Free Tools for Malaysian Business to Get #1 on Google

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Getting #1 on Google should be every company's objective. It isn't a luxurious option anymore where businesses can opt-out of having a presence on Google.

3.5 billion searches are made on Google everyday. That statistic says it all, you should be on Google now.

Here's a list of tools which will help you to get to Number #1 on Google:

Helpful Google Marketing Tools for Business

1) Google My Business

Advertising on Google can be expensive, but as with most things in life there is way around spending expensive advertising dollars.


All you have to do is claim your Google My Business listing and your business will be featured in local business featured listings. This also includes a feature in Google Maps.

Best of all, unlike Google Adwords, none of those businesses paid any advertising dollars for their positions in these local results.

If you haven't already claimed your Google My Business listing, hurry on and claim yours now. All you need to do is follow the onscreen instructions and have Google send a postcard with a code to your business for you to verify your listing. Doing this automatically creates a Google+ Page for your business too.

2) Google+ Business Pages

Another free option is to create a free Google+ Business Page. Although, Google+ didn't pan out to have as much authority as it was once billed to be, and now with the +1s out of the search results, some may argue the importance of maintaining an active Google+ Business Page.

Even with little fanfare around Google+ Business Pages, it is a free listing place for local businesses that can improve search-ability on Google. It is after all built by Google and tied directly to your Google My Business Listing by default.

As part of the ever changing ever improving Google Search, an important factor is social and that leads the assumption that having a Google+ Business Page can only help to improve your content rank in Google Search.

3) Google Webmaster Tools

The previous 2 were great free tools to list your local business on Google Search and help to improve your search-ability on the Internet. However, how would you know if some of the activities you've undertaken is improving your content's rating to Google?

Although the algorithm is set to discover a set of words typed in a language humans understand, Google does require a set of architectural requirements to allow for its users to safely access your website and for Google to effectively and efficiently index your website.

Check the health of your website using Google Webmaster Tools. It's an account you can set up here which will alert you to any problems which may prevent your website from getting indexed (searched) by Google for it to display your content in search results. Also, this helps you to anlyze your existing search traffic so you can better understand how visitors are currently finding you.

4) Google Suite: Docs, Sheets, Slides and Forms

Currently we are in the content age where users are looking for valuable content to help them with their day-to-day tasks or guides to problems so that they have an idea on how to solve them.

Some of the valuable content that users are looking for include:

1. White Papers
2. Ebooks
3. Templates & Checklist Downloads

Great thing of building a library of these assets are that you can host and share them for free on Google Suites. Find out more about Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Forms.

As with most recommendations online it is found that these contents are driving great results for link-building (an activity which increases your authority in the eyes of Google - in plain english: Google likes that your website is well cited by others and this means better rankings on Google).

5) Google AdWords Keyword Planner

When you're looking to give your organic SEO a boost, it's important that you do some research on your keywords first. Key research helps you to identify keywords to target as you're creating any content. Having this focus makes it easier for you to get found by the right searches.

Google provides a tool for you to help you plan for your AdWords campaigns, and can also help you to search for new keyword ideas and suggestions to help you with your organic keyword research planning. Do keep in mind that you will need to set up an AdWords account to use the Keyword Planner, but it does not mean you actually have to create an ad.

6) Google Trends

On top of the Google AdWords Keyword Planner, Google Trends is a great tool for helping you with smarter keyword choices. Its an additional tool that will help you to evaluate the popularity of certain topics and compare them with other topics to analyze and compare which over time are popular and can be helpful in getting new keyword suggestions.

7) Google Analytics

You're making a valid effort in trying to drive users to your business online by employing various digital marketing strategies paired with some of the tools introduced in this blog. However there are some questions that you are asking yourself to know which of your activities is actually driving the best results?

Key questions such as how many of your website visitors are new compared to returning? How long are users actually spending on your website?

All these are important analytical questions that can be answered through Google Analytics. This is a free service, and it can give you great insight into your website traffic and help you understand how users are finding and navigating your website.

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Not everyone needs every Google tool in this list, but it's important to have some of the basic products in your list, because when used the right way it can really help your business to become more efficient when communicating to your customers online.

Pair your marketing efforts with your website to drive valid user searches for the services you offer. Learn more about how EVERWORKS can help you here.

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How to Choose A Managed Hosting Provider (Industry Tips Inside)

Managed Hosting is complicated, but there is an easy way to understand it. The term is ambiguous and because of this, it is common for every service provider to deliver different solutions.

Managed hosting is in essence an extension to dedicated hosting, where hardware is owned by the service provider and is leased to a single client. This client manages the day-to-day management and maintenance of its servers.

Dedicated hosting is different, by its day-to-day management and maintenance of its servers, as it is handled by the service provider compared to the clients themselves.

Due to the ambiguous defnition, many different business offer different ‘levels’ of management to its clients.

Your managed hosting should include:

Server Monitoring – 

The process of scanning servers in search of any irregularities or potential failures.

Security – 

This includes virus scanning, spam filtering, firewall configuration and operating system updates in addition to standard physical data centre security measures.

Full Back-up and Storage – 

Imagine deleting a file by accident and having no way to recover it. Now think of it on a  company wide scale. Losing data can be costly in every sense of the word; it can cause a loss of money, time and customer trust.

Managed Hosting Providers are far more likely to have both the physical and technical capabilities in place to carry out the back-up/storage process correctly.

Server Configuration and Maintenance – 

Managed hosting providers can offer specialist staff with the expertise to ensure that the hosting solution is initially configured to meet the customer’s requirements effectively and subsequently, to perform the necessary server maintenance to keep the platform running smoothly

Support – 

An attractive benefit of managed hosting is that – if there ever is an issue – there is always qualified support on hand. In ideal cases, companies make human telephone support available 24/7/365, however in some, support is offered via email.

There are also business benefits to managed hosting, which usually include, but once again are not limited to, the following:

Flexibility - 

Managed Hosting is a flexible solution – not a one size fits all service – and providers can work with customers to achieve a solution tailored to suit the budget and individual requirements of their business.

Reduced cost of operation – 

The hardware and expertise required to manage hosting in-house can be very costly; with many businesses, the cost outweighs the benefits.

More effective use of resource – 

If your company employs IT staff then you know better than anyone that skilled IT employees can be costly. With this in mind, it makes sense to make sure that you put this resource to the best possible use.

Learn more about Everworks dedicated hosting here.

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How To Dramatically Improve Your Cold Email

When sending a sales email, always put yourself in the context of meeting someone you’ve never met before for the first time.

Sending a sales email, is just like trying to force someone to marry you on the very first hello.

When you send a sales email, you could have the most compelling subject line. The most enticing content. The most exciting CTA.

But if I don’t know you and who you represent: Why should I trust you?

If you want to get a better response rate for your sales emails you need to answer that question. And one of the best ways to do that is with social proof.

What is social proof and why does it matter for sales emails?

Social proof is proving your credibility by pointing to other people or organizations you’ve worked with that already have credibility with your prospect.

In our experience, it’s the quickest way to go from a random name in someone’s inbox, to a person they don’t mind to work with.

If you’ve spent hours writing the best subject line, clearly articulated your proposition, and given an exciting call to action, all this will be in vain if you don’t make me feel comfortable with you. And without social proof, all of your efforts will be but for a lost cause.

Below are the 3 levels of social proof you need to show to gain someone’s trust over email:

This is a simple concept. But it can be complex to get correct.

You can’t just write to tell someone to trust you. You need to show it to me. More than that, you need to show me social proof on multiple levels:

1. Company credibility: Who have you worked with that I know and trust?
2. Product credibility: What verifiable results have you created for people with your product?
3. Personal credibility: Who are you and why should I trust you?

What types of social proof can (and should) you use?

There are tons of ways to show social proof and which one you choose will depend on what you have available.

However, before choosing any type of social proof to include in your sales emails, you need to ask two questions:

First, does this social proof resonate with this specific prospect? 

Next, will the prospect perceive this social proof as credible? 

With that in mind, here are the best ways you can show social proof in your sales emails.

Your customers

Happy customers are the best source of social proof. Instead of you telling a prospect all of the value they’re going to get, they get to hear it from someone they know who has already gone through the process.

You have a few options when choosing the right customers to use for social proof:

1. Famous and popular brands
2. Companies in the prospect’s market
3. Local companies they might be familiar with
4. You can use customer social proof by talking about them in the third person. 

Common connections

If you don’t have any customers or any you feel confident highlighting, you can create social proof by showing a common connection you have with the prospect.


However, you have to be careful here. A common connection isn’t just one of 5000 people on your LinkedIn or Twitter. It has to be a real connection you both know and trust.

Revenue and profits

Money talks. And highlighting verifiable monetary success is a great way to prove your legitimacy.

Have you done some impressive numbers in the past year?  Or pass a major milestone?

Any social proof connected to money has to be easily verified by another source or else it’s useless.

Press

Press doesn’t carry the same social status as it once did, but it’s still a great way to show you’re worth talking about. You can assume your prospect will click any press links you include.

Associations or former employers

In certain situations, the places you’ve worked in the past or where you went to school can be used as social proof.

Accomplishments

Again, in certain circumstances, relevant accomplishments or personal awards can help build your personal or product credibility.

Whatever social proof you use, assume your prospect will try to verify it. No matter what social proof you give, it has to be honest and verifiable. 

Beyond that, your personal online presence needs to have credibility as well. Most people will check your LinkedIn or social media profile to see who you are. And if those pages are shady or unprofessional it can make any social credibility you’ve developed to die with them.

Where to place social proof in your sales emails

The next question after what kind of social proof to use is how do you use it? The short answer is: It depends.

If people are abandoning your emails early on: Add social proof to the beginning to grab their interest and engage their imagination.

If people are reading your emails but not responding: Add social proof right before or after your call to action so people feel confident about responding.

There’s one more place you should use social proof that is so underutilized. Your signature is a social proof machine.

What do you do when you don’t have any social proof?

Social proof is a powerful sales tool. But if you don’t have any yet, there’s still a few options you can use.

First, you need to recognize that personal social proof is important to everything you’ll ever do as a sales rep and an individual. Your brand and reputation will follow you everywhere you go. And while it takes time to build, it brings massive returns in the long-run if you keep up with it.

Next, honesty and openness can be just as strong as social proof. 

Instead, if you don’t have any good social proof to show, just be transparent about your situation

This kind of vulnerability can be incredibly powerful and make someone want to trust you, even if you don’t have the proof to back it up yet.

Always remember, if I don’t trust you, I won’t talk to you

You wouldn’t let a complete stranger into your house, so why should a prospect reply to your sales email if they don’t know you and trust what you’re saying?

With social proof, you give your prospects a reason to believe.  Use it. And build that trust. Because without it, I don’t have a reason to talk to you.

Learn more about how Everworks's professional business email hosting will help you to deliver consistent email responses every time here.

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The Straightforward Guide On What Colocation Is and Its Benefits

Malaysia now has over 31 million people. 67.7% of them are Internet users.

In this post, I'm going to cover everything you need to know about Colocation and how to use Colocation to benefit your business.

Colocation is essentially space in a data centre that you rent for your servers to benefit from data centre infrastructure.

By the end, you'll know more about Colocation than most business owners, about taking your online service from great to spectacular.

Let's get started.

What is Colocation?

The first thing you need to figure out about Colocation is a clear simple meaning or definition of Colocation.

Colocation is data centre space which is available for rent.

If the goal for you is to have your servers deliver world class results. Your servers should be placed in an environment (within a data centre) that has facilities to deliver world class results.

For example, you need information fast for a client who wants to work with you. And your servers should perform at an equal pace or quicker than you so that you are able to provide world class service to your clients.

Key takeaway: It's important for your business to deliver fast.

There are a few reasons for this.

First, if you can save some time through speed, you'll be able to do and deliver more for your business.

The biggest benefit of speed is if you are speaking with a potential client who is interested to buy, you'll be able to sell more effectively. When your sales pitch is delivered without interruption, it gives incentive to buyers when they are making a decision to buy.

For instance, imagine if you were interested to buy a new service or product and was doing research.

Wouldn't you miss out on those who are slow to respond, because someone else was first to sell to you?

"That's because speed is very important in selling, and is one of the key components to better sales conversions."

The second reason is that it makes your business easier to work with.

One of the main reasons why clients don't buy from you is because there isn't a sense of urgency.

If you are able to act and communicate quickly on information your buyer is interested to learn, it is more likely that you are able to convert a sale.

How does Colocation benefit your business?

So far we've covered what is Colocation.

However, what's arguably more important, is figuring out how Colocation can benefit your business.

After all you only need to get a small slice of a data centre's power to see exponential results for your services.

First, using Colocation is an inexpensive way for you to benefit from high connection speeds (bandwidth).

Second you would significantly reduce any delay in service delivery because of higher reliability.  For example, power supply has been carefully implemented into the infrastructure to make sure your servers are always turned on.

Third, there is a lower risk of someone unnecessarily physically accessing your servers. Your servers are secured with available options such as CCTV monitoring and lockable cabinets.

Conclusion

If you've allocated funds to buy servers, install them in a data centre to maximise its potential. It should help your business to deliver the world class results your clients demand for.

However, your servers can't just maintain themselves. For example, you might need more computing power (better RAM) to service a growing customer list.

You need to make sure your servers continue to have the best hardware and software you need it to have to service your growing business.

After all, the goal that you should be focused on is to provide world class services to your clients.

From reading this post, you now know everything you need to know about Colocation. So get out there and find a reliable one!

Do you already have a Colocation? What have you found to be the best strategies to install and maintain your Colocation?

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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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