For many years, the major software development companies have only focused on just the development of software rather than caring enough for its ‘verification’ and ‘validation’. But with time and with the losses that companies have experienced because of faulty software, software testing has appeared as an extremely important part of the software development cycle. Successful testing is a critical concern for most of the software majors. While some leave it to their in-house human resources to take care of, some pay extra to hire trained staff, specifically skilled to take care of core software testing manually.
But before we go on to discuss about the keys to successful software testing, it is necessary to understand its importance. Software testing does not necessarily deal only with the inefficiencies of the software application or bugs within it. It rather safeguards the software from being labeled as defective – which may create a negative ripple on the market regarding the product as well as the parent company itself. When a company develops a product, the acceptance of the product among its target audience is a vital factor regulating its critical and commercial success. Therefore, preparing an assessment report is always a pre-requisite for a company before investing in a particular software product. This can, therefore, be considered as one of the primary points for successful software testing.
The second key to successful software testing reveals two important aspects - termed ‘verification’ and ‘validation’. It is the primary duty of software testers to point out whether the developed software has been designed keeping in mind the technical requirements (‘verification’) and whether it fulfils the client requirements (‘validation’) as well.
Individual companies have their own software testing guidelines. But in general, most of them adhere to an accepted list of points that have been listed below:
Software testing has to be planned much before the actual testing begins, possibly right from the inception of the software itself. Also to ensure the best results, an independent and unbiased third party should be handed the assignment of software testing.
A detailed test plan is chalked out with consistent strategies. The ‘Testbed’ is also created at this stage.
The testers are to start with specific areas, i.e. with a ‘small’ scope, and widen their scope (generalize) as they progress.
Defects and errors tend to be detected based on a common factor – staff inexperience or complexity of the software for instance. Targeting these areas will solve majority of the problem.
A set of tests are not to be run repetitively, since repetitive tests do not produce better results. Instead their error-detection capacity decreases with monotony. Alternate software testing methods should also be tried in parallel to the conventional tests to ensure better effect.
Successful software testing detects problems early, and saves fixing costs as well. This is because once the software is available to the users, fixing errors and implementing damage control can cost fortunes to the company.
Rechecking of defects by a fresh team of software testers, or after a considerable period of time.
‘Regression tests’ and proper documentation are also a vital part of successful software testing, as without these, debugging the software application would be impossible.
The last key to successful software testing is closing the test and saving all the output results, solutions, methods, and analysis reports for future reference.
And finally, no software can be completely tested and branded as 100% defect free. It is the acumen of the project managers to group and design test scenarios from the infinite set of test cases and do this with a risk based approach.
Successful software testing is all about providing quality products to consumers and eliminating possible bugs at each level. Always remember that a successful software testing program helps detecting yet-to-be-discovered errors, thereby, saving both grace and money for the parent company.
Courtesy: www.a1articles.com
Friday, July 30, 2010
Why Outsourcing Software Testing Services India?
Outsourcing software testing - while stressing high quality work you can count on - one should decide clearly whether it is really beneficial to outsource software testing. A growing trend among software companies is to focus on developing software, while outsourcing testing and validation. That is because outsourcing software testing offers touchable business benefits. These include independent assessment leading to enhanced delivery confidence, reduced time to market, lower infrastructure investment, predictable software quality and increased time to focus on designing better solutions.
In last few years many types of software testing methods have been developed to meet up with the various business requirements. In order to offer the best software solution, today it has become very important to execute the finest quality standards, software testing procedures and professionals indulged software development process have to constantly focus on enhancement of their software products. Thus the success of any software development directly depends upon software testing.
Dedicated Testing Services unit focuses on verification and validation of products and applications. Software testing team will work closely with you from the requirements analysis phase. Software Testing Services include Life cycle testing, Test automation and specialized testing.
There is Prominent Software Testing services include:
Industry analysts predict that during the second half of this decade, increases in software testing activity will be fuelled by software testing automation. Automated software testing services reduces the expenses of regression testing and also speeds up test turn around time. It provides ground for environment testing. Through automated testing we assist you to create test scripts, generate test data and analyze test logs.
What are the benefits of outsourcing software testing services?
Software testing services spanning the entire software release lifecycle. Software testing services help you deliver your software with confidence and compete better in the market. This includes formulating the test plan & test cases, execution, defect reporting, defect analysis, risk assessments and recommendations.
Courtesy: www.a1articles.com
In last few years many types of software testing methods have been developed to meet up with the various business requirements. In order to offer the best software solution, today it has become very important to execute the finest quality standards, software testing procedures and professionals indulged software development process have to constantly focus on enhancement of their software products. Thus the success of any software development directly depends upon software testing.
Dedicated Testing Services unit focuses on verification and validation of products and applications. Software testing team will work closely with you from the requirements analysis phase. Software Testing Services include Life cycle testing, Test automation and specialized testing.
There is Prominent Software Testing services include:
- Usability testing
- Regression testing
- Reliability testing
- White Box testing
- Documentation testing & verification
- Security testing
- Localization/Internationalization testing
- API/SDK testing
Industry analysts predict that during the second half of this decade, increases in software testing activity will be fuelled by software testing automation. Automated software testing services reduces the expenses of regression testing and also speeds up test turn around time. It provides ground for environment testing. Through automated testing we assist you to create test scripts, generate test data and analyze test logs.
What are the benefits of outsourcing software testing services?
- Minimized operating costs
- Documentation of testing processes
- Error-free software products
- Stringent quality assurance processes
- Quick turnaround time
- Experienced, trained and skilled software testing team
Software testing services spanning the entire software release lifecycle. Software testing services help you deliver your software with confidence and compete better in the market. This includes formulating the test plan & test cases, execution, defect reporting, defect analysis, risk assessments and recommendations.
Courtesy: www.a1articles.com
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Do you need to re-design?
As daunting of a task as it may seem, your website is your company’s image and needs to look presentable. Ask yourself, how long have I had my current web site design? If your answer is more than 3 years, then its time to start thinking redesign.
Courtesy: www.wpdfd.com
Web technology advancements are very rapid and every year the web breaks through with new and improved web applications, usability, design and back end programming. Car manufacturers often change their models every 3-5 years. Always introducing something new, more sleeker, faster, with better gas mileage etc. If the Honda Accord still looked the same as the one from the year 2000, their competition would definitely surpass them. But they still make minor changes every year to give their customers something new to look forward to. Just like cars, web sites also need a fresh design every once in a while. If you aren’t going to do it, your competitors will. Your site may look great to you, after all you approved on the design and paid for it, but in reality it may not be all that groovy.
You may ask, who is to say what looks good and what doesn’t. Well, nobody really. Even web designers differ in taste and may sometimes be on opposite ends of the spectrum. To do a quick reality check, look at some web sites throughout your industry. See what they offer, how they have designed it. Is it appealing to you? Do these sites give you ideas for your own? Does it bring out the competitive edge in you? Sure, some sites may make you feel just down right heroic inside. We aren’t saying your current website is super UGLY, although that maybe the case. That is why it is important to sit and evaluate your web site. No matter how great your product or service may be, if your web site doesn’t grab your potential customer’s attention within the first 3 seconds, they most likely will hit that infamous BACK button or close the browser all together. Sadly, web surfers aren't very patient and need something stimulating to look at once they hit that GO button.
- Evaluate your site’s usability, the look and feel and most importantly content and it’s placement.
- Send a quick survey to some of your customers and gather their input. Your customer will appreciate that you value their opinion and will gladly provide you with constructive feedback.
- If possible, contact a professional web design firm and ask them what they think. Actually, contact a few. Most web design companies will usually give you their professional opinion for free, with hopes that you select them as your service provider.
- Look through your site, and see how well it conveys your products and services to someone who knows nothing about it.
- Take a peek at your competitor’s Websites in your industry and other industries to obtain ideas.
- Ask yourself, was your site launched just because everyone else had one and forgotten, or does it really do something tangible?
- Get your hands on a web analytics report that tells you how many users have visited your site. You can usually obtain this by logging into your host’s website or by calling them. This can give you needed information on how many hits your site gets, where most of your viewers go and how long they stay. This is also a great tool to gain some insight on your next big marketing campaign.
Courtesy: www.wpdfd.com
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Top Five Ways to Make Your Site More Popular
The Web has grown into a real jungle, and finding cool new sites nowadays isn't always the easiest thing in the world. If you have a Website yourself, you're dealing with the other end of this issue. How do you get noticed online, and is there anything you can do to increase your popularity?
There certainly is! Here are the top five ways you can strengthen your site and increase your online visibility.
1. Strong Hosting
This first point is mostly important for those who don’t have their own Website yet but eagerly want to create one. After you have selected your domain name, the next step is to choose a hosting plan. There are many good, affordable alternatives, but what professionals usually recommend is specialized blog hosting. This form of Web hosting allows you to set up a professional-looking Website in no time at all. Why is this important to mention when it comes to making your site more popular? Well, without strong hosting, you won’t be able to handle a traffic to your new Website, which means you’ll have no chance at all of becoming well liked.
Of course, finding strong hosting is often easier said than done. The hosting industry has grown very popular in recent years, and this has lead to large numbers of companies offering various hosting services. But don’t be fooled by their tricky ways of making it sound as if they are the best in the industry. We would recommend you partner up with a company that has a strong reputation and experience in the business. You might start at Web Hosting Search for reviews and other information to help you find the right fit.
When it comes to hosting, you should compare the different features included with the plan. Make sure you are guaranteed at least 99.9% uptime and that customer support is easy to get hold of. You never know when you could need them. Likewise, it is also good to know exactly what kind of numbers in terms of disc space and bandwidth will you be allowed to use and manage. Some providers also forbid their clients to upload music or video files to their servers even if it is for personal use. It's important to ask customer support to resolve such issues before purchasing a plan. Some other things you might consider asking are whether your domain name registry information will be protected and how many different e-mail accounts will you be allowed to use as part of the hosting agreement.
2. Optimize Your Website
In order to be truly successful online, you will have to get a high ranking in search engines. To succeed in this, you should learn as much as you possibly can about search engine optimization (SEO). The subject of SEO is vast and can be quite daunting at first, but once you get the hang of it, you'll be able to see the benefits immediately and will probably wonder why you didn’t get started with it earlier. A few things you can do to get started are to make sure you're using the proper keywords and to write for your visitors as well as for search engines. Writing for search engines is important, since you want to get high rankings, and writing for visitors is of the essence because you want them to stick around and return to your Website.
When you are satisfied with the keywords and content on your site, it is time to start working with link building. Search engines determine much of the value of a certain page/site by looking at the number of inbound links. Link exchange is one of the most popular and successful ways to get a good rank on search engines, and it’s really easy to do. Simply visit a Website that you like and ask the Webmaster if they are interested in a link exchange — it doesn’t have to be any more complicated than that.
Having something interesting and distinctive on your page is a great way to attract potential link partners. For example, if you are running a Website about domain names, why not add a domain name availability checker to your homepage? It will most likely attract links from other sites related to the niche, and people will tend to come back again if they want to know whether a domain is available or not. Try to be extra creative to set yourself apart from competitors.
3. Take Advantage of Social Media Optimization
Even though SEO should be a big part of your site optimization, it shouldn’t end there. Social Media Optimization is probably just as important, since it’s one of the strongest marketing tools available today. A social media optimization campaign should include a few different things. First, make sure the content on your site or blog is relevant to your topic and not out of date. Visit similar sites and join the discussion in leaving comments on posts/articles — don’t be afraid to say what's on your mind. Make yourself visible on Facebook and MySpace. Three other sites that can be useful for social media optimization are Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube. The two latter ones are not always applicable. Make sure you only take advantage of them when the time is right — you might do more harm than good if you don’t.
Obviously, don’t forget to include outbound links to your Website on any social media site you utilize. Even if your link has a "nofollow" attribute attached to it (e.g. like in Facebook), you will still attract new visitors and potential customers to the site. Lastly, your campaign should be built on friendly platforms, such as CoffeeCup Flash™ Blogger, which make it easy to create and edit content.
4. Get Your Visitors Involved
A crucial point to make your site grow in the number of visitors is by getting them involved. Try to write in a personal style, and don’t be afraid to leave an open question. If this shouldn’t do it, why not hold a contest? This will most likely get people talking about your site. The prize doesn’t have to cost a fortune, since people like to compete regardless of what the award is — it's human nature.
Other easy ways of getting your visitors involved is by including a forum on your site or the possibility to comment on your posts/articles. Everyone wants to express their own personal ideas and thoughts on topics, and by allowing them doing so, you also increase the chance of visitors returning to see how was their feedback appreciated. As an added bonus, if the topic is extra popular, the discussion could attract interest from other Websites as well!
5. Emphasize Usability in Your Design
Investing in a good design is more important than some people seem to think. With a beautiful design, you will grow in trust among your readers/visitors. An important fact to remember is not over-designing the Website. It doesn’t matter how many hours you’ve put into designing the site if no one understands how to use it. Let some non-Internet-savvy friends navigate through your Website before launching it at a full scale. If they find it easy, so will the rest of your visitors.
It is difficult to say exactly what makes a beautiful and functional design. What looks good to one person might seem terrible for another. However, there are basic trends in Web design, and if you follow these, you can be sure to please most of your visitors. A few popular Web design trends for 2009 are multi-column layouts, large illustrations, and lots of white space.
If you wish to stay on the safe side, then it is a good call to make the layout and design features on the page easily accessible and simple to understand. Try to use standard coding and avoid over-the-top Flash animations. Some people may have browser settings that prevent them from viewing Flash, which means you might lose valuable visitors. Try to think how the visitor thinks, and your Website will grow more popular and respected day after day.
Courtesy: www.wpdfd.com
There certainly is! Here are the top five ways you can strengthen your site and increase your online visibility.
1. Strong Hosting
This first point is mostly important for those who don’t have their own Website yet but eagerly want to create one. After you have selected your domain name, the next step is to choose a hosting plan. There are many good, affordable alternatives, but what professionals usually recommend is specialized blog hosting. This form of Web hosting allows you to set up a professional-looking Website in no time at all. Why is this important to mention when it comes to making your site more popular? Well, without strong hosting, you won’t be able to handle a traffic to your new Website, which means you’ll have no chance at all of becoming well liked.
Of course, finding strong hosting is often easier said than done. The hosting industry has grown very popular in recent years, and this has lead to large numbers of companies offering various hosting services. But don’t be fooled by their tricky ways of making it sound as if they are the best in the industry. We would recommend you partner up with a company that has a strong reputation and experience in the business. You might start at Web Hosting Search for reviews and other information to help you find the right fit.
When it comes to hosting, you should compare the different features included with the plan. Make sure you are guaranteed at least 99.9% uptime and that customer support is easy to get hold of. You never know when you could need them. Likewise, it is also good to know exactly what kind of numbers in terms of disc space and bandwidth will you be allowed to use and manage. Some providers also forbid their clients to upload music or video files to their servers even if it is for personal use. It's important to ask customer support to resolve such issues before purchasing a plan. Some other things you might consider asking are whether your domain name registry information will be protected and how many different e-mail accounts will you be allowed to use as part of the hosting agreement.
2. Optimize Your Website
In order to be truly successful online, you will have to get a high ranking in search engines. To succeed in this, you should learn as much as you possibly can about search engine optimization (SEO). The subject of SEO is vast and can be quite daunting at first, but once you get the hang of it, you'll be able to see the benefits immediately and will probably wonder why you didn’t get started with it earlier. A few things you can do to get started are to make sure you're using the proper keywords and to write for your visitors as well as for search engines. Writing for search engines is important, since you want to get high rankings, and writing for visitors is of the essence because you want them to stick around and return to your Website.
When you are satisfied with the keywords and content on your site, it is time to start working with link building. Search engines determine much of the value of a certain page/site by looking at the number of inbound links. Link exchange is one of the most popular and successful ways to get a good rank on search engines, and it’s really easy to do. Simply visit a Website that you like and ask the Webmaster if they are interested in a link exchange — it doesn’t have to be any more complicated than that.
Having something interesting and distinctive on your page is a great way to attract potential link partners. For example, if you are running a Website about domain names, why not add a domain name availability checker to your homepage? It will most likely attract links from other sites related to the niche, and people will tend to come back again if they want to know whether a domain is available or not. Try to be extra creative to set yourself apart from competitors.
3. Take Advantage of Social Media Optimization
Even though SEO should be a big part of your site optimization, it shouldn’t end there. Social Media Optimization is probably just as important, since it’s one of the strongest marketing tools available today. A social media optimization campaign should include a few different things. First, make sure the content on your site or blog is relevant to your topic and not out of date. Visit similar sites and join the discussion in leaving comments on posts/articles — don’t be afraid to say what's on your mind. Make yourself visible on Facebook and MySpace. Three other sites that can be useful for social media optimization are Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube. The two latter ones are not always applicable. Make sure you only take advantage of them when the time is right — you might do more harm than good if you don’t.
Obviously, don’t forget to include outbound links to your Website on any social media site you utilize. Even if your link has a "nofollow" attribute attached to it (e.g. like in Facebook), you will still attract new visitors and potential customers to the site. Lastly, your campaign should be built on friendly platforms, such as CoffeeCup Flash™ Blogger, which make it easy to create and edit content.
4. Get Your Visitors Involved
A crucial point to make your site grow in the number of visitors is by getting them involved. Try to write in a personal style, and don’t be afraid to leave an open question. If this shouldn’t do it, why not hold a contest? This will most likely get people talking about your site. The prize doesn’t have to cost a fortune, since people like to compete regardless of what the award is — it's human nature.
Other easy ways of getting your visitors involved is by including a forum on your site or the possibility to comment on your posts/articles. Everyone wants to express their own personal ideas and thoughts on topics, and by allowing them doing so, you also increase the chance of visitors returning to see how was their feedback appreciated. As an added bonus, if the topic is extra popular, the discussion could attract interest from other Websites as well!
5. Emphasize Usability in Your Design
Investing in a good design is more important than some people seem to think. With a beautiful design, you will grow in trust among your readers/visitors. An important fact to remember is not over-designing the Website. It doesn’t matter how many hours you’ve put into designing the site if no one understands how to use it. Let some non-Internet-savvy friends navigate through your Website before launching it at a full scale. If they find it easy, so will the rest of your visitors.
It is difficult to say exactly what makes a beautiful and functional design. What looks good to one person might seem terrible for another. However, there are basic trends in Web design, and if you follow these, you can be sure to please most of your visitors. A few popular Web design trends for 2009 are multi-column layouts, large illustrations, and lots of white space.
If you wish to stay on the safe side, then it is a good call to make the layout and design features on the page easily accessible and simple to understand. Try to use standard coding and avoid over-the-top Flash animations. Some people may have browser settings that prevent them from viewing Flash, which means you might lose valuable visitors. Try to think how the visitor thinks, and your Website will grow more popular and respected day after day.
Courtesy: www.wpdfd.com
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Website Ranking With the Search Engine
Search engine optimization is the main way you should use to increase your internet based business traffic, the basic relation for that is the higher the ranking of this engine the more traffic is likely to pass through. Content should be unique and full of keywords and with the on page optimization set up for your website; this should attract the search engines bots to index it quickly.
The basic to SEO is content. This means any website which aspires to get top rankings and increase traffic has to have good, valuable content which are search engine friendly. You no longer write as you please.
Without the ranking accompanying your traffic, your website is as good as dead, regardless of how great your services or products are. Here are some tips to help you and your website to rank well and start getting endless supply of your targeted traffic from Bing Search Engine.
On the other hand, intense competition has made it very difficult for the websites to achieve those desirable high SEO rankings. As web masters does not know the way of working of web crawlers, SEO professionals of any good search engine marketing firm must be hired by the web masters to achieve higher SEO rankings.
The appropriate keyword density will help in the right optimization of the website without drawing the suspicion of spam. Apart from spreading these keywords in the article, you may include them in the heading and link of the website as well for better results.
Search engine optimization is the most important as well as necessary tool to improve your website ranking. Take time enough to analyze the follies in your website design and also check for any kind of deficiencies in the coding that can deter your website ranking.
Content management is another search engine marketing tip that can boost your business's prospects immensely. Through content management you can constantly update all the information in your site.
Once the page was stored on the search engines server a second program, called an indexer, extracted additional information from the webpage, and determines the weight of specific words.
The process may also depend on the original structure of your website. If your website uses templates that are not easily read by crawlers, for instance, this set of SEO techniques will go the extra mile to make sure that your pages are indexed by adding other website components.
The content of the website should also be constantly updated in order to achieve a higher ranking on the search engine. Contents should also be unique in order to improve on search ranking. A VA can update your website on a daily basis and keep track of the keywords or phrases being used to write each content or page of the website.
Once you determine the right keywords from your keyword research you will use them to drive highly targeted organic traffic to your website. If you know how to use SEO effectively you can significantly improve your website's ranking with the search engines and help your targeted audience to find your product or service.
Courtesy: www.goarticles.com
The basic to SEO is content. This means any website which aspires to get top rankings and increase traffic has to have good, valuable content which are search engine friendly. You no longer write as you please.
Without the ranking accompanying your traffic, your website is as good as dead, regardless of how great your services or products are. Here are some tips to help you and your website to rank well and start getting endless supply of your targeted traffic from Bing Search Engine.
On the other hand, intense competition has made it very difficult for the websites to achieve those desirable high SEO rankings. As web masters does not know the way of working of web crawlers, SEO professionals of any good search engine marketing firm must be hired by the web masters to achieve higher SEO rankings.
The appropriate keyword density will help in the right optimization of the website without drawing the suspicion of spam. Apart from spreading these keywords in the article, you may include them in the heading and link of the website as well for better results.
Search engine optimization is the most important as well as necessary tool to improve your website ranking. Take time enough to analyze the follies in your website design and also check for any kind of deficiencies in the coding that can deter your website ranking.
Content management is another search engine marketing tip that can boost your business's prospects immensely. Through content management you can constantly update all the information in your site.
Once the page was stored on the search engines server a second program, called an indexer, extracted additional information from the webpage, and determines the weight of specific words.
The process may also depend on the original structure of your website. If your website uses templates that are not easily read by crawlers, for instance, this set of SEO techniques will go the extra mile to make sure that your pages are indexed by adding other website components.
The content of the website should also be constantly updated in order to achieve a higher ranking on the search engine. Contents should also be unique in order to improve on search ranking. A VA can update your website on a daily basis and keep track of the keywords or phrases being used to write each content or page of the website.
Once you determine the right keywords from your keyword research you will use them to drive highly targeted organic traffic to your website. If you know how to use SEO effectively you can significantly improve your website's ranking with the search engines and help your targeted audience to find your product or service.
Courtesy: www.goarticles.com
Yahoo Now Including Bing Results - Tips for Optimizing
Yahoo has begun testing organic and paid search listings from Microsoft. Up to 25% of its search traffic in the U.S. may see organic listings from Microsoft, and up to 3.5% may see paid listings from Microsoft ad-Center. I guess you could say that the early stages of the Search Alliance's transition have begun.
"The primary change for these tests is that the listings are coming from Microsoft," says Yahoo's VP of Search Product Operations, Kartik Ramakrishnan. "However, the overall page should look the same as the Yahoo! Search you're used to – with rich content and unique tools and features from Yahoo!. If you happen to fall into our tests, you might also notice some differences in how we’re displaying select search results due to a variety of product configurations we are testing."
Yahoo provides the following example, in which the Microsoft-powered parts are represented by the boxes:
As far as SEO is concerned, the Yahoo Search Marketing Team provides the following tips for organic search:
1. Compare your organic search rankings on Yahoo! Search and Bing for the keywords that work best for you.
2. Decide if you’d like to modify your paid search campaigns to compensate for any changes in organic referrals that you anticipate.
3. Review the Bing webmaster tools and optimize your website for the Microsoft platform crawler, as Bing listings will be displayed for approximately 30% of search queries after this change, according to comScore.
Microsoft's Satya Nadella also says that "now is a good time for you to review your crawl policies in your robots.txt and ensure that you have identical polices for the msnbot/Bingbot and Yahoo’s bots. Just to note, you should not see an increase in bingbot traffic as a result of the transition."
The Bingbot is designed to crawl non-optimized sties more easily. The new Bingbot will replace the existing msnbot in October. More on this here.
Also note that the new Bing Webmaster Tools experience is live. This has been completely redone with a bunch of new features (and more features to come). Bing Webmaster Tools Senior Product Manager Anthony M. Garcia summarizes:
The redesigned Bing Webmaster Tools provide you a simplified, more intuitive experience focused on three key areas: crawl, index and traffic. New features, such as Index Explorer and Submit URLs, provide a more comprehensive view as well as better control over how Bing crawls and indexes your sites. Index Explorer gives you unprecedented access to browse through the Bing index in order to verify which of your directories and pages have been included. Submit URLs gives you the ability to signal which URLs Bing should add to the index. Other new features include: Crawl Issues to view details on redirects, malware, and exclusions encountered while crawling sites; and Block URLs to prevent specific URLs from appearing in Bing search engine results pages. In addition, the new tools take advantage of Microsoft Silverlight 4 to deliver rich charting functionality that will help you quickly analyze up to six months of crawling, indexing, and traffic data. That means more transparency and more control to help you make decisions, which optimize your sites for Bing.
WebProNews spoke with Janet Driscoll Miller of Search Mojo out at SMX a while back. She had presented on the topic of Bing SEO vs. Organic SEO. As she notes, some businesses actually see better results from Bing than they do from Google, and when Yahoo starts fully using Bing for search, Bing's share of the search market is going to grow dramatically (it also powers search in Facebook, let's not forget).
Yahoo will be integrating Microsoft's mobile organic and paid listings in the U.S. and Canada in the coming months. The company anticipates that U.S. and Canada organic listings in both the desktop and mobile versions of its search will be fully powered by Microsoft as early as August or September. This of course depends on how the testing goes.
Yahoo and Microsoft have created new joint editorial guidelines for advertisers that will become effective in early August.
As we've discussed, Bing optimization is about to get more important, and now the time has come to really look at your Bing strategy if you've not already been doing so.
http://www.webpronews.com
"The primary change for these tests is that the listings are coming from Microsoft," says Yahoo's VP of Search Product Operations, Kartik Ramakrishnan. "However, the overall page should look the same as the Yahoo! Search you're used to – with rich content and unique tools and features from Yahoo!. If you happen to fall into our tests, you might also notice some differences in how we’re displaying select search results due to a variety of product configurations we are testing."
Yahoo provides the following example, in which the Microsoft-powered parts are represented by the boxes:
As far as SEO is concerned, the Yahoo Search Marketing Team provides the following tips for organic search:
1. Compare your organic search rankings on Yahoo! Search and Bing for the keywords that work best for you.
2. Decide if you’d like to modify your paid search campaigns to compensate for any changes in organic referrals that you anticipate.
3. Review the Bing webmaster tools and optimize your website for the Microsoft platform crawler, as Bing listings will be displayed for approximately 30% of search queries after this change, according to comScore.
Microsoft's Satya Nadella also says that "now is a good time for you to review your crawl policies in your robots.txt and ensure that you have identical polices for the msnbot/Bingbot and Yahoo’s bots. Just to note, you should not see an increase in bingbot traffic as a result of the transition."
The Bingbot is designed to crawl non-optimized sties more easily. The new Bingbot will replace the existing msnbot in October. More on this here.
Also note that the new Bing Webmaster Tools experience is live. This has been completely redone with a bunch of new features (and more features to come). Bing Webmaster Tools Senior Product Manager Anthony M. Garcia summarizes:
The redesigned Bing Webmaster Tools provide you a simplified, more intuitive experience focused on three key areas: crawl, index and traffic. New features, such as Index Explorer and Submit URLs, provide a more comprehensive view as well as better control over how Bing crawls and indexes your sites. Index Explorer gives you unprecedented access to browse through the Bing index in order to verify which of your directories and pages have been included. Submit URLs gives you the ability to signal which URLs Bing should add to the index. Other new features include: Crawl Issues to view details on redirects, malware, and exclusions encountered while crawling sites; and Block URLs to prevent specific URLs from appearing in Bing search engine results pages. In addition, the new tools take advantage of Microsoft Silverlight 4 to deliver rich charting functionality that will help you quickly analyze up to six months of crawling, indexing, and traffic data. That means more transparency and more control to help you make decisions, which optimize your sites for Bing.
WebProNews spoke with Janet Driscoll Miller of Search Mojo out at SMX a while back. She had presented on the topic of Bing SEO vs. Organic SEO. As she notes, some businesses actually see better results from Bing than they do from Google, and when Yahoo starts fully using Bing for search, Bing's share of the search market is going to grow dramatically (it also powers search in Facebook, let's not forget).
Yahoo will be integrating Microsoft's mobile organic and paid listings in the U.S. and Canada in the coming months. The company anticipates that U.S. and Canada organic listings in both the desktop and mobile versions of its search will be fully powered by Microsoft as early as August or September. This of course depends on how the testing goes.
Yahoo and Microsoft have created new joint editorial guidelines for advertisers that will become effective in early August.
As we've discussed, Bing optimization is about to get more important, and now the time has come to really look at your Bing strategy if you've not already been doing so.
http://www.webpronews.com
An Introduction FBML: (Facebook Markup Language)
I thought it would be a good idea to go over some of the basics for using FBML. While its not difficult to implement, it can be a little confusing if you’re new to programming or you’ve not programmed with this language before.
For starters, FBML stands for Facebook Markup Language and it works a lot like HTML. Honestly, the biggest difference between the two is that you do not need to include , and tags. Facebook applications rendered with FBML are essentially extensions of the page already, so those tags are already included on the page. Also, depending on what you want your application is or will do; you may not want to use FBML.
So when should you use FBML? For one, if you plan to work on Facebook a lot it can be useful to know a little something about it so you’re prepared for anything. FBML is also very useful for applications that are not external websites and for those that aren’t going to be anywhere else.
What about using iframe? You should use iframe if you already have an external website up and running and simply want to put it on Facebook, too. If you’ve got a lot of Javascript already in place, transforming it into FBJS (Facebook Javascript) will be a hassle. Javascript does not work in an FBML canvas application until it’s been transformed to FBJS.
Facebook suggests you use iframe if you are new to programming; I disagree completely. I find FBML to be far less complex for new users. Using FBML extends far beyond the simple connection with HTML. Facebook utilizes their own Javascript and Ajax objects, both of which are very simple to use, but those will be covered in later posts. Simply put, FBML is much friendlier to new users than iframe will be.
Now, there are a few things you can’t do in FBML that you can with HTML… well, a lot of things. This page in the Facebook Developer Wiki covers all the different tags you can and can’t use here and there. Another thing, if you need a tag that isn’t listed as available there don’t use FBML.
New programmers aren’t going to use a lot of complex HTML tags so FBML doesn’t hurt them there, plus you don’t have to deal with sessions in FBML (Facebook handles it for you). That’s half of why I recommend FBML to new developers. It can hurt experienced developers though, as it may remove some functionality from your applications. It’s also a little odd to go from something you’ve known for quite a while and switch gears to something different. A minor inconvenience in FBML is that you must specify the full web address to items with the ‘src’ attribute (though its good practice to do that in any language).
So what gives an edge, or any for that matter, over good ol’ HTML? It’s simplicity. There are a TON of FBML tags you can add into your application, many of which are not supported outside of an FBML canvas application. Many of these tags add a lot of functionality to your applications. Take a look for yourself.
The other half of why I recommend FBML to new developers? Facebook has essentially “dumbed down” Ajax for one. They’ve simplified Javascript, but the Ajax Facebook utilizes is one of the simplest and easiest tools to learn and use. I find this a great way to introduce Ajax to new developers. At a later date when those developers move on to websites outside of Facebook, they already understand a little bit about how Ajax works and it’s that much easier to learn. All in all, I tend to think of FBML as a “gateway language”.
So let’s recap:
Who should use FBML?
Who should use iframe?
For starters, FBML stands for Facebook Markup Language and it works a lot like HTML. Honestly, the biggest difference between the two is that you do not need to include , and tags. Facebook applications rendered with FBML are essentially extensions of the page already, so those tags are already included on the page. Also, depending on what you want your application is or will do; you may not want to use FBML.
So when should you use FBML? For one, if you plan to work on Facebook a lot it can be useful to know a little something about it so you’re prepared for anything. FBML is also very useful for applications that are not external websites and for those that aren’t going to be anywhere else.
What about using iframe? You should use iframe if you already have an external website up and running and simply want to put it on Facebook, too. If you’ve got a lot of Javascript already in place, transforming it into FBJS (Facebook Javascript) will be a hassle. Javascript does not work in an FBML canvas application until it’s been transformed to FBJS.
Facebook suggests you use iframe if you are new to programming; I disagree completely. I find FBML to be far less complex for new users. Using FBML extends far beyond the simple connection with HTML. Facebook utilizes their own Javascript and Ajax objects, both of which are very simple to use, but those will be covered in later posts. Simply put, FBML is much friendlier to new users than iframe will be.
Now, there are a few things you can’t do in FBML that you can with HTML… well, a lot of things. This page in the Facebook Developer Wiki covers all the different tags you can and can’t use here and there. Another thing, if you need a tag that isn’t listed as available there don’t use FBML.
New programmers aren’t going to use a lot of complex HTML tags so FBML doesn’t hurt them there, plus you don’t have to deal with sessions in FBML (Facebook handles it for you). That’s half of why I recommend FBML to new developers. It can hurt experienced developers though, as it may remove some functionality from your applications. It’s also a little odd to go from something you’ve known for quite a while and switch gears to something different. A minor inconvenience in FBML is that you must specify the full web address to items with the ‘src’ attribute (though its good practice to do that in any language).
So what gives an edge, or any for that matter, over good ol’ HTML? It’s simplicity. There are a TON of FBML tags you can add into your application, many of which are not supported outside of an FBML canvas application. Many of these tags add a lot of functionality to your applications. Take a look for yourself.
The other half of why I recommend FBML to new developers? Facebook has essentially “dumbed down” Ajax for one. They’ve simplified Javascript, but the Ajax Facebook utilizes is one of the simplest and easiest tools to learn and use. I find this a great way to introduce Ajax to new developers. At a later date when those developers move on to websites outside of Facebook, they already understand a little bit about how Ajax works and it’s that much easier to learn. All in all, I tend to think of FBML as a “gateway language”.
So let’s recap:
Who should use FBML?
- Developers new to programming.
- Developers who only plan to use their application on Facebook.
- Developers with simple applications.
Who should use iframe?
- Developers who already have an external website up containing the application content.
- Experienced developers.
- Developers who plan to expand to other social networking sites with their application.
- Developers with complex applications.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Website Necessity and Advertisement
Today almost every business has a website to represent them on the web. It's one of the most useful tools for any business that wants to expand their services and products beyond their doors. It's a wonderful way for people to discover what you have to offer as well as you can also offer services that can be done directly online. Communication is much easier and you increase the chances of being reviewed, seen, and also the chances of increasing your customer base. A website is the first step to advancing your advertisement campaign. You will first need a good web designer that can do both an attractive and user friendly web design for your website as well as do the proper research so it has good search engine optimization. Once you have the website set up, you will need to let people know about it so you start getting traffic through it.
Knowing the kind of audience you want to attract to your website is vital when it comes to web design. This you will need to discuss with your web designer in order to get the best results. You will need to make a simple enough design that anyone can navigate through, yet it should also be very attractive to keep them interested and wanting for more. Another very important part of a websites web design is the search engine optimization.
This is the way a website is built to attract search engine spiders as well as searchers. You want it to have plenty of content that is related to your company's services and products, as well as lots of relevant links coming into your website as well as going out. Having proper search engine optimization will make your web site a success and your web design will keep the searchers which it brings in.
Once you have created the website and are satisfied with the web design and see results from the search engine optimization, it's time to let everyone know. A website is just a random page on the web unless people know about it and have an interest in visiting it. This is when email marketing comes in. First out together all of the emails you have collected over the lifetime of your business. These can be current customers, associates, or anyone that has taken interest in your company. Then collect all the email of friends and family, look through your social media pages and see anyone that may be interested in what your company has to offer. Once you have gathered this information you can start with email marketing. Send out an email notifying every one of your new website and any other news about your company.
Today a business really can't survive if it doesn't have a website to back it up. Many people rely on finding companies they want to work with via the internet, so it's logical they will most likely work with someone else because they will not have access to you. Also, it's the perfect way to advertise and increase traffic to your company without them even stepping over the threshold. Email marketing helps bring already people interested in your company to your website and possibly in the future increase traffic and customer base by creating a mailing list with potential customers.
Courtesy: www.goarticles.com
Knowing the kind of audience you want to attract to your website is vital when it comes to web design. This you will need to discuss with your web designer in order to get the best results. You will need to make a simple enough design that anyone can navigate through, yet it should also be very attractive to keep them interested and wanting for more. Another very important part of a websites web design is the search engine optimization.
This is the way a website is built to attract search engine spiders as well as searchers. You want it to have plenty of content that is related to your company's services and products, as well as lots of relevant links coming into your website as well as going out. Having proper search engine optimization will make your web site a success and your web design will keep the searchers which it brings in.
Once you have created the website and are satisfied with the web design and see results from the search engine optimization, it's time to let everyone know. A website is just a random page on the web unless people know about it and have an interest in visiting it. This is when email marketing comes in. First out together all of the emails you have collected over the lifetime of your business. These can be current customers, associates, or anyone that has taken interest in your company. Then collect all the email of friends and family, look through your social media pages and see anyone that may be interested in what your company has to offer. Once you have gathered this information you can start with email marketing. Send out an email notifying every one of your new website and any other news about your company.
Today a business really can't survive if it doesn't have a website to back it up. Many people rely on finding companies they want to work with via the internet, so it's logical they will most likely work with someone else because they will not have access to you. Also, it's the perfect way to advertise and increase traffic to your company without them even stepping over the threshold. Email marketing helps bring already people interested in your company to your website and possibly in the future increase traffic and customer base by creating a mailing list with potential customers.
Courtesy: www.goarticles.com
Planning SEO into your Content Creation System
Many web developers think of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) as a step to be done only after a website is completed. Nothing could be further from the truth. While there are many viable SEO methods that can be applied to any completed site the most effective SEO practices are those included in the structure of the site itself.
Among the most obvious factors to consider when planning the SEO of a site under construction are the tags. Specifically each page should have title tag, Meta description tag and image alt tags all created with your keywords in mind. This is not a suggestion to spam these fields with keywords and keyword variations; rather you should develop a plan with your content creation team on how to tag all your pages creatively, accurately and with the appropriate keywords. It's important to keep in mind the idea that every page should vary slightly in its tags as Google tends too look unfavorably on multiple pages with duplicate Meta and title tags, but more importantly this is the first step in establishing a strong deep-linking strategy. By making sure each page is tagged properly and accurately you can take advantage of your secondary and tertiary keywords and keyword combinations as well as exploiting long-tail niche marketing.
When it comes to the actual content creation there are a number of highly effective strategies which are frequently over-looked by web-developers. Among the most neglected SEO strategies is the proper use of Headings. Google looks to text tagged H1 as being representative of the content found on a particular page. Therefore it is extremely important to include at least one heading (labeled H1) which contains your primary keywords. To fully exploit this opportunity you can go on to include text tagged H2 - H5 for secondary and tertiary keywords or niche keyword combination. Proper use of the heading strategy not only allows search engines to correctly index your site and give you credit for your deep links but it also helps increase unique instances of your keywords which benefits your overall site page rank.
Images are another, often ignored source of SEO benefit. Starting first with the naming of your image files themselves, be sure to use complete descriptive phrases in your file names (I.E. red_keyword_example.jpg) instead of the space-saving shorthand many graphic designers favor. Once the images are embedded in the page (or while you are doing the embedding) make sure to use the same descriptive, SEO-minded keyword approach by labeling images with Alt tags. It's important to be accurate and not just throw in inappropriate keywords either in the Alt tag or the filename. Remember, although you may feel like you are trying to put one over on the search engine your ultimate goal is to benefit yourself by helping visitors find you via true, valuable information.
The textual content of your page is an area ripe for enrichment with SEO content. Many companies now employ copywriters versed in SEO writing for the intent purpose of making certain their text contains just the right keyword density. While no SEO agency claims to know the exact formula of Google's keyword density algorithm most SEO experts agree there is such a thing as going too far. A good rule of thumb is readability. If your text appears 'stuffed' with keywords it will be obvious to a casual reader. A good SEO copywriter will know how to keep this stuffing under control but not neglecting opportunities to introduce the right words and phrases. Some experts go as far as suggesting a low, but safe keyword density count of somewhere between 4% and 6%. The logic being a low-ball density ranking is still better than being blocked (or punitively reduced in rank) for appearing over-optimized.
Internal links can be a very effective method of increasing overall keyword density. By changing link text from innocuous phrases like 'click here' to a more appealing call to action such as 'more keyword here' you not only influence the ranking of the page you are creating but also the page you are linking to. However you should be careful to avoid the overuse of links in the body text itself as it appears clunky and too much of it can cause negative ranking from the Google spider.
Courtesy: www.goarticles.com
Among the most obvious factors to consider when planning the SEO of a site under construction are the tags. Specifically each page should have title tag, Meta description tag and image alt tags all created with your keywords in mind. This is not a suggestion to spam these fields with keywords and keyword variations; rather you should develop a plan with your content creation team on how to tag all your pages creatively, accurately and with the appropriate keywords. It's important to keep in mind the idea that every page should vary slightly in its tags as Google tends too look unfavorably on multiple pages with duplicate Meta and title tags, but more importantly this is the first step in establishing a strong deep-linking strategy. By making sure each page is tagged properly and accurately you can take advantage of your secondary and tertiary keywords and keyword combinations as well as exploiting long-tail niche marketing.
When it comes to the actual content creation there are a number of highly effective strategies which are frequently over-looked by web-developers. Among the most neglected SEO strategies is the proper use of Headings. Google looks to text tagged H1 as being representative of the content found on a particular page. Therefore it is extremely important to include at least one heading (labeled H1) which contains your primary keywords. To fully exploit this opportunity you can go on to include text tagged H2 - H5 for secondary and tertiary keywords or niche keyword combination. Proper use of the heading strategy not only allows search engines to correctly index your site and give you credit for your deep links but it also helps increase unique instances of your keywords which benefits your overall site page rank.
Images are another, often ignored source of SEO benefit. Starting first with the naming of your image files themselves, be sure to use complete descriptive phrases in your file names (I.E. red_keyword_example.jpg) instead of the space-saving shorthand many graphic designers favor. Once the images are embedded in the page (or while you are doing the embedding) make sure to use the same descriptive, SEO-minded keyword approach by labeling images with Alt tags. It's important to be accurate and not just throw in inappropriate keywords either in the Alt tag or the filename. Remember, although you may feel like you are trying to put one over on the search engine your ultimate goal is to benefit yourself by helping visitors find you via true, valuable information.
The textual content of your page is an area ripe for enrichment with SEO content. Many companies now employ copywriters versed in SEO writing for the intent purpose of making certain their text contains just the right keyword density. While no SEO agency claims to know the exact formula of Google's keyword density algorithm most SEO experts agree there is such a thing as going too far. A good rule of thumb is readability. If your text appears 'stuffed' with keywords it will be obvious to a casual reader. A good SEO copywriter will know how to keep this stuffing under control but not neglecting opportunities to introduce the right words and phrases. Some experts go as far as suggesting a low, but safe keyword density count of somewhere between 4% and 6%. The logic being a low-ball density ranking is still better than being blocked (or punitively reduced in rank) for appearing over-optimized.
Internal links can be a very effective method of increasing overall keyword density. By changing link text from innocuous phrases like 'click here' to a more appealing call to action such as 'more keyword here' you not only influence the ranking of the page you are creating but also the page you are linking to. However you should be careful to avoid the overuse of links in the body text itself as it appears clunky and too much of it can cause negative ranking from the Google spider.
Courtesy: www.goarticles.com
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Major Web Design Challenges of the Future
With a title like this, one might think that there is a consensus among computer, networking and communications professionals as to what these three challenges are. This is not the case, of course. There are many, many challenges for Web designers (past, present and future) and those who stay abreast of high-tech industries could make many lengthy lists. However, there really are just a handful of truly troubling prospects, and this article will introduce you to what truly are three major Web design challenges of the future. There are others, but no one would discount the importance of the three discussed here.
1. Standards: Apple and Adobe are at war, figuratively speaking, over the fact that Apple will not make its iPhone Flash compatible. Not only that, the new Apple developer kit agreement forbids application makers from using non-Apple tools to make iPhone apps. This is a direct slap in the face to Adobe, whose new Creative Studio 5 includes tools for making Flash-based and other apps for Apple's mega-best-selling phone. The larger issue that it points up is that of standards. We are supposed to see video, animation and Flash-like functionality from the upcoming HTML 5. (Upcoming? Our interest is up, but when is it coming?)
If this sort of behavior metastasizes throughout the associated industries, the fluid and predictable nature of Web use may change. It would be hard, especially for small firms, to create various versions of its applications for different devices. Perhaps a few years ago, people would have wondered what the Web, and Web designers, had to do with phones. Today, however, a growing fraction of Web surfing is being done from a wide range of mobile devices. Standards create a predictable, stable environment, and the sooner the next multimedia-centric set is adopted widely, the better.
2. Color calibration: With the number of different devices displaying Web pages, whether the standard pages or alternatives made for some phone displays, there is no simple way to ensure color consistency. At the dawn of the Web (so long ago for some, just yesterday for others) it was common for some publishers to produce two layouts, one in the CMYK four-color space for printing, the other in the computer-monitor RGB color space. (CMYK refers to the four colors Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and black that is used in process color printing. RGB means Red, Green and Blue, the colors that monitors and other displays use.) However, it is not only the color space that affects the way color is perceived, the kind of display matters, too.
Today there are all kinds of different displays (LCD, LED, OLED, TFT, etc.) of all different sizes, some glossy and some matte, and the variation in color display is dramatic. Web designers used to spend tremendous amounts of time producing variations of sites for different displays (computer monitors, mobile phones, TVs, even in-dash car units). Some still do. Others are attempting to find the best single color scheme for their sites, one that will display at least acceptably precise colors on a multiplicity of displays. There is no easy answer to this one, as there are so many variables. Until a new, cross-platform and device-independent color calibration standard is in place, there is nothing else to do but the best possible job with the current tools, techniques and technologies.
3. Displays: In addition to having an impact on the colors used by Web designers, different displays present a problem of what is called screen real estate. If you do not prepare and deploy different sites for different platforms, you will have a site that displays properly in only one place, more than likely the computer monitor. However, mobile Web surfing from small-screen netbooks, handhelds, iPads and smart phones is growing fast, and may one day (soon) move from a strong second to first place in page views.
There is great progress being made in interposing some software routines between the site and the receiver's display, so that the correct size parameters and design alternatives will be presented depending on the size of that display. That part of the problem is being solved, perhaps, but there are other display technologies coming that will present other hurdles. Displays that are 3D, flexible and/or capable of being rolled up in a tube will have properties (and present problems) we do not even know about yet. A major issue with portable displays of every kind, of course, is how they look in sunlight, shade, changing conditions and at different viewing angles. There is an amazing amount of money going into display R&D today, you had better believe it.
Sure, there are other challenges for Web designers, but these three (standards, color calibration and displays) can confidently lay claim to being toward the top of any tech-savvy observer's list.
Courtesy: http://www.goarticles.com
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Lead Generation - Top 5 Strategies
Lead generation is an essential part of succeeding in sales, especially on the Web. With so much competition out there, it important to develop a strategy for finding the highest quality leads. How can businesses generate leads online? There are a number of techniques you can use to collect the names, email addresses, and other contact information of potential clients who are interested in learning more about what your business has to offer.
Successful lead generation involves finding prospects that have a genuine need and who actively seeking a way to fill that need. By gathering information on these leads, your sales team can then contact these individuals with further information on your offers, products and services. The following are just a few of the top lead generation strategies that might work well for your business.
Offer Free Online Newsletters
One of the fastest and easiest ways to generate a large number of new leads is to provide a free newsletter on topics that your target customers are interested in. Your newsletter should be information-packed, timely, and full of links to further resources. Before you begin, decide what purpose you want your newsletter to serve. Are you trying to direct users toward content on your website, or are you trying to sell a product directly to your subscribers? By developing a content plan, you can tailor your newsletter to the needs of your business and your audience.
Provide Free Information Seminar
"Webinars," or Web seminars, are a fairly recent online trend popular with both businesses and online users. These free online seminars are a great way to connect with people who are interested in your products, generate contact information, and provide a useful service that will keep customers coming back for more. Choose a topic that you are an expert and in which your audience has a strong interest. Develop your seminar and allow users to sign up and access this valuable information.
Create Expert White Papers
White papers provide a detailed analysis of a topic and often advocate a particular solution. If you specialize in business-to-business sales, offering free white papers on different topics in your industry is an excellent way to advertise your services, generate new leads, and attract new customers. After you have created a white paper, advertise it on various industry sites, forums and other important venues. Include a sign-up link on your site so that interested readers can provide their contact details in order to download the white paper.
Include a Lead Generation Form on Your Website
Your business website is one of the most important lead generation tools at your disposal. Once a reader has visited your site, it is important to make it easy for them to learn more about your business or service. Including a simple lead generation form in a prominent location on your site is one of the most effective ways to generate a number of top quality leads.
Generate Leads with an Affiliate Program
While affiliate programs are often thought of as a way to sell products, these programs are also an excellent way to generate new sales leads. Once you have an affiliate program in place, other marketers can earn a commission or flat rate for referring new leads to your site. While there is some expense associated with starting an affiliate program, it is a great way to dramatically increase the reach of your business and attract a lot of new potential customers.
Courtesy: www.joebucks.com
Successful lead generation involves finding prospects that have a genuine need and who actively seeking a way to fill that need. By gathering information on these leads, your sales team can then contact these individuals with further information on your offers, products and services. The following are just a few of the top lead generation strategies that might work well for your business.
Offer Free Online Newsletters
One of the fastest and easiest ways to generate a large number of new leads is to provide a free newsletter on topics that your target customers are interested in. Your newsletter should be information-packed, timely, and full of links to further resources. Before you begin, decide what purpose you want your newsletter to serve. Are you trying to direct users toward content on your website, or are you trying to sell a product directly to your subscribers? By developing a content plan, you can tailor your newsletter to the needs of your business and your audience.
Provide Free Information Seminar
"Webinars," or Web seminars, are a fairly recent online trend popular with both businesses and online users. These free online seminars are a great way to connect with people who are interested in your products, generate contact information, and provide a useful service that will keep customers coming back for more. Choose a topic that you are an expert and in which your audience has a strong interest. Develop your seminar and allow users to sign up and access this valuable information.
Create Expert White Papers
White papers provide a detailed analysis of a topic and often advocate a particular solution. If you specialize in business-to-business sales, offering free white papers on different topics in your industry is an excellent way to advertise your services, generate new leads, and attract new customers. After you have created a white paper, advertise it on various industry sites, forums and other important venues. Include a sign-up link on your site so that interested readers can provide their contact details in order to download the white paper.
Include a Lead Generation Form on Your Website
Your business website is one of the most important lead generation tools at your disposal. Once a reader has visited your site, it is important to make it easy for them to learn more about your business or service. Including a simple lead generation form in a prominent location on your site is one of the most effective ways to generate a number of top quality leads.
Generate Leads with an Affiliate Program
While affiliate programs are often thought of as a way to sell products, these programs are also an excellent way to generate new sales leads. Once you have an affiliate program in place, other marketers can earn a commission or flat rate for referring new leads to your site. While there is some expense associated with starting an affiliate program, it is a great way to dramatically increase the reach of your business and attract a lot of new potential customers.
Courtesy: www.joebucks.com
Marketing Benefits of Using Lead Generation
What is Lead Generation?
Imagine walking into your office on Monday morning and finding ten hot leads flowing into your inbox. What a way to start business on a Monday, huh? Lead Generation is not a new form of gaining new business, but it now has a new approach. Rather than sitting at a trade show table for hours on end, or sitting up a display in hopes that targeted consumers will complete a form, you can have leads generated and sent to you using the technology of the Internet.
How Does Lead Generation Work?
There are agencies that specialize in providing qualified leads to businesses. The process of lead generation is actually very easy. An agency develops a website or partnerships with several websites in which they promote and advertise your product or service. A consumer finds these directories or informational sites and they are able to complete an online quote request form. This form is submitted to the agency. The buyer’s information is verified and matched to the appropriate providers. These matched leads are then sent via email to the prospective providers with full contact information and purchasing requirements.
What Business Industries use Lead Generation?
Lead generation could work for just about any business, but most industries using this type of marketing include insurance agencies, education institutions, office suppliers, and furniture stores. Trends show that lead generation will become even more popular in the future, especially for service oriented businesses.
Why Use Lead Generation?
How Much Does it Cost?
Lead generation can be extremely cost effective. Leads range anywhere from $5 to $25. Price often depends on the measure of difficulty in getting the lead. The easier the lead is to get the lower the price seems to be.
Agencies that offer lead generation will often charge you a setup or maintenance fee. This can range in-between $50 to $200 per year.
Is Lead Generation for You?
If your calendar is empty and you need business fast lead generation is a way that you can grow your business rather quickly. It's an easy way to increase your ROI and get more business on your books. Approach it just like you would any other advertising endeavor, set aside a reasonable budget to test it and see if it works for your business. The key to being successful in lead generation is to brush up on your sales and marketing skills so that the leads you receive convert at a high sales rate. Do not try to approach this method of marketing without the ability to follow through and close the sale.
Courtesy: http://www.about.com/
Imagine walking into your office on Monday morning and finding ten hot leads flowing into your inbox. What a way to start business on a Monday, huh? Lead Generation is not a new form of gaining new business, but it now has a new approach. Rather than sitting at a trade show table for hours on end, or sitting up a display in hopes that targeted consumers will complete a form, you can have leads generated and sent to you using the technology of the Internet.
How Does Lead Generation Work?
There are agencies that specialize in providing qualified leads to businesses. The process of lead generation is actually very easy. An agency develops a website or partnerships with several websites in which they promote and advertise your product or service. A consumer finds these directories or informational sites and they are able to complete an online quote request form. This form is submitted to the agency. The buyer’s information is verified and matched to the appropriate providers. These matched leads are then sent via email to the prospective providers with full contact information and purchasing requirements.
What Business Industries use Lead Generation?
Lead generation could work for just about any business, but most industries using this type of marketing include insurance agencies, education institutions, office suppliers, and furniture stores. Trends show that lead generation will become even more popular in the future, especially for service oriented businesses.
Why Use Lead Generation?
Lead generation is a win-win for both the buyer and seller. A buyer is able to request information from several businesses that offer the product or service that they are looking for and the seller is given the opportunity to pitch their product or service to someone who has given them permission. Conversion rates on leads that you receive often have a higher conversion success rate than cold contacts because the prospect is pre-qualified, before you ever receive the lead.
- Determine pricing on a per lead basis
- Choose the product or service they wish to offer to prospects
- Select the geographical area that the business is interested in
- Control the number of leads a business wishes to receive per month (this assists with budgeting)
- Pay only for the leads that are received
Lead generation can be extremely cost effective. Leads range anywhere from $5 to $25. Price often depends on the measure of difficulty in getting the lead. The easier the lead is to get the lower the price seems to be.
Is Lead Generation for You?
If your calendar is empty and you need business fast lead generation is a way that you can grow your business rather quickly. It's an easy way to increase your ROI and get more business on your books. Approach it just like you would any other advertising endeavor, set aside a reasonable budget to test it and see if it works for your business. The key to being successful in lead generation is to brush up on your sales and marketing skills so that the leads you receive convert at a high sales rate. Do not try to approach this method of marketing without the ability to follow through and close the sale.
Courtesy: http://www.about.com/
Why Lead Generation Matters
Lead generation is incredibly important to the success of almost any kind of business. If you need clients, you need to generate leads to find those clients. Don't assume that your business will draw new customers automatically or you could end up paying for those assumptions. Here are a few quick things to keep in mind during lead generation to optimize the results you get.
The Importance of Lead Generation
Many businesses wonder if the money they pour into lead generation is as important as they're constantly being told. Think of it this way - if you want to make money you have to spend money and if you want to generate business, you need to build your business. You need to build a good impression of your business by diversifying your client base and building a wide array of possible network connections.
If someone uses your services or buys your products and likes them, they're much more likely to tell their friends and cause your sales to grow. However, if you don't generate new leads, your customer base will stagnate and never grow.
The Value of Online Lead Generation
While lead generation before the digital age was a much harder prospect, finding the right people today is both easier and a bit overwhelming. Almost everyone in existence is on the Internet in one form or another and it is your job through lead generation to track down those people that are best suited to offer a sales pitch to. This means you need to have a website and you need to be able to leverage that website into new leads. This can mean a blog, an opt-in list for a newsletter or free updates, or anything through which you can gather information (legally) about the people interested in your company.
Once you know how vital your lead generation is and how important the Internet is in maintaining your efforts, you may want to start building a lead generation plan. Such a plan would be vital in creating the necessary process that draws prospects to you and then converts them into viable leads. It’s very vital for an organization to effectively manage the generated leads.
Many companies choose to go with a lead generation service or software to help in meeting the lead requirements. It can be hard to know what a good lead is and what a bad lead is, especially when you get onto the Internet and everyone seems like a good lead.
It is very important for an organization to understand the need for lead generation. Lead generation helps to grow and improve customer base of a business. It helps in stretching to new geographical outlays via the Internet, creating word of mouth through diverse customers and ensuring new sales through solid lead management, your business is all guaranteed to grow.
Courtesy: http://www.articlesbase.com/
The Importance of Lead Generation
Many businesses wonder if the money they pour into lead generation is as important as they're constantly being told. Think of it this way - if you want to make money you have to spend money and if you want to generate business, you need to build your business. You need to build a good impression of your business by diversifying your client base and building a wide array of possible network connections.
If someone uses your services or buys your products and likes them, they're much more likely to tell their friends and cause your sales to grow. However, if you don't generate new leads, your customer base will stagnate and never grow.
The Value of Online Lead Generation
While lead generation before the digital age was a much harder prospect, finding the right people today is both easier and a bit overwhelming. Almost everyone in existence is on the Internet in one form or another and it is your job through lead generation to track down those people that are best suited to offer a sales pitch to. This means you need to have a website and you need to be able to leverage that website into new leads. This can mean a blog, an opt-in list for a newsletter or free updates, or anything through which you can gather information (legally) about the people interested in your company.
Once you know how vital your lead generation is and how important the Internet is in maintaining your efforts, you may want to start building a lead generation plan. Such a plan would be vital in creating the necessary process that draws prospects to you and then converts them into viable leads. It’s very vital for an organization to effectively manage the generated leads.
Many companies choose to go with a lead generation service or software to help in meeting the lead requirements. It can be hard to know what a good lead is and what a bad lead is, especially when you get onto the Internet and everyone seems like a good lead.
It is very important for an organization to understand the need for lead generation. Lead generation helps to grow and improve customer base of a business. It helps in stretching to new geographical outlays via the Internet, creating word of mouth through diverse customers and ensuring new sales through solid lead management, your business is all guaranteed to grow.
Courtesy: http://www.articlesbase.com/
Three Tools for Successful Lead Generation
Successful lead generation is one of those things that will lead almost any business to massive success when implemented properly. However, it can often be hard to ensure that you have all the tools and resources you need in house to do your own lead generation. So, many people turn to outside tools that will help make lead generation a bit easier. But, which tools and resources are going to provide the most benefit for your time and money? Here are three quick examples of what you can do to get started:
Branding Tools
Anything that helps you brand your company more successfully is going to be a major tool in lead generation. After all, if a lead is contacted and hears that a company named ABC Enterprises wants to discuss their product with them, their first question is "Who is ABC enterprises?" and their second question is "Why should I care?" They receive dozens of these calls a week and they have no desire to be bothered. By building a recognizable and respected brand, you can enjoy a much better reception during lead generation.
Building Effective Lists
Lead generation cannot be random, nor can it be done without the full support of a dedicated team. For this reason, many companies choose to outsource lead generation to a third party that knows what kinds of leads are best and which ones will convert better. They can develop scripts, use professionals for first contact and ensure that your list of prospective leads is as accurate and likely to convert as possible.
Providing Value
The last tool and probably the least tangible of any tool or resource you can use for lead generation is to build value into your generation techniques. This means that if you are doing cold calls from your office to generate leads, what benefits do potential leads get in answering and talking on the phone? This might come in the form of extra information about your product, an expert to discuss their problems with or some incentive to draw them into your company. Whatever you choose to use as your bait, lead generation is always much more effective when there is a catch to draw someone in with.
Lead generation is a tough process, especially for anyone that has not spent a great deal of time and money setting up a department and training employees in the processes required to effectively create and build leads. For this reason, you need to be sure that what tools you are using are the best possible ones around.
There are many options in this regard. While the tips above are going to get you further in your lead generation processes, the truly best way to go about it is to ensure that whoever is generating leads knows what they are doing. This might be an outside firm with a great deal of experience in handling lead generation or an internal hire that is trained and dedicated to the process. In either case, it is vital that whoever is doing the work knows their job well and is capable of dynamically generating leads at all times.
Courtesy: www.articlesbase.com
Branding Tools
Anything that helps you brand your company more successfully is going to be a major tool in lead generation. After all, if a lead is contacted and hears that a company named ABC Enterprises wants to discuss their product with them, their first question is "Who is ABC enterprises?" and their second question is "Why should I care?" They receive dozens of these calls a week and they have no desire to be bothered. By building a recognizable and respected brand, you can enjoy a much better reception during lead generation.
Building Effective Lists
Lead generation cannot be random, nor can it be done without the full support of a dedicated team. For this reason, many companies choose to outsource lead generation to a third party that knows what kinds of leads are best and which ones will convert better. They can develop scripts, use professionals for first contact and ensure that your list of prospective leads is as accurate and likely to convert as possible.
Providing Value
The last tool and probably the least tangible of any tool or resource you can use for lead generation is to build value into your generation techniques. This means that if you are doing cold calls from your office to generate leads, what benefits do potential leads get in answering and talking on the phone? This might come in the form of extra information about your product, an expert to discuss their problems with or some incentive to draw them into your company. Whatever you choose to use as your bait, lead generation is always much more effective when there is a catch to draw someone in with.
Lead generation is a tough process, especially for anyone that has not spent a great deal of time and money setting up a department and training employees in the processes required to effectively create and build leads. For this reason, you need to be sure that what tools you are using are the best possible ones around.
There are many options in this regard. While the tips above are going to get you further in your lead generation processes, the truly best way to go about it is to ensure that whoever is generating leads knows what they are doing. This might be an outside firm with a great deal of experience in handling lead generation or an internal hire that is trained and dedicated to the process. In either case, it is vital that whoever is doing the work knows their job well and is capable of dynamically generating leads at all times.
Courtesy: www.articlesbase.com
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
How Taguchi Testing Can Improve Traffic to Your Website
Taguchi testing, also called multivariate testing is a way to test multiple variables at the same time. Testing is sometimes not a clear cut issue. There may be many different variables involved in making a decision.
In regular testing, one variable may be used to test or several different tests can run using one variable each. But with Taguchi testing, several variables can be tested all at once, saving a tremendous amount of time and providing much more accurate results.
So what does this have to do with online marketing?
Taguchi testing wasn't developed for online purposes. It was started to test factory production methods such as in car manufacturing, to improve the way factories run their expensive tests. But what began on the factory floor has now been proven to be useful even in cyberspace.
Taguchi testing has been found to be compatible with PPC ads, web copy, landing pages, and other forms of online advertising. To use the Taguchi testing method, choose an area to be tested. If you have a sales or landing page that you are interested in testing, decide on the variables that might affect that page. This can be the font style, size, color, layout and graphics, anything that you are thinking about changing. Alternatives then have to be created for each item that needs to be changed such as font, style, graphics etc. The next step is to set up several permutations and combinations of the variables. This multivariate testing is conducted using specialized software.
Are these tests actually worth it?
Think about the alterations you do to your websites in terms of regular font adjustments, modifying paragraph, updating data, adding a new graphic etc. Imagine if you could do it all at once and be able to preview all of the different variations that your changes might create before committing to them.
Some of the variables might not have been things you thought to test in the first place. Even page elements that you thought were fine might end up looking a lot better in combination with the altered variables. But putting them all together, the time savings alone is worth exploring this type of testing. You may find new combinations that bring in more buyers to your improved page.
Courtesy: www.goarticles.com
In regular testing, one variable may be used to test or several different tests can run using one variable each. But with Taguchi testing, several variables can be tested all at once, saving a tremendous amount of time and providing much more accurate results.
So what does this have to do with online marketing?
Taguchi testing wasn't developed for online purposes. It was started to test factory production methods such as in car manufacturing, to improve the way factories run their expensive tests. But what began on the factory floor has now been proven to be useful even in cyberspace.
Taguchi testing has been found to be compatible with PPC ads, web copy, landing pages, and other forms of online advertising. To use the Taguchi testing method, choose an area to be tested. If you have a sales or landing page that you are interested in testing, decide on the variables that might affect that page. This can be the font style, size, color, layout and graphics, anything that you are thinking about changing. Alternatives then have to be created for each item that needs to be changed such as font, style, graphics etc. The next step is to set up several permutations and combinations of the variables. This multivariate testing is conducted using specialized software.
Are these tests actually worth it?
Think about the alterations you do to your websites in terms of regular font adjustments, modifying paragraph, updating data, adding a new graphic etc. Imagine if you could do it all at once and be able to preview all of the different variations that your changes might create before committing to them.
Some of the variables might not have been things you thought to test in the first place. Even page elements that you thought were fine might end up looking a lot better in combination with the altered variables. But putting them all together, the time savings alone is worth exploring this type of testing. You may find new combinations that bring in more buyers to your improved page.
Courtesy: www.goarticles.com
Offshore Software Testing
Software testing methodologies ensures the efficient functioning of a software system. It is regarded as the most crucial phase in the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC). Testing not reveals bugs and eliminates them but is also a tool for verification, validation and certification.
Offshore software testing teams conduct a complete check on the softwares to detect unfinished gaps. They identify potential problems in a cost-effective manner. A successful test always unfolds a problem that needs resolving.
Software products cannot be released in the market without proper quality checks. But organizations do not always have a resource team in-house to conduct a thorough professional test on the software.This is where an offshore software testing company usually comes into play.
Offshore software testing involves a lot of different techniques to ensure a bug free output. Initially the individual modules are tested separately which is followed by testing of the software as a whole.
Testing is primarily done in two different phases.
Phases of offshore software testing:
Alpha Testing: Conducted from the programmer's side, alpha testing usually involves the entire team participation. They go through the complete software, examining in different ways, looking out for flaws and problems. The designers and programmers then provide adequate solutions. Everyone in the team is open to new and better ideas to improve the software.
Beta Testing: This is conducted by the client using the software or visiting your site for the first time. It is like proof reading the software. The communication flow between the tester and the designer should be smooth so that all problems are detected and understood to obtain a solution.
The offshore software testing company has to perform the testing process meticulously. Attention has to be paid to the minutest of details to ensure a smooth flow in the software. A small flaw or bug may leave a negative impression of the product in the mind of the client. While testing the software, the designer or the tester should pay attention to the usability and the utility factor making the product bug free and up to the mark of the client.
The value and importance of flawless software cannot be overlooked. Businesses are always under continuous pressure to deliver high-quality software products. Companies therefore insist on conducting both alpha and beta offshore software testing to ensure that their softwares are bug-free and can be used by their clients with ease.
There are individuals and companies with expert teams who specialize in the art of software testing, equipped with the most up-to-date tools and perspectives to accomplish the testing mission.
Therefore the best option is to decide on an experienced offshore testing company to save time, resources and money while guaranteeing flawless software testing.
Courtesy: www.articlesbase.com
Offshore software testing teams conduct a complete check on the softwares to detect unfinished gaps. They identify potential problems in a cost-effective manner. A successful test always unfolds a problem that needs resolving.
Software products cannot be released in the market without proper quality checks. But organizations do not always have a resource team in-house to conduct a thorough professional test on the software.This is where an offshore software testing company usually comes into play.
Offshore software testing involves a lot of different techniques to ensure a bug free output. Initially the individual modules are tested separately which is followed by testing of the software as a whole.
Testing is primarily done in two different phases.
Phases of offshore software testing:
Alpha Testing: Conducted from the programmer's side, alpha testing usually involves the entire team participation. They go through the complete software, examining in different ways, looking out for flaws and problems. The designers and programmers then provide adequate solutions. Everyone in the team is open to new and better ideas to improve the software.
Beta Testing: This is conducted by the client using the software or visiting your site for the first time. It is like proof reading the software. The communication flow between the tester and the designer should be smooth so that all problems are detected and understood to obtain a solution.
The offshore software testing company has to perform the testing process meticulously. Attention has to be paid to the minutest of details to ensure a smooth flow in the software. A small flaw or bug may leave a negative impression of the product in the mind of the client. While testing the software, the designer or the tester should pay attention to the usability and the utility factor making the product bug free and up to the mark of the client.
The value and importance of flawless software cannot be overlooked. Businesses are always under continuous pressure to deliver high-quality software products. Companies therefore insist on conducting both alpha and beta offshore software testing to ensure that their softwares are bug-free and can be used by their clients with ease.
There are individuals and companies with expert teams who specialize in the art of software testing, equipped with the most up-to-date tools and perspectives to accomplish the testing mission.
Therefore the best option is to decide on an experienced offshore testing company to save time, resources and money while guaranteeing flawless software testing.
Courtesy: www.articlesbase.com
Search Engine Optimization Processes
The Search Engine Optimization (SEO) process is a multifaceted one. That’s the truism that we sometimes tend to overlook. In other words, we might have a single, unilateral opinion on what needs to be done to make a SEO program effective. Doing the same thing time and time again may lead to some results. However, problems will arise because you will be limited to outcomes based on the same approach.
So, what are the methods people employ to boost their SEO potential? There are a variety of methods you can employ.
Here are some of the common ones:
Link building: Without doubt, this is the fundamental strategy that needs to be employed when looking to get the most out of your SEO ventures. Effective link building will lead to effective search engine ranking. Never lose sight of this fact.
Article marketing: This is a SEO tactic that entails quite a bit of work and a little extra effort. However, in terms of the impact it can have on SEO success and traffic generation, it is an excellent venture worth exploring. Article marketing requires you to write articles based on subjects similar to the content of your website. These articles are then published on various directories where they aid in boosting the search engine rankings of your site. They will also provide the basis for a great deal of organic traffic from the readers.
Promotional Blogging: Blogging is very similar to the aforementioned article marketing with the difference being that you will promote your own blog as the primary promotional vehicle as opposed to submitting material to an article directory. Is this one better than the other? This really is not the question you should be asking. Rather, you would be better served employing both methods to get positive results.
On a side note, working with a helpful article spinning software program might help the process. An article spinner would basically create unique variants of a particular article. You would then be able to post scores of articles on different blogs and article directories. The end result of which would create a significant impact on your SEO goals.
Social Media Marketing: While most people look towards developing a promotional social networking site as a means of traffic generation, it can also be an excellent source for the SEO process. Adding links to a profile, using the profile's blogging platform and raising general awareness towards your primary website can all be done through social media networks. These methods will aid in boosting your SEO potential immensely.
In all honesty, the key to a successful SEO process is to always employ different methods to deliver exceptional results. This will ultimately help your cause and deliver the desired outcome or atleast get you as close to it as possible.
Courtesy: www.goarticles.com
So, what are the methods people employ to boost their SEO potential? There are a variety of methods you can employ.
Here are some of the common ones:
Link building: Without doubt, this is the fundamental strategy that needs to be employed when looking to get the most out of your SEO ventures. Effective link building will lead to effective search engine ranking. Never lose sight of this fact.
Article marketing: This is a SEO tactic that entails quite a bit of work and a little extra effort. However, in terms of the impact it can have on SEO success and traffic generation, it is an excellent venture worth exploring. Article marketing requires you to write articles based on subjects similar to the content of your website. These articles are then published on various directories where they aid in boosting the search engine rankings of your site. They will also provide the basis for a great deal of organic traffic from the readers.
Promotional Blogging: Blogging is very similar to the aforementioned article marketing with the difference being that you will promote your own blog as the primary promotional vehicle as opposed to submitting material to an article directory. Is this one better than the other? This really is not the question you should be asking. Rather, you would be better served employing both methods to get positive results.
On a side note, working with a helpful article spinning software program might help the process. An article spinner would basically create unique variants of a particular article. You would then be able to post scores of articles on different blogs and article directories. The end result of which would create a significant impact on your SEO goals.
Social Media Marketing: While most people look towards developing a promotional social networking site as a means of traffic generation, it can also be an excellent source for the SEO process. Adding links to a profile, using the profile's blogging platform and raising general awareness towards your primary website can all be done through social media networks. These methods will aid in boosting your SEO potential immensely.
In all honesty, the key to a successful SEO process is to always employ different methods to deliver exceptional results. This will ultimately help your cause and deliver the desired outcome or atleast get you as close to it as possible.
Courtesy: www.goarticles.com
Monday, July 12, 2010
3 Most Wanted Tips For Effective Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing is the very effective tool for marketing your products. There is no other alternative marketing strategy for social media marketing. Hence social media marketing is indispensable for any online business. Social media marketing needs a different approach when compared to the other online marketing strategies. For a social media marketing campaign to be successful, it is very much important to understand the tactics that work better. This article is all about the effective social media marketing tips.
1. Creating unique profiles in Social Networks
Social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook are of great importance in business promotions. This part of social media marketing can help generate lot of traffic to your website along with building credibility among people worldwide. The social networks are now crowded with the online marketers and hence it is important to highlight your profile in the crowd. Though there are lots of customization options available in the social networking sites itself, it is always good to get some professional help for advanced customization also. These social media marketing professionals will be able to provide you with very unique profiles which will get noticed by the social media crowd immediately.
2. Don’t try to sell anything in the Social Networks
Many social media marketers just advertise their products through their social media profiles. This is a wrong move. Social networks are for connecting to people and not for advertising the products, Hence your main motive in the social networks should be to connect to as many people as possible. The traffic to your website and the credibility to your services/ products will eventually increase as your networks grow.
3. Don’t leave any social media profiles unattended
Active participation is a basic necessity of any social media marketing campaign. Just creating some profiles in a handful of social media sites doesn’t do any good. You should post some content to the social media profiles frequently and make them look lively. Always remember the fact that Google crawls the profiles that are frequently updated. Moreover, the visitors of your profile will love to see many updates. You should also involve in activities like participating in polls, posting in forums, making comments and connecting with the people of similar interest.
Social Media Marketing is a time consuming process and for the moment of truth it is really worth the time you spend. If you don’t have enough time for social media marketing in your tight schedule, there are professional social media marketers who would be ready to help you. As an added advantage, these professional social media marketers can analyze your website and create the best marketing strategy. By paying them a nominal fee, you can just sit back and relax, watching your network grow along with the web traffic and business.
Courtesy: www.articlebase.com
1. Creating unique profiles in Social Networks
Social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook are of great importance in business promotions. This part of social media marketing can help generate lot of traffic to your website along with building credibility among people worldwide. The social networks are now crowded with the online marketers and hence it is important to highlight your profile in the crowd. Though there are lots of customization options available in the social networking sites itself, it is always good to get some professional help for advanced customization also. These social media marketing professionals will be able to provide you with very unique profiles which will get noticed by the social media crowd immediately.
2. Don’t try to sell anything in the Social Networks
Many social media marketers just advertise their products through their social media profiles. This is a wrong move. Social networks are for connecting to people and not for advertising the products, Hence your main motive in the social networks should be to connect to as many people as possible. The traffic to your website and the credibility to your services/ products will eventually increase as your networks grow.
3. Don’t leave any social media profiles unattended
Active participation is a basic necessity of any social media marketing campaign. Just creating some profiles in a handful of social media sites doesn’t do any good. You should post some content to the social media profiles frequently and make them look lively. Always remember the fact that Google crawls the profiles that are frequently updated. Moreover, the visitors of your profile will love to see many updates. You should also involve in activities like participating in polls, posting in forums, making comments and connecting with the people of similar interest.
Social Media Marketing is a time consuming process and for the moment of truth it is really worth the time you spend. If you don’t have enough time for social media marketing in your tight schedule, there are professional social media marketers who would be ready to help you. As an added advantage, these professional social media marketers can analyze your website and create the best marketing strategy. By paying them a nominal fee, you can just sit back and relax, watching your network grow along with the web traffic and business.
Courtesy: www.articlebase.com
Friday, July 9, 2010
Social Media Marketing – The New Trend
The SEO companies who provide social media solutions allow companies to use technology in innovative ways to build and nurture conversations. These companies should develop campaigns from concept to implementation for social media marketing, advertising and audience outreach. A good service provider should understand the social media landscape to deliver complete solutions that drives results.
The emergence of social media technology has brought with it a great change. Information distribution, consumer behavior, personal and corporate transparency – whether welcome or unwelcome have all changed. But the desire of individuals to express opinion has not.
Some of the ways to implement social media marketing are:
Blogs:
Empower members to self-publish articles and allow others to post comments
Discussions:
Foster member interaction via threaded discussions, giving users the option to review and respond
Commenting:
Invite people to post and view comments related to your featured content
Polls
Pose key multiple choice questions and allow members to vote and view results
Live and Event Chat
Enable real-time private or group chats to conduct a live, moderated chat around a featured guest or event
Ratings and Reviews
Allow members to become critics by rating and reviewing content, products or services
Resource Manager
Share, edit and store documents and multimedia of all types in one central location
User Profiles
Create personal profiles and search for other members who share common interests
Member Directory Management
Search and find people to view their profiles and friend lists
Friend Lists
Build social networks of existing connections and forge new ones
Private Messaging
Send private messages to other members from within your profile
Leverage technology that enables social media campaigns to gain new customers and engage with the ones you already have.
A good social media marketer should follow the techniques mentioned below to create a buzz in the internet:
Courtesy: www.articlesbase.com
The emergence of social media technology has brought with it a great change. Information distribution, consumer behavior, personal and corporate transparency – whether welcome or unwelcome have all changed. But the desire of individuals to express opinion has not.
Some of the ways to implement social media marketing are:
Blogs:
Empower members to self-publish articles and allow others to post comments
Discussions:
Foster member interaction via threaded discussions, giving users the option to review and respond
Commenting:
Invite people to post and view comments related to your featured content
Polls
Pose key multiple choice questions and allow members to vote and view results
Live and Event Chat
Enable real-time private or group chats to conduct a live, moderated chat around a featured guest or event
Ratings and Reviews
Allow members to become critics by rating and reviewing content, products or services
Resource Manager
Share, edit and store documents and multimedia of all types in one central location
User Profiles
Create personal profiles and search for other members who share common interests
Member Directory Management
Search and find people to view their profiles and friend lists
Friend Lists
Build social networks of existing connections and forge new ones
Private Messaging
Send private messages to other members from within your profile
Leverage technology that enables social media campaigns to gain new customers and engage with the ones you already have.
A good social media marketer should follow the techniques mentioned below to create a buzz in the internet:
- Social Profile and Video Channel Account Setup
- Ongoing Profile and Channel Management
- Targeted Friend and Fan Outreach
- Deployment of Creative Applications/Contesting
- Content Distribution
- Video Distribution Across Multiple Channels
- Promotion on Content Sharing Communities
- Servicing to Established Blog Universe
- Blog Outreach
- Extensive Research of Target Blog Universe
- Forge Connections With Lead Influencers
- Engage In a Long-Term Dialogue
- Turn Influential Voices Into Brand Advocates
- Reputation Monitoring
- Real-time Tracking of Brand Discussion
- Report Mentions, Gauge Sentiment
- Escalate To Client For Necessary Responses
- Corporate Blog Management
- Design and Setup of Corporate Blog
- Coordination with Client To Establish a Voice
- Scheduled Posting of Approved ContentSocial Network Marketing
Social Media Marketing
In today’s world of ever-changing marketing trends it’s vital to stay innovative and competitive to move ahead. Social Media Marketing (SMM) is the latest entrant to the business dynamics and has been rocking the online space since its entry. More and more businesses are going online to promote and advertise their brands.
Why Social Media Marketing?
Basically a Social Media website enables its users to connect with unlimited friends and allows them to share knowledge of what each other are doing. These Social media websites have evolved as a greater platform to reach consumers through internet. With all new set of untapped market in reach SMM is the most happening and effective way to spread, communicate and create brand awareness.
How on Social Media?
Social Media Promotions are completely different from time old industrial or traditional methods. There are two things to take into consideration before going online to promote your brand. First and foremost is to understand the target audience and second would be to promote online activities to reach out to the user base.
SMM can take many different forms, including Internet forums, weblogs, social blogs, microblogging, wikis, podcasts, pictures, video, rating and social bookmarking.
Social Media Marketing Tools
Unlike other mode of advertisements Social Media Promotions have opened doors for organizations to implement marketing campaigns through internet. The most popular social media platforms include Facebook , Bebo, Twitter, LinkedIn etc.
Why Social Media Marketing?
Basically a Social Media website enables its users to connect with unlimited friends and allows them to share knowledge of what each other are doing. These Social media websites have evolved as a greater platform to reach consumers through internet. With all new set of untapped market in reach SMM is the most happening and effective way to spread, communicate and create brand awareness.
How on Social Media?
Social Media Promotions are completely different from time old industrial or traditional methods. There are two things to take into consideration before going online to promote your brand. First and foremost is to understand the target audience and second would be to promote online activities to reach out to the user base.
SMM can take many different forms, including Internet forums, weblogs, social blogs, microblogging, wikis, podcasts, pictures, video, rating and social bookmarking.
Social Media Marketing Tools
Unlike other mode of advertisements Social Media Promotions have opened doors for organizations to implement marketing campaigns through internet. The most popular social media platforms include Facebook , Bebo, Twitter, LinkedIn etc.
5 Tips to create Effective SEO strategies
Rules and tips of effective search engine marketing:
It is crucial for the implementation of your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) that you keep updating your efforts based on changing rules and guidelines. This could be the simplest method to ensure that you're always ahead in competition and will be able to sustain your business. Whether or not your content is excellent, the moment you begin lagging behind in terms of your SEO technicalities, your success graph can immediately begin showing a downward trend.
Here is how you can guarantee that your SEO methods are current, to ensure that you are a forerunner in the race and are able to realize your purpose.
1. Proof reading and Validation: Making sure that website content is error free and all the functions are performed properly has been an evergreen entry in every checklist. With websites being massive, complicated, diverse and dynamic, finding errors and correcting them has become an extensive job. But to simplify this highly complicated job a number of validation applications and softwares are available which will be ready to perform half of the proofreading and validation job for you. Such tasks could embrace link validation and application testing. To make the system fool-proof you can also perform manual checking procedures.
2. Web site response speed: Site-speed is one amongst the recently raised issues that can confirm the ranking of a website or an internet page within the list of search results of search engine. This discussion has been triggered by inclusion of site speed along with the page ranking parameters of Google. The argument is that the response time of any web resource directly determines its popularity among users. This directly puts the quality of server, web speed and the hosting service being used into question.
3. Reusable and Reused Content: With more avenues and platforms for sharing your content coming up each day, your SEO strategy also needs to be aligned with such dynamics. Especially the long list of social networking platforms should have an effect on your SEO strategy. As a result of their established importance due to the very fact that they have an exponentially growing list of users has highlighted their influence on search engine rankings.
4. Titles and Nomenclatures: File names, page titles, headings, sub-headings and other kind of nomenclatures affects the SEO leads in a substantial manner. Most importantly, all the titles and nomenclature ought to be aligned and not randomly decided.
5. Content Redirection: When you've got a pool of distributed content across varied sources, you should ensure that all the sources are well connected and no content is left in isolation. Any miss here might seriously affect the identification of your content by any search engine. This also becomes vital when you're duplicating your content as you need to ensure that duplication will not hurt your search engine rankings.
Courtesy: www.goarticles.com
It is crucial for the implementation of your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) that you keep updating your efforts based on changing rules and guidelines. This could be the simplest method to ensure that you're always ahead in competition and will be able to sustain your business. Whether or not your content is excellent, the moment you begin lagging behind in terms of your SEO technicalities, your success graph can immediately begin showing a downward trend.
Here is how you can guarantee that your SEO methods are current, to ensure that you are a forerunner in the race and are able to realize your purpose.
1. Proof reading and Validation: Making sure that website content is error free and all the functions are performed properly has been an evergreen entry in every checklist. With websites being massive, complicated, diverse and dynamic, finding errors and correcting them has become an extensive job. But to simplify this highly complicated job a number of validation applications and softwares are available which will be ready to perform half of the proofreading and validation job for you. Such tasks could embrace link validation and application testing. To make the system fool-proof you can also perform manual checking procedures.
2. Web site response speed: Site-speed is one amongst the recently raised issues that can confirm the ranking of a website or an internet page within the list of search results of search engine. This discussion has been triggered by inclusion of site speed along with the page ranking parameters of Google. The argument is that the response time of any web resource directly determines its popularity among users. This directly puts the quality of server, web speed and the hosting service being used into question.
3. Reusable and Reused Content: With more avenues and platforms for sharing your content coming up each day, your SEO strategy also needs to be aligned with such dynamics. Especially the long list of social networking platforms should have an effect on your SEO strategy. As a result of their established importance due to the very fact that they have an exponentially growing list of users has highlighted their influence on search engine rankings.
4. Titles and Nomenclatures: File names, page titles, headings, sub-headings and other kind of nomenclatures affects the SEO leads in a substantial manner. Most importantly, all the titles and nomenclature ought to be aligned and not randomly decided.
5. Content Redirection: When you've got a pool of distributed content across varied sources, you should ensure that all the sources are well connected and no content is left in isolation. Any miss here might seriously affect the identification of your content by any search engine. This also becomes vital when you're duplicating your content as you need to ensure that duplication will not hurt your search engine rankings.
Courtesy: www.goarticles.com
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Custom Application Development— Need of the hour
Custom Application Development is meant for developing software, designed and programmed as per the client’s specific needs. It can be used for producing practically any feature that you wish to include in your website. The two restrictive factors in Custom Application Development are time and money.
The key to successful and productive Custom Application Development is quality planning and design. A proper understanding of the process for which the application will be deployed is essential for chalking out a well-thought strategy. The system for which software will be developed should also be ascertained beforehand. After thorough understanding of the process, creative insights are must to make the application flexible enough to be used. In a nutshell, Custom Application Development requires architectural consulting, capacity planning, network planning, development and testing.
Whatever software is developed using an application development, it is necessary that it is technically customized. Only difference is that extended application will be designed with a general set of key elements to be accomplished by a broad range of users.
Custom Application Development includes features such as
Content management and solution development
Communication tracking/management
E-commerce
Portals/Intranets/Client extranets
Legacy systems integration
CRM / SFA / ERM / PRM
Wireless agents and applications
Custom Application Development addresses those functional gaps that are not provided by commercially developed software and applications. This concept envisages a number of benefits including
Accelerated time to deployment
Increased operational efficiency while using off-the-shelf software
Renders great reliability to your projects
Facilitates access to the depth and breadth of our cross-industry knowledge
Provides real-time technical support services to ensure smooth functioning of your solutions.
Gives you a consistent edge over competition
Addresses aspects of the business process unique to your business
Addresses business processes for which solutions are unavailable in the market
Provides predefined methodologies and frameworks
Provides structured and managed requirements definitions
Provides proprietary tools to improve effectiveness of the development process
Provides process-oriented development methodology
Reduces infrastructure cost
Ensures less paperwork
Computer written code can be developed faster
A custom developed application adds not just business benefit, but tangible financial value to your organization. This technology can really prove to be a boon for small and mid-sized businesses. Hence, Custom Application Development software is always beneficial to own as it helps in meeting specific demands….that too without any hassles.
The key to successful and productive Custom Application Development is quality planning and design. A proper understanding of the process for which the application will be deployed is essential for chalking out a well-thought strategy. The system for which software will be developed should also be ascertained beforehand. After thorough understanding of the process, creative insights are must to make the application flexible enough to be used. In a nutshell, Custom Application Development requires architectural consulting, capacity planning, network planning, development and testing.
Whatever software is developed using an application development, it is necessary that it is technically customized. Only difference is that extended application will be designed with a general set of key elements to be accomplished by a broad range of users.
Custom Application Development includes features such as
Content management and solution development
Communication tracking/management
E-commerce
Portals/Intranets/Client extranets
Legacy systems integration
CRM / SFA / ERM / PRM
Wireless agents and applications
Custom Application Development addresses those functional gaps that are not provided by commercially developed software and applications. This concept envisages a number of benefits including
Accelerated time to deployment
Increased operational efficiency while using off-the-shelf software
Renders great reliability to your projects
Facilitates access to the depth and breadth of our cross-industry knowledge
Provides real-time technical support services to ensure smooth functioning of your solutions.
Gives you a consistent edge over competition
Addresses aspects of the business process unique to your business
Addresses business processes for which solutions are unavailable in the market
Provides predefined methodologies and frameworks
Provides structured and managed requirements definitions
Provides proprietary tools to improve effectiveness of the development process
Provides process-oriented development methodology
Reduces infrastructure cost
Ensures less paperwork
Computer written code can be developed faster
A custom developed application adds not just business benefit, but tangible financial value to your organization. This technology can really prove to be a boon for small and mid-sized businesses. Hence, Custom Application Development software is always beneficial to own as it helps in meeting specific demands….that too without any hassles.
Offshore Software Development – A Right Decision at Right Time
Be it worldwide giant organizations and companies or the start up corporations, offshore software development has acquired pretty big popularity as a powerful business strategy in the recent years. Every company has its own core competencies and tasks, thus offshore outsourcing has enabled many renowned foreign web hosting companies to delegate their software development projects.
This approach has not only enhanced their business but also got them class apart cost-effective solutions for their unique business needs. I am sure you are very much aware of the key benefits that offshore software development offers you but I would like to enrich your acumen with some in-depth information on these attractive benefits.
Excellent and Economical Approach for a Startup Company
No doubt, outsourcing software development imparts enormous benefits to most start up companies as it assists them run well with their IT budget & resources, without hiring a big team of software developers and programmers to accomplish their software development projects. Outsourcing their software development projects to any experienced and reliable offshore company can help the start up companies to save 40 to 50%.
Availability of Resources
An ideal offshore software company will be always enriched with huge resources so that it can carry out unbeaten custom software development processes effectively without any issue. Outsourcer companies are promised to stay always on the winning edge because they get an easy access to a huge resource pool while attempting to enhance their business.
Promise of a Premium Quality
Importance of offshore outsourcing has further heightened the ongoing competition among the various experienced and emerging software development companies in the developing countries. At this hot and critical stage, every company offers best of the services to provide premium quality & reliable software at competitive prices.
Established Software Development Processes
Ever increasing competencies and perfection among various offshore development companies has led to the emergence of customer centric, mature, authentic, and standardized software development processes that are potentially designed to minimize the development time and zero down project risks.
Pool of Technical Expertise
All the offshore software development companies are armed with a solid team of developers, programmers & testers to relieve the outsourcers from unwanted stress of hiring new team for your software development. As the offshore dedicated team is highly focused on software development process and its efficiency, it allows you to concentrate on your business core competencies to accomplish your short-term as well as long-term goals.
Cost effective Services
As we know that the competition in the IT market and the industry is increasing everyday; this has forced offshore companies to prove themselves by offering top quality outsourcing software services at lowest possible prices. And this is an excellent opportunity for the outsourcers as they are reaping full benefits of this growing competition, which is acting as a root to an era of offshore outsourcing.
Post Maintenance
Who doesn't want to have long term relations? Today, software consulting companies tend to provide post maintenance software services & technical support to prove their efficiencies and build healthy relations with their clients. Moreover, these post-maintenance services attract outsourcers to take advantage of rich development services from these offshore companies.
Well, offshore software development offers you immense benefits and the list will become unending if I don't stop. While concluding, I would like to say that offshore web services development is not a bad deal at all from any angle, when you are getting plethora of benefits to your store, that too with sure shot successes from your outsourced projects.
This approach has not only enhanced their business but also got them class apart cost-effective solutions for their unique business needs. I am sure you are very much aware of the key benefits that offshore software development offers you but I would like to enrich your acumen with some in-depth information on these attractive benefits.
Excellent and Economical Approach for a Startup Company
No doubt, outsourcing software development imparts enormous benefits to most start up companies as it assists them run well with their IT budget & resources, without hiring a big team of software developers and programmers to accomplish their software development projects. Outsourcing their software development projects to any experienced and reliable offshore company can help the start up companies to save 40 to 50%.
Availability of Resources
An ideal offshore software company will be always enriched with huge resources so that it can carry out unbeaten custom software development processes effectively without any issue. Outsourcer companies are promised to stay always on the winning edge because they get an easy access to a huge resource pool while attempting to enhance their business.
Promise of a Premium Quality
Importance of offshore outsourcing has further heightened the ongoing competition among the various experienced and emerging software development companies in the developing countries. At this hot and critical stage, every company offers best of the services to provide premium quality & reliable software at competitive prices.
Established Software Development Processes
Ever increasing competencies and perfection among various offshore development companies has led to the emergence of customer centric, mature, authentic, and standardized software development processes that are potentially designed to minimize the development time and zero down project risks.
Pool of Technical Expertise
All the offshore software development companies are armed with a solid team of developers, programmers & testers to relieve the outsourcers from unwanted stress of hiring new team for your software development. As the offshore dedicated team is highly focused on software development process and its efficiency, it allows you to concentrate on your business core competencies to accomplish your short-term as well as long-term goals.
Cost effective Services
As we know that the competition in the IT market and the industry is increasing everyday; this has forced offshore companies to prove themselves by offering top quality outsourcing software services at lowest possible prices. And this is an excellent opportunity for the outsourcers as they are reaping full benefits of this growing competition, which is acting as a root to an era of offshore outsourcing.
Post Maintenance
Who doesn't want to have long term relations? Today, software consulting companies tend to provide post maintenance software services & technical support to prove their efficiencies and build healthy relations with their clients. Moreover, these post-maintenance services attract outsourcers to take advantage of rich development services from these offshore companies.
Well, offshore software development offers you immense benefits and the list will become unending if I don't stop. While concluding, I would like to say that offshore web services development is not a bad deal at all from any angle, when you are getting plethora of benefits to your store, that too with sure shot successes from your outsourced projects.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Little Known Ways to Keyword Service
If you don't have the means or know-how to successfully research keywords and phrases, you may employ a company to perform expert keyword research assistance for you. In case you have a simple knowledge of keywords, paid keyword providers will not waste time and create best results. It could enable you to concentrate on your areas. And it also assures that you're looking for the most effective keywords to increase success of the website.
Keywords are definitely the foundation of any SEO or Search Marketing campaign. In case you do not know exactly what keywords are used in searches from the individuals you would like to bring in to your Website, you cannot successfully promote by means of the search engines to people
Advantages of Searching for Keywords
- High Quality Traffic - you can get the traffic which makes you more income – not every traffic is the same.
- Increased Traffic Quantity - by focusing on the keywords that will get higher search amount or by targeting a larger number of keywords you've possible to obtain more traffic.
- Improved Sales and Revenue - with improved quality traffic occurs a growth in revenue. Everyone loves much more conversions and much more money.
- Less Competition - you could have the ability to target keywords and phrases which have fewer rivals. These lower quantity keywords are a great starting point while you're creating in direction of ranking to the more competing key phrases.
Before you begin advertising a web site it is vital to first conduct efficient keyword research. Your website's traffic, revenue and entire accomplishment depend on it.
Problem with Neglecting Keyword Researching
- Failing to properly target keywords - you could only find great search engine rankings to your business name. You mustn't have to optimize to your company name.
- Targeting low quantity keywords - you can find not many visitors with constrained space for development. You may even get excellent rankings, however it would not lead to sales.
- Targeting excessively competitive keywords - you might find it difficult to obtain greatly search engine traffic if you cannot get over the top part ranked websites. Select your competitor level.
- Targeting poor traffic - you might get traffic but have problems with poor alteration rates. This is the reason you can't afford to disregard keyword evaluation. So long as you are targeting the incorrect keywords, you're losing money and also losing possibilities.
If you're over a minimal budget, there are numerous free keyword search tools out there. If you have a pretty powerful knowledge of how you can perform keyword research, there are lots of useful compensated keyword tools and keyword research program. These can help you save lots of time and offer very informative data.
Courtesy: www.goarticles.com
Keywords are definitely the foundation of any SEO or Search Marketing campaign. In case you do not know exactly what keywords are used in searches from the individuals you would like to bring in to your Website, you cannot successfully promote by means of the search engines to people
Advantages of Searching for Keywords
- High Quality Traffic - you can get the traffic which makes you more income – not every traffic is the same.
- Increased Traffic Quantity - by focusing on the keywords that will get higher search amount or by targeting a larger number of keywords you've possible to obtain more traffic.
- Improved Sales and Revenue - with improved quality traffic occurs a growth in revenue. Everyone loves much more conversions and much more money.
- Less Competition - you could have the ability to target keywords and phrases which have fewer rivals. These lower quantity keywords are a great starting point while you're creating in direction of ranking to the more competing key phrases.
Before you begin advertising a web site it is vital to first conduct efficient keyword research. Your website's traffic, revenue and entire accomplishment depend on it.
Problem with Neglecting Keyword Researching
- Failing to properly target keywords - you could only find great search engine rankings to your business name. You mustn't have to optimize to your company name.
- Targeting low quantity keywords - you can find not many visitors with constrained space for development. You may even get excellent rankings, however it would not lead to sales.
- Targeting excessively competitive keywords - you might find it difficult to obtain greatly search engine traffic if you cannot get over the top part ranked websites. Select your competitor level.
- Targeting poor traffic - you might get traffic but have problems with poor alteration rates. This is the reason you can't afford to disregard keyword evaluation. So long as you are targeting the incorrect keywords, you're losing money and also losing possibilities.
If you're over a minimal budget, there are numerous free keyword search tools out there. If you have a pretty powerful knowledge of how you can perform keyword research, there are lots of useful compensated keyword tools and keyword research program. These can help you save lots of time and offer very informative data.
Courtesy: www.goarticles.com
Friday, July 2, 2010
Improving College Student Retention Rates
Retained or Stayer are two terms referring to those who enroll each semester until they graduate. These are also what you would call full-time students who obtain their degrees without academic delays. On the other hand, there are Dropouts who enter a university and leave without finishing their course. Then there are Transfers who enter school, leave it midway through their course and enroll in another school with the intention of graduating in that new school. An institution can estimate their college retention rate if they know the intentions of their students. Thus, surveys that look into this will be of great help to administrators.
Students leave college before graduation for hundreds of reasons. For example, feelings of fitting in might refer to fitting in with teammates, classmates, faculty members, dormitory roommates and so on. When these factors are being viewed by the students positively, they stay in school. When they view it negatively, they almost always leave and either find another university or stop studying altogether.
There are many reasons why students do not continue with their college education; such as parent's income, parental support, their parents' education, educational goals, pre-college academic success and even their closest friends being or not being in the same school. Academic factors influencing student retention include courses offered, general skills programs, advising, positive faculty interaction, campus resources, and academic integration. Social factors can also be a major factor including peer culture and identification with the school organization among others. Other environmental factors play a role as well, including opportunity to transfer, financial resources, family responsibility, continued parental support and part-time jobs.
When school administrators are able to look into these issues through student surveys, they have the opportunity to find the reasons behind them. Hence, they can implement measures that can improve students' circumstances that relate to the possibility of their staying in the university, leaving to find another university or stopping school altogether.
It is impossible to provide these measures without first understanding the issues from the point of view of those who are primarily involved - the students. Hence, for any educational institution to improve their student retention rate, they have to look into how their students think and feel about university life. Then administrators can use whatever information is obtained for the improvement of their educational services which ultimately leads to students being more likely to stay enrolled until graduation.
Source: www.articlesbase.com
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