Category Archives: Marketing Tips

Five Questions You Must Ask an SEO Expert Before Hiring

houston seo expert

As search engines redesign their algorithms to have a smoother user interface, search engine optimization (SEO) is a rapidly changing activity. In the past, SEO could be achieved easily using keyword density calculations and cheaply purchased backlinks, today’s SEO can only be done as part of a comprehensive, coordinated digital marketing campaign.

It’s a full-time job in and of itself to find the best SEO expert. Choosing the right Houston SEO expert might be the most beneficial thing you ever do for your company. Choosing the incorrect one might be the most costly business decision you ever make.

Why is this so?

The possible harm done to your online presence as a result of weak SEO will have an indefinite negative impact on your digital image.

Here are five questions to ask before you hire an SEO expert:

1)  Which tools do you use?

Knowing precisely what resources an SEO organization uses isn’t necessary, but being able to explain why they use such tools is important. Good SEO experts will have a variety of resources at their disposal for conducting audits and completing assignments, and they will have thoroughly reviewed each tool to determine which is the best. Consider the following questions:

What tools do you use to conduct keyword research, and why?

What do you use to monitor rankings, and why?

What crawler do you use, and why?

What do you use to monitor backlinks, and why?

Not just read a lengthy list of “nice tools,” your SEO partner should be able to explain why their favorite tools are used and the effect such tools will have when used properly.

2)  Can you meet the team?

To attract new customers, most SEO experts will send their best squad. They want to make a decent first impression, after all. There’s nothing wrong with that, but the odds are you won’t be able to find the agency’s CEO and technical SEO expert doing your job.

Inquire if you should speak with the project manager and, hopefully, any other team members involved. You want to ensure that your deal is secured and won’t be turned over to an intern.

3)  Are they currently working with competitors?

See, business is competition. It is like sports. You can’t let the other team know your strategy, neither can you play with their strategy. In the same way, you can’t risk your SEO strategy being shared by other companies. Ask your SEO experts if they are or will they in the coming future, work with any of your contenders.

If they do or will, just try to mention in your contract that you might press charges if your research or data is leaked to any other company. Keep an eye.

4)  How do you manage and report progress?

Companies that are unable to offer a clear guidance about how success can be calculated and published should be avoided.

The frequency at which an SEO expert updates you on progress is likely to be determined by the scope of your project. The majority of brands will anticipate monthly updates. Larger organizations, as well as short-term and individual programs, may need more regular reports on the work in progress, but keep in mind that monitoring real progress week to week is inefficient and misleading.

Search results fluctuate for a number of reasons, including Google trying new code updates, rivals changing their content dramatically, and so on.

5)  How do they stay up to date with changes in Google’s algorithm?

Being an SEO expert is not a 9 to 5 job. It is not doing what you’re told to do, it is doing things creatively and better than everyone else. Now, if your SEO expert does not stay up to date with changing search algorithms, they might just be doing SEO for the money. Google regularly updates its changes in search algorithm on Google Search Central, try to ask some questions related to this to your SEO expert, if they are up to date, you are good to go!

To conclude, by asking these questions you can root out black-hat SEOs and locate an organization that provides long-term results. Reviewing the responses to assess the practices and policies an SEO expert integrates into work is the right way to move forward.

Key Points that will Help You Sell to China Online

Even though sell to China online has challenges, businesses selling through cross-border enjoy reduced tariffs and lower regulatory requirements. It provides an opportunity for companies to test the Chinese market without setting up a physical presence in China.

Here are a few key points to help you sell to China online.

China is the world’s largest eCommerce market, and the unique about Chinese cross-border eCommerce is that large amounts of transactions flow both ways. Chinese customers love foreign goods and inexpensive items.

Chinese Marketplace

Chinese top e-Commerce market place that host foreign sellers include the following

Tmall Global: It is a cross-border version of Tmall e-Commerce that leads the domestic online marketplace. Tmall offers to sell only imported merchandise via foreign merchants’ stores hosted on Tmall’s website. It uses Alibaba’s proprietary Alipay for payments.

JD Worldwide: It is the second-largest cross-border online mall and dominates home appliances and consumer electronic goods. It uses Tencent’s online payment services for transactions.

Sunning Global: It is a cross-border online mall of China’s largest commercial company that features more than 300 foreign storefronts and offers store operators and financial support services. It is mostly famous for electrical appliances and uses its own online payment escrow service, Yi-Pay, to complete transactions in RMB or foreign currencies.

Amazon China Global Store: It is an Amazon China platform for Chinese customers and uses Alipay, Tenpay, and UnionPay to complete RMB transactions or a foreign currency.

Online Supermarket

E-commerce supermarkets purchase large quantities of overseas goods and sell their goods to hypermarkets at a negotiated wholesale price.

Kaola: It is a cross-border eCommerce hypermarket with the most massive bonded warehouse in China that allows more than forty countries to sell their products on the Kaola platform.

JD.com– It also operates a hypermarket business that acts as a middleman, purchasing inventory from overseas companies and reselling it to Chinese consumers.

Suning is also a hypermarket model stocked by direct sourcing.

Below are the five key points that are driving China’s e-commerce market

E-Commerce shopping festival

With more shopping festivals and themes, e-Commerce is trying to gain more potential customers. According to a Double 11 festival survey, 79% of the customer participated that created an opportunity for local brands and foreign brands to leverage the collective enthusiasm for shopping among Chinese consumers. These holidays are perfect for experimenting and trying new things to gain customers. It also provides an opportunity for new brands entering the market to get noticed.

Consumption upgrade

Consumption upgrade means consumers are more confident in spending their money on several categories, especially food, cosmetics, and clothing. The Chinese customer recognizes imported goods for their attention to quality, health, safety, and even package design. Through various online platforms, Chinese consumers now have broad access to products from all over the world.

New Retail: Online and Offline

The Online to Offline (O2O) business model helps transform the retail industry and bring both challenges and opportunities to the market. Alibaba has evolved with other supermarkets to encourage super engagement with supermarkets. Before shopping, they request customers to download an app through which products are purchased, and where spending and consumer profiles will be saved and stored online. Thus, customers can enjoy door to door delivery within 30 minutes.

Digital Payment

Alipay and Wepay are the most popular online payment methods in China. Just as credit cards drove demand and enabled the US market, financing from e-tailers will also have a trend in China. Many consumption loan provider expanding their businesses by cooperating with offline channels, providing comprehensive portfolios of services to their potential customers.

From Online platform to Media platform

Social media help people interact with one another, making it an ideal place to share and comment on products. Also, the high amount of mobile commerce has increased the e-tail advertising ecosystem’s transition from open to closed loop. Thus social media is an essential tool for marketing, especially when communicating and engaging with potential consumers.

In China, KOL is a massive marketing platform that helps push products through live streaming Applications and get paid live from their audience with gifts.

Why Would You Want an Ad Agency that Specializes in Financial Services?

The future of advertising is changing, and at this time, a marketing agency needs to know a lot more than how to give the audience an entertaining campaign. In order to bring in more leads, more clients, and to create a product that sells, clients are looking for ad agencies specializing in financial services to be the solution.

Today’s clients spend more on advertising strategies, and their consumers are willing to spend less on brands, but to spend more often. This is a different future for marketing strategies than was anticipated years ago. The future is digital, technology based, and it all works online. The consumer is also a different type and looks to advertising to fill different needs. Consumer attention is fleeting, hard to get, and hard to keep, but they are prepared for and open to advertising trends. There is a significant increase to be gained when you use ad agencies specializing in financial services. Here are some reasons why you would want to work with an ad agency that specializes in financial services.

Advertising and entertainment go together because the advertising strategies need to attract a clientele that can choose not to look at the ad if they are not interested. Consumers can be easily distracted, and it is important to get them to notice. Once ad agencies specializing in financial services become involved, everything changes. The number of clients and users, revenue, and brand recognition received depends on things that were not a part of the industry before digitalization.

There are a lot of regulations that must be followed

Advertising campaigns need to attract the attention of the search engines. There are quotas, limits and restrictions, and targets that must be met. It is a specific skill to understand these strategies of SEO marketing, as well as the restrictions and guidelines within them. Ad agencies specializing in financial services can easily focus the advertising strategy to come in line with financial services marketing compliance.

But that is not the biggest reason that ad agencies specializing in financial services are so useful to have on your team. Advertising can be used to build relationships with customers and to keep the customers even throughout re-branding and changes. These relationships last because of brand loyalty that is built from the start.

The online world is a big, crowded place, and it is in that crowded marketplace that your brand will either find its audience or lose itself. Ad agencies specializing in financial services can help target ads that will help with strategies to position the brand to create the best advantage.

Of course, there is a big reason that financial considerations must be a part of marketing plans. There is a lot of information to be gathered from where consumers click, and ad agencies specializing in financial services can see this clearly. An understanding of the kind of entertainment consumers choose when they go online tells agencies how they will spend their money, and that, in turn, drives decisions about development of the entertainment. Advertising, revenue, and entertainment are no longer separate. Consumers no longer own things that once could only be gotten through purchase or as they appear. Things like music, movies, sports, news, books, or television shows can be had on demand. They no longer buy video games. Instead, they have subscriptions to services that provide all access to everything, and the advertisements are an accepted part.

Ad Agencies Specializing in Financial Services

Consumers today do everything online, including the management of their money. Banking and accounting is all done online, and so is shopping. With the world changes that the pandemic has brought about, in some cases, the only way anything can get done is online! Online services have stepped in to make everything possible. If you are unsure about what the advertising agency can do, then take a look at what ad agencies specializing in financial services have to do. There are a lot of advertising agencies out there doing different jobs for the same purpose. Having one that specializes in and understands the ins and outs of everything is a big help. Ad agencies specializing in financial services can be just what you need.

Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Digital Marketing Expert

Digital Marketing

According to Statista, as of first quarter 2020, about 904 million people have access to the internet in China. And as of March 2020, 710.3 million people in China had purchased goods online. That’s a massive market!

So you are on the right path if you have decided to hire a China digital marketing agency in London to penetrate the Chinese market. But remember that not all digital marketing agencies will give you value for money. If you hire the wrong agency, it may spell doom for your business. Therefore, you need to do due diligence to find the right agency.

Below are some questions you must ask to find the right agency perfect for your needs.

How will the agency communicate?

Most digital marketing experts will try to create a good first impression. In some cases that may be to mislead. Unfortunately, only with time, it is possible to identify them. But one thing that can be done at the start is being clear about how the agency will be updating you on their activities.

Does the agency prefer email or other written modes of communication while you prefer phone calls or in-person meetings? That can be discussed ahead of time and sorted out. Will you be in touch with the project lead or the person managing your WeChat account? The project lead is in a position to explain things better as he or she can see the whole picture.

At the same time, the agency’s social media specialist should be able to tell why certain pictures and posts are better for getting likes than others.

The agency should believe that working together makes the dream work. Each individual should be able to fulfill their responsibilities to provide clients with results that will have a positive impact on their business. The agency should provide a contact person who can answer all questions or take you to the people who can.

Who all will be working on the project?

The best thing about hiring a China digital marketing agency in London is that they have thorough knowledge about digital marketing in China and can meet a client’s needs.

In this digital age, it is necessary to optimize your website for mobile devices. Also, your website needs to be visible in search results on Baidu, China’s search engine. So, besides a web developer, you will also need to work with an SEO expert.

The best agencies have all experts under one roof.

How will competitive edge be provided?

A competent digital marketing expert will want to understand your target audience. A restaurant looking for marketing help may benefit if local customers or tourists are targeted. For a B2C car renting business, an easy to use mobile application that provides good user experience may be required.

It should be an agency’s responsibility to become experts in your industry and find out what your competitors lack vis-a-vis what you can deliver. A digital marketing expert should analyze a client’s strengths and weaknesses and then devise a plan to make them stand apart from the crowd.

What about security?

Besides all that a digital marketing agency provides, they should also provide all the necessary security services crucial to an online existence. If you are hiring an agency, they should be able to conduct a full risk analysis and test your website for any vulnerabilities. Up-to-date software, SSL encryption, etc are required to make your website as secure as possible from hackers.

When will results be visible?

First of all the products or services being offered by a company need to produce perfect solutions for customers. This is very important. If customers are looking for total solutions to their problems and a company’s products or services are providing half baked solutions, then that may not work.

Second of all, marketing can make or break a company. Some things associated with digital marketing take time to show the results. But the wait shouldn’t be too long. Companies should ask for regular reports. Be sure to ask the agency whether they track use Baidu’s own analytics platform or any other analytics tools to keep a track of performance.

Do you have any questions about China digital marketing agency in London?

The Right Tips For Choosing SEO Firm In Houston

SEO Firm in Houston

If you are struggling to hire a professional SEO firm in Houston to promote your website, then below mention tips can help you.

The first and foremost question to decide is, how SEO service can benefit your business, and which type of service you need first?

Knowing the basic knowledge of SEO through videos and tutorials is the first step towards your success.

Know The Warning Signs

It is incredibly important to know the alarming signs of SEO firm when you are trying to choose for your brand. They use some tactics and services to try to convince you. The benefits might look the best for your brand if you don’t know SEO, which might turn to empty promises.

One of the major red flags is black hat SEO tactics. Black hat SEO includes buying links from other sites, keyword stuffing, inadequate or irrelevant content, to improve your page rankings. However, these bad tactics can result in Google’s penalties, and by the time you are aware of these black hat SEO, you already had made the payment to these consultancies.

Get References From Others

Before being drawn into a contract with a Houston SEO Firm, you should read about their views from real people and peers. Searching in Google about “the best SEO consultant in Houston” isn’t the right way to find a good consultancy. Even though you may see their rank is high in SERP, that doesn’t mean they care the same for their clients.

It is better to speak with other people who have worked with this consultant to improve their inbound strategies. You may also try to find more about them from third-party vendors.

Have KPIs In Mind

KPIs or the key performance indicators will help you determine whether an SEO firm is genuinely trying to improve your inbound marketing strategies. Check with your consultant regularly to ensure that these KPIs are improving.

While choosing for any professional SEO services, keep the specific goals to achieve for your business in mind. Speak with the SEO Firm and consider which KPIs will meet your goals to gain more traffic. Some critical KPIs are the number of organic sessions you have, search engine rankings for specific keywords, conversion rate, phone calls, etc. before selecting any SEO consultant.

Ask For Sample Work

Asking for samples from SEO Firm in Houston is a great way to determine if the consultancy is a good fit for you. Ask them if the consultancy has worked with other brands like yours and discuss the results they achieved. Check the work quality on their website. Do they write good and quality content? Is their website easy to navigate? But note that there are a few SEO firms who take care of their clients more than their site.

Visit SEO Company

Before booking any SEO firm over the phone, it is better to visit them in person. So get to know the people involved to work for your website traffic. That way, you will get a feel for the people involved.

Both of you need to understand and relate to one another about the work get-go. Moreover, meeting each person in person is where the firm will discuss some of their tactics with you. It will also guide you about their attitude towards you and your business.

Be Clear About Your Budget

Before investing or merely meeting the SEO agency, consider your budget. We all agree that the budget is the most crucial factor before selecting an SEO firm in Houston. A local service campaign may cost you a couple of dollars, whereas the competitive national product can cost thousands of dollars.

Inquire about the SEO packages that fall into your budget and remember the risk associated with low-cost SEO firms. Because if you don’t follow Google guidelines, they might damage your brand’s reputation and ensure penalities.