To understand the fundamental concepts behind SEO, you need not begin with search engines. The search engines’ perception of your website becomes a matter of interest only after a certain type of relationship is established: the relationship between users and the search engine. Why do people land on a search engine like Google in the first place? What are their needs and expectations? There is a very simple answer and that is: search engine users either want to fill a knowledge gap or they want to fulfill certain kinds of needs. Their expectations will be met once they find out that the information, product, or service they have found through the engine is exactly what they were looking for. From the standpoint of a search engine’s business model, that is their USP — Unique Selling Proposition. And that is exactly what drives the economic engine of a search engine. According to most SEO experts, Google alone changes its search algorithm about 500 to 600 times every year. Why would they even bother about rolling out these many algorithm updates in just a year’s time? Why should they be so motivated as to ensure no webmaster is able to exploit the system and all users find solutions that best match their search intent on Google? They bother and are motivated because if they fail to deliver on users’ expectations, they will lose both their relevance and their lion’s share of the web traffic. “80% of Alphabet’s revenue comes from Google Ads, which generated $147 billion in revenue last year (2020)”, according to CNBC. What is the core asset of Google that helps them drive revenue of that scale? You guessed it right, it’s their users. And what will happen to Google’s business if users — normal people like you and me — start to abandon the platform? They will go bust. That’s the primary motivation — or fear of extinction — why Google would exercise every power at their disposal to motivate, persuade, or force website owners to abide by the optimization practices that are aligned with Google’s business interest. And, luckily, this interest isn’t misaligned with the interests of users and businesses in the ecosystem. Google wants users to keep coming back, users want to find what they are looking for, and businesses benefit from providing users with exactly what they are looking for. Everyone is happy because everyone benefits. When you go about optimizing your website for SEO, you may be indirectly serving Google’s interest but you’re also right on point in serving your own business interest. What’s important here is a shift in perspective. When you start looking at SEO as an essential part of the overall solution you are delivering — and not just an extra — you’ll approach it differently. [Read the full post on VirrgoTech]

Why do people buy #brands? Because they want to stand out as individuals and brands can help them tap into this psychological need? How branding works and why people prefer branded products over generic ones is a question with no straight answer. If you are a hard-core Nike fan, you’ll get a Nike pair no matter the price. That’s fairly evident, but have you ever wondered what Nike really is? Is it just a product with a track record of high performance? A fancy pair of shoes that look great, feel great, and last longer? Or something with a rather subtle function — a tool to quench your inner thirst for outward showiness? Maybe Nike is all of these. [...] Today when people decide to buy the brand they prefer, it’s not just quality, brand loyalty, brand image, brand trust, or brand persona they have in mind; it’s a combination of them. If you’re a coffee-lover, you wouldn’t step into a Starbucks cafe every day if it wasn’t for the entire brand experience — the product, the quality, the customer service, the reward points, and everything that contributes to the Starbucks experience. The ambiance or how impressive their brand image feels wouldn’t help maintain your relationship if you had to drink something you don’t like every day. By the same token, you might have the same coffee elsewhere — and for a lot cheaper — yet you’ll not be willing to trade off the rest of what makes Starbucks the brand you embrace it for. So what is a brand? There’s no universal definition. The closest of what may encapsulate what a brand is, we can say, it’s “a customer’s perception”. “A brand”, as Marty Neumeier describes, “is not a logo. A brand is not an identity. A brand is not a product. A brand is a person’s gut feeling about a product, service, or organization.” Now, gut feeling is no less murky term to describe a brand. No two individuals’ gut feeling about a brand could be the same. One may put a high price on a product’s utilitarian value (what it can do for me) while the other may be driven more by its qualitative value (how it’s going to make me feel). That means two individuals may be attracted by the same brand but for two different reasons. In other words, what we call ‘gut feelings’ in reality are different states of mind that are influenced by a variety of external and internal factors. And, sometimes, brands make conscious efforts to influence those feelings or states of mind. Other times, they happen as the byproduct of what a brand does in the usual course of its operation. When Steve Jobs uttered the name ‘Apple’ for the first time, Wozniak laughed and said, “It’s a computer company, not a fruit store.” Wozniak’s could be representative of the gut feelings of thousands of other individuals at the time, but it all changed as the brand carved its way through the nascent PC market of the 80s.  [... read the full post on VirrgoTech Blog]

“We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.” ― Anais Nin Are you willing to taste life twice? Are you willing to retrospect and #write your heart out, reliving the moments you did and creating those you wish you would have lived? #CreativeWriting isn’t just about writing for others, it’s about writing for yourself. It’s about looking at the world from a new angle, not the way it is but the way you felt it has been all along. At the heart of creative writing is the person you know best — yourself. It’s your creation and no one in the world can unlock the chambers of your mind, read what’s in there, and do the job for you. The maker of your story will always be you. “So why am I here?” You’re here to master the art of self-expression. You’re here to learn how to set a better sail: where to begin the writing process, how to proceed, what to avoid, and how to be inspired. If writing is your true calling, here’s to you for finding the opportunity to be here! You’ll know why as you proceed reading. It’s time to explore the seven important chapters of your writing journey now — and we’re going to do it together. So let’s go!

#Search Engine Optimization is roughly an $80 billion dollar industry. It’s how search engines push website owners to provide better experiences to end-users. And it’s how businesses and individuals manage to get ranked on the most popular search engine: Google. For a newbie, there’s a lot to learn about (and from) SEO. For industry professionals and marketing people, there’s a lot to catch up with. For business owners still, knowing the basics of how SEO works has never been more relevant and important. This specific guide is for everyone who wants to learn Search Engine Optimization and implement it in the most effective and easiest way possible. The purpose here is to make people understand SEO, not to confuse them. So we have made the entire guide as palatable as possible, avoiding jargon and technical definitions where they are not needed. Check it out and share it with the people you care about.

Happy Women's Day to all the incredible women out there!

If you're a movie buff, you probably know some of these taglines already. They are short, catchy, and remindful of the fact that creatively crafted words are more than just words -- they are great mental stimulators. Check them out!

You may disagree but, generally speaking, #content is the most underrated component in the online marketing space. Yet it's almost impossible to achieve growth and engage with customers without the input of content.

Try SEO without content and you'll end up with a campaign that wouldn't show any sign of life.

Try running supper targetted ads without investing in the landing page copy, and you'll end up getting traffic that wouldn't convert.

Try churning out sales materials that scream "buy me!" without complementing them with substantial content, and people will start to hate your brand.

....

Content. Content. Content. You can't afford to factor out that element in any #marketingstrategy you devise for your brand!

"But how to go about planning and implementing an effective content strategy for my brand?" Maybe these cutting-edge trends in content marketing are going to help you out. Check them out in the article.

https://virrgotech.com/content-marketing-trends/

Have you heard about the 10-10-10 rule? It's an amazing tool to help you overcome indecisiveness and make sensible choices in life. Take a look!

#SEO guidelines. There’s a shipload of them coming from search engines like Google and virtually all of it has to do with providing the right #userexperience. One way or another, search engines will penalize you if you disregard the rules and make the site visitors unhappy.

The pandemic has had a devastating impact on our lives. Businesses, economies, and governments are still struggling to navigate this crisis and alleviate its drastic impacts on our lives. How can advertisers rise to the occasion and help out struggling brands? One thing is getting more and more obvious. It's not by focusing on the negatives or even showing ads that centre around the theme of unity, healing, and getting along. These are platitudes and virtually every advertiser has been hammering on them since the pandemic set in. What advertisers need are creative ideas that carry the right messages, metaphors, and imagery to make people feel normal again. What they need are consciously planned ads that inspire purchase behavior and persuade people to take meaningful actions.

Strong personalities, whether attached to humans or brands, are no accidents. They are the result of a thoughtful, disciplined, and well-planned strategy. How does building a strong brand personality have a lot in common with nurturing a strong human personality? Check this out.

How is Your Site Viewed By Search Engines?

Are you a website owner? Do you wonder how search engines like Google are perceiving your website? Would it be interesting if you knew exactly how they do? Well, this post is about all that. Take a look!

It's easy to get buried under the heavy burden of your life's plans and aspirations. It takes a poem, a sermon, a picture, the lyrics of a song, or anything worth pondering about to get you back on track. The poem from Kipling featured in this post is one such thing you'd want to keep in handy.

Digital marketing has become a highly saturated industry. Everywhere you go, there are pseudo-experts, amateurs, jack-of-all-traders, and so-called marketing specialists who would try to lure you into all kinds of temptations.

Email marketing appears to be one of the most underrated forms of marketing. People think with the advent of communication tools and social platforms, inboxes have lost their attraction. Every email one receives from a stranger now is either spam or a solicitation call.

The truth, however, is that half of the entire globe still depends on emails and a vast majority of these people check their inboxes daily. That’s quite a lot of potential to tap!

Anyone who knows digital marketing knows that email marketing isn’t costly, nor is it that difficult to give you a headache. It’s easier, less costly, and more targeted than most other forms of paid and organic marketing.

Now, there are a few things you need to learn about #EmailMarketing. Just as you have to know the basics of how other forms of marketing work, you need to know what key metrics are mostly responsible for your email campaign’s success.

Read the article to learn what these metrics are.

Cutting edge theory to unlock procrastination

6 CREATIVE ADS that will make you say "wow":  It takes a great mix of creativity, content, and context to evoke emotions and inspire the audience. Digital ads have a lot to learn from the print ads that appeal to our intellect or sense of humor rather than merely trying to catch our attention with a simple low-cut neckline or flashy colors.