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6 Digital Marketing Tips that Make Sense

knoxblog, News, Uncategorized, Web Development Knoxville

Do a search on digital marketing tips and you’ll come up with dozens of pages. Unfortunately, most of those digital marketing tips are just rehashed information.

1. You Can’t Count on Current Digital Marketing Trends

digital_marketing_KnoxvilleDigital marketing strategies that clicked for you last year may not have the same results in 2019. From AI to Robotic marketing for small and large companies, advertising has certainly changed. Businesses can no longer rely on conventional marketing to increase their client base and end of year earnings.

Since 1996, Knoxweb has been keeping up with the technical times and has uncovered some online marketing strategies that you may not be aware of.

2. Programmatic Advertising

Do a search on programmatic advertising and you’ll come up with an abundance of ads selling automated software that will make your business more efficient. In a nutshell, programmatic advertising uses artificial intelligence to automate your ad buys. This means you can target your demographic using real time auctions.

Programmatic advertising means more conversions. Predicted to account for over 90 percent of digital display advertising by 2020 by eMarketer, programmatic advertising is the way of the digital future.

3. Chatbots and Digital Marketing

If you follow the Knoxweb Blog, you will know that chatbots are a real part of the digital advertising world. With instant messaging in real time 24/7, chatbots will continue to be a dominant force in 2019. More than 1.4 billion users are interacting with chatbots everyday.

With 80 percent of brands using or planning to use chatbots in the near future, strategists say that chatbots will save companies more than 8 billion dollars annually by the year 2022.

People who do business online prefer chatbots as the respond instantly. Chatbots answer questions and can recall your entire history with the company. Chatbots never have a bad day either. Virtual assistants provide your client and customer base with customer service that goes above and beyond the norm meeting your buyer’s expectations.

4. Make Things Personal with Digital Marketing

Although it may seem difficult to interact on a digital level, it is possible. Thanks to social media and other online channels, you can personalize your marketing through content, emails and conventional marketing.

The marketing team from Knoxweb believes that personalization enhances customer relations. Because businesses can access purchase history and buyer behavior, marketing to your demographic has never been easier.

Just look at Amazon and Netflix and you’ll realize that personalization is the key. Your entire page is personalized for you from the text to the carousels, banners, and artwork.

Even email is getting more personal. Email communication is leading to real time. In fact, emails that are personalized are more likely to be opened than a carefully planned email blast.

5. Social Messaging Apps for Digital Marketing

Social media apps are much more than sending your freshly dressed Emoji to your BFF. In cact, Facebook Messenger accounts for 1.3 million active users every month with 2 billion messages being relayed between people and companies every day.

WhatsApp has over 1.3 billion active users every month with daily messages being sent 55 billion times. If that’s not enough to convince you to jump on the social messaging app advertising wagon, maybe the fact that WeChat, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp have more users combined than YouTube or Facebook is.

Assign a team member to handle your social messaging apps. Because social media platforms make it easy to automate your ads, assign a team member to handle your apps.  Just make sure you respond to comments, especially if you should receive a not so positive one.

6. Micro Moments for Digital Marketing

2019 is the year analysts claim that Smartphone usage will surpass television as the most watched medium. For instance, people spend about 3 hours and 35 minutes on their phone every day. As a result, this has certainly changed the way businesses advertise. Moreover, micro moment’s means getting the attention of the consumer instantly as most people lose interest within seconds.

People will generally make a decision instantly when it comes to purchasing whether it’s choosing a restaurant or selecting a new lawnmower. In order to take advantage of 2019 you need to be where your consumers are now in that split second. Be creative with your content. For example, think about what sparks your attention and think like your customers.

Staying on top of digital marketing doesn’t have to be a chore, and it won’t be with Knoxweb. Call and schedule a no obligation marketing consultation with Knoxweb today.

Video Grabber to Grab Your Audience!

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No matter what your video production & web needs are, Video Grabber and web design/development company Video Grabber has the skills, resources and know-how to get the job done right. Our in-house staff handles the writing, production, design, editing and distribution from concept through delivery.

Video Grabber is a true digital agency, bridging the gap between high-quality video production, award-winning website design and creative online marketing strategies. We help clients big and small showcase their companies and products to the world in a fresh, engaging way.

Our video production department has grown so fast that we have established Video Grabber!

View more information here: http://videograbber.co

Google is Pushing Hard for SSL Connections… is Your Website Ready?

Content Management Systems, Internet|Remote Utils, Network Tools|IP Tools, Security|Keylogger / Monitoring, Security|Secure cleaning, SEO, Uncategorized

A few months ago, Google officially announced that it would consider Secure Socket Layers – more commonly known as SSL connections – as a search signal. Such a move fit perfectly with the search engine’s known appreciation for user experience. Long used by banks and online retailers, SSL connections are fast and encrypt any transfers of information (like passwords and credit card numbers) that take place between the website and a visitor.

This shift essentially told marketers that upgrading to SSL functionality would help them improve their search engine visibility, and bring more buyers to their doorstep as a result. That was incentive enough for a lot of businesses to make the plunge, but now there is an even more important reason to act.

SSL INDICATIONS ARE COMING TO GOOGLE CHROME

As we speak, Google’s engineers are in the process of upgrading the popular Chrome browser, which is estimated to have more than one billion users worldwide. Currently, it indicates SSL connections with a small blue “secure” marking. It’s visible, but easy to miss if you aren’t looking for.

At some point in the next few days, we are going to see changes that take this concept a little further. Namely, that websites asking for passwords and submissions without SSL connectivity are going to be marked as “insecure,” and could be meted with a warning prompt. Whereas marketers with secure hosting were being rewarded before, those who haven’t upgraded are going to be punished now.

That’s a subtle shift, but one that is likely to affect web traffic and lead generation in big ways. After all, those who aren’t in the online marketing industry might not pay a lot of attention to small colored boxes, but they will perk up if they are warned that particular website isn’t as safe as it could be. Just as importantly, it probably won’t be long before Firefox, Microsoft Edge, Safari, and other browsers follow suit.

HOW YOU CAN QUICKLY AND EASILY ADD SSL TO YOUR WEBSITE

If you’ve been waiting to add SSL connections to your small business website, or haven’t heeded our warnings in the past, now is the time to act. Luckily, there are a couple of easy and affordable ways to bring your site up to speed.

The first is to log into your web hosting account and upgrade your subscription package. You may have to pay a slightly higher fee, as SSL connectivity may not be available on the lowest tier of pricing. However, by improving your hosting package, you’ll also get a more reliable website.

A better way to integrate SSL to your website is by contacting us to discuss our SSL upgrade option.  It’s a simple and cost-effective way to get the functionality you need while staying away from viruses, scams, and the other undesirable web “neighbors” you find on common shared hosting plans.

In 2017, there’s no excuse for going without SSL connections. Google demands it, and so are customers. Why not contact us today and see how easy it is to make an improvement that could bring you new business every week?

New Social Media Marketing Trends

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social media marketing

Ever since the advent of social media marketing, so-called experts have attempted to guess what is going to happen next. However, unless you are the powers that be at Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram and YouTube, you may have a tough time understanding what the best social media marketing techniques actually are.

According to Knoxweb, there are a few social media marketing trends that you may not be aware of.

Social Media Searches

Social media searches are very powerful, and when Pinterest announced the new visual search feature that allows users to click within the image to open a new search, social media marketing searches became even more popular. What that means is if you are looking a picture of a sofa and you want to see similar items, all you have to do is click on the sofa and you will be directed to similar searches. The internet is all about ease of use, and thanks to social media searches, you don’t have to leave the comfort of the site to find something similar.

Live Broadcasting

One of the biggest trends in social media marketing is, “Live social broadcasts,” and it’s not just the Pepsi’s and Budweiser’s of the world that are using the new user friendly feature. People understand reality and want to buy a brand that they can trust. In other words social media users want to know what is happening and why. With Facebooks new Live Broadcasts, small and large businesses and organizations can reach more people in 2016.

Video Sharing

Knoxweb explains that even if you aren’t ready to go the live broadcast just yet, videos are still vital when it comes to your social media marketing strategies. Although Knoxweb has detailed the importance of video, it is imperative that you incorporate it into your social media marketing plan.

  • Videos sharing increased by 43 percent in January of 2016
  • When you publish videos on your social media pages, you’ll see 62 percent more engagement that you will with your photos
  • Facebook announced at the beginning of this year that it sees about eight billion views every day from over 500 million people.

Short Compelling Videos

Short and to the point videos are important if you want to increase your exposure on the World Wide Web. Small and large businesses and organizations will benefit from compelling videos that exposure your brand and your company. According to Knoxweb, brands will see an increase in sales when videos are added to business social media pages.

Inbound Messages

Inbound messages are going up when it comes to social customer service. Brands that interact with inbound messages across all industries received 32 percent more messages than in 2015. However, one of the biggest problems that brands are having is answering those messages. About 82 percent of the messages never get a response. Knoxweb will tell you that staying connected with people who have sent your business or organization an inbound message is crucial for your social media marketing plan.

According to Knoxweb, social media is about staying connected, and if you aren’t, you will lose business.

If you would like more information regarding social media marketing, search engine Optimization, a new mobile responsive website or anything else that has to do with the internet, call or click and talk to a social media marketing representative from Knoxweb today.

A No-Brainer Way to Build Your Brand using Data

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periscope

From an article originally posted at TechInAsia:

Faced with this challenge, you may talk to consultants and business experts who will tell you that it’s important to maintain a corporate blog with frequent updates. Plus, they’ll tell you to engage your customers and fans on social media. This kind of advice, while helpful at its core, is kind of like telling your newly single friend to “Cheer up.” The end goal of engagement is correct, you need a solid plan maximize how you’re using social media to promote your business.

There is some good advice in here and the entire thing is suggested reading. Some caveats that we have noticed, from our experience in the field:

  • Overall, surveys are a good idea and do not dismiss them out-of-hand. However, we have found that surveys where you specifically ask people about their own behavior are notoriously unreliable. It’s not that people are dishonest, they’re just not good at reporting how they actually behave. We have seen many many cases where people reported one thing about their own behavior, but the empirical data told an entirely different story.
  • Tangentially related to the above point: We are also skeptical of “focus group” type questions where you ask people “Would you buy X if it had Feature Y?” Again, the fact is that people just aren’t good at reporting this about themselves. Henry Ford observed this phenomenon well when he said “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”
  • If a survey about something other than behavior is not an option, use other data that you can collect empirically. Wondering what customers really see first on your website? Check your eye-tracking software. Have two ideas for call-to-action text and want to know which one drives more people through the sales funnel? Start A/B testing. There are more ways now than ever to get real data about customer behavior instead of being in the dark.

…And as always, when you need professional help with any of the above, drop us a line!

New TLS Vulnerability Explained: Are Your Sites Safe?

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tls-logjam

Filippo Valsorda, writing for CloudFlare:

Yesterday, a group from INRIA, Microsoft Research, Johns Hopkins, the University of Michigan, and the University of Pennsylvania published a deep analysis of the Diffie-Hellman algorithm as used in TLS and other protocols. This analysis included a novel downgrade attack against the TLS protocol itself called Logjam, which exploits EXPORT cryptography (just like FREAK).

…

The research team performed the precomputation on the most common 512-bit (EXPORT) parameters to demonstrate the impact of Logjam, but they express concerns that real, more powerful attackers might do the same with the common normal-DHE 1024-bit parameters.

Finally, in their Internet-wide scan they discovered that many servers will provide vulnerable 512-bit parameters even for non-EXPORT DHE, in order to support older TLS implementations (for example, old Java versions).

In order to best protect yourself from this vulnerability, the servers you visit (like Facebook, or Google, or CNN.com) as well as your specific web browser (like Chrome or Firefox) need to be patched. Fixing the server is up to developers like us at Knoxweb. Updating your browser is up to you, the user. For more information on the size and scope of these vulnerabilities, and to test whether your browser is vulnerable, check out weakdh.org. It is important at this juncture to also know that NO Knoxweb clients with sites served over https are vulnerable to these kinds of attacks.

Another important note since this original post came from CloudFlare: All of the information contained in the post is completely technically correct. It is the best explanation we have read of the Logjam attack. However, if you are a CloudFlare subscriber or have ever considered it as a CDN, be aware that they are currently offering some seriously broken SSL options. 2 of their 3 choices (“Universal SSL” and “Full SSL”) are not secure by today’s standards. Universal SSL leaves connections to the origin unsecured which allows for passive or active man-in-the-middle attackers to intercept things. Their Full SSL package would allow an active man-in-the-middle attacker to intercept origin connections. What this means is that with these CloudFlare SSL options, your site could still have the green lock and make you feel safe, but customers’ credit card information could be traveling to the origin server in plain text.

These are murky waters for everyone- If you have questions about your SSL or are considering upgrading an existing site, talk to the professionals — We’ll have some suggestions 😉

Announcing Google’s new SEO Tool: “Google Search Console”

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Search-ConsoleExciting news folks!  Google is making SEO for you website even easier.  They’re taking their old “Webmaster Tools” and refocusing to make it easier for Small Business Owners and SEO folks to manage how they rank in search results.

They’ll be releasing the new branding and adding tools over the next few weeks.  It’s a better time than ever to jump in and start helping your site ranking.

Head over to g.co/SearchConsole and get started!

Make sure you check out the tools in “Other Resources”

  • Structured Data Testing Tool
  • Structured Data Markup Helper
  • Email Markup Tester
  • Google My Business
  • Google Merchant Center
  • PageSpeed Insights
  • Custom Search
  • Google Domains