Infrastructure as Code - Beginner Guide

Infrastructure as Code(IaC) - Beginners Ultimate Guide 2024

(Estimated reading time: 10 minutes)

Infrastructure as Code (IaC) – An Introduction

Are you looking for a software solution that manages networks, virtual machines, load balancers, and connection topology? Does your operations team is looking for a cloud solution for software-defined infrastructure?

In IT practices as we use DevOps to utilize the source code, infrastructure as code (IaC) is used to automate the provisioning of infrastructure. It enables your organization to develop, deploy, and scale cloud applications with greater speed, less risk, and reduced cost.

The concept is similar to programming scripts. However, scripts are primarily used to automate a series of static steps that are repeated numerous times across multiple servers. 

This post discusses the concept of Infrastructure as code, its use, and the scope of IaC in the future

What is Infrastructure as Code?

Infrastructure as a code is a higher-level or descriptive language to code more versatile and adaptive provisioning and deployment processes. For example, for IT management and configuration, you can install a MySQL server, verify that MySQL is running properly, create a user account and password, set up a new database and remove unneeded databases.

Infrastructure as Code (IaC)
More clearly, infrastructure as code is defined as:

  • Allows infrastructure to be easily integrated into version control mechanisms to create trackable and auditable infrastructure changes.
  • Provides the ability to introduce extensive automation for infrastructure management. All these things lead to IaC being integrated into CI/CD pipelines as an integral part of the SDLC.
  • Eliminates the need for manual infrastructure provisioning and management. Thus, it allows users to easily manage the inevitable config drift of underlying infrastructure and configurations and keep all the environments within the defined configuration.

What is the need for IaC?

Once upon a time, when a business wanted to run the software, its only option was to order some physical equipment and internet access from a network provider. These data centers had to request the networking companies weeks or months in advance, and then manually provision them on-site. This required a physical location with cooling systems and countless hours to perform installations and maintenance operations.

But then, public data centers came along that could manage the servers of other businesses. Some big giants started server services by maintaining public data centers. That justified the need for a setup like IaC.

With this setup, you will :

  • No need for dedicated and costly server rooms.
  • Will potentially lower lead time for common servers and networking items.
  • Physical management of servers/equipment handled by the data center provider.
  • Freeing up valuable resources.

Once the cloud setup became accessible with the help of APIs, the trend of handling provisioning and management of resources with the help of scripts and automated tools became prevalent. So now, once the physical equipment is installed in a cloud or virtual setup, and rest all the processes are automated, including the provisioning of all virtual hardware resources.

With IaC, the provisioning and configuration of resources are described in scripts, which are read by tools that communicate with the public cloud API to make sure reality matches the desired state.

What Problem Does IaC Solve?

The IaC as of date addresses the following issues:

  • The cost and hassles of maintaining individual physical resources are drastically reduced.
  • Speed, scalability, and configuration issues are maintained by the service providers.
  • Monitoring for detecting viruses and threats and fixing privacy issues are easily handled as the infrastructure is equipped with advanced software scripts.
  • While we maintain individual setup, there is inconsistency, and unavoidable discrepancies thus transferring data and applications becomes difficult.

Benefits of Infrastructure as Code

Virtualization and cloud-native development eliminate the problem of physical hardware management, enabling virtual servers or containers on demand.

But some developers like to still code by themselves. But as offers, a cutting edge enables versioned infrastructure with numerous benefits.

  • Faster time to production/market:

IaC provides faster operations as the infrastructure is already maintained. To access it, you need to run pre-executed scripts. The only process you need to maintain is faster ticketing to speed up the operation.

  • Eliminates Time-Consuming, Routine Work

Mismatch of the hardware and software is always a critical issue when it comes to the deployment of applications. This raises the risk of vulnerabilities and security threats. IaC prevents drift by provisioning the same environment every time.

  • Friendly and efficient development:

It is noticed that the SDLC time is reduced with the implementation of IaC. Sandboxes and integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) environments have provided a way to run standard and tested software. The testing environment saves time and thus helps in completing the software cycles in a faster and more effective way.

  • Protection against churn:

IaC maximizes efficiency and dependency on infrastructure. If one employee leaves the organization, it will hardly affect efficiency. This independence helps the employees to work freely without taking the tension of maintaining the server setups. Also, it reduces the work of IT administrators.

Cloud Computing: as a Solution to IaC

Cloud solutions are a well-accepted platform for most of the development work. The concept of maintaining containers and adapting to virtual coding styles is much easier than implementing and executing the individual code. Cloud solutions have moved ahead by providing IaC solutions. All you need to do is to balance the pros and cons according to your context when selecting one of the IaC styles. Some of the things you should consider are:

  • Choose The Correct Tools
  • Use Version Control
  • Avoid Manual Infrastructure Changes
  • Test Your Infrastructure-as-Code Templates
  • Be Cautious With Sensitive Variables and Parameters
  • Write Precise Code Rather Than Documentation
  • Write Modular Configuration Files

What are the key challenges for IaC?

It is a fact that  IaC adds a lot of value to the IT environment but there are a few challenges that can not be overlooked. Remember to account for your unique IT situations that might make the following more or less relevant (like organization size, state, and your technology adoption lifecycle). To utilize the IaC environment to its full capacity, you need to avoid the following challenges:

  • Minimize Coding language dependency:

Some of the popular languages used in IaC are JSON, HashiCorp Configuration Languages (HCL), YAML, Ruby, etc. The shortage of these skill sets can hamper your IaC usage potential. Also, is your strategy to move away from development and make things serverless? Think of the strategic direction in which you are heading before you jump into IaC.

  • Security assessment processes:

When you are about to make a shift to a new environment, you have to do manual security checking of the existing security setup. In most cases, you need to match up with the high-end security setup used in IaC. There is a need to take extra steps to ensure you’re establishing guardrails for complete governance.

  • IaC monitoring and synchronization:

Additional tools are required to monitor the smooth working and track the provisioning with the additional setup. This might increase the initial cost but in the long run, it is going to be beneficial if you deploy proper syncing methods using appropriate licensed tools

What are the types of Infrastructure as Code?

 As we require to run different types of applications with and various types of software configurations, we have the options to select among the types of infrastructure as code services:

# Depending on the Tools Used:

  • Declarative Infrastructure as Code

A declarative approach requires only the end requirement of the user. The setup itself suggests the specific tools or platforms meet the requirement. The declarative approach is preferred in most infrastructure management use cases as it offers a greater degree of flexibility when managing infrastructure. Some of the tools used are Terraform, Pulumi, CloudFormation, ART, and Puppet.

  • Imperative Infrastructure as Code

An imperative approach allows the developers to define the steps to deploy changes. The system does not deviate from the specified steps. Chef is considered an imperative tool. Uniquely, Ansible is mostly declarative with support for imperative commands.

# As per the infrastructure setup:

  • Mutable infrastructure

Mutable infrastructure is the infrastructure that can be modified or updated after it is originally provisioned. Mutable infrastructure gives development teams the flexibility to make ad hoc server customizations. It allows addressing running issues like security threats. But this type fails to utilize the key feature of IaC which is the ability to maintain consistency between deployments or within versions. It makes version monitoring tough.

  • Immutable infrastructure

Immutable infrastructure remains stable once originally provisioned. If immutable infrastructure needs to be changed, it has to be replaced with new infrastructure. Because new infrastructure can be spun up quickly on the cloud, especially with  IaC, this setup is more useful and feasible. The consistency is easily maintained between the test and deployment stages. It solves version monitoring issues as and when required.

How Does IaC Work effectively?

Choosing the types of IaC will serve as the basic requirement. At this point, it is to note that IaC is independent of languages but choosing the best suitable requirement will allow you to receive the best practices. Some of the IaC deployment strategies are :

  • Make code your single source of truth.
  • Version control all of your configuration files.
  • Use little documentation for your infrastructure specifications.
  • Test and Monitor Your Configurations.

How does IaC differ from infrastructure as a service (IaaS)?

Importantly, the IaC concept is not a derivative of infrastructure as a service (IaaS).

Infrastructure as a Service is one of the core cloud services that allows the virtualization of resources. such as servers, networking infrastructure, storage, etc

Infrastructure as Code is a tool that can be used to provision and manage infrastructure. It is not limited to only cloud-based resources. You apply IaC to a wide variety of environments, including on-premises.

Infrastructure as Code tools & platforms

While many open-source IaC tools are available, some of the most commonly adopted tools are:

Terraform by HashiCorp is the leading IaC tool to manage cloud-based infrastructure across various platforms from AWS, Azure, GCP to Oracle Cloud, Alibaba Cloud, and even platforms like Kubernetes and Heroku.

As a platform-agnostic tool, Terraform is used to facilitate infrastructure provisioning and management use cases across different platforms. It ensures the desired state across the configurations.

Ansible is an open-source configuration management tool with IaC capabilities. It is not specifically designed for IaC but supports both cloud and on-prem environments. It can act through SSH or WinRM as an agentless tool. Ansible excels at configuration management and infrastructure provisioning. However, it has limited management capabilities.

Pulumi is one of the latest tools to provide a developer-first IaC experience. Pulumi offers the freedom to use any supported programming language as the developer requires. This tool supports Python, TypeScript, JavaScript, Go, C#, and F#, and the state is managed through the Pulumi service by default.

Chef and Puppet are two powerful configuration management tools. Both aim to provide configuration management and automation capabilities with some infrastructure management capabilities across the development pipeline. Chef is developed to deploy DevOps practices with greater collaboration tools. Puppet evolved by targeting sheer process automation. Today, Puppet has automated built-in watchers to identify configuration drift.

CFEngine is another tool that solely focuses on configuration management. Even though there is no capability to manage the underlying infrastructure, CDEngine can accommodate even the most complex configuration requirements, covering everything from security hardening to compliance.

CloudFormation is the AWS proprietary platform-specific IaC tool to manage AWS infrastructure. CloudFormation has deep integration with all AWS services and can facilitate any AWS configuration as a first-party solution.

Microsoft Azure uses JSON-based Azure Resource Templates to facilitate IaC practices within the Azure platform. These resource templates ensure consistency of the infrastructure and can be used for any type of resource configuration.

In addition to the above, there are specialized tools aimed at specific infrastructure and configuration management tasks such as:

The future is to adopt quick, trackable infrastructure changes

Infrastructure as a Code offers one of the advanced techniques to deploy modern applications. You can leverage quick and trackable infrastructure changes that directly integrate into CI/CD platforms. Infrastructure as Code is crucial for both:

  • Facilitating scalable infrastructure management
  • Efficiently managing the config drift in all environments

Getting started with Infrastructure as Code may seem daunting with many different tools and platforms targeted at different use cases. However, with the planned strategy, you can cross this hurdle by building a  powerful infrastructure management mechanism.  

References:

https://www.ibm.com/cloud/learn/infrastructure-as-code

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/devops/deliver/what-is-infrastructure-as-code

https://www.bmc.com/blogs/infrastructure-as-code/

https://stackify.com/what-is-infrastructure-as-code-how-it-works-best-practices-tutorials/

by Loveneet singh

SEO Copywriting: An Effective Way To Rank Your Website

(Estimated reading time: 7 min)

How SEO Copywriting Can Improve Website Rankings

In the success of SEO campaigns, content marketing plays a vital role. Among the two branches of content creation, SEO copywriting and SEO content writing are more prevalent.

These content generation methods have revolutionized the way marketers reach, engage, and convert their leads into customers.

For an SEO strategist, knowing the difference between copywriting and SEO writing will help to create profitable SEO campaigns.

We have already discussed about SEO Content Writing vs Creative Content Writing in the previous posts. In this post, we will  discuss more about SEO copywriting, its benefits and how it can maximize SEO marketing strategies.

What is SEO copywriting?

SEO copywriting is a practice of producing keyword-optimized content designed to appeal to end users and search engine algorithms.

The optimized content should be readable, linkable, and sharable among the various online platforms. Writing only from the Search engine's point of view might look robotic therefore copywriting focuses on the authenticity and relevancy of the content.

To put it simply, it is the art of creating helpful, captivating, and valuable content that targets keywords as per SEO requirements.

SEO Copywriting

The practice of creating content must incorporate unique and valuable concepts that can encourage the viewers to make a visit to the website and make a purchase.

One more concern is to meet the competitive landscape to create a marketplace. Creating a brand value and a good reputation among competitors and users is the main motive of copywriting. The core skills of a copywriter are:

SEO copywriting Vs SEO content writing 

Copywriting and SEO writing are the two different disciplines of content marketing. They have certain similarities among them with the same objective. The main goal is to create content that can help in improving the search engine ranking and thus improve website traffic. But both apply different methods to achieve the same goal. Now let's get to know in detail.

SEO Copywriting

Copywriting focuses on SEO- friendly writing strategically aiming at producing brand awareness. It is defined as persuasive writing for business promotion. It covers a multitude of projects such as:

  • Email
  • Web pages
  • Landing pages
  • Print advertisements
  • Video and audio scripts

A copywriter incorporates different elements to drive SEO campaigns:

  • Aim to target audiences
  • Ability to touch the reader’s emotions
  • Applying innovative techniques to develop keyword-optimized, eye-catching content

SEO Content writing

SEO content-writing is the creation of creative content as per the SEO requirement. The content thus created will help to gain a high ranking on search engines like Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo and others.

SEO content writing mainly focuses on on-page SEO activities considering the working of search engine algorithms and end users’ expectations. An SEO- friendly content involves writing content with the user in mind. Some of the key components of SEO content writing are:

Main Differences between SEO Content Writing and SEO Copywriting

Various kinds of websites use different writing styles to address the needs of clients. Since copywriting and content writing, both are strong SEO writing styles, let’s get to know the differences between the two:

  • Optimization Methods

Both types of writing are optimized to meet different goals. For website pages, we, write SEO content while for TV commercials, print ads, or product labeling, we use copywriting style.

  • Usage

The online content is categorized as informative and promotional content. SEO writing is more comprehensive. It is used for longer-form content like articles and blog posts whereas copywriting is a promotional content creation used to create a brand value of a product or service.

  • Target audience

Approach to answer the queries of target audiences makes a big difference. SEO writing is mainly about writing the content to introduce the product. Copywriting, on the other hand, considers that the target audiences already know about the product and leaning toward buying it. For example landing pages for paid campaigns.

The main motive of SEO copywriting is its purpose, mainly calling people to action and boosting SERP rankings of the content.

For good SEO practices, the content writers must use both styles in combination. It is required as per the latest SEO guidelines.

SEO Copywriting Tips and Best Practices

If you have got a fantastic product or service, then writing content for the same is tough. The market competition will be more. For example, if you are performing a search like “top SEO agencies”, only the leading companies will appear on the first page. If you add a location to this search like “top SEO agencies, Danville CA”, the chances to appear will increase to capture the data from “Danville, CA ”( local search).

Many startup companies face this business challenge and opt to choose content optimizing techniques. If you hire a professional company that provides optimized SEO -friendly content might suggest many innovative ideas. You can receive SEO benefits and can rank better on search engines.

It is always better to outsource copywriting tasks to professional agencies providing SEO services. Here are a few tips to help you produce optimized copywriting content:

  • Check grammar and spelling by writing short sentences.
  • Know the need and expectations of your audiences to create informative content.
  • Consider the formatting of the text. Sometimes, too much information and selection of words become hostile.
  • Make use of optimized keywords in the appropriate places. Including too many keywords in a single phrase is ineffective from an SEO point of view.
  • Using long tails keywords is a good practice even for copywriters. The search engines can understand the context and would penalize it accordingly.

How to become an SEO copywriter? 

SEO copywriting for beginners starts by developing an in-depth understanding the SEO practices. Competitive SEO campaigns require SEO copywriters to create useful, interesting, persuasive, and well-optimized content to have a high search engine ranking.

It is all about targeting specific keywords and nailing the user experience by promoting products and services.

As a beginner in the SEO content writing field, you can excel only when you have a flair for writing website content. Your content samples will act as the gateway to the get job in a reputed SEO agency.

Here is a step-by-step process that will help you become a successful copywriter:

  • Take the help of online tutorials and note down the important points to start with
  • Start writing content for social media marketing (email, Facebook, etc.)
  • Take an online course to learn the tricks and tactics of SEO copywriting.

If you are looking for a high-salaried copywriter job then you must enroll yourself in a copywriting course from one of the reputed SEO agencies. Many institutes like Udemy or Coursera offer online courses. The fee structure depends upon the type and duration of the course.

Tools Used for SEO Copywriting

SEO Copywriting is done using AI-powered tools. These tools provide suggestions to improve the quality of the content without compromising user readability. Most of the tools are available for free, So, if you want to bring copywriting practice while creating SEO content, you can start using these tools:

  • Ginger Software- A grammar correction Tool
  • Grammarly-  A grammar checking and content optimization tool
  • SEMrush- A complete content optimization tool with a dashboard to generate SEO content
  • Google Adwords- SEO advertising tools that can help you create competitive keyword-optimized content
  • Inlinks – Helps you create optimized content
  • Marketmuse- Suggests keywords as per the searches and improves the quality of the content
  • SpyFu- This allows you to compare your content with your competitor's content

Here we have mentioned some of the AI tools that help you create engaging content. There are many other AI tools to help copywriters. There is no denying the fact, these tools will help you bring change in your writing style and create optimized content that can improve SEO ranking.

How Does Copywriting Help With SEO?

SEO copywriting meets the specific SEO goals and encourages readers to take an action. The ingredient of copywriting is to include catchy content. Some of the add-on features to include are:

  • Include phrases and keywords that search engines can understand
  • A copywriter answers the user's inquiry and turns a user into a buyer by providing relevant information
  • Writing engaging and quality content to improve the value of content
  • Analyzing the competition and writing outranking content

There is no doubt that for a successful SEO campaign, the copywriter can help you create quality content that will never penalize your website in Google ranking.

Last but not least, you should understand the market niche to generate strong content for SEO.

Copywriting ensures and justifies the right purpose of SEO content.  To fully optimize your content, you need to hire a professional SEO agency like RedBlink technologies that can help you create quality content. Use this below button to schedule a meeting with us and discuss your content requirements.

Book An Appointment

Once you do so, you will be able to see the best results by yourself. To summarize, copywriting will be a profitable investment for your brand building!

Also Read -

by Loveneet singh

Flutter App Development

Flutter Developer Roadmap 2024

(Estimated reading time: 10 minutes)

Roadmap To Become A Flutter Developer in 2024

Flutter is an application environment built by Google for building mobile applications. The platform can run on many devices, including Android phones, tablets, or laptops.

The editor for creating apps in Flutter is code. You write your app instructions in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files called components. Each component contains the necessary functionality to perform a specific action within your app.

The beauty of this coding system is that it allows you to use any language you like to create your components and codes. Google offers lots of templates and samples that already have the functions you will need, cutting down on the work you must do.

flutter app development roadmap

Flutter stores its compiled forms in APK files. These are deployed onto your device, running as independent programs upon completion.

There are several advantages to using Flutter over other software development languages. It is also known as a cross-platform tool, serving as one example of a technology capable of producing high efficiency at low cost.

What is Flutter?

Flutter is an open-source mobile application development framework from Google. The main reason for its popularity is that it supports building cross-platform apps. Flutter is also used to create interactive apps that run on web pages or on the desktop.

Here are some features of Flutter:

The single code base for Android and iOS Mobile App Development

  • This approach helps simplify and reduce development time and cost, and maintenance is also an easy task.

Hot reload function

  • This feature allows developers and designers to see changes as they code.

Open-source and by Google

  • Flutter is a popular choice among developers due to huge community support.

Dart Programming

  • Flutter uses an easy-to-learn and easy-to-implement programming language called Dart, which is Google's general programming language.

Learn Basics of Dart

Flutter uses dart as a programming language. Dart is a powerful programming language to build apps faster. If you are familiar with a dart, it will be easier to build apps with flutter. Here is must-learn topic for the dart.

  • Basic Hello World Program.
  • Variables and Constants.
  • Conditions and Loops.
  • Lists and methods of list.
  • Methods and types.
  • Object-Oriented Programming.
  • Class and Object.
  • Constructors.
  • List of Objects.
  • Async and Await [Advance topic but will help later].

There are various websites and YouTube channels to learn Dart. Some of the best links to learn dart are provided below:

Benefits of Flutter for Mobile Apps in 2024

Flutter showed its potential just a few years after its official launch. This framework not only speeds up the app development process but also saves time and money. 

  • Flutter: Very profitable

Compared to other cross-platform app development frameworks, Flutter is more cost-effective. It meets all the requirements of every company, regardless of its model and size.

With its code reuse feature, Flutter saves developers time. The “Write Once, Run Everywhere” concept holds true since a single code is used to develop an application for multiple platforms.

Small and medium businesses can choose this platform to build fast applications with desired features and excellent designs. Here, the cost of app development remains low as Flutter app development takes very little time .

  • Flutter: Faster Development

The growing popularity of Flutter has many reasons. The best of them is to offer the fastest results. Mobile App Developers can debug and test codes quickly. Meeting deadlines, reducing costs, and other resources and effort required to develop an application are significantly less important with Flutter.

  • Flutter: Excellent user experience

The Flutter-based UI can be installed on virtually any platform. It has its own rendering engine which allows developers to keep the user interface as it is while switching to another platform.

Therefore, app users can enjoy an excellent and same experience as a native app on various platforms.

  • Flutter: Range of Widgets

Flutter has a wide range of widgets. These widgets have extensive capabilities that allow developers to easily build complex interfaces.

Third-party plugins and widgets together help to make the development process seamless. The UI Toolkit makes the Flutter app development process more intuitive.

  • Flutter: Improved productivity

Flutter has a hot reload feature that allows developers and designers to coordinate efficiently and verify changes immediately without modifying code.

During the app development process, all UI changes are visible to developers and designers. This saves them time and effort.

  • Flutter: Safety

Google designed the Flutter framework with all modern app security concerns in mind. Reliable and well-tested plugins can be found in Flutter to mitigate security risks such as user authentication flaws, malicious code injections, and data breaches.

  • Flutter: Performance

As a cross-platform framework, Flutter offers unparalleled performance compared to its competitors. Flutter compiles designs to native code. Unlike React Native, Flutter renders widgets directly from the native library rather than downloading the libraries and components to the device before rendering.

Flutter is the best choice when you need a mobile app that offers a seamless user interface without incurring too high development costs. It's an ideal technology for companies looking to create an MVP, as well as businesses looking to bring a mobile app to market quickly.

Flutter’s platform gives you many new options for creating great user interfaces (UIs), including:

  • Material design with gestures
  • Cupertino widgets (including navigation drawer)
  • Floating action button in favorite colors
  • Rich text editing with Gesture Typing support
  • Flexible and dynamic UI layout adjustments
  • Tailored apps and permissions
  • Extensions & unique to chrome OS
  • Cross-platform messaging
  • Icon fonts
  • Advanced animations

As you can see our mobile app development is constantly evolving. With this in mind, it’s important to understand that there is an ever-present demand for new features within the Android platform.

Since Google invested heavily in promoting its material design language, more and more android apps are adopting material features. It is also worth noting that with Android maintenance done by engineers who work daily on the system itself, your device will always receive stable updates along with all of the latest improvements found in each update.

This contributes to the longevity of any application installed on your device. There are even several libraries available that provide additional functionality not included in the default software or stock versions.

With these additions, you can create unprecedented applications that may be otherwise impossible due to hardware limitations. Some use cases include but are not limited to real-time interactive experiences, high-performance operations, extensive offline capabilities, low power consuming modes, and many more.

Flutter Developer Roadmap - Learn Flutter App Development.

Flutter web Roadmap - Learn Flutter Development.

What to Start With First?

Since the release of Flutter’s first app, an iOS/Android IDE has become more prevalent than mobile software development ever had before.

With this increased exposure, it is becoming easier to get your foot in the door and start developing apps with Flutter.

What we recommend you start with is learning how to build upon Google’s own widgets (such as those used for sharing content) and implementing them into your own UIs.

This will help you gain experience and confidence as well as provide you with additional resources that can take your development further.

There are many great guides online that cover how to do this from both creating a new widget or building a plugin from scratch.

Why does Flutter Uses Dart?

As mentioned earlier, one of the main reasons to use Dart is that it gives you access to all of Google’s tools and infrastructure (e.g., Android Studio). This includes the compiler, code indexing/search, runtime, development environment etc. In fact, many people choose to use Android Studio for this very reason.

Furthermore, since your application will be running on Android, most of the time, you won't need to worry about bringing in external dependencies. You can focus on what you want to accomplish without needing to manage other parts of the system.

There are some things your app can do with Dart that it cannot do with JavaScript, like speed up navigation between pages or work well on mobile devices with limited hardware capability. Some examples are below:

  • Your app may have several different interfaces, each with its own set of design considerations. With Dart, you can create them separately and then connect them together.
  • You could have an interface for the home screen that utilizes hot reload, another for iOS that connects to Swift via Publish, and still others that utilize native components.
  • You also have more control over how much memory your applications uses at run-time. Because you're not relying on third-party libraries as often, there's less overhead involved.

How to Install Flutter?

Flutter is essentially Google's Portable User Interface (UI) toolkit, used to create and develop eye-catching, natively-designed apps for mobile, desktop, and web from a single database. coded. Flutter is free, open source, and compatible with existing code. It is used by businesses and developers around the world, due to its user-friendly interface and fairly simple yet precise controls.

Here, we will look at the process of installing Flutter on Windows.

Follow the steps below to install Flutter on Windows:

  • Step 1: Navigate to flutter.dev on your webpage. From the top menu bar, select Docs > First Steps > Install > Windows .
  • Step 2: You can get detailed steps for installing the latest versions of Windows PowerShell 5.0 and Git for Windows if they are not already installed.
  • Step 3:  Restart the system after installing Git on your windows. Once done, let's move on to installing the Flutter Software Development Kit (Flutter SDK). Click the download link for the latest version (as of today).

Flutter SDK is the tool that allows us not only to create flutter projects, but also to create these projects and turn them into native mobile applications. In simpler terms, Flutter SDK is the main tool for creating flutter UI.

The latter one is not recommended as it might lead to bugs and problems with the application. Here, you can read more information about settings and permissions.

Once the zip file is downloaded, extract the "flutter" folder (drag and drop) to any system path/directory where you get read and write access. Generally, it's better to create a new folder in a separate directory from the system drive due to permission issues (in my case, the target destination is D: > development > flutter).

Run your first app

Test drive

Do you also want to run your Flutter app on the web? The web version of Flutter is available as early support…

flutter.dev
or you can use
To run your first app
flutter run
and … and .. and

When you create your flutter app you will see there is already code for a counter app.

When you run the code, you will see this. This is a simple counter application where you have a FAB(FloatingActionButton) and Text which indicate how many times the FAB has been pressed.

Flutter Developer Salaries in USA

The salary of the Flutter developer evolves according to his experience, the scope of his various projects, and also his geographical area. Higher salaries are observed in the corporate region than in the others. The national average salary for a Flutter Developer is $72,166 in the United States.

In short, the salary of a Flutter developer in 2024 varies according to experience. The salary of a junior Flutter developer is around $35,000 per year, while the salary for a senior Flutter developer is $80,000 per year. This is one of the specialties with the highest labor demand, which is why it is easier to get the first job here.

Flutter Resources

Language

https://dart.dev/guides/language/language-tour
https://dart.dev/guides/language/effective-dart

Dart
https://pub.dev/packages/freezed
https://fsharpforfunandprofit.com

Database
https://pub.dev/packages/sqflite
https://pub.dev/packages/firebase
https://pub.dev/packages/moor
https://pub.dev/packages/hive

Architecture

https://fluttersamples.com
https://pub.dev/packages/flutter_redux
https://pub.dev/packages/flutter_mobx
https://pub.dev/packages/flutter_bloc

Package Manager

https://flutter.dev/docs/development/packages-and-plugins/developing-packages
https://cocoapods.org
https://maven.apache.org

Conclusion

Flutter is easy to use, quick to develop, and has a wide selection of third-party development toolsets.

It allows you to work in either a reactive or proactive fashion. With reactive development, the entire app runs within the browser, which makes it very fast. The downside is that there are limited options for deploying the final product; you can only deploy to iOS or Android devices through their respective app stores.

With proactive development, your code is compiled into actual files which are deployed onto your device. This process can take some time, but you have more control over what happens to your data. You can actually run apps from your own website as well as distribute via marketplaces like Apple App Store or Google Play Store.

The information provided above and the aforementioned steps will help you to get your first job as a flutter Developer. 

by Loveneet singh

Benefits of geofencing marketing

Geofencing: Target the Right Audience to Improve Sales

Tips to Improve Your Sales with Geofencing Strategy

Do you face challenges in reaching targeted customers despite applying the latest digital marketing tools and techniques? Are you wondering why the mobile generated leads are not leading to sales?

Don’t be surprised? Your competitor might be using the geofencing technology to target the location based customers.

In this post, let’s know about geofencing in detail, a few of its key benefits, and how marketers can begin to leverage this technology in new and innovative ways.

What is Geofencing Marketing?

Geofencing is a form of location-based marketing where a geographic boundary is placed around a point of interest. Serving mobile customers is a real-time need and geofencing marketing is the ultimate tactic to engage local customers.

Geofencing is the use of GPS or RFID technology to create a virtual geographic boundary, enabling software to trigger a response when a mobile device enters or leaves a particular area. This allows businesses to reach a hyper-specific audience.

Geofencing-Target the Right Audience

The following are some of the most interesting stats and data about geofencing marketing for 2024:

  • Mobile ads with geofencing produce nearly double the click-through rate. (Source: mobilemarketer.com)
  • Geofencing is compatible with 92% of smartphones (Source: https://workology.com)
  • 55% of shoppers visited a retailer after receiving a location-based message. (Source: https://www.salesforce.com)
  • 90% of SMS are read within 3 minutes so this marketing method works. (Source: https://www.sitepoint.com/)

Benefits of Geofencing Marketing 2024

Geo-targeting is an excellent marketing method, especially for a local or eCommerce business. The monthly deals and festive offers can instantly boost sales. It can gain instant recognition for a startup business.

Marketers and Advertisers can set up a fence anywhere, including:

  • A store location or entrance
  • Streets surrounding an area or store
  • A competitor's business
  • Live trade shows, events, and conventions
  • Colleges and universities
  • Referral sources such as stores or companies that often refer customers to you
  • Individual households needing personalized services
  • Geo-fences can be highly targeted and can produce an improved ROI.
  • Better Targeting with cost-effective Solutions

You can create a hyped target for clients’ business based on their location and products. If you send a message or ad at the right time and place, your chances of converting are much higher than the average. Moreover, this is done in a cost-saving mode.

Some of the additional benefits are:

  • Improved Data Collection with Personalized Customer Experience

The marketing methods adopted can let your offline customers get online shopping benefits. This will most likely lead to an improvement in the way you both collect and use data. Depending on the location that your geofence is set on, you can customize your messaging as per the customer's needs.

  • Enhanced Local Sales with increased Customers Loyalty

By keeping the interests and needs of local customers in mind, you can generate coupons and promotions for locals. This will help you greatly improve your conversion rates from your geographical area. With the personalized approach, you will increase the chances for new customers to become repeat business.

  • Improved User Engagement

As a result of setting fencing-based campaigns, you will witness an improved engagement rate. You will be able to maintain a target-based database that is staying nearby and interested in buying your products/Service

Now that you know the benefits, you should approach a leading digital marketing company that can set a profitable geofencing marketing campaign for you.

How to Integrate Geofencing into Your Marketing Strategy

Geofencing provides an optimal way to make the most out of your content, campaigns, and promotions. Making it one of the overall marketing strategies can help to grow your customer base and strengthen your brand identity over time.  To integrate, do the following tasks:

Step 1 – Define the Geo-fence Perimeter

A geo-fence is a simple polygon defining an area, perimeter, or entry/exit point. Using certain tools, a web developer will draw the borders at a specific location on a map. Map providers that support geo-fencing. Google Maps or any other map apps help you do this.

Step 2 – Configure the Trigger

A trigger or event is when a person or a vehicle passes a specific location in the geo-fence. When someone passes the region or point, it triggers an automatic push notice. Marketers can specify when the message gets sent upon entry, exit, or both.

Step 3 – Define the Actions for Events

Setting up a marketing geo-fence can get quite technical. There are many options and parameters to consider. For example, you must assign a thing to happen for a specific event within a particular geofence. Otherwise, the shopper won't be notified or may receive irrelevant messages.

Step 4- Adopt a catchy mobile advertising design

Mobile advertising aspects are quite limited, so you need to focus on attention to detail. Minimalistic designs and contrast of colors are essential. If the mobile ad does not draw the user’s attention or send a clear message, the user will scroll past it and not pay attention to it. So, creation and layout are critical things to consider.

Step 5- Integrate a clear call to action

Integrate a clear call to action triggers immediate action. Since you are targeting small distance customers, give them an immediate reason to walk into your store through a clear call to action. Geofencing works if you create more urgency in your advertising message like 70% till 5 PM today.

How Does Geofencing Marketing Campaigns Work?

It’s not rocket science. With 3 simple steps any top-rated PPC agency can set up geofencing marketing campaigns:

  • Set up your physical places using Geofences.
  • Deliver contextualized notifications when users enter, leave or dwell in specific locations.
  • Use location analytics reports to measure campaign effectiveness and improve performance.

Geofencing Advertising on Google Ads

To improve sales, geofencing advertising with Google Ads serves a great purpose. The Google Ads platform allows you to do geofencing on search, display, and YouTube campaigns. You can easily set up geofencing advertising on Google Ads.

To start with, choose a campaign and then go to its Settings page. You can choose from a number of geo-targeting options such as Country, State, Zip Code, Radius, DMA, City, and Metro. To more specifically target a location, manually enter the location.

You can choose from ‘Location’ or ‘Radius’ options as well. The Radius option lets you target an audience within a more customized and specific area that you define. You can choose mile-radius or kilometer-radius to target a pinpointed location. This gives you the ability to target your paid Google Ads campaigns on the relevant audience within a very specific area.

The tight geolocation fencing increases local business opportunities. The push notifications help in creating more focused campaign analytics leading to direct sales.

Geofencing Advertising on Facebook and Instagram

Facebook offers a straight-forward interface for ad campaigns. To set up geofencing on your Facebook ads, first create a standard marketing campaign. Then browse to the ‘Audiences’ section of the campaign. In the Audiences section, you can use different factors to accurately define your audience. One of these factors is ‘Locations.’

In the Locations section, specify a particular location for your target users. You can also provide the locations that should be excluded from the location you have selected. For instance, you can select a particular neighborhood, and then exclude some of the areas of that neighborhood that you don’t want to target. This creates a more effective and specific geofence for your Facebook advertising campaigns.

Use-cases of Geofencing Marketing

Geofencing marketing is done using the technologies such as beacons, GPS, or even IP addresses to build a fence. When the people having the relevant mobile app related to the business or key enter a specified area, they can receive special ads, messages, or notifications. This leads to higher quality clicks and a better ROI (return on investment) and ROAS (return on ad spend).

Search analytics and demographics play a critical role in ensuring success for this type of campaign.

Some use cases for geofencing marketing include:

  • Drive visitors to your locations by adding geofences in POIs (Points of Interest) like airports, hotels, or touristic locations and send them engaging notifications. It will serve the need and create urgency to visit your nearby store.
  • Customers help you improve your strategies by giving feedback. Know their in-store experiences. In return, provide rewards, offers, and better deals to purchase from your store. This will spread your goodwill in the local market.
  • Use location trends and treat customer behavior as the point of target marketing.. Using this tactic, you can also know what segment of your customers frequent your competitors' businesses.

Here , we are mentioning the success stories of popular brands that have gained rapid increase in sales using geofencing techniques:

How did Burger King troll McDonalds?

One inspiring example of geofencing is- the “Burger King’s Whopper Detour campaign”. In this campaign, Burger King offered burgers to its customers for 1 cent while they give the order sitting at McDonald’s café. This not only improved the sales but also trolled the competitor.

A BK app was designed for running the campaign and placing the order. The great business planning was done at the backend. Thousands of McDonald’s restaurant locations were captured to create geofences around every single one.

App’s success set a benchmark for geo-conquesting examples. Burger King captured McDonald’s business by scoring free publicity with the help of an app.

How did Amazon became No.1 Retailer Worldwide?

Amazon’s launched the location facility to promote local businesses. By entering the location details, customers can embed the features using high-quality data from top providers. They can access links shown on the basis of maps, points of interest, geocoding, route planning, geofencing, and asset tracking

The supply time is reduces as the tracking is done locally. The service providers can add map to their website so that the amazon app can trace the exact location. Importantly, businesses have used  the geofencing features to reach out to customers with timely offers when they’re close to a retail location. This has helped Amazon to become No. 1 retailer worldwide.

How Starbucks segregate their customers?

Starbucks is a chain coffee cafes who have used geofencing technology to send push notifications to interested customers nearby. One such example is their happy hour special, when certain drinks are half price, users nearby get special push notifications and this notification methods helps in promotion of brand.

They are using geofencing marketing to segregate customers into different categories, for example, whether the user is a cappuccino drinker or a frappuccino drinker, in order to deliver an appropriate push notification.

What technologies/platforms does geofencing marketing use?

The use of the right technology ensures the success of any campaign. You can mix geofencing mobile advertising with display marketing, video advertising, content marketing,  etc., to target many specific audiences.

Apart from the google and facebook there are some apps and software that you can use for your geofencing marketing campaigns are (similar types of tools apps and software can be used):

Geofencing vs Geo Targeting vs Geolocation

Geofencing, geo-targeting, and geolocation are powerful location-based marketing techniques that you might want to include in your programmatic campaigns. However, their purpose, mechanism of work, and use cases are distinct. Let's see the summary of the differences in the table below.

  Geofencing Geotargeting Geolocation
Purpose Provide a hyper-relevant ad experience for quick conversions of leads in a specific location. Geotargeting provide a personalized ad experience and raise brand awareness for better conversions in a wider geographical location. Provides reach to target consumers at a granular, personal level with online or offline messaging based on their physical location.
How Does it Work? Sets a fence around a specific geolocation, which is quite narrow. Sets a wider geographical location such as a district, city, or country Sets limits customers within the specific location for specific products
Targeting Parameters All leads entering the virtual fence can be targeted. Once they come in, they see an ad in the mobile browser, mobile app, or receive a push notification. Only leads that belong to a specific category are targeted. Geos are wider and may include leads from a specific district, city, or even a country. Special devices like Bluetooth and beacons are used to recognize customers within reach. Using Push notifications, customers are reached
Who Needs It Brick and mortar business owners, event advertisers Almost every business, regardless of its type All users –online, offline, and mobile can be reached

Geofencing Marketing tips

Below you can find a list of tips that you can use for including geofencing marketing in your digital strategy.

Choose the Right Size

Starting geofencing in a narrowed fence is a better idea . The aim is to keep your geofencing to a four- or five-minute travel radius (walking or driving).

In your messaging, you want to make sure that:

  • You include a clear call to action
  • Your call to action needs to require immediate action

Use Multiple Marketing Techniques

Make sure you combine geofencing marketing with other marketing strategies for best results:

Because it’s all about offering a personalized experience, you should make sure to research and know your audience extremely well.

Respect Privacy

Last but not least, don’t be spammy and respect your audience’s privacy. Whether you are targeting for one-time or having long-term plans, ensuring the privacy and security of customers' data is mandatory.

The future of geofencing marketing

Personalized marketing has become an integral part of marketing with the rapid increase of online competition. 80% of consumers are more likely to purchase a brand that provides personalized experiences. To set the right time, pace, and budget, geofencing is one of the trendy methods. (Source: https://increasily.com)

Despite some concerns regarding privacy implications, the geofencing industry is expected to grow by over 27 percent by 2022. The highly targeted marketing technique is used to send personalized messages at an appropriate time. (Source: https://increasily.com)

In the recent successful campaigns , 51% used geofencing techniques. The trend is going to continue in 2024 . It will serve as a great way to beat the competition in your local market. (Source: https://increasily.com)

Would you like to discover how location-based marketing plans can boost your sales and brand awareness? Although implementing a location-based advertising campaign can be complex, it's well worth the investment.

The top-rated Digital Marketing agencies such as RedBlink Technologies help you boost your business targeting to new heights and run hyper-relevant geofencing ads. Thinking to implement geofencing marketing is surely a forward-thinking approach that will take your business to new heights! 

by Loveneet singh

top SEO goals for business

Top 10 SEO Goals You Should Target for 2024 [Updated]

Top SEO Goals to target in 2024

Today, SEO is no more a cost-free acquisition channel that will automatically work to rank your business on Google Search. Strategic planning and goal-oriented action plans are required.

Top SEO goals for your business

It is a challenge to determine the full impact of one’s SEO efforts, therefore every business needs individual attention and method of optimization. Applying SMART SEO to achieve the business goals is the set target.

Now you might think- What SEO trends do you need to keep on your radar to future-proof your strategy? Which SEO trends will work for your website? What is the latest trend that you should target in 2024? How are the latest SEO trends affect traditional methods?

The below post is providing the answers to these questions : 10 SEO goals for 2024 that need your attention to attain favorable results through SEO are discussed below.

10. Use optimized internal links

With the right data, tools, and planning, you can intuitively roll out a solid internal linking strategy that can help your content rank higher on Google.

Rather than having a complex approach, create internal links linking one page to another on the website. Unlike, external links created to link pages from authority website, internal links creation is done using proper content planning.

Let’s pay attention to internal linking to get effective results.

Here are some points that we should understand before creating internal links;

  • Understand the importance of internal links for SEO
  • Understand the difference between internal and external links
  • Audit Site’s Existing Internal Links
  • Build an Internal Linking Strategy

First of all, internal linking matters for the following reasons:

  • Internal Links Help Search Engines Understand Your Site’s Structure
  • Internal Links Pass Authority
  • Internal Links Help Users to Navigate Between Relevant Pages

Based on the above points, internal; links are created in two different ways:

  • Navigational Internal Links
  • Contextual Internal Links

From the experts' views, a well-linked site can access any page within three clicks. It is called page depth. To achieve this internal link distribution is done. It will identify weak links here so you can find out the issues.

Some of the issues arising in internal linking are due to

Now keeping all these points in mind, let’s see - How to Build Your Internal Linking Strategy?

  • Identifying Site’s HubPages
  • Create Topic Clusters Using Internal Links
  • Choose the Right Anchor Text
  • Identify Site’s Authority Pages.
  • Use Internal Links to Increase the Ranking of Target Pages

Learn more at: https://www.semrush.com/blog/internal-links-guide-to-building-strategy-that-works/

9. Focus on improving conversion rate

Increasing organic traffic remains the core aim of SEO campaigns in 2024. It offers businesses a free alternative to investing in PPC (Pay Per Click) advertising and driving new business to a website.

There is a myth that people think that organic traffic means direct sales but it doesn’t always work like that.

If your boost in organic traffic isn’t leading to an increase in conversions, it’s time to examine the following factors:

The challenge is that SEO can cast a wide net. That’s why it’s important to focus on conversion rates. To do this, keep a check on the following:

  • Match Content to User Intent
  • Optimize for Branded Search Terms
  • Nurture content and use the methods like segmentation, optimization, entities.
  • Make Double Opt-Ins super simple to keep your email database free of bots and bad actors.
  • Keep the focus on optimizing the content over and over again

Learn more at: https://www.link-assistant.com/news/conversion-rate-optimization-guide.html

8. Consider Visitor's Time on Page as an important factor to boost sales

Often the SEO persons misunderstand and do not differentiate between visitor time on the website and time-on-page.

The number of pages visited can be often high, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the readers are paying attention to your content. The time spent combined with the number of pages visited can give you the right reader engagement overview.

To increase traffic, it is important to increase the time on the page. Some of the tips to do this are:

  • Improve UX for user retention
  • Create V.I.P Content- Visualizing, Interactive and Personalized.
  • Spark the Interest till the last.
  • Target the Leaving Customers
  • Beware of Unwanted Ads
  • Analyze and See What Works Best for You

Higher average time spent on the page leads to higher conversion rates as well as higher ad revenues. So, keep a track of the above-mentioned tips while handling the website for SEO purposes.

Learn More at: https://themeisle.com/blog/increase-time-on-site/

7. Try to minimize the  Bounce Rate

A higher bounce rate indicates that something somewhere is not working fine on the website. So if the Google Analytics of the website is showing a higher bounce rate, you need to do the following;

  • Optimization of Page Load Time
  • Optimize the website content as per the keywords
  • Use Sidebar Widgets and Promotions Sparingly
  • Cross-Reference Bounce Rate with Time on Site
  • Ruthlessly Optimize for Relevance
  • Include a Single, Clear Call to Action
  • Use a Logical and USEFUL Internal Linking Structure
  • Rework on Product Pages
  • Make Site Easy to Search
  • Optimize for Mobile
  • Make Your Site’s Navigation Effortless

Learn more at: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/reduce-bounce-rate/258613/

6. Higher the page speed, the greater is the visibility 

Page speed is a measurement of how fast the content on your page loads. Evaluate page speed with Google's PageSpeed Insights. PageSpeed Insights Speed Score incorporates data from CrUX (Chrome User Experience Report) and reports on two important speed metrics: First Contentful Paint (FCP) and DOM Content Loaded (DCL).

Page load time is an important factor for ranking including the mobile page load speed. Here are some of the many ways to reduce your page speed and load time:

Learn more at: https://moz.com/learn/seo/page-speed

5. Create Higher Domain Authority for effective SEO

SEO efforts are fruitful if you are having higher domain authority. Domain authority (DA) refers to the number of relevant backlinks that are linked from other websites to your site. The relevance of those backlinks is an add-on to the ranking score.

Simply put, higher domain authority ensures that your website has more score to achieve a higher search engine rank. There are no magical secrets to improving the factors that drive DA, but here are the main points:

  • Choose a relevant domain name
  • Optimize on-page content
  • Create linkable content
  • Get more high-authority links
  • Avoid spammy links
  • Get more traffic-driving links
  • Remove bad and toxic links
  • Make sure that your website is mobile-friendly
  • Promote content via social media smartly

Learn more at: https://neilpatel.com/blog/boost-your-domain-authority/

4. Create high authority Backlink/ Backlink Profile

If you want to drive organic traffic to your website, you must understand two critical aspects of SEO strategy:

  • Relevance
  • Authority

To do result-based SEO, you will like to build links that are :

Authoritative - The site has an authoritative backlink profile (many votes of confidence), generates a lot of traffic, and even ranks well in the SERPs itself. In addition, .gov and .edu sites tend to carry more weight, as do industry-leading sites.

Relevant - The referring page tackles a similar topic or niche. e.g. If your technology company's homepage gets a backlink from a blog post on "how to golf," this would not be seen as a relevant or quality backlink.

Unique - You will get an edge if the site refers to you but does not refer to your competitors. Otherwise, the backlink may be good to have, but it's table stakes.

Natural - The link is not sponsored, the anchor text is not branded or spammy, and the referring page has a natural number of links on it.

With this goal in mind, here are five strategies for building a strong backlink strategy.

  • Develop linkable content.
  • Turn mentions into links.
  • Guest blog for relevant sites.
  • Connect with your community
  • Optimize anchor text (naturally)

Learn more at: https://backlinko.com/high-quality-backlinks

3. Higher Organic traffic for Search Engine Ranking

Organic traffic refers to the people who find and visit your site through a search engine, such as Google and Bing. Usually, they are drawn to a page on your website that answers a search query or matches a keyword or phrase that they have searched for. The process of making content that is more likely to be found on the search is called search engine optimization, or SEO. To do this, you need to do take the following steps:

  • Optimize for your readers, not search engines
  • Blog regularly displaying useful information
  • Plug into the blogosphere
  • Use long-tail keywords
  • Get your meta down
  • Consistently create quality content
  • Encourage incoming links
  • Use social media to create awareness of products /services
  • Use data and metrics to optimize results

Learn more at: https://www.nexcess.net/blog/how-to-drive-traffic-to-your-website/

2. Capturing More Featured Snippets to increase eCommerce Sales

A featured snippet is the first thing people will see on many search engine results pages. Getting your site into this highly valuable space as part of your SEO efforts can really help to improve your visibility.

Instead of just a title tag and a meta description as a result, a featured snippet typically includes an image, an ordered or numbered list, a table, or an answer to a searcher’s question. They’re especially good at answering the 5 “W questions,” Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How.

The result will also include a link to the page the information was found, and the URL. Featured snippets are especially beneficial to people using a mobile device to find an answer, since mobile search traffic has surpassed desktop traffic.

Optimize Content For featured snippets

Although featured snippets share the common thread of being located above normal search results, there are many different kinds of featured snippets that accomplish different things. Let’s take a look at the different kinds of featured snippets.

  • Paragraph snippets
  • List snippets
  • Table snippets
  • Video snippet

So, after understanding and including featured snippets, you need to ask the SEO company that you hired -

“Is my website configured to have a featured snippet? The question will answer the quality of work that an SEO agency that you choose for your website.

To include featured snippets, some of the tips are:

  • Capture and analyze featured snippets from competitors
  • Look at Page 1 Rankings pages content
  • Analyze & Identify opportunities
  • Grammar and formatting Matters
  • Look at the ‘People Also Search’ Box

Learn more at: https://ahrefs.com/blog/find-featured-snippets/

⭐ 1. Utilize Natural Language Processing & Machine Learning

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a combination of mathematics and semantics. For a while, natural language processing in SEO has been latest revolution for many SEO influencers. NLP is used for digital assistants, processing our requests, indexing websites, and finding relevant content on the Web.

From voice search to featured snippets, from interactive widgets like the news carousel to zero-results SERP, Artificial Intelligence, and Machine Learning tools are used now.

The future of NLP in SEO is on the rise, as technology has progressed. It has now become possible to understand how people behave, think and react. This has made it easier for marketers to create content that will engage their audience.

SEO-friendly functioning of websites will rely on the incorporation of natural language in websites in 2024. As for search engines, they will continue to use artificial intelligence and machine learning to determine what people are searching for online.

The AI and Ml will be majorly used for:

Learn more at: https://www.webfx.com/blog/seo/what-is-natural-language-processing/

Forward Path:

SEO Goals to improve Business in 2024 should majorly focus on optimizing the website with AI-powered content and UX design having internal and external linking in place.

When you hire an SEO company, the objective and goals must be clear. However, you can't ignore the specific need of your business and the things like local SEO, keyword search, etc.

All we can summarize from the above discussion is, to choose an SEO company that is providing the services as per the latest 2024 goals and making your business more sellable. Apart from this, the SEO agency should understand the needs of your business, considering its size, space, vertical and geographic location.

An SEO technique should include specific keyword optimization by checking on competitors. Above all, it should provide a cost-effective, higher search engine ranking.

To acquire such effective and result-oriented SEO services, you need to trust the best SEO agency like RedBlink Technologies. 

We have been selected among the Best SEO Companies In California by Designrush that is known for delivering  out of the box,  ROI- based SEO campaigns!

by Loveneet singh

Hiring an SEO Company in 2024 - Things You Should Know

For digital success, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a necessity. But things can get a little complex if you don’t partner with the right SEO company.

To set the record straight as to what, exactly, an SEO company is and how to choose the best SEO company for the growth of your business, we are going to discuss in this post.

Benefits of Hiring an SEO Company
If you are searching online for an SEO company, you might have come across a few different SEO companies. Though they mention all their services on the website, it may still be difficult to pick the service which you should opt to make an ROI-driven deal.

As SEO has become far and wide, it’s important to start with the analysis and go step by step. One of the hard core facts is that many SEO companies offer vast services and make big promises but in reality, SEO strategies take time to show results.

Keeping the fact in mind, let’s explore all about SEO so that you can make a wise decision in choosing an SEO agency.

What is an SEO company?

In simple words, SEO Company is an organization that involves online practices of creating, editing, and reworking unique searchable content and coding that ranks higher on search engines. Its main aim is to rank your website in the first 10 searches. Furthermore, for a higher website ranking on Google, an SEO Company make sure your website is secure, fast, crawlable, and just as mobile friendly as it is on a desktop. In short, SEO Company works on the latest SEO tactics to increase online visibility that can ultimately drive organic traffic to your website thus increasing your sales.

SEO also includes the process of gaining references from other major websites. This process is called backlinking.

Majorly, there are two techniques of optimization to rank on search engines.

  • White-hat SEO is the kind of website optimizations that is done by following all SEO algorithms and without violating any.
  • Black-hat SEO can also get you to the top of the SERP (search engine results page), but you won’t stay there for long. These are illegal tactics that can lead to tarnishing your overall online presence in the end.

Pro Tip: If you are looking for long-term benefits out of SEO, ensure to pick an agency that only works with white hat (organic search) techniques.

All in all, an SEO agency is a group of SEO experts that have knowledge and practice in creating greater visibility and higher search engine ranking. The aim is to get direct quality leads.

Building a website is only one step in the long journey of maintaining a successful, high-impact website. Hiring a top SEO firm can help your business continue to grow and earn more revenue.

What does SEO Services Include?

When deciding which SEO company to entrust your website with you’re going to want to make sure that they specialize in the areas that are most important for your business. Carrying out research beforehand will help you figure out which individuals or agencies are most suited to improving your online visibility. Some factors that need to be considered when doing so include:

# Research and analyze your website and target market

It is important to do focused SEO rather than applying the general strategy to do so, you need to check with the company for the following :

    • How much attention do they give to analyzing the existing website?
    • Are they comparing the website with competitors?
    • What are the techniques they adopt to research target keywords?
    • Do they provide cost-effective SEO or exceed your budget?

# On-page SEO changes

On-page SEO requires content optimization and continuous changes in the current website. Some of the key areas where the top SEO companies focus are:

    • Page titles and meta descriptions optimization
    • Website content, and SEO-friendly Optimized Design
    • Services covered under the general SEO budget
    • Keyword Research and target position on search engine

# Technical SEO Changes

Search engines give preferential treatment in search results to websites that display certain technical characteristics. A technically sound SEO Team will work on the following points:

    • Internal and external linking
    • Optimized server configuration in an SEO-friendly manner
    • Maintain the loading speed of the website
    • Secure and UX-friendly website maintenance

# Off-page SEO changes

Off-page SEO is the groundwork for a successful website. The best SEO agencies that have added ranking websites to their credits follow the following tips:

# Provide clear communication and frequent updates

As a website owner, you would like to keep a track of the SEO activity so ensuring good communication with an SEO agency is one of the important points to consider before you finalize an agency. However, keeping a check on SEO agency is not that easy, However, you can notice the following things:

    • How often will you get SEO reports?
    • What is included in SEO reports?
    • What are your agreed-upon campaign goals?
    • How is your SEO company regularly keeping up to date with business changes?

# Take calculated risks and conduct experiments

SEO is all about taking on challenges every time you like to plan great results. So, partnering with a company that is ready to take on challenges will always be a better decision.  For that, the combination of experience and facilities (in terms of manpower and machines) is a necessity. To check this :

    • Hire a decision-making agency
    • Aware of the latest trends and techniques
    • Knows to reach the target goals
    • How much do they focus on designing, testing, and maintaining of website

Benefits of Hiring an SEO company

More qualified website traffic, leads, and revenue, along with a comprehensive website analytics strategy to track and adjust your marketing efforts are some of the expected outcomes of the SEO campaign.

There are plenty of other tangible benefits of working with an SEO company. Some of them are listed as:

  • Quality and optimized content to improve the ranking
  • Pages are well linked internally and externally
  • Loading Speed improvement
  • Excellent technical optimization is achieved that makes the site easy to crawl and navigate
  • Up-to-date sitemaps, robots.txt, and use of the latest code, like schema markup
  • Elimination site errors, especially 404, page not found
  • Complete and accurate local and Google Business Profile information improves the local visibility of a website
  • Regular monitoring of website performance and tracking of website traffic.

Why should you hire an SEO Company?

If you are having a running website then you must be aware of the SEO practices. You might have tried a freelancer or an SEO agency but despite their hard work, you must not be able to gain a search engine ranking.

If you are about to select an SEO agency then make sure that they are adding value to your ongoing website. An efficient group of SEO experts will focus on :

  • Cost and time-saving techniques
  • Help you stay ahead in competing with SEO expertise
  • Provide secure SEO solutions
  • You can expect valuable data & analytics to boost your business even more

Above all, you can maintain a secure and user-friendly website that has higher chances to rank on search engines.

When should you hire an SEO company?

For now, you must have understood that creating an online presence of small or big businesses on the digital platform is in no way an easy way. It is tough competition. Therefore, it becomes even more significant to recognize when you need to hire an SEO agency.

While you might have your budget and strategies but as per SEO experts, the few reasons to consider before hiring an SEO company are:

  • First and foremost the website must be complete and running
  • The service or business goals must be clearly communicated.
  • You are ready for the expansion of your business
  • You are aware of your local business market and target audience.
  • You understand the importance of ranking on search engines and are prepared for website changes.
  • You have a budget to spend on SEO.

If the above criteria are fulfilled then the next question comes how to choose the right SEO agency?

Tips for finding the best SEO company

So if you’re trying to hire the best SEO company for local SEO or international SEO, you have to ask yourself—how do I want to appear on the web? Do I want people to think of my company as a big brand or just another retail store? Or do I want my site to be a reflection of my business? If you’re interested in the latter, you need to contact a leading SEO agency like RedBlink Technologies. You should take a consultation with the experts and discuss your project.

Here are some of the tips to consider before you finalize a company:

  • Whether the SEO company has a global footprint?
  • Do they have a managed and experienced SEO team?
  • Do they focus on providing the best customer services?
  • Does Company have a proven track record of doing result-driven SEO?
  • How often do you communicate with your clients? Will you know where your money is being spent? Will you have access to reports?
  • Will you have complete access to your website and my analytics account, at all times?

Above all SEO delivers intangible outputs. No one can guarantee the results. If any company is giving such assurances, immediately take a back step.

Conclusion

SEO companies like RedBlink Technologies can help you innovate the fastest way to stand out in search engine ranking. You can always stay ahead in comparison with your competitors.

The need for dynamic SEO strategies, and a comprehensive SEO technology to manage it and refine content into meaningful marketing action, is clear.

Cities We Serve Now:

Google and other important search engines update their algorithms hundreds of times per year with large and small impacts. We keep track of that and bring changes in building a strategy.

For an SEO agency regular search engine algorithm changes, testing old methods, and content optimization are the important factors. Moreover, the use of AI marketing technologies has taken SEO techniques to a new level.

Marketing within a smart framework, enabling them to stay current with the latest best practices in search optimization is the expected result after hiring a top-notch SEO agency.

Finally, if you plan to improve your online business performance, work with an SEO Company to grow your business by applying the best organic SEO techniques!

by Loveneet singh

Importance of local SEO for Small business

Importance of Local SEO For Small Business Websites

Importance of Local SEO For Small Business Websites

Local SEO is the process of optimizing a website to rank higher in local search results. This happens when a business focuses on targeting specific locations and selecting the best keywords for their business. Local SEO can be done by marketing professionals or by you, the business owner.

Local SEO is focused on local businesses as opposed to national businesses. It's important to note that there are many similarities between local and national SEO. Local SEO has two main goals:

1) Optimize content on your website so that it ranks higher in local searches

2) Identify the best keywords for your business

Local search results usually include searches with Keyword qualifiers such as “near me” or “in San Francisco”. Google is also smart enough to determine if there are geographic restraints to a search query. For example, if someone is searching for “pizza shops”, Google infers that the searcher is looking for pizza shops near them.

Why Local SEO is important

Local Search Engine Optimisation is becoming more and more important as searchers are changing the way they use search engines. There has been a steady increase in searches that include “near me” and are done on mobile since the early 2010s and this trend doesn’t look to be slowing any time soon.

With more searches occurring on mobile devices, users are often not looking to have to click through to a website to find basic information. With local SEO they are able to see a business name, contact information, hours, reviews, and more right on the results page.

Why Small Businesses Need Local SEO ?

Here are a few stats that prove how important local search continues to be for businesses:

(Source: BrightLocal): 

  • 78% of location-based mobile searches result in an offline purchase. 
  • 75% of searches for local businesses are done on Google Search, with the remaining 25% on Google Maps. 
  • 34% of local businesses are seen in more than 1,000 discovery searches per month through their Google Business Profile Page. 
  • On average, 56% of actions on Google Business Profile listings are website visits. 
  • 16% of businesses receive more than 100 calls per month through Google Business Profile. 
  • 83% of searchers use Google Search to learn more about nearby businesses; 55% use Google Maps, 44% Apple Maps, 39% turn to Yahoo, and 31% choose Bing Maps.  
  • Yelp appears in the top five search results for SMB searches 92% of the time. 

 (Source: Think with Google) :

  • According to Google, 76% of people who conduct a local search on their smartphone visit a business within 24 hours, and 28% of those searches result in a purchase. 
  • By 2021, mobile devices will influence over $1.4 trillion in local sales. 
  • 18% of local smartphone searches resulted in a purchase within the day, while only 7% of non-local searches resulted in a sale.
  • A recent local SEO survey found that 82% of consumers read online reviews for businesses during a local search and spend close to 14 minutes doing so before making a decision.
  • 86% of people rely on Google Maps to find the location of a business. More than half of Internet users worldwide use a mobile device for their local searches.

Learn how to choose Local SEO services for small businesses to make them more efficient by bringing local attention to the world. For a local business, this increases its exposure to relevant customers.

Top Reasons Why Local SEO is so important in 2024

  • More and More People Are Looking for You on Their Mobile

More and more people are searching through mobile devices. This keeps those looking for local businesses on the go. Someone who today is in New York looking for a nearby cafeteria, tomorrow may be in California.

Therefore, if you are well located in your area, it does not matter that the person who is looking for you at that moment does not live in your city, because if he is visiting, he will find you.

  • Not All Companies Work With Local SEO

Although Local SEO is a fundamental element that every company should take into account when developing a marketing strategy, it is not.

Many companies are still unaware of the benefits of proposing a good strategy in this regard. In fact, although Google Business Profiles (previously known as Google My Business) is a free way to advertise on the Internet, there are many companies that have not opened their Company profile on this platform.

This offers you a golden opportunity. The fact that not all companies are working on their local web positioning means that you have many more possibilities of being the best-positioned business against your competition.

Without a doubt, it is a great business opportunity and, as with everything, the fact of arriving before others can give you a certain advantage.

  • Your Own Clients Also Look for You on the Internet

Does your company already know all the people in your city? It is possible that yes. You may not even need to have more clients.

However, even so, Local SEO should be important to you. Did you know that many times, those “regular” clients of a company look for information about it on the Internet?

They may need to know what time you'll be open, what your phone number is, or even share your location with someone who asks them where to find your services.

  • Users Trust the Opinions of Your Customers

Listing your business on Google Business Profiles allows people who don't know you to see the comments of those who have already been your customers.

This, which may seem insignificant, is very important for the user experience. Your potential customers will be able to see if your former customers are happy with your products and services.

If so, they will most likely decide to come to your company. However, if even searching for you directly by your company name, they don't even find a Google Business profile, they won't be able to trust you.

Conclusion - Importance of Local SEO for your business

Understanding why local SEO is important is the first step toward improving your own local SEO. If you want to grow your local customer base, connect with your local community, build brand awareness, and gain a better reputation in your region, taking advantage of the local SEO benefits is the way to go.

We want to help you achieve those benefits.

Find Local SEO services near you - Local SEO Company in Sacramento, CA , Local SEO Services in Henderson NV,  Local SEO Services in Reno NV , SEO Services in Anaheim, CA

by Loveneet singh

SOC 2 Compliance for Data Protection

What Is SOC 2 Compliance - Definition, Types, Requirements

SOC 2 compliance is important for service organizations that want to protect their customers' data. For example, organizations that use a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) vendor can use SOC 2 to verify that their vendor meets specific security requirements. 

Recent data protection laws have entrenched the rights of individuals to privacy and the security of their personal data across the globe. 

SOC 2 Compliance

As personal information becomes more valuable, the frequency and severity of security breaches only increase. Organizations that do not adequately secure their data face the loss of their reputation, but also potentially devastating fines. 

Companies are therefore wondering which compliance agreement would be best suited for their organization. At different levels of government, there are regulations in place that define data protection and prescribe stiff penalties for non-compliance. 

Here are a few examples, among many:

With so many regulations, standards, and certifications, it's no wonder businesses are confused. Industry standards and approaches have evolved to better protect the data for which they are responsible, yet their variety and complexity make it difficult to know where to begin. 

While most have unique and particular requirements, when it comes to privacy and data protection, they all prescribe a common set of best practices. 

With standards like the SOC 2 report or recognized certifications like ISO 27001, you'll establish a solid information security foundation and your business will be continuously compliant with ever-changing requirements.

In this blog post, we will not only explain what SOC 2 compliance is, who it is for, what type of the third party performs a SOC 2 audit, and what its Type 1 and Type 2 trust service principles are, but also what are the main differences between SOC 1 and SOC 2 as well as the main advantages of SOC 2 compliance.

What is SOC 2 compliance?

Developed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), "Systems and Organizations Controls 2", SOC 2 (or SOC II) is a framework used to help companies demonstrate the security controls that are in place to protect customer data in the cloud. 

SOC 2 Certification

These controls became known as the Trust Services Principles: Security, Availability, Processing Integrity, Confidentiality and finally Privacy.

SOC 2 was created to give customers confidence that the service providers they use have adequate controls and security measures in place to protect their data. 

Unlike the rigorous set of PCI-DSS security requirements, the SOC is more of a framework for organizations to design their own controls as long as they effectively adhere to the principles of trust.

SOC 2 compliance is considered the gold standard for cloud data security in terms of third-party assurance, helping you build trust with customers and reduce the risk of a data breach.

Also Read: 56 Marketing Tools + Resources To Increase Your Productivity

Importance of SOC 2 Compliance

Both SOC 1 and SOC 2 are compliance standards regulated by the AICPA. While SOC 1 aims to help organizations report on internal controls over their customers' financial statements, SOC 2 is more general and assesses a given service provider's controls for various TSCs, namely security, confidentiality, availability, processing integrity and confidentiality.

However, they have different purposes, types of control coverage, audiences, and intended uses, and they are not leveled against each other, as described in the following list:

  • Different types of control coverage

While the SOC 1 audit strictly covers the handling and protection of customer information in business and IT processes, the SOC 2 can cover all five principles, either a given selection of them or all five of them.

  • Different audit audiences

While the objective of the SOC 1 audit is to enable Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) in the management of an organization, external auditors and users to have confidence in the accuracy of its financial statements, the goal of the SOC 2 audit is to provide executives, business partners, and external auditors with an assessment of whether or not their company's security measures meet industry standards.

  • Different uses foreseen by the audit

While SOC 1 helps user entities obtain the impact of service organization controls on their financial statements, SOC 2 helps oversee organizations, vendor management plans, internal corporate governance and management processes risks, as well as regulatory oversight.

You might need a SOC 1 or SOC 2 report if you are an organization hosting client systems, such as an infrastructure as a service (IaaS) or a platform as a service (PaaS), or a cloud hosting software, such as a software-as-a-service (SaaS) entity or data center.

Choosing between SOC 1 and SOC 2 should come down to: 

  a) the type of compliance requirements you are held to,

  b) the type of assurance you need to provide to your customers,

  c) and the type of information you are responsible for protection.

Who Does SOC 2 Apply To?

SOC 2 applies to any technology service provider or SaaS business that stores, processes, or transmits customer data, including cloud computing, and managed security.

It also includes healthcare claims management, processing, and automation providers of the sales force.

What are the main benefits of SOC 2 compliance?

SOC 2 compliance has many key benefits, including:

  • Secure business partnerships

SOC 2 compliance can help you build trust and secure business partnerships. If you are a SOC 2-compliant organization, your potential partners will know that you have the necessary controls in place to protect their data.

  • Improve your security measures

SOC 2 compliance can help you identify and improve your security measures in terms of technology and process, which means your organization will be better protected against cyberattacks.

  • Prevent incidents and financial losses

SOC 2 compliance can help you prevent incidents and financial losses that could damage your reputation or legal action against your organization.

  • Protect your brand image and reputation

SOC 2 compliance can help protect your brand image and reputation by demonstrating your commitment to protecting your customers' data. With the latest corporate data breach news going on, showing a security compliance seal will help you earn and maintain customer trust.

  • Attract investors and buyers

SOC 2 compliance can help you attract potential investors and buyers because it demonstrates that you are a responsible and reliable company and that you also have the necessary controls in place to protect their investment.

  • Comply with requirements of other third parties

SOC 2 compliance can also help you comply with other requirements such as PCI-DSS, ISO 27001, and HIPAA, but also with the requirements of your customers and partners if they have SOC 2-related clauses in their contracts.

In short, SOC 2 reports are not just a regulatory compliance exercise for good measure, but also a valuable marketing tool for winning new business.

As noted in our other blog post detailing some of the above benefits of SOC compliance, starting your SOC 2 compliance journey early will allow your organization to thrive in an environment with tight controls, making all your future compliance projects faster and easier to do.

Also Read: SEO Content Writing vs Creative Content Writing- Comparison Guide 2024

What are the key controls of SOC 2?

The Service Organization Control 2 (SOC 2) set of compliance and auditing process requirements was created to help companies determine whether their business partners can properly secure data. This includes protecting the interests of customers from unauthorized access as well as maintaining confidentiality for everyone involved in the transaction process.

The 5 key security controls or Trust Services Criteria (TSC) of SOC 2 are described below:

  • Security refers to the protection of information and systems from unauthorized access, use or disclosure, through the use of security systems or processes, including firewalls, encryption, and two-factor user authentication.
  • Availability encompasses the accessibility of the system and data, in accordance with the terms specified and agreed upon in a contract or service level agreement (SLA), as well as the ability of the system to perform its required function at specified times.
  • Processing integrity ensures that customer data is complete, valid, accurate, timely and authorized, and that processing is carried out in accordance with stated policies and procedures.
  • Confidentiality relates to data considered confidential when its access or disclosure is limited to authorized persons, or when its unauthorized access or disclosure would have an adverse impact on customers.
  • Privacy covers the collection, use, retention, and disposal of customer data in a manner consistent with an organization's privacy policy and applicable laws and regulations.

What type of third party performs a SOC 2 audit?

A SOC 2 audit must be carried out by a qualified and independent third-party auditor, including CPA (Certified Public Accountant) firms.

The auditor will review the service organization's SOC 2 report and issue a SOC 2 attestation report which will include the auditor's opinion on whether the service organization has met the SOC 2 criteria.

What are SOC 2 Type 1 and Type 2?

Overall, SOC 2 compliance takes about six months with third-party assessors performing two separate audits. The SOC 2 Type 1 audit looks at the design and provides a snapshot of your security processes in place at that time. 

The SOC 2 Type 2 audit, on the other hand, will verify the operational effectiveness of your internal controls over the long term. You must complete type 1 as a prerequisite for the type 2 attestation.

Let's learn more about the differences between SOC 2 type 1 and type 2 and determine which to pursue on your path to compliance.

SOC 2 Type 1

SOC 2 Type 1 is a report on a service organization's system and the suitability of the design of controls. The report describes the current systems and controls in place and reviews documents around these controls. Design sufficiency of all Administrative, Technical, and Logical controls are validated.

  1. The SOC 2 Type I report is an attestation of your company's service organization's controls at a specific time and certifies that these are properly designed and implemented.
  2. Expect this process to take about two months to allow for policy implementation, testing, and adjustment. Once completed, the booked assessment will typically involve employee interviews, walkthroughs, and a detailed review of submitted documentation.
  3. A SOC 2 Type 1 report will be generated once all necessary exception clarifications have been made.
  4. The SOC 2 Type I report is an attestation of your company's service organization's controls over a period of time and certifies that these are properly designed and implemented and are effective.

SOC 2 Type 2

A SOC 2 Type 2 report is an internal controls report capturing how a company safeguards customer data and how well those controls are operating. Companies that use cloud service providers use SOC 2 reports to assess and address the risks associated with third-party technology services.

  1. In general, SOC 2 Type 2 reports usually last at least six months, but can often take up to a year or more. This is due to many factors involved in the path to attestation, which may be due to company certification requirements that must be met.
  2. For example, if a company has a very diverse and extensive IT and cybersecurity infrastructure, the audit process will likely take longer than usual for a full SOC report. Other factors affecting the scope of the audit such as the type, location and number of users in the business (i.e. on-site and off-site) will greatly impact the process of attestation.
  3. Ultimately, though, the primary factor affecting the timeline for completing the SOC 2 process is the type of SOC 2 report your company has selected.

Also Read: 20 Best Nocode Development Platforms & Tools List 2024

Conclusion

Now more than ever, the continued success of your business depends on trust. Trust of your employees, your partners and especially your customers. SOC 2 compliance is the best way to ensure that trust. 

Not only does this help secure your customer data, but it also helps differentiate your business in the marketplace. For any business that puts customer trust first, SOC 2 compliance is the way to go.

Complying early has several advantages, in particular, because it is much easier to meet the requirements when your company still has few employees and few departments. If you wait for your business to grow, the process will become much more complicated and expensive. 

Another benefit of starting early is that your business will grow in an environment with tighter controls that will help make compliance assessments faster and easier to perform in the future, no matter the size of the business.

SOC 2 compliance is not a one-time event, but rather an ongoing journey that requires the commitment of the entire organization.

FAQs - SOC 2 Compliance

1. Is a SOC 2 Report HIPAA Compliant?

The answer is no, but  SOC 2 compliance can also help you comply with other requirements such as PCI-DSS , ISO 27001 and HIPAA, but also with the requirements of your customers and partners if they have SOC 2-related clauses in their contracts.

In short, SOC 2 reports are not just a regulatory compliance exercise for good measure, but also a valuable marketing tool for winning new business.

There are several areas required by the HIPAA security rule that is not covered by a SOC 2. These include passwords, biometrics, physical security, transportation of PHI, and remote access.

To keep things simple, in this scenario we will compare a SOC 2 that only covers security criteria to a report that covers HIPAA security compliance.

2. What is the First Step Towards HIPAA Compliance?

The first step toward HIPAA Compliance is doing your research to determine if you are a covered entity. Once you determine that the HIPAA Security Rule applies to your organization, finding a reputable firm to assist in performing a readiness assessment is a great next step. 

A readiness assessment will help identify gaps that need to be addressed prior to undergoing the HIPAA compliance audit and will assist you in creating a robust control environment.

3. How is SOC 2 Type 2 different than Type 1?

SOC 2 reports come in two flavors: Type 1 and Type 2. Here is the description of the differences between the two:

  • The SOC 2 Type 1 report is a report on a service organization's system and control design adequacy. The Type 1 report looks at a point in time on how the organization describes the system and controls in place. In addition, this review ensures that the controls described allowing the criteria to be met.
  • The SOC 2 Type 2 report is similar to the Type 1 report, but the controls are described and evaluated for at least six months to see if they are operating as defined by management.

by Loveneet singh

How to Choose Local SEO Services

How To Choose Local SEO Services For Small Businesses?

Local SEO Services for Small Businesses

Local search engine optimization (SEO) refers to specific optimization and marketing tactics for getting a high search engine ranking for a website in local online searches. The best local SEO services know how to successfully execute and capture more leads and customers for your small business.

Are you a small business owner who made the switch recently by starting a website or eCommerce store?

Then you need to understand the benefits of local SEO that will make you stand apart from the competitors. Getting top ranking on Google is not rocket science rather it is a well-thought step-by-step procedure to reach on top.

Though paid marketing, the most effective being PPC, is an option to gain quick results, sustained results can be achieved only through an affordable local SEO services for your business.

Select the best local seo services for small business
When it comes to small businesses or newly established businesses, the major obstacle is the limited budget. Looking for an agency in that budget for online marketing and search engine optimization makes it an extra burden for a small setup.

Moreover, an effective marketing campaign is a combination of many time-consuming factors. So, the expert's suggestion to small business owners is to set up the right strategy for your website on a budget of your choice.

How can one know the right local SEO strategy for your business? Well, this post covers the details about Local SEO so that small business owners gain knowledge to negotiate in a better way with agencies.

Why is Local SEO Important for Small Businesses?

The main focus during the local search is to discover the right keywords relating to Geography, especially areas closest to the user.

‘Near me’ queries increase in Local SEO, according to Google. For example, ‘digital marketing agency near me’ is considered a local search phrase. The best part is, that Google recognizes local searches and changes the results accordingly.

In addition, companies are listed with profiles for specific searches with Google Business Profile complete with contact details and photos.

All these marketing methods push your website to reach #1 on Search engine result pages. Well, the discussion so far tells us that SEO is important for all types of setups (small to big).

Now the question is - why local SEO services are so important for small businesses? Despite continuous changes in search engine optimization, it remains an important factor.

The answer is the exposure and visibility that directly increases CTR.

Local SEO vs Organic SEO: What's the difference?

The main difference between Local SEO and Organic SEO is their focus and scope. Local SEO is targeted towards optimizing a business's online presence for location-specific searches, while Organic SEO is focused on improving a website's overall ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs) for specific keywords and phrases, regardless of the location of the searcher

Local SEO and Organic SEO are two different types of search engine optimization strategies that businesses use to improve their online visibility and attract more potential customers, Some key differences between Local SEO and Organic SEO include:

  • Focus: Local SEO focuses on attracting local customers, while Organic SEO aims to attract customers from anywhere.
  • Search engine results pages (SERPs): Local SEO is mainly focused on improving a business's ranking in the local pack (also known as the "map pack") and Google Maps. Organic SEO focuses on improving the website's overall ranking in the organic search results.
  • Keyword targeting: Local SEO targets keywords that include a location (e.g., "best pizza in New York City"), while Organic SEO targets keywords that may or may not include a location.
  • Content: Local SEO requires creating content that is specific to a business's local area, while Organic SEO requires creating high-quality content that appeals to a broader audience.

Some of the results of an effective local search include:

How is Local SEO done?

SEO Agencies are mushrooming in every sphere and making the changes as per the search engine algorithms. This might confuse a small business owner.

As a result, one might be left thinking about which one is the best local SEO company for your businesses? How will the Local SEO strategy make a difference? The below-mentioned points will clear the doubts, so let’s take an insight:

  • Conducting Keyword Research

Well-researched keywords are the backbone of optimization campaigns. Google Keyword Planner Tool and other SEO tools help you search local keywords that generate results.  Whenever possible, try to choose key phrases that have high search volume, low competition, and high relevance.

  • Listing On Google Maps

Local search optimization strategies require that local businesses claim and verify their Google Business Profiles. Local Finder, Google Maps, Google’s Local Pack, and your organic ranking will be enhanced as a result of Google Business Profile.

  • Search Engine Optimization For Maps

Optimizing Google Map Listings can help your business appear in the local searches. Thus enhancing its visibility on Google Maps. With strategies based on the latest search trends, maximize the search exposure of your business in Google Maps.

  • Listings in Local Directories

Local listings allow business owners to claim their listings in several local directories. It is advantageous to use Local Directory & Listing services because they allow fast loading of information like addresses, phone numbers, or web addresses.

  • Research For Competitive Advantage

Competitive research plays a crucial role. Through reverse engineering, we determine what’s working for your competitors, so you can use that information to improve your business. In addition to keyword research, backlink research, and content analysis are also included in our competitive analysis.

  • Link Building & Citation Submission

Citations are located and monitored over thousands of sites as part of our local SEO services. In addition to spying on competitors, we provide detailed NAP audits on crucial citation sites to help you get listed on new sites. To increase your local ranking, we strive to deliver you consistent citations on websites like.

  • Using Local Landing pages

Landing page optimization can be an effective part of a local SEO strategy for small businesses. A local landing page is a standalone web page, created specifically for the purpose of a marketing or advertising campaign in a specific area. It is designed to promote some specific service or direct the visitor to take a specific action, such as making a purchase or filling out a form for more information.

Here are some ways that landing pages & service pages can be used in local SEO:

  1. Targeting specific locations: Landing pages can be created to target specific locations or regions. For example, a small business with multiple locations could create a landing page for each location, with information about the specific products or services offered at that location.
  2. Optimizing for local keywords: Landing pages can be optimized for local keywords, such as the name of the city or region, to improve their visibility in local search results.
  3. Providing information about local events: Landing pages can be used to promote local events, such as sales or workshops, and provide information about the location and details of the event.
  4. Capturing leads: Landing pages can be used to capture leads, such as email addresses or phone numbers, from visitors interested in the products or services offered by the small business. This information can be used to follow up with potential customers and drive sales.

  • Utilizing Web Sources

There are free resources on the web where you can market your small business. Podcasts, listing in common books such as local listing books and social posts help you connect with the local community. Doing so will give you a better idea of the target customer’s needs.

Also Read: 15+ Best AI Marketing Tools To Use in 2024

The geographic location is important for any small business to grow. The relevant information and the intent behind it are considered. Instead of focusing on broader and large audiences, local search serves the informational searcher, there is a heightened sense of purchasing intent within a user’s local search query.

The persons searching have local search queries for a business or place they can visit in person or a service that comes to their home. Think local doctors, in-home healthcare, real-estate, plumbers, lawyers, and restaurants. But what exactly makes the search intent local for users?

Typical search queries with local intent include the following modifiers:

[search term] + city
[search term] + near me
[search term] + closest to me

These modifiers act as a filter for users’ search based on their location, how far they’re willing to go, and the urgency behind the search.

Google recently stated that they’ve implemented neural matching for local searches. This means their search engine can better understand the meaning behind keywords that may imply local intent and match them with the most relevant local search results. A business name or specific location is not mandatory for local search now.

How does it make a difference? Instead of using long-tail keywords, you can now merely enter a single keyword and your intent is understood.

A Local SEO strategy for a small business should involve:

  • Create & optimize Google Business Profile
  • Build online presence through business directories & local listings
  • Generate content of all kinds (social media, blog, customer photos)
  • Tracking visitor & customer data through Google Analytics
  • Reputation management
  • Having a mobile-friendly site
  • Having a dedicated location-specific about us page
  • Google 3-pack optimization

Benefits of Local SEO

The latest trend noticed in developing SEO strategies is a shift from Internet searches that are heavily skewed toward local businesses. The most cost-effective and affordable method of getting new customers is to have them search for local services. Some of the benefits of applying local SEO techniques are:

  • Online searches are popular among people to find better choices
  • Conversion rates are high for local SEO
  • Branding Your Business With Local SEO
  • Business Extension Through Local SEO
  • Building long-term networks with local SEO

Also Read: Linkedin Marketing Tips For Getting 10X higher traction

5 Best Local SEO Tools to Boost your Local Keyword Rankings

Another technique used for Local search is tracking the user behavior using tools such as Google Analytics. They help to determine whether you need to put more work into your local SEO strategy to boost your ranking in localized SERPs.

Online reviews also provide actionable insights that can help you determine where your site visitors are from. As per the 2024 ranking, the five tools used to boost traffic for small setups are:

Best overall, and best local SEO company for small businesses needing an all-in-one solution from a search-optimized website to reputation management.

Best local SEO platform for managing your company’s SEO efforts and online reputation in one place.

One of the affordable choices for comprehensive local SEO services.

Best for businesses looking to boost organic traffic using SEO content marketing.

Best for those wanting a free, thorough local SEO audit as part of the consultation and proposal process

Also, you can find local traffic from a few different tools- all within the google family: Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and Google Business Profile Insights.

How do local SEO and organic SEO affect each other?

Local search is part of the main SEO service that is done to improve local visibility and immediate traffic. The increased visibility helps in direct sales. That is the target of a small businessman.

When we talk about SEO as a whole then the factors are the quantity and quality of links (from external sources) pointing to your site. When you run a great business, people will talk about it. This kind of recognition, especially in the form of linking to your website will grow your overall search value to a search engine.

This works both ways, so if you already have a successful SEO program with links and great rankings globally, then it’s going to be easy to translate that into success in the local market. For small setups, it is highly tedious.

After the overall SEO knowledge, local SEO is the better choice for small businesses. Once the local business is set up and you become a brand, going for SEO with a big budget will make sense.

Now, Let’s Understand What Is A ‘3 Map Pack’

Importance of Google 3-Pack in Local SEO

The 3-Pack is the method used by Google to display the top 3 results for local results pages. It references the user's location to make the search more relevant.

For example, if a user searched for "restaurants near me", Google 3-Pack would show three restaurants near the user's current location.

Google 3-Pack has undergone some major changes, first in August 2015 when the Google 7-Pack was reduced to three, creating the 3-Pack.

At the time, the update placed more emphasis on linking to the brand's business websites. The way information was displayed has also changed, making it easier for mobile users to navigate 3-Pack by displaying addresses and hours of operation, rather than phone numbers.

In December 2021, Google 3-Pack saw another major update. Google described the update as a re-balancing of its three key ranking factors for 3-Pack results: relevance, distance and prominence.

The fairly rapid impacts on local results made it clear that the re-balancing needed to place more emphasis on proximity as a factor. The 2021 update also integrated the results into a map.

Also Read: What Is SEO & How Do Search Engines Work [ A 2024 Guide ]

How the Knowledge Graph can help local SEO

The Knowledge Graph allows local users to obtain the answer to their search instantly, without having to go to a website. This Google local feature is based on millions of data relating to different keywords, which include:

  • Customer reviews.
  • Directions.
  • A link to your website.
  • Reservation options.
  • Phone numbers.
  • Daily hours.
  • Popular times.
  • Critic reviews.
  • And more.

Giving people the ability to reserve a table or book an appointment directly from the SERPs means searchers easily find what they really want and you win new business with less effort.

Examples of Local SEO Success

A small, family-owned restaurant was finding it difficult to compete with other local restaurants that had better online visibility and online order-placing facilities. Then, they came across RedBlink, who helped the owner by setting up a Google Business Profile and guided the restaurant on how to get positive reviews from customers. Web traffic increased by 30%, resulting in a 10% increase in revenue in just 4 months.

Similarly, a charming boutique clothing store in Los Angeles was struggling to keep up with the competition from neighboring stores. Our SEO team worked closely with the store to overhaul their website for local search terms, create a strong Google Business Profile, and promote their services using social media platforms. As a result of these efforts, the store experienced a 25% rise in foot traffic and a 20% increase in revenue within only three months.

How to Hire the Affordable SEO Services for Small Businesses?

The SEO industry has crossed leaps and bounds and there are record-breaking benefits. However,  top-notch SEO agency services are costly. To come in the top 5 searches, agencies charge a heavy price.

This is surely not the option for small setups. Thus, finding an agency that can rank your website better by opting for local search methods is a better option.

Before you finalize any agency, you have the option to evaluate the agency on the following parameters so that you can make a better decision.

Check whether the agency has remarkable merits in local SEO ranking projects

  • Does the company have the resources to do an in-depth analysis of your website or do they have generalized methods for every project.
  • Do they apply appropriate tools and can concretely drive local SEO to generate qualified leads.
  • Almost all agencies boast about how they help websites to rank higher. However, get to know SEO companies' credibility.
  • Check the SEO case studies previously done by the company.
  • Ensure they have a content development strategy. Also, the agency clearly understands the importance of developing quality content as per local SEO goals.
  • Check Online Reviews Online reviews are a great way to judge the competency of an SEO agency.
  •  You can ask the shortlisted agencies to do an SEO audit. This way, you can assess how the agency strategized your campaign and analyzes the data before coming up with suggestions and conclusions.
  • Go through the agency’s website thoroughly and find the people behind the scene who are implementing SEO for you.

Now you are equipped with the vital knowledge to choose the best affordable SEO services for your small business. In the end, you can choose a company like RedBlink Technologies as your SEO partner that clearly understands the goals of a small business.

If you are looking for a local SEO partner for your next project, just book an appointment with us and our team will walk through the whole process we follow to rank business websites above their competitors.

Book An Appointment

OUR DIY strategy for Local SEO starts by finding the answers to these questions:

  • Who is your target audience (buyer persona)?
  • Where are they from (geographic location)?
  • Which social media sites or online platforms do they use (Internet habits)?
  • What do you want to get from your SEO campaign (SMART goals)?

Apart from this, we believe in the fact that online domination for small businesses is not always getting the top rank. If local customers click on a business regardless of its position on the SERPs, that business will have a cutting edge and that’s what you would like to achieve through Local SEO.

When you change your perspective from competitor-focused to customer-centric, your strategy will follow. Here’s where Local SEO comes in.

Finally, you can summarize by saying - local SEO is an advantageous move for small businesses.

FAQs- Local SEO for small Businesses

  • How much does SEO cost for a small business?

The cost of SEO depends on various factors like the present status of the website (link building status), analysis of the website as per the optimized content, and use of keywords in website content. A complete SEO audit will help in evaluating your website. However, the basic SEO package varies from $500- $ 5000.

  • How local SEO helps small businesses?

‌Local SEO is all about building and maintaining an online presence to gain a higher search engine ranking. Local SEO for small businesses is significant, as it involves tactics designed specifically to work for search queries in a local area. However, the main focus of Local SEO Services is Lead Generation.

The activities like creating and optimizing Google Business Profile, local citations, reviews and ratings, mobile-optimization etc help in achieving local SEO goals.

  • Why are reviews and ratings important for Local SEO?

In the latest search trends, it is visible that more than 85% of people like to perform a search and read reviews and ratings before hiring any local service. Getting positive reviews from clients will surely add advantage  to your website. 

As the GBP starts becoming stronger the more people will start trusting your firm. Every small business has  their personal success stories which can add value from the marketing point of view to your website. 

Therefore, always ask your clients to post positive reviews and rating for your services.

  • Why Google Business Profile (GBP) Is a Big Part of Local SEO?

Google Business Profile is a tool for managers to add their business information with a focus on the services offered. In the case of websites targeting local customers, it can add a great value. A listing on Google Business Profile includes important business information consumers require to make the purchase decisions, including:

  • Business name
  • Description
  • Street address
  • Business hours
  • Website
  • Photos
  • Reviews

Small businesses who have created their GBP following the Google guidelines can add great value in reaching customers. These businesses are likely to become more popular. Try adding a phone number and website to your GBP  to boost the visibility of your website.

by Loveneet singh

SEO Content Writing Vs Creative Content Writing

SEO Content Writing vs Creative Content Writing- Comparison Guide 2024

Is SEO content writing and creative writing the same? Do I always have to follow SEO guidelines for writing content? And, when you do use one and not the other?

You might always stay wondering about such questions. However, the fact is - both SEO writing and creative writing are quite different from one another. Even though both require a creative approach where a lot of research is necessary to keep up with the trends.

Difference between SEO Content Writing & Creative Content Writing

Some people think that a good writer can easily engage in both fields, but that's not 100% true. After all, a badminton player can't be good at volleyball. However, staying creative and imaginative can help in writing a good piece of content. 

While writing an SEO article, a writer should be aware of different SEO rules and regulations to generate content according to search engines. Whereas, creative writing requires a vast imaginative thought process to write interesting and engaging content. Hence, it proves that each writing type is unique. 

For more understanding, we've brought this write-up for you, where you know the actual difference, including styles, formats, techniques, and other major factors that enhance your writing and benefit your company.

What is SEO Content Writing?

SEO content writing is the process of developing content that not only attracts search engines but also satisfies users' search intent, So, users spend more and more time on the websites and automatically convert into a lead. It includes picking industry-specific topics, content formation, sentence structure, content length, adding valuable keywords, and converting readers into customers. 

The main focus in SEO writing is "Optimization" through keyword placements, formatting, readability, length, or paragraphs - each of which has a certain standard for obtaining high positive results. 

However, writing a good piece of SEO content isn't only about inserting keywords in your blog posts, but also includes headers and bullet points to display valuable advice that answers search queries. In addition, SEO content writing is also about developing engaging, unique, meaningful, and readable content to rank them higher on search engines. 

In simple terms, SEO content writing standards include understanding the target audience, catchy page titles & descriptions, using headings and subheadings, adding keywords, entities and LSI, keyword density, internal and external linking, answering user intent, adding bullet points, using call-to-action, including shorter sentences, etc.

Also Read: Twitter SEO: Increase Your Google Search Visibility in 2023

Our SEO experts have a specific process that we use at our agency to accomplish high results. Here's our detailed process:

  • Topic: Thorough research, competitors' website analysis, content ideas and identify industry-specific keywords for creating a list of topics.
  • SERP Analysis: Analyze the search engine results page (SERP) for keywords to understand which topics need to be covered in your article for it to rank.
  • Structure: Create the structure of your article based on that SERP analysis.
  • Writing: Writing content with compelling information, proper insertion of keywords, appropriate content formation, and many more to sell your product or service.
  • Proofreading: Polish off your content with on-page SEO.

Do you need SEO-optimized content for your website? Tell us! We, at RedBlink Technologies, have a full team of SEO experts and writers who assist businesses in reaching organic rankings through high-quality and relevant content. 

What Does an SEO Content Writer Do?

Business owners who want to increase the visibility of their websites to major search engines always require the assistance of experts such as SEO writers. These professionals write optimized content for search engines to make people interested. Staying smarter with your content means ranking a website on search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo, Duckduckgo etc. 

Essentially, SEO writers are people who can look at a set of keywords, figure out what those people want to know about them, and write it clearly and succinctly. To help the reader find their content in search engines, SEO writers also know how to use keywords effectively.

Content writers who specialize in SEO writing use the known aspects of search engine rankings to create content that is well optimized for search engines. In addition to understanding Google's ranking factors, the writers also apply the best SEO practices to employ in their texts. Since such professionals are responsible for optimizing articles, they should also be knowledgeable about on-page SEO. Even they use language that is simple and straightforward enough for human readers to understand. Copywriters also utilize targeted keywords throughout the content and use them naturally.

A good SEO writer handles the following things:

  • Write content that’s grammatical, clear, and concise
  • Focus on what the reader wants to know
  • Use SEO keywords in a natural-sounding way
  • Use headings to make the text more scannable.
  • Research topics you’re not familiar with to find trustworthy information
  • Write using the proper tone to engage the reader
  • Always proofread.

Want to connect with our top-rated SEO experts and writers? Let us know at +1(415) 779-2793

What is Creative Content Writing?

Creative writing is a form of writing to express feelings, emotions, experiences, ideas, and even thoughts obtained at a subconscious level. As a form of literature, the creative content writing topics are related to journalism, academics, and technical genres.

In creative content writing, imagination and originality are key elements. Writing creative content involves using literary devices and descriptions to convey emotions, thoughts, and ideas. Among the most common forms of creative writing are novels, short stories, poetry, fiction, songs, and plays. Depending on the story the writer creates, this kind of content can be fiction or nonfiction.

The main perspective of creative content writing is entertaining and immersing the readers. There's no point in selling in creative writing, but it's more about influencing the audience.

What Does a Creative Content Writer Do?

A creative writer always uses different approaches to create quality content that touches readers. Some writers engage the audience through the combination of similes, metaphors, and symbolism to portray certain ideas while others use imagery and literary writing.

An experienced creative writer always focuses on developing more compelling content, which is based on creativity and individuality. 

Here are the following things that a creative writer does:

  • Always focuses on complete ideas and doesn’t leave the readers hanging in the wrong way.
  • Maintain the story fluency.
  • Keep the flow of sentences and topics.
  • Helps readers stay immersed while reading without getting confused or tripped up.
  • Write compelling and engaging content to catch the reader’s attention. 

Differences Between SEO Content Writing and Creative Content Writing

Both of these styles of writing appear similar at first glance. However, despite their similarities, they have some stark differences. 

As discussed above, SEO writing focuses primarily on marketing to potential leads, such as what is the best way to reach your customers? Being an SEO writer, it's imperative to use concise, informative, and persuasive content. You also need to focus on keywords, and metadata and take advantage of every aspect of digital marketing to boost your Google rankings.

Creative writers capture the art of writing. Their purpose is to inspire, inform and provide insight to readers. In creative writing, there are no boundaries to descriptions and imagery, and there is no constant purpose besides entertainment.

Also Read: Shopify vs WooCommerce SEO [ Comparison Guide 2023 ]

Hence, it’s easy to identify the difference between these two through the writer's intention that changes the type of writing. In order to understand this, we will elaborate on the difference between these two in the following section. Let's have a look!

# Definition

  • SEO Content Writing: The term SEO content writing refers to online writing (e.g., blogs) linked to web marketing campaigns. The purpose of writing SEO content is to rank on Google's SERP pages and answer user-generated queries. Keywords, linking, content formation, readability, entities, and many other aspects play a major role in SEO writing. 
  • Creative Content Writing: A creative writer's work expresses their thoughts, feelings, emotions, and experiences at a subconscious level through their writing. This type of literature transcends academic, journalistic, and professional boundaries.

# Main Purpose

  • SEO Content Writing: SEO content writing has the purpose of informing, opining, and persuading readers to buy a product or service. The use of such writing has a more commercial purpose since marketing is a part of it.
  • Creative Content Writer: A creative writer is one who expresses their own thoughts, ideas, and feelings in order to entertain and amuse a reader. Creative writing is generally used for pleasure rather than commercial purposes.

# Content-Type

  • SEO Content Writing: SEO writing deals with industry-specific product/service-related topics. The article/blog gives you all the information a user and search engines need upfront. An SEO writer must be factual, impersonal, and devoid of distortions and emotions. There is an impersonal and objective tone to the writing, with a technical vocabulary and simple sentences.
  • Creative Writing: A creative writer does not write academically or in a technical manner. Among the types of creative writing are journals, diaries, essays, stories, poetry, memoirs, scripts, and free writing. The content should be original and creative. It tends to be dramatic and imaginative. This writing may be complex in its sentence structure and have linguistic aspects like dialects and ambiguities. 

# Content Platforms

  • SEO Content Writing: In search engine optimization (SEO), writers create pages to create highly visible pages that appear in the search results when people search for something related to the topic. By using quality content and other techniques, a client's website can be visible on search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing.
  • Creative Writing: There are many platforms where creative writing is used such as blogs, magazines, newspapers, websites, novels, handbooks, newsfeeds, etc.

# Content Style

  • SEO Content Writing: SEO writing is a research-based writing style, based on thorough research, addressing an audience, topic, and purpose that will be addressed. This style uses objective, straightforward language that is presented consistently. The writing style emphasizes facts and examples. The SEO writing style is completely chosen based on the target audience. Facts and ideas are used in content writing services.
  • Creative Writing: A creative writer might write some texts that aren't necessary to read, but audiences read them to get entertained. There is little structure here, just a natural flow of expression. The writer of this writing intends to educate the audience and provides the readers with space to express their emotions. The writing paints a picture in readers' minds that is vibrant and appealing.

You might now get a clear picture of - the difference between SEO writing and creative writing. Well, there are several SEO content writing courses & creative content writing courses for beginners. To enroll in the right field, detailed research is necessary. For more details, you can reach us at any time. 

How to include SEO Writing in your Content Marketing Strategy

SEO content writing for beginners might seem a bit complicated at first. But, with the help of some simple steps, you can easily incorporate SEO writing into your content marketing strategy. 

While working toward a more SEO-friendly piece of content, we here suggest you keep your web pages and blog posts updated as per Google algorithms. Focusing on every SEO aspect, such as keywords, linking, headings, meta tags, meta descriptions, and content formation will stand you at the top among leaders. 

Keep in mind that SEO is a dynamic process and re-optimization is a key component here. So, what you have to do is:

  • Content should be according to your target audience.
  • Analyze where your current content stands and then break it down into a specific plan of action.
  • Simple sentence structure and voice of your audience, whether that’s third-person formal or second-person conversational.
  • Add keywords in metadata, heading tags, page title, blog, and anchor text.
  • Write in short paragraphs of only a few sentences.
  • Do externally linking only to reputable, authoritative sites with high Domain Authority scores.
  • Do internally link only where relevant, but not with every blog post or possible CTA.
  • Add as much data, stats, and facts as possible to support your claims.
  • Embed relevant images and visuals to complement your narrative.
  • Keep featured snippets in mind.
  • Content should discuss the main topic and must fulfill the required search queries.
  • Write high-quality content - but - comprehensively cover the topic.

Also Read: 15+ Best AI Marketing Tools To Use in 2023

Skills to Look for When Hiring an SEO Writer

Once you successfully determine the SEO writing needs, you get clear with the fact that SEO writing is a time-consuming and thorough research process. And, this job isn't possible without a professional SEO writer. So, if you've decided to hire the right SEO writer, you should look for a writer who successfully builds the connection between your brand and target audience.

Here are the following skills that an SEO writer must have:

  • Must-Have Quality of Thorough Researcher

For any business, trust is the main factor. Publishing less-than-trustworthy content will increase the risk of losing the trust of the audience. Therefore, every writer needs to be a thorough researcher in addition to being a competent writer.

  • Aware of Search Intent

The other name of search intent is user intent, which should be the primary objective for a writer while looking for information on search engines. 

For example, consider "party cupcakes" as a keyword. If anyone wants to learn - how to prepare party cupcakes has a completely different search intent than a person who is looking for local cupcake services.

An experienced SEO writer must understand the difference between different search intents and write a high-quality piece of content accordingly for a keyword-specific topic.

  • Understand The Point of Conversion Rate

If your main motive is to improve conversion rate, you obviously need a professional writer who knows the structure of writing good and high-quality content. So, your business reaches and achieves that specific objective successfully. While hiring a writer, don't forget to ask about their previous work, experience, and establishments that they have made in SEO writing.

  • Up-to-Date With SEO Practices

As we all know, SEO practices are constantly changing and developing with search engine algorithm updates. Being a writer, your content should be SEO-friendly and well familiar with the latest updates. In addition, a writer should be good at researching parts to determine what exactly search engines want.

  • Understanding of Target Audience

A good SEO writer must-have skills in adapting and understanding the different audiences. Content has a different tone and style for 65+ years old readers than for Gen Z and millennials. That's why it's essential to hire a writer who can easily handle diverse assignments and knows how to reach the satisfaction of consumers.

Are you looking for an SEO writer? What are you waiting for then? Contact us today and let us know what you need! Our SEO professionals will write a copy that not only satisfies users but also feeds search engines perfectly.

Future Scope of SEO Content Writing and Creative Content Writing

The two types of content writing that we have discussed are SEO content writing and creative content writing. The first can be used strategically, while the second can be used creatively. However, you can still use skills from both to create hybrid content that stands out from the competition. 

Despite the fact that each writing style has its own place in the world, it's becoming more difficult to deny the benefits of both. In the ever-evolving world of marketing, writing is becoming more fluid and interesting to read. To promote their work online, creative content writers begin optimizing their work and using SEO best practices. SEO content writers are using creative techniques to create better content.

Wrap Up - Which To Choose?

Doesn't matter - which field you're going to choose - you need to constantly learn and improve your skills. You need to do your research and know who you are writing for if you want your work read by the right people and at the right time.

However, you must add a pinch of creativity to your content writing to get the most out of it. Because the search engines are already filled with thousands of other articles out there, discussing the same topics and targeting the same group of readers. Writing articles that are overly promotional and SEO focused will not help you rise above them. Consider your audience's preferences and make them authentic instead.  

A writer wants to evoke emotions in their readers with both types of writing. The main purpose of creative writing is to build a personal brand and inspire a reader with high-quality content. Whereas, SEO content is all about informing and enticing the users so they stay longer on the website and engage with a brand.

Looking for SEO content writers who incorporate creativity and quality into their writing? We have a team of SEO professionals who will take care of your website and establish an online presence. Our SEO writers are experts in doing proper research on industry-specific topics, choosing topic-related keywords, and staying updated with accomplished SEO algorithms.

Still, have questions? Ask us today at  +1(415) 779-2793  

by Loveneet singh