Basics

• Evergreen Topics

Evergreen topics are topics people will always be interested in.

• Buyer Persona
  • What would Jane Doe be searching for?
  • What keyword would attract her to your content?
  • What type of CTAs will Sara engage with?
  • How about imagery?
• Meta Data – Meta Title and Description

Check Points

1. Content should be: 80% Evergreen Keywords; 20% Trending Keywords
2. Create a Buyer Persona: Target Keywords & Content Towards That Buyer Persona
3. Metadata should be for Humans as well as for SEO
   1. Always use the target keyword in Title and Meta Description
   2. The title should be 40 – 50
   3. Meta Description should be 120-130
4. Basic Content/Copy guide
   1. Add the Keyword to Header and use a header for each page – 6 words or less
   2. Always use the main keyword in at least one heading and high-value related keywords in others.
   3. Copy – longer is better for most situations.
   4. main category and product pages, a minimum of 500 words
   5. blogs, the minimum is bumped to 1,200
   6. Add
      1. Bullet Points.
      2. Bold/Italics.
5. Images
   1. Each Image Should Have a Unique Title & Alt Text that Includes a Target Keyword
   2. Alt Text should be 120 Characters

We know the online journey is difficult, especially in 2020 with the pandemic situation; Company’s had to cut down their expenses and buckle up the seat belts for an economic bumpy ride. Maintaining a website is no joke or an easy task. But something that every website owner has to do. If you want to learn why the maintenance contract is essential you can read our blog articles why you need a maintenance contract, following are the essential services you should ask for.

01 – 24×7 Domain & Server Uptime Monitoring   

It is crucial to have the website running all the time for any business. Your customers won’t stare at the website for more than a few seconds; if it is not online, they will go for your competitor. Whether you are a small/medium business, it is essential to monitor your website all the time.

Your website may not work due to any of the following reason,

• The website can get hacked
• The domain may have an issue
• The server may have an issue
• The database may go down

IF solutions use a 3rd party enterprise solution to check the website availability for 24×7. If the site is down, we will instantly know. With that alert, the IF Solutions team can inform you(Client) of the necessary solutions.

02 – 24×7 Malware Scanning

Are you aware of the following stats? The following stats are why you need a Malware Scanner scanning your website.

Hackers are getting creative and trying different new methods to hack your website. Malware is one way. With the 24×7 monitoring, we will instantly know when the site has an issue.

03 – Website Indexing issues monitoring 

Search engines, mainly Google, need to list all the web pages in their database. Sometimes when listing the web pages, it comes up with different types of technical issues. IF Solutions has access to those issue reports with search console data. After analysing the information, IF Solutions will be able to identify whether there are errors or warnings. IF Solutions can inform the clients of the possible fixes of those pages with warnings or errors that could be relisted again on Google and other search engines.

04 – Website usability issues monitoring

“When we switch a domain to mobile-first indexing, it will see an increase in Googlebot’s crawling while we update our index to your site’s mobile version.”; Official Google Blog. Google has shifted to mobile-first indexing. In mobile-first indexing, google uses mobile devices to navigate and check the website. If Google sees an issue, Google alerts the website developer, and once the issue is fixed, Google will show the webpage again on Google. As most visitors are using a mobile device, it is vital to fix mobile usability issues. Otherwise, the website may end up losing its rank in Google.

05  – CMS and Plugin Update Monitoring

WordPress and Plugins release their bug fixes, security updates, performance improvements and layout changes constantly. Installing new updates will improve the site and break the site if the latest update is not compatible. IF Solutions will monitor the updates and inform the client of necessary actions.

06 – Manual Website Visit, Layout Check and Functionality Check

Even though preventive maintenance tasks are automated, these three tasks are done manually. Users are not bots(Automated Software to do a task), that is why we also check the website as humans. To understand how your customers feel when they visit the website. We will visit the website from different devices to check how the pages look, whether the buttons are functioning(functionality check). This will give us an understanding of the user experience of the website. If there is something alarming we will update you with an action plan.

Tell me something’, girl

Are you happy in this modern world?

Or do you need more?

Is there something’ else you’re searching’ for?

Let’s be honest with ourselves and take an evaluation,

1. When was the last time you checked your social media newsfeed? Is it Seconds, Minutes, Days or Weeks ago?
2. When was the last time you posted something on social media?
3. When you are sharing some content, did you check whether it was fake news, a fabrication or some fiction?
4. How many posts have you had shared before checking the facts? Story behind?

Recently there was a message shared on social media about organ donors waiting for a recipient; this happens all the time. However, it turns out to be a scam. If you were one among those who shared the post, I imagine that you had good intentions when sharing it; I do not doubt it. But did you ever feel the necessity to ask from your source whether it is accurate before sharing? I think we (You and I) are lost in this game of infinite postings, liking, sharing and scrolling. You will be the judge of your real situation. When Bradly Cooper and Lady Gaga sang the song sallow for the move ‘A star is born’, I felt that the song had a more profound meaning. I asked myself whether I am happy in this modern world!

As per the United Nations (UN), “Governance” means the process of decision making and the process by which decisions are implemented or not implemented. The UN has described the good governance with eight characteristics. It is participatory, consensus-oriented, accountable, transparent, responsive, effective and efficient, equitable and inclusive and follows the rule of law. We can apply the same framework when we are using social media channels.

1. ‘Participation’, which requires all stakeholders, especially those who are most vulnerable, have direct or representative access to the information that is being shared on social media. This manifests as citizens and a strong civil society with the freedom to express and association.
2. ‘Consensus-Oriented’ means when making a decision, it must show a more in-depth understanding of different social aspects such as cultural, social and historical values. We often see people are posting critics about other religion rather than their religion.
3. ‘Accountability’, which means that whoever posted or shared whatever the content, that person must be held responsible for the action.
4. ‘Transparency’ means that all parties have access to information. All the evidence must be traceable and accessible to everyone. If the evidence cannot revel to the general public, whatever the post should not come to the general public.
5. ‘Responsiveness’ mean how fast we can act if we are to delete, update the content. If some stakeholder of the content wants to update, that must be able to do it in a reasonable timeframe. Not in months or years.
6. ‘Equity and Inclusiveness’ mean all the stakeholders must be equal; there should not be a division based on caste, religion or ethnicity.
7. ‘Effectiveness and Efficiency’, one of the most recognized characteristic of the framework; This means that if we are sharing some content, it should serve the purpose, that covers effectiveness. Content should be efficient, we cannot wast people’s time with rubbish. Whatever our action is, it should be sustainable as our future generation depends on our action.
8. ‘Rule of Law’, which means that the rules and regulations of the constitution, the terms and conditions we agreed, when signing up with social media protect all parties. Further, when we are share or post something, we need to make sure that the post is within the rules of law.

All the social media channels fall into a category called web 3.0, which means that the users generate contents, not the website-owners. When using social media, it is our responsibility to bring good governance. Next time when you post, share or like a post, check whether that post is within the eight characteristics.

PS: This was originally published on IESL Toastmasters 2019/2020 Newsletter by Niraj Appuhamy(CEO/MD IF Solutions)