing efforts instead. Businesses that have successfully run on mobile apps have built a huge loyal customer base mainly due to their consistent promotions, digital marketing and customer loyalty campaigns. If you don’t have any of these types of campaigns in mind yet, best to go back to your drawing board before investing more capital in your mobile app. 

The channels that your competitors use

Checking out what your direct competitors have as channels would be handy in knowing possible areas for improvement. If they use an app, you can check out how the app holds up in the app store ratings and customer reviews. This can help you gauge the usefulness of the app and its effectiveness to your target consumer base. If they have an app, then that means that you are possibly missing out on a crucial channel, and see where you can improve as compared to their mobile app. If none of your direct competitors have a mobile app, then maybe it is an indication that having an app is not the best channel to reach your customers. 

The verdict 

If these points resonate with your business, then it may be a solid sign that building a mobile app may either be the next best course of action for you OR that it’s something that is not suitable for your business. Otherwise, sticking with the channels that work for you is still a good course of action. At the very least, a mobile responsive website works for a great majority of small businesses. With any of your digital marketing strategies, it is always important to keep in mind that with each touchpoint whether it be a mobile app, website, or social media page, that you are delivering your customers some real value. 

Reach your customers with the right digital solutions. With 25 years of experience in the industry, iManila is committed to providing our clients with innovative digital solutions through website design and development, hosting, digital marketing and mobile apps development. Still trying to figure out exactly what your business needs? Let’s talk and we can help you identify the right solutions for your business. 

Email is a major technique and tool of effective communication for your business’ growth. An effective email hosting plan will not only boost the credibility of your business but will also help build your brand identity.

Email hosting is a service in which a hosting provider rents out servers to its users. It is a service in which your email messages and associated files are all stored on a server. There are a lot of versions available from different hosting companies to take advantage of the flexibility and power of professional email services.

Here are some major benefits of getting email hosting services for your business:

Security

Email hosting keeps your sensitive data safe and protected. Dedicated email hosts also offer the capability to backup all your emails as well as offer spam protection and security measures to prevent any hack-attacks. A service provider ensures spam free emails in your inbox as they efficiently block spam and malware.

Secure email hosting services will prepare your mail servers to do industry-standard encryption of data, ensuring that the data sent to or from the server is encrypted and protected.

Easy Management and Enhanced Performance

Setup and manage as many email accounts as you like that’s convenient for you and your staff. Using email hosting plans ensures the productivity of your company since you can seamlessly interact with your clients and suppliers in or out of the organization.

There are different ways wherein you can choose how you can receive and convey emails that come under the domain name of your company. Email hosting also makes you enjoy customized storage space.

Establish Authority and Trust

Build the authority of your business with email hosting. People are more likely to trust emails that come from reliable mails. For example, which email address are you more likely to trust? [email protected] or simply [email protected]? It’s obvious that the paid version of your email domain will be more likely to be trusted.

The business email hosting benefit is that it lets you get your professional account linked with the domain name of your company. Connecting with your customers and other organizations with the use of a professional email address and even the logo of your company on your account or your email footer creates a reliable, trustworthy and stronger image for your business.

Guaranteed Up-Time

A trustworthy email hosting provider can ensure a guaranteed up-time so you do not encounter any issue regarding your communication with any business partners and clients. There is nothing more devastating than trying to read a mail and browse through the web just to see that your email is lagging. In addition, some email hosting services feature address books, which allows easy retrieval of contacts.

Most email hosts have a 99.9% guaranteed uptime for maximum availability. Using ultra-reliable cloud servers also means that if your website hosting is down, your email hosting will not be affected and you’ll be able to conduct business as usual.

Cost Effective

Getting an email hosting service saves a lot of time and effort for your company and allows you to focus on the more imperative task instead of worrying about its support and ongoing maintenance. Many assume that email hosting requires more expense and that it’s better to build their own email hosting. Keep in mind though that doing this will always require you to have an IT expert on-call, not considering the expensive hardware and software, which will soon lead to more expense.

Once your business starts growing, signing up for a paid email hosting service will save a lot of money in the long term. There are also different kinds of hosting services, which you can learn from through our cloud hosting vs. shared hosting blog. Although you have to pay monthly or annual fees, these types of hosting packages are more affordable compared to the benefits that you will be getting.

When it comes to business emails, there are a couple of options that we recommend. For robust businesses and startups, take a look at  Google Workspace, or formerly G Suite, which offers enterprise-level productivity tools that once subscribed, allows you to access Docs, Sheets, Slides, Calendar, Drive and more.

Another excellent option that the biggest corporations in the world use on a daily basis is Microsoft 365. M365 or previously known as Office 365 allows access to its suite of applications including software tools such as Microsoft Office and their cloud services, as well as the famous Microsoft Teams and other Microsoft applications. For more information, read through our comparison between Microsoft Office 365 vs. G Suite.

iManila is a top-notch web and hosting provider who can provide reliable hosting services with guaranteed uptime and availability. Add to that the team’s dedicated technical support services and you’re sure to be getting a provider with 25 years of IT experience on its belt.

If you want to get started with email hosting or just simply need someone to help you identify exactly what your company needs, get in touch with us and see how we can work together.

We made it! It’s been an exciting 25 years filled with great successes and our fair share of challenges, but here we are now still reimagining a better world through technology 25 years later! 

We owe our success to so many people – from our clients to our vendors, partners, and to the thousands of small and medium enterprises, both locally and internationally, who have grown alongside us. Thank you for your trust, confidence, patronage, and support. 

As we look back on everything that we’ve endured, from multiple financial crises to economic upturns and downturns and most recently – a global pandemic – we are so grateful for this iManila family that we have – for every single person who has walked through the doors of our 20+ years office and who has tirelessly worked to take us to where we are today. 

iManila was one of the first Internet Service Providers in the Philippines and has long since diversified into other services such as Website Development and Digital Marketing. Since day one we have never forgotten our roots and the importance of innovation and adaptability from providing a simple dial-up Internet connection, to providing innovative, in-demand web and digital solutions.

Cheers to 25 years and here’s a toast to reaching our goal of 100 years!

We’ve made it to 2021! A pat on your back is the best thing to do right now (since we cannot pat someone’s back because of social distancing). Nonetheless, we didn’t even notice that 2021 has just approached. With all the uncertainty and anxiety that happened last year, resilience is good but actions are better. We don’t just stay home and do nothing, we have to do something to get going. Especially with businesses closing left and right, you have to think of a better option to keep your business afloat.

Since most of the businesses are now moving to e-commerce, keeping up with technology can sure be overwhelming. But – guess what! We’re here to help.

With fast innovations and trends within the digital sphere, you must be updated to make work easier. Moreover, digital technologies provide very high values in making work more efficient through advanced collaboration tools. In the simplest explanation, if you don’t carry these five must-haves, your business is not doing digital right.

Must-have No. 1: Connectivity

Of course, this is very important. All transactions and tasks are done thanks to your Internet connection. As employees are now flexible, they get to choose where to work and be able to access business applications wherever they work and whatever device they work on. Approximately 77% of employees wish to have better mobile connectivity from their employers. In that case, make sure to give your employees the option to work in a comfortable environment. 

Must-have No. 2: The right tools, with the right results

And speaking of flexibility, people nowadays can do amazing things whether in the office, on the road or even online. This pandemic gave us the opportunity to discover new skills and enhance it whether it’s a hobby or something that can enhance our interests. And with the right tools to work on, you have the power to create, edit, view and work together in real time – giving you fast and feasible results. Evidently, 91% of employees depend on the latest digital technologies to perform well in work. So make sure to empower them with the best collaboration tools available. 

Must-have No. 3: Video collaboration

Since most of us are still working from home, physical meetings are still nowhere in sight. And since email and phone calls won’t satisfy these long meetings, HD video conferencing is the best option. Just maintain a good connection and the rest is as easy as a personal meet. 

Video conferencing allows you to see your colleagues faces and reactions and allows you to speak to them in real time. Most video collaboration tools now allow for screen sharing and inviting more than 100 guests to the call. No need to be in good health in order to attend a conference these days! 

Must-have No. 4: The ability to make wise choices

Now that we are doing everything digital, you have to get your digital plan right – even the tiniest details are big deals. Just make sure that you handle business-quality video conferencing right. Next is to offer private and public cloud access. Also, transact with sophisticated productivity and collaboration apps. And lastly, carefully manage security across various locations and types of devices. Remember that one wrong sharing move may allow your clients to see all of your year’s work. Be careful with what you share and ensure that your employees are familiar with your company’s data security measures. 

Must-have No. 5: Security

As the digital world keeps on innovating every now and then, security is getting more complex and faces more challenges. With trends like cloud computing, social media and expanding mobility needs, lack of proper protection will let attackers have the opportunity to get in. To have your network security more strengthened, research more about global threat intelligence. Prevent threats before, during and after an attack. And synchronize security across physical, virtual and cloud to reduce complexity.

These must-haves won’t hurt to follow and at the same time will strengthen the productivity and security not just of your company, but also for your employees. These must-haves have essentially helped companies like us maintain our operations regardless of the government regulations in the past year. Not sure that your company is 100% productive working from home just yet? 

Make the most out of working remotely through Microsoft 365, which allows access to its suite of applications including software tools such as Microsoft Office and their cloud services. Microsoft 365 and its applications allows you to be productive wherever you are, allowing for seamless integration from offline to online and maximum compatibility between Windows and Mac users. Visit our website at https://imanila.ph/hosting/microsoft-365/ to learn more or drop us a message at https://imanila.ph/lets-talk/ to ask us how we can help you! 

As the years go by, digital advertising becomes larger and more complex, so strategy formulation is needed to be able to sustain growth. It is essential for every business to improve yearly and strategize key components of planning for the business’ potential for growth.

When it comes to digital advertising strategies, anyone can create a long version of the technique or technology available today. However, to compete in the overly competitive digital landscape of 2021, you may need to incorporate a marketing mix of ideas and find what works best for your company.

If you’re not seeing effective results, it may be time to rethink your approach as some digital marketing strategies are better than others. Here are some general, inclusive tips and recommendations that you should focus on and work for this year.

1. Determine your Digital Advertising Goals and Plans.

The first step to success is strategic planning. Set your overall goals for your business and develop a plan to achieve them. To be exact, do you want to grow your target market and increase your followers and broaden your community? Do you want to increase brand awareness or improve sales? First off, decide specifically what you want to achieve, where you want your business to be headed and lay out a strategic plan to achieve them all.

Taking the decision actively to grow a business also means embracing the risks and all possibilities that come with growth. Spend time identifying exactly where you want to take your business and how you will get there.

2. Study How your Brand is Viewed.

The next step is to consider how your company is being viewed. Look at your company’s branding from a different perspective, starting from your goal, your vision, up to your logo, and the specific branding that you want to put out in the digital world. Your goal is to establish your company to be unique among all competitors.

Today’s consumers share their opinions and experiences widely, and from the previous year, you can study your target market preferences. Positive brand perception means consumers are more likely to choose your business over a competitor.

Understand that your customers matter, and so do their opinions. Branding your company right is a major part of marketing, so study your brand’s image and revitalize your advertising. Never underestimate the power of personal and professional branding. Don’t be afraid to outsource your graphic designers, copywriters, and other marketing professionals to help keep your brand intact.

3. Find your Target Audience.

It’s the perfect time to find your target audience once you’ve already cleared your goals and vision. Start by creating a profile of your customers. Once you determine the basic customer profile, dig deeper into the age, gender, income, and location. A general idea of your target audience will make all your marketing campaigns effective.

Knowing who your target is the first step for any company when it comes to developing an effective marketing strategy. Determine and study the importance of identifying the right target audience.

4. Test and Track all of your AD Campaigns.

Online social media and advertising is not a one-time big-time shot of success. You’ll need to consistently study what works best for your brand. You can start by promoting a post on social media and then monitoring the analytics over the next few days, weeks or months. If the ad does well then promote harder and if it doesn’t, strategize and revamp your campaign.

To get the result that you want in each campaign, you need to test and evaluate the success metrics and goals you set and assess every ad campaign result. Don’t commit to a full-fledged campaign until you’ve tried and tracked its progress and benefits to your business.

5. Seek out Professional Digital Advertising help.

In the growing digital world, capable digital marketing professionals are helpful. In every business, owners and executives tend to handle everything – but in many situations, this shouldn’t be the case. When it comes to advertising, a set of people who are well-skilled in digital advertising is needed. If you need a copywriter, hire one. If you want quality creatives and videos, find a skilled editor. Putting out low-quality ads will do more harm to your business as it tarnishes your brand identity, the same way that running non-optimized digital ads may just break the bank rather than increase sales. Always remember that when it comes to advertising, quality beats quantity.

Don’t be afraid to ask for help for your business today! iManila, is a full-service digital marketing agency that can help your business effectively, starting from your website development, and hosting requirements, to applications development, your technical support concerns as well as your digital marketing needs. Set your business for success in 2021 with iManila and let’s talk!.

This 2021, where many businesses are facing more unexpected business disruptions. Fortunately, for businesses that have implemented a strong business resilience plan, they are now enjoying the benefits of it and how it has helped maintain their business operations regardless of the different regulations. 

Business resilience is defined as the ability of a company to quickly adapt to disruptions, while maintaining continuous business operations and safeguarding its people, assets, and overall brand equity and image.

Why is Online Business Resilience Important?

Success depends on the company’s ability to precisely predict the next business step, entrusting economic experts to anticipate unprecedented events, and putting online business resilience plans on delay if the threat level is low. Now that there is an ongoing pandemic, businesses are now feeling the adverse effects of overlooking their online business strategies. Many businesses did not prioritize implementing business resilience strategies on a large, long-term scale, simply due to the complete unpredictability that such an occurrence would happen in the organization’s lifetime.

Steps to Achieve Good Online Business Resilience

Online Business Resilience plans is key to keeping your business afloat despite the ongoing crisis. A strong, thorough business resilience strategy should encompass four general strands:

•         Business Continuity Plan – Plans out and rehearses an action to all identifiers or anticipated operational disruptions and risks.
•         Disaster Recovery Plan – Provides the organization a strategy to recover from real disasters.
•         Value Protection Plan – Makes sure that shareholder value and stakeholder relations are protected in times of disaster.
•         Exploitation Plan – Enables the business to identify, and exploit, commercial opportunities that may present themselves during times of substantial disruption.

The Solution to Online Business Resilience is Flexibility

There are many strategies to follow in terms of making your business resilient. But the essence of it all is adaptability. There are many moving parts when it comes to driving day-to-day operations, so when there is a major disruption, an immediate action needs to take place in order to minimize the impact. Business resilience planning relies on the ability to identify those essential functions, and prioritizing which components are critical to be performed in times of disruption.

Business resilience plays an essential role to keep your business afloat especially now that there is an ongoing pandemic. In the past year, many businesses have resulted in going online and boosting their online presence in order to maintain operations and to bring in revenue despite the government regulations. If you haven’t developed a plan yet in our new “normal”, iManila can help you improve your online visibility and brand awareness regardless of your operational objectives. iManila is a full-service digital marketing agency ready to help you with your  website development, hosting, and digital marketing needs. Visit our website at https://imanila.ph/ to learn more or drop us a message through [email protected].