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5 Why’s Hiring Dedicated Development Team Is Paid Off For 95% of IT Startups https://ift.tt/2ECSIh9 Tired of working for the man? Have already gone solo?
Well, kudos, you did it!
However, a growing number of smaller business owners come to us for a dedicated software development team each day.
The same reason they all are here is the risk that building an in-house development team can break their startup. And it’s no secret the key factor lies in the high total cost of ownership (TCO).
However, the team is essential for developing, supporting and scaling the business. This is where hiring a dedicated development team comes to rescue, as once the project is completed, the expenses stop. You probably have the same reason, don’t you?
Coming to us, all these IT startup owners ask the same questions about how to hire a right team and not to throw money out the window. Still have doubts? Read on. 5 Reasons For You to Hire a Dedicated Development Team#1 Why: CostHiring a software development staff in the US or EU is extremely expensive. The way out is to have the job done by a competent team from other countries. Thus, getting a team from Eastern Europe or Asia you save significantly on the future project.
However, we are no on the self-destruct button, so we will never say the cheaper the better. We’d rather say you always need to give particular attention to dedicated developers provider reputation and expertise than to the average cost of services. #2 Why: ExpertiseA right offshore development center usually has a confirmation to the well-established long-term relationships with former clients. So, any time you consider it as a chance you can go through the list of ‘our clients’ and find the first-hand reviews on the service provided.
What’s more important, IT specialists are usually well-educated and -motivated. So, you can check the profiles of the specialists and see the lists of technical competences, as well as communicate to them before taking a final decision.
To get a better return on your investment, just spend a few minutes to check the user stories and team model, the main points it has and lacks:
Thus, it turns that hiring a dedicated development team, you save not only on the specialists’ onboarding but also on the HR job. #3 Why: EngagementWhen considering an interim development team, you may be afraid of your little impact on the project. Say, you’ve found your offshore dream team, just make sure you’ll have a right to monitor the progress of your software development in a real-life regime and make adjustments whenever you need it. Ensure the teamwork is in an agile environment and all the needed development phases will be introduced to the projects as required. #4 Why: InfrastructureWe’ve partially touched on the subject when said you’ll save on the team onboarding. Besides, you’ll rid yourself of the necessity to build up all the stages from planning to designing your product.
Hiring a dedicated software development team means to find a way to bridge the knowledge of your own team and run the project from a to z in a formed infrastructure. #5 Why: SupportClear timeline with no diverting to inner processes is one of the key benefits of any outsourcing. You may start a complete revolution in your office but your project won’t be stopped or paused. These guys will continue bringing you closer to your goal while you’ll restructure your team environment. Moreover, you can let your team go on vacation, hire new in-house specialists, fire employees and be sure the project will be produced at the appointed time.
And what is even more beneficial is that your team will be supported on questions relating to the software implementation and exploitation. Sum-upWhen still doubting whether to hire a dedicated software development team or not, just look through these first-hand truths.
Giving a project offshore, you can:
Do you still have questions?
Just comment below.
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Accounting Basics Digital Marketers Should Know https://ift.tt/2VoF5HW Accounting plays a huge role in the success of a business. There are many different aspects of accounting, and all are important in order to measure and therefore grow your business. Having a good system in place helps with tracking revenues, tracking expenses, invoicing, and preparing taxes. Here are just some of the accounting basics digital marketers should know.
When It Comes To Expenses, Keep Track Of EverythingKeeping track of expenses is an important part of your business’ accounting that you don’t want to fall through the cracks. Not only will knowing your expenses define your run rate, that is how much cash you’re burning per month, but your expenses determine what deductions your business can take for tax purposes. Since deductions help you save money on taxes, it is really important to be able to keep track of expenses throughout the year. This is not something you want to fudge at the last minute. Aside from qualifying as deductible expenses, having good records serves as audit protection, just in case your return is ever reviewed by the taxing authorities.
A carefully laid out paper trail is what you want, one that you can easily revisit. Keeping all receipts and documenting all transactions, is generally a good practice. Having a physical filing system in place is not a bad way to handle accounting. However, it is not the most efficient way. Today, there are many apps available now that allow you to snap pictures of receipts and categorize them accordingly in accounting software. This saves a lot of time, and helps keep you organized. And as a digital marketer, it makes a lot of sense to implement and use a digital accounting system. Reports That MatterAnother accounting basic digital marketers should know is which reports really matter. One of the advantages of using accounting software like Quickbooks or Xerox is the ability to run financial reports. Financial reports help provide a summary of the overall financial health profile of your business. Financial reports are a fundamental part of predicting future financial growth. Some reports that are important are:
Schedule Accounting TimeMaking a point to handle your bookkeeping is another accounting basic digital marketers should know. This can be difficult to do for many busy business owners but it is of the utmost importance. Invoices should go out each month at the same time where possible. They also need to be followed up on at regular intervals. And while bills aren’t fun, they need to be paid each month and on time. So, having a bill paying schedule can help you avoid any issues. When that’s all done, you should also have a defined “closing” period, for example, every month or at least every quarter. This keeps the accounting moving and your company financially disciplined. You will make a lot of mistakes if you do this annually and neither you or your bookkeeper will be happy. Monitor SuccessFor digital marketers, monitoring the success of a campaign is crucial. It helps you understand what is working, and what isn’t so that you can improve your strategy. Monitoring the financial success of your business is also important. Good accounting can help you increase profitability, by helping your identify projects that have the greatest ROI. It can also help you analyze ongoing expenses, and made adjustments as necessary.
The Right Accounting Software For The JobAnother accounting basic digital marketers should know is that having the right accounting software is really important for accuracy. Good accounting software can make a huge difference in your accounting process. Some great options for digital marketers are:
QuickBooks – You are probably familiar with QuickBooks, and with good reason. QuickBooks has been the little darling of accounting software for a while. It is easy to use, and offers a lot of great features like invoicing, expense tracking, time tracking, reports, budgeting, check printing, and lending. There are several different pricing options ranging from $20-$150 per month with an additional $30-$80 per month for payroll. For the price and all of its features, it is a great value.Xero – Xero hasn’t been around as long as QuickBooks, but it is equally as impressive with its functions, ease of use, and affordability. One benefit to Xero, is it allows unlimited users with the ability to set permissions, so you have control over who has access to what. Xero also has one of the strongest security reputations in the cloud accounting world. Both of these programs have mobile availability, which makes keeping track of expenses a breeze. As of 2017, QuickBooks and Xero reported worldwide users of 5 million and 1 million, respectively, a huge market.
Know When To OutsourceOne of the most important accounting basic digital marketers should know is to know when it is time to outsource your accounting. When you first start out, your accounting is pretty simple and straightforward. However, once you start to scale your business, things get a little more complicated. With business growth comes more income, more employees, and more responsibilities. It can be challenging to stay on top of your accounting and run your business at the same time. Some reasons to outsource your accounting are:
When hiring an accountant it is important to understand that there are several different areas that an accountant may specialize in. Some accountants only do bookkeeping, while other specialize in tax preparation. Super accountants can handle both. It is important to identify what you hope to achieve by hiring an accountant so that you are both on the same page. As an added bonus, choose an accountant that has knowledge of your business, who isn’t going to think that a “Facebook” charge on your account is a personal expense.
These are just some accounting basic digital marketers should know. For more accounting tips please visit our partner site at www.mytaxhack.com. The accounting experts at The Tax Hack Accounting Group specialize in digital marketing tax strategies. The post Accounting Basics Digital Marketers Should Know appeared first on Social Media Explorer. Social Media via Social Media Explorer https://ift.tt/2onGYog February 28, 2019 at 12:14AM
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Medium lowers its paywall for Twitter users https://ift.tt/2T5pZKZ If you’re not the paying sort, Medium has a mile-wide new hole in its paywall that might interest you. (But really, you should be the paying sort.) On Wednesday, Medium CEO and Twitter co-founder Ev Williams announced that Medium is tearing down its paywall for readers that visit the site through Twitter. In tweets, Williams elaborated on the company’s thinking a bit, explaining that the decision wouldn’t affect Medium members who rely on paid readerships, as paid readers would still be counted like they were before.
“It doesn’t affect compensation—assuming you mean for Partner Program,” Williams said. “That’s determined by readership from paying members, which will still be counted (assuming they’re logged in).” Still, it’s difficult to imagine how paid memberships will go up with content readily accessible for free. When asked by a Twitter user if the decision would disincentivize would-be paying users, Williams maintained that Medium would be keeping an eye on what happens to its paid subscription base. “We will certainly watch that, and if it has a negative impact, we may change this in the future,” Williams said. “As it stands, Twitter is a relatively small (but important) part of our traffic, and we expect this to have a positive effect.” Part of that logic is likely the idea that bringing more people into Medium through Twitter will convert more paid readers. A Medium membership is $5 monthly or $50 a year. Earlier this month, Medium picked up San Francisco publication the Bold Italic to sweeten its paywalled offerings. It’s clear that cultivating some premium content is central to Medium’s move to bring in subscribers, but the gaping Twitter-shaped hole in the paywall is a bit counterintuitive. Still, with Medium — as with all mercurial tech platforms in publisher’s clothing — everything is subject to change. In late 2017, Medium added the option for any author or publisher to operate their own paywall on the platform, but it revoked the offering abruptly last year. That move reminded publishers getting cozy with Medium that the company is, at its heart, a tech company that can change its approach to business on a dime, taking publishers along for the ride. However it shakes out, it’s clear that Medium is trying out a few new things. A day prior to the paywall announcement, Medium launched a new tech and science publication called OneZero — one of the four new digital magazines. Medium plans to power those flagship editorial brands with its “sustainable, subscription business model.” That model is something it didn’t have in place in early 2017, when Medium hit some bumps, made some layoffs and lost the Ringer (and other smaller publishers) before realigning itself in order to chart a non-ad-supported path forward. Social Media via Twitter – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com February 27, 2019 at 08:01PM TikTok gets fined $5.7 million for collecting children's data announces new kid-friendly version2/27/2019
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TikTok gets fined $5.7 million for collecting children's data, announces new kid-friendly version https://ift.tt/2XtApT9 TikTok gets fined $5.7 million for collecting children's data, announces new kid-friendly version
By Jack Morse
Success often comes at a price. For the company behind the video clip app TikTok, that price just so happens to be in the form of a record fine. According to a Feb. 27 Federal Trade Commission statement, the app formerly known as Musical.ly illegally collected data from children under the age of 13, and as a result was hit with a $5.7 million civil penalty. “The operators of Musical.ly, now known as TikTok, knew children were using the app but they still failed to seek parental consent before collecting names, email addresses, and other personal information from users under the age of 13,” FTC Chairman Joe Simons said in a statement. The app, which has been downloaded 1 billion times, is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance and is responsible for the proliferation of bizarre lip-synching (and finger eating) videos in your Twitter feed. TikTok is not exactly a Vine replacement, but rather represents an evolution in the looping-video genre. As a testament to its success, Facebook tried to rip off TikTok with a viral clip app of its own. Importantly, when TikTok was just starting under the name Musical.ly, profiles were set as public by default. According to the FTC, even if a profile was set to private, strangers could still DM the account in question. You can imagine how this might be problematic if, say, a Musical.ly, account belonged to an 11-year-old. "In fact, as the complaint notes, there have been public reports of adults trying to contact children via the Musical.ly app," notes the FTC press release. "In addition, until October 2016, the app included a feature that allowed users to view other users within a 50-mile radius of their location." That's not good. In what is likely not a coincidence, TikTok tweeted a video today showing users how to turn off DMs altogether. The company also announced a "separate app experience" that comes with extra privacy protections for young users. "Beginning today, this additional app experience now allows us to split users into age-appropriate TikTok environments, in line with FTC guidance for mixed audience apps," reads a company press release. "The new environment for younger users does not permit the sharing of personal information, and it puts extensive limitations on content and user interaction." Of course, TikTok's newfound dedication to keeping children off its platform is running into a few glitches. In some cases, TikTok is requesting that newly locked-out users submit copies of their government issued ID to prove their true age.
Just another day in viral-video app paradise.
Social Media via Mashable https://ift.tt/2DCFv97 February 27, 2019 at 05:33PM
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Dude gets caught eating pizza live on camera outside the Cohen hearing https://ift.tt/2NzmLcG Have you spent all day watching the Cohen hearing, becoming more exhausted with each passing moment? Here is a man who also seems tired, except — unlike you, presumably — he got caught on a live CBSN camera eating pizza in a hallway. Luckily for all of us, Mike Uhelein immortalized this extremely good moment by capturing and tweeting a video of his television screen. Observe Hallway Pizza Guy in the background: You can identify the exact moment he realizes he's made the shot. The pizza appears to be from pizza chain &pizza, which I had in an airport once. It was not my favorite pizza but it was pretty good. Honestly, unwittingly eating pizza on television is better than not eating pizza at all. If you have pizza, no matter where you are, we encourage you to eat it. If anyone knows Hallway Pizza Guy's identity, please let us know. Social Media via Mashable https://ift.tt/2DCFv97 February 27, 2019 at 04:27PM BlackBerry sues Twitter for patent infringement https://ift.tt/2Ny6vIO BlackBerry, the former smartphone maker, is suing Twitter for alleged patent infringement. If this sounds familiar, it may be because BlackBerry filed a patent infringement suit against Facebook last year. In its complaint, BlackBerry alleges Twitter has infringed and continues to infringe on six of its patents, which cover things like push notifications, silencing notifications for a message thread and mobile advertising techniques. BlackBerry, which refers to itself as a pioneer in mobile messaging, alleges Twitter “created mobile messaging applications that co-opt BlackBerry’s innovations, using a number of the innovative user interface and functionality enhancing features that made BlackBerry’s products such a critical and commercial success in the first place.” As noted above, BlackBerry sued Facebook last year alleging patent infringement. At the time, BlackBerry cited seven patents that relate to security, user interface features, battery-efficient status updates, mobile messaging in games and, similarly to its issue with Twitter, silencing notifications. A few months later, in September, Facebook filed a suit of its own against BlackBerry alleging the company infringed on five of its patents. Both of those suits are still in litigation. BlackBerry was once a smartphone giant but stopped manufacturing its own hardware in 2016. Then, in 2017, BlackBerry revealed the KEYone smartphone, manufactured by TCL, under the company’s new strategy to focus on software. Both Twitter and BlackBerry declined to comment. Social Media via Twitter – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com February 27, 2019 at 03:27PM
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Best Social Media WordPress Plugin – (Review Updated for Winter of 2019) https://ift.tt/2Vl3deA Social media has undoubtedly changed the way we live. It’s also changed the way we market ourselves, our businesses, and our websites. If you have a website in 2019, you definitely want some type of social media integration. You want your website visitors to engage with you on social media, and you want your social media followers to convert on your website. This won’t happen unless you make it as easy as possible. Let me give you an example: You wrote and published a killer blog post. A reader loves your post and wants to share it with their friends on social media. How do they do this? Without the proper tools, the person would have to copy your blog link, navigate to the social platform, login, and manually paste the link before sharing it. This process involves too many steps, multiple browsing screens, and too much room for error. The person may ultimately decide that it’s just not worth going through all of those steps to share your post. That decision may not even be conscious — they may get distracted and move on to something else, leaving your post unshared. Social media WordPress plugins can make it easy for website visitors to share with just one click. As a result, you’ll benefit from higher engagement rates on your social media profiles and your website alike. That’s just one example of why you need to install a social media plugin to your WordPress site. As we continue through this guide and review the best social media WordPress plugins, you’ll learn about the additional benefits. Top features to look for in a social media WordPress pluginBefore we analyze specific plugins, I want to take a moment to identify some of the functionalities to keep your eye on when searching for a social media plugin: Social icons — This shows your website visitors that you have social media pages. If they click on an icon, they’ll automatically be directed to the corresponding profile. Social logins — Allow people to sign into customer profiles using their social media accounts. This makes it easier on your customers since they won’t have to create brand new usernames and passwords to access content on your website. Social sharing icons — Website visitors can share content from your site to their social media profiles with just one click. Social feeds — Showcase your social media feeds directly on your website. This feature gives your website visitors an idea of what to expect if they follow your profiles. Social locking — Restrict your best content with a social locking tool. Content can be unlocked if a website visitor makes a specified action, such as following you or sharing content on social media. Social comments — Enhance the conversation in your comments section by adding social media comments to your posts. This is a great way to drive engagement and get more blog comments. Automated posting — Instead of manually posting your website content on social media, you can take advantage of plugins that do this for you. Now that you know the top features of the best social media WordPress plugins, it’s time to check out the top options to consider. 1. Social WarfareSocial Warfare is considered among the best social media WordPress plugins because it’s so simple. Other plugins have a reputation for slowing down your website, but that shouldn’t happen with Social Warfare. This plugin is designed to increase shares by adding social sharing icons to your website. You can add buttons for the most popular social media networks, including: If you upgrade to Social Warfare Pro, you’ll gain access to share buttons for other platforms like Reddit, WhatsApp, Buffer, Tumblr, Pocket, and more. Social Warfare also lets you choose exactly where you want to place the sharing buttons. You can add them above your content, below your content, in both of these locations, or manually place them on your pages. This plugin offers floating share icons as well — as a user scrolls your site, the sharing buttons remain in view at all times. Social Warfare allows you to track your results with UTM parameters. You can view analytics to see how well your sharing icons are performing so you can tweak them, if necessary. 2. Instagram FeedAs the name implies, the Instagram Feed WordPress plugin lets you share your Instagram content directly on your website. By adding your Instagram posts to your website, visitors will have a better idea of what type of content you share on that platform. And, they won’t have to search for your profile on Instagram. This is a great way to increase your Instagram followers. It’s also a great way to keep your site updated with the fresh images you’re posting on Instagram. Setting up the plugin is easy. All you need to do is link your Instagram account and determine where you want the feed displayed on your website. There is a premium version of this plugin that comes with features like:
For one website, you can purchase the pro license for $39. But if you just want the basic feed on your website, you can stick with the free version and save a few bucks. 3. Social LockerSocial Locker is definitely one of my favorite social media WordPress plugins. Personally, I love the whole concept behind how this plugin works. Here’s the thing. Just adding social sharing icons to your website doesn’t necessarily give people a reason to follow you or share your content. You can increase those chances by installing this plugin. That’s because Social Locker restricts your premium content. For example, let’s say you have an ebook on your website. As opposed to charging for downloads, you use social media engagement as a currency. If someone follows, likes, or shares content on your website, the ebook is unlocked. Here’s an example of what this would look like from the perspective of a website visitor: For those of you who normally charge for various types of content on your website and don’t want to give it away for free, you can use these social engagements to generate discounts for that content. Maybe you have an online video tutorial that you normally charge to view. With Social Locker, you can choose to offer the video at a discount if a user shares your content. This plugin helps you drive social media traffic while simultaneously gaining quality followers. It’s a great way to generate new leads and drive conversions with social media integration on your website. 4. Super SocializerAllowing your website visitors to create a customer profile benefits everyone — the user will receive more personalized content, and you’ll be able to learn more information about your customers so you can target them accordingly. It’s a win-win situation. In order for this strategy to be effective, people need to create these profiles in the first place. That’s easier said than done. Think about it for a minute: What steps does someone need to take to create a profile? At a minimum, they need to provide you with some personal information and create a username and password. People have so many accounts to keep track of on various websites. Is your site important enough to them to go through this? You can increase your chances of getting more visitors to do this by integrating your sign up and login process with social media. Super Socializer is perfect for this. Now users can create an account and login with just one click since they’re likely already signed in to their social media profiles. Plus, they won’t have to remember a new username and password. Another benefit of this plugin is that you’ll get access to more information about your website visitors. You can target people accordingly based on their social media likes and habits. You can also enable social comments with Super Socializer. This is a great way to drive conversation and get more comments on your blog posts. Overall, this plugin definitely has more advanced features and functionality that goes far beyond simple social sharing icons, although it does have those options as well. If you want an all in one plugin for social logins, social comments, and social sharing, Super Socializer is worth checking out. 5. Revive Old Post
Here’s another question for you. How are you deciding what to share on your social platforms each day? It’s not always easy to come up with ideas for social media posts. The Revive Old Post WordPress plugin by Revive Social provides a solution to both of these questions. This plugin automatically shares your previously published content on your social media platforms like:
Revive Old Post can share more than just your blog posts. It can also share pages, custom posts, and media from your website. The plugin will automatically fetch images from your content and attach them to the social media post. You’ll have complete control over how each post is shared. Maybe you just want the title of your post or page. Some of you may want more, such as a hashtag or additional text. Revive Old Post can be integrated with your Google Analytics profile. This is ideal for campaign tracking to see how well these links are performing. Overall, it’s a great way to automate your social media posting while simultaneously driving traffic to your website. BONUS: Revive NetworkRevive Social has another plugin, called the Revive Network. This plugin is designed specifically for Facebook and Twitter. It’s made for sharing content from other websites in your industry on social media. This is a great way to expand your professional network, in addition to sharing relevant information on your website. It’s great for those of you who don’t have an active blog or lots of content of your own. 6. Kiwi Social ShareKiwi Social Share is designed for the average WordPress user. If you’re looking for a plugin that’s easy to install, setup, and won’t confuse you with too many complex features, you’ll definitely want to take a closer look at this option. With Kiwi Social Share, you’ll be able to create custom icons for social media sharing on your website. You can customize the position of the icons, as well as enable a floating bar that’s always in view. Kiwi Social Share also gives you the option to change the size and shape of the sharing buttons. It has a “click to tweet” function for specific phrases as well. So if you’re writing a blog and want to highlight one of your favorite quotes, users can share that quote via Twitter with a link back to your blog. Kiwi Social Share doesn’t slow down your website and lets you create social sharing icons that are visually appealing to your visitors. Installing this plugin puts you in a great position to increase engagement on your website and gain more exposure on social media. ConclusionIt’s obvious that your website and social media profiles need to be working together to generate optimal results. So what’s the best social media WordPress plugin? It depends on what you’re looking for. Some of you might just want to add something simple, like social sharing icons to your blog posts or Instagram feeds to your landing pages. While others might be looking for features that are a bit more advanced, like restricting content based on social media actions. Maybe you want an all-in-one plugin that also has features like social signups and logins. Do you want to automate your social media posts with your previously published content? There’s a plugin for that too. As you can see from this guide, there’s a social media WordPress plugin for everyone based on your specific needs. Now, share this post with a friend who needs it. Naturally, there are social buttons right here for you to do just that. Social Media via Quick Sprout https://ift.tt/UU7LJr February 27, 2019 at 11:13AM
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Ariana Grande is now Instagram’s most-followed woman https://ift.tt/2GPwF9A The singer has officially surpassed Selena Gomez and claimed the top spot. Read more... More about Mashable Video, Ariana Grande Instagram Followers, Most Followed Instagram, Most Followed Woman On Instagram, and ArianatorsSocial Media via Mashable https://ift.tt/2DCFv97 February 27, 2019 at 10:46AM
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8 Costly Facebook Ad Mistakes and How to Avoid Them https://ift.tt/2EBtqA4 Are you making Facebook ad mistakes that could be eating away at your marketing budget? Are your ads helping Facebook more than they’re helping your business? In this article, you’ll discover the most common mistakes made with Facebook ads and how to resolve them from top Facebook advertising experts. #1: Testing Multiple Interests in a Single Facebook Ad SetEver had a Facebook ad that delivered amazing results for a few days, only to stop working soon after? Or created an ad that worked well without having any idea how to repeat that success? You usually encounter these types of issues when you bundle information in the creation process. To visualize this, in the early stages of ads testing, many marketers who want to run Facebook ads to new audiences spend time researching relevant interests they can use to target. Then they run a set of ads with all of those interests in the same ad set. Using interests is a great way to find new audiences, but this approach makes it impossible to discover which specific interest was most effective or to find additional interests similar to the interest that brought in the sale. And that makes the ad impossible to scale. Instead, create a list of all of the interests you want to target and group the interests into several categories. Then create multiple ad sets and target each one to a single group of interests. This way you’ll know which audiences are best, how large each audience is, and how to find other interests to test. Azriel Ratz has perfected a strategy to find ideal audiences and create the most relevant Facebook ads for businesses. #2: Running Too Many Facebook Ads With Too Little BudgetThe one mistake I see more than any other are overly complex Facebook ad accounts: too many campaigns, too many ad sets, and too many ads. This leads to confusion, a lack of efficiency, high costs, and in the end, poor results. To illustrate, here are the 30-day stats from an ad account I recently audited: 12 campaigns; 103 ad sets; 653 ads; $41,155.55 in ad spend; 6,247,351 impressions This ad account was being managed by one person who was doing a good job but couldn’t scale past a thousand dollars a day. How could one person possibly keep track of everything going on in 103 ad sets, let alone 653 ads? If you have overly complex ad accounts, here’s how to get them back on the right track: Consolidate audiences into ad sets with larger budgets. This allows you to feed Facebook more data, get to the desired CPA quicker, and then scale up more rapidly. Combine the 1% lookalike of all buyers 365 audience and the lookalike of people who landed on your sales page in the last 30 days into one ad set in one combined audience—a super lookalike of sorts. In the same way, place all your digital marketing people, small business owners, and Facebook page Admin audiences into one combined ad set. Pro Tip: Be sure to use Facebook’s split testing tool for true A/B testing to figure out which ads and audiences work best. Once you’ve consolidated your best audiences into just 2–3 ad sets, it’s time to drop your best 3–6 ads in each ad set. Test new ad copy and creatives (both images and video) using true split testing in separate campaigns. Facebook needs at least 50–100 conversions per ad set per week to fully leverage the algorithm, so your ad sets need a reasonable budget for the Facebook delivery system to power your ads. For a $5 lead, set your ad set budget at $35–$50/day (at a minimum). If you’re using Campaign Budget Optimization with 3 ad sets, set your campaign budget at around $100–$150/day. Ralph Burns is the founder and CEO of Tier 11, a digital advertising agency that specializes in helping businesses scale through Facebook and Instagram advertising. #3: Focusing on Cost per Lead Over Earnings per LeadI see people making two major mistakes with Facebook advertising. The first is not testing the campaign elements organically before they roll out an advertising campaign. This covers everything from the micro element of an ad to the macro element of the sales process. If an organic post on your Facebook page doesn’t generate any clicks, shares, or sales, amplifying the post with an ad isn’t likely to fix the problem. An ad will simply amplify what’s already broken with your messaging and your sales process. You’re going to pay one of two ways to get the data you need to make decisions--data such as CTR, link click cost, conversion on landing page, sales conversion, earnings per lead, cost per lead, lifetime value of a customer, cost to acquire a customer, etc. You either pay to get that data (to find out where your stuff is broken) quickly through ads, or you pay with your time and organic posting so your ads work out of the gate. The second mistake is people focusing on the wrong number when they evaluate Facebook advertising. They focus on the cost per lead rather than earnings per lead. Cost per lead is a finite number that can only be reduced to a certain point and it is subjective to your earnings per lead. Earnings per lead is how much you earn for every person who comes through your sales process. For example, if an ad is delivering multiple $100 sales at a $4 cost per lead, people may want to shut off the highly profitable ad in favor of an ad that isn’t as profitable in order to reach a $2 cost per lead. If your earnings per lead is $100 and your cost per lead is $4, that’s 25x your investment and it’s a great return on your ad spend. Amanda Bond is owner of The Ad Strategist and the creator of The StrADegy System. #4: Selecting the Wrong Facebook Campaign ObjectiveThe first mistake I see is people using Facebook ads to sell too quickly. They create an ad that pushes cold audiences directly to a sales page to sell something right off the bat. It’s too fast and completely inappropriate, and it violates one of the golden rules of social media advertising: You must give before you ask. You need an intermediary step for lead generation in which you provide something of value in advance. This is the start to a conversation you can use to build a relationship you can nurture. Then when people are ready to buy, they’re more likely to do so from you. This leads to the second mistake, which is selecting the wrong objective in the campaign structure. Many people looking for leads will select lead ads, engagement, or clicks when they should be selecting conversions and optimizing for leads. Starts March 20th! Discover the latest tactics and improve your marketing know-how! Ninety percent of the time, this selection will result in stronger performance. Nicholas Kusmich, a leading Facebook advertising strategist and international speaker, is founder of the H2H Media Group and the Marketers Council. #5: Running Facebook Ads With Zero Follow-up ManagementThe biggest mistake I see advertisers make on Facebook is not managing campaigns after they’re active. Set up a campaign and let it run on its own, and it will decrease in effectiveness over time due to Facebook ad fatigue. The key to developing sustainable results from Facebook advertising is to analyze your campaigns on an on-going basis. Look at your Return on Ad Spend and the cost, relevance, frequency, and CPM metrics and then make adjustments to ad creative and copy, as well as objective and targeting. Charlie Lawrance is founder and CEO of Gecko Squared, a digital marketing agency that specializes in Facebook advertising. #6: Creating New Facebook Ads Rather Than Managing Successful AdsNinety-five percent of the time I audit a Facebook ad account, there are way too many ad sets. Facebook’s optimization algorithm needs at least 50 conversions per ad set per week to function. So if you have a dozen ad sets or campaigns each with just a few conversions, you’re squandering your audience and not allowing the system to optimize. In accounts spending less than $10,000 a month, 3 campaigns with 3 ad sets are usually more than enough, because the custom audiences, lookalikes, and saved audiences are big enough for CPM to do its job. Accounts spending more than $100,000 a month have enough traffic to drive 50+ of each type of conversion objective across a few dozen ad sets. Yet, most of the accounts spending over a million dollars a year drive sales through just 2–3 winning ad sets—not hundreds. Related to creating too many campaigns is not continuing to put more money into your “greatest hits” ads. Many Facebook advertisers have the publisher mindset, where they feel the need to create a steady stream of content—X posts per day and Y ads per day. But you’re not a newspaper that has to have fresh news to report each day. Instead of spawning more campaigns, put more money into your proven winners. We have campaigns where winning ads have been running for years. Rather than putting $50 on each new campaign, go back to analyze and adjust winners before they die. Remarketing is so effective, that even done poorly, it often yields fantastic results. But if you’re remarketing to 1-, 7-, and 28-day audiences with the same creative, you’re saying the same thing over and over. You might as well have this in one ad set, so the system can optimize to the lowest cost per conversion and benefit from 50+ conversions per week in each ad set; change up that creative and say something specifically relevant to the users in that bucket. Dennis Yu is the chief technology officer of BlitzMetrics and an internationally recognized lecturer in Facebook marketing. #7: Creating Facebook Ads Without Understanding Overall Campaign SettingsOne of the biggest mistakes I see business owners make is running ads without understanding the implications of the settings they choose in Facebook Ads Manager, or even when boosting posts. The wrong settings or selections can waste money on bad ad placement, bad optimization, or bad targeting. Many business owners don’t understand that opting for Automatic Placements will place their ads not only on Facebook but also on Instagram and across the Audience Network (sites off of Facebook). Others optimize for Lead Generation (which happens via a form on Facebook) when they really want Conversion (which happens on their website), or they select Brand Awareness when Traffic is what they’re after. Targeting decisions, made at the Ad Set level, may be too wide or too narrow for the available budget. Facebook ads work for a wide variety of businesses. Successful results are typically a matter of doing the right testing and proper ad setup. If you aren’t familiar with Facebook ad set-up settings, investing in training for yourself or someone on your team will help stop you from wasting money or concluding that Facebook ads don’t work. Andrea Vahl, co-author of Facebook Marketing All-in-One For Dummies, is a social media coach, speaker, and strategist. #8: Over-Reliance on Automatic Placement for Facebook AdsSelecting Automatic Placement for your Facebook ads is easy, can speed up the creation of your ads, and can stop you from selecting the wrong placements for your ads; for instance, choosing video placements when you have no video in your ad. That said, the placement of your ad directly influences the cost and performance of your ad sets and campaigns. To illustrate, Facebook’s Audience Network placement (often the cheapest of placements) can be great for reach, but it will also eat through your budget if you’re not careful. How? If your Audience Network placement is performing well and reaching high numbers of people, Facebook will automatically push more budget into that placement because it’s cheap. In this way, Audience Network placements can chomp through your money without offering much reward. At the other extreme, Instagram placements tend to be pricier, but if your audience is on Instagram and you can connect with them via those ads, your spend on the platform can be worth it. The key to making sure your placements aren’t wasting your spend is to think carefully about what you want from your ad and which placement will give you that result. Think about the strategy behind your ads before you accept the defaults. Pro Tip: Facebook ad placements can be edited. If you deselect Audience Network because you want more of a controlled spend but find that your budget is underspending, you can always enable Automatic Placement again. Amy Hayward is a certified Facebook Blueprint Buying Professional and the resident social media expert at Meticulosity. What do you think? What mistakes do you see Facebook marketers making? Please share your thoughts in the comments below. More articles on Facebook advertising:Start's March 20th! There are 17 tracks of content available to you at Social Media Marketing World. Don't miss this event! Social Media via Social Media Marketing | Social Media Examiner https://ift.tt/1LtH18p February 27, 2019 at 05:06AM
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Best Membership Plugins for WordPress – (Review Updated for Winter of 2019) https://ift.tt/2U9Kt1w Are you thinking about building a membership website? Great idea. Membership websites generate recurring revenue by offering premium content and features to members. It’s also a great way for you to establish your value within your niche. By offering memberships, you’re telling people that your content is so valuable you don’t have to offer it for free. In order for your membership business model to function properly, you need to install a membership plugin that adds this feature to your website to manage memberships, payments, and other user information. If you have a WordPress site, there are tons of membership plugins to choose from. I found 746 in my search. Luckily, you don’t have to do too much in-depth research — I’ve done all of the heavy lifting for you and narrowed down the top seven membership plugins. You can use this list as a reference, instead of to trying to find all of the pros and cons on your own. 1. LearnDashLearnDash is for websites that create and sell online courses. It gives you the option to control the enrollment for all of your courses. You’ll set the pricing, and determine if the course is available to the public or exclusive to members. There are a few different ways to set this up. In addition to a membership that offers access to all of your content, you can add one-time pricing to give users the opportunity to buy individual courses. This plugin also lets you use automation to your advantage. You can schedule content delivery. That way you can create all of your courses at once, but distribute them at later dates automatically. This is more much efficient than approaching this manually. If a user doesn’t have automatic renewal enabled for their membership, you can set up automatic renewal notifications to encourage them to renew. With LearnDash, you can also create a system of points, badges, and certificates to reward users based on their progress. There are also engagement triggers that users can interact with as they are going through your courses. Support and resources are exceptional too. There are helpful video tutorials and an active community forum to discuss ideas or potential problems with other site owners. If you still need help, you can always contact the LearnDash customer support team. It’s tough to find another plugin that outperforms LearnDash when it comes to managing a membership site for online courses. 2. MemberPressMemberPress allows you to switch your existing site into a fully-functioning membership website with ease. A seamless transformation isn’t necessarily the case with every other plugin out there, but it’s an important feature to consider for those of you who already have a website that’s up and running. With MemberPress, it’s as simple as installing the plugin, adding the details of your payment gateway, setting up your products, and inviting people to join. It’s very easy for you to manage your content with this plugin. You can restrict access to specific posts, pages, or files. You can do this for content that was already published before you installed the plugin. This plugin also comes with pricing page templates, which is another top feature. This will help you generate more profit by focusing on your pricing strategy. In addition to the pricing templates, MemberPress supports payment gateways like Stripe, PayPal, Authorize.net and more. MemberPress integrates with some of the most popular email marketing platforms as well. At the end of the day, your membership website will only be successful if people actually join and pay for content. So you need to treat this like any other product or service. Installing a plugin alone won’t necessarily generate sales for you. With that said, MemberPress makes your job much easier. 3. WooCommerce MembershipsWooCommerce Memberships is another plugin that’s ideal for integrating with your website’s existing content. Like we’ve seen before, this plugin allows you to drip content, so you can automatically schedule when members will have access to premium features. I’d recommend WooCommerce Memberships to those of you who want to add a membership site to your ecommerce platform. The plugin allows you to sell memberships along with product purchases. From the user end, memberships can be purchased as a standalone product, or as a bundle. For example, let’s say you have a fitness brand. If a customer purchases diet supplements, you could give them access to the training programs section of your website for free. So, if you want complete customization and fewer restrictions for your memberships and products, the WooCommerce Memberships plugin might be your best bet. Here is a look at some of the custom functionality offered from the plugin dashboard: WooCommerce Memberships makes it easy for you to import or export your members. So if you want to combine these memberships with existing services or subscriptions you offer, you’ll be able to do so without having to go through everything manually. With that said, there are times when you might want to go the extra mile to please one of your customers. For example, let’s say someone has a problem with one of their orders purchased from your site. This customer also pays for a membership to access exclusive content. To rectify the situation, you could easily change their membership to complementary for a specified time. You won’t get this type of flexibility and customization with some of the other membership plugins on the market. WooCommerce also has an option for selling memberships to groups, teams, or corporations. But that’s a different extension that would have to be purchased and installed separately. 4. aMember ProfessionalI should preface by letting you know that aMember Professional isn’t a native plugin for WordPress. It’s software that’s built with PHP, making it possible for you to integrate it with WordPress. However, since it’s not native and specifically designed for WordPress, there could potentially be some compatibility problems with other plugins you’re using. I like it because it’s another all-in-one option for membership websites. There are unlimited membership levels and items for you to add to your site. They also have more than 200 payment systems that you can use to manage memberships. From the administrative dashboard, aMember Professional lets you run customized reports about your members. You can also manage your email lists, set up autoresponders, and contact users who aren’t set up for auto renewals with reminder messages. I really like the access control features for aMember Professional. In addition to controlling who can access different types of content, this software has features to prevent access sharing between users. It tracks the number of IP addresses being used to access content, so if a limit is reached, that user will get locked out of the system and be reported to the admin. Unlike other membership plugin options, aMember Professional is just a one-time purchase, as opposed to a recurring subscription, making it one of the most cost-effective ways to set up your membership sit. 5. Restrict Content ProRestrict Content Pro also offers a cost-effective pricing option. Their plans range from $99 to $249 annually, but you can spend $499 one-time for lifetime access. It may seem like a lot initially, but this pays for itself in two to five years, depending on the plan you were considering. It’s definitely worth it if you’re planning to have a membership site for an extended period of time. Cost aside, Restricted Content Pro is extremely easy for to use if you’re going to manage basic content and membership levels on your website. You can create and share an unlimited number of discount codes to entice your website visitors to make purchases based on the best value. Restrict Content Pro also has built-in payment integrations so that you can accept credit cards, alternative payment options, or multiple payment methods at the same time. What really separates this plugin from the crowd is the way you can analyze performance by generating custom reports to view the latest month, or specified date ranges to see how well your memberships are doing. This information is extremely helpful when it comes to assessing your pricing, promotions, and things of that nature. 6. MemberMouseWith MemberMouse, you can easily sell memberships along with subscriptions and products on your website. This versatility definitely makes it a standout membership plugin. It’s great for websites that want to add memberships for content restriction, as well as for ecommerce sites that want to add membership features. The reason why I love this plugin is because it’s designed for website owners who aren’t too tech-savvy. It’s easy for anyone to use, regardless of your technical expertise. Simply restrict content on your website with password protection for members. When you create content, you can customize how it’s delivered based on things like membership levels, length of memberships, or the referring affiliate. MemberMouse lets you set up free memberships as well. This is a great opportunity for you to get users to join your site, without having to pay first. Once they join and see your free features, they may be more inclined to upgrade to a paid membership. The plugin is also designed to help you grow your email list. You’ll also be very pleased with the data provided with the MemberMouse analytics and reports. You can track and measure things like:
Some of these made my list of the top metrics every marketing manager needs to track. So the ability to get these reports directly from the plugin will make your life much easier. 7. Paid Member SubscriptionsPaid Member Subscriptions is another versatile plugin that I couldn’t leave off of my list. While it doesn’t necessarily offer anything different from the other plugins we’ve covered so far, it does have a free option. So for those of you who are new to this and don’t want to spend much money setting up your membership site, you won’t have to pay a dime to use Paid Membership Services. But, you won’t have access to premium features, such as content dripping, unless you upgrade to a paid plan. Another reason why Paid Member Subscriptions made my list is because the interface is user-friendly and extremely straightforward. If you get intimidated by new software or technology that’s out of your comfort zone, you shouldn’t have a problem using this plugin. ConclusionBuilding a membership website is an effective way to improve your content strategy, establish brand authority, and generate recurring revenue. In order to create a membership site with WordPress, you’ll need to install a plugin. So what’s the best membership plugin for WordPress? It depends on what you’re looking for. I created this list to give a wide range of options based on specific features. Some plugins are designed for managing memberships with online courses, while others are better for ecommerce websites that need to integrate memberships with product purchases. There are plugins on this list that are all-in-one solutions, and options that are cost-effective as well. Since there is so much variety in this guide, I’m sure you’ll be able to find what you’re looking for to meet the needs of your website. Social Media via Quick Sprout https://ift.tt/UU7LJr February 26, 2019 at 11:07AM |
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