What are ad exchanges? How are they different from ad networks? If you have tried monetizing your site anytime you may have come across these two terms more often. You may have opted for an ad network thinking it's an ad exchange and vice versa. You may be wondering if this is an issue. Let us shed some light on these two terms. When you want to buy a product, you generally go to a retail store and place your order. Likewise, a company that wants to sell its products may sell it directly or bring in an intermediary like a wholesaler or a distributor. Similarly, when you want to sell your ad space you may sell it directly to an advertiser or an intermediary like an ad network. Again, advertisers may buy ad space from these intermediaries. Again when you want a discounted price for the product you are buying you may go to a marketplace where there are many sellers selling the same product and you may bargain for a reasonable price which otherwise you would have bought for a fixed price. Similarly, an advertiser may opt to buy advertising space in bulk from a marketplace like that of an ad exchange and so can a publisher sell their ad space inventory to these ad exchanges for them to be sold at reasonable prices. The transactions of ad exchanges are transparent and you may know at what price your ad space was sold. Every buyer gets to bid and may choose to buy or not an ad inventory. With ad exchange, there is a probability that a buyer would buy ad space from multiple ad networks with real-time bidding. While on the other hand, the ad network works for dedicated advertisers and publishers. These ad networks may be involved in the bidding process of an ad exchange but the end publisher and advertiser will never know at what price their ad space was sold. Below is a list of ad exchanges, the ad networks have already been quoted in the blog "How to Monetize Your Website" . Google Adx OpenX PubMatic Index Exchange Smarty Ads These are a few popular ad exchanges, which drive programmatic advertising. These sites also provide real-time bidding, which gives a fair chance to all bidders. The entire process of buying and selling ad spaces in bulk happens automatically. They are technically referred to as Demand Side Platform(DSP) for advertisers, Supply Side Platform (SSP) for publishers. The advancement in digital advertising can be leveraged to increase the reach of your content as well as make good profits at the same time. For more content on digital marketing check my blog .

In this article, I will share the five best places to start a blog for free. If you're planning to start a blogging site and you don't want to pay for the domain and hosting, then I would show you five such sites, which top the popularity list and are easy to use. You can also get a wider audience for the post that you write since it's SEO-friendly, and also it is cost-free. Let us start listing them down one by one : WordPress : Everyone must have heard of this site, you can create a free blog. This site started out as a content management system, it still remains open source which makes it popular among developers and website hosting. The best part is you can host your own website or use the templates provided by the WordPress engine. If you are a newbie to the world of blogging, it advisable to use the built in themes and templates. Once you turn a professional blogger and would need to host your own blogging site switch to self hosting which may involve installation on your PC or even go for an upgraded plan. All this may cost you a bare minimum compared to the revenue you would generate from blogging. The downside is customization can get complex. Blogger : Google owned free blog maker, which is also very popular among bloggers due to its integrations with google plugins. The site is a content management system, which lets you post your blog under a subdomain. While most themes and templates are free you are also provided with third-party tools and templates which may be paid. You are not self hosting your site, but you can connect to a custom domain to increase the domain authority. Though Blogger is easy to use, the options to customize are limited when compared to WordPress or any other free blog hosting platform. The downside is you will not have a customized look for your site. Medium : This is more of a forum based blogging site. You have a built-in audience for your content. No requirement of hosting or customizing your blog. It's all managed by the platform. It is more suitable for writers who are not worried about integrating advertisements with their blog. Though you can still earn good income on the platform depending on your content and followers. It also maintains a partner program which allows you to generate revenue from blogging. LinkedIn : This is a social networking site but also provides a means to blog. You don't need to worry about customizing, hosting or even promoting content. Since the article gets posted on a social networking platform, its easier to generate traffic for your content. Your articles will be easily detected by search engines. The downside being you cannot generate revenue from the traffic. You may have to redirect the audience to your blog site within the article in order to generate income. Wix : This is a website builder platform without self hosting which makes it simpler to build websites. It provides free themes and templates along with easy configurations to third party plugins. You can leverage the benefits by upgrading your plan which lets you integrate your blog site with custom domain just like other blog hosting domains do. It also allows you to import pages from WordPress and Blogger sites. It is fairly easy even for a non developer to build a professional website. The downside is most websites will repeat the templates. Here is table of Benefits : I hope this read will let you decide which site you want to pick for your first blog post. Though not all sites have features to integrate advertisements which is the major source of revenue for most bloggers. It is advisable to pick the platform which most suits your need. The general rule of thumb would be for a new blogger traffic is the need and for a professional blogger advertisement is the necessity. You can also find the demo of these blog sites on my channel Digi Marketer Online . Happy Blogging!

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization , which is the practice of optimizing a website or web pages to improve their ranking and visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs). The ultimate goal of SEO is to provide search engines with the best possible understanding of the website content so that search engines can deliver the most relevant and useful results to the users. By improving a website's search engine rankings, SEO can help to increase the visibility, credibility, and trustworthiness of the website and ultimately lead to higher traffic and conversions. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) tools are software applications designed to help website owners, marketers, and digital agencies improve the visibility of their websites on search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo. Types of SEO Tools Some common types of SEO tools include: Keyword research tools: These tools help you identify keywords related to your niche, as well as their search volume, competition, and other relevant metrics. Technical SEO tools: These tools help you identify and fix technical issues on your website, such as broken links, crawl errors, and duplicate content, which can negatively impact your search engine rankings. Backlink analysis tools: These tools help you monitor your website's backlink profile, identify new backlinks, and track your competitors' backlink strategies. Website analytics tools: These tools provide data on website traffic, user behavior, and other metrics that can help you identify opportunities for improvement. Rank tracking tools: These tools help you monitor your website's search engine rankings for specific keywords over time, so you can track your progress and identify areas for improvement. Content optimization tools: These tools help you optimize your website's content for search engines, including on-page optimization and content creation. There are both free and paid versions of these tools available, and the choice of which to use will depend on your budget and specific SEO needs. First, we will cover some popular tools from each type and then discuss 5 SEO platforms and their FREE subscriptions. Most of the tools listed below have free trial periods and offer basic features even after the trial period is finished. Keyword Research tools Keyword research tools are software applications that help website owners and SEO professionals identify the most relevant and valuable keywords for their content and marketing campaigns. These tools help to identify what phrases and terms people use to search for specific topics and how often they are searched. If you are writing content then you want it to materialize rather than keep it to yourself. For this to happen you will need to research the keywords that your consumers are looking for and educate your audience on the same. Keywords come in different forms and types like seed keywords, short-tail keywords, long-tail keywords, LSI keywords, and so on. Each has its own significance. Digital marketers use a few keyword planning tools like seoreviewtools.com , answerthepublic.com , lsigraph.com , and others. Here are some popular keyword research tools: Google Keyword Planner: It is a free tool provided by Google that helps to find new keywords and get search volume data. It is a part of Google Ads and can be used for both paid and organic searches. LongTailPro: It allows users to get a list of related long-tail keywords that can be used in content or ad campaigns. It also provides various metrics, such as search volume, keyword competitiveness, potential profitability, competitor analysis, and rank tracking. Ahrefs: It is a comprehensive SEO tool that includes a keyword research feature, which provides information on the search volume, keyword difficulty, and click data. It also helps to identify related keywords and provides suggestions for long-tail keywords. Moz Keyword Explorer: It is a keyword research tool provided by Moz, which helps to identify high-volume keywords and long-tail keyword phrases. It also provides keyword metrics such as difficulty, opportunity, and potential. Ubersuggest: It is a free keyword research tool provided by Neil Patel that helps to find new keyword ideas, analyze keyword trends, and get data on search volume, CPC, and competition. It also provides suggestions for related keywords and long-tail keywords. Technical SEO tools Technical SEO tools are software applications designed to help website owners, developers, and SEO professionals optimize their website's technical performance and visibility in search engines. These tools analyze a website's technical infrastructure and provide recommendations for improving various technical aspects, such as site speed, mobile responsiveness, crawlability, and indexability. For your website to rank on Google you need to submit your website to the Google search console. The search console tracks the interaction of search bots with your website while the user interaction is tracked using google analytics which is a website analytic tool . The search console helps in optimizing Google crawls, indexing, fixing indexing errors, monitoring the backlinks, and also monitoring AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) or Smartphone crawlers. It can also be used to bring more relevant traffic to your website. As you may already know, to rank higher on Google you need backlinks that decide your domain authority and page authority scores. To check your DA and PA you may use free tools like DA PA Checker . There are also free tools for checking these scores in bulk like websiteseochecker.com. Here are some popular technical SEO tools: Google Search Console: It is a free tool offered by Google that helps website owners monitor and maintain their website's presence in Google search results. It provides insights into search performance, crawl errors, sitemaps, and more. SEOToolLab : It is an all-in-one marketing tool that includes features for technical SEO analysis, keyword research, competitor analysis, and more. SEOToolLab can provide a comprehensive health check of the website, including performance, security, and other technical aspects, which can affect search engine rankings. Ahrefs: It is a comprehensive SEO tool that includes features for technical site audits, backlink analysis, keyword research, and more. Its site audit feature can help identify and prioritize technical SEO issues. Moz Pro: It is an SEO software that includes features for keyword research, site audits, rank tracking, and more. Its site audit feature can help identify technical issues that may be hindering a website's SEO performance. Screaming Frog: It is a desktop-based website crawler that can help identify technical SEO issues, such as broken links, duplicate content, and missing meta tags. It provides detailed reports and recommendations for fixing these issues. Backlink analysis tools Backlink analysis tools are software applications that help website owners and SEO professionals to understand their website's backlink profile and identify opportunities for building more high-quality links. These tools can also help to identify toxic links that may harm a website's search engine rankings. It is important to acquire backlinks to your website or blog for it to rank higher in search results. Now if the quality of backlinks acquired is relevant and are from high authority domains, then the value of your natural link profile increases as otherwise. A very high positive or negative link velocity is also considered harmful, which is when your website gains or loses too many backlinks over a short period of time. Also, too many reciprocal or two-way links are considered to impose a penalty. To know if your backlinks have imposed a penalty on your website you can check using Panguin Tool . Here are some popular backlink analysis tools: Ahrefs: It is a comprehensive SEO tool that includes a backlink analysis feature, which helps to identify backlinks, referring domains, and link attributes. It also provides data on anchor text distribution, link growth, and more. SEMrush: It is an all-in-one marketing tool that includes a backlink analysis feature, which helps to identify backlinks, referring domains, and link attributes. It also provides data on anchor text distribution, link growth, and more. This tool is discussed in detail in the next sections . Moz Link Explorer: It is a backlink analysis tool provided by Moz, which helps to identify backlinks, referring domains, and link attributes. It also provides data on the domain authority and page authority of linking websites. Majestic: It is a backlink analysis tool that provides a range of data on backlinks, referring domains, and anchor text. It also provides data on the trust flow and citation flow of linking websites. Google Search Console: It is a free tool provided by Google that provides data on backlinks to a website. It can help to identify the linking websites, anchor text, and more. It also provides data on any manual actions or penalties that may have been applied to a website's backlink profile. Website analytics tools Website analytics tools are software applications that help website owners and digital marketers track and analyze website traffic and user behavior. These tools provide valuable insights into how users interact with a website, which can help to improve user experience, optimize marketing campaigns, and increase conversions. Google keeps track of which website you visit, where you are coming from, and how long you stay on the content you are visiting. Now, this is true for your visitors as well. If this data can be collected over a period of time, one can analyze which content is trending and which needs some workaround. Also, the channels that support the traffic to your content could also be visualized. This is exactly what Google Analytics has been doing. Here are some popular website analytics tools: Google Analytics: It is a free tool provided by Google that helps to track website traffic and user behavior. It provides data on the number of website visitors, pageviews, bounce rates, and more. It also provides data on user demographics, acquisition channels, and behavior flow. Adobe Analytics: It is a paid tool that provides data on website traffic and user behavior. It provides advanced segmentation and attribution modeling, which can help to understand user behavior and optimize marketing campaigns. Piwik PRO: It is a privacy-focused analytics tool that provides data on website traffic and user behavior. It offers advanced data privacy features, including on-premises and cloud-based options, which can help to comply with data privacy regulations. Matomo: It is an open-source analytics tool that provides data on website traffic and user behavior. It offers advanced segmentation, custom reporting, and marketing campaign tracking features. Kissmetrics: It is a tool that provides data on website traffic and user behavior. It offers advanced customer behavior tracking and analysis, which can help to optimize the user experience and increase conversions. These tools provide valuable data that can help to optimize website performance, user experience, and marketing campaigns. Choosing the right tool depends on the needs and goals of the website owner or digital marketer. Rank tracking tools Rank-tracking tools are software applications that help website owners and digital marketers track their website's search engine rankings for specific keywords and phrases. These tools provide valuable data on how a website's search engine rankings change over time, which can help to optimize SEO strategies and improve search engine visibility. If you own a website or a blog then you would want it to rank higher for a given set of keywords, for which you would need to check the position of your site in comparison to the position of your competitor's website if needed. By using a SERP checker you can know the position of the given website for the set of keywords you researched and also improve the ranking using the right length of the title, page URL, and meta description with Google SERP Tools . Here are some popular rank-tracking tools: Ahrefs: It is a comprehensive SEO tool that includes a rank tracking feature, which helps to track website rankings for specific keywords and phrases. It also provides data on keyword difficulty and competitor analysis. Nightwatch : It is an all-in-one marketing tool that includes a rank tracking feature, which helps to track website rankings for specific keywords and phrases. It also provides data on keyword difficulty, search volume, and competitor analysis. SERPWatcher: It is a rank tracking tool provided by Mangools, which helps to track website rankings for specific keywords and phrases. It also provides data on keyword difficulty and search volume. Moz Pro: It is a comprehensive SEO tool that includes a rank tracking feature, which helps to track website rankings for specific keywords and phrases. It also provides data on keyword difficulty and search volume. AccuRanker: It is a rank-tracking tool that provides data on website rankings for specific keywords and phrases. It also offers advanced features such as real-time rank updates, local and mobile tracking, and competitor analysis. These tools provide valuable data on a website's search engine rankings, which can help to optimize SEO strategies and improve search engine visibility. Choosing the right tool depends on the needs and goals of the website owner or digital marketer. Content optimization tools Content-optimizing tools are software applications that help website owners and digital marketers to improve the quality and relevance of their website content. These tools provide insights and recommendations for optimizing on-page elements such as keywords, title tags, meta descriptions, and more. Content checking for plagiarism Once you have your blogging site in place it's time to publish some good content. How do you check if your content has copyright issues or not? This can be tested using copywriting tools like Grammarly and plagiarism checker . With the advent of AI, these tools have been backed up by these text processing techniques, where you can expect to deliver good content with the help of these tools. You may find both free and paid versions of these tools, it is always advisable to go for the free versions initially. Here are some popular content-optimizing tools: Yoast SEO: It is a plugin for WordPress that helps to optimize on-page elements for search engines. It provides insights and recommendations for optimizing keywords, title tags, meta descriptions, and more. INKforall : It is a content optimization platform that uses artificial intelligence and natural language processing to help writers and content creators improve their content's relevance, quality, and performance. Clearscope: It is an AI-powered content optimization tool that provides insights and recommendations for optimizing content based on search intent and relevancy. It helps to identify topics and keywords that should be included in the content for better search engine visibility. Surfer SEO: It is a content optimization tool that provides insights and recommendations for optimizing on-page elements and content based on competitor analysis and search intent. It helps to identify content gaps, keyword opportunities, and more. Grammarly: It is a writing assistant that provides insights and recommendations for improving the readability and clarity of content. It helps to identify spelling and grammatical errors, as well as style and tone improvements. These tools provide valuable insights and recommendations for optimizing website content and improving search engine visibility. Choosing the right tool depends on the needs and goals of the website owner or digital marketer. 5 Free SEO Tools & Platforms As it is evident search engine optimization is a very much required technique in the world of digital marketing if you are aiming at organic traffic. We usually require analytics and research tools for optimizing our content, but more often these tools and services are subscription-based, and if you are aware that paid versions of most of the tools are not quite friendly on the pocket. You would require free tools to avoid running out of budget and below are 5 such FREE all-in-one SEO Platforms that include all the above types of SEO tools that are popular and most often used by amateur and professional digital marketers. SEMrush : As most of you may know this tool is subscription-based, and there are a few features that are available for all users. This article is going to focus on the free features alone. When you signup for the tool you will be provided with a 7-day trial during which you can set up a project and check the analytics with your competitor site. This feature is available even after the trial period ends and you have an analytics tool setup for your website which will let you know how the site is performing based on backlinks and other details. You can also compare these site specifics with your competitor's site which will help you strategize your content. You can also perform position tracking and organic traffic analytics. Semrush is a popular all-in-one digital marketing suite for search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, content marketing, social media, and market research. It provides businesses and individuals with a comprehensive set of tools to monitor and improve their online presence and performance. Regarding its importance for SEO, Semrush offers a wide range of features that can help users improve their website's visibility and ranking on search engines, such as keyword research, competitor analysis, site audit, backlink analysis, and more. It also provides detailed insights into organic search results, including keyword rankings, organic traffic, and top pages. Additionally, Semrush provides data-driven recommendations and actionable insights on various aspects of SEO, such as on-page optimization, technical SEO, local SEO, and mobile optimization. This can help users to identify opportunities for improvement and optimize their website to attract more organic traffic and improve their search engine rankings. Overall, Semrush can be an extremely valuable tool for SEO, as it provides a wealth of information and insights that can help users make informed decisions and take effective actions to improve their online performance. Serpstat is a cloud-based search engine optimization (SEO) and digital marketing platform that provides tools for keyword research, competitor analysis, backlink analysis, site auditing, and other SEO tasks. It is designed to help businesses and individuals optimize their online presence by improving their search engine rankings and driving more traffic to their websites. Serpstat offers a variety of features and tools, including: Keyword research: Serpstat's keyword research tools help users identify relevant and high-volume keywords to target in their content and marketing campaigns. Competitor analysis: The platform allows users to analyze their competitors' SEO strategies, including their backlinks, top-performing content, and search rankings. Site audit: Serpstat's site audit feature analyzes a website's SEO health and identifies issues that may be impacting its search engine rankings. Backlink analysis: Users can use Serpstat to analyze their own backlink profile as well as their competitors' backlinks to identify opportunities for link building. Rank tracking: Serpstat allows users to track their search engine rankings for specific keywords and monitor their progress over time. Serpstat is used by SEO professionals, digital marketers, content creators, and website owners to improve their online visibility and drive more traffic to their websites. Seobility is an all-in-one SEO tool and website crawler that helps website owners and digital marketers optimize their websites for search engines. It provides a range of features and tools to analyze and improve a website's search engine optimization, including: Site Audit: Seobility analyzes a website and checks for any technical issues that may be hindering its performance in search engines. It identifies errors such as broken links, missing meta descriptions, duplicate content, and other issues that can negatively impact search engine rankings. Keyword Ranking: Seobility allows users to track their keyword rankings in search engines, providing information on a website's position in search engine results pages (SERPs) for specific keywords. Backlink Analysis: Seobility provides users with insights into their website's backlink profile, including data on backlink sources, anchor text, and link quality. Competitor Analysis: Seobility allows users to analyze the SEO performance of their competitors, including their backlink profile, top-performing keywords, and content strategies. Content Optimization: Seobility provides users with recommendations on how to optimize their website's content for search engines, including suggestions for improving title tags, meta descriptions, and keyword usage. Seobility is used by website owners, SEO professionals, and digital marketers to improve their website's search engine optimization and increase their visibility in search engine results pages. Its user-friendly interface and affordable pricing make it a popular choice for small businesses and individuals looking to improve their website's SEO performance. SEO PowerSuite is a comprehensive SEO software that provides a range of tools for optimizing websites and improving their search engine rankings. The software includes four main tools: Rank Tracker: This tool allows users to track their search engine rankings for specific keywords and provides insights into their competitors' rankings. It also includes a keyword research module to help users identify the most relevant and high-volume keywords to target. WebSite Auditor: This tool crawls a website and checks for technical issues, such as broken links, missing meta descriptions, and duplicate content. It also provides suggestions for improving a website's on-page SEO factors. SEO SpyGlass: This tool allows users to analyze their website's backlink profile, as well as their competitors' backlinks, to identify opportunities for link building and improve their website's link profile. LinkAssistant: This tool helps users find relevant websites and pages to link to, and allows them to track their link-building progress. SEO PowerSuite is used by SEO professionals, digital marketers, and website owners to improve their website's search engine optimization and drive more traffic to their websites. Its comprehensive set of tools and features, including advanced reporting and analysis capabilities, make it a popular choice for businesses of all sizes. SEO PowerSuite is available as both a desktop software and a cloud-based solution. Mangools is an all-in-one SEO toolset that provides a range of features and tools to improve a website's search engine rankings. The toolset includes five main tools: KWFinder: This tool allows users to find relevant and high-volume keywords for their website and provides data on keyword difficulty, search volume, and cost per click (CPC). SERPChecker: This tool provides insights into the top 100 search engine results for a specific keyword and allows users to analyze their competitors' search engine rankings. SERPWatcher: This tool allows users to track their website's search engine rankings for specific keywords and provides daily updates on their search engine performance. LinkMiner: This tool allows users to analyze their website's backlink profile and identify opportunities for link building. SiteProfiler: This tool provides users with a comprehensive analysis of their website's SEO factors, including domain authority, page authority, and social media metrics. Mangools is widely used by SEO professionals, digital marketers, and website owners to improve their website's search engine optimization and drive more traffic to their websites. Its user-friendly interface, powerful features, and affordable pricing make it a popular choice for businesses of all sizes. Mangools offers a 10-day free trial, as well as various pricing plans depending on the number of tools and features needed. There are many other useful tools for SEO but this article is focused on the most used ones, when you are out with your new blogging site. I have used these tools since I started my website and they have been a constant companion since then. I hope this post helps someone who is starting a new blogging site. You can find detailed review of these tools on my channel Digi Marketer Online

You may have heard a lot about brand building and the power of Brands, but did you know that you could build a brand from scratch. Even if you are a nobody, you could still build a strong brand with a little thought and some hard work. Now let us see what factors affect brands and then we will see how you can build a brand. Connection Brands can become brands only if they can stay in the minds of their customers. Having said that, brands will have to cater to the right audience, at the right place and at the right time. To make this happen, one needs to know who the audience is, where can we find them and what are their needs. If this understanding is set right before building a brand, then the brand can sustain itself. Consistency Humans have a tendency to start and then lose motivation gradually, this nearly transfers to your brands as well. It is not enough to start big and then fade out in the process. Brand building is a marathon, you will have to prepare for the process and stay relevant along the journey. This can only be made possible if you are consistent. Longevity While designing a brand you need to know where your brand has to reach in a given time span. Say you have an ice cream shop in Florida, in the next five years you may want to expand to nearby cities or may only want to stay a single shop expanding on revenue. Without this clarity, it is difficult to sustain, in the longer run. There are several brands that make it big initially but cannot live with competition over the years. Management Budget and Time are two crucial items for a brand to exist and continue. One who knows to manage these will know to keep the brand alive. For all the above tactics to work efficiently, one needs to know to manage cost and time well. Strategy In order to manage a brand and keep it going, you need to have a strategy in place. This can be done by asking questions and setting up a plan. Questions can be like What target to achieve? What budget to set? How long should it take? While answering these questions, you will know which strategic plan will fit your brand journey. A strategic plan will be successful when rough numbers are set to evaluate against the parameters. After having seen the factors that affect the brand, now let us see how a brand is built. Research your Audience and Competition Some effort needs to be made in identifying your customer needs. Also, you need to see what your competitor is doing differently in meeting the customer demands. This can give direction to set a brand roadmap. Be the voice and face of your brand Your brand can remain relevant only if it is real. When your values and vision meet your brand criteria, it will survive the test of time. You cannot fake it for long. Customers usually identify the brand through its brand value. If you can stick to the brand value which could be anything like trust, growth, optimism, reliability, or something related. Invest in your brand When we say invest it not only means money but also requires investing time and effort. The right match between the brand and its assets can help make the brand stay relevant with time. The right logo, right slogan, and right channel all require vesting your personal interest and care. Check if your brand relates to your values and vision You may have heard the brand resembles its brand ambassador. Companies invest millions in bringing the right face of the brand on board. The reason is, that the brand reflects the values its ambassador holds. When Patanjali launched its denim wear, it failed as this product did not reflect the values its ambassador stood for. Also, the vision of the brand is of utmost importance, if you are unsure of what you want to achieve then you will certainly lose the essence of your brand in due course. It is similar to beginning a journey without knowing the destination, at least you must know the initial milestones to stay on track for which a clear vision for the brand is of priority. See if your brand serves a purpose There is no meaning to anything without a purpose, having said that the brand also requires a purpose. Say I have started a new restaurant, then, my purpose is to serve good food, similarly every project or business initiated must have a purpose to keep going. This is required to keep the brand focused. Now that you have learned a few necessities to build a brand from scratch, we wish you can build one with much integrity. Brand building and management have been easier with the boom of the digital medium. With digital marketing, the spread of brand awareness has higher scope since the audience is larger and more targeted in terms of demographics and other factors. To know more about digital marketing, please read Digi Marketer Online .

As of 2021, every other person has a vested interest in digital marketing as their field of work. With so many digital marketers blooming every day it may be uncertain that all these marketers can make it with such high competition. So the question arises will digital marketing be still relevant in the future. The answer is YES. There is no doubt that digital marketing is only going to grow in the future, the reason being with all platforms and businesses going digital the need for new channels of digital marketing is going to increase. Let us shed some light on what trends will prevail going forward : Email Marketing Most marketers believe email marketing is still relevant in 2022 and it is quite evident from the Statista report which claims the count of users using email as a medium would reach 4 billion by end of 2022. This means more targeted and micro-segmented emails are going to prevail in the coming years. Video Marketing Videos are dominating the digital world. As per Statista , video ad spending is going to cross $9 billion by 2024. Another report by Wyzowl , says 86% of marketers prefer video as a tool which allows us to claim that video marketing is only going to grow. New apps and devices being launched in the market make video shooting way easier than yesteryear making video marketing a lot more fun. Also, the impressive ROI figures make it the most coveted marketing tool. Voice Search As per Statista's report, the number of digital voice assistants worldwide is going to increase to 8 billion by 2024. Voice search is being used for finding directions, knowing the latest movies in theatres, searching products online, and many more things. Though terms like "Hello Siri", "OK Google" or "Alexa" are common, the newer versions don't need these phrases to make conversations, Thanks to Artificial Intelligence. This means your content must rank on the top for related keywords for voice search categories. Personalization Just like when receiving a gift one would expect it customized, similarly, when receiving digital information there is a lot of stress on a personalized message, be it an interface, a product, an email, an advertisement, or any other form of message. It gives the user a feel of belonging and can increase engagement and conversion rates. Generally, digital mediums use rule-based or algorithm-based or a mix of both personalizations for a better user experience. E-commerce Online shopping has evolved since its start in 1994. According to Insider Intelligence forecast US retail e-commerce will reach $1.06 trillion in 2022 which accounts for nearly 16.1% growth, while worldwide sales are expected to cross $6 trillion by 2024. This means online purchases will only increase in the coming years and the demand for eCommerce SEO specialists will proportionally increase along the way. Omnichannel Technically omnichannel refers to the presence of a brand or service both offline and online channels, with respect to digital marketing, omnichannel refers to presence across all platforms be it website, social media, and other digital platforms. Just to match the phrase write once and publish everywhere. Google does not penalize content that is published on different platforms provided the canonical link reference is known to the crawler. Brand Advocacy Brand Awareness is key to sales growth. When your customers or users promote your brand it translates into brand advocacy. Influencers may also play a prominent role in promoting your brand. The bigger the brand the higher is your ranking on search engines. Chatbots Is a software program that converses like a human and has brought in a revolution in the customer service industry. Powered by AI, these programs can respond to user queries and can even provide solutions. There are various platforms that have introduced integration with chatbots like Facebook and Telegram. Even social media platforms like Instagram and Youtube also provide such integration. If you plan to make your brand available and be there for your customer then you must think of a chatbot as an option. Podcasts If you are a marketer, you would know the importance of storytelling. Digital files creating an audio or video series on a topic called podcasts have been the norm off-late. People find an instant connection with this content. As a brand promoter, you would not want to stay behind and not leverage the power podcasts can have on your marketing campaign. As per Buzzsprout , with an overall download being around 90 million per month, Apple and Spotify are the top-ranking apps for podcasts and the United States stands first in podcast listeners. With these trends making rounds this year, you may choose to make use of them in your campaign strategy and continue to generate the desired revenue. For more content on digital marketing, please visit my blog .

After discussing important metrics like Page Authority, Page Rank, Domain Authority, SERP, and others in our previous blogs, it is time to know which free tools are available for checking these metric values. In this article, we will name the 5 best free rank checker tools along with a few others as a bonus. Page Rank is an algorithm used by Google in its early years which then got updated to meet the new age demands and to avoid Black Hat SEO interventions in manipulating the Page Rank. Google Toolbar was the first of its kind Page Rank checker tool provided by Google which got discontinued around the year 2016. The advanced Page Ranking algorithm used currently by Google is termed RankBrain which is built around Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. Website SEO Checker This site provides an online SEO analysis of a webpage or a website. It can perform On-page and Off-page analytics. It also provides Domain Authority Checker, Traffic Checker, Domain age Checker, and many other useful metric checking tools. SEO Quake This is a Chrome extension that provides insights into the Google Index, Bing Index, Alexa Rank, and other useful parameters which can assist in SEO. It performs On-page and Off-Page Audits while comparing websites in real-time and also allows importing of the data. Check Page Rank As the name suggests this tool provides page rank for your website in Google Search Results. It gives the PR score of your website along with Authority. You may download the report for further analysis. What's My SERP This tool is free only up to 10 searches after which you may want to upgrade to a paid plan. This tool gives the position of your website in search results for a given keyword. With the paid plan you will also get a Local GMB tracker and Email Reports. GMB tracker is a Google My Business Page tracker. FAT Rank It is a free browser extension that provides page rank for the website viewed on Google and Bing. It is useful for generating reports on page rank for clients as well as competitor analysis. As a bonus here are a few more that can be used for free or with an upgraded version. zutrix.com Google search console ubersuggest Moz bar rank tank Out of the above-mentioned tools, Google Search Console is a must for every website, while Moz bar is a browser extension that provides the data instantly on your Search Results Page. Rank Tank is a Google Sheet add-on more suitable for marketers working with large sets of excel data. By using these tools one can check if their website is performing well or not and work on its optimization accordingly. For more on digital marketing techniques and tools don't forget to check my blog .

We have discussed a lot on the importance of keywords, right from the types of keywords to how to use the golden keyword ratio for ranking higher in Google SERP. If you are working on SEO then keyword analysis is the start point of all optimization. Having Researched the "Keyword Tools" I will talk about how each of these tools can help in keyword analysis. Google Trends This was launched in 2006 and provides data about searches trending on Google and Youtube. It allows identifying those keywords that get popular with time or become unpopular. Data visualization of past search records can let the user analyze trends over years and identify seasonal keywords. One can identify new keywords along with regional keywords. Keywords Everywhere It is a freemium tool that is known to work on 15+ websites including Google, Youtube, Amazon, eBay, Instagram, Pinterest, Yahoo, Bing, and others. User is required to add the extension to their Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox browser and validate the API key. It provides free data about monthly search volume, CPC, Competition, and monthly trend data for Google and Youtube. Answer The Public Its free trial consists of three basic searches per day after which you may need to upgrade. It is backed by Ubersuggest which is owned by Neil Patel. It is an autocomplete for search engines. You will get questions related to seed keywords , alphabetical keywords, related searches, and much more. LSI Graph As the name suggests it returns Latent Semantic Index keywords, which are keywords that may be semantically related, for instance, a bank may mean a financial body or a riverside. This tool helps researchers identify all possible related keywords. They have introduced a semantic writer which can review your content and identify the semantic keywords possibly relating to the context. Keyword Sheeter It is a freemium tool that provides long-tail keywords for the seed keyword you are researching for. Its runs bulk search and you can stop the job anytime before the search completes. It proves a very useful tool in ranking your website higher in Google search results. After understanding what each tool is capable of, let us see how we can make use of it in our marketing journey. As you have noticed in each of the images displayed we have researched the keyword "Keyword Tools". While Keyword Sheeter gives all possible related long-tail keywords, Keywords Everywhere provides the popular topics and videos around these keywords. LSI Graph not only gives the sematic-related keyword graph but also provides the competition and CPC rates for these keywords. While AnswerThePublic provides all related questions and comparisons along with alphabetically ordered keywords Google Trends provides the ongoing trend on the current and past data for these keywords. All in all these tools can be collaboratively used alongside one another to make the most out of them to rank your website higher on google search results. Two more popular keyword research tools WordStream and Keyword IO have been discussed at length in the article on SEO Tools . For more content related to digital marketing and search engine optimization, don't forget to check other blog articles .

If you are a digital marketer then, you have used photos and icons while creating content. Research has it that visuals are processed 60,000 times faster than text. Also, social media content with images has more engagement than text-only posts as stated in the Journal of Marketing Research " Is Picture Worth a Thousand Words ". Be it Social Media Marketing, Blogging, or any other form of Digital Marketing, you definitely need images. When dealing with images there is always a need for editing or photoshopping as per the requirement. This blog mentions 5 such tools which are available online and are free to access for enhancing the images to suit your marketing needs. InPaint Do you have photos with unwanted figures? This tool is the right fit for erasing them and attaining the right image you want. When you download photos from subscription-based websites that come with watermarks, this tool comes in very handy. Remove. Bg If you want to have more sophisticated backgrounds for your photos, then this tool comes in very handy. BeFunky An All in One photo editor that includes a collage maker and a graphic designing tool. While most basic features come with the free version, one has to upgrade for accessing more advanced options. Pixlr Another All-in-one photo editor, which is mostly recommended by photographers and advertisers from across industries. It also provides an IOS mobile editor along with integration to social media platforms. IPiccy All-in-one photo editor, that provides collaborative editing but lacks social media integration. Photopea It is a more advanced editor generally used by professionals working with vector and bitmap graphics, creating designs, and RAW editor. It also supports file formats like PSD, XCF, Sketch, XD and CDR formats (Adobe Photoshop, GIMP, Sketch App, Adobe XD, CorelDRAW). It is also powered by AI(Artificial Intelligence). For other professional users Canva, Adobe PhotoExpress, and Google Photos are also an option. The above tools are easy to use and are online. The free version of these is sufficient for small-time entrepreneurs and digital marketers. If needed one can anytime switch to an upgraded version which is reasonable. I have been using most of these online tools for my blogging and marketing activities. For more information on digital marketing don't forget to check out my other blog articles on Digital Marketing .

Ad retargeting, also known as remarketing, is a digital advertising strategy that involves showing targeted ads to users who have previously interacted with your website, mobile app, or other online content but did not complete a desired action, such as making a purchase or filling out a form. How Ad Retargeting Works: User Visit and Tracking : When a user visits your website or interacts with your app, a small piece of code (often called a "pixel" or "cookie") is placed in their browser. This code tracks their behavior and allows you to identify that they have visited your site. Ad Display : After leaving your site, these users are shown targeted ads as they browse other websites, use social media, or search on search engines. These ads are specifically designed to re-engage them and encourage them to return to your site to complete the action they initially abandoned. Personalization : Retargeting ads can be personalized based on the user’s previous behavior, such as showing them the exact product they viewed or offering a special discount to incentivize their return. Retargeting Ads Types of Ad Retargeting: Site Retargeting : The most common form, where ads are shown to users who have visited your website but didn’t convert. These ads are displayed on other websites or platforms they visit afterward. Search Retargeting : Targets users based on the keywords they searched for on search engines, even if they haven't visited your website. It helps attract users who have shown interest in related topics or products. Email Retargeting : Involves showing ads to users who have interacted with your email campaigns but did not complete a desired action, like clicking through to your website or making a purchase. Social Media Retargeting : Uses platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, or Twitter to retarget users based on their interactions with your website or content on these social platforms. Dynamic Retargeting : This advanced form of retargeting automatically generates personalized ads based on the exact products or services the user viewed on your site. It’s especially popular in e-commerce. Benefits of Ad Retargeting: Increased Conversion Rates : Retargeting keeps your brand top-of-mind for potential customers, increasing the likelihood that they will return and complete a purchase. Cost-Effective : Since you’re targeting users who have already shown interest in your products or services, retargeting often leads to higher ROI compared to broader advertising campaigns. Personalization : Retargeting allows for highly personalized ads that resonate more with users based on their previous behavior, leading to better engagement. Brand Recall : Repeated exposure to your brand helps in building brand awareness and recall, making it more likely that users will choose your brand when they’re ready to buy. Common Platforms for Retargeting: Google Ads : Offers retargeting through its display network, which covers a vast array of websites and apps. Facebook and Instagram : Allow you to create retargeting campaigns based on user interactions with your website, app, or previous ads. LinkedIn : Ideal for B2B retargeting, where you can reach professionals who have interacted with your content. AdRoll : A platform specifically focused on retargeting across multiple channels, including social media, search engines, and email. Are Remarketing and Retargeting Same? Remarketing and retargeting are terms often used interchangeably, but they can have slightly different meanings depending on the context, especially in digital marketing. Here's how they are related and how they might differ: Similarities: Purpose : Both remarketing and retargeting aim to re-engage users who have previously interacted with a brand but did not complete a desired action, such as making a purchase or filling out a form. The goal is to bring these users back and encourage them to convert. Differences: Terminology and Usage : Remarketing : Originally, the term "remarketing" was used primarily by Google to describe email-based marketing efforts, where companies would re-engage users who had previously interacted with their brand by sending them targeted emails. Over time, the term has expanded to include other forms of re-engagement, such as displaying ads to users who have interacted with a brand's website or app. Retargeting : Retargeting generally refers to the practice of serving targeted ads to users based on their online behavior, such as visiting a website, viewing a product, or abandoning a shopping cart. This is typically done through display ads, social media ads, or search ads. Methodology : Remarketing : In the broader sense, remarketing can encompass a range of strategies, including email campaigns and direct messaging, where businesses reach out to users who have interacted with them previously. Retargeting : Retargeting is more specifically associated with online ad campaigns that track users via cookies or pixels and show them ads as they browse other websites or use social media. Practical Example : Remarketing : If a user abandons their shopping cart on an e-commerce site, the company might send them an email reminder about the items left in the cart, perhaps offering a discount to encourage them to complete the purchase. Retargeting : The same user might see ads for the exact products they left in their cart while they browse other websites or scroll through their social media feed, reminding them to come back and finish the purchase. While remarketing and retargeting are closely related and often overlap, remarketing is a broader term that can include various methods of re-engaging users (including email marketing), whereas retargeting typically refers specifically to the practice of serving online ads to users based on their previous interactions with a website or app. Why Retargeting is different from Hacking? Retargeting and hacking are fundamentally different in terms of intent, legality, ethics, and methods. Here's a breakdown of why retargeting is not the same as hacking: 1. Intent and Purpose Retargeting : The intent of retargeting is to improve marketing effectiveness by showing ads to users who have already expressed interest in a product or service. It's a legitimate marketing strategy aimed at increasing conversions and building brand awareness. Hacking : Hacking generally refers to unauthorized access to or manipulation of computer systems, networks, or data. The intent behind hacking can vary but often includes malicious purposes such as stealing data, causing disruptions, or exploiting vulnerabilities for personal gain. 2. Legality Retargeting : Retargeting is a legal practice in digital marketing, governed by privacy laws and regulations. Companies must comply with regulations like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in Europe or the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) in the U.S., which require transparency, consent, and the option for users to opt-out of tracking and targeted advertising. Hacking : Hacking is illegal when it involves unauthorized access to systems, data theft, or malicious activities. Hacking violates computer crime laws in most jurisdictions and can result in severe legal penalties. 3. Ethical Considerations Retargeting : Ethical retargeting involves respecting user privacy, obtaining consent, and providing clear options for users to opt-out of tracking. It operates within the bounds of acceptable marketing practices and prioritizes user rights and transparency. Hacking : Hacking is typically considered unethical, especially when it involves violating someone’s privacy, stealing information, or causing harm. Ethical hacking exists (also known as "white-hat" hacking) where the intent is to identify and fix security vulnerabilities, but even this must be conducted with explicit permission. 4. Methods and Techniques Retargeting : Retargeting uses tracking technologies like cookies or pixels, which are placed on a user's browser with their consent to monitor their online behavior for the purpose of serving relevant ads. These methods are transparent and can be controlled or blocked by the user. Hacking : Hacking techniques involve exploiting security vulnerabilities, using malicious software (malware), phishing, brute force attacks, or social engineering to gain unauthorized access. These methods are deceptive and often hidden from the user. 5. User Control Retargeting : Users have control over retargeting. They can opt out of tracking, clear cookies, or use ad-blocking software to prevent retargeting ads. Privacy settings in browsers and tools like "Do Not Track" further empower users to manage their online experience. Hacking : In hacking, the victim typically has no control or awareness until after the fact. Hackers aim to bypass user defenses and security measures, often leaving the victim unaware until the damage is done. 6. Transparency Retargeting : Legitimate retargeting practices are transparent. Companies disclose how they use cookies and track user behavior, usually in privacy policies. Users are informed about the data being collected and how it will be used. Hacking : Hacking is inherently non-transparent. Hackers work covertly to avoid detection, often disguising their actions to prevent being caught or traced. Retargeting is a legitimate, ethical, and legal marketing strategy designed to improve the relevance and effectiveness of advertising by targeting users based on their past behavior. Hacking, on the other hand, involves unauthorized and often illegal access to systems or data, usually for malicious purposes. The two practices are fundamentally different in their goals, methods, legality, and ethical implications. In essence, ad retargeting is a powerful tool to re-engage potential customers who have already shown interest in your brand, increasing the chances of converting them into paying customers.

The term "solopreneur" is a combination of the words "solo" and "entrepreneur." It refers to an individual who establishes and operates a business on their own. If you are interested in becoming a solopreneur, Don't miss these FREE Guide Busting 7 Myths of Solopreneurship 12 Untapped Rules For Solopreneur’s Trip Solopreneur Summer Workbook A solopreneur is essentially a one-person business owner who takes on all the responsibilities of starting, running, and managing a business. Solopreneurs handle every aspect of their business, including planning, product or service delivery, marketing, financial management, customer service, and more. They are independent entrepreneurs who may work from home or in various locations, depending on the nature of their business. The concept of solopreneurship emphasizes the individual's ability to operate a business independently, often leveraging their skills, expertise, and personal brand. Solopreneurs may work in various industries, offering products or services ranging from consulting and freelancing to online businesses and creative endeavors. Key characteristics of solopreneurs include independence, self-motivation, multitasking abilities, and a willingness to take on the risks and challenges associated with running a business alone. While solopreneurs work independently, they may still collaborate with other professionals, outsource certain tasks, or seek support from networks and communities within their industry. Tips to Thrive as a Solopreneur Becoming a successful solopreneur involves a combination of entrepreneurial skills, effective planning, self-discipline, and adaptability. Here are some tips to help you thrive as a solopreneur: Define Your Niche: Clearly identify your target market and specialize in a niche that aligns with your skills and interests. This focus can help you stand out and attract a specific audience. Create a Comprehensive Business Plan: Develop a detailed business plan outlining your goals, target market, competition, marketing strategy, and financial projections. A well-thought-out plan serves as a roadmap for your business. Build a Strong Online Presence: Establish a professional website and leverage social media to promote your brand and connect with your audience. Use online platforms to showcase your expertise and build credibility. Effective Time Management: Prioritize tasks, set goals, and manage your time efficiently. Develop a schedule that allows you to balance work and personal life while meeting your business objectives. Continuous Learning: Stay informed about industry trends and invest time in expanding your skills. Continuous learning ensures that you stay competitive and relevant in your field. Provide Excellent Customer Service: As the face of your business, prioritize exceptional customer service. Respond promptly to inquiries, address customer concerns, and build positive relationships to encourage repeat business and referrals. Set Realistic Goals: Establish both short-term and long-term goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). Regularly review and adjust your goals as needed. Financial Management: Keep a close eye on your finances. Establish a budget, monitor cash flow, and set aside funds for taxes. Seek the advice of a financial professional if needed. Network and Collaborate: Engage with other professionals in your industry, attend networking events, and explore collaboration opportunities. Building a network can provide support, advice, and potential partnerships. Embrace Technology: Leverage technology to streamline your business processes. Use tools and apps for project management, communication, invoicing, and other essential tasks. Balance Work and Life: Maintain a healthy work-life balance to prevent burnout. Set boundaries for work hours, take breaks, and prioritize self-care. Adaptability: Be flexible and ready to adapt to changes in the market or your industry. The ability to pivot and adjust your strategies will help you stay relevant and resilient. Invest in Marketing: Develop a marketing strategy to promote your brand. Utilize both online and offline channels to reach your target audience and generate leads. Build a Support System: Seek support from mentors, fellow entrepreneurs, or industry groups. Having a support system can provide guidance, motivation, and a sense of community. Remember that success as a solopreneur is an ongoing journey that requires dedication, resilience, and a willingness to learn from both successes and challenges. Stay focused on providing value to your clients, adapting to market changes, and continuously improving your skills and strategies. Why do Solopreneurs Fail? Solopreneurs, like any entrepreneurs, can face challenges that may contribute to the failure of their businesses. Here are some common reasons why solopreneurs might struggle or fail: Lack of Planning: Failure to create a comprehensive business plan can leave solopreneurs without a clear roadmap. Planning is crucial for outlining goals, understanding the market, and anticipating challenges. Insufficient Market Research: Failing to conduct thorough market research may result in a lack of understanding of the target audience, competition, and industry trends. This can lead to ineffective marketing strategies and an inability to meet customer needs. Inadequate Financial Management: Poor financial planning, including budgeting, cash flow management, and failure to set aside funds for taxes, can lead to financial instability and business failure. Overextending or Burnout: Solopreneurs may take on too much, leading to burnout. Overextending oneself can negatively impact the quality of work, decision-making, and overall business performance. Lack of Marketing and Branding: Insufficient marketing efforts or a weak brand presence can result in limited visibility and reduced customer acquisition. Building a brand and effectively marketing products or services are critical for success. Failure to Adapt: Inability to adapt to changes in the market, industry trends, or customer preferences can leave a solopreneur's business obsolete. Flexibility and adaptability are essential for long-term success. Isolation and Lack of Support: Solopreneurs may feel isolated without a team or support system. Lack of collaboration and networking can limit opportunities for learning and growth. Ineffective Time Management: Poor time management can lead to missed deadlines, delayed projects, and an overall decrease in productivity. Solopreneurs must effectively balance their time between various business tasks. Neglecting Customer Service: Ignoring or providing subpar customer service can result in dissatisfied customers and damage a solopreneur's reputation. Building positive relationships with customers is crucial for long-term success. Inadequate Skill Set: Solopreneurs may lack certain skills required to run a business successfully, such as marketing, financial management, or technical expertise. Continuous learning and seeking professional help can address this issue. Failure to Innovate: Stagnation and a reluctance to embrace new technologies or innovate in products and services can hinder a solopreneur's ability to stay competitive. External Factors: Economic downturns, changes in regulations, or unexpected external events can impact businesses. Solopreneurs need to be prepared for external factors that may affect their operations. To mitigate these risks, solopreneurs should prioritize planning, continuous learning, effective time management, financial responsibility, and building a strong support network. Seeking mentorship, staying adaptable, and regularly reassessing business strategies can contribute to long-term success. Can Anyone Become a Solopreneur? In theory, anyone with the right mindset, skills, and determination can become a solopreneur. Solopreneurship is not limited by specific demographics, and individuals from various backgrounds and with different skill sets can successfully run their own businesses. However, whether someone is suited to be a solopreneur depends on a combination of personal attributes, skills, and the nature of the business they plan to pursue. Here are some characteristics that can contribute to success as a solopreneur: Self-motivation: Solopreneurs need to be self-starters who can stay motivated and focused without external supervision. Independence: The ability to make decisions independently and take responsibility for the success or failure of the business is crucial for solopreneurs. Adaptability: Being able to adapt to changes in the market, industry, or business environment is essential for solopreneurs facing various challenges on their own. Strong Work Ethic: Solopreneurs often work long hours and handle multiple responsibilities, so a strong work ethic is important for success. Effective Time Management: Efficiently managing time is vital for solopreneurs who must balance various aspects of their business. Financial Literacy: Understanding basic financial concepts, budgeting, and managing cash flow are critical for solopreneurs to sustain and grow their businesses. Networking Skills: Building a network of contacts, collaborating with others, and seeking support are important aspects of solopreneurship. Skill Set: Having the necessary skills related to the business is crucial. This could include technical skills, industry knowledge, marketing expertise, etc. Risk Tolerance: Solopreneurs often face financial and professional risks, so having a certain level of risk tolerance is beneficial. Continuous Learning: Staying informed about industry trends and being open to learning new skills is important for staying competitive. It's important to note that while anyone can potentially become a solopreneur, not everyone may be suited to this type of entrepreneurship. Some individuals thrive in a team environment, while others enjoy the independence and challenges of working solo. Additionally, the type of business pursued, the industry, and the market conditions can all influence the feasibility and success of solopreneurship. Before deciding to become a solopreneur, individuals should thoroughly research their chosen industry, assess their skills and attributes, and consider seeking advice from mentors or professionals in the field.

Instagram marketing refers to the use of Instagram's platform to promote a business, product, or service. Instagram is a highly visual social media platform with over one billion monthly active users, making it an attractive platform for businesses to showcase their products and connect with potential customers. Instagram marketing can be done through various tactics such as organic content, influencer marketing, and paid advertising. Businesses can create an Instagram business account to promote their brand, share updates, and engage with their followers. They can use Instagram's features such as stories, reels, IGTV, and live videos to showcase their products or services and provide value to their followers. Why should you market on Instagram? Any product or application has 3 phases in its lifecycle Launch, Growth, and Monetization phase. In 2010 Instagram started its journey on July 16th with its founders "Kevin Systrom" and "Mike Krieger" who launched a photo-sharing app that soon became a selfie ground for millions. After its launch for the following few years, Instagram was in its growth phase during which it was easy to gain followers super quickly unlike today, as there was a lot of engagement. Today, Instagram is in its third phase where they are working with advertisers to monetize its user attention. This is the time when Instagram users can also benefit from engagement and user attention. Let us see how this could be possible for someone who is new on Instagram. Types of Content on IG Reels Stories Carousel Posts IGTV 60-sec video How should you post content for Growth? Post content that is not seen before Stay consistent while posting Content must be interesting Create content that is user-centric, not monetization centric. Strategies for Growth Optimize the bio - Mentions details about what you do, and who you do it for with effective CTA. It is worth providing a freebie for the desired CTA. Have a brand plan - Your plan must follow consistency, clarity, and congruence meaning all that you post and talk about should follow the same theme and not confuse the audience. Try using feeds and stories to convey your message. Hashtag - Make a thorough research on which hashtags other influencers in your niche are using and stick to a set. Micro-Influencer strategy - using other influencers to promote your brand or product can prove advantageous. Leverage user-generated content - reposting or giving shout-outs can get more eyeballs to view your content. Timing matters - post outside regular business hours and the time your audience is active on Instagram matters to gain a wider reach. Demographic details - It matters to which age, region, profession, and generation your audience belongs. Content posted to meet this audience's interest can gain you a wider reach. Paid promotion - not just relying on organic reach but availing the benefits of paid promotion can also increase your reach. How to use Instagram as a marketing tool? Have a Plan - No matter what the goal of Instagram is, be it traffic to your website, increasing your email list, or generating sales setting out a plan is mandatory. Identify your Target market - if choosing hashtags based on your industry and target market goes wrong, then the rest of the actions be it creating content, or getting likes, and comments will all be wasted. The right target audience can be identified by age, gender, marital status, annual income, education, hobbies, and personality traits. Creating Strategic Content - Personalized content brings higher conversion. Right people to our feed - locate and engage with your target market regularly, go to the accounts that your target market is following, like, and engage there. Encourage meaningful activity - post shares, DM's, click the link in the bio, like, know, and increase your trust factor. How important are hashtags? Hashtags have been a major part of social media platforms since their origin. Though they are used across all platforms, their importance is significant on Instagram and Twitter. During its early days, Instagram relied mostly on hashtags to classify posts. People used multiple hashtags to widen their reach. It would not be wrong to say that hashtags were the only mode through which users could reach a larger audience. This did not deny the fact that irrelevant hashtags could also be used to increase the reach. Lately, Instagram has improved its SEO mechanism and it does not only rely on hashtags for classifying the posts. In most places, Instagram asks users to use 3-5 relevant hashtags which does not mean you cannot use more. This only implies that the SEO algorithm is so robust that it can do with 3 hashtags. There are scenarios when the posts rank higher even without hashtags, depending on the keywords present in the caption, or with the relevancy of the content alone. Normally the 3 important hashtags could relate to industry-specific, niche specific, and post-specific. If required one could use more than 3 hashtags. In case the hashtags used are irrelevant then the chances of Instagram posing a penalty by weakening the reach is also possible. How to monetize on Instagram? Monetizing on IG is similar to that on other social platforms. Promote a brand or a product Do Sponsored Posts Do Affiliate Marketing Sell products of your own Promotion and Sponsored posts may require you to collaborate with brands and engage in barter or paid promotions. You may reach out to brands by sending them direct emails or sharing your media kit for them to decide. "Media Kit" is similar to a resume for brands to know the details of your engagement across social media platforms. While sponsored posts may include a contract including details about content, exclusivity, wording, money, and other details of importance. If the posts are in video format, then you may perform a dedicated video or an integrated video as per your choice. While integrated videos are a better option to stay relevant to your brand over time. Integrated videos are videos that are not dedicated to the brand or product you are promoting, instead as a user you are making a mention for your audience to take note of. Instagram Marketing Analytics Instagram provides its own analytics tool called Instagram Insights, which allows businesses to track and analyze their marketing campaigns. This tool provides detailed metrics on ad performance, such as impressions, reach, engagement, and follower demographics. Advertisers can use this data to adjust their targeting, bidding, and ad creative to optimize their campaigns. Instagram Insights also provides insights into audience demographics and behavior, allowing businesses to understand who their ads are reaching and how they are engaging with them. By analyzing this data, advertisers can create more effective targeting and messaging strategies to reach their desired audience. In addition to Instagram Insights, there are various third-party analytics tools that can be used to analyze Instagram marketing campaigns, such as Hootsuite, Sprout Social, and Later. These tools can provide more in-depth insights into engagement rates, audience growth, and hashtag performance, as well as help track the customer journey from Instagram ads to website conversions. By using Instagram Marketing Analytics, businesses can better understand their audience and make data-driven decisions to optimize their advertising campaigns for better performance and ROI. Instagram Marketing Metrics Instagram Marketing Metrics are the various data points used to measure the performance of Instagram marketing campaigns. These metrics help businesses evaluate the effectiveness of their Instagram marketing campaigns, understand their audience, and make data-driven decisions to optimize their advertising strategies. Here are some common Instagram Marketing Metrics: Impressions: The number of times an ad was displayed on a user's screen. Reach: The number of unique users who saw an ad. Engagement: The number of actions taken on an ad, such as likes, comments, and shares. Follower Growth: The number of new followers gained by an Instagram account. Clicks: The number of clicks an ad received. Click-Through Rate (CTR): The percentage of people who clicked on an ad after seeing it. Cost per Click (CPC): The cost of each click on an ad. Cost per Thousand Impressions (CPM): The cost of displaying an ad one thousand times. Conversion Rate: The percentage of people who completed a desired action, such as making a purchase or filling out a form, after clicking on an ad. Return on Ad Spend (ROAS): The amount of revenue generated for every dollar spent on advertising. By monitoring these metrics and adjusting their ad strategies accordingly, businesses can improve the performance of their Instagram marketing campaigns and maximize their return on investment. If you find this information useful, then make an effort to read other posts on this website. We share information on our YouTube channel as well.

In this article, we will cover the basics of commerce and dive into the details of eCommerce with its advantages and disadvantages. We will also discuss the whereabouts of ECommerce marketing and which platforms provide this facility other than Amazon and Flipkart. ECommerce marketing is a type of digital marketing. ECommerce marketing is the use of digital channels to promote and sell products or services through an online store or website, with the goal of driving traffic and converting that traffic into sales. It encompasses a wide range of digital marketing strategies and tactics, such as search engine optimization (SEO), paid advertising, email marketing, social media marketing, content marketing, and more. ECommerce marketing often leverages the same digital channels and tactics as other forms of digital marketing, but the focus is on driving sales through an online store rather than simply raising brand awareness or driving engagement. Additionally, eCommerce marketing often involves specific strategies such as product optimization, cart abandonment recovery, and customer data analysis to improve sales performance. What is ECommerce? Commerce means buying and selling goods. Traditional commerce happened face-to-face and was limited to a geographical location. It was confined to certain business hours generally daytime. With the advent of the internet, there came along ECommerce. Electronic buying and selling of a product or a service was called ECommerce. This kind of business happened across the world saving time for both the buyer and seller. This type of business was not restricted to business hours instead could be carried out 24/7. While traditional commerce delivered goods instantly, eCommerce has a scheduled time for the same. With different electronic channels emerging, ECommerce could also be carried out on mobile named mobile commerce, and on social media called social media commerce. ECommerce can handle multiple modes of payment Credit/Debit Cards Gift Cards NetBanking eWallet Mobile Banking Digital Banking Advantages of ECommerce Available 24/7 Provides Global Reach No intermediaries required More options from multiple sellers Reduced paperwork Lower transaction cost Disadvantages of ECommerce Lack of personal touch Requires an initial setup and marketing cost Issues related to order fulfillment services and returns Security Concerns like Identity Theft, Malware, Denial of Services Four Types of ECommerce B2C - Business sells their products directly to customers. B2B - Business sells its products to intermediate buyers like Supermarket or Wholesalers C2C - Consumer sells to customers like retail, car resale, etc. C2B - Consumer sells products or service to businesses Eg Social media Influencers who market products for a marketing fee. Trade Cycle of ECommerce ECommerce trade cycle involves 4 stages Pre-Sales - The customer searches for the product or service and then negotiates the price, timeline, and terms. Execution - Customers place the order, here the payment could be done on delivery or upfront. Settlement - Invoicing and payment settlement. After Sales - Involves warranty and after-sales services. Who can start an ECommerce Business? ECommerce is the fastest-growing retail market. Anyone who owns a product or service can decide to sell online. The following steps must be considered to start an eCommerce business. Selecting the right place to sell is the first step toward success. Depending on the size of the business and factors like pricing, scalability, flexibility, and ease of use one can decide between a marketplace and eCommerce platforms. Processing Payments in a convenient way is much needed and the selection of trustworthy payment providers is a crucial step. The platform you are using must be compatible with other services that will be integrated later. It must be available 24X7, must be catering to different currencies, easy on fees charged, must be reliable, must include reporting facilities, must be easy to use, and above all must provide customer support. Once you have the business set up, it's time to select the right marketing strategy. This is required to attract customers to online stores. Unlike brick and mortar where customers may stumble upon your store, online stores must adapt to multiple marketing channels like social media, email, SEM, SEO, and others. Key strengths of the marketplace While selecting a marketplace or eCommerce platform it is essential to rate its key strengths. The higher the scores better the platform. Presentation and Catalogue listing Merchant Support Service Fee, Margins, and ROI Shipping Charges and Mechanism System Access and Control Returns and Refunds Dispute Resolution Process Must Provide Competitor Analysis What is ECommerce Marketing? Marketing activities performed to create awareness amongst customers on digital platforms about the product or service and lure them into buying the product are called ECommerce Marketing. Marketing Strategies Needed for ECommerce ECommerce content marketing is a strategy used by online retailers to engage with customers and promote their products or services through various forms of content such as blog posts, videos, social media posts, email newsletters, etc. The goal is to educate customers, build brand awareness and trust, and ultimately drive sales. Effective eCommerce content marketing requires a deep understanding of the target audience, a clear brand message, and consistent, high-quality content that provides value to the customer. ECommerce SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the process of optimizing an online store's website and its content to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs) and drive more organic traffic to the site. The objective of ECommerce SEO is to improve visibility and increase the quantity and quality of traffic to an eCommerce website. This can be achieved through various tactics like: Good Shopping Cart - You can either go for an eCommerce marketplace like Amazon and Flipkart or use SaaS platforms like Shopify or use PaaS platforms like Magento or build your own site with a cart facility. SEO for product pages - Optimize your product pages with nice photographs, titles, and descriptions. It is always good to have a product video and get reviews for your products. Schema markup on product pages - If you are going for built-in platforms then this is taken care of, but if you are planning to build your own website then you must see that products belong to categories and have overall schemas which makes it easy to query on the web. By implementing effective eCommerce SEO strategies, eCommerce businesses can improve their search engine rankings, drive more targeted traffic to their site, and ultimately increase sales. ECommerce PPC (Pay-Per-Click) management refers to the process of managing and optimizing paid advertising campaigns on platforms such as Google Ads and Bing Ads to drive traffic to an online store. This involves researching and selecting appropriate keywords, creating compelling ad copy, setting bids and budgets, monitoring campaign performance, and continually making data-driven optimizations to improve results. An effective ECommerce PPC strategy requires ongoing testing, analysis, and adjustments to stay ahead of the competition and achieve the best possible return on investment (ROI). ECommerce PPC management can be an effective supplement to organic search and other digital marketing efforts to drive traffic and sales for an online store. Following are some pointers to take note of: Google Merchant Center - By updating your product info to the merchant center you are making it available on the shopping tab and other services offered by Google which means a wider audience. Running Google Shopping Ads - Setting aside a budget for Google Ads is always an add-on to ROI in the longer run. Running dynamic retargeting ads through Facebook and Instagram - This is a way to reconnect with the customers who have already interacted with the product or service in some form. Run Facebook and Instagram ads to reach the targeted audience. Organic reach through social media is also equally important. It can be expensive to always plan for paid campaigns. Organic reach can limit the expenses of setting up campaigns while getting the required reach. Google Merchant Center and Shopping Ads can be powerful tools for merchants looking to reach new customers and drive sales. By using Google Merchant Center to manage their product data and by running Shopping Ads, merchants can increase visibility for their products, drive targeted traffic to their website, and ultimately generate more sales. To get started with Google Merchant Center and Shopping Ads, merchants need to create a Merchant Center account, upload their product data, and create a product feed. From there, they can create Shopping Ads and set bids and targeting options to control how their ads are displayed. It's important to note that to run Shopping Ads, merchants must comply with Google's advertising policies, which include requirements for product data quality, relevance, and accuracy. ECommerce email marketing is a digital marketing strategy that involves sending targeted and personalized emails to customers and potential customers to promote products or services, build customer loyalty, and drive sales. The goal of eCommerce email marketing is to establish and maintain a strong relationship with customers, provide value and relevant content, and encourage them to make a purchase. This can be achieved through various email campaigns such as welcome emails, promotional emails, abandoned cart emails, newsletter emails, and more. Effective eCommerce email marketing requires segmenting the email list based on customer behavior, crafting compelling subject lines and email content, testing and optimizing for best performance, and incorporating personalization and automation techniques. ECommerce email marketing can be a powerful tool for driving customer engagement, increasing brand awareness, and generating revenue for online stores. Some popular eCommerce email marketing tools are: Mailchimp Constant Contact Klaviyo Campaign Monitor Aweber GetResponse Drip ActiveCampaign ConvertFlow Hubspot These tools provide features such as email template creation, automation, segmentation, A/B testing, analytics, and integrations with eCommerce platforms such as Shopify, Magento, WooCommerce, etc. The use of Automated Email Marketing can help bring in a second sales or get feedback from your customers. The use of SMS marketing can assist on slow sales days, clearance sales, or end-of-month sales Using a CRM tool can help build on customer database. This is helpful when you are running your own eCommerce website and need to follow up with existing customers. People who use an eCommerce marketplace may not avail of this facility. Good customer support can enhance overall sales and work wonders in customer retention and growth ECommerce Marketing Funnel An eCommerce marketing funnel is a visual representation of the journey a customer takes from awareness to purchase. It typically consists of the following stages: Awareness: The customer becomes aware of your brand and product offerings. Interest: The customer expresses interest in your products and starts researching more about your brand. Consideration: The customer compares your products to those of your competitors and decides if they want to make a purchase. Intent: The customer makes a decision to purchase and starts the process of checking out. Evaluation: The customer evaluates their purchase experience and decides if they will make another purchase in the future. Loyalty: The customer becomes a loyal customer and continues to make purchases from your brand. Marketing campaigns and tactics can be tailored to each stage of the funnel to guide customers toward making a purchase. ECommerce Platform vs Marketplace An online marketplace is a website where you can buy and sell goods from different sources or vendors often termed a multi-vendor eCommerce marketplace. They provide you with all the necessary setup required to perform transactions, right from displaying the product list to the payment gateway to the delivery of goods except that they don't own the inventory. They usually do have a warehouse so one can store their inventory in their warehouse for a limited duration. Customer support is also made available by these site owners. All in All, you don't have to worry about the initial setup and delivery of goods and is an easy way to start an online business with a low initial investment for beginners in eCommerce. In order to grow on these marketplaces, one has to invest some time in optimizing their product listing and set aside a budget for paid promotions like Google Shopping Ads or product search engine ads on these platforms. Check our SEM article for more info. Top Five Ecommerce Marketplaces Amazon Flipkart eBay Etsy Alibaba On the other hand, eCommerce Platforms are the platforms that allow you to build your own eCommerce website. These platforms can be through cloud computing services or built in-house. Cloud computing services are of three types SaaS based where the software is provided as a service to run an eCommerce business, PaaS based where the hardware and software are provided to set up an eCommerce business and IaaS, where infrastructure is provided to you on the cloud, and the rest needs to be handled by you. Each has its own pros and cons with limitations in ease of use and flexibility. Generally, small businesses use SaaS platforms to set up their business online while the larger ones can choose between PaaS, IaaS, or in-house depending on the audience size and need for scalability and flexibility. Following is a list of Saas-based eCommerce platforms. Top Five ECommerce Platforms Shopify BigCommerce WooCommerce SquareSpace Wix While there are certain Paas-based platforms out there like Magento or Adobe Commerce, the business owner may be required to take care of the hardware and software customizations. Hope this article has shed some light on different aspects of eCommerce and its marketing. For more on digital marketing check other articles.