Digital marketing analytics is the practice of collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data from digital marketing campaigns and strategies. It involves using various tools and techniques to track and measure the effectiveness of digital marketing efforts, such as website traffic, email open rates, social media engagement, and conversion rates. The data collected through digital marketing analytics can provide valuable insights into consumer behavior, preferences, and trends, which can inform future marketing strategies and tactics. By analyzing and understanding the data, digital marketers can optimize their campaigns to reach their target audience more effectively and improve overall performance. Some common tools used for digital marketing analytics include Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, and Facebook Analytics. These tools provide a range of metrics and reports that can help marketers evaluate the success of their digital marketing campaigns and make data-driven decisions. Why do we need digital marketing Analytics? Every business intends to make profits at the end of the day, with whatever they may be selling. To make decent revenue you need figures. If you do not keep track of numbers when launching a marketing campaign then, it could be that you tend to lose a lot of money, even if the marketing funnel, strategy, campaigns, or all of them are set right. There are a few important metrics used to measure the success of each level of the campaign and also metrics to check the overall performance of the digital marketing funnel. These measurements vary depending on the marketing channel, audience, campaign type, and the time and season of the campaign launch. With the right kind of metric, you could reach the right specific type of audience for your campaign and also, decide if you should run the campaign in the first place. You can also perform comparisons to choose the right marketing channel or platform for getting a higher return. When the acquisition cost is lesser than the customer value then there is always scope for scaling your business while being profitable. Which Digital Marketing Metrics should we consider? The above image shows important metrics used to measure each stage of the digital marketing funnel which is described in detail below. As you may already know, the digital marketing funnel has 4 stages that lead to customer acquisition and the next stage are for retaining these customers to increase return on investment(ROI). The funnel can be further classified into three areas TOFU, BOFU, and MOFU depending on the buyer's journey. Awareness Since this forms the "Top of the funnel" (TOFU) it mainly caters to viewership metrics. Website traffic, Returning Traffic, Organic Reach, Bounce Rates, Referral Traffic, Social and Direct traffic, CPM, CPV, VCR, and Impressions are a few relevant metrics to measure market reach for your brand. Traffic Website Traffic is usually referred to the number of visitors to your website which is measured through users, page views, and sessions. Users are the actual number of people who visited your website. While page views give a count of the number of times the page was viewed, the session gives the number of times people visited your website. Website traffic can be from different channels like social media being social traffic, through referrals which are referral traffic, from search engines which are organic traffic, or direct visits which are direct traffic. Social traffic on social media obtained through post engagement is different from "Reach". Returning Users are those users who visited your website more than once, while unique users are those users who visited your website once, it is their first time. Bounce Rate is the percentage of visitors leaving a website page without taking any action. Organic Reach is the count of unpaid views by unique accounts for a given content on social media when the goal is to generate more eyeballs through SMM. While Paid Reach is when the count of views is got through paid mediums could be sponsored ads or paid promotions. While reach measures no of users reached social traffic measures engagement on social media posts. Impressions are the number of times the content was displayed to the target audience. It is used in both web and social media analytics. Cost per Mille (CPM) is an advertising metric that measures the cost of every 1000 impressions. Cost per view (CPV) is a metric used for video campaigns that measure the cost per video view. This pricing model is also used in mobile user acquisition and brand awareness campaigns. Video Completion Rate (VCR) is again a metric used in video campaigns that measure the percentage of viewers watching a video from start to finish. Interest This stage deals with audience engagement. The people who were attracted through steps taken in the first stage will turn leads at this point when they download a lead magnet or agree to share their email or become followers and subscribers. The stronger their engagement with the brand the more they turn to Marketing Qualified Leads (MQL) and the metrics used here are a part of engagement metrics. Leads, CPL, Opt-In Rates, CTR, Open Rates, Sentiment Score, and Net Promoter Score are a few relevant engagement metrics. This forms a part of the "Middle of the Funnel" (MOFU). Marketing Qualified Leads (MQL) is the number of leads who showed interest in your brand service or product. Cost per Lead (CPL) is a pricing model where the advertisers pay a price for each lead generated. Opt-In Rate is a metric related to email marketing that calculates the percentage of visitors who subscribed to the email list. Click Through Rate (CTR) is the percentage of clicks your ad receives to that of ad impressions. Open Rates is an email marketing metric that measures the percentage of open emails. Sentiment Score is a score that analyses the customer sentiment to be positive negative or neutral in terms of their feedback and reviews Net Promoter Score is a metric that is a part of customer experience programs that measures the loyalty and satisfaction of the customer towards the brand. Desire This is where the Marketing Qualified Lead turns into a prospective customer. At this stage, the Sales team starts to pitch in depending on the desire expressed by the MQL. The stronger the consideration to make a purchase the lead turns to a Sales Qualified Lead (SQL). Funnel Drop Offs, Lead scores, and Conversion Rates are a few relevant lead-based metrics for measuring this part of the funnel. This stage also forms a part of the "Middle of the Funnel" (MOFU). Sales Qualified Leads (SQL) are the number of leads who have moved from MQL to SQL in their sales journey and have been identified by the sales team to be prospective customers. Funnel Drop-Offs are the number of visitors who left the funnel without completing the purchase. It is usually calculated at different stages of the purchase funnel and is of relevance when the stage is Desire. Lead Scores are a score given to your leads to rate them according to their closeness to your buyer persona. Conversion Rate is the percentage of converted customers to the total visitors. Action This is the stage where a prospect turns into a customer. This means after exhibiting a strong desire to make a purchase the prospect actually makes a buy. There may be drop-offs at this point of the funnel which is usually followed through retargeting. At this point, the customer acquisition has materialized and the marketing cycle is mostly completed. The campaign can be termed successful if the revenue generated is profitable. This stage forms the part of the "Bottom of the Funnel" (BOFU). CAC, CPS, CPA, LTV, ROAS, Sales Velocity, and ROI are a few relevant sales metrics. Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) is the cost required to acquire a customer. Cost per Sale (CPS) is an advertising metric that is used to measure the cost required by the advertisement to generate a sale. Cost per Acquisition (CPA) is the cost required to acquire a customer through an advertising campaign or a channel. Lifetime Value (LTV) measures the average revenue the customers will generate throughout their relationships with the brand. It is an aggregate metric, unlike CLV. Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) is the revenue earned for every dollar spent on an ad campaign. Sales Velocity is the measurement of how quickly revenue gets generated from the sales funnel. Return on Investment (ROI) is the revenue generated against the marketing spend. The calculated value will include ROAS. Retention This is the stage where you make sure your customers don't leave you. The brands take appropriate measures to retain these customers as their leaving can create a loss. Firstly it is important to know the reasons a customer may leave your brand before you can take up customer retention strategies. Customer churn means either a customer closed a subscription, canceled a contract, or decided not to shop online from your store. The churn could also affect your ROI. Customer Loyalty Programs and Customer Relationship Management are a few techniques for retaining valuable customers depending on CLV. Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) is a prediction of the amount the company can earn from an individual customer in the lifetime of their relationship. If you find this article helpful, don't forget to read other posts on digital marketing.

Who is an Influencer? Any person or profile on the web which has the potential to bring in the audience through their content creation is an influencer. Now the bandwidth of the audience may vary from a few hundred to millions, also the channel used by the influencer can also be either a blog or a social media platform. The subject knowledge held by the influencer can be amateur or expert. Depending on all these factors there are influencers falling under different categories. Why do businesses need Influencers? Any business generally is looking out for the best means to promote and sell their product or service. Depending on their budget and financial goals, they will opt for reasonable channels to advertise their products or services. While some industries and businesses may find it beneficial to use advertising through Facebook Ads and Paid Ads on different digital mediums in attaining their sales target, some businesses will gain an advantage by hiring influencers to do this job. The intent is advertising and the audience may be anywhere on the AIDA funnel. Types of Influencers Based on the Channel Social Media Influencer : These influencers are on the social media channels like Instagram, Youtube, Facebook, and others. Blog Influencer : These influencers mark their presence through blogs. Based on Follower Count Nano Influencer : Influencers with followers ranging below 10K fall under this category. They have a dedicated and loyal audience. A strong relationship exists between these influencers and their audience. Micro-Influencer : Influencers with followers and subscribers ranging between 10K and 50K fall under this category. They can be compensated with products or projects depending on the industry. Mid Tier Influencer : Influencers with followers and subscribers ranging between 50K and 500K fall under this category. These influencers look for financial compensation and they provide a faster Return on Investment. Macro Influencer : Influencers with followers and subscribers ranging between 500K and 1 Million falls under this category. They may be celebrities on their own terms. Mega Influencer : Influencers with followers and subscribers above 1 Million fall under this category. They are also considered thought-leaders or experts in their fields. They are also sometimes coined Celebrity Influencers. These influencers have a high impact on business but have diluted relationships with their audience. Influencer Marketing Campaign Now that we have discussed the types of influencers it would be ideal to discuss how a business can set up a campaign that can use an influencer to achieve targets. Identify the Goal that needs to be achieved with the campaign Research the Audience that needs to be reached with the product or service Set a dedicated Budget, which keeps a check on overspending Research Influencer on platforms that meet your industry and business type Reach Out to Influencers through email or DM Negotiate Terms through a contract or written terms in an email Implement Plan of Action and wait for the results Review the results and identify the gaps You may want to set a follow-up campaign depending on the first campaign results, in case targets were not met as expected. Even if the campaign turned out to be successful, it is always advisable to be prepared with Plan B which plays beneficial in case there are minor gaps or hiccups in the first campaign. How is Influencer marketing different from Affiliate marketing? While an affiliate marketer uses their influence to promote and sell a product of a given brand through an affiliate link and gets paid when there is a conversion through sales as part of the commission, the influencer gets paid directly by brands to promote their product even if there are no sales. An influencer gets paid depending on their reach and followers, while an affiliate marketer is paid the percentage of the commission set on the product. Now that you know who an influencer is and why influencer marketing is a part of digital marketing, it's ideal to know where to find them. Top Influencer Marketing Platforms Grin Buzz Sumo Respona Shout Cart Buzzoole Influence.Co Tribe Group Vamp The Right Fit Vimma Aspire Upfluence Social Bakers WebFluential Traackr Klear Intellifluence We have covered another interesting stream of digital marketing, to know more about other topics read the blog articles under digital marketing.

If you have heard about affiliate marketing and are curious to explore the nuances the most common query all beginners have is How can I start affiliate marketing with no money? Affiliate marketing is a performance-based marketing strategy in which an individual or business (known as an affiliate) promotes products or services offered by another company (known as the merchant or advertiser). The affiliate earns a commission for each sale, lead, or desired action generated through their marketing efforts. Parties involved in Affiliate Marketing There are typically three primary parties involved in affiliate marketing: Merchant/Advertiser: The merchant or advertiser is the individual or business that offers a product or service for sale. They create an affiliate program to attract affiliates who will promote their offerings. The merchant provides the necessary marketing materials, such as banners, links, or product information, to affiliates. They are responsible for tracking referrals and paying out commissions to affiliates for successful conversions. Affiliate/Publisher: Affiliates are individuals or businesses who join the merchant's affiliate program to promote their products or services. Affiliates can be bloggers, website owners, social media influencers, email marketers, or anyone with an online presence. They use their marketing channels to drive traffic and potential customers to the merchant's website using unique affiliate links or codes. Affiliates earn a commission when their referrals result in a successful conversion or desired action. Customer/Consumer: The customer or consumer is the individual who clicks on an affiliate's promotional content and subsequently makes a purchase or completes a desired action on the merchant's website. The customer is the end user of the product or service being promoted. Additionally, there are sometimes intermediary parties involved in affiliate marketing: Affiliate Network: An affiliate network acts as an intermediary between the merchant and affiliates. They provide a platform that connects affiliates with multiple merchants and offers. Affiliate networks handle tracking, reporting, and commission payments on behalf of merchants. They simplify the process for affiliates by centralizing various affiliate programs in one place. Affiliate Manager: In some cases, merchants may employ an affiliate manager or have a dedicated team to oversee their affiliate program. Affiliate managers are responsible for recruiting new affiliates, providing support and resources to existing affiliates, optimizing the program, and monitoring performance. They act as a point of contact for affiliates and help ensure the smooth operation of the affiliate program. These parties work together to create a mutually beneficial relationship, where the merchant gains increased exposure and sales, affiliates earn commissions, and customers receive valuable product recommendations or discounts. How to start Affiliate Marketing? As a new affiliate marketer, you need no investment, but you may have to set up a system that can bring in the right traffic to the product sales page or a landing page for affiliate marketing. To become an affiliate marketer you need to follow these steps: Join an Affiliate Network Find a specific product to sell Go out and sell Collect your commission Now let us look at each step in more detail. Step 1: Join an Affiliate Network What are Affiliate Networks or Affiliate Platforms? An affiliate Platform is a company that houses a bunch of affiliate programs from other companies and forms a network of affiliate marketers and affiliate programs called an affiliate network. These companies or businesses are also referred to as merchants. An affiliate or an influencer is connected to these programs through the network hosting website called the affiliate platform. An affiliate marketer generally chooses programs within their niche and promotes them to their audience who are generally followers. The network on the other hand collects the commission from different companies who have hosted their programs on the network and pays it to the affiliate marketer who is the user of the network. The affiliate marketer promotes it to customers through a link generated for the product or service on the network called the affiliate link which helps the network collect the commission that belongs to the respective marketer. Best Affiliate Marketing Platforms FlexOffer CommissionJunction ClickBank PartnerStack Impact DigiStore24 VCommission Companies also provide affiliate programs individually that could either be recurring where the commission tends to come in on the following sales the customer makes that may also pay a lifetime commission or it may be fixed where the commission is set to a flat rate. While these programs are carried out without the aid of affiliate platforms, they are also termed as high-ticket because the sale value is high and so is the commission. High Ticket Affiliate Marketing Programs Amazon Shopify SemRush Thinkific BigCommerce Wix Cloudways Bluehost Tubebuddy Aweber Grammarly Hostinger CPA Marketing vs Affiliate Marketing The best way to start affiliate marketing is to work with CPA marketing where CPA stands for Cost per Action. There are affiliate marketing networks that promote attractive offers from clients which share a commission on performing the associated Click Through Action which may lead to Cost per Click or Cost per Lead. These websites work around the Cost per Action method and if you can manage to pull traffic to these products then you can earn an impressive commission. While affiliate marketing depends on sales for earning commissions which vary depending on the sales, CPA marketing allows a fixed commission for the associated action. Following are a few best CPA affiliate platforms or CPA networks as they are called: MaxBounty CPA Lead CPABuild CPA Trend PerformCB Peerfly These sites offer some of the best in class commissions. It is an easy start for beginners with zero experience in affiliate marketing. Step 2: Find a specific product to sell Once you have decided on the network now it is time to zero in on the product you want to sell. It is always advisable to stick to your niche. Every affiliate product is associated with an affiliate link. Also when you start with marketing affiliate links you will need short link generators to make the links look legitimate by hiding long-length URLs with special characters and large random numbers. Shortened URLs can also assist in measuring the effectiveness of CPA marketing. Step 3: Go out and sell Now that you have the products you want to sell and have the affiliate links for them it is time to promote and sell them. How to promote affiliate products? create a blog depending on your niche Write Posts reviewing these products Promote through email marketing Promote on YouTube Run paid ads Hold free webinars Discuss on forums like Quora, Reddit, AnswerThePublic, and others Follow the affiliate program policies on distributing freebies and similar incentives for sales For generating traffic to your links try posting your affiliate links on traffic forums related to the niche. It is advised to create landing pages to promote these products in case you don't have a blog. Following are 2 sites that can be used to create landing pages and posts even without owning a website : Canva ConvertKit Step 4: Collect your commission When a potential customer clicks on the affiliate's unique link or uses their unique code, it redirects them to the merchant's website. The affiliate's link contains a tracking mechanism that records the referral. If the referral makes a purchase or completes the desired action (e.g., signing up for a newsletter, filling out a form, etc.), it is tracked by the affiliate program. This is how an affiliate earns a commission based on a predetermined percentage or fixed amount set by the merchant. Now that you have seen how products are promoted through affiliate channels let us see how to use a marketing funnel for this. Affiliate Marketing Funnel The goal of an affiliate marketing funnel is to convert as many potential customers as possible into paying customers. An affiliate marketing funnel typically consists of the following stages: Awareness: Potential customers become aware of the product or service through various marketing channels. Interest: Customers express interest in the product by clicking on an affiliate link or advertisement. Desire: Affiliates aim to create a desire for the product through educational content, product demonstrations, and reviews. Action: Customers make a purchase by clicking through the affiliate link to the merchant's website and making a purchase. Optimization: Affiliates continuously track and optimize their funnel to improve conversion rates and maximize earnings. The above image shows the type of content and marketing channels that can be used in different stages of the affiliate marketing funnel. Affiliate Marketing Strategy An affiliate marketing strategy refers to the overall approach and high-level decisions made to achieve the goals of your affiliate marketing program. It involves determining the direction, focus, and tactics that will be used to leverage the affiliate channel effectively. A strategy answers the "why" and "how" questions of your program. Key components of an affiliate marketing strategy may include: Defining program goals and objectives. Identifying target audience and affiliates. Selecting the right affiliate network or platform. Determining commission structure and incentives. Developing a value proposition for affiliates. Outlining promotional and communication strategies. Setting performance measurement metrics. In summary, an affiliate marketing strategy provides the overarching framework for your program, guiding decision-making and shaping the direction of your affiliate marketing efforts. Affiliate Marketing Plan An affiliate marketing plan, on the other hand, is a more detailed and operational document that outlines the specific actions, tasks, and timelines required to execute the strategy. It delves into the specifics of implementation, providing a roadmap for day-to-day activities and tracking progress toward program goals. Key components of an affiliate marketing plan may include: Recruitment tactics for attracting affiliates. Creation and distribution of promotional materials. Communication channels and support mechanisms. Performance tracking and reporting tools. Compliance guidelines and ethical considerations. Budgeting and financial planning. Evaluation and optimization strategies. The affiliate marketing plan takes the strategic decisions made in the affiliate marketing strategy and breaks them down into actionable steps, assigning responsibilities and setting timelines. In summary, an affiliate marketing strategy sets the direction and guiding principles for your program, while the affiliate marketing plan translates that strategy into actionable tasks, tactics, and timelines. The strategy is the "what" and "why," while the plan is the "how" and "when" of executing the program. Affiliate Marketing Campaign An affiliate marketing campaign, on the other hand, is a focused and time-bound initiative within the affiliate program that aims to achieve specific objectives within a shorter timeframe. It is a tactical execution of the affiliate marketing plan and typically lasts for a specific period, such as a few weeks or months. The campaign is designed to generate immediate results and drive targeted actions or conversions. Key components of an affiliate marketing campaign include: Specific campaign goals and objectives. Targeted audience segment. Promotional materials tailored to the campaign. Commission structure and incentives specific to the campaign. Communication strategies for promoting the campaign to affiliates. Tracking and measuring campaign performance. Evaluation and optimization based on campaign results. The affiliate marketing campaign is a more focused and tactical effort within the overall affiliate marketing plan, aimed at achieving specific short-term goals. The campaign is a tactical execution aligned with the overall plan which in turn is the detailing of the overall strategy. By now, you have understood that, affiliate marketing benefits all parties involved. The merchant gains increased exposure and potential customers through the efforts of affiliates. Affiliates have the opportunity to earn passive income by promoting products or services they believe in, without the need for creating their own products. Customers benefit from receiving recommendations and reviews from affiliates they trust. For more information, please visit my YouTube channel DigiMarketerOnline The intent of this article was to make affiliate marketing easy. With the help of this information, beginners can start with affiliate marketing for free. In our next article, we will discuss free affiliate marketing tools required for marketing.

Digital marketing is the act of promoting products and services with the intent of growing sales revenue through mediums such as social media, Search engines, email, websites, and mobile apps if it is online or using electronic mediums such as TV or radio if it is offline e-marketing. Essentially, computerized promoting involving any type of advertising through electronic gadgets can be classified as digital marketing. It tends to be done either online or offline, and truth be told, the two sorts are significant for a balanced digital marketing strategy. Offline Digital Marketing Radio and TV promoting are classified as disconnected or offline digital marketing in light of the fact that they include an electronic gadget, yet the association with the Internet isn't required. It is an upgraded disconnected advertising experience with a digital device. Electronic announcements are an incredible illustration of upgraded offline digital marketing. Online Digital Marketing Online Digital Marketing is usually referred to as Digital Marketing or Online Marketing or E-Marketing. Going forward we would refer to Online Marketing as Digital Marketing throughout our blog. Digital Marketing Mediums Digital marketing involves advertising delivered through online digital mediums such as search engines, websites, social media, email, and mobile apps. Utilizing these internet-based media channels organizations support merchandise, administrations, and brands. Digital Marketing Channels Following are the basic types of digital marketing methods of which Content marketing, Search Engine Marketing, Email Marketing, Social Media Marketing, and eCommerce Marketing form the core types, and others are channels that make use of these core types to promote with variations. Also, SEO or PPC are tactics used to promote through Search Engine Marketing. Figure 3 shows this relationship with diagrammatic representation. Content Marketing : During initial marketing days, the content was generally restricted to the product or service description a brand was selling. Later, with the invention of the printing press in 1440 and the publishing of the magazine "The Furrow" in 1895 for advising farmers in growing their businesses became the first of its kind of content marketing. Though the term itself was coined much later in 1996. This Marketing is usually focused on pulling new audiences towards the brand, while it also assists in conversion. Content marketing is considered an underlying strategy for building a strong relationship with your target audience through the rest of the channels of marketing. Search Engine Marketing (SEM) : It is normally referred to as the paid Google Ads on the search page. Though, any result achieved from the output of a search engine comes under this marketing which includes organic results that are obtained through an important technique Search Engine Optimization SEO. SEO is used to optimize content in order to improve its ranking on the Google Search Page which also affects Paid Search Ads on the SERP. Pay Per Click Advertising (PPC) : These are generally advertisements displayed on your blog or channel through ad providers like Google AdSense. PPC is a web-promoting model in which advertisers pay each time a customer taps on one of their electronic notices. These promotions appear when individuals look for specific keywords on the web using search engines when a web crawler like Google checks for the presence of any bid on Ad Network for the given keyword and displays the advertisement accordingly. These ads are different from the Search Paid Ads which display websites or blog posts for the given keyword searches. Social Media Marketing : This involves marketing your content, product, or service through social media advertisements and posts. If the advertisements are not paid then the results are considered organic. Online media advertising gives brands a way to deal with existing customers and show up at new ones while allowing them to propel their optimal culture, mission, or tone. ECommerce Marketing : An eCommerce Marketplace is a place where a brand can sell its product and a consumer can buy the same. Marketing these products through other marketing channels comes under eCommerce marketing. The right mix of copywriting, media, paid advertisement, involving influencers, emails, and good content creation can make these campaigns a success. Email Marketing : This involves marketing through emails. Well-created email campaigns have proven to be very successful. Market Segmentation plays a key role in the success of email marketing campaigns. In its broadest sense, each email delivered to a potential or current customer could be seen as email publicizing. It incorporates using email to generate views, request business, or solicitation arrangements or gifts. Affiliate Marketing : It is a promoting model in which an organization remunerates outsider distributors to create traffic or generates sales for the organization's products or services. It is also called referral marketing, as it is referring services and products to consumers, that are owned by other companies. Most companies and brands these days have affiliate programs. With affiliate marketing, one can bring in cash (commissions) each time they drive a deal. Success with this model depends on persistence and creativity. Influencer Marketing : Influencer marketing focuses on using influencers to drive a brand's message to the targeted market as it is easy to influence people who are already influenced. Influencer campaigns are designed to tap into an existing community of engaged followers as the marketplace will blindly believe the words of an expert Influencers usually are content writers, bloggers, CEOs, creative people, entertainers, advertisers, or advisors. If Influential people reach out to their followers talking about your brands it can impact their purchasing decision. Influencers need not be a celebrity they can be a normal potential customer. Relationship between Digital Marketing Channels Mobile Marketing : Mobile forms the latest medium of marketing. Mobile Marketing is a multi-channel, digital marketing strategy pointed toward arriving at an interested group on their cell phones, tablets, and additionally other cell phones, through sites, email, SMS and MMS, web-based media, and applications. It can be concluded that this type of marketing involves promoting through all the above channels using mobile as a medium. Below are some specific marketing types that can be performed using a mobile. Types of Mobile Marketing Mobile Apps : An application offers you the chance to be ever-present with your main interest group and by giving advertisers an immediate method for correspondence with clients. Mobile Push Notifications : You can send message pop-ups to clients who have installed your portable application and selected it to get messages. Mobile Games : Versatile and team-building games offer you a chance to draw in clients as they are both fun and habit-forming. Mobile-First Ad Strategies : Social media is an incredible spot to begin thinking portable first procedure. QR Code Marketing : You could utilize a QR code to guide individuals to audit your business or spot a QR code to look at offering that provides an additional present or rebate on the product or service. SMS Marketing : Utilization of SMS or instant messages to convey special messages to clients and endorsers. Text marketing can create deals, further develop brand mindfulness, and increase site traffic. Benefits of Digital Marketing : Cost-effectiveness : Organizations can consistently assess by estimating the ROI from crusades which helps them to re-work techniques and invest the assets in the right ventures. Digital Analytics : In traditional marketing methods, it’s difficult to measure the results of a marketing campaign but the use of digital marketing analytics tools to analyze and report the marketing data collected through the digital channels on which your brand holds a presence ensures meaningful connections that fetch tangible business results. Consistent Lead Pipeline : An online sales funnel is explicitly intended to reliably produce leads. Digital marketing can be utilized to connect more with your current and new clients and you can make individuals mindful of your administration more than ever. You can use Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to promote your products. Organic searches are the most important long haul Lead Generation procedures. Target the Right Audience : With digital marketing, you have access to online tools that keep track of user online activities and demographic information which can be used to offer specific products or services that customers may be interested in. Gain Brand Credibility : Content marketing concentrates on carefully showing that brands ordinarily have the most validity. Through its substance, an organization can address clients' questions, explain significant ideas, and show that it gets what drives its market. Optimizing conversion rates : The fundamental objective of streamlining is to further develop transformation paces of the traffic you now have, and by and large, with the resources you now have. Digital advertising makes it simple since each collaboration is followed and right away many individuals are seeing your promotion and it gets easier and more systematic to track the moves they make. Digital marketing platforms also have tools for tracking the details of your traffic which can be leveraged to optimize conversion rates. Digital Marketing Risks Chasing vanity metrics : Vanity metrics incorporate information like web-based media devotees, site hits, endorsers, and other ostentatious investigations that are fulfilling on paper, however, don't make some noticeable difference for your business objectives. They offer positive uncovering, yet no setting for future advancing decisions. Misinterpreting Competitor Analysis : Analyzing competition will give you immense data, which if misinterpreted can lead to faulty business decisions. When interpreting data, always consider your business capacity carefully. Also, consider expert opinion if possible. Rather than publicizing to whole market sections immediately, take a stab at the beginning with your interest group and move gradually up. Earned media : The upside of acquired media is its high credibility. As it may be, acquired media has a few inconveniences: In examination with claimed media, it offers for all intents and purposes no control and can be utilized to pass on adverse messages about the organization. Besides, it can likewise be hard for organizations to screen and quantify their belongings. Wrong Brand Image : One of the heavenly advantages of digital marketing is that it offers virality to mark. Negative reviews, poor content quality, spammed posts and emails, inactive social media accounts, and poor website experience can all play a role in creating negative brand value. It is advisable to plan right for creating positive brand awareness. ‘batch and blast’ your audience : Utilizing the 'cluster and impact strategy for sending similar messages to all clients doesn't work any longer. Shooting emails in all cases to clients and prospects for the most part doesn't transform prospects into clients, it simply destroys their altruism. See more in Email Marketing. Understanding your customers and their preferences can help you communicate in a more meaningful way. Mismatched placement and context : With digital marketing and vanity metrics, it is possible that you may be spending the majority of your digital marketing budget in poorly performing channels targeting the wrong audience. If the content does not match the needs of the customer or does not fit the context in which it was displayed, chances are that your audience won’t convert. For instance, showing a software display ad during a football match will not push the customer to take action. Overspending without meeting targets : In case you are giving a lot of cash to showcasing spending plans that aren't procuring you generous deals, you will give your business a raw deal in the long haul. You should make room in your digital plan for quality showcasing endeavors as opposed to attempting to dump cash into numerous normal undertakings. Diminishing paid advertisement spending plans can be testing, yet numerous entrepreneurs ignore the force of free exposure. Digital marketing is a perfect business opportunity. As a marketer, with digital marketing, you can save on your budget and reach more customers for a lower cost than traditional marketing methods. For small businesses, it allows you to know your audience and also lets them know you personally which can help create brand loyalty. It also has the benefit of tracking responses from marketing efforts immediately. Clients and advertisers need to find out with regard to the advantages and disadvantages of promoting to receive the best in return.

A digital marketing strategy is a structure that outlines how your business will achieve its advertising objectives through online channels like search and social media. A marketing strategy typically includes a combination of tactics, such as advertising, public relations, social media, email marketing, search engine optimization, and events. It also involves analyzing market trends, competitors, and consumer behavior to create a competitive advantage and maximize the effectiveness of marketing efforts. A marketing strategy outlines the overall approach and direction for a company's marketing efforts, a marketing plan provides a detailed roadmap for executing the strategy, and a marketing campaign is a specific initiative designed to achieve a particular marketing objective within the context of the plan or strategy. Components of Digital Marketing Strategy Business Goals : The goal of any business would normally fall under one of the following: Build Brand Awareness Increase Social Media Following Generate Leads for an event Sales Growth Retention Whichever category the business goal may belong to, it is a stage in the digital marketing funnel. Any business goal requires a digital marketing plan to achieve it. Mapping strategy with goals : A robust online marketing strategy details the following goal types: Short-term Medium-term Long-term Short and medium-term goals push towards achieving long-term goals. Digital marketing strategy defines how companies should: Communicate the benefits of the brand Prioritize targeted audience & products Hit our channel leads & sales targets Budgets for Acquisition, Conversion, Retention & Growth, Service Prioritize products to build customer relationships Buyer Persona : A buyer persona is a fictional representation of your ideal client or target audience. With a clear image of who you're promoting to, it's a lot simpler to foster powerful, designated content that addresses your optimal purchaser's objectives and difficulties. Consider your purchaser personas an individual story. Digital Marketing Campaign : Digital campaigns and digital strategies are not equivalent. Digital campaigns are what you use to accomplish the objectives of your digital strategy. Digital marketing strategy discusses how your business needs to accomplish its objectives and digital marketing campaign advises about the activities that should be taken to accomplish that objective. The strategy is the "talk" and the campaign is the "walk". Digital Marketing Channels : Good campaigns on the right channels can bring exceptional outcomes. Digital marketing channels are stages that you can use to arrive at your main interest group with data about your image, item, or administration. Using these channels permits you to assist your clients with any inquiries or difficulties they might have while situating your business well so you can be a bit nearer to your promoting objectives. Popular Digital Channels : SEO stands for search engine optimization and represents site design improvement, which is an advanced showcasing methodology that spotlights your site's quality in indexed lists on web search tools like Google. Exactly when you perceive how SEO capacities are, you can use different methodologies to extend your detectable quality (or how high you rank) in indexed records. Pay-per-click (PPC) is an online publicizing model in which an advertiser pays a distributor each time a business association is "clicked" on. PPC is also known as the expense-per-click (CPC) model. Google Ads, Facebook Ads, and Twitter Ads are the most popular stages for PPC advancement. Content marketing is a promoting system used to draw in, connect with, and hold a crowd of people by making and sharing significant articles, recordings, digital broadcasts, and different media. This methodology builds up mastery, advances brand mindfulness, and keeps the business top of your brain when it's an ideal opportunity to purchase what you sell. Email marketing is a sort of showing that can make the clients on your email list mindful of new things, limits, and different associations. It can moreover be a gentler proposal to educate your group on the value of your picture or keep them associated with between purchases. Social media marketing (SMM) insinuates the use of online media and relational associations to promote an association's things and organizations. Social media gives affiliations an approach to managing drawing in with existing clients and appearing at new ones while permitting them to impel their ideal culture, mission, or tone. Voice search optimization is the most common way of upgrading your pages to show up in voice look. At the point when you upgrade for voice search, you improve the manner in which individuals lead verbal ventures. Voice search optimization allows you the opportunity to have your pages recited so anyone can hear by a voice search gadget. Video marketing is a front-aligned marketing strategy that incorporates drawing the video into your advertising efforts. Video advertising can be utilized for everything from building client closeness to driving your image, associations, or things. Types of Media : Earned Media is one of the media an organization overcomes what we call "informal" however in the online climate. Earned Media is the most significant since it's more natural. The most important channel to create earned media is through SEO standard adjustments required by search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo. Owned Media is what the organization possesses forever. Websites, YouTube channels, web-based media pages, and whatever else the organization controls with its name frames the possessed media. These channels generate direct traffic while serving for engagement and leadership education. Paid Media is any media in which you pay to spread the word. Each immediate speculation that the brand makes enters this classification, and the course is for disclosure channels. Types of popular Paid Media are : AdWords (Google) links driven to social media ads in portals of related segments Budget Allocation : The money in your marketing budget is finite, and how you distribute every dollar can have the effect between a flourishing advertising program and a weak one. While it's useful to assess an earlier-year spending plan, think about the number of leads or deals that each showcasing effort produces according to the expense of the mission. Patterns and best practices in advertising spending portion differ from one industry to another, and from one year to another. Similarly as with numerous different parts of the advertising game, some portion of the planning system will probably consistently include a bit of vulnerability and educated speculations. Performance Tracking : Using the right digital marketing tools to run your digital marketing plan is as important as creating a digital marketing strategy. Digital marketing dashboard - Track the progress : A digital marketing dashboard can be used to track the performance of your business's online marketing activities. This sort of dashboard allows you to screen your missions and other computerized showcasing endeavors progressively, permitting you to settle on instructed choices concerning how to best dispense your promoting financial plan. Analytics tools - Monitor the key metrics : Marketing analytics tools are programming stages that assist advertisers with understanding the well-being of their showcasing efforts. They may track a variety of key performance metrics including website traffic, page views, click-through rates, or many others in order to inform a marketer of which efforts are working, which aren't, and why. Social Media managing tools - Automate the process : Social media management tool is software designed to allow the user (you) to publish, monitor and manage one or a greater amount of your online media networks from one interface. This not just makes it simpler for you to share and timetable share content to your informal organizations from one spot, but it makes it simpler for you to react to clients who say something on something you post or message you directly. It can likewise make it simpler for groups to cooperate in overseeing at least one social stream. CRM integration - Incorporate sales with marketing : Client relationship management (CRM) is an innovation for dealing with all your organization's connections and collaborations with clients and expected clients. The goal is clear: Improve business associations with foster your business. It can likewise make it simpler for groups to cooperate in overseeing at least one social stream. A CRM structure helps associations with remaining related to customers, smooth out measures, and further foster efficiency. A CRM combination is the consistent network between your client relationship the executives (CRM) programming and outsider applications. Combinations bring about mechanized activities that grow the usefulness of your product, dispensing with the need to flip back and forth between frameworks. Content Management tools - Single spot for all your content : A content management system (CMS) is an application that is used to manage web content, allowing multiple contributors to create, edit and publish. Content in a CMS is commonly put away in a data set and shown in a show layer dependent on a bunch of layouts. Content administration frameworks store the entirety of your web content in one spot, support easy cooperation, help with making dynamic pages, consider fast and simple updates to be made, and offer convenient modules and devices to make your website as viable and secure as could really be expected, while additionally saving you both time and cash. Digital Marketing Strategy Structure A digital marketing strategy assists your business with accomplishing explicit computerized objectives through painstakingly chosen internet advertising channels, for example, paid, acquired, and possessed media. While the specific structure of a digital marketing strategy may vary depending on the company's goals, target audience, and industry, here is an example of what a basic digital marketing strategy structure might look like: Situation Analysis: An overview of the company's current digital marketing efforts, including an analysis of the competition, market trends, and the company's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Goals and Objectives: Clear, measurable goals that the digital marketing efforts will aim to achieve, such as increasing website traffic, generating leads, improving conversion rates, or boosting brand awareness. Target Audience: A detailed profile of the company's ideal customer, including demographics, psychographics, and behaviors, and how they interact with digital channels. Digital Channels: A list of the digital channels that will be used to reach the target audience, including websites, social media, email marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), and mobile marketing. Messaging and Content: A plan for creating compelling messaging and content that will resonate with the target audience, including copywriting, design, video production, and other creative elements. Budget and Resources: A breakdown of the budget and resources required to execute the digital marketing plan, including costs for advertising, software, staff, and other expenses. Metrics and Analytics: A plan for measuring the success of the digital marketing efforts, including key performance indicators (KPIs), metrics, and analytics tools that will be used to track and analyze performance. Implementation and Timeline: A detailed timeline for executing the digital marketing plan, including milestones, deadlines, and responsibilities for each task. Optimization and Continuous Improvement: A plan for ongoing optimization and continuous improvement of the digital marketing efforts, including regular analysis and testing to identify opportunities for improvement. Overall, a well-structured digital marketing strategy should be tailored to the specific needs and goals of the company, and it should provide a clear roadmap for achieving success in the digital space. Create a Digital Marketing Plan Developing a digital marketing plan will help you identify what makes your business unique and how to get your message out to your audiences through a variety of digital channels. Creating a digital marketing plan can be a complex process that requires a deep understanding of the company's goals, target audience, and digital channels. Here are the basic steps to create a digital marketing plan: Define Your Goals: Identify the specific marketing objectives you want to achieve through your digital marketing efforts. These could include increasing website traffic, generating leads, boosting sales, improving brand awareness, or retaining existing customers. Identify Your Target Audience: Determine who your ideal customer is and what they are looking for. Conduct market research and create detailed buyer personas to help you understand their needs, behaviors, and preferences. Conduct a Digital Audit: Analyze your company's current digital marketing efforts to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. This includes analyzing your website, social media presence, email marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), and paid advertising. Choose Your Digital Channels: Identify the digital channels that will be most effective for reaching your target audience and achieving your goals. This could include social media, email marketing, content marketing, SEO, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, or other channels. Develop Your Messaging and Content: Create a messaging and content strategy that will resonate with your target audience. This includes developing a consistent brand voice, creating engaging content, and optimizing your website for search engines. Set Your Budget: Determine how much you can afford to spend on your digital marketing efforts and allocate your budget across the various channels you have chosen. Create Your Implementation Plan: Develop a timeline for implementing your digital marketing plan, including specific tasks, deadlines, and responsibilities. Monitor and Optimize Your Campaigns: Monitor your campaigns closely, track your performance metrics, and optimize your strategies as needed to improve your results. Measure Your Results: Measure the success of your digital marketing efforts by tracking your KPIs, analyzing your data, and making adjustments as needed. Remember, a digital marketing plan is not a one-time activity, but an ongoing process. Regularly review and update your plan to ensure it remains aligned with your goals and effectively reaches your target audience. Digital marketing is a constantly evolving field, and it is essential for companies to stay up-to-date with the latest trends and technologies. This may involve adopting new marketing tactics, investing in emerging technologies, and continuously testing and refining strategies. Digital marketing has a number of advancements and improvements in its strategy, so it is important to have a digital marketing strategy to know the areas that your company must focus on for them to reach customers online and grow sales.

In this article, we will give an overview of how you can use affiliate tools to make marketing easier. For getting your affiliate marketing across to the users, when you want them to see your product and subscribe to that product or service you need the right kind of tools. Before the use of any affiliate marketing tool, the user must sign-up on any affiliate marketing network or program. In order to market the affiliate link so that it reaches the right targeted audience you would need the right kind of tools. Step 1: Statistics & Research on Affiliate products Once you have enrolled on the affiliate network you would want to research products that are performing well. To check this you can use the following tools to analyze the traffic and engagement on products from multiple affiliate networks all in one place. CB Snooper CB Engine CB Analytics Step 2: Research for Ideas creating hooks, captions, and posters Once you have the product you may want the appropriate content to post, for which you can get ideas from Facebook Ad Library Step 3: Copywriting It is of much value to having a good copywriter for the content to reach more customers. You may want to take help from tools like Heming Way Grammarly Ginger Step 4: Write promising Headlines Once you have your copy ready you need a check on your caption or hook to attract customers to your content page. This can be done through promising headlines by using headlines analyzer tools like Share Through Co Schedule Answer the Public Step 5: Research for Stock Images Once you have the content idea you will want the right images and photos that represent your content. You can get them from stock photo websites like Freepik Vecteezy Unsplash Step 6: Use PLR products as Freebies While promoting normally marketers make use of free gifts and goodies which attract prospects and convert them into leads. To download such freebies for free you can go to websites like freeplrdownload idplr plrmines Step 7: Create a Landing page for affiliate marketing Most affiliate marketers don't own a website, in that case, you may need to create landing pages for your products. It is easier to use websites that already provide the service of creating landing pages and also provide tools to track page performance. Tools like ConvertKit are well-known for this job. The interesting thing is they also provide email marketing automation as well. Step 8: Email Marketing for affiliate marketers Now that you have the content ready you need to reach a wide audience to gain more customers. This may be achieved through email marketing which is considered a powerful channel of marketing for a long. Affiliate marketers can make you of automated tools like MailChimp that can also assist in email blasts. The following tools provide landing pages with email marketing: ConvertKit Moosend MailChimp MailerLite GetResponse Step 9: Visualization & Analytics To understand how affiliate marketing campaigns are performing you may need tools that analyze the purchase funnel traffic and check on traffic conversion numbers. This can be achieved through tools like funnelytics Looker Smartlook Step 10: Competitor Analytics It is always worth keeping an eye on your competitors to know where your campaign is going. It gives insights into what is working for you and where you have to improve. You may use tools like SimilarWeb Semrush Ahrefs Affiliate Marketing Automation Affiliate management software is one that provides most of the above-mentioned features all in one place from an affiliate network integration to link tracking and analytics. It encapsulates features like affiliate management, affiliate tracking, banner management, commission management, email communication, social sharing, and others. Most of these tools also provide affiliate marketing automation that involves strategizing campaigns through analytics which would involve the least user clicks. Affiliate management involves creating and managing affiliate programs or building a network of affiliates. Following are some affiliate management software more popularly called affiliate marketing software: tapfilate refersion postaffiliatepro rewardful partnerstack affise impact idevaffiliate Affiliate tracking software allows you to create different links for different platforms you are promoting your affiliate product to keep track of their performance to decide which platform is bringing in more sales. These are a few affiliate tracking software: clickmeter voluum clicktool clickmagick redtrack bemob Landing Page & Other Useful tools Normally, during affiliate marketing, we need a landing page for affiliate marketing to showcase our product and service to the user and ask them to subscribe or give their contact data so that we can reach out to them with further details of the product. Usually, people who are professional affiliate marketers own a website and they use customized landing pages that can be used to collect details of the users who want to reach them. A right landing page does most of the job to put across the right message you want your customers to know about your product or service. Following are a few web hosting sites that offer many services including website builder: Hostinger Wix Bluehost GoDaddy Weebly Once you have the landing page in place you may need customized infographics or images to generate interest in your audience. Every social media platform these days provides extensions or integrations to such tools. With landing pages, you can use "Canva" another popular tool to create images, infographics, and also posts for promoting the landing page links. This tool also provides an upgraded version, but most of the job can be taken care of with free version of the tool as well. You can see the demo on my channel When you have your landing page ready, you would need a way to promote these links. Sometimes you may have multiple pages related to one product or multiple products related to the brand, and you want your prospective customer to know the information for which you can make use of another powerful tool "LinkTree". You can view all the info in one place, and also make provisions for making payments using these links. All in all this tool is very useful in promoting a single link when you have multiple products to promote that need to be shared with the customer in one go. I hope this list of these free affiliate marketing tools can make your affiliate marketing journey easier.

After having understood the domain authority of a website, let us dive into the details of the importance of page authority and its relevance in ranking. Page Authority or PA is a metric developed by Moz to predict the ability of the page to rank in search results. Page Ranking is an algorithm that Google had been using in the past to rank websites that are now ranked using Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Algorithms known as RankBrain, and Page Authority in a way determines ranking but is not a Google metric. To put it straight PA is not the only criteria for ranking higher on search engine results. There are several other factors including page relevance and domain authority. If you are a website owner and publish content very often then you would naturally want to rank higher on the search results. For this to happen you will have to work on content, use more images and gain more reliable backlinks. The score of PA lies between 0 to 100 on a logarithmic scale. The higher its value higher is the ability of the website to rank higher. Google does not rank based on DA or PA, but to attain high-quality backlinks and to compare your website with that of your competitor websites it is advisable to check your PA or DA. As learned earlier backlinks are important in ranking your website higher in search engines like Google. And the MOZ metrics DA and PA depend mostly on backlinks along with more than 40 other SEO factors. Page Authority is calculated using Machine Learning algorithms and hence is suitable to determine the relative score of the page rather than attaining the absolute score for ranking. PA includes DA in its calculation. PA does not take into account the keywords and content optimization while it considers external factors that authorize the page. How to Improve Page Authority Though Google does not use PA or DA for ranking, it is important to consider the PA of the page in making it competitive so that it can rank higher in the search results. Moz is not involved with any search engines but they have upgraded the algorithms that calculate the PA and mostly involve all external factors related to a search engine crawling a page. Hence it becomes necessary to improve your page authority and domain authority. The following points can be taken care of for improving the authority : Avoid Spammy links Attain High-Quality Backlinks Focus on the Content Remove Bad Links Overall backlinks are the determining factor for page authority. PA is not a ranking factor for search engines but can be considered a signaling factor to know where your website page stands. This score also builds a trust level within your users and clarifies your position relative to your competitors. To know more about attaining backlinks read this article on Creating 100 Backlinks from scratch.

After having learned about SEO and having known the importance of keywords in ranking higher on search results, it's time to explore the types of keywords and where they are used. In general, there are 9 types of keywords. Any website begins its keyword research with seed keywords that form the base content or category of the website. In practice, there may be multiple variations to the seed keywords but seed keywords form the basis of what content actually goes into the website and under which category you would want your website to rank. For instance, this blog has content around SEO, Adnetworks, Keywords, and others but the seed keyword would be digital marketing. As I would want my website to rank under this niche. There can be multiple seed keywords for a given website. Let us understand the types of keywords. Short-Tailed These are keywords that consist of one to three words. They are also sometimes referred to as head keywords. They generally return large results during the search. For instance "digital marketing". As mentioned earlier this is the seed keyword for the website, which means seed keywords are short-tailed keywords. Long Tailed These are keywords that have more than 3 words. They are more detailed and may contain a phrase or a sentence. For instance "digital marketing companies in California". Fresh These are keywords that have not been searched in any query so far and are new keywords. For instance when COVID-19 hit the most searched keyword for "Coronovirus". This keyword was never searched before. Evergreen These are keywords that are always searched. Their search volume remains moderate and they are never outdated. For instance "new jobs in California" There is always someone looking for a job and the market gets filled with new vacancies and people count looking for these jobs also do not go down. Product Defining These are keywords that are used to explain a product. For instance "Samsung smartphones with 64 GB memory". Here we are explicitly describing the product we need. Customer Defining These are keywords used to create a customer persona or profile. These keywords target a specific audience. For instance "jobs for women". Geo-Targeting These keywords are used to target based on city, state, or country. They are meant to look for region-specific results. For instance "jobs for women in California". LSI These are Latent Semantic Indexing keywords that form a semantic relationship with main keywords. For instance, "ball" has a semantic relation with the bat. While "bat" can have semantic relation with cricket or animal depending on context. You can see these main keywords have multiple related keywords which become a part of the search and they form LSI keywords. Intent targeting As the name suggests these keywords are based on user intent. In general, intent falls under three categories Informational, Commercial and Transactional. This means the query intent usually depends on the purchase funnel or the AIDA model. During the Information stage customer is searching for information regarding the product for example "best smartphones with 128GB memory", in the commercial stage they have decided to make a purchase for example "buy iPhone 13" and during the transactional stage, they are looking for more offers and competitive prices for example "cheapest prices for iPhone13". Now that you have understood the different types of keywords and their practical usage, it will help you with further optimizing your website for search engines. For more on SEO and Keywords please read my blog.

After having discussed backlinks and why they are important in building your website authority, it's time to know the different types of backlinks available. Backlinks are an integral part of SEO and the right type of backlink can help boost your page ranking. On a high-level backlinks are classified into : Internal and External Inbound and Outbound Do-Follow and No-Follow Natural and Unnatural Internal and External Backlinks Internal backlinks are the links that point to another page of the same website while external backlinks are the links that point to another website. Inbound and Outbound Backlinks While External links are links to another website they can be further classified depending on the page flow. If your website is pointing to another website page then these links are outbound links. If another website is pointing to your website then these are called inbound links. Inbound links are generally called backlinks that we refer to in SEO. Do-Follow and No-Follow Backlinks External links can further be classified based on search engine reachability as Do-Follow and No-Follow. Do-Follow links can be reached by both users and search engines, while No-Follow links can only be reached by users while these links will be partially ignored by search engines. When we say partially, this means search engines do recognize these links as worthy while determining the page authority but to save your website from being penalized due to unrelated or paid content, it is advisable to use no-follow links. Sponsored and UGC Backlinks While No-Follow links are an indication to search engines that they can be ignored, search engines can still crawl the pages if the no-index tag is not used. In practice, No-Follow links are unrelated content or paid content. If the content is related but is not organic and has the ability to increase the traffic count to your website, then it is advisable to specify the attributes like "sponsored "or "ugc". In both these scenarios, you are telling the search engine that though this content is not organic and goes against Google Webmaster Guidelines, don't penalize the website. Sponsored tag indicates the content is paid in nature and "ugc" indicates it is user-generated content like unrelated links in comments when approved needs to indicate "ugc" for google to not penalize such content. Natural and Unnatural Backlinks As the name suggests these links are classified based on their natural find. For instance, if the links are found through related content from other websites or social media and these links direct the reader to relevant content, then the search engine considers these links as natural links. While there may be instances where users may have placed links in forums or groups just to attract traffic and are mostly unrelated content and also the region where the links are placed does not enrich the reader experience, then these links are termed as unnatural links. Website owners generally tag these links as no-follow to avoid penalty, but if these links are tagged do-follow and are unnatural then this may impact the domain authority of the site and hence the page ranking. Now you understand the different types of backlinks the search engines and users detect and how they have an impact on your page ranking. It is always advisable to have natural links with relevant content for growing your website traffic. For more content on digital marketing visit Digi Marketer Online.

Domain Authority is a metric used to measure the relative strength of a website generally measured in terms of the strength of backlinks in comparison with their competitor website at a given index in the search result. Domain Authority is a term coined by Moz, while a similar metric is termed by Ahref as Domain Rating. A few other SEO tools refer to this metric as Website Authority. At the base level, all measure the same result. Why do we need Domain Authority? Having understood what DA or DR stands for, it is time to understand how it impacts the ranking of a website in search results. Researchers have observed a direct correlation between website ranking and its authority, with a direct effect of website authority on the number of keywords the website ranks against. Since the main goal of every website owner is to make it to the top of search results (here we refer to Google SERP) it becomes extremely important to stay vigilant on DA. Having said that it is not recommended to create content and optimize focusing on DA alone. DA is simply the outcome of good quality content and the right level of optimization. Factors Affecting Domain Authority As already discussed the domain authority depends on the strength of backlinks, what it actually means is that the DA depends on following Unique Domains The higher the number of unique domains acts as a parameter in increasing the domain authority of the website. The number of backlinks from the same domain has a lesser impact on the authority when compared to the number of backlinks from unique domains. Authority of Linking Domains It is an understood fact that the domain authority increases when the linking domains also have high authority. Having said that it is not just the authority score of the backlink domain, but the relevancy and quality of the linking domain also matter. Do-Follow vs No Follow Links The increase in the backlinks with the "Do-Follow" status has an impact on your website authority, whereas links with the status "No Follow", "UGC" and sponsored links have a lower impact almost close to NIL. Things to be aware of If the linking website DR is gradually increasing over time but your website backlink count is consistent even then your DR will increase. Backlinks from websites with a high DR and a large number of backlinks may not lead to an overall increase in your website authority. The reason is since the number of external sites linked to that referring domain is large enough, with at least one link having a do-follow status any additional external links to this site will not affect its DR as much, also having a backlink from this site will also not have much impact on your website DR as well. This also does not mean a site with lower DR linking to a high authoritative website has lesser value when compared to sites with higher DR linking to low DR sites. DR works on a logarithmic scale, and hence a backlink from a high authoritative site will have a smaller impact on your website DR when compared to a medium DR backlink, similarly backlink from least DR sites will also not affect your website authority, instead may cause lowering your website DR. It is always advisable to link to high authoritative and high-quality websites. Website ranking does not solely depend on website authority, instead, it depends on the page you are trying to rank higher which again depends on URL authority and domain level traffic. It is observed DR has a direct correlation with the number of keywords and keywords play an important role in ranking a page in search results. After learning these facts about domain authority, it is relevant that not all pages need high DR to rank higher on google search results or any other for that matter. It entirely depends on the keyword you want to rank for, there may be keywords that may need a backlink to a high authority website while there may be others that may not need backlinks at all to rank higher on google. Anyways, it is always an added advantage to get high-quality backlinks from high-authority websites. It helps increase the overall score and will in turn result in a higher ranking for your website. For more content on SEO and marketing check my blog.

If you are a professional digital marketer or just a beginner in the field, it is advisable to keep a check on various SEO techniques that are recommended or are required to be refrained from, in order to avoid getting blacklisted in the long run. Having known this, let us understand various terminologies related to these techniques, and which activities fall under these categories. The activities can be clubbed under three types White Hat, Black Hat, and Grey Hat SEO. White Hat SEO All the ethical practices in SEO are considered White Hat which involves writing quality and unique content, including relevant internal links and backlinks, improving the user experience to increase traffic, and not following any Black Hat SEO techniques. Black Hat SEO All the unethical practices in SEO are considered Black Hat which involves - Cloaking This is a technique that website owners opt for when showcasing different content to human versus bot users. There are various types of cloaking like User-Agent, IP Based, Javascript, HTTP-Referrer and HTTP Accept Header cloaking. Stuffing Keywords Usually, SEO means optimizing content that matches keywords that are generally searched by users on a search engine. If the website owner tends to stuff keywords rather than writing content that relates to the keywords then this technique is called keyword stuffing. Plagiarism This means the website owner has copied content from another source or has published duplicate content which may have been rephrased. The sole idea here is that the content is not authentic and has copyright issues. There are many free tools out there that can identify if your content is unique. Hidden text and links This means website owners place texts or links between the content which are hidden using the same background color as that of the text or link. This way the copywriter is trying to trick the search engine spider into showcasing the relevant content, but in reality, it is not. Link spamming This means the content writer is placing content links on all possible forums without relevance. This is mostly seen in blog comments, social media post comments, forums, and any other place where the links can be posted. Link farming This is when a website or a group of websites is solely meant to post links for increasing page authority. This was used to give the crawlers an impression that the website page is linked to several other websites and must be ranked higher in SERP, but with the advancement in algorithms, this technique can result in lowering your page authority and may be penalized or blacklisted. All the above Black Hat techniques result in your website being penalized by Google by lowering your domain authority and rank. Though these techniques must be avoided in general, there are places where website owners may get away with using a bit of Black Hat which is discussed in the next section. Grey Hat SEO When SEO is implemented with a mixture of White Hat and Black Hat techniques then this is considered Grey Hat SEO. Usually, it is believed to be 95% White Hat versus 5% Black Hat but in practice, the line seems to be very thin. It is a good practice to always follow White Hat SEO, but in reality when the business owners need faster results, then a pinch of grey becomes inevitable. Now, this technique is utilized at the discretion of the website owners, though the side effects of using Black Hat SEO are not wiped out. To know more about SEO and other techniques relayed to digital marketing check my blog Digi Marketer Online.

If you are into blogging or own a website then you know the process of optimizing your website to be found by search engines. While in the ongoing process if you want to target a specific audience then you will need to identify the region under demographics. Once you know which section to target for bringing in revenue and traffic, it is of much importance to cater to the needs of this specific audience. Of all the possible features that one could think of, user experience is of high priority. This could be made possible by reaching your audience in their local language. Does this sound familiar? If yes, then you are into Internationalising your SEO process. There are specific steps one needs to follow, we will discuss them in brief. On a high level, the process can be divided into three sections Country Targeting, Language Targeting, and Verifying the setup. Country Targeting can be achieved in one of the following three ways : Country-Specific Domains (ccTLDs) TLD stands for Top-Level Domain, while ccTLD stands for country code TLD. It is also referred to as CTLD or Country Top Level Domain. This means your website domain name includes the country code that you decide to target. For instance when the domain name of this website points to "digimarketeronline.in" or "digimarketeronline.fr" then these domain names are region-specific. While this gives greater scope for indicating strong signals, to the crawlers that these sites are specifically designed for a given country, the downside of it would be the cost and content management which would increase with the increase of the number of country codes. Sub-Domains To overcome the costing concerns of having multiple websites targeting regional audiences, one can choose to have sub-domains under the same TLD. For instance, if you are planning to target the audience of France and Canada then fr.digimarketeronline.org and ca.digimarketeronline.org are sub-domains that can be considered. The crawlers consider these sub-domains as different instances, though the domain authority gets shared between sub-domains, so it is important to have unique content with different URLs and SEO optimization must be done for these separately. Usually, sub-domains are opted for when dealing with different content under the same domain name. Sub-Directories When you know the content is similar but needs to be handled differently under one domain name sub-directories are preferred over the rest. For instance, all digital marketing stuff related to the US region is clubbed under the directory name "united states" and the region is then treated as a category. It may look like digimarketeronline.org/us or digimarketeronline.org/fr. Now when you want to deal with similar content but want to categorize based on regions, it is preferable to use sub-directories. Crawlers treat them as the same domain but in different categories so the domain authority of the site gets reused while ranking. Language targeting can be confirmed using hreflang tags in the head section of the page. hreflang Once you have decided on your website structure, it is important to tell the crawlers which language and country combination the page is catering to. This instructs the engines to display region-specific content from the same website. When you have opted for the ccTLD structure of the site, you may wonder if this tagging is needed, the answer to this is that the tag creates a marker for search engines to explicitly confirm that the page is designed for the given country code and language combination. Including this tag in the head section of the page confirms the internationalization of content. The format looks like the following tags, the default tag points to all remaining countries and languages that are not being targeted meaning the search engines will have to show these pages in the results for the remaining non-targeted audience. The below tag signals the search engine that the page needs to be surfaced for India in the English language. Once you have targeted the country and language, it's time to check and verify your setup. Google provides a tool for checking and verifying the setup for internationalization under the link https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/i18n The tool can be used with the authorization credentials of your search console setup. The tool provides tabs for country and hreflang setup. These are the basic criteria for setting up international SEO. Once these parts are set up, it's the turn of setting up the appropriate content. It is advised not to use auto-translated content. This may reduce the quality of the sites and hence may not rank on search engine results. Local advertising and backlinks are suggested for improving the ranking of the page. If these measures are taken care of, then the site will perform well with search engine optimization involving internationalized content. For more on search engine optimization check my blog.