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Tag: website development

Tips to Drive Website Traffic from Social Media Platforms

Almost nine in 10 marketers say that increases in website traffic is a result of social media marketing, according to Social Media Examiner. This was the second most frequently cited benefit!

The social media world is home to more than 3.4 billion active users. Social media is said to be the primary source for generating eCommerce traffic. Social media leads ahead of traditional media in driving traffic to your business website. They bring in ample opportunities to gain business visitors and convert into leads.

How do you strike up a conversation? How can you increase the visibility of your social media posts? How do you boost your social media marketing strategy? How do you engage your audiences? How can you generate leads through constant digital engagement? In this blog, we will give you some tips to drive website traffic from your social media platforms.

  1. Optimize Your Social Media Profiles

The more distinct your bio is – without sacrificing clarity – the more likely you can catch the attention of and resonate with your ideal audience.

Don’t make the mistake of writing your entire business story in your bio. Just a couple of lines will suffice. Then, connect the bio to your site with a call to action button directed to your home page or a viable landing page.

  1. Use Social Proof

Just like any review or testimonial, social proof brings the human voice into your brand experience. Whenever someone is about to make a purchase or is shopping for something they want, they look for reviews, recommendations, referrals, and input from others who have used the product or service.

  1. Time It Right

Pick the most effective time for optimal views. Instead of using best practices for social post timing, look at your own data. See when your target audience is most responsive. 

To maintain a publishing schedule, you can use social media management tools available online. You can also use a social media planner or calendar to optimize your publishing activity. These tools help you post regularly considering the location, time zone, and necessary factors. 

  1. Promote Your Content

You should promote all high-quality blog posts to increase their visibility. To drive traffic to your site, publish excerpts or teasers on social media along with a link. That can incentivize the viewer to go to your website to read more. Social media also is a good place to promote older but still relevant content that will intrigue new followers.

  1. Be Responsive

Make an effort to reply to every comment on your social posts. That makes your audience feel valued, and sometimes your response can include a link to your website, which offers more information on the topic.

Incorporate customer service into your social media so your brand can respond to queries and complaints promptly. The customer’s experience not only matters to them, but it offers proof to prospects on how your company is going to treat them too.

Patience and persistence are the key to staying alive in the social media world.

Social media marketing strategies are great, but they take time to come into effect. These proven strategies are sure to reap benefits in the long term. Being customer-centric is the only key for a successful social media marketing campaign. Remember, social media is a game changer only if you use it the right way.

Developing a social media marketing strategy can be complex and overwhelming. That is why iManila– a digital marketing agency wants to do it for you! With 26 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 that can help convert your website visitors into quality leads or potential customers. 

As one of the best web hosting providers and web development companies in the Philippines, iManila is also a full-service business website development company and digital marketing agency in the Philippines ready to help you with your web design and development, website hosting, email hosting, technical support, and digital marketing service’s needs. Work together with top advertising companies in the Philippines like iManila and make your brand goals become a reality. Talk to us!

Why Good Web Hosting Is Important In 2022

It is important to have a good business website so that your brand can offer the best and quality service to your audience. Hosting can be used for many applications. Samples are systems, virtual stores, blogs, and websites, with advantages ranging from better performance to greater security.

Better Security

Whenever a website page reads, “Your connection to this site is not secure.” It then recommends that you don’t type in any sensitive information. This page means that the website is not secure and isn’t using HTTPS. It is necessary to enable HTTPS on your website. It is by choosing a good web hosting company and getting a secure IP. HTTPS, which stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure. It ensures that all information going through the website gets encrypted. Aside from it will secure your business website. This hides any sensitive or personal information from the world, which includes hackers.

Better support

You cannot just rely on good website design and technology when it comes to support. There are still certain things you do not have complete control over. It is up to the web host to resolve the issue if there is something going wrong with the server. It starts affecting your website. A good web hosting service will respond fast, accurately and effectively, giving you tools. And answers to your server’s uptime and availability issues. 

​​Data storage

Limited storage can lead to site shutdown when traffic is high on your webpage. A premium web host will provide you with a variety of options, depending on your data limit and fulfill your hosting needs. This is why the amount of data that needs to be stored on your website’s server. It plays a huge role in deciding what kind of web hosting partner you’re looking for. How much online traffic your website can handle, including concurrent users. And needs to be well established before you sign with a hosting provider.  

Reliable customer service

High quality customer service is a main characteristic of a good web hosting solutions provider. A good web host is always there when you need any kind of technical assistance or support. They offer many ways for you to contact them whenever the need arises for you to do so.

Speed 

Slow loading times of your website’s landing page is one of the main reasons for bad user experience. A poor web host will see a lot of site crashes due to too much load on the shared server. Bad user experience on your business’ website can lose potential customers. 

A trustworthy web host solutions provider is a must for your business’ website. It will ensure that your website runs smoothly and does not buckle under pressures of high bandwidth. Keep the above points in mind while you search for a suitable web hosting provider.

With 26 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. It is committed to providing our clients with innovative online marketing services in the Philippines. iManila is a full-service business web development company and digital marketing agency in the Philippines.  Ready to help you with your web design and development, web hosting provider, email hosting, technical support, and digital marketing services needs. Talk to us!

Google Ads Vs. Facebook Ads: Which One Should You Be Using?

Google Ads and Facebook Ads are two of the leading pay-per-click platforms and are often pitted against each other. But what some businesses don’t know is that In fact, these two platforms are complementary to each other and offer unique benefits to marketers and users. You can target prospects by location, gender, and age across both platforms. Many businesses are utilizing the strengths of each to achieve maximum visibility, increase leads in sales, and gather a wider reach of audiences, all for a remarkable return of investments. 

These two advertising platforms serve different business objectives making it way harder for brand owners to identify which one is best for them. In this blog, we have summarized the things that should be considered to help you determine whether you should be utilizing Google Ads or Facebook Ads. 

When To Use

Facebook ads are best for businesses that are looking for an increased awareness of the products and services it sells, especially among new audiences. Facebook allows brands to reach out to their target audience by means of text, image, and video ads. In addition to its large audience base, the platform offers granular targeting capabilities, allowing marketers to reach users based on demographics, behaviors, life events and interests.

On the other hand, Google ads are best for businesses with products or services that people are actively searching for. In order for your ads to succeed, and since your target users are looking for something, your content should be clear, concise, and easy to access. With Google Ads, it’s much more detailed in who you’re able to target for your ads.

Functionality

With billions of users worldwide, Facebook provides businesses the capability to advertise using pay-per-click ads. These ads were created using the Facebook Ads manager platform and are being shown to a targeted audience according to demographics, interests, behavior and engagement patterns. Ad creation process includes selecting an ad budget, ad placement, and run time. However, conversions in Facebook usually take more time since customers are not actually seeking your product or services. 

Google, on the other hand, gives businesses the ability to advertise with just keywords. The intention of the audience is what sets Google apart from Facebook Ads. With Google, users are actually searching for a particular product or service, or an answer for their specific question in mind. Providing them the information they need could boost their engagement with your brand. 

Pricing and Performance Data

Facebook Ads cost lower than Google Ads. However, the conversion rate in Facebook has a lower average compared to Google. When considering cost-efficiency, price needs to be considered in relation to click-through and conversion rates. Google Ads have a higher average cost-per-click and a higher click-through rate giving you a higher return of investment than Facebook Ads. 

Campaign Features

Campaigns in Facebook Ads and Google ads only vary on how audiences are targeted. Facebook Ads offer more all-inclusive targeting options, but offer little to no search or buying intent. Facebook Ads have a broader offering of campaign features and options from ad platforms such as Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram, with ad placement such as feeds, stories, and chat. While google ads give fewer options on audience targeting, its users are actively looking for a particular product or service. In addition, Google Ads give advertisers the choice to make their own content that appears in the same format as organic search results with just keyword searches and basic targeting options.

Ease of Use

Both Facebook Ads and Google ads can be frustrating to use and setup at first glance. While Facebook Ads are easier to navigate especially for beginners, Google Ads offers a more data-focused interface. Facebook has a lot more ad types, ad placements, and advanced audience targeting options than Google Ad Manager. The Google Ads interface may seem more complex to use at first as it is a text and data-heavy platform, but once users become familiar with Google Ads, it becomes easier to use than Facebook Ads.

It may sound easy to begin with a simple ad with these platforms but it also involves in-depth expertise to build effective ads that drive clicks and conversions. Get the most out of your ad investment by leaving it to the experts at iManila. iManila is a certified Google Partner and Facebook Managed Agency. 

With 26 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 that can help convert your website visitors into quality leads or potential customers. 

As one of the best web hosting providers in the Philippines, iManila is also a full-service business web development company and digital marketing agency in the Philippines ready to help you with your web design and development, web hosting provider, email hosting, technical support, and digital marketing services needs. Work together with top digital marketing companies in the Philippines like iManila and make your brand goals become reality.

Work together with top advertising companies in the Philippines like iManila and make your brand goals become reality. Talk to us!

Shared Hosting Benefits: Is It Right for You?

A website hosting service that divides server resources between multiple domains is called Shared Hosting.  With this, your website lives alongside others, which are neighboring users utilizing the same server.  Shared Hosting is best recommended for small websites, brands, and other digital platforms that do not require high bandwidth. It provides minimum features and support, making it the perfect hosting for budget-conscious website owners. 

For starters, choosing between different web hosting services could be a very tough job. Different hosting offers different features and services. One could offer something that the others could not. It is indeed frustrating to determine whether a shared hosting is the right one for you. To simplify things, we have gathered the benefits of shared hosting to give you insights on how these fit you and your business website. 

Cost-Effective

A huge factor why first-time website owners go for shared hosting is its low cost. A single server’s maintenance costs can be distributed amongst its many users. Since it is shared across multiple website owners, individual costing may be driven down to a smaller cost, making it more cost-effective. In addition, shared hosting gives you the option to eventually upgrade to hosting services that allows you to get more traffic, and greater online presence – of course bigger resources come with higher costs. 

Flexibility

Many business websites first launch their digital platforms with shared hosting because it doesn’t require too much complexity in skills and knowledge to operate. Shared hosting offers plans that provide control panels that are easy to navigate for website management and other pre-installed programs. Server uptime, availability and settings are handled by the hosting provider making it easier for the owner to manage and easily install updates and patches. 

Professionally Managed

Utilizing shared hosting services gives you insurance that your server is well taken care of by the hosting provider, thus ensuring that administrative tasks are functioning accordingly. Aside from being low maintenance, shared hosting provides you professional technical support for network outages, server malfunctions and maintenance, if needed.

Easy Email Hosting

Providing an email associated with your domain is very significant in the web development process. With shared hosting and its built-in cPanel, adding and setting up your email are now easier. You can now run a secure, spam-filtered mail server for your personal or small-business use. This way, you can set up your own disk drive and fully control how your emails are accessed, managed and stored. Aside from emails, you now have control over databases, add-on domains, and more.

Choosing the right web hosting plan can save you lots of time and money. If you don’t need immense bandwidth, memory, computing power, or control, then save your money by going with a shared hosting service.

With 26 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 that can help convert your website visitors into quality leads or potential customers. 

As one of the best web hosting providers in the Philippines, iManila is also a full-service business web development company and digital marketing agency in the Philippines ready to help you with your web design and development, web hosting provider, email hosting, technical support, and digital marketing services needs. Work together with top digital marketing companies in the Philippines like iManila and make your brand goals become reality.

Work together with top advertising companies in the Philippines like iManila and make your brand goals become reality. Talk to us!

Email Marketing Tips To Look Out For in 2022

When the world was crippled by the coronavirus in 2020, most businesses had no choice but to switch to online sales and marketing efforts. One of the digital marketing strategies that really boomed since then is email marketing.

According to HubSpot’s latest research statistics, email marketing had a constant growth in terms of popularity and relevance every year since the pandemic. And now, in 2022, it is expected to grow even more. Meaning, the competition to your target market’s inbox is really high.

Given this, you may like to go back to your previous email marketing efforts to ensure that your emails will stand out. Read more below for the best email marketing tips to look out for in 2022.

Make it personal

People’s inboxes are bombarded with irrelevant, spam emails everyday. That is why most users do not bother to open emails that are generic. 

What you can do to get your recipient’s attention is by making the email personal. This includes the name and the content of the email. Take time to research and know what your customers’ needs and pain points are. Then, personalize your email by emphasizing how your offerings can help them.

Use Artificial Intelligence

Consider hopping into the Artificial Intelligence (AI) bandwagon of email marketers. AI tools are used to maximize the potential of acquired data about the market. It helps with processing a large chunk of data, building better and efficient analytics, observing customer trends, and foreseeing user actions.

AI can also help in segmentation, the process of creating smaller groups of email recipients who share the same background and characteristics. In this way, you can better craft your message. Take note though that since AI is still a relatively new kind of technology, using AI in your email marketing may not just be tedious, but costly. 

Incorporate user-generated content

Applying user-generated content (UGC) on your emails this 2022 encourages people to trust your brand. How? When prospective customers see a large, diverse group of people enjoying your brand, it will spark curiosity to them until they fall to the decision of wanting to experience your offerings themselves. This is just like the philosophy behind testimonials and reviews in websites but, this time it is on the email body.

Start newsletter campaigns

Don’t sleep on this! Newsletters found success during 2021 and will shine brighter this 2022. It helps in promoting new leads, enlivening cold customers, and builds a unique brand image without sounding like a salesperson. Sending out newsletters can be done weekly or monthly.

Apply minimalistic approach

People nowadays have shorter attention spans and are tired of loud details. That is why minimalism became the trend aesthetic. Apply this approach to make your email more appealing to your audience. It is as easy as putting in a lot of white spaces, writing short sentences, and selecting a calming color palette.

Make sure it’s mobile friendly

More than half of the global internet traffic comes from smartphones. People are mostly dependent on their mobile devices for product research as well. So, it is best to create mobile-responsive emails that do not force recipients to open a browser window. 

Aside from the fact that it is easier to scan on a handheld device, having an email copy that is mobile accessible makes it easy to read on the go, which is a plus especially that we are in a fast-paced world.

 

If you want to strengthen your email marketing game this 2022, iManila can definitely help you! With 26 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 that can help convert your website visitors into quality leads or potential customers.

As one of the best web hosting providers in the Philippines, iManila is also a full-service business web development company and digital marketing agency in the Philippines ready to help you with your web design and development, web hosting provider, email hosting, technical support, and digital marketing services needs. Work together with top digital marketing companies in the Philippines like iManila and make your brand goals become reality.

Work together with top advertising companies in the Philippines like iManila and make your brand goals become reality. Talk to us!

Reasons Why Your Website Visitors Aren’t Converting

By this time, maybe you have mastered most if not all of the traffic generation strategies published online and have somehow managed to become successful in getting website visitors. However, traffic generation is not the end goal of digital marketing. Being able to convert your website visitors into actual customers is. 

 

Everyone who visits your page is a potential customer. Online users visit your website primarily because they are interested in a product or service that you are offering.  But, why are they not converting despite the big website traffic? 

 

Read more below on the possible reasons why your website visitors aren’t converting. 

 

Hidden or No Call-to-Action Buttons

 

Call-to-Actions (CTA) are a crucial part of digital marketing. This is how you encourage your website visitors to take a favorable action after seeing your offerings. But what if your CTA is hidden or not existing at all? Chances are users will just leave your page. 

 

It is important that you have an obvious CTA. You can do this by creating an animation that directs to the CTA button. In this way, you can catch your visitor’s attention and at the same time point them to take an action. 

 

Another thing, put your contact number in the header of your page. Doing so allows your visitors to see what you need them to see immediately. Make sure that your CTA is also clickable to make it easy for the users to contact you.

 

Confusing headlines

 

One of the possible reasons why your website visitors are not converting at all is because maybe you have a confusing headline. 

 

The headline is the first thing that your visitors see when they land on your site. With that, by just looking at it, you must assure your customers that you have everything they are looking for. Anticipate the kinds of information they need to know immediately like your service, location, ease of service, and why your company is the best for the job.

 

Refrain from having vague headlines. Be direct to the point. Creative language is nice but if it’s too vague, it can drive your visitors away.

 

Too long contact forms

 

Let’s say your website is doing good. You have optimized your site well and ranked in Google. Your CTA is also functioning. Your visitors are now ready to convert. Unfortunately, they saw a long, complicated contact form that annoyed and scared them. So, they decided to just navigate away from your site.

 

Too long contact forms are intimidating, overwhelming, and feel like a big chore to your potential clients. As much as you want to know in detail your visitor’s needs, you would want to just trim down your contact form as this is more efficient in converting leads. Stick to the basics like name, email address, and phone number. Then, ask your staff members to reach out to the client afterwards to know their needs in-depth.

 

Lack of a “Hook”

 

A hook is an irresistible statement or offer that you give to your potential customers. It can range from small ones like telling them that you are award-winning or rated #1 in the field. Just make sure that it is true to your company. Hooks can also be as big as giving promotional codes, free shipping, holiday deals, etc. 

 

In short, hooks help in convincing your potential customers to take a favorable action right now. It is frequently located near the call-to-action button.

 

All your efforts in boosting your SEO are for nothing if there are no sales conversions. Good thing, iManila can help you in turning your website visitors into actual customers with the different digital marketing services it provides.

 

With 26 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 that can help convert your website visitors into quality leads or potential customers. 

As one of the best web hosting providers in the Philippines, iManila is also a full-service business web development company and digital marketing agency in the Philippines ready to help you with your web design and development, web hosting provider, email hosting, technical support, and digital marketing services needs. Work together with top digital marketing companies in the Philippines like iManila and make your brand goals become reality.

Work together with top advertising companies in the Philippines like iManila and make your brand goals become reality. Talk to us!

Debunking the Most Common Website Myths

It is always a milestone for a business to have their own website as it’s a great way to expand their online presence. It can be exciting, but there are also a lot of myths about having your own website. 

We’re here to debunk those common myths and help you get on the right track to having the best business website possible!

Once you have a working website, you’ll attract visitors

Getting the website working and online is only half the work. What happens here is that there is a mismatch in expectations with business owners with how websites can give them the results they want. 

The truth is that it takes time, resources, and skills to attract website visitors. There are many factors to consider such as search engine optimization, paid search ads, video ads — in short, a lot of promotional means to get the right amount of traffic to your site. Once you put in the action then effort, that is the only time you’ll be seeing an increase in your website traffic. 

If your website looks good, you will start getting sales

Closely related to the previous one, while a well-designed website may be grabbing the attention of your visitors, it doesn’t necessarily equate to a sale. 

It is true that to attract new people and to give visitors a good user experience you would need a beautiful website, but at the end of the day, it’s still the quality of your products and services and brand reputation that weighs more. If all you are offering is aesthetic but your products or service fail to follow through on its promises, it will fail because people will be able to see through it. A business first and foremost must focus on its own products before worrying about aesthetics and appearances. If you are focused on delivering the right value to your site visitors, your site would work its magic even without the over-the-top designs. In short, your product should speak for itself, your website is merely a tool in helping your message get across to potential customers. 

Once your website is up, the work is done

This again is a mismatch of expectation as websites need ongoing attention much like any other business that needs to be nurtured and maintained. 

Website maintenance is a thing and part and parcel of this is renewing your domain registration on time, protecting your site from any potential threats such as viruses or cybercrime, keeping your design up to date in line with current trends, and investing in promotion to keep the site visitors coming. 

Your website needs to have all the features the other websites have 

There is a misconception that more features means your website will be better. While you may get a lot of inspiration by viewing websites of other brands, you may start to notice some of them have certain elements such as carousels for their headers. But again, it is always important to know the value of each decision as these can hinder your customers from properly navigating your site and getting them to do what you intend them to do. 

For websites, simplicity is key. The bells and whistles would not matter to your customer if they can get their business done on your website in the most direct and simple manner. It is always about the value that the customers get from your products or services. If you are thinking of having a certain feature, know that if it wouldn’t add anything of value to your customers then it’s better left out. 

What’s next?

For different people you may ask, websites may mean different things for them. However, it is important to know what it is that your business really needs as everyone has different approaches. Each business works differently. It is nice to research more about how you can create the kind of website that suits the purpose you intend it to and helps you achieve your business goals. Starting with debunking these common website myths, we hope to be able to guide you in creating your dream website. 

Getting the right experts on board can help ease any worries you might have about building a website on your own. Rest assured that you can find the right partner in iManila, who has been in the industry for over 24 years. Learn more about how we can help you build your website and how we can make it work for you. 

How to keep your CMS safe and secure

Website security is one of the pillars of running a business online. Website hacks are not an uncommon phenomenon with 30,000 new small business website hacks a day together with corporation breaches. Rather than waiting for the inevitable, being prepared for such attacks is always a good preventive measure that can save you time from constant web debugging or worse – loss of income from your website and loss of company credibility. 

Hackers have targeted the top three open-source Content Management Services (CMS) such as WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal due to their popularity. As technology evolved, these three CMSs have evolved to be more secure through patching its loopholes. 

Common Security Threats to CMSs

  • Data manipulation: Changing parameters and SQL injections are common hacks used. Malicious SQL statements are being inserted in entry fields for execution. 
  • Accessing data: This means using SQL injections or Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) attacks as a way to jeopardize user data. A web application is used to send the malicious code using a browser side script. 
  • Code Injection: Causing lost or corrupted data, lack of accountability, or revoking access, this is the kind of attack that can affect the whole server that runs the website. 

With the common threats illustrated above, here’s what you can do to ensure your CMS stays safe at all times. 

Update your CMS Admin Password 

If you are the type to just use a common password for the majority of your sites or don’t update your administrator password in the past months, then take this as a sign that you need to start doing so. 

The chances of a hacker knowing one or two of your logins is not a slim one. Using a strong password together with a password storage vault can be handy in helping you keep track, organize, update, and manage passwords in one place. Taking an idea from password generators can come in really handy if you do not want the hassle of coming up with one from scratch. 

SSL Certificates 

With the encryption that an SSL Certificate can offer, users are protected from hackers and those attempting identity theft. It has become the PCI standard especially for e-commerce websites that accept sensitive information such as credit cards and personal data. Since 2018, Google has started ranking websites without SSL Certificates lower and most hosting providers provide free SSL or SSL at a low-cost option. 

Website Monitoring 

Constantly monitoring your website is one of the best solutions that can also help you understand common issues and threats. There is an abundance of online services that can offer a way for you to monitor your website 24/7 and help with security measures such as Google Search Console with their alerts and cPanel with their server error logs. 

Security Plugins 

Despite security updates and patches of CMSs, sometimes additional security measures are still important. While server configurations are one way to get security, not everyone can access or have the ability to secure a server properly. A plugin or extension proves to be the easiest way to ensure the server is configured correctly with the right security. Examples of the ways you can protect your site are through Firewall Protection which can help block brute force and DDoS attacks, restricting IP addresses, and more. Some of the available plugins are as follows Sucuri and WordFence (WordPress), Akeeba Admin Tools and RS FireWall (Joomla), and Security Kit (Drupal). 

While plugins can be helpful, it is worth noting that it is important to keep all plugins updated and to keep an eye out for security risks. It is important to download plugins from the official website and developers to face less security threats, malware, and other compromised data. 

Security should always be the utmost priority and thankfully there are a lot of helpful resources available that can help secure your CMS website. If you are new to CMS then don’t let that unfamiliarity get in the way of securing your website. Let a partner agency like iManila assist you with your website. We have a variety of website maintenance and server management services for your different business needs. Drop us a message and see how we can work together!