Top 5 Software For Analyzing Website Performance

23 Sep 2020 Web design

The speed of the website is one of the most important factors leading to a high conversion rate. Fast loading websites gain from higher SEO rankings which have a direct impact on user experience, low bounce rate, engagement as well as conversion rates. Conducting a performance test for any website helps in understanding the responsiveness and the scalability of the website, which have a direct impact on the user experience and the revenue generation.

Before beginning the process of testing a website for its performance, it is important to keep in mind a few considerations.

  • One of the most crucial things to understand is the purpose of the website. Is it to provide web services or is being used to sell products and services.
  • Understand the reason for testing and what is it that needs to be measured. E.g. response time, number of users, etc.
  • Understand customer expectations
  • Understand the availability of QA tools and the project schedule.

What are different kinds of performance test that can be conducted for a website?

  • Performance test – This is done to check the responsiveness, speed, and scalability of the website
  • Load test- this is done to check the behaviour of the website under a certain workload.
  • Stress Test – This is to check how the system reacts under extreme load conditions and helps in finding out issues related to memory leaks and synchronization
  • Endurance test – This is done to ensure that the system can handle the expected load for a long period of time.
  • Capacity test- it is done to understand and check how many users/transactions can be supported at one time.

To conduct Website testing the following tools can be used

  1. GTMetrix – A free application that summarizes the page performance based on key indicators of page load speed. It generates scores for webpage performance and gives recommendations to improve it. The key features of this application are:
    • It allows testing the website from 28 different servers located in 7 countries
    • It provides a summary of the key performance indicators
    • Website performance can be tracked through monitoring and it is presented in graphs.
    • It allows checking a webpage on different simulated devices.
    • It allows us to playback webpage loads with videos that help analyze the bottlenecks.
  1. Pingdom – Is a free website and performance monitoring tool dedicated to making the web faster and reliable. The key features of this application are:
    • It allows you to examine all parts of the webpage
    • Provides performance overview
    • Traces the performance history as results are saved every time testing is done. Changes over time can be reviewed.
    • Allows testing from multiple locations.
  1. DareBoost – Is an online application which analyses and optimizes the website performance. It allows a large number of checkpoints when analysing the site speed. It is mainly designed to reduce page loading time and increase its quality. The key features of this application are:
    • It allows comparison with competitors for website speed.
    • It analyses webpages continuously to detect quality and loading related issues.
    • It enables you to check the user behaviour on the website.
    • You can test the mobile website using this tool.
  1. GeekFlare – It is a collection of free tools that are used to test the website for security, Domain Name Server performance, network, and SEO issues. The key features of this application are:
  • You can see how fast your server responds to the browser request.
  • It allows you to check if your site has a secure header or not.
  • It can quickly find out the hosting provider for any website.
  • It checks for any broken links on your websites.
  • It analyses server preferences, certificate details, supported protocols, etc.
  1. SpeedCurve – It is a tool that measures website performance and design. It enables you to debug website performance issues at the page level. The key features of this application are:
  • Measure when the most important content renders
  • Provides engagement charts and uses the data to understand the impact of page slowdowns on the site’s bounce rate.
  • Any metrics can be tracked including conversion rate, A/B testing, and cart size.
  • It enables you to debug website performance issues at the page level.
  • Helps in creating performance budgets and get alerts.
  • It enables you to track the code changes between deploys with the use of its Deploy API.

For analysing the performance of a website, there is a multitude of different tools available. Knowing which ones work best for you will depend on your business needs.

Contact the experts!

 

10 Tips For Working From Home

22 Sep 2020 Blog

‘Working from home’ is the hottest topic in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. A large number of companies have implemented work from a home policy which is a new reality, but it takes time to get used to. In the UAE alone, 70 percent of the workforce was restricted to their homes at the beginning of March this year. Even with the restrictions easing after the initial three months, things have not gone back to what they were and may never go back to it even after the pandemic is over. Working from home has been a mixed experience for employees, with most stating an increase in productivity and a few stating that an office environment is important to be professional and productive.

An interesting study conducted by Forbes Middle East showed that three-quarters of the respondents work as well or better at home, with 42 percent stating that they were as productive at home as at work and 34.3 percent showed an increase in productivity when working from home.

Working from home has its benefits from achieving greater work-life balance, increase in performance to business continuity but it also involves self-motivation to get as much work done as one would in an office setting in a given amount of time.

Working from home is a blessing in many ways, but it can become a problem if it is not managed well.

We will explore some useful tips on how to be productive when working from home. These tips will make sure that you are successful in getting your work done and maintaining your mental well-being.

  1. Have clearly defined working hours – Working from home is a commitment that requires discipline. If you want to be productive and get the maximum out of your time, then there is a need to have clearly defined working hours in place. If you feel that you are most productive early in the day then plan your working hours accordingly. In many roles, working involves other people as well where emails need to be responded to and meetings need to be held remotely within the working hours of the company. Plan your working hours as per your role and commitments.
  2. Set up a workspace – To be productive from home, the best thing to do is to set up a separate workspace where you are most comfortable and away from distractions to focus on your work. Establishing a designated comfortable workspace can help train your brain that you are in a place where work is done productively.
  3. Establish a work routine – Follow a routine when working from home similar to what you would follow at your workplace. Get up, get dressed, and prepare yourself mentally to start work. Make a schedule as you would in the office. Plan your breaks to allow yourself some rest time between your work and to ensure a fresh mind and energy to go through the working hours. Keep the housework for later as they are distracting and make you lose your focus and work rhythm.
  4. Design a process for collaboration – Working from home involves interacting with others, be it meetings, assignments, giving, or receiving feedback. There should be a clear process in place to collaborate with different people when working remotely. From using chat apps to meeting software, there should be a clear guideline for the various tools to be used for work.
  5. Prioritize your tasks – To be productive when working from home, it is important to learn how best to manage your time and prioritize your work. Spend some time every day before the start of the workday to organize your tasks and prioritize. Be objective and don’t plan more tasks than you can manage in the day.
  6. Use your peaks in productivity to your advantage – When working from home, it is important to identify when your energy levels, motivation, and concentration are high. Plan your schedule based on these factors to get the most out of your day and stay motivated. A task that is more complex and requires more focus and energy, schedule it for the morning. Spend less productive time on tasks that do not require mental effort.
  7. Communicate – With the new normal of working from home, there are many challenges that one is likely to face. The key to overcome these challenges is to communicate with your direct upline or your co-workers. Have a clear plan in place that lays out the expectations from you with regard to communicating regarding different aspects of work. This plan may evolve and change as you go along. Remember to reach out and ask for help. If communicating through video conference is the need of the hour then use that instead of email to avoid any miscommunication.
  8. Avoid distractions – Working from home can lead to developing some unproductive habits. Avoid social browsing, checking personal messages, and reading the news during work hours to be able to meet the deadlines. If you fear that you will give in to one of these distractions, use applications that can block access to social networks and websites during the workday.
  9. Use time management tools – Time management tools come in handy if you are struggling to stay focused on your task and being less productive. Tools like RescueTime and harvest will help in monitoring the amount of time dedicated to each task to help you discover how you lost time. TomatoTimer can be used to schedule the time of maximum concentration with breaks.
  10. Stay connected with your co-workers – To efficiently work from home, it is important to stay informed about any changes in the company that may impact your work. Line of communication should be kept open with your boss as well as your co-workers. This will not only help you in performing better but also help you stay connected and ease the loneliness you may experience when working from home. Scheduling calls at the beginning of the day to plan out the work with team members, catch up calls at the end of the day to see how far each of you has reached works well in staying connected.

Working from home presents an excellent opportunity to develop new professional skills that can help you in your current job as well as for the future. The benefits of working from home go far beyond just skipping the commute. You can focus on your professional life along with ensuring the welfare of your family.

10 Ways to Drive Engagement to your Website

18 Sep 2020 Web design

Engaging with visitors to a website is just as important as driving traffic to the website. Engagement is not only about attracting visitors but making them stay on the site to achieve your goals by fulfilling their needs. It is one of the most important aspects of website design for understanding the performance and ROI on and is directly linked to the growth of the business. A positive user experience enables trust and builds relationships with prospective customers.

How Does Website Design Impact User Experience?

How the website is perceived by the users and how they interact with it can tell if the site is a success or a failure. The website design can influence the user experience in the following ways:

  • A well planned and designed website will ensure that the reader keeps scrolling. This would mean, organizing and grouping content into smaller parts with the use of visuals, banners, and other elements to utilize the white space.
  • The first impression always matters. So, grab the attention of the visitor. It takes a split second for a visitor to decide whether they would like to scroll through a website or not. It is important to have high-quality visuals and cohesive design with text organized systematically to hold the attention of the visitor.
  • The functionality of a website plays a huge role in the overall user experience. Responsive web design ensures the website and its functions are the same when accessed from different devices.
  • Having a well-planned updated website is the key to making an impression on the visitor and presenting the business as professional and reliable. It reflects the clean and professional manner of conducting business.

Having stated how website design can impact user experience, let us look at some of the important elements of a good website design

  1. Strong, limited colour pallet – Colour scheme and usage of colours play an important role when it comes to website design. People associate colours with certain things so use colours thoughtfully to make an attractive website. The number of colours used on a website is a very important element as too many colours can be visually distracting. A Simplified colour scheme with 2 to 3 colours makes it easier to focus and is preferred in modern website design.
  2. White Space – It is a term used for the space that acts as a buffer between all the elements on the page including sidebars, margins, etc. There should be ample room around various elements on the website for a clean and organised look. As the current trend in website design is all about minimalistic style, having white space on the website will allow the visitor for easy navigation.
  3. Tell a Story – As mentioned earlier, a good website design should be able to attract the attention of the visitor and have them scroll down the page. This can be achieved through the use of visuals that help tell a story and captivate the audience. Video is another source to introduce the brand to the first-time visitor and provide information about the product and services. Graphs, charts, and data visuals help in putting across information in a more attractive way rather than content that carries all the information in text form. Finally, the words used on the website should complement the storytelling and guide users.
  4. Offer a Search Bar – People browsing the website are usually looking for specific information. Engage them by helping them find what they are looking for swiftly. The search bar should be placed where visitors would expect it to be which is the top right corner of the page. Features like auto-suggest and drop-down menu can enhance the user experience.
  5. Loading time for the website – If the speed at which a site load is slow, then the engagement will suffer. According to Think with Google, 53 percent of the people leave a mobile page if it takes more than 3 seconds to load. Similarly, 47 percent of people expect a desktop page to load in 2 seconds or less. As the load time increases the bounce rate increases too. The speed of the website can be increased by using compressed images, enabling browser caching, reduce the number of plugins, reduce server response time, and minimize HTTP requests.
  6. Call to Action– Converting visitors into leads and customers is very important for modern website design as websites are meant to connect with people who are interested in your offering. Once there is a connection, it is important to retain these visitors. Converting visitors into customers start with the process of having them sign up for e-mail newsletter, subscriptions, free products forms, free consultations, or other exclusive invites. This is only successful when there is a Call to Action. These should be incorporated into website design as they help in gathering important contact information of the visitors to continue interactions and convert them into customers.
  7. Organized Card Designs – Currently the focus is on minimalistic website design which has made the use of cards very popular. Cards help in organizing content by grouping together text and image forming an eye-catching element. This helps visitors consume the content more easily. Using cards for website design helps you achieve a clean, organized look while prioritizing user experience.
  8. Clean Backend Coding – The modern website design element is the most important from a functionality point of view. Coding dictates the performance of a website. Ensure clean backend coding to help in making it easier to write, read, and maintain how the website functions.
  9. User-Friendly Design – The website should be designed keeping in mind the user. It should be user friendly. If the users get a good value from the website and they keep coming back to it, it starts ranking higher on Google search. Always remember to give more importance to the content rather than SEO especially when you are starting out to be able to build a group of loyal and recurring visitors.
  10. Elements to boost SEO– Having stated earlier that website should be user friendly, but one must not forget the importance of SEO. There are elements of modern website design that enhance and improve the SEO of the website. These are a part of the backend coding for pages and posts. Meta tags, title tags heading tags, and other HTML coding go a long way in improving the ranking of the website on Google search engine. Ensure to teak and optimize these elements to improve the search ranking.

The aim of any website should be to provide a fluid and intuitive user experience by integrating the 10 elements in the modern website design. Prioritize user experience and ensure website optimization not just for design but for its functionality. If users can easily access your website, engagement will follow.

10 Interesting Facts About LinkedIn

16 Sep 2020 Social Media

LinkedIn, founded in the year 2003, is the world’s largest professional network. It has grown from a platform where the users would post their resume to an undisputed leader for professional networking, building business relationships, recruiting, and advertising for niche markets. With the current member base of 706 million in more than 150 countries in 24 languages, the LinkedIn network is set for exponential growth in the coming years.

To discover more about LinkedIn, let us look at some interesting facts about the platform:

  1. More than 70 percent of LinkedIn users are based outside the US. 87 million Millennials are using the platform. Out of that number 11 million hold decision-making positions. 90 million of its users are senior-level influencers. LinkedIn has undoubtedly, become a popular platform for recent college graduates with 46 million students as its users.
  2. 80 percent of B2B leads are generated on LinkedIn. It is a perfect place for a B2B marketer to have their presence and use the network for lead generation. Producing content and becoming an expert in your field is another way to tap into the potential the platform offers with 6 out of 10 users actively looking for industry insights.
  3. LinkedIn members want to have a mentor or to be one to others. This feature of LinkedIn was introduced in November 2017 which primarily connects members across the network for mentorship opportunities. To get started, you need to go to your LinkedIn profile and find the Career Advice hub. Enter your preferences and a list will be provided to you with recommended members based on the specifications, mutual interest, and profession. An important point to note is that this feature is available to the users for free.
  4. Another feature of LinkedIn that needs a mention is the live video streaming service which was launched in February 2019 called LinkedIn Live. It gives its members and businesses a platform to build deeper connections and drive more engagement. Live videos get on average 7x more reactions and 24x more comments than the standard videos. It is helpful for the launch of new products, showcasing the people behind the brand, or to demonstrate thought leadership. All you need to ensure is that the live videos are engaging and interactive.
  5. LinkedIn is the most used social media platform amongst Fortune 500 companies and 41 percent of millionaires use this network. These figures provide enough evidence that it is the place to reach your ideal customers and clients and decision-makers for B2B companies.
  6. 70 percent of people who are hired through LinkedIn are hired at companies where they have connections. Who you know plays a very vital role in getting noticed on LinkedIn. It allows its users to have a maximum of 30,000 connections but you can grow your network by creating compelling content, thereby establishing you as an expert in your field.
  7. LinkedIn users use some phrases in their profile that may sound unique and powerful but they may be the same words that are being used by everyone else. To stand out, you need to make a change and avoid the 10 words mentioned below with a suggestion for their replacement
  • Motivated- ambitious, determined, fired up
  • Passionate- enthusiastic, fanatic, zealous
  • Creative- original, artistic, inventive, gifted
  • Driven- energetic, enthused, dedicated
  • Extensive experience- accomplished, trained, capable
  • Responsible- accountable, reliable, in control
  • Strategic- tactical, goal-oriented, purposeful
  • Track record- stats, accomplished, performance history
  • Organizational- structural, administrative, managerial
  • Expert- skilled, savvy, sharp
  1. LinkedIn has come out with the top Hard skills and Soft skills that companies are looking for on the network in 2020. Hard skill essentially is the ability of an employee to do a specific task which requires specialized knowledge and technical abilities and is easy to measure whereas soft skill is more about the way you do specific tasks- like how you collaborate, solve problems, adapt, and make decisions. These skills are more difficult to measure. A survey conducted by LinkedIn of 2000 business leaders found that 57 percent of them say that soft skills are more important than hard skills. Let us look at the list of skills

Hard Skills                                                      Soft Skills

  • Blockchain                                               Creativity
  • Cloud computing                                    Persuasion
  • Analytical reasoning                              Collaboration
  • Artificial intelligence                             Adaptability
  • UX design                                                Emotional Intelligence
  • Business Analysis
  • Affiliate Marketing
  • Sales
  • Scientific computing
  • Video production
  1. 30 percent of the engagement of a company on LinkedIn is by its employees. They play a crucial role in advocating brands and help them boost their reputation and succeed. Employees have 10 times more reach across social network sites than the company’s official page.
  2. LinkedIn carries 15 times more impressions for content than job postings. It has transitioned from being a recruitment platform to a professional one where people can find resources and information. It is viewed as one of the most credible sources for content and now 98 percent of the marketers use LinkedIn for content marketing for B2B businesses and lead generation.

LinkedIn as a professional platform has many features that one can explore and benefit from. Used wisely it can help a business and a personal brand grow.

Use the platform to your best advantage.

 

 

10 Tips for creating engaging content for an ‘Always-On’ economy

15 Sep 2020 Content

Producing content is easy for anyone. But content without any objective has no value and is ineffective. For content to qualify as engaging it needs to be original, valuable, rich, and should trigger a measurable response in people. Content should be impactful on the target audience for it to be considered as engaging be it in the form of an article, a blog post, a video, report, podcasts, or visual content. It is all about generating results such as an increase in traffic, clicks, conversions, sales, comments, mentions, opt-ins. These metrics help in measuring engagement.

There are certain prerequisites to keep in mind before creating engaging content for your organization.

  1. Know your Audience – The technology-driven era gives a better chance to know your audience. Presence on the web and through social media platform presents an opportunity for a business to interact with its target audience and understanding their interests. Knowing what the target audience is looking for online helps in devising the content that will lead to higher engagement.
  2. Create with Intent – The preparation phase for creating compelling content that connects with the audience is of prime importance. Know the objective that you want to achieve with the content, be it creating brand awareness or increasing conversions. Understanding what the audience is looking for, understanding what you want to accomplish with content, experimenting, and altering content to best suit the audience and the organization objectives will lead to creating engaging content.
  3. Be original, tell a story, and make it valuable – Creating unique content is a challenge in today’s day and age. The main goal should be to create content that stands out. Focusing on being original and making a connection with the audience by sharing your experience and expert insights on topics is the key. This connection with the target audience will make it more likely for them to read the content and know where to look for when the content in the future as well. This is a great way to create a target audience into loyal customers. E-books and newsletters are some of the tools offered by organizations to offer value to the target audience.
  4. Produce content that is actionable – As an organization you need to be aware of what objective will you achieve when you engage your audience with the content. For example, writing a blog on the new product launch highlighting its features and benefits and how it can improve the lives of the target audience will drive them to make a purchase. Ensuring a hyperlink on the page that redirects them to a landing page where they can make the purchase will achieve the action required.
  5. Focus on the strengths – One of the most effective ways to create engaging content is to focus on the strengths. If as an organization, you are good at something, make sure to use it to your advantage. If social media is your strength, make it attractive, and use it to get your content across to your target audience to engage them. Similarly, if the blog posts gain more traction, then the focus should be on that medium. Make sure to be consistent in your method of engaging with the audience to make a lasting impression on the audience.
  6. Diversify content – The content marketing strategy for any organization should not focus on one medium. Vary the content with visuals through the use of images, infographics, videos, etc. as they impact the audience more. Infographics and videos are used to enhance content and take it to the next level. The possibilities with video content are endless. Video content can be shared on the website, through newsletters, and across social media channels to generate higher engagement.
  7. Focus on creating a compelling headline and use subheadings – Before your audience engages with the content, it should be attractive enough for them to click it. Focus on creating a headline that is clickable as that is what people will see first. It should generate curiosity amongst the target audience to learn more and explore the topic you are presenting. Some of the popular top-performing headlines by engagement metrics on Facebook by BuzzSumo are “can we guess”, “that is why”, “the reason is”, “will make you” amongst others. After getting the attention of the audience to ensure that content is presented in a way that is easy to follow. Content should be presented with clear headings and subheadings, lists, bullet points to ensure the audience stays on the page and consumes the entire content.
  8. Mix up the content to make it more engaging – Putting out the same type of content is boring. Mix up the content by using articles based on research followed by a video, writing about recent events, and promoting a product. This keeps the customers excited about the content leading to higher engagement levels.
  9. Share the content – Great content serves no purpose if no one gets to see it. When planning the content, think of ways how best it should be distributed and shared to achieve its objective. Planning a detailed schedule or a calendar will add consistency and ensure that the content is shared to engage with the target audience.
  10. Use Artificial intelligence – All the elements stated above help in creating engaging content but we cannot ignore the role AI can play in making content engaging and successful. It not only helps in identifying the audience but also helps in understanding the performance of the existing content. AI-powered solution helps in predicting the best performing content for each audience to guide and improve content planning. It also helps in giving insights for every content to better understand who it attracts. It provides key metrics like top content views, conversions, and more to measure the impact of each content on the business.

Creating engaging content is not an easy task and presents its own challenge. Connecting with the target audience through compelling and original content is what drives engagement and turn them into loyal advocates for your organization. Focusing on the steps mentioned above will surely lead you to create engaging content.

5 Engagement Metrics You Should Track

14 Sep 2020 Digital Marketing

The pandemic has made the businesses realize that customer engagement is what will help them sail through these times. Customer Engagement is the emotional connection between a brand and its customers. It is a process where customers interact with the brand through various channels to develop and strengthen their relationships. Customers that are highly engaged with the brand, buy more, promote it, and are more loyal to the brand. The focus of any business needs to be on providing value beyond just products and services to its customer. Products and services initially attract customers, it is the quality of the experience along with relevant content that helps in developing long-lasting relationships.

Why is customer engagement important?

The most important reason for customer engagement is that it leads to brand loyalty by the customers and these customers serve as loyal advocates of the brand. They are more open to any kind of marketing and communication and spend more on the brand than on the competitors. A study conducted by Ray Wang of Constellation Research found that companies that have improved engagements drive up-sell revenue from 13 percent to 51 percent, increase cross-sell by 22 percent and increase order size from 5 percent to 85 percent. These statistics indicate a direct correlation engagement of customers and the profitability of the business. Not having a customer engagement strategy in place means missing opportunities to interact with customers and building a relationship. There is no standard procedure for customer engagement as each company needs to tweak its plan as per their needs and target audience. However, focusing on clarity, empathy and simplicity is the key to successful customer engagement.

Having stated the importance of customer engagement, it becomes imperative to track the level of engagement at every step.  Let us explore the engagement metrics to track

  1. Activity Time – Is the best metric for measuring the success of the customer engagement strategy. It refers to the total time spent by a user online interacting with the services offered and is one of the earliest indicators of how well the engagement strategy is working and if any changes need to be made to keep the users engaged. It measures the actual time spent by the user interacting with the service and factors out the time a user is idle. More time spend by the users on the website positively impacts the search engine optimization and increase the chances of the user converting to customers by buying the products and services offered. Similarly, time spent on social media channels helps to identify the content most valuable to the target audience.
  2. Return Users – How often a user returns to you is a key indicator of the value they derive from your brand. It is often referred to as value frequency. Value frequency helps in understanding the patterns in customer behaviour and use it to the advantage of the brand. If the expectation from the user is to return daily then the value frequency should be measured against that. If the user is creating an account and then not returning may mean that the product or service does not appeal to him. This metric is important at later stages of growth and development in the design and addition of features. Keeping your user updated with the latest changes and developments is the key to keeping them engaged.
  3. User Action – It is important to understand how the user is engaging with the brands. Google Analytics and other tools can be used to understand what the users are most focused on and what content is being viewed. Understanding the actions of the users will help in finding out any problems or pain points. These insights help in determining what is working well and what isn’t working well with the customers, which in turn can help in making improvements. Knowing the actions of the users’ help in understanding how best to keep them engaged with the brand.
  4. Net Promoter Score – This is a measure of customer loyalty. In other words, how likely is it for a customer to refer the brand to others. This metric is important in understanding how well the products and services fulfill the needs of the customers. Customers are the biggest marketing asset for any brand. They do a better job of putting the brand in front of the potential user. The most common way to measure net promoter score is through a survey where the customers are asked to rate their experience and how likely are, they to recommend your product or service to a friend/family. To get the most out of the NPS is to ask some open-ended questions along-with some sliding scale questions. This helps in quantifying the NPS and take some necessary steps for improving customer loyalty and referrals. Ensuring a high score means exponential growth for the brand in the long-term
  5. Daily active users vs Monthly active users– Daily active users are considered a vanity metric and do not have much weightage whereas monthly active users help in understanding the customer engagement in a better way. To understand how well the product/ service is performing with the users, you need to measure how many customers are actively engaging with the brand and how the brand resonates with them. By comparing the daily active users vs, the monthly active users will help in understanding if the users are sticking with the brand or not returning.

It is important to understand customer engagement and how it can benefit any business. It helps in understanding the customer interaction with the product/service and their likes and dislikes. It is ideal to have high customer engagement to have more loyal customers and higher returns. Tracking engagement metrics help in understanding what is working well and what is not to make changes accordingly.

Top 25 Analytics Apps

10 Sep 2020 Blog

The objective of any business is to extract actionable and commercially relevant information to improve performance. According to Sharad Agarwal, CEO of Cyber Gear, “If you’re able to go into a meeting, and other people have opinions, but you have data to support your arguments and your recommendations, you’re going to be heard.”

The Top 25 Analytics Apps that can help you make smart decisions are reviewed below:

  1. Agency Analytics- an all in one reporting platform for the marketing activities undertaken by any business. These include Email marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Pay Per Click, Social Media, and many more. It allows users to create dashboards that can be customized and branded for each campaign enabling users to present information based on the metrics that matter the most. The reporting can be done on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis through the application. It allows for providing comments and recommendations for each section of the report.
  2. Akita- is a Customer Success Management Platform designed to help reduce the customer churn, nurture customer relationships, and increase revenue from existing customers. It allows for customization of automated alerts for important customer interactions. The dashboard gives an insight into the customer contact details, customer segment, lifecycle stage amongst other things, and the actions that need to be taken. It also gives an overview of the monthly recurring revenue, customer lifetime value, average health scores, and other metrics with details of the percentage change. Users can view the list of organizations or people who have been identified as churn risks by Akita.
  3. AC Video Tracker- is used to tag and track the videos viewed by the contacts. Tagging viewers allows marketers to gain insights into how each viewer has engaged with the video content so targeted follow up can be done. If a contact has viewed only a part of the video, the follow-up sequence covers the information missed. It works well with Youtube, Wistia, and Vimeo video. Viewers can be tagged or untagged, added, or removed from the automation.
  4. Big Picture- helps in tracking custom events and measure the funnel conversion rate. Providing detailed event analytics help understand how the users and visitors are engaging with your app or the website, find opportunities for optimization, and upgrade the process. It can help easily track taps and clicks, page scroll, video engagement, and form interactions. Integrating this data with the CRM and sales engagement tool helps you target the right people.
  5. Bridge Subscription Manager-a recurring billing software that provides a solution to the challenges faced in manually monitoring and processing subscription credit card charges every month. Payments can be automated, accounts of clients can be disabled automatically in case of a declined payment, clients are notified when an update is needed on the credit card. It reduces the time needed by staff for all these activities. It integrates well with all leading payment gateways.
  6. ConvetFlow- powering over 10,000 marketing teams and fast-growing companies, ConvertFlow is an all in on platform for converting the website visitors. It provides you with tools to convert website visitors, generates leads, audience segmentation, drives sales, and personalize the website. Create, personalize, and launch landing pages, forms, surveys, pop-ups that can be fully integrated without coding. It gives marketers “no-code” superpowers.
  7. Data Hero- is the fastest and easiest way to automate business insights without the need for complex queries or coding. Connect all the data sources to track sales, marketing, and customer success data in one place. Create drop-and-drag charts to generate insightful, intuitive data visualization in no time. It helps organizations dive deeper into the data and use the intuitive tools of the application to get meaningful insights and results.
  8. Dasheroo- the amount of data available to us is a growing challenge. Many applications are required to run a successful business which makes the process very long and time-consuming. Dasheroo is a collaborative business dashboard that helps in monitoring the metrics from all the apps in one place, making it easier to understand the data and use it best for the growth of the business.
  9. Databox-is an analytics tool that allows users to create a custom analytics dashboard with data from multiple sources to be viewed on one device. It is built to track performance, discover insights, and understand the business. It organizes business KPIs in one place and delivers the metrics without any coding. The feature of live previews helps users view the data in real-time.
  10. Deliverability Dashboard- helps in viewing and tracking the overall email Health Score. It helps in monitoring the engagement stats, thereby making informed decisions to improve the reach to the clients’ inbox. Email engagement is the most important factor in email deliverability.
  11. Evidence- it is a simple tool used to boost the website engagements and conversions using powerful social proof. Once the app is working on the site new website visitors can see other sign-ups for the newsletter, purchase of product or service, register for a webinar, or schedule a live demo. Displaying these conversions in real-time builds buyer confidence and makes the visitor to the site take similar action.
  12. Google Analytics- a web analytics service offered by Google, it provides comprehensive reporting and analytics tools for all kinds of websites. The users can monitor website traffic, understand user interaction with the site, and can generate reports customized to the needs of the business. Google Analytics collects, manages, and consolidates data showing the user how to engage with the website, videos, social tools and ads across all devices.it also helps in understanding the behaviour of the end-user. Business can improve their marketing campaigns and web content with the right insights. Website managers can gain insights into what is working and what is not working to make necessary changes.
  13. Grey Metrics- is a marketing report and dashboard software for digital agencies. By using this software, companies can create reports/dashboards with the data from marketing platforms. These can be checked on an hourly basis to track marketing performance.
  14. Import2 Wizard- allows you to import, update and export contacts, deals, and more with CVS files from other apps. This application helps in updating data from the CVS files to fill in the missing information in the existing records. It offers the freedom to select data and download to share with others who do not have access to the database and also for business analysis. Data is the basis for making informed decisions. It is important to extract only the data that is needed to support the business.
  15. MailOptin- it converts the website visitors into e-mail subscribers and customers. You can engage with these visitors by sending event-triggered emails. MailOptin grows the ActiveCampaign email list, capture leads on the WordPress site using conversion-optimized beautiful newsletter signups. You can schedule email campaigns daily, weekly, or even monthly keep your most interested visitors engaged with your brand.
  16. Mail Timers- is being easy to use application that allows you to create countdown timers marketing emails for sales, events, holidays, webinars, and more. It has additional features like transparent background, advanced colors, background picture, expiry message, and more. With this service, design customization can be done using adobe photoshop PSD layout and by using advanced technology GIF images can be created.
  17. Octoboard- is a business dashboard solution that generates visual analytics and reports to provide users with insight into their business performance. Brands and marketing agencies send Octoboard reports to clients and key stakeholders. Companies add ActiveCampaign data to Octoboard to find the dependencies between email marketing, website traffic, sales funnels, and align email activity with the company goals.
  18. Piesync- takes care of syncing the contacts bi-directionally between the cloud apps in real-time. It works in the background and updates the customer information from anywhere. The sync can be customized, sync direction can be changed, and use PieSync to keep the contacts continuously consistent across all types of apps.
  19. PlusThis- is a campaign toolkit for marketers and entrepreneurs. It has 50+ tools and integrations like SMS, webinar connection, countdown timers, Facebook retargeting, video triggers and tagging, and expiring offers and content.
  20. Segment- it is a customer data and analytics solution that helps in analyzing contact data from multiple sources and funnels it into apps that you may be using. The contact data is shared between apps which gives a complete picture of the data and the apps have more data to leverage. The data is sent to Segment by installing lines of tracking code in the website or app. Segment integrates with some of the most popular analytics, marketing sales, developer, and user testing apps. There are currently 150 partners.
  21. SegMetrics- is a data analytics app that helps in getting clarity on where the best leads are coming from, how they act, and how much the marketing efforts are worth in terms of how many leads turn to customers. SegMetrics gives actionable insights without any coding, spreadsheet exporting, or pivot tables.
  22. SendForensics- is a specialist email deliverability suite that allows you to test and optimize the deliverability of emails before they are sent, getting the maximum engagement out of each campaign.
  23. Wicked Reports- automatically track and attribute revenue to gain ROI and LTV insights. It connects lead generation to high-value clients over time. Wicked reports have deep integration with Facebook, Google, and all popular CRM, marketing, e-commerce, and order management platforms. It gives reliable conversion data. It automatically detects and reports all email clicks that lead to sales. Best clients are recurring subscribing clients. Wicked reports detect this and connect it to marketing.
  24. Wistia- lets your videos do the work. It is a video marketing software that makes it easy to find, engage, and grow the audience. Custom lead capture forms can be placed directly into any Wistia video at the exact moment chosen.
  25. Woopra- is a customer analytics platform that helps in visualizing, analyzing, and optimizing every touchpoint in the customer journey, empowering data-driven teams to grow and innovate faster. It provides a unified analytics solution that is used by on-demand services, e-commerce, and SaaS for understanding, connecting, and engaging with customers through data. Woopra’s customer journey and segmentation data enable the user to deliver relevant messages to improve conversions and drive customer engagement.

The exhaustive list above gives a good insight into the important and significant analytic apps that are available online.

Top 5 WordPress Plugins For Social Media Posting

7 Sep 2020 Social Media

Social media has revolutionized the way users share information online.  Research by Statista shows that social media has progressed from having 2.34 billion users in 2016 to 3.96 billion users as of July 2020. It is therefore considered as one of the most powerful tools for modern marketing and branding of a website and needs to be integrated well to generate high traffic. Using the WordPress framework makes the process simpler by offering numerous choices in the form of plugins to share content through the use of social media buttons on the website.

Before we explore the top 5 social media plugins, let us identify the functionalities and benefits of using social media plugins.

  • Social sharing button– help in improving the online exposure by users sharing the content from the website through their social media profiles.
  • Social icons– these show the website visitors your social media presence and allows them to click the icon to automatically be directed to your profile. It is one of the easiest ways to build followers on social media
  • Social logins– allow people to sign in using their social media accounts. This helps in keeping the site secure and minimizes spam. It also makes it easier for the user since they don’t have to create a new username and password to access the website.
  • Social feeds– help showcasing social media feeds directly on the website. It adds visuals and gives a sneak preview of what can be expected on the social pages.
  • Social comments-boost the conversation in the comments by adding social media comments to the posts. This helps in driving higher engagement and comments.
  • Social locking-best content can be restricted with the social locking tool. It can be unlocked by a specific action taken by the website visitor like sharing content or following on social media.
  • Automated Posting– using plugins to automate social media posting. For example, sharing older blog posts on Twitter benefits the followers as the content is always being shared.

Top WordPress Plugins for Social Media

  1. Easy Social Share– Is one of the best free social sharing plugins for WordPress. Simple yet powerful, easy to use this plugin is suitable for beginners as well as experts. Easy social share buttons offer a choice of 30 different default positions such as above/ below content, floating icons, post share bar, etc. and is supported by 50 social media networks. This plugin has been ‘Performance Approved’ by WordPress plugin Wp rocket which highlights how well regarded it is for being optimized and not affecting website performance. Some of the notable features of Easy Social Share are
    • Over 55 button style templates offering a choice to the user to make the buttons look exactly as they want.
    • Share count displays the share count for individual or overall networks.
    • Follow icons to let visitors follow you and the count can be displayed.
    • Share count recovery enables the recovery of old share counts in case of switching domains or from HTTP to HTTPS.
    • Custom content helps control what content is shared.
    • After share action enables a display of message/ offer after content is shared by the visitor.
    • A/B testing uses split testing to know which social networks and buttons perform best.
    • Social media profiles can be linked using this plugin
    • It costs less than $ 20 and yet it offers more features than other WordPress social media plugin
    • It provides a simple button to subscribe to an email newsletter.
    • Use analytics and metrics to see what content is working best.
    • A live chat button can be displayed for Facebook or Skype live chat.
  1. Social Warfare-Is among the best available social media WordPress plugins due to its simplicity. It does not slow down the website, unlike some other plugin. It is designed to increase shares by adding social sharing icons on the website. The buttons can be placed above/ below content or both, manually with a shortcode or floating share buttons. With the paid version some more options are available. It supports 6 social networks with the free version and 9 with the paid version. Social Warfare helps track the results with UTM parameters. Analytics can be used to see how well the sharing icons are performing to tweak them if necessary. Some of the other notable features are
    • Attractive buttons that look great.
    • Share counts display total share counts or individual network share counts. Tweet count can be displayed with the paid version.
    • Popular posts by share count can be displayed using a widget.
    • Share count recovery enables the recovery of old share counts in case of switching domains or from HTTP to HTTPS.
    • Minimum social proof offers the option of displaying share counts only after a certain number is reached.
    • Share customization controls what content shows up when a user shares content.
    • Pinterest specific share image is when a separate image shows up on sharing it on Pinterest.
  1. Mashshare– A free social media plugin by WordPress, it can be customized for social media and help optimize content. It provides attractive designs for the display of three social media buttons for Facebook, Twitter, and Subscribe. It displays by default the total shares against each of these buttons to give an idea about total shares at a glance to the visitors of the site. These plugins do not have an impact on site speed. The buttons can be placed above/ below content (or both) and can be placed manually with a shortcode. The premium versions allow for positioning of the buttons like a floating sidebar or sticky sidebar. The free version supports Facebook and Twitter while the paid version includes Google +, Pinterest, Reddit, LinkedIn, Whatsapp, and some small networks. Some of the other notable features are
    • Social media plugin with add-ons helps choose the features that are required without having to pay full price for features that may not be used.
    • The plugin has caching built-in for the fast delivery of the buttons.
    • Select and share – let users share specific parts of your text.
    • Pageviews are displayed.
    • Share count recovery enables the recovery of old share counts in case of switching domains or from HTTP to HTTPS.
    • Share count is displayed just like Mashable.
    • Shortcodes allow for buttons to be placed anywhere on the website.
  1. Ultimate Social Share– Is a popular social media plugin that is simple and easy to use. It offers a range of buttons with its premium version. It is active across a huge number of websites with high rating reviews for its aggressive approach for asking for reviews. The free version allows for buttons to be placed at a specific position on the page via a widget, a shortcode, after posts, or via a pop-up. The premium version supports over 100 social media networks with the free version supporting the popular social media networks like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Pinterest. Some of the other notable features are
    • Share counts across social media platforms.
    • Custom shares help choose the pictures and text to be shared.
    • Exclude pages from sharing share icons.
    • Share count recovery enables recovery of old share counts in case of switching domains or from HTTP to HTTPS
    • Exclusive design styles.
  1. Add to Any– Is one of the most popular social media share button plugins on WordPress. It is active on over 500,000 sites. It most enviable feature is the number of social networks it supports and that too free. These buttons can be placed above/ below content (or both), vertical and horizontal floating bar, widget, or shortcode. The buttons can also be placed at the bottom of media pages and excerpts. AddToAny button allows the user to choose any network. Some of the other notable features are
    • Share counts across networks
    • Google Analytics integration- to track share analytics
    • AMP support
    • Responsive design
    • Share buttons help increase traffic to the site.

The website and the social media profile should work together to generate optimal results. Which WordPress social media plugin you choose will depend on what you are looking for. By making sharing of content easy will boost engagement and drive more traffic. The above-mentioned WordPress social media plugins are sure to help you add some interesting buttons to your website.

Content is not only King, It is the Kingdom

5 Sep 2020 Digital Marketing

More than 2 decades ago Bill Gates asserted, ‘Content Is King’. While this may be true to a certain extent, the most important aspect to consider is that content is king only if it is read. The focus of any business needs to be on creating good content to establish and build an ongoing relationship with its customers. ‘Content is not the king, but the kingdom to weave a story around.’ With the changing dynamics of the web and the evolution of social media, it becomes all the more imperative for organizations to focus on creating exceptional content, the kind that will get the attention of the target audience, engage them, provide them with the information they are looking for and generate results that you are looking for. As the famous marketing icon Neil Patel says “Good content should be interesting, challenging, entertaining and worthwhile. Otherwise, the producer (writer) has wasted his or her time.”

Good content is never enough as everyone in today’s day is putting out good content. It is important to have the knowledge to get content to reach the target audience using the various channels and ensure the traffic converts to customers/subscribers. Promoting the content through the right channels is as important as getting the content right. This requires a plan of action that clearly defines the steps to be taken to capture the audience, promote the content, analyze, and track how the content is performing and helps in conversion. As they say, ‘Conversation is the new lead’.

Marketers today understand the value of good content and the importance of having a content strategy in place to provide the target audience with the most relevant content as per their needs through the channels they interact with. Content strategy helps in aligning and standardizing the content delivery efforts of the organization in order to present a brand story and influence the target audience. Some of the key elements in creating a content strategy for an organisation are:

  1. Align content strategy with the overall business objectives – It is important for any organization to have clearly defined objectives for the content strategy to ensure that it aligns with the marketing and sales of the overall business. Just producing good content is never enough. A well laid out a drafted plan which gives clear reasoning for creating content, the channels to be used and how best to optimize content to the advantage of the organization is essential for the success of a content strategy.
  2. Get management to buy-in on the financial aspect of the content strategy – Getting approval from the leadership team and the management is the toughest part of content strategy. Clearly laying out the cost, benefits and the value drivers of the content strategy is imperative for it to be considered by the management. Value divers would be boost from effective targeting, timing, and content, lower cost through channel shift, deriving efficiencies through a focus on valuable and prospective customers.
  3. Effective segmentation – Targeting content to specific audiences is an effective way to ensure that it is viewed by the audience. It is important to understand how well the content was received by the target audience in the engagement cycle. A road map should be designed to help understand the customer journey and support sales. This will also help devise plans for future delivery of content through the right platforms to the target audience and maximize the financial value for the organization.
  4. Selecting the right platform – Having an understanding of the unique segments to be targeted along with their typical behaviour across the online and offline channels will help select the right platform giving the much-needed boost to the content. Viewing each platform from the user’s perspective will help in getting a better understanding of what they experience and adjust the strategy to help them view content as you want them to view it.

Having understood the key elements of content strategy, let us now look at the current trends that are changing the content marketing scene:

  1. Visual Content – Has become an integral part of a content marketing plan as the target audience are drawn to the visual elements of all kinds. The advantage it lends is that it presents new and creative ways to help form a brand voice and personality. Higher engagement can be achieved for new content through the use of social media channels which can help drive traffic to the website.
  2. Mobile-first content – Content today needs to be optimized for a mobile experience as many users access content through their smartphones or tablets.
  3. Metrics for reporting – Having different touchpoints for the content makes it difficult to measure its ROI. However, a successful content marketing strategy must show ROI and data to support it.

For marketers, the content has always been a key powerful element of the kingdom gaining more important today than ever before. Creating valuable content is not the end but a means to achieve business objectives and assist in the attainment of sales objectives. A well-drafted content marketing strategy will help the organisation achieve higher engagement and conversion. Delivering content through the right platforms to the right person at the right time is crucial for optimization and measurements of ROI.

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