The Ultimate Explosive Guide for Small Business Marketing in Malaysia

This is big news for you as a small business owner in Malaysia. The Internet is the number 1 place customers turn to before making any purchase.

This is important to digest, regardless whether you're in the process of launching a new startup in Malaysia or have an existing business thinking of venturing online, having a strong online presence is important.

There is a collective understanding and awareness that brand development and digital marketing is important. However, measurability of ROI is always the major hurdle that most small business owners in Malaysia struggle to get past.

The most common and frequently asked question that's raised amongst the business owners in Malaysia we meet is; Is there a way for business owners to track ROI?

Just to get this done and dusted from the very beginning. As long as your small business does not appear on the 1st page of search, 90% of searchers won't find you. And to ensure that your efforts online do not go to waste, there's some groundwork that needs to be done (including the dreaded topic of SEO and keyword research).

Local businesses, need to constantly monitor that they have their information always up-to-date and readily available when potential clients were to search for them. For example, new phone numbers, store operating hours, new locations, etc.

Register your local business for free on Google Maps to appear on searches easily.

Below we'll help you cover the basics, and intricate details to guide you in getting started on Marketing on the Internet, to benefit from visitors searching for products and services online.

Questions this article will answer are:

1. How can I make a website, with no coding experience and with little budget?
2. Is there a reason why my website isn't appearing on Google?
3. What is blogging and why does it matter?
4. Why do I need social accounts?
5. How do I get more traffic to my website?

Let's start ...

The core of small business marketing in Malaysia

3, 2, 1 ... Your business has been established. You've filled up the necessary paperworks and understand that the most important things you'll need to begin leveraging your marketing online is by acquiring new customers from organic search.

Also, compiled below are some great suggestions of FREE apps for your startup / small business ~

1. How can I make a website (with no coding experience and with little budget)?

A website now is equivalent to your shopfront. And any good first impression your small business can make is valuable.

Your website shows who you are, what you offer, where you are, and how a potential customer can get in touch with you.

The Internet has matured where services now cater for the DIY business owner (helps when you have a small budget). 

Popular suggestions from us:

1. Website: Shopify.com. wix.com, squarespace.com
2. Website hosting: Everworks, Shinjuru, Exabytes
3. Payment gateways: iPay88, MOLPay

Most of these options come with pre-made website design templates for your website that you can either purchase or use for free.

For business owners with a small budget, opt for freelancers or agencies willing to bundle a package for you. Speak with a sales rep from Everworks to learn more about options available to you.

If time / computer technology do not work in your favor, consider using a freelancer or a small marketing agency which specializes in web design.

You can find freelancers here at Upwork / Freelancer. 

2. Is there a reason why my website isn't appearing on Google?

If you already have a business, try searching for yourself (product / services you offer).

One quick reason that can be commonly solved could be due to your hosting solution. Find out how choosing the best web host instantly improves your SEO here.

However, there are a lot of factors that affect your ranking on Google. Essentially, Google tries to find the best content to present to a person searching for a particular piece of information. 

For example, If I am looking for the best place to host a birthday party in KL, Google would want to present me with results of locations in KL that are available for me to host a birthday party.

And the most important factor is SEO. What is SEO? SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It's a technique to help your website rank better on Google making your website more visible to people who are looking to solve a particular question they have in mind. 

Simply, it is a method of structuring your website / blog posts to be in the best shape for appearing on the first page of search results.

The best way to take advantage of SEO is through your blog content. Content on your blog doesn't just help to inform and educate your buyers, but also it helps Google to match search words with relevant words in your blog post.

3. What is blogging and why does it matter?

As discussed above, blogging helps your website to appear on Google. Most importantly on the first page. Getting ranked No 1 is the ultimate goal.

Frequency and quality of content which appear to solve a searcher's queries is imperative. and a great way to do this through your blog.

To start a blog, you can use inexpensive options, and just to list a few suggestions: 

1. Wordpress.org, 
2. Wordpress.com, 
3. Blogger.com

Once you start writing blog posts for your small business, you can add a call-to-action on your posts to encourage visitors to interact with your business.

A great way to capture new leads is by encouraging them to subscribe to newsletter updates through email. Learn more about how email is everyone's number 1 tool here (44x ROI for every $1 spent, this is a hidden secret that all small business owners should take advantage of). 

Great suggestions to email tools include: 

1. Mailchimp, 
2. ActiveCampaign, 
3. AWeber

4. Why do I need social accounts?

Social is powerful. It helps you to increase traffic, improve your search rankings, and empowers your customers to engage / interact with you.

For your small business in Malaysia ensuring that you maintain current information online, only helps to encourage discoverability for your business.

Important social accounts your small business in Malaysia that can be claimed (for free): 

1. Facebook Business Page, 
2. Instagram Business, 
3. Twitter Business Account, 
4. LinkedIn for Business

5. How do I get more traffic to my website?

Using the tools above to introduce your business, the advantages your product / service provides and retaining interest in your business if the need isn't present to purchase at this moment.

Step 1: Build content which provide value above and beyond to your potential customers.

Step 2: Share that value through social

Step 3: Retain interest through your email, because 72% of adults prefer communicating through email. Email converts, and here's a great resource on how to get started on your email marketing strategy. 

Step 4: Convert on your website

Persist in your discovery online to be discovered.

The road sounds long, but any steps you make will surely have an impact on your small business. Don't expect instant results, but demand consistent achievements. Blogging will take a few months to start sending you traffic, but paid social accounts can have immediate effects.

Congratulations on starting / updating your small business in Malaysia! Let us know if our tools above have helped you.

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5 Don’ts of Email Signature Marketing

As discussed previously, there are great tips to using your email signature.

But here is 5 tips of what not to do for your email signatures.

1. Do not Go Overboard

You need not go overboard by including every single detail and contact information. Only add contact information that is necessary and regularly used.

2. Avoid Multiple Fonts

Although you can experiment with colors and fonts, it is difficult for the reader to follow.

3. Avoid Using Images for Signature

Using an image as your signature is a big NO.

With many devices and email clients having default settings that block images, an email signature that is in an image format will not be visible to all.

Also, not hosting images in your signature on a web server can turn against you.

4. Avoid Personal Quotes

Personal quotes in a business email signature can be a turn-off. Avoid them unless you are a writer or you have a mighty good reason to do so.

5. Disclaimers

Do not include long disclaimers in your signature.

Just add a few lines and then, if the need be, include a link to a detailed version.

Learn more about Everworks business class hosting here.

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5 Hidden Tricks to Convert More Emails for Your Business

The email signature. You’d be surprised how many people actually read this. It is in general just information tagged at the end of your email, but do not look down on this as it is valuable space to let your recepient know a little bit more about you and what is going on.

An average employee sends out about 30 emails a day, and it could be to either customers, prospects, partners, investors, and more.

If there are 50 employees who send out such emails for 250 business days, there will be 475,000 annual sends.

Just imagine the brand visibility all those professional email signature can help you get, besides driving traffic to your website, and creating awareness about your company’s initiatives.

Here are 5 Best Practices you can follow for your email signature marketing efforts:

1. Lay out a good email signature design

A maximum of 7 lines – that’s the ideal size of a professional email signature.

This should contain your key contact details, social media icons and advertising message. However, it is important to consider the design of your signature.

Your key contact details should always be in the color of the email body text for consistency. Links can be in different colors.

Maintain a fixed font type and size throughout the mail. You can experiment with the font but it’s better to stick to the websafe fonts, so as to ensure its legibility across devices and email clients.

2. Link Email Recipients to Your Website and Blog

Every email sent from your Company should have an email signature accompanied by a link to your website. Surprisingly enough, very few companies stick to this basic rule.

By providing a link to your website, you are giving them an option to re-engage and stay connected with you.

3. Connect with them through social media

Include links to social media pages on which you post regular updates – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, etc. in your email signature.

4. Inform them of Upcoming Events

Is there a conference at which you are invited as a speaker? Are you coming up with a trade show? You can change your professional email signature to reflect the happenings in your company.

Create a simple banner, with a link to a landing page describing the details of the event, and place it below your main email signature.

5. This is a MUST

Different countries have different laws. So depending on where you run your business, it is mandatory to add a few details about your Company in your email signature.

Therefore, it is best to consult your legal representative to find out more.

Learn how you can send professional business emails here.

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Enhance Customer Loyalty At No Costs (Your Business's Email Hidden Superpower)

It is common for most businesses in Malaysia to consistently follow the saying that every “Customer is King”.

So why don’t do it for your Email Marketing too?

You can do this through the act of boosting customer loyalty programs through email marketing.

Psychologically, most people just want to be remembered and feel important. 

Once this happens, there is bound to be loyalty.

Also, multiple studies have shown that loyalty mailings generate higher transactional rates and revenue per email.

Below are 4 examples of customer loyalty programs you can use for your small business email marketing campaigns in Malaysia:

1. Early & Exclusive Deals

Providing your customer with early and exclusive deals like discount vouchers, early holiday bonuses, one time offers, etc. (just for them) is a great way to break the ice.

Showing them that they come in your VIP list will make them feel wanted. This will make them look forward to your emails and offers, keeping them loyal

2. Appreciation Emails

We love to be appreciated.

Thanking your customer for being a part of your brand journey is again a great way to grab attention. So, appreciate your customer and make them feel you are thinking for them.

3. Reward Redemption

Shooting emails that offer rewards and exclusive offers for old customers, initiating them to visit your brand again, can help increase communication. It opens a platform for the customer to engage in and come back.

4. Reward Expiration Reminders

Shooting emails with reminders for last day of deals, or ‘use before’ a particular date vouchers, or discount coupons codes for only a day can help create urgency and increase traffic.

Learn more about how you can host your email on an enterprise platform that scales along with your business here.

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Instantly Increase Engagement for Your E Commerce Business in Malaysia

For most small business owners it is easy to get caught up in the jargons of your business and forget the importance of making connections with your customers.

There is a saying that customers buy with their heart and not with their brains.

As most email marketers would say that the success of any email marketing campaigns is dependent on the ability for you to deeply forge a relationship with your subscriber.

And the primary requirement for this is to engage your prospects at every touch point of your email marketing campaign.

The best way of engaging your prospects and customers is to send triggered emails that show how much you care for them.

A key differentiation for your small business in Malaysia, no matter how saturated the market is by standing out from the rest through the showing of some emphaty.

And when it comes to different types of triggered emails and their effectiveness in driving engagement, “Thank You” emails take the top slot hands down!

When Should you send one?

Thank you emails open up multiple avenues to engage with your prospects and customers. You can send them at various stages.

Here are 3 stages at which you should send a thank you email in order to get the maximum benefit:

1. After Subscription

The one stage at which you should not miss sending a thank you email is when someone subscribes to your emails.

Use your thank you email in such a manner that your new subscriber feels happy about joining your list. Start by thanking them for their interest in your products/services and ask them to get in touch with you if they have any queries regarding your business. Keep the email causal and make them feel that you are genuinely excited by their subscription.

The best way to avoid being to pushy is to include a brief intro about your business, products, and services and also mention what makes you stand apart from your peers.

2. After Purchase

After making a purchase from your site, your customers will definitely wait for a receipt against the purchase made, and they will surely open it to check as soon as they receive it. This gives you a great opportunity which you must leverage by combining the order receipt with a thank you note.

Doing this will make them feel that you value them highly, thus building loyalty towards your brand.

You can also add tips and FAQ section in the email to make it more engaging, just like what Classic Specs, an online eye-wear provider, has done in their thank you email:

3. Few Days after Order Delivery

Send a thank you email to your customer about a week after they receive the delivery of their order. In this email, thank the customer again for making the purchase and ask them whether they are happy with their new products.

Besides this, add customer support information as a means of info for them to contact you.

The thank you email that you send at this stage of the customer lifecycle should be used to cross sell and upsell.

Find out more about how your small business can send professional business emails with Everworks email hosting here.

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5 Ways to Boost Your Christmas Email Campaigns

Hey there small businesses! Make sure you plan a for this, because planning a great Christmas email campaign is crucial to your shop’s holiday success.

There’s the hype and although social media marketing might seem like the trendy thing to do at the moment (and it is worth investing in if you do it right), email marketing campaigns are inexpensive and can actually be very effective

In this post we’ll look at some strategies on the how-tos for running a successful Christmas email campaign.

1. Timing

Timing is important, as with most things. Timing is always a tricky thing in life, isn’t it?

Email marketing is no exception too, especially when it comes to Christmas sales.

With businesses trying to stay one step ahead of the competition during the holiday season, it seems that Black Friday will be a thing of the past soon (or at least not as relevant as in previous years).

This is where you have to be careful. If you’re a B2B business, it might very well make sense to begin your marketing campaigns in early October, as your consumers will need to prepare their own campaigns for the end users. However, if you’re a B2C company and you start sending your Christmas emails out too early, you run the risk of Christmas banner blindness. Your messages might get ignored or, even worse, you might irritate your customers.

Here’s a schedule that we recommend to prepare. It’s a sequence of emails that you should send and your workflow should look like this:

Warm up: inform your audience of the upcoming sale and what they can expect
Reminder: let them know that the sale is beginning very soon
Wake up: remind them that the sale has begun
Follow up: let them know any relevant information for a post-Christmas sale, etc.q
Of course, this isn’t set in stone and it all depends on your offers and your strategy. For example, you might have a “last-minute” sales email in this workflow to advertise your printable gift cards.
All in all, remember, it’s never too early to start planning your Christmas campaigns, but it can be too early to start sending them out.

2. Bring to the front important information.

A lot of companies are going to be holding Christmas sales, so you’re going to do your best to differentiate your offer. The last thing you want is for your customers to miss the benefits of buying from you. If you have a gift guide section on your website, make sure they know. I

3. Design

With all the deals you’ll be offering, you might forget that it is Christmas – and what’s Christmas without decorations? Your emails should reflect this as well. You have a lot different routes to choose from here:  the clean, white Christmas look or the colorful lights.

For B2B companies, perhaps you’ll want to go with a clean, white Christmas look, or include a Christmas greeting in the footer of your email.

A bonus tip for B2B companies, could be to include a Christmas signature.

4. Texts

Again, don’t forget that it’s Christmas time! Sure, it can be a bit stressful at times at home and at work (that might be the understatement of the year), but it’s supposed to be fun, too! “Fun” is the feeling that the email should give your readers.

Make sure you reach deep down inside and get that inner “soul” to make your best Christmas puns. Don’t be afraid to dabble in some cheesy word-play either.

5. Have the correct landing page

It’s hard enough getting people to open your email. The next goal is for them to click on button. In this day and age, two-clicks really is asking a lot from people.

However, if you’ve managed to grab their attention with your email, that means you’re doing something right! The last thing you want to do is guide them to a page that doesn’t show them the information they want to see.

If these potential customers have given you their attention, make sure you hold their attention by guiding them to a landing page that matches your email in style and content. 

The journey this customer takes after that first click should be completely smooth and cause no confusion. For example, if you’ve caught their attention by showcasing your gift guide, then the landing page should take them directly there, not to the homepage.

Don’t waste this opportunity!

Discover how you can send emails that get through with Everworks’s business email hosting here.

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5 Tips On How You Can Use Email To Your Advantage

It is widely known that email marketing is one of the best channels for engaging subscribers and nurturing leads.

Below are 5 Tips on How you can use email to your advantage

1.  Make use of interactive content

As Social metrics have noted that interactive content is the best way of garnering a subscriber’s attention. It doesn’t only make the emails more accurate and simpler but also brings out its fun elements and informative side. For example, you can include embeded links which show GIFs.

2.  Subscribe to an email savvy brand

Good emails pave avenues for a successful email marketing campaign.

However, finding emails that stand out on a regular basis is a tough task. So, to get hold of some creative email ideas, subscribe to a brand that’s email savvy.

How I organise this in my inbox is to create a custom email filter which sorts these emails into folders for easy reference in future.

3.  Watch on your competitors’ email campaigns

Apart from subscribing to an email savvy brand, keeping an eye on your competitor’s email campaign is also a great idea to get a competitive edge over them. See what strategies they are implementing to capture the subscriber’s attention.

Pay attention to how they write their content, design their email templates, and layout their email campaign and how they include their Call-to-Action.

4.  Make use of professional images

Nothing grabs a subscriber’s attention more than a high-end, professional image.

It doesn’t only help in breaking long walls of text but, also gives you the option to include something attention-grabbing.

A great resource is Pexels.com

5.  Go the automation way

Another sure-fire way of keeping your email marketing top-notch is by opting for automation.

From welcome emails to drip and triggered campaigns, email automation helps you do it all instantly. This is the reason

Although this reduces your workload, you shouldn’t skimp at the opportunity to personalise whenever possible. While it sends welcome emails automatically to help establish a connection with your new subscriber, it uses drip campaigns to send unique content at regular interval and keep the customers involved.

Learn more about how you can host and access professional business email from Everworks here.

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Marketing Agencies Don't Want You To Know This (Email Marketing Secrets for Small Business)

The Internet presents opportunity for any sized business. The Internet also connects everyone so long as they have a connection to the digital domain.

People use the internet to communicate, shop, date and transact, while marketers target their prospective audiences over the internet, making it the foundation of a peaceful online shopping ecosystem.

Here are some statistics that prove why Email Marketing is such an important tool and should not be missed.

It’s common for most business owners (especially those in Malaysia) to be an  owner of a brick-and-mortar shop. Having an online presence reduces the restrictions on your target audience. For example, you are not tied down to an audience that is conveniently located around you only.

It is proven that the best way to communicate with your customers is through email.

Learn how email marketing can help your small business.

1. It helps to Build credibility

Building relationships is the foundation of any business. You can do more with email marketing, as you are able to build trust and recognition among your subscribers by sending helpful and educational information.

2. Increase and Build visibility beyond your location

Irrespective of their geographic location, you will be able to send emails to your target audience with just an email ID and this will help improve the visibility of your business.

3. Cheaper alternative to most physical forms of advertising

Assuming you are sending an email to an email list of 1000 subscribers, you may be spending < RM10. Research shows that you can earn up to RM34 for every RM1 you spend on your email campaign, you will find out that emails are the most profitable marketing channel.

4. Increase awareness about your business. Increase traffic visits (online and offline). 

A successful email is the one that manages to make the subscriber click and get redirected to a relevant landing page (for omnichannel businesses) or your storefront.

5. Market with a personal touch 

Connect personally with your customers, by segmenting the information that they want to receive. By tracking the customer journey, you can personalize the email copy to building a meaningful relationship.

6. Turn one-time sale into a repeat order / Help patrons stay connected with new updates

Anyone who purchases from you may lose contact as they step out. By having them in your mailing list, you can keep in touch with them. This will enable them to shop from you time and time again.

What your business needs to implement email marketing?

An Email Service Platform (ESP)

Email inbox services such Gmail, Hotmail or Outlook cannot be used to send bulk emails owing to restrictions placed to avoid spamming. You need to invest in a professional email service provider to send emails in bulk.

Some provide services for zero to nominal fees for emailing less than 2,000 subscribers, while others charge you based on the mailing list strength. If you are starting out, you can choose MailerLite, MadMimi ReachMail or MailChimp. We conducted a review for MailChimp. You can read about it here.

Templates are readily available, but it is good to have a customer outsourced professional to help you with this. However, sometimes you need to design a custom email template for providing a good user experience.

Tips to start your Email Marketing

Build your mailing list both offline and online

To start out, you can talk to your existing customers to share their email addresses to get information about your business. Some of the ways to create excitement are:

1. Coupons and Sales Promotions
2. Loyalty or Rewards Programs
3. Company News and Updates
4. Contests and Sweepstakes
5. Free Content like E-Books
6. Products or Service Information
7. Exclusive Peeks at New Products

What emails would you send?

Newsletters

For prospects / customers to exchange their email and time to read your emails, be prepared to send them valuable information. Do not sell to them as they would associate this with spam, and you would lose email authority.

In addition to newsletter you should also send:

1. Transactional emails like order receipts, upsell & cross-sell emails, re-order reminder emails that are associated with building relation post-purchase.
2. Promotional emails to inform your customers about special or limited stock events and promotions
3. Holiday and seasonal emails for the brands who conduct special campaigns during holidays.
4. Customer loyalty emails for existing patrons to show how valuable they are to your brand.
5. Separate your mailing list as per preference and hit Send
6. No two customers will have same interests. You need to learn / understand their preferences and what products they are interested and segment the email list accordingly. This ensures that the customer receives the information that interests them.

Learn more about Everworks email here. You’d be surprised what email can do for your business.

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Tips on How To Not Make the Mistake of Choosing the Wrong Email Service Provider

Email marketing is the bread and butter for most marketers as it draws the most ROI compared to other marketing channels.

Every brand is now implementing inbound methodology, marketers are choosing email marketing as the best way to build trust and increase sales.

The idea is to capture a prospect’s brief approach to you with a problem and subscribes to your emails with a hope to be educated and finding a solution to his problems.

During this critical moment, your catch to these prospects is that they will lose out on a valuable aspect of information that wouldn’t be otherwise available unless they subscribe to your email.

There is a large chance that this isn’t even presented to your prospects when they need it most.

And this fault is likely to be due to your Email Service Provider ("ESP"), as your message would have ended in spam.

If you wondering what an ESP is or if you are facing troubles with your current one, this article is for you.

The role of the Email Service Provider ("ESP")

To send emails to a customer you need an ESP. They help you to deliver your email to your customers in bulk. Yes there is the ever present popular options such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail and more, but these are only good for sending individual cold emails to individuals.

ESPs have other features built into them, which make them the first choice for any email marketer such as:

1. Database and App API integration
2. Email list segmentation and management tools
3. Automated email sending

How to choose an ESP

Setting up an ESP from scratch requires time and money, so the best option is to choose one that already has a set amount of features and service offerings that fit your needs:

1. Costing: 

In the realm of ESPs, there is one for every type of budget. There are free-to-use ESPs like Mailchimp who offer user-friendly email editor, premium looking email template library, email automation workflows and email campaign analytics for almost nothing provided that you send out less than 2,000 emails monthly. While it seems like a sweet deal, the email template is not yours and the footer will carry Mailchimp banner. Plus, you can send only 10 campaigns every month. This is an excellent option for someone who has just started out or on a tight budget.

2. Deliverability Standards: 

Any emails you send are scanned by an Internet Service Provider at the user-end before being delivered. If the IP that you send your emails is blacklisted, the ISP filter will not allow your emails to pass through. Since you shall be using an ESP to send your emails, you need to ensure that they provide you with good deliverability. Enquire about the different kinds of reputation support such as white listing.

3. API integration support: 

Sending emails is a process that is constantly improved upon based on previous campaign performances (this is dependant on whether you really need this or not)

4. Scalability: 

Since you have a mailing list of < 2,000 subscribers, you decide to choose the free model of the ESP. Will your ESP have the capability to send emails when your mailing list explodes to >20,000 subscribers? Does it support adding more users in your plan?

5. Customer Support: 

Imagine you scheduled an email to be sent early morning but owing to ESP server downtime, the campaign could not be delivered. Does your email service provider cater to customer support at odd hours?

6. Ease-to-use: 

Are the specified features easy to use? Is the FAQ section easily accessible? How quickly does customer support respond? Do you require any technical knowledge to operate the platform?

Tips to keep in mind:

1. Metrics you measure: 

Email campaign metrics such as open rates, click rates, unsubscribes are provided by all ESPs, but you need to identify other metrics that you wish to measure such as heatmap, optimum open rate, last email opened etc.

2. Plans for improving interactivity: 

You need to check whether you plan to send emails with innovations to boost user engagement. This is important since most ESPs don’t support CSS interactivity.

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Although choosing or switching ESPs is like making a life-long commitment. You may choose to change. BUT beware as it would mean a waste of resources.

You can learn more about our email services here.

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Learn The Secret to Unlocking the Content Marketing Treasure-trove

The phrase ‘content is king’ gets thrown around very frequently to highlight how important content is. In my view interactivity plays an important role and should not be discounted from the content creation process.

Interactive content is extremely beneficial for business as it attracts audience, boosts engagement, increases web traffic, and increases conversion rate. Businesses often neglect the importance of the interactive element as they are too driven to produce more content. Producing excessive content will make it seem generic and even make your audience lose interest when you see them swimming off to other competitors that are most focused on content that are engaging.

Think of it this way, if you’re planning to buy something online, what is the first thing you do? You'll want to make sure you check online to read reviews and when convinced you will try your level best to find the best deals you can get in the marketplace. Access to an array of information freely has caused today's consumers to be more savvy when making a purchase with online research taking a foothold in the decision making process before a buying decision is even made. This is different from conventional purchasing habits. However traditional recommendations from high-value connections in your network which consumers view and trust highly still play an integral role in the buying decision too. This is why ever more so you should facilitate a consumer's behavior by servicing their need for information with interactive thoughtful ideas to further enhance their decision to purchase from you.

Interactive content is the fundamentals of lead generation and conversion. It enriches your marketing plan as it elevates it to a different tier that creates an engaging experience for your customers.

Interactive content is different from traditional content as it seeks to engage and entertain its users. The mechanics of the internet and websites have allowed content to exist in different forms that can be presented in various ways.

The few common and effective interactive content are:

i) Infographics

ii) GIFs,

iii) Videos

iv) Podcasts

v) Webinars

The examples above do not represent the boundaries of interactive content. Interactivity should be embodied by creative freedom. Innovative elements with the guide of thought to engage the audience by providing an experience can unlock a lot of potential in the content you produce. Rather than taking the side of the informant, why not gamify, request for an opinion, or start a conversation, because these are some of the building blocks to making highly successful interactive content. Have your audience engage and interact with your content and you would have developed a valuable community that shares and relies on the information you recommend to them, and this can indirectly lead to better sales opportunities and strong positive brand perceptions.

Now, the million dollar question: Why, and how is interactive content beneficial?

Enriches The Appeal Of Your Website

Interactive content contributes heavily to make a website seem well-designed. We cannot deny that humans like to be satisfied visually. We like seeing beautiful things and are always mesmerised by things that are visually stunning. This is why the way a website looks is crucial in attracting and sustaining your audience.

With that being said, the thing that truly engages them is the interactive content you have distributed over your website. Interactive content emphasises more on visual elements, which is much more appealing than normal content. It enhances the overall ‘beauty’ of your website and has a higher chance in making page visitors to explore your website because let’s face it, no one would be interested in navigating through a boring website that is lackluster in its design and content.

Entices Your Audience To Buy

Interactive content grabs an online user’s attention. Furthermore, it’s extremely informative and educative. The interactive mechanism allows users to understand the product more in an innovative way, along with relevant information that drives the users to purchase.

It also important to intelligently incorporate your interactive content with your website’s call-to-action (CTAs) widgets. Delivering content that entices your audience should also be capitalized, build content so that it translates to measurable goals. By incorporating these in your strategy your audience will be more convinced to interact with the product or service in which you have to offer.

Increases Social Sharings & Engagements

When people had hands-on experience on how remarkable your interactive content is, they will surely share it with friends, either by mouth or through social media. Word of your business will reach more people, increasing brand awareness.

Keep up the momentum and provide updates constantly to entertain your audience and keep them on the hook. Utilise social media as a tool to spread the news about your interactive content and get more people to visit it.

Boosts Your Business Revenues

Successfully improving readership and website visits means that there are more people who will mostly likely end up buying your products/services. It exposes your content to more visibility and more people will visit it and experience it themselves. The increase in readers/viewership automatically translate it to higher sales for your business as the chances of people buying your products/services are higher.

Most companies put attracting customers/readers/viewership as their utmost priority because your business needs to get a notable amount of visibility and exposure in order to reach the right people that are interested in your products/services.

Interactive content is the key to acing your content marketing strategy. It drives leads and conversions, which ultimately results in the boost of business revenue. Devise your content marketing plan carefully and be sure to produce interactive content that will lay an impact to your audience.

You can find more information on how you can deploy your interactive content here through EVERWORKS unique mobile distribution gateways.

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Website Redesign ROI

The ROI of website redesign can be hard to quantify with no concrete metric that can be used to directly relate to ROI measurement. Like any ROI the calculations are based on cost and results.

Costs

Website pricing really varies. The costs range from free DIY tools to millions of dollars for high-end digital agencies. Web designers can start low for a freelancer or expensive for a complex website from a big web development firm. Generally the price of a website relates to the amount of time it takes to create it, as there are very little or no material costs, since pixels and code aren't bought like inventory the costs are based on the estimates of time required for design, programming, communication, and license purchase.

The content (writing and images) also takes time, whether handled by the web firm or a freelance team or the company itself. This adds up to a total amount of hours that must be used multiply with the hourly rate equating to the total project fee.

Here are some of the major cost factors:

• Project management and communication: How many people required to work on your project.
• Design: Is this an off-the-shelf template being used or something made custom.
• Programming: Is it a standard feature or more custom?
• Team: Are there a lot of specialists required?
• Content: Is it a site that requires a lot of new writing? Is there photography or video production needed?
• CMS Platform: This isn't really a factor because different platforms can still be made use to achieve complex things. WordPress is also used for sites like CNN.com
• Licenses: Important thing to factor in when using some features or functions or images on your site. This can incur an additional cost to the project.

Results

There is a clear distinction between the objectives of the website where revenue generating metrics can be calculated directly from e-commerce sites or in the value of leads for a lead generation website.

There are many factors that affect the calculation for the return on investment, but generally they are:

• The cost of creating the website
• The cost of maintaining the website - post-launch operating expense (content marketing and advertising)
• The traffic - number of visitors is normally a measure of a successful marketing activity not web design.
• Conversion rate - this is a web design metric and not a marketing activity as this has an impact on conversions but together the traffic times the conversion rate equals results.
• The website lifespan.

Just compare objectively costs and returns over a period of time to identify if the right marketing strategies are in place to drive relevant traffic for conversion to occur.

Ensure that you suffer from very little downtime to ensure that your website investment is given sufficient opportunity to display its potential conversion capabilities to your target customers here.

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How to Choose a Programming Language for Your Business

With technology now central to most business processes and as a business owner you might be asking  how do I know that the developers I have engaged is using the programming language that's best for my business? To solve this let's do it in a few bite-sized steps:

What should you ask first?

An early easy check is to just ask the appointed developer if he has done this kind of work before and find out if it was successful. Just check their references and you have to understand that you can't treat all technology you are asking for as a one size fits all solution to work just straight out of the box. Shoes have different sizes and technology also has different fits depending on the specific requirements your business might have. As a result you need to choose a programming language that is flexible and scalable to adapt along with your business needs. This can take a few different versions before it actually gets right.

Are there any specific requirements you need to get from your lead programmer?

First ask what programming language and framework are going to be used and what the thought process is behind that decision. Second ask if they have already checked out third-party libraries for ready made code that can be used off the rack so the programming team isn't spending unnecessary time  to reinvent the wheel when the wheel has already been invented.

Which languages are the safest?

1. Web apps, use Ruby on Rails
2. For iPhone apps use Swift or Objective C
3. For Android use Native Development Kit
4. For a simple website, go with WordPress
5. For e-commerce, use WordPress and WooCommerce or Shopify if you are looking for an all-in-one solution (This is a simple web-store that can function perform most tasks well).

Get online and host with a reliable and affordable web host so you can get any of your ideas online and in front of your targeted audience.

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Easy ECommerce Content Marketing for Absolute Beginners

Ecommerce is gaining momentum in Malaysia these days.

The chances of whatever you are selling is going up against some tough competition. It can feel daunting like David against Goliath. The great thing about it is David won and so can you.

Sure you need traffic that means getting backlinks and getting links to product pages is tough. So you should be excited to know that there is a proven and predictable way to build backlinks, build authority and increase your website traffic. This isn't a buy leads advertisement. This is 100% legit and should increase traffic to your website.

What is it? It's called Ecommerce Content Marketing and it involves a six step sequence of actions you are about to discover below. 

1. Buyer personas

You should start with creating a persona. The chances are that you already have a picture in your mind of who they are. The only thing is you now need to know where they live, what their income, their job, their needs and everything about them to know them better. Don't worry if it isn't 100% accurate but the main idea is to get the ideal so that you know what content you will be creating an most importantly for who.

2. Identify influencers

You can have the best of everything but you won't have anything if no one is interested or pays an attention to you. It is very crucial to develop a valid audience that will keep up with what you have to offerings and eventually become active buyers. There is a slow boring way to build up a slow following but there's a faster way than that.

This involves influencers. People in your niche who are going to help you with the heavy lifting when it comes to promoting your content. There are some common characteristics such as a blog with an engaged audience, an active social media presence, or they operate in the same niche that has the same audience with you but is non-competitive in nature.

One you got that list going you need to start an outreach campaign that could start with simply following them on social media and subscribing to their blogs, commenting on their blogs and interacting with their audience and promoting them whenever possible.

Over time as you get better at creating content and your authority grows so will your confidence grow and you could probably get away with a more direct approach.

3. Content for traffic

Before that there is a fact that in 2012 Google does not endorse websites with little content and questionable linking profiles. You should invest into obtaining backlinks from reputable, high quality, authority sites; but as you should know these don't come easily you gotta earn it.

Example:

1. List based content - example: top 20 hosting companies in Malaysia.
2. Side by side comparisons - which is better managed hosting or do-it-yourself hosting.

4. conversion content

Content can get you more than just traffic. There are proven content that work hard at the business end of the funnel where when you have already engaged your visitor they engage your visitor to consider converting to purchase. These content examples include: Buyers guide, How to guides, Product videos, Case studies, etc.

Running an Ecommerce store is tough especially when you live or die through traffic generation. This means you need links and these are not easy to come by. A proven way is to get backlinks and social shares from authority sites.

So what types of content do you like? Are you using any of these types of content already? Please share your experience on what works best for you.

Host your Ecommerce now. Find out how you can - click here.

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How to create a winning online marketing campaign

Have you come across a website and noticed it hasn't been updated for the past few years, pictures look outdated and the layout of the website isn't very appealing; giving the impression that the website has been neglected. When navigating to a competitors website it looks fresh, graphics are crisp, content is current and there is consistent communication through their social media; chances are people are likely to choose their competitors.

On the Internet you have less than 8 seconds to make an impression on a customer, and dependent on the impression you have imparted on them it gives them motivation to continue on. A website should load quickly, and should have features that can give your business scalability and flexibility, because anything less would likely lead an internet customer (potential lead) to move on before any of your carefully prepared content has been presented.

For any small business owners, the internet can be a powerful marketing tool as there is a great pull factor with the attraction of the ability to reach millions of potential customers with one advertising campaign. However exhilarating it may sound it can also be overwhelming. One burgeoning question is how do you make sure that you are seen in the thick of the crowd? Why are there clear distinctions between companies where some are very effective online, but others aren't? Like most advertising plans there are multiple methods to creating great online marketing campaigns.

Unfortunately it won't be a simple task and I won't be giving you false promises to say that it will be. Creating an online advertising campaign requires effort and dedication like most other traditional methods of advertising. 

In this article we will look into:

1. What are the pre-stages to planning required;
2. Tools required;
3. the importance of having the right management;
4. and choosing a good hosting provider.

The pre-stages to planning required before you create an online marketing campaign.

1. Before beginning any marketing campaign it is important to find out what is the purpose and goals to the campaign;
2. You will need to identify what resources are available and ready to be allocated without proving to be too much of a burden to ongoing business operations and constraining cash flows;
3. identify where your customer bases are and what habits they perform daily;
4. conduct a risk analysis on the target positions, and risks involved in the inherent venture;
5. consider the nature of your competition, and what they are doing;
6. and identify the characteristics of your product/service (whether it would be beneficial to demonstrate the product/service through video or an image?)

Develop a brand name and image before starting communications.

Develop a fixed image that reflect your company ideals and culture of your company;

combine your ideas, with your company name and logo so that you can use them in your online marketing;

and there should be a certain degree of standardization to allow for potential leads to continually meet preconceived expectations.

Tools required.

Social media - the peer pressure provided through key social media influencers adds weight behind a product, service, or cause as current users are dependent on provided reviews (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, YouTube, and etc.;

SEO - this tool isn't dead and still provides a great deal of amount of relevance in your online marketing campaign, it will help greatly to have your online marketing campaign to search for on major search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing;

Less intuitive point - choosing the right hosting provider for your website.

Advertising campaigns and marketing initiatives however innovative they are won't be effective without a reliable central reference hub that directs all customers and leads to participate in the product or service your small business wants to sell. Choose an external hosting provider to outsource your IT needs to reduce your overall business overheads, and pay one flat fee with unmetered data transfers to avoid any surprise fees.

Final point: Track your results.

Performing any activity or task should be fully reflected upon to learn and provide an accelerated growth curve for the company in its future endeavors. Launching an online marketing campaign can be either rewarding or costly. It requires attention to detail and a great amount of planning, but the upside could extend potential company growth.

© photo by Yahoo

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Why should SMEs choose to host externally?

Technology over the years have influenced and shaped the business world. There is a large amount of users and especially small business owners that have turned to the Internet to help them to deliver some type of service or function as it is evident that the Internet can help to perform a lot of operating business activities. There has been a rise on the need for external hosting. Why? The attraction of outsourcing business activities and directly saving costs is among one of the big factors in influencing this change.

The reality is that external hosting is customizable to fit almost any budget and project - as shown through these hosting packages on offer. When working with an external hosting provider it is important to know which features you really need and how they will help your small business grow. Once these goals are aligned, the options which are on offer become very attractive to any business.

For business managers the relation in choosing outsourcing as a business strategy should be reasoned with alignment of business goals and objectives, available resources, push factor; whether there is an internal need to pursue hosting or pull factor; due to attractive external propositions and proactive environmental scanning to determine what best fits your current needs.

What you should look for when outsourcing your hosting needs:

1. a dedicated 24/7 phone & email support deployed to help you with your day-to-day IT needs. This comes with no additional human capital requirements on top of the service fee charged.
2. Unmetered data transfers; no hidden terms that would severely limit your business potential and not reflect on your investment and prove to be expensive poorly reflecting on your return on invested capital.
3. Allows you to try without fear of commitment, on offer should be a 30-day money back guarantee with no questions asked to accommodate the notion that not all services provided, although designed with good intention, fits everyone.
4. One other important distinction that you should look for is the ability for your outsource hosting provider to be able to accommodate your infrastructure extension requirements. A big misconception is that an externally hosted environment once deployed becomes an island that is independent/isolated from your businesses future expansion requirements. 

As more and more small businesses are seeing the benefits of moving towards outsourcing their complex IT needs. Your business will be able to enjoy both the cost benefits and ability to adapt to an ever changing business environment that is highly influenced by a hyper-competitive IT integrated ecosystem.

photo by © Brennan

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Use Email to Transform The Way You Work

Email is now part of our everyday life and is going to remain to be for a long time to come, backed by research at IBM email isn't dead. Email has gained widespread popularity as it has reliably provided a quick, instant, 'formal', way of communicating through the widely available internet today.

Email can be overwhelming, and instead of managing email, what we needed was a better way to communicate, ultimately engaging in deeper engagement and better outcomes.

EVERWORKS Web & Email Hosting solution is a platform where the focus is on the communication between people bringing together messaging with web access to allow greater accessibility and flexibility, and here are the concepts behind the design of EVERWORKS Email Hosting solution:

A) Better value: A system that integrates website, email, and database hosting to provide you with scalable options. Business class email allows you to build you business identity, filter for spam to keep your inbox free of clutter, with an internet connection and any internet browser grab your email anywhere, and access to 24/7 expert help.

B) Clarity over clutter: An intuitive control panel helps users to take quick action on content previously scattered across multiple applications.

Here are some intuitive ways you can use email to ensure effective communication between internal and external networks:

1. Keep your messages brief

Reading from a computer screen isn't easy, use shorter paragraphs and bullet points; cut straight to the chase. Avoid using capital letters as it sends unintended interpretations such as the appearance of being bossy (ICAEW 2008).

2. Stay organised

There is an age old saying that staying organised allows you to get more things done, stay more focused, and remain in control over most situations. Take this approach to email and invest 2 hours of your time right now to go through your inbox, create filters that give automated actions to specific email to reduce repetitive tasks and allows you to manage and attend to the most important emails first. Find out how I keep my personal email organised by just using Gmail, and the Mailbox app.

3. Advantage: Email as evidence

The advantage of email is it is a stored accepted form of instantaneous form of communication that is applicable in many ways. For example emails can be used as evidence, that there exists proof of communication between the sender and the recipient, although there are issues in the form of relevance, authenticity, hearsay, original or duplicate documentation, and unfair prejudice (Sarah, 2010). Consult a lawyer to develop an email framework to follow to fully utilize the advantage of using email as evidence. Is there a need to consult a lawyer? Yes as laws differ from place to place and it is highly recommended that you find a representative lawyer that is familiar with domestic laws.

photo by Caden Crawford

References:

1. ICAEW 2008, 10 ways to use email effectively, ICAEW <http://www.icaew.com/en/archive/library/subject-gateways/career-and-personal-development/communication-and-presentation-skills/small-business-update/10-ways-to-use-email-effectively>
2. IMB Smarter Planet 2015, How To Use Email To Transform How We Work, Forbes, <http://www.forbes.com/sites/ibm/2015/02/19/how-to-use-email-to-transform-how-we-work/>
3. Sarah 2010, Legal consideration for electronic evidence, Part 3: Applying the rules of Authenticity, <https://crlgrn.wordpress.com/2010/05/11/legal-considerations-for-electronic-evidence-part-3-applying-the-rules-of-authenticity/>

Note:
If you like articles like this please bookmark this blog as there will be more similar and other topics regarding technology, business, telecommunication, and EVERWORKS related updates. Feel free to leave your comments on this topic below.

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Keeping Email Organised

In the age where email is an inevitable tool and essential to our everyday life, I went about a personal mission to solve the behemoth problem, the email inbox. Tough, resilient and ever present the problem of having an uncharacterized amount of email stored in the inbox can be frustrating when there is a need to find a one specific thread for an important use.

Here is a personal tip on how to keep email organised.

I use a combination of the Mailbox App, the standard Mail Application on iOS and Gmail. You can adapt with different combinations of services, but for me these services are the most effective combination that keeps me productive.

I will be splitting this article into appropriate action steps that you could break up into chunks to either perform it all at once, or periodically. Keep this in mind, keeping email organised is a lifestyle and a habit. Change some small habits and you can have your email inbox "free" from clutter which keeps you notified of the most important things that need done.

You will need to know of the existence of the All Mail function in Gmail, which is basically an Archive of all of your read email.

Outlook.com has the same "Archive" feature which Google Mail has, you just have to make sure you update your Mail service by finding the button that says "Archive" at the top of Outlook.com and click it.

First actionable step:

Filter through your inbox manually.

Firstly, find email that are junk to you by using the search function that comes with most email clients (select all and delete). I suggest only family threads, travel tickets, receipts, keeping conversations that have indication of use or insurance for verbal contractual agreements, and other important things.

Secondly, the fastest way I found to filter through bucket loads of email is to find similar email threads and add filters to it. A detailed how-to add filters is detailed here.

Filters help you to find "topic" related emails that have been archived making it easy to find when the time comes. You could start with applying filters such as a specific Person/Service name, even activities such as "Soccer", "Coffee Networking Session", and etc.

It took me around 2-5 hours of organizing to filter through my inbox and you don't have to do this all in a marathon, but do it a few times in a week and you will have this done in no time.

Second actionable step:

Applying automated filters. 

This article from Mashable gives a good guide on automatic filters.

Like the above first actionable step. Applying automated filters to your frequent incoming email will ease the process of receiving email in the future. This so that you don't have to go through the entire process of manually filtering out a large bulk of email again in the future. All you will need to do is to manually filter emails that are infrequent.  

Third actionable step:

Downloading Mailbox app.

The Mailbox app integrates well with Gmail. (I have yet to try this app's functional use Outlook.com) It helps me make full use of the All Mail (a.k.a an archive feature) service on Gmail to its maximum potential.

The theory behind it is your inbox should be a place where you should only keep email that is of immediate importance and require your attention and action, emails that have been read and need to be kept for future reference or to signify completion should be stored away in an archive. This keeps your email inbox free of clutter and allows you to receive only the most recent email that needs your immediate attention.

The app comes with a whole lot of other features that allow you to put it off for later, remind at a later time, and etc. The best part of using the Mailbox app is it comes free. Other advantages include integration with Dropbox for backups and more (Mailbox has been acquired by Dropbox).

Using native email apps

Reasons why I still use the native Mail client that comes with iOS.

I receive a lot of email to my Gmail, but there are times where I have other accounts like specific work email, university email, hotmail accounts and other subscriptions that I would like to be notified for. Mailbox currently only allows connection to one email account, and does not facilitate other mail clients.

Other self-hosted or custom services need to be connected to the traditional Mail client that comes with iOS which I have found to be very good for notification across different accounts.

Mailbox + Gmail + Native Mail App

Why should you consider doing this?

Keeping organised allows me to respond quickly and effectively to inquiries that require my most immediate attention. Although the Mailbox app does not solve every mail client that I own, but it allows me to filter out, that is of most importance to me, my personal email, Gmail.

Stormtrooper photo  Some rights reserved by Jim Bauer

Note:
If you like articles like this please bookmark this blog as there will be more similar and other topics regarding technology, business, telecommunication, and EVERWORKS related updates. Feel free to leave your comments on this topic below.

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Increase your MAIL Server Performance Process

Dear All Valued Customers, 

In order to better serve you and improve our MAIL Servers' performance processes, we take account security very seriously. There are a number of things you can do to help increase our servers' performance. To ensure that your important email accounts remain safe and to prevent email accounts getting hacked, we strongly recommend following these steps regularly:

To keep your account safe, here are a few tips on how to create a strong password:

1. Use a unique password for each of your importants accounts

Use a different password for each of your important accounts, like your email and online banking accounts. Re-using passwords is risky. If someone figures out your password for one account, that person could potentially gain access to your email, address, and even your money.

2. Change your password often

If someone has figured out your password, they might be accessing your account without you knowing. Regularly changing your password helps limit this type of unauthorized access.

3. Use a mix of letters, numbers, and symbols in your password

Using numbers, symbols and mix of upper and lower case letters in your password makes it harder for someone to guess your password. For example, an eight-character password with numbers, symbols and mixed-case letters is harder to guess because it has 30,000 times as many possible combinations than an eight-character password with only lower case letters.

4. Don't use personal information or common words as a password

Create a unique password that's unrelated to your personal information and use a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols. For example, you can select a random word or phrase and insert letters and numbers into the beginning, middle, and end to make it extra difficult to guess (such as "sPo0kyh@ll0w3En"). Don’t use simple words or phrases like "password" or "letmein," keyboard patterns such as "qwerty" or "qazwsx," or sequential patterns such as "abcd1234" which make your password easier to guess.

For Technical Enquiries, kindly contact our Critical Velocity Support Team at our :-

Office: +603-7806-3550

E-mail: cvs@everworks.com

Hope you have a good hosting with EVERWORKS Solutions.

photo of girl  Some rights reserved by Baba G

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8 Ways to Better Your Gmail Security

Gmail logo by Google.

Gmail is one of the most popular email services, created by Google, which comes with a greater impression of user-friendliness, reliability and security. However, you might still be preyed on by phishers, hackers, and scammers from the Web.

Google has been working hard to forge its security offering for Gmail, but most of which we know little about. In this post I will show you the 8 essential, technical and non-technical tips that will further better your Gmail account security to improve the prevention against threat and fraud.

1. 2-Step Verification

With growing account theft issues, Google has introduced a security feature which will greatly strengthen your account: 2-Step Verification. This adds an extra layer of security by requiring a code that will be sent to your phone (every time you request for account access, making it impossible for anyone to gain access into your account without your phone).

Although the process sounds complex, the great thing about activating this is fairly easy, all you need to do is visit the setup page and follow a series of simple instructions and you are good to go. If you are facing any issues you could always visit Google's Help Page.

Google has thought of different possibilities, where you could even create a backup phone number and printable backup codes as alternatives to access your account in case you lose your phone. Also, for applications that are not verification code request ready then you can create an application-specific password for these applications.

It does sound rather tedious but it does prevent your account from being stolen and beats being blackmailed to retrieve it back!

2. Enable HTTPS Security

When accessing your Gmail account through a public wireless or a non-encrypted network having HTTPS could be vital for your security. Leaving HTTPS disabled makes it easier for someone to crack open a path into your Gmail account. HTTPS is enabled by default but there isn't any harm in making sure that your Gmail account has its HTTPS option on.

Click on the 'gear icon' > Settings > General > Browser Connection and see whether the option "Always use HTTPS" is checked, and don't forget to save changes.

3. Check Granted Account Access

To check and see if you have suspicious activities happening in your Gmail account it is likely to be in the granted account access settings. A hacker having been able to access your account would add his own fake email account into your Gmail account for easier for future session, or for a re-hacking session if his other tricks were exposed.

Click on the 'gear icon' > Accounts and Import > Grant access to your account.

Check if there are any accounts that you didn't authorize. Also, as an added assurance, make sure the option "Mark conversation as read when opened by others" to make sure that you know when your emails are being read without your prior knowledge.

4. Check Your Filter, Forwarding and POP/IMAP

Filters can potentially transfer emails as long as the victim has "the filter" in his account. Thus, it is integral that you check your Gmail account settings to delete suspicious filters. You just need to log-into your Gmail account.

Click on the 'gear icon' > Settings > Filters to check and delete any filters that were not yours.

Also check the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab as well to confirm that there are no foreign forwarding address that isn't assigned by you.

5. Track Account Activity

Another tip to know if your account has been hacked is to know your account activity. Google has developed for Google an activity information panel for you to track your account activities.

When already signed-in to your Gmail, at the bottom portion of your email, you can see a small message saying "Last Account Activity: (number) minutes ago" > Click on the "detail" then you can see the access type, location and date. 

Under the panel you can also set an Alert Preference to tell Gmail when to notify you when it detects unusual activities.

6. Revoke Unauthorized Access

In Facebook there are apps which are granted access to your Facebook account, and there is also something similar in Gmail, where granted apps are able to access your Gmail account. 

You can find a list of these applications here. Click "revoke access" if you find any doubtful applications.

7. Create a Strong Password

Unless you have enabled the 2-step verification above, your password is the only guard for all your emails, contacts, and sensitive information. 

Make sure you have a strong and reliable password to ward off any potential interest to hack into your Gmail account. Here are some tips on how to build strong and reliable passwords.

Be creative! There are not only conventional long passwords but also different ways to make sure your password is strong.

8. Enhance Security Question's Answer

Usually a question of "Who is the lover of my mother?" would generate a typical answer "my dad" but consider adding a nonsensical answer, and something that is strongly related with your past. An answer such as "my mother loves to eat hamburgers" would make it difficult to guess and only you will know the answer to it.

Looking for more control; that Gmail can't offer?

Do you require your own custom email domain, or more flexibility combined with greater customizability consider hosting your own email. Host with EVERWORKS Web & Email Hosting Solution, it comes with Unmetered Data Transfer, Unlimited Email Accounts, Variety of Database Support, 24/7 Phone & Email Support, and a 30 Days Money Back Guarantee.

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