How to Improve Your Site Speed for Better SEO Results

You’ve created what you believe to be the best website to sell your products or services, you’ve incorporated search engine optimization into every facet of your online business and yet you are still not getting the high ranking for your website that you feel it deserves. One aspect you might be overlooking is site speed, i.e. how fast your site loads on your website visitor’s computers or mobile device.

How Site Speed Affects SEO Rankings

Site speed is actually one of the elements which major search engines use in determining your site’s SEO ranking. Your website load speed can make a significant impact on how your website ranks on SERPs (search engine result pages). If your website is feature packed (e.g. fancy galleries, live chat, Flash elements etc.), you might think you’re giving your visitors the best possible experience, when you could be doing the opposite by giving them slow loading pages. You should aim for a balance between fancy website features and giving visitors the optimal site speed experience.

Check Your Site Speed

You can run your own test on a computer to see how fast your website uploads. Ideally, your site should load in less than 3 seconds. Between 3 and 5 seconds you’re doing OK but there’s room for improvement. If your website takes more than 5 seconds to load then you should really look into this because chances are it’s hurting your SEOrankings.

How Important Is Site Speed for SEO

While site speed in itself is not a dominant factor, it can help you rank higher than your competitor, all things being equal. So, to get that needed edge over your competition you should work on maintaining a site speed of below 3 seconds. While Google for example states that site speed affects on 1% of the results that belies the importance of having good site speed for your website since it can make the difference.

4 Quick Ways to Improve Site Speed

So we’ve established that site speed is an important factor in SEO and all webmasters should aim to maintain the optimal site speed. Thankfully, there are a number of quick and affordable ways to help you achieve this. Below I’ve listed just some of the quick and dirty fixes

Reduce Image Size:

Images are one of the biggest memory hogs on your website, the larger the image, the more information it carries and the longer it takes to load. By reducing the size of your images you can significantly speed up the time it takes for your website to upload. Start with reducing each of your images by 10%, starting with the larger ones.

Reduce Codes and HTTP requests:

You should minimize the number of codes on your website. Every code requires loading from a computer, so the more code you have, the more loading requests sent to the visitor’s computer, thus slowing the site response time. The same principle applies to HTTP which may contain multiple, redundant pages that you don’t need.

Limit the Use of Plugins:

This tip applies to WordPress websites. Whilst plugins are an easy way to extend and customize your website’s functionality, they can also cause your site to load slower because of the extra code they inject in order to work. We’ve already discussed in the above how extra code affects site speed.

Add Site Speed Tools:

There are a number of great site speed tools you can use to augment your website. This is not a complete list, but here are a few you can use to start.

• WebPageTest: A free online speed test which tests your site speed using multiple browsers from various locations around the world. Simply enter your site URL and submit.
• WP Super Cache: A free WordPress plugin (I know I advised against too many plugins but this is one of the more useful plugins which improves site speed by clearing the cache and generates html files instead of heavier PHP
• YSlow: A free Yahoo site speed tool that analyzes your site and makes suggestions for improvements. It’s available as a plugin for major browsers like Firefox, Chrome, IE etc.

These tools help you optimize your website performance by analysis, trimming the fat on your website, or by providing site speed recommendations leading to a better visitor experience, resulting in better SEO rankings.

Hopefully you’re now clued up on how site speed affects your SEO rankings and it is important. Although important, it’s also one of the easier SEO elements to fix because of the relatively straightforward procedures and tools available to improve site speed. My final advice to webmasters: regularly keep an eye on your website speed and follow the above advice if and when your site becomes too slow.

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4 Tips to Setting Your Social Media Budget in 2016

As we are half-way through the year, many marketers are starting the exercise of looking ahead to 2016 and beginning to think about what their social budgets should be.  Since we frequently consult with brands on social media planning (including the budgeting exercise) we wanted to share some tips on how to set your social media budget for next year.

1. Compare benefits with spend

The first part of every budget exercise should be an evaluation of your spend to its actual performance and benefit.  While every line item may not help you achieve your social
objectives, it’s good to scrutinize costs and to fully understand the benefits you received from them. In this exercise, don’t overlook tool costs.  While they may seem like they are the cost of “keeping the lights on”, they should be cut if they aren’t resulting in efficiencies, insights, or meaningful outcomes to your strategy or tactics.

2. Diversify media dollars beyond Facebook and Twitter

In previous years, most social media advertising dollars were primarily allocated to Facebook and Twitter.  Now that we’ve seen many other platforms starting to offer new media opportunities, it’s important for marketers to think ahead and allocate enough money to test new ad units as they arise. Go ahead and earmark media dollars so that when the opportunities arise your brand can have budget to try them in 2016.

3. Invest in content that is sharable

Take a critical look at the content your brand is producing to-date.  Is it sharable?  If it isn’t – uncover why.  Odds are that your brand doesn’t have a ton of highly visual or organic content at its fingertips. And even if you feel your brand is killing it, I bet your brand still has some work to do if you were to ask your customers.  The truth is, it’s hard to create content that people naturally want to share, simply because the brand always has a hidden agenda.  Creating highly sharable content that accomplishes a business objective is a craft, and you need to invest in the creation of it.

4. Account for rising costs

While highly efficient, the costs of social media marketing are obviously rising.  With more competition entering the space, and continual platform changes that make it more difficult to reach your audiences, you’ll need to account for these rising costs in your budgeting.

The following are a list of rising costs to consider as you plan your budgets:

• Reaching your audience organically and paid (expect increases in media costs per quarter)
• Developing visual & video content
• Working with influencers
• Social network fragmentation (more channels to manage than before)
• Developing social programs with mobile in mind
• Developing & optimizing content
• Retaining & attracting social media talent

Increase your visibility and Sales Today.
visit my website: smartseoservice.com/convert-web-traffic-into-sales-or-leads/

5 Hiring Tips for Small Business Owners

Tired of working long hours and never getting a day off? Then it’s probably time to bring in some help. Here are ten tips for hiring employees for your small business.

As a successful small business owner, you’re accustomed to long hours; non-existent holidays and weekends spent working.

few tips for begin…

Don’t expect to hire a replica of you! Each person you meet and interview will be a living, breathing human, with their own habits, mannerisms and even ideas! This is fine – -as long as their ideas and habits are not philosophically opposed to yours. My first hire, Jen, was pursuing a graduate degree, had just moved to the area and is nearly 20 years younger than I am! She’s detail-oriented and relies on schedules to get things done. I’m a bit more ‘seat of my pants’ type of operator. She’s a perfect fit because she complements my way of working! Over time she’s grown into managing portions of my business that I neglected – like maintaining scheduling and billing.

Know exactly what you expect from your new hire. Before you advertise for help, sit down and write a job description. List your goals for the new hire – do you want someone who can fill in on short notice when you need to take a day off, or do you want someone who can work a regular schedule? Do you want someone who can meet with clients, set their own schedules and attend meetings and events on your behalf or do you simply need someone who can pick up your overflow? By spending time working through your thoughts on hired help you are setting yourself up for a great working relationship. If you can clearly articulate the job to all applicants, they will have the opportunity to determine if this is a mutually agreeable fit. Be sure to concentrate on specific job-related descriptions, and not subjective information.

Know exactly what you expect from your new hire. Before you advertise for help, sit down and write a job description. List your goals for the new hire – do you want someone who can fill in on short notice when you need to take a day off, or do you want someone who can work a regular schedule? Do you want someone who can meet with clients, set their own schedules and attend meetings and events on your behalf or do you simply need someone who can pick up your overflow? By spending time working through your thoughts on hired help you are setting yourself up for a great working relationship. If you can clearly articulate the job to all applicants, they will have the opportunity to determine if this is a mutually agreeable fit. Be sure to concentrate on specific job-related descriptions, and not subjective information.

Determine what type of manager you are! It’s imperative that you’re honest about your work style. After all, if you say you want an independent thinker, but really do a lot of ‘checking-in’ you may end up with an unhappy helper. On the other hand, if you hire someone who needs lots of feedback, you need to be sure that you are cut-out for the ‘people part’ of the management process.

Set aside time. If you expect to hire someone by the 15th of next month you may be setting yourself up for failure. Just as you can’t expect to find a perfect replica of you – you can’t always put a deadline on your hiring process. In other words, plan to advertise, interview and train until you find the RIGHT person. (SECRET TIP: If you find the right person – Hire them right away and then find work for them! Never pass up a great hire!)

Visit my website and Improve your SALES, LEADS today!
Here: smartseoservice.com/convert-web-traffic-into-sales-or-leads/

4 Secrets to Winning More Sales

Sales is king in the new economy. Your success will be determined by your ability to generate revenue and sell, not just your products and services, but also yourself.

Here are five signs you’re well positioned to succeed at the art ofselling:

1. Remember you’re in the people business.
Lots of salespeople get caught up in what they are selling and forget that they’re in the people business. Your customer wants to be treated personally. I was recently at a dental office that had clearly forgotten they were not in the business of teeth, but of making patients happy and comfortable.

Getting attention and maintaining your customers’ interest is a huge problem today. But walk into any big-box outlet, restaurant or professional office and you might not even be acknowledged. Before I visit or work with any client, I remind myself, “This is a unique individual who deserves distinct treatment.”

2. Focus on the results, not the effort.
The sales game is not one of organizing, planning or meetings — it’s about getting results. Sales people often spend time kidding themselves about doing busy work and don’t get in front of customers who can buy their products.

Your success in selling is about getting results and that means getting your products into the hands of more customers. A great salesperson knows how to get the customer’s attention and present their product or service in a way that causes the customer to buy. Don’t confuse results with efforts. You don’t try to get an appointment — you either get it or you don’t.

3. Do the uncomfortable thing.
The best sales people I have ever known are willing to throw themselves into harms way. So convinced of their offer, they are willing to get in front of the tough customers, ask the hard questions and go for the close. Doing the uncomfortable thing is where the top performers live.

I always call my toughest clients first and keep calling on them long after everyone else has given up. Once a month, I make a list of our company’s most difficult customers and create an attack plan on how to get those accounts. The first month we incorporated this strategy, I landed one of the biggest deals of my career. You can’t bring the big deals home without getting into the deep waters where the big fish swim.

Related: Why So Many People Resist Networking and Miss Out

4. Wow the customer.
Great sales people look for ways to inspire a customer’s emotional involvement and create the urgency to take ownership. When you wow a customer you make a difference and cause them to want to hold onto that experience. You can take any product — even a boring one — and make it a wow presentation.

I once showed a client the glass doors on a home by demonstrating how they would be hurricane proof, slapping on both sides to evidence their construction quality. This immediately got the customer’s full attention and set apart the product and me from the competition. Average doesn’t pay in sales. Wow them with your presentation, your dress, your belief in the product and the service you offer.

Website Do’s and Don’ts

DO’S

• Do invest in creating and professional secure site for your business.
• Do keep it simple-too much content, page copy or too many calls to action will overwhelm your prospects.
• Do make it possible to contact you easily from your homepage.
• Do create a navigation bar and bucket your content by theme and importance to our client.
• Do use easy-to-read and simple colors and fonts.
• Do aim for at least 250 words of text per page with keywords included and 1-3 aspirational images.
• Do use Google Adwords Tool to determine the strategic keywords for your site SEO and copy.
• Do add your Social Buttons and link to your business blog to grow your brand awareness and generate fresh content on your site.

DON’TS

• Don’t underestimate the importance of a strong, easy-to-navigate site for generating more inquiries.
• Don’t publish irrelevant content including too many links, videos on auto-play and distracting external ads.
• Don’t make it hard for a prospect to find what they are looking for or they will leave within 10 seconds.
• Don’t use too many colors and distracting or hard-to-read fonts.
• Don’t include too much copy or images on each page, this will overwhelm your prospect and they will leave.
• Don’t Underestimate the power of strong SEO-follow the key on-page factors for SEO and think ‘client first’ when determining your keywords.
• Don’t forget to test what your website looks like from mobile devices, tablets, and across several internet browsers.
• Don’t exclude past clients testimonials from your site 72% of consumers trust online recommendations as much as personal ones.

About the Author

My name is Lissa Anderson I am a full time SEO consultant. I’ve been doing freelancing,web development,web designing & internet marketing stuff for more than 8 years. Now I am affiliate with one of the world’s largest online advertising company. If you need Increase your SALES or SEO contact me.