The markets of the modern-day world are both profitable and unforgiving for the players involved which has made marketing an extremely important aspect of modern day business and commerce. When customers consider products and services offered by modern day enterprises and companies, they do not only consider the immediate product or service that was serviced to them. Among the other elements of relevance in this given paradigm include the company’s history, reputation, presentation of the product or service and even the company’s website design or social media presence. In such a diversified yet demanding reality of marketing and sales, it is extremely important for companies to be ready for all sorts of customer demands and market challenges to be able to come up with the right product and its total coverage/presentation. Without such readiness and awareness, the global market will surely eliminate weak and unprepared companies and their offerings to make more room for the strong and prepared ones, constituting a great lesson for startups and growing companies alike.

Bud Torcom, the CEO of Mazama Media, reports on the four trends to shake up the world of digital marketing in 2018 for the Forbes magazine. According to Torcom, these trends are “Growth Hacking, Programmatic Marketing, Facebook’s Real-World Tools” and “Voice Control”. The first trend refers to how the modern day companies have developed a strategy to discover the most efficient ways to grow their businesses by experimenting with different product development methods and marketing channels. This way, the product is marketed to a larger audience with more functional and fulfilling bonuses and promotions, which adds value to it. The second trend focuses on programmatic and periodic technologies and applications to be used for long-term marketing procedures that ensure higher returns on investment. The innovation it will bring is so massive that many speculate how “more than 80% of all advertising by 2019” will be programmatic. The third trend refers to how Facebook is seeking to invest into new real-life features and tools to bring its marketing services to the physical world. Among such services is store visits which will enable companies to access Facebook users to promote their stores and products to them when they are nearby. The final trend considers breakthrough technologies such as Amazon’s Alexa and Google’s Home that utilize always-on microphones to provide such services to their users. As marketers will begin to access such microphones and speakers for their own use, they will interfere into such services with advertisements and commercials to inform and hopefully convince their customers about their products and services, in the comfort of their homes.

Arnt Eriksen for the Huffington Post reports on three video marketing trends that will become popular in 2018, which are namely, “stories”, “live-streaming” and “explainer videos”. The first trend was introduced by Snapchat in 2013 which established the company into the realm of superstardom among social media enthusiasts. This function enables social media users, of Snapchat and others currently, to create temporary videos to be watched by friends for up to 24 hours after which the content disappears. This feeling of temporariness and randomness has become a hit among social media users and Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp have all added this function to their systems. The second trend will be important because video input has already become an extremely popular element of social media while online presence and live-streaming are notoriously famous for encouraging engagements from the audience. Therefore, in 2018, more social media outlets will be utilizing video and live-streaming functions to be able to meet the increasing demand but more importantly increase their traffic and therefore profits. The third trend will be important in the sense that explainer videos are very popular among people who investigate about things online because they make the process so much easier than regular research. A good example for such a utilization is BuzzFeed’s “Tasty” series, which has become very popular due to the fact that the episodes give recipes for great food in a very fast paced and comprehensible manner. This way, BuzzFeed stole a lot of viewers from YouTube, where such videos are long and boring which is a great sign of the power embodied by explainer videos.

Daisuke Wakabayashi for the New York Times reports on the relationships between online stars and famous brands to explain how such brands are seeking ways to partner with popular YouTube, Facebook and Instagram users to help them with their marketing campaigns. This market, meaning the viral online video sector, is estimated to reach $10 billion in 2020 with many brands cashing out significant sums of money to be featured in a video of such nature. A great example is when Stephen Curry, the basketball star, was included in Brita’s viral video where Rudy Mancuso and Andrew Bachelor, two popular online musicians, to make music with the basketball star. The video depicted Curry constantly refilling the Brita container with water and Mancuso’s song singing about how Curry helped him live a healthier life by using Brita instead of a regular bottle. The project made thousands of dollars for the musicians and also helped improve the image of Curry in the eyes of the viewers and therefore can be considered as a success story. However, there are also cases where popular online personalities have been faced with accusations and criticism due to their behavior such as Felix Kjellberg, or PewDiePie on YouTube, who was criticized by his anti-semitic remarks and actually lost sponsorships, such as his deal with Nissan, as a result. Another famous YouTube figure, Logan Paul, was actually dropped off the online platform after he posted “a video of a dead body hanging from a tree in a Japanese forest known for suicides” because it commemorated ugly and painful memories for many Japanese viewers of YouTube. Therefore, the power and authority granted to such famous individuals by digital media needs to be understood well before posting content online as extreme views or misunderstandings might  result in total loss of popularity and therefore income.

Technology has disrupted almost every industry in the world and the shipping and boats industry is no different. Innovations have always been a part of this industry, all aiming for faster, safer and recreational designs.

A rise in trade and commerce  has led to an increase in demand for larger ships and containers. There has been a surge in the number of cruise ships being manufactured too. This in turn has fueled a demand for better run, fuel efficient and safer technology for maritime vessels. Also technological advancements have propelled the industry to move toward better experiences both at the docks and in the waters. Furthermore, stringent emission rules and environment factors are forcing the shipping industry to adopt smarter and efficient technologies to stay competitive.

Anyone in the maritime business needs to watch out for these trends to stay ahead in the business:

Sustainable fuels

With stringent emission norms, most ships and boats are turning to LNG (liquified natural gas) or hybrid fuel models ( diesel cum electric or battery pack models).

Smart marine ecosystems

The need of the hour is for port operations to become more integrated. Tugs at the quayside can better track the arrivals and departures of ships with tracking systems. This means that tugs and ship movements along the port will be better managed and optimised according to the facilities and conditions available.

Digital dashboarding

In the shipping business  maneuvering has gone digital with all controls connected through a touchscreen. This makes boat maintenance easier compared to manual mechanics.

Auto piloting

As with automobiles, auto piloted boats and ships are not far off. In China, a logistics firm has already gone into autonomous shipping development for the state. Autonomous shipping technology will soon cross over to civilian use.

Augmented Reality

AR can deliver  all kinds of information on ship bridges, and on smaller boats and tugs it can relay positional data and help in maneuvering and related activities and even warn of situational hazards. It can be also used as a training module by simulating real life events. It can be used to monitor operations and give viable solutions for difficult steerings. According to an executive of an AR development firm “The realm of augmented tools take us in new directions and open more doors to give operators advantages over real life. For example, AR tools could indicate stresses on lifting and mooring lines.”

Internet of Things (IoT)

Smart connectivity through sensors has become a way of life for maintenance. Sensors can be used for tracking and keeping an eye on the wear and tear of machineries. Parameters can be constantly measured and collected data can be sent to a central analytical unit for inputs on machine performance and maintenance updates. Such data analysis can lead to optimal utilization of resources and reduce costs (fuel and machine use), Tug and stowing operators can use the tech to track assets and improve operations on all waterways.

The world is becoming busier and more complex with each passing day. Time poverty is becoming a pressing reality as people worldwide struggle to meet professional commitments and household demands. Home service providers come in handy in such as scenario. The first Yellow Pages directory was created in the year 1886 and served as a platform to find a contractor for over a century. The home services industry includes many verticals, ranging from plumbing and lawn care to painting, cleaning and pest control companies that identify and treat infestations by bed bugs, cockroaches, ants and rodents, and even non-traditional tasks such as dog walking.

The quantum jump in demand for services, onset of technological age and arrival of the gig economy have led to the entry of giant conglomerates such as Google and Amazon into the home business services fray. Amazon Home Services (AHS) is a one-stop shop that connects consumers with certified contractors, thereby revolutionizing the interactions between customers and contractors. Companies such as Angie’s List have also rolled out home services marketplaces. The expectations set by the likes of Uber for on-demand services are permeating all aspects of life. And thanks to Amazon’s service standards of delivering a package on the same day or within 24 hours, next-day service has become the new norm in the home service business space.

Building a Home Services Business

Customer relationship management (CRM) tools are a great means of making business easy and convenient. They allow the business owners to analyze customer needs, track client feedback and have access daily reports in real time. Online is the way to go for businesses in this digital age; it has never been easier to list a business online, thanks to sites such as Angie’s List and Yelp. Listing the name, address and contact details on multiple directory sites would increase the visibility of a business online.

The Future

Home services are in for a major overhaul and voice recognition technology will be a huge trend, going forward. People are already getting rid of keyboard and search bars, and instead enlisting the services of virtual assistants such as the AI-enabled Amazon and Google Home to find home service providers in their area.

Aggregators are also emerging as big threats to conventional home service providers. Taskrabbit and Amazon are consolidating the service providers in a given area and letting the customer make the final choice, instead of offering direct services.

Artificial intelligence is also set to make a mark on the workings of home services. Job estimates have been a manual process till date. AI-assisted visualization technologies will soon make it possible to take a photo of the task requirements, measure every detail and receive an instant quote in a single click.

Home services are undergoing a transformation due to developments in the technological arena. The success of home services companies will depend on their ability to adapt and integrate emerging technologies. And these companies will, in turn, give a new life to society at large.

One of the thousands of islands that make up Indonesia, Bali is an island paradise. The hidden magic of Indonesia’s most popular tourist destination knows no bounds, and it all begins with the Pacific Ocean’s waves lapping against the sands of the island’s beaches. The beaches that first drew tourists to Bali are some of the most beautiful in the world, boasting incredible sea life and world-class snorkelling and diving in the island’s surrounding waters. There is something for every kind of tourist here. Despite being what Bali is most renowned for, the magic does not just stop at the beaches – it is all over the island, sprinkled through the mountainsides, the rainforests, the waterfalls, the temples, the rice fields…even the very streets.

Step off the beach, and visitors find themselves in the organised chaos of Balinese streets, surrounded by the locals and the smells of the street food. With volcanic mountain ranges, lush rainforests of emerald green, rice fields of pristine lime green, and towering waterfalls forged from sheer drops and towering cliff sides, Bali somehow manages to be home to all the natural tourist attractions that people usually must travel to multiple destinations to tick off their bucket lists. Hailed as a tropical paradise, Bali is a natural wonder in and of itself. The rainforests seem to be intricately woven around the many temples that stand around the island. Not only are the temples tokens of Bali’s rich culture and history, but they seem to withstand the very test of time, simultaneously having the traditional style of most Balinese temples and the ability to stand out as highlights of the Balinese culture.

The culture of Bali’s people is rich, with most of them being of Hindu faith (hence the island’s many temples). Visitors to Bali can experience the culture not only in learning the language before visiting, but in the food and history of the island. Cooking classes are an exciting way to literally immerse yourself in the tastes and textures that define Balinese cuisine, and are one of the most popular activities. One of the best ways to immerse oneself in another’s culture is to learn to cook that culture’s cuisine, and Bali has some of the most delicious food in the world.

The best way to make use of one’s time in Bali generally depends on the individual, but everyone can agree that the villa resorts that pepper the island are regarded as some of the world’s most beautiful and unforgettable luxury hotels not just in Indonesia, but on the planet. Highly recommended for those looking for a romantic getaway, visitors experience the natural beauty of Bali in its purest form from the comfort of their private infinity pools.

From the natural wonders and the tourist attractions, to the transportation and accommodation available, there is no shortage of adventure, luxury, and magic on Indonesia’s most popular tourist destination. Whether an adventurous free spirit or an easy goer in search of relaxation and pampering, Bali has it all.

Traffic is one of those things needed for any website and or article to thrive and grow. Every website owner and web builder knows this. Traffic is like the lifeblood of online destinations and content. Without traffic, websites and online content get buried and forgotten. Often times not though, the biggest question is how to continuously build traffic that increases over time, like replenishing blood cells in the body, as opposed to seeing a lot of traffic and watch it falter, like a clogged passageway or artery failing and causing serious problems.

The following 3 tips that can be used to help traffic increase over time:

1. Focus on targeted traffic: This step requires you, the site owner, to understand what your customer or reader is looking for. This is obtained through the use of statistics, or Analytics, as it is often called. You then tailor your content around those words detected by Analytics that led them to you via search. There are many tools that are widely available, be it paid and or free, that help you get the correct words that are being searched.  This traffic can also be brought to your articles or products from targeted paid ads at locations such as on Facebook or Instagram as well. Your ads will tell the person seeking your items or services or just the information you are producing, and a link to that content is there for them to follow.
2. Focus on targeted content: You can have your articles about your service, or any other content for that matter, featured in social media sites, news sites, question and answer sites, and more. It does take time searching for the right fit for your content, but it is not an impossible task. Again, making sure what you put up matches to what others are looking for makes this a good way to increase traffic over time.
3. Paid Advertising links: When people think of paid advertising links, usually the first network that comes to mind is Google Adwords. Google Adwords have been around for a long time, and other alternative networks have come and gone as well. What makes these networks a positive traffic increase technique, is that you pay Google to use their own algorithm to create and or show your visitors targeted ads based on whatever you tell it to show, reducing the amount of logistics required on the website owner or builder’s end.

Many times, making money does indeed involve a risk of investing your money to get results; You may get some or you may not. A note to remember, is that there is always a margin of error. By fine tuning your traffic to what customers and readers want, you can see an increase in traffic that is continuous, and you can reduce your margin of error from slightly to considerately, and boost your profits as a result. Making sure you keep your ads geared to what your visitors want is highly advantageous as well.

Ultimately, it boils down to what you are most comfortable with. Boosting traffic is like a blood transfusion; Use the right blood type, and make sure you have a continuous but steady flow. You cannot have it too fast or too slow, otherwise the benefits are null.

        As the world gets more globalized, the boundaries not only between countries and states disappear or weaken but also the distinctions between different fields of life also diminish. As business becomes more intertwined with media, marketing becomes more involved in politics and as a result, a company operating in the Far East might carry out operations to influence political views of citizens of a South American society. Social media has become such a powerful tool and apparatus in this paradigm that its applications into such fields of life has gained immense utility and worth for millions of individual and corporate users. Social media marketing, for example, has made it possible for businesses – big and small – to reach a larger audience and find greater success. Likewise, the impact of social media on global politics have brought Facebook to trial in the US courts. Therefore, digital media and marketing have become significantly important aspects of our everyday lives today which means further investigation is necessary to fully comprehend the future of the interactions between human societies and the digital world.

        Saher Ghattas, the Chief Revenue Officer for Flawless Inbound, writes for Forbes Magazine to report his views on the future of digital marketing to begin his  ideas by stating that there is an element of disruption in the world of digital marketing. To overcome such distribution, the author states that his company created digital marketing frameworks to be visited every year or two years to remember crucial details regarding these periods of disruption for the marketers, companies and customers. So far, the global market has undergone three different frameworks of such nature beginning with the year 2000, and in the fourth one will include “More Integrated Global Marketing”, “A Cohesive Marketing Technology Stack”, “Evolving Marketing Roles”, “Omnichannel Marketing Strategy” and “A Focus On Account-Based Marketing (B2B)”. The first element refers to how inbound and outbound marketing procedures should be combined meaning that different internet technologies such as e-mail and websites should be utilized in conjunction with one another. The second element refers to the establishment of an advanced technological infrastructure for marketing processes which means that the marketers and their companies will have to construct “stacks” of such technologies. The third element refers to the development and application of new marketing roles to expand the duties and capabilities of CMOs. The fourth element is about the inclusion of processes such as deep analytics and data mining to be combined with the existent AI and machine learning infrastructure to create further value for your brand. The last element refers to how B2B organizations need to rely on account-based sales operations to survive in the jungle of global business and the capability to adapt to this norm will determine the winners and losers of this sector beginning with the year 2017. The list provided by Ghattas is utile in the sense that it shows how marketing strategy and methodology need to be closely intertwined with one another in the modern age to ensure success and profits for the marketers and companies alike.

        Mark Smith for BBC News reports on new technologies being utilized by British companies, namely the tech start-up “Lightvert”, whose team of marketers has recently bombarded the visions and minds of Londoners with a giant image of the famous Rolling Stones logo suspended in mid-air that lasted for a fraction of a second. This new technology is called Echo which employs a tiny strip of reflective material placed on the side of a building while a high-powered projector place above or below the strip sends off light beams directly into the eyes of passersby. The momentary nature of the produced vision leaves the viewer in a state of constant remembrance because the subconscious mind does not forget what it sees quickly or easily. Daniel Siden, Lightvert’s CEO, states that the reception of the Echo technology has been great so far and that more people are becoming curious to witness an application of it because it is unusual and non-traditional. Siden believes that this technology is a great opportunity for Landlords to “turn their buildings into revenue-generating digital billboards that are huge, yet physically unobtrusive,” which he believes will be a great innovation for digital media and marketing. Smith, the author, also refers to a similar campaign that took place in Moscow, Russia where the luxurious automobile company Jaguar utilized the technology to display its new SUV model to drivers who were driving different SUVs. The system utilized a machine-learning camera to recognize the type of the driver’s vehicle to flash the advertisement directly into their eyes. The presentation also changed in accordance with weather conditions to make it more appealing to the eye. In both cases, the publics were very pleased and the intellect behind these marketing campaigns gained both companies significant respect in the eyes of the customers.   

        Gabriel Snyder for Wired magazine reports on the famous newspaper, The New York Times as a great example of a company that has managed to convert its operations into a digital format so far with reasonable success, thanks to its infringements with other digital media companies in New York City. The newspaper has a history of 165 years but recently put its crew of employees, including hundreds of professional journalists, designers, communication specialists etc., to work on this gigantic transformation project. The idea is to preserve the quality of the newspaper’s journalism while ensuring a more secure and profitable future for the company. In order to accomplish this, the newspaper intends to focus on its digital subscriptions to extend its subscriber and reporter networks to become a fully integrated global news agency. Following the strategies employed by companies such as Netflix, Spotify and HBO, The New York Times seeks to invest heavily into its core journalism related offerings while also expanding its other services to add more features to the online experience it offers to its visitors. This way, the administration for the newspaper wishes to eradicate the barriers of nations, countries and languages to be able to reach out to a global community of individuals interested in learning by reading high quality journalism. This way, the company seeks to increase its subscription fees as well, to make more profits, because as the quality of NY Times services will increase, it will become possible to charge extra for new services or improved versions of already existent ones. This way, the newspaper wishes to transform into an online system with more to offer and less to fear, in the name of resisting against the growing demands of the new age of capitalism in America to continue its century old existence.  

Think web design and what instantly comes to mind is the look and feel of a website. Web development is the construction of a website for the internet. Web development can vary from a static, single page text to dynamic pages and internet applications. From the perspective of Search Engine Optimization (SEO), a website design includes all this and more. SEO is architecture of the website that encompasses everything that makes a site search engine-friendly.

What is SEO?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) goes beyond website development. It constitutes a range of activities such as content, keywords and title tags. Search engine optimization is a methodology by which developers make websites visible to internet programs that are constantly crawling the internet for new content. Search Engine Optimization is of vital importance to web design as even a well-designed website would be useless if no one has the wherewithal to find it. A web designer needs to strike a good balance between web design and SEO to create SEO-compliant sites that can be crawled faster and easier by search engines.

Fundamentals of SEO

The SEO process features some crucial elements.

Website Ranking

SEO boosts the ranking of a website on the web. Thanks to SEO, users searching for products that are available on an SEO website will be able to view the website immediately after typing the keywords.

Domains

The chosen domain should make sense, and all variations and sub-domains should lead to the main site and to a single version of the site. Example.com is the most commonly used domain name, but there are equally noteworthy ones.

Hosting

Website hosting is the culmination of the website development process. The hosting should be fast, platform-specific and located in the vicinity of the audience as a slow website makes for unhappy users.

CMS

The content management system (CMS) has a major impact on the success of a business. One needs to ensure that a CMS is a good fit for business, rather than be swayed by the web company’s preferences.

Creating SEO Content

Creating SEO-based content depends on various factors such as keywords and the actual content itself. Keywords, when used in different variants and placed in the proper context, provide a much-needed boost to search engine optimization. Variations are important as the same word can render the content repetitive and boring. Moreover, short content pieces should not use the same keyword more than three times and important keywords should be placed at the beginning of the text, preferably within the first 50 words. Data trackers play an important role in detecting people using the same keywords and determining appropriate keywords. To ensure your website is SEO-friendly in both design and development, consider investing time working with a leading digital marketing agency that offers exceptional web design, web development, and SEO services.

Conclusion

SEO is indispensable to web development and is driven by technological advances. One should, however, not lose sight of the human element as SEO rankings ultimately hinge on the extent of human interest.

Food and beverage is a key element that factors into the success of any event, be it a business conference or a wedding. This is why clients favor catering service providers that are well-known in the community or highly reputable. Before, generating word-of-mouth was the most effective marketing strategy, but now online marketing weighs more in a potential client’s decision to engage a catering service.

Online marketing is not only useful in elevating a caterer’s brand, but also in providing social proof and in increasing customer satisfaction, which is important for any catering business. Here are four online marketing ideas that your catering business can benefit from:

An Informative and User-Friendly Website

The first thing that a potential customer will do when they hear about your food service is to visit your website to find more information, whether it be a restaurant menu or learning how to order fish online. The basics that they are looking for would be company history staff and chef information, the packages you offer, pricing, contact information, and testimonials or your portfolio of clients. You can be sure that they will compare your website to your competitors, so make sure it is well-designed, mobile responsive, and it’s easy for customers to find what they are looking for.

You may also want to include online ordering and payment applications in your website to make it even more convenient for customers. To complement this, an online catering software could be integrated to help you manage your orders, inventory, customers, and reports on the go.

Search Engine Optimization

Clicks from search engine results will form most of your total website traffic, which is why you have to maintain SEO efforts as long as your catering business is active. Over time, these efforts will help your website rank in the first few pages of the search engine results. SEO includes researching most-searched keywords for the catering industry and frequently answered questions asked by potential customers, in order to incorporate them into your website content. This requires a bit of brainstorming, as well as usage of keyword research tools such as Google Keyword Planner or Moz’s Keyword Explorer.

For catering companies that only serve one or a few cities, it’s recommended to focus your efforts on local searches and more localized long-tailed keywords. You will also have to work on backlinks, which is getting another source or website to mention or link to your site.

Be Active on Social Media

Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest are powerful marketing platforms. They have a broad reach and can prove to potential customers how credible your brand is. Use social media to document great F&B ideas that your catering service executed and events that you catered for. Also, food is a highly relatable subject, so don’t be afraid to use social media to converse with your audience, whether it’s through a contest or through votes and polls.

Keep a Blog

Other than social media, a blog is a great channel for caterers to connect and engage with your potential customers. By sharing recipes, décor ideas, hosting tips and documenting recent events your business catered for, you are keeping your brand relevant and establishing your company as a reputable caterer. Incorporating keywords into your blog posts also helps to boost SEO. However, make sure you blog consistently and keep the content fresh and relevant. No one wants to read about recipes or décor ideas that are overdone.

Did you know that with one hour worth of energy provided by the sun, we can potentially meet the global energy requirements for an entire year? Since we are able to secure and harness only 0.001% of the available energy, solar-powered systems have become a popular topic while discussing renewables. Environmentally friendly and extremely economical in the long-term, solar-powered systems are being used everywhere today because of the following benefits:

• Low Maintenance costs:
  Solar powered systems, for the most part, don’t require a great deal of upkeep. You just need to keep them reasonably clean, so cleaning them two or three times each year should be okay. If all else fails, you can easily depend on specialized cleaning companies, that charge £25-£35, depending on the infrastructure. Most reputable solar panel makers also offer 20-25 years of warranty. Additionally, since there are no moving parts, there is generally less wear and tear.
  
  The inverter, which is the heart of any solar powered system, is often the only component that requires changing every 5-10 years, as it is consistently attempting to transform solar energy into electricity and heat. Apart from that, the cables might need your attention once in a while to ensure maximum efficiency and performance of your solar power framework. So, once you’ve covered the initial setup costs,  you can expect next to no spending on maintenance and repair work.
  

• Reduces electricity bills:
  Since most of your energy need will be taken care of by the electricity generated from solar-powered systems, you will notice a significant drop in electricity bills. The amount you save money on your bill depends on your energy consumption and the size of the solar-powered system you are using. Moreover, if you end up generating more energy than you utilize, the surplus will be sent back to the ‘grid’ and you will receive bonus pay for the same. You can also use the solar-powered system during the day, and the grid at night (when the rates are considerably low) to save more money.
  

• Renewable energy source:
  Solar energy being a renewable source of energy is probably the most important benefit of installing a solar-powered system in your home. Not only is it consistently available at all times, but it can be harnessed anywhere in the world. As long as we have the sun, you can rely on solar-powered systems for your electricity and heat requirements.
  

• Technology Development:
  Technologies harnessing solar power only continues to grow in sophistication and efficiency. Quantum material science and nanotechnology both show huge promise in solar energy research, and could possibly help double or even triple the efficiency of solar panels in the coming years.
  

• Diverse Applications:
  Solar-powered systems can especially be beneficial for remote areas with no electricity, or access to the energy/power grid. You can use solar energy to distill water in regions with a shortage of clean water or limited water supplies. It is also being used to power earth-orbiting satellites, water pumping appliances, remote radiotelephones, hydronic collectors, consumer systems (e.g. handheld calculators) and much more.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an integral part of any digital marketing strategy. It is the process of optimizing websites for search engines and enhancing their search engine rankings. Search engines such as Google use algorithms to scan websites and allocate a higher ranking to websites that contain informative content and relevant keywords.

SEO marketing is crucial in today’s competitive business environment. Search engine users are more prone to click on the first page links on a Google results page – SEO helps a person to be on this list. SEO boosts website visibility and sales as people who locate a website through a Google search tend to promote it on social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter. SEO integrates keywords into the content in such a way that people searching for specific products and services can find a business with ease.

The first step in SEO strategy is to define the target audience. “There is only one winning strategy. It is to carefully define the target market and direct a superior offering to that target market,” so said the marketing guru, Philip Kotler. A target audience is a specific group of people who may be interested in the products and services on offer, and is usually defined on the basis of gender, age, location, profession and income.

Keyword research is about getting the right kind of visitors to a website. The keywords should be relevant to the website’s content and help users to find what they are looking for. The SEO marketers should zero in on at least 5-10 topics and create an equal number of keywords for each topic.

It is next to impossible to create a webpage for all keywords or even a handful of keywords. What is definitely possible is to develop a web page for each topic and provide content that is relevant to the target audience.  

Blogging is an incredible means of engaging the website users. Every blog post is a new web page that throws up an opportunity to establish a high ranking in search engines by providing a link to the website.

The mobile devices market has exploded in the past few years, with the ubiquitous smart phone overtaking the desktops as a device of choice for internet use. If you want to rank well in search engine results, optimizing websites for mobile browsers is of immense importance.

Social media has metamorphosed from a basic communication tool to a marketing communication platform. Many users start their searches on social media and subsequently make their way to a business site. Engaging and personalized content is therefore a sure means of attracting people to a social profile and website.

Website ranking is only one part of the story; what is more important is the traffic and website conversions generated by SEO.