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The Internet has transformed the way we shop, connect, research companies, discover products, understand solutions, and do business with web design agencies. As a result, your business website is more relevant than ever before. It now plays some important roles, including number one salesperson, top education tool, and most valuable brand representation for all interested parties – including customers, buyers, prospects, partners, supporters, advocates, and leads. Given the ever-growing role websites play in the way we do business, a standard online presence is no longer an option. Companies require a capable and experienced web design agency – one comprised of creative digital marketing specialists, talented designers, skilled technicians, content writers, and digital mavens who can ensure that your website successfully captures your core business goals, attracts prospects and partners, and grows your organization. To make sure you partner with the right firm, here are four critical questions to ask potential web design agencies before hiring them:

1. What is the Agency Experience?

• How long has the agency been designing & developing a website?
• How many clients do they have?
• How many employees do they have?

2. How Much Should I Pay For the Website?

Prices vary from firm to firm, but a good way is to first check what the market is paying other agencies and then ask yours. You can see a lot of online cheap packages but as I will mention later, these packages come with additional prices, which you will know after your project is nearly 75% completed. To some degree, the saying ‘you get what you pay for holds for web design agencies. However, at a certain point, the price just keeps going up, and the quality of the work does not justify the price.

3. Does the Agency Understand Your Goals?

Your website is simply an extension of your business, and this will highly impact on reaching your business goals. I would highly recommend communicating your business goals to the digital agency yourself. Make sure the agency understands your goals & objectives and is capable of achieving them. For instance, if one of your goals is lead generation, ask the potential agency how will they attract traffic and convert those prospects. Moreover, ask the digital agency to show some case studies they already did. This will give an idea of the efficiency of the firm.

4. Will They Provide Technical Support When Required?

Often agencies develop websites and forget their clients. Make sure you do not get into this trap. From the moment the website is up, there will be tons of clients who can contact you anytime, and if there is a technical glitch at that time, you will lose the customer. For this to accomplish you need to make sure you have all the necessary info on which you will-will need technical assistance. Here is a small list of things that you need to get help with your web design agency:

• Your email setup
• Your hosting
• Your domain name
• How to set up products and delete them?
• eCommerce setup

Without good technical support, you need an extra developer to fix the remaining problems which you surely don’t want; because this will lead to frustration and most importantly expenses.

5. Do They Have it All in One Place?

Although freelancing is blooming these days because of the economic cost, it is surely not preferred if you develop a website from a dedicated web design agency. Make sure your web design agency is equipped with all the materials that are relevant to your website. That is, from graphic design to web development, from mobile app development to providing technical support. Your website is an investment in your future so you can only afford to make it right the first time. Despite the challenges you face upfront, just make sure you are getting all the services from a single design agency which is capable of handling the task well.

6. Look For Any Hidden Costs

Hidden costs are quite common these days, and digital agencies use them to their psychological advantage. It is important to be aware of any ongoing charges or additional charges that may be applied after the project starts. For example: When going for hosting and domain purchase, look for an SSL certificate which is sometimes not mentioned in the package and agencies add the expense by themselves. Another example of maintenance cost which is also hidden at times.

7. Can the Design Agency Be Your Long-term Partner?

An optimistic design firm is hard to find, but that does not mean it is not there in the market. Look for a firm that is competent yet friendly. How is the agency responding to your random questions? Are they getting irritated, or are they responding rapturously? Does the agency understand the long-term goals and what medium of communication are they using?

8. Can They Meet Your Budget While Being Productive?

If a design agency is providing various services, it will charge a premium cost. However, as a business, you need to keep in check your costs too. Can the agency provide your required service most productively? If yes, then go for the agency.

9. Look For the Finished Projects

A good digital agency puts all of its work online. This work is usually in the form of case studies, and other times it is in the form of customer testimonials. I would rather go for the first one. If the material is not available online ask the firm to provide it to you; go through the material and then be your judge.

10. Can You Update the Content Yourself?

Normally, if it is a WordPress website, which in most cases is, you can easily update the content with not much to no hassle. However, for that too, ask the agency to arrange a training session for your team. A neatly custom-designed website will speak for itself. You do not need much of a hassle with that.

Bottom Line

Selecting your digital agency is not an easy task, it requires careful consideration of many factors. Once, decided you have decided to enter into a commitment for the duration of the project life cycle. Make sure you select a creative digital marketing agency that doesn’t disappoint you in the future.

Everyone loves to talk about their first crush. Yes, admit it or not, you are thinking about him/her at the moment. Finally, I am revealing my first crush. My first crush came to my home, and I felt pretty rapturous about it. It came in a 33 x 19-centimeter box. Yes, my first crush was my Nike shoes which were purchased from Zappos.com through my mobile app. Back then, I did not know what it was that tickled the feeling, but now I realize it was not just about the product; it was about the experience I got when I placed an order with Zappos. That same experience I received when I placed my first order with the Amazon app. Giant e-commerce companies are now cascading themselves on improving end-user experience in a mobile app. As Steve Jobs famously said: “Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.” As per the research, smartphones comprise 34% of all e-commerce transactions in the USA, and this figure is expected to grow in the year 2017, 85% of the consumers, nowadays prefer a mobile app over a mobile website. So, if you are a startup going for mobile app development for your small business. Here are eight must-have features for small businesses that will turn your surely convert your visitors into customers.

1. User-Friendly Feedback System

78% of the visitors made an immediate purchase after receiving excellent customer service. The primary purpose of putting a customer service chat or number is to know what your customers want if they do not find it in your app. Develop your app in a way which makes customer contact easy. Make sure your app is bug-free, and to make that come true, give your customers the power to pinpoint bugs in your app. Make your customer service in such a way that the clients can quickly point out the bugs in it.

2. Usability Comes First

What good is a mobile app if customers cannot place an order without your help? Give them a seamless experience. As Austin Kleon in his bestseller Steal Like an Artist highlights: “Start copying what you love. Copy copy copy copy. At the end of the copy, you will find yourself.” Learn from already successful apps like Facebook and Instagram. What features are they giving that make an app simple? Go and do that. User experience gets rewarded if it is also beautiful and surprising.

3. It is a Phone, Not a Website

Sort out the most essential features and put them in your app. No need to baffle your customers with many functions that offer no benefit to your mobile-friendly customers. Moreover, just like Facebook Lite, gives customers a lightweight app that is easy to install and efficient to run.

4. Make Social Media Login a Priority

Bestbuy’s sales tripled when they introduced social media logins on their app. If they can do it, why should you? An additive advantage to the customer is that their Facebook is already logged in, so they do not need a lengthy process to make an account and place an order on the app. Give them the convenience to increase your sales probability.

5. Is the Data Unique?

The content in an app must be exclusive to your app. Don’t duplicate your website. Stop making apps that are just mobile-friendly, make apps that are mobile-only. Moreover, most importantly focuses on delivering relevant information which makes a rich user experience.

6. Make it Work Offline Too

Do not just create apps that only operate on wi-fi. Built apps that work smoothly wirelessly on the go, too. Put less content, but make it work as beautifully as possible.

7. Gamification is the New Engagement Star

Everyone can make apps that just run, but it takes guts to turn simple apps and make them engaging. Add some engagement tools for your users to come back, again and again. Be it a contest, or something that connects them with other users to create a tribe with similar hobbies.

8. Prioritize Speed

If your app takes more than 8 seconds to load, research shows that customers will uninstall the app without even bothering to browse the app.

To Bottle it All Up

Developing a mobile app is not a tedious task; the real challenge for mobile app development companies is to design a mobile app that creates a frictionless, user experience. I hope these features will act as a catalyst to make solid leads. A simple way to judge a good digital company is to look at its case studies. If they deliver well to other companies, they will help you too to build a classic app that will sell your goods.

The App Store has touched a new milestone, it now has around 2.2 million iPhone apps with over 100 billion downloads as of 2017. Apple is an undoubted leader in the mobile sector, which has made app development an industry in itself. This is exactly why we've compiled this list of the best and brightest apps for doing business on the iPhone.

Evernote

First things first, let us start with one of my personal favorites and a lifetime saver. Evernote is one of the simplest apps that organizes your clutter in a single window. Whether appointments, to-do lists, taking screenshots, or managing your passwords, Evernote just gets it. From a business point-of-view taking quick notes for a meeting call to action for a project or maintaining a list of assigned tasks, Evernote is your best choice. Although a free version is adequate just for $12, you can have a premium version by which you can share your notebook with your teammates. And best of all, you don’t need to have a wifi nearby to access your notes again and again. No internet connection is necessary.  

Wunderlist

Paper to-do lists are now obsolete it's now time for digital to-do lists. Presenting the Wunderlist app; a simple app that can get you things done the easy way. No more cluttered papers to manage your workload. Just punch in some one-liners to get started and cut them out once done with it. Not only just for creating a digital to-do list, but the Wunderlist app can also send reminders of the urgent tasks that need your attention. The best feature I love is when you rearrange the tasks, it changes the priorities automatically. Oh, and the best part is this app is free for you to use and gets things done without giving hard times to your finance department.

Wolfram Alpha

Wolfram Alpha is the mobile version of the most popular Wolfram Alpha site. With Google, you can just add, subtract, and multiply numbers, but with Wolfram Alpha, you can solve complex financial problems, you can calculate the nutrition of particular foods, or simply take careful note of the weather around you before traveling for your next business trip.   Also Read: 5 Ways Growing Entrepreneurs Can Increase Mobile App Downloads The iPhone apps cost $2.99 – there is also a subscription option which adds additional utilities. Get this app for your iPhone and be smarter than your competition.

Genius Scan

Talking about PDFs, scanning your documents on the go is one of the most tedious & time-consuming tasks. With Genius Scan, you can scan your documents with crystal clarity and email them to your clients. Adjust the camera positioning, lighting effects, and export them to your Google Drive, Dropbox, or elsewhere.

Slack

Slack is an enterprise messaging app with over three billion daily active users. It has become widely popular with its institutional look and collaboration features. But don’t think you will be able to use Slack right away – your team needs at least a week to know all the features. Once done, this app can save you a lot of overlapping between co-workers. For instance, instead of going through all the emails for a particular conversation, you can only use the Slack search tool to get to your desired email.

TapeACall

Imagine this: You with your whole team are listening to a client in the conference room. All are taking notes and looking for deadlines. As soon as the customer ends the call, all gets back to work on their respective assigned tasks. This scenario only has one slight problem. What if some of your employees forgot to take notes? Now they don’t remember what dates they require to complete the task. TapeACall Pro to the rescue. Record all your client's conversations without worrying about storage space in your iPhone apps. This fantastic app will record and save the call for future reference. You can even name the customer and project while you’re still on the call. Start downloading, and take note of how much each app helps you. You might be shocked by the significant impact that basic iPhone apps can have on your business.

The year 2017 is the era of mobile advertising. Digital agencies will grow their ad space based on size and complexity, creating opportunities for market players and challenges for advertisers. We will notice more growth in ad placements within mobile phones and mobile messaging apps. Still, bots will burn fake ad traffic generation by advertisers to regain trust in digital advertising. Presenting the top nine trends that will shape the mobile advertising landscape in the year 2017.

Bots Will Attract Some Cash

A recent study shows that 60% of Google’s ad revenue comes from mobile ads, which is a huge leap from the previous year, which was about 44% in the year 2015. By the end of the year 2018, nearly two-thirds of Google’s net ad revenues worldwide will come from mobile ad placements. But the powerful surge in mobile traffic will also make more room for fake views and clicks. As a result, mobile ad fraud will become more dominant in 2017.

The Invention of Messaging Applications

WhatsApp, Kik, Facebook Messenger, and WeChat are live examples of how there is exceptional growth in messaging apps. These apps show a positive sign of social media monetization, which brings hope for paid media on messaging apps next year.

Alliance to Prohibit Ad Fraud

Moving away from verification tools that are about finding fraud and shutting it down, there will be more initiatives to communicate what’s working and what’s not, so that advertisers and traffic sources can work together to clean up traffic instead of blocking it. By pinpointing specific impressions, categorizing the problem, and providing actionable data in real-time, publishers can work with mediators to become part of the solution instead of being labeled as the problem.

Cyber Attacks From Ad Bots

The inception of fake clicks by mobile apps is used to steal credit cards. The tools that are used to protect financial institutions are being used by bots to breach security. Cybersecurity and anti-fraud organizations are now coming in collaboration to protect against attacks by bots.

China’s Leading the Mobile Ad Space

No doubt, the US is the most valuable ad market and continues to grow at a healthy clip, but in the previous few years, China showed a large expansion and will continue to show growth. According to Zenith Optimedia’s latest Advertising Expenditure Forecasts, China’s ad market has not been significantly affected by the country’s stock market chaos and is expected to grow almost twice as fast as the global growth rate.

Online Sales Get Affected By Mobile Ads

Data suggests that consumers don't well receive online advertising. Of the 3,200 internet users surveyed in a recent study, 92 percent said that they’d consider using an ad blocker, and 62 percent stated that they are annoyed by pre-roll ads. In 2017, finding ways to use more interesting and less intrusive media will become a higher priority to avoid alienating viewers.

Increased Ad Blocking is a Sure Concern

Twenty-eight percent of U.S. Internet users use ad-blocking software, according to Adobe. That’s bad news for marketers, advertisers, and publishers alike, who lose money when browsers prevent ads from reaching the ad server. Big networks such as Google and Facebook will pressure mobile operators not to block ads. Some mobile networks have already pulled back from ad blocking as a result of their influence.

Custom Advertising Continues to Dominate Digital Display Ads

In 2014, just a little under 50 percent of display advertising was purchased either programmatically or through an API. This year, just two years later, approximately 67 percent of digital ad displays are projected to be programmatically bought out. Programmatic TV will become a more viable option by automating ad buying for increased cost efficiency and by providing more granular targeting due to a data-driven approach. However, based on the threat of fake traffic eroding the effectiveness of online ads, fraud could become a hurdle for TV advertising going digital. Also Read: Immersive Videos are Reshaping Brands and Transforming Digital Ad Industry

Usability Will be Vital

While vast advertisement-serving merchants are progressively adding usefulness to give a one-stop shop to secure their stages, showcase players will push the other way to have an open stage that can suit best-of-breed arrangements. With such a dynamic market, there is a requirement for specialty players who can react rapidly and can ceaselessly enhance their answers in view of new requirements, something that bigger, slower players are more averse to doing. Although the new year will bring more canvases for online ads, there will be more opportunities for abuse. Helping eliminate unwanted, irrelevant, and fake traffic will be a high priority for 2017 to improve the user experience and increase ad effectiveness.

Starting an eCommerce website is easy, but staying above the sea is hard. Here are some tips which will be beneficial to you if you’re planning to start an eCommerce website.

What Problem Are You Willing to Solve?

Start with the solution in mind and work your way up. What problem are you willing to solve? And how can you solve it better than your competitors? This simple tip can skyrocket your sales right from day one. Find ways in which you can solve the problem in simplest of the simplest way and put that solution on your website.

What is Your Target Market Personality?

Take out a sheet of paper and jot down the traits of personality you are willing to target. Now align these values with your product offerings. How can you add these characters to your brand personality, with which customers can relate and feel important? Use the 80/20 rule to target your best customers first. I might sound a little rude but leave the energy drainers as they are. No matter how hard you try you cannot entertain all the customers from your target market. So best is to target the ones who will love your brand for who you are.

What Price Are You Offering?

No matter what they say in your business school, trust me, customers will leave you for the high price even if you are offering a solid product. So, your goal is to price your item just enough to get into the league with your competitors. Once customers start trusting you with your product quality, they will be willing to pay whatever you ask them. But keep in mind that your product/service is worth remembering.

What Hosting Service Are You Using?

At an average customer only spend 10-20 seconds on a new website. And in that period if the client doesn't get what he is looking for, you are doomed. The speed of your website depends on what digital marketing company you use or if you are hosting it yourself, what hosting service are you using? Many digital marketing services these days are doing well. Google our digital marketing company, and you'll check the best-rated websites. Before going with the service do read reviews, of what people are saying about that particular digital agency.

Who Will Handle the Customer Service?

Research shows that 78% of consumers have bailed on a transaction or not made an intended purchase because of a poor service experience. Customer service is the most vital step when going online. If your customer doesn’t get instant replay, he will move on to the other dozen websites who are giving good customer service. One of the best things I admire about customer service is that customers provide real-time feedback. And this feedback sets the tone for your business. Firstly, appreciate the client who is giving the feedback; secondly, resolve the issue on the spot or give them a time frame in which the problem will be resolved.

Don’t Force Your Users To Create an Account Before They Can Buy

Don't get in the rush to collect email addresses from your customers. Ask only when they are willing to buy from you. First, let them experience your site. Let them explore the products you are offering, and let them get a taste of the service you're offering. And then let them choose to buy from you. Just like Amazon, you can pop up perks for placing an order with your website. Give them the instant gratification to buy from you. Finally, monitor from Google Analytics what made them tick. And for your future reference go for the offering they desire.

Don’t Miss Out on Accepting Payments

Payment is one of the most critical factors when it comes to e-commerce buying. Most of the customer leave just because they didn't find their desired payment option on your website. As mentioned above when you go to your target market, do some research on what modes of payment your customers prefer. For payment methods look for a secure way in which customers feel safe to pay online. PayPal is no doubt the most secure payment gateway. 2Checkout is also a good option.

Make Your Checkout Experience Foolproof

No matter what your competitors are doing make sure you use a foolproof check-out experience. As shown by funnels in Google Analytics, the majority of customers leave the site if the check-out system is not working in proper order. Witness the one-step check-out system developed by Amazon, and experience the smooth flow. The best is to develop your cart system which is easy to use and does the job well. Built a shopping cart which can easily be used from the smartphone too.

So, maybe you’re a digital marketer in your company, or you are a business developer, whatever the case, if you're the collaborator between your organization and digital marketing company this is a must-read blog for you. Gone are the times when you paid thousands of dollars to a media agency and expected to take over the world. As it is said, with great power comes great responsibility. So, it is your job as a marketer of a company to analyze the results provided by the digital company and make good use of them.

Use Them To Educate

Whether you’re the Chief Marketing Officer or the Search Engine Optimizer, it's your job to inform your boss regarding the updates of digital media. You need to make sure that the digital media agency is up-to-date with the latest trends, happenings, and updates released by Google. Because at the end of the day, it's up to you to analyze the result generated by the digital agency, and if, for some reason, your digital agency is not able to deliver results, feel free to get in and try someone new.

Implement Their Suggestions

First, make it work then make it better by learning from them. A typical advantage of a digital agency is the diversity they bring with them. By working with thousands of clients, a digital agency specializes in the custom framework and they can point out what's wrong with your digital media plan. Ask them for suggestions and make sure to implement them as soon as they advise. Mostly the agencies are quite good at pointing out vulnerabilities in your plan. Share your plan and ask them for step-by-step guidance. Keep track of the results it is generating and keep asking for feedback. They are in charge but watch out over them anyway. Ask for weekly reports on what was implemented and how they are planning to make it better.

Test New Channels

With the inception of social media platforms, it is quite impossible to succeed on limited platforms. One must test new channels to outsmart the competition. As mentioned by social media guru Guy Kawasaki in The Art of Social Media: Power Tips for Power Users “Sharing good stuff is 90 percent of the battle of getting more followers. Almost everything else is merely an optimization. End of discussion.” Ask your digital agency to test different channels and notify the response. Join Google communities, share on Medium, and create an Instagram profile for your company. Check what your competition is doing, check their weak spots, and make them your strengths. This is a sure way to outsmart your competition. Attack on areas which they forgot. Consistency is the key.

Ask For Budget Allocation Breakdown

Whether you are a small business or a multi-million-dollar giant, your sales will be directly proportional to how smartly you use your marketing budget. Digital agencies charge a lot for making you a hero, but keeping that in mind, ask them for statistics on where the budget is spent and analyze the effectiveness of every dollar spent. If the results are not as up to the mark, discuss with the digital marketing agency what is causing the issue and sort it out. Now, maybe you have a digital marketing agency relationship, but you don’t think that these tips are going to help. If that’s the case, it might be time to dump them. Let us help you outshine your organization. Make the best of social media and emerge as a leader in your industry.

Nokia Communicator, the first of its kind web-friendly communication handset, was introduced in 1996. There has been no looking back for mobile phone devices that became available in the market for the common man that support website browsing. It was only after the dawn of smartphone devices that the world shifted its interest towards a specific kind of technique that enables websites to adjust their size according to their display screen. The technique is more commonly known as responsive website design technology, and only the best web design agencies in USA provide it to clients, both locally and internationally.

The Power to Adjust

As we have mentioned, a responsive website design technique is one in which the website design is created on specific lines that enable it to adjust itself every time it is opened on a new smartphone device. It can adjust its display according to the size of its display device’s screen, but hold on. Responsive website design is not as easy as it sounds. This article will highlight the need for a responsive website design for a business and its advantages.

Web Traffic Driver

Here are a few points to get started with the latest survey by Monetate: more than $37 billion was spent in online shopping through handheld devices in the year 2013-14. From the total website visits calculated, it is found that American citizens use their cell phones up to 28% more to browse through shopping websites than their desktops/laptops. Moreover, it is estimated that today, out of the total visits, 21% of the traffic comes from mobile devices on e-commerce websites. In the United States alone, more than 90% of people agree to the fact that when they are close to an occasion. They are most likely to make a purchase through their mobile phones and all of them have mobile access 24/7 with them. Now the above-mentioned statistics show clearly that it is inevitable for businesses to make use of responsive website design technology but the point is to ponder. Here is that mobile phones come in a variety of screen sizes, which is more than 232 screen sizes, this is where responsive design technology comes in.

No Need To Create Multiple Screens

Now, with the use of responsive website design technology, there is no need to create multiple screen designs for every mobile phone device that exists on this planet because the responsive website design technology adjusts the design according to the screen size itself. Also Read: Few Principles of Effective Website Design A world of opportunities opens up with the use of responsive website design technology. The most important advantage of the responsive design is that it adjusts itself according to the user’s browser, and not according to your server. The user’s browser automatically adjusts itself according to the size of the device’s screen it’s been displayed on. It also provides a consistent user experience among all platforms that maintains your brand’s design and personality along with communication. Also, when you search your website which is created on responsive then Google will include your mobile website into the search results further increasing your online presence.

Final Word

The above-mentioned advantages of responsive website design technology clearly state that responsiveness is a big thing in website development. Too many brands across the globe have already switched to the use of responsive websites for their customers and have gained significant gains in the lead generation process and sales. You could be one of them too! In case you are looking for a professional custom web development company in USA that can help you design a responsive website, then you must get in touch with us right now.

In the technically advanced age that we live in today, making clear communications and providing valid interacting points to customers is important for every business. Stationery and packaging design are the booming trends that set an instant reminder of your business to the client while managing to build a positive rapport and lasting brand identity in front of your customers. Today, with the rising popularity of non-physical communication through the internet and its related technologies, companies are focusing more on getting their brand identity design collateral from expert and professional logo and branding design services in USA. With surprisingly low prices and pinpoint accuracy, professional design services have taken the internet by storm and are working on multiple stationary design projects for budding businesses daily. Therefore, we decided to list down some benefits of professional stationery designs for businesses in this post:

Client Meetings

It is always imperative to impress your clients positively when they arrive at your office for a meeting. There can be no better way to do it than a professionally designed stationery collateral. Not only that professionally designed stationery add poise to your work, but it also leaves a profound impression on your clients about your professionalism and market rapport.

Presentation

Making a business presentation is all about making the appropriate impression. Nothing looks more professional than custom-built presentation slides and folders, binders, and printing papers. Having customized stationery in place will at least help to show that you are professional and serious, and that the presentation means a lot to you. It will also help to distinguish you from other businesses, and there is a chance for a good branding exercise when you leave the materials with the decision-makers after the presentation for them to peruse at a later date.

Trade Shows

Trade shows and exhibitions are also important events where businesses can network together for B2B opportunities and get in touch with clients directly. By greeting them with custom-designed stationery, you instantly set your standard high and make a winning impression in front of them. And to top it all off, if you provide your stationery as give giveaway to your prospects it will be an unmatched marketing strategy for you that will work wonders in the long run by making them recall your brand at periodic intervals and whenever they come across those giveaways.

Conclusion

In this post, we only intend to highlight the importance of professionally designed stationery pieces for any business and would want to emphasize the fact that business owners must not overlook the importance of stationery collateral, or else they will miss out on great business development opportunities. To receive a custom quote for your stationery design project, try getting in touch with one of the best logo design services right away.

Are you considering rebranding your online business? Is underperformance the reason? Or is it that your brand is not striking interest in your target market anymore? If the reason is any of the above, you need to take serious steps to rebrand your business, more importantly, in the digital era. You need to synchronize your mission and vision according to the changing market trends. Let us take a closer look at the mistakes that online business owners must avoid as they plan to rebrand their businesses in the digital era. But before that, let’s see what rebranding actually is.

What is Rebranding?

Rebranding is the process of providing an entirely different look, feel, and personality to your business/product/service. It is a strategy that retains your core business competencies and differentiates you from your competitors while creating a unique value proposition for you to fulfill over time for your customers. The brand identity of your business is the dynamic combination of visual, verbal, and emotional attributes that speak for your existence and what you do. The way you brand your business influences your target market directly and creates a perception of a brand that either makes or breaks your image in front of your target market.

Why Should You Rebrand?

There can be quite a few reasons for businesses to be involved in digital and traditional rebranding:

• Your company’s brand identity has gotten old and your customers are not making connections with your products the same way they used to do, earlier.
• To recover from vanishing prominence. Pull up sales figures and mend deteriorating market volume and share.
• You want to cater to a larger chunk of the market now and want to charge a premium price.
• Your competitors are doing better in terms of brand recognition, market presence, etc.

Also Read: Top 5 Ways to Build a Successful Brand Branding is a marketing tool that helps your brand stay relevant to the prevailing trends within your business industry. While some pull it off quite effortlessly, others have to face negative reviews and have to revisit their branding strategies. To make sure that your latest branding strategy pinpoints success for your business, make sure to avoid the mistakes discussed below:

Lack of Research

When considering rebranding your online business, you first need to assess why the rebrand is needed. If it’s related to your website design, does it really need a design change, or will some tweaks do? Your brand image lies in close harmony with your company’s motto and goal, and to achieve them successfully, you need to indulge in comprehensive market research that answers questions related to the rebranding need based on your competitor’s analysis, your sales figures, your target audience, and their psychographic, and so on. Remember, your customers are your driving force, and they should be the primary factors when formulating future strategies. Their needs, wants, preferences, and behavior should be the basic factors of your rebranding strategy. Don’t just be engulfed in recreating your brand identity all of a sudden without ample research, because if you do, it is definitely going to cost you not only in monetary terms but also your reputation and your current brand identity.

Ignoring Your Current Brand Goodwill

Rebranding does not necessarily mean that your current brand equity holds no importance if you have planned to get it changed. Business owners need to gauge themselves in a thought process of whether they require a complete redo or some tweaks in their brand strategies. You just cannot overlook your current market standing and the expectations of your current customers to cater to new ones. Therefore, before you undertake the highly important task of revitalizing your brand image, you must carry out the necessary investigation and background checks to assess the needs of the target market.

2017 is here and with the change in the year, business owners are now re-doing their marketing strategies to receive the most out of them, during the running year. Since the global perspective has now shifted towards online buying and selling, therefore what we can see all around us is a great influx of new websites, landing pages, online print material, and so on. What is common among all of the said items is content.

The trick to staying ahead of your competition is to be at your content’s best this year. As per the predictions made by digital industry gurus and veteran business owners around the globe, 2017 is all set to revolutionize the e-commerce industry by growing to unprecedented levels.

SEO agencies across the globe have also predicted the steep rise of digital marketing media and their positive effects on businesses dealing in the sector. Witnessing the growth potential that the internet holds within itself for online transactions, and keeping in view the prediction of content being the major game changer. We decided to come up with fewer content guidelines to help corporations grow in 2017, through informative content.

Let’s have a look:

Quality Should Be Focused

It goes without saying that only the best survives in the market. In order to become the best, it is imperative to be high quality, be it your product offering or your website’s content. A few years back, however, the consideration was totally different. Website owners refuse to bank on the originality of the content, and it was there only for the sake of incorporating keywords into it, which, according to them, were the drivers of traffic to their website.

The scenario has changed completely now. The new algorithms of the search engines have made clear that only the most informative and original content that is written with the intention of being user-friendly, would score better search engine rankings. Due to its high usability, such content attracts more users when they search for specific keywords and thus allows the website to receive more clicks which are now the main drivers of better search rankings.

The content should be at least unique, user-friendly, and original for the sake of scoring more search engine rankings on popular search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing.

Words Are Not Content

Another misconception that many budding business owners have in their minds is that content = words. Wrong! A given number of words cannot possibly pull visitors towards it if they lack meaning. It is the creativity instilled in content that serves the purpose, and not only words, but content can also come in other forms too.

DIY videos, podcasts, SlideShare, live streams, social channels, etc., are all forms of content that manage to pull consumers towards brands, all online. Therefore, to keep your brand at the top of the mind recall of your target audience, don’t just stick with words. Try getting creative with other forms of content to create a 360-degree integrated pull.

Online Presence Matters

And lastly, it is your overall online presence that is going to make a difference. The Internet is a virtual world, and similar to our planet, a business can thrive only to a certain percentage if its presence is limited areas. To grow and earn exponentially, it requires scattering its presence all across the globe. Similar to the phenomenon, to grow your online business, a business owner needs to take care of all the online mediums available to create a complete online presence.

Social media these days is a really powerful medium to highlight what you have and how you are better than others, and the plus point is that you can use all the available resources like print material, videos, and live streams to send the message across to your customers.

The above-mentioned factors are only a few that should be kept in mind while devising a content strategy for your online brand in 2017. Keep tuned in for more as we explore some more resources and bring you some really great tips for business growth through different channels in the year ahead of us.