Why Do Companies Need A Dedicated Server?

If you want to do well in the world of business, it is important these days to have a website. But how does a website exist on the internet? You need a server to host a website on the internet. When it comes to hosting, there are various types of hosting options available. Some of the common hosting options include cloud hosting, shared hosting, virtual private hosting, collocated hosting, dedicated hosting, among others. Every hosting option mentioned here has some positives and some negatives.

But how do you select the best hosting option for your business?

The answer is simple – businesses should select the hosting option strictly according to their needs.

If you are a growing business, one option you can choose is the dedicated server hosting. It offers several benefits to businesses that have a positive and steady growth trajectory. Dedicated server hosting is a premium hosting service, which is slightly expensive than others, but the advantages it offers are far more than the price you end up paying for the service.

So, why do businesses need a dedicated server?

If your site is expected to handle a considerable amount of traffic in the times to come, then what you need is a dedicated server hosting. But if you have just started your business and you don’t expect a lot of traffic on your website, then shared hosting might be the right option for you.

What is a dedicated server?

According to TechTarget, a dedicated server means the rental and exclusive use of a computer which includes a web server, software, internet connection housed in the hosting service provider’s premises. Simply put, you have to pay the web hosting service provider a fixed amount to rent a server over which you get exclusive rights. If you expect a considerable amount of traffic to come to your site, then you should opt for a dedicated server.

Reasons why your business needs a dedicated server

You might think of having a server of your own and hosting your website on it. However, it is not a feasible option because the infrastructure cost to maintain a server of your own would be too high. When you opt for a dedicated server, it is almost like having a server of your own with the only difference being that it is on rent.

Dedicated server hosting offers a lot of benefits. Here are the reasons why your business needs a dedicated server:

  • It offers enhanced security – If you are doing business on the internet, then security should be your major concern. When you collect sensitive data from your customers, you need to make sure that you keep it safe at all the cost. With cybercrimes on the rise, it is vital that adequate security is in place to protect your customer information from the prying eyes. And, when you opt for the dedicated server option, you can improve your security to combat all the threats.Safety in case of shared hosting is as good as the protection offered by the hosting company. Also, shared servers are vulnerable to security breaches and attacks in the form of hacks, viruses, and other risks. The main issue with shared servers is that you don’t get to know about the updates, patches, firewall, and antivirus installations. It might take you weeks or may be months before you know that there is a security issue with your website. Whereas, in case of a dedicated server, it provides you optimal security for your website and all your stored information.When it comes to dedicated servers, you are in charge of securing your server. Also, many service providers provide managed dedicated servers where they maintain the server, install software, and offer all the security upgrades. Hence, dedicated server hosting is a much better option in terms of security.
  • Load balancing or future growth – If you are expecting a growth in your online business, then you should plan to shift to a dedicated server well in advance. In case you see a consistent rise in traffic to your website, then you need to shift to a dedicated server. If you take too long to switch, then it can prove to be a costly mistake. Plan well in time so that you don’t have any problems. Do your research (about dedicated servers) properly so that you can shift before the start of the problem.Load balancing, on the other hand, refers to the process of distributing workload on a server. When you opt for shared hosting, many different websites use the same resources simultaneously which can cause problems for your website. By the time you realise that there is a load balance problem, your website would start having issues. But when you move to a dedicated server, it allows you to schedule all your jobs and processes ensuring effective load distribution.
  • Server and traffic load – The number of visitors coming to your website every day can have a significant effect on its functionality. If you are getting a substantial number of visitors every day, then you should opt for dedicated server hosting. When you use a server that is hosting several websites with too many processes working at the same time, it can compromise the performance of your website. When you share resources with other websites, you will have limited resources for your site, and so your RAM, bandwidth and other features can be compromised. A high server load can cause problems for your website, especially if you expect large volumes of traffic. Hence, if you opt for dedicated server hosting, then the performance of your website does not take a hit.
  • Custom programming options – When you opt for dedicated server hosting, you get custom programming options which include cron jobs, shell scripts, or any other custom software. But when you opt for shared hosting, you do not get so many custom programming options. In case of dedicated server hosting, you can select the software that you want to use, you can choose the hardware specifications you want, the operating system you want to use, and you can also select various other custom programming options. Simply put, you are in total control of your hosting environment when you opt for a dedicated server hosting.
  • Page load times – Slow load speeds can hamper the performance of your website. In case your website does not load fast enough, your visitors will abandon your website and move to the next one. Page load speeds also have a major effect on the ranking of your website. Your website ranking takes a hit if it does not load fast enough. And, a website that will not rank high on the search engines will get less traffic. So, when you share the resources with other websites, the bandwidth, RAM, and other resources are shared which can make the load speed of your site slow. But when you opt for dedicated server hosting, you don’t have to worry about any of this because you have the exclusive right to the server. It means your website can load faster, and you can rank higher on the search engines.If dedicated server hosting is what you need for your business, you can get in touch with vStacks Infotech now. vStacks Infotech is a software and digital marketing company, and we can handle all your hosting needs. When you opt for a company like us, you can rest assured that you will get complete technical support, your data will remain safe and secure, and there will be a minimum of downtime.

Can Cloud Hosting Have An Impact On Your Website Visibility?

It is highly unlikely that being a website owner, you do not understand the importance of SEO. You need to have some basic knowledge of SEO if you want to do well on the internet. In case you want to succeed in the online circuit, you need to apply search engine optimisation or SEO to your website properly. To make a sound SEO strategy, you need to work on a lot of factors. But in the excitement of SEO, many website owners tend to forget the relationship between hosting and website visibility. The way you decide to host your website can significantly impact the visibility it generates on the search engine results page. It is for this reason that people who are in the know don’t think twice before shifting to cloud hosting to boost their website visibility.

Cloud hosting offers several benefits to businesses – it is cost-effective, secure, flexible, scalable, and above all, it improves website visibility.

Here are some compelling cloud hosting statistics.

Cloud hosting statistics

  • 77% of businesses have a minimum of one application or a portion of their enterprise computing infrastructure in the cloud (Forbes).
  • In 2018, businesses had predicted that they would invest an average of 3.5 million on cloud apps, platforms, and services.
  • 76% of businesses are looking at cloud apps and platforms to accelerate IT service delivery.
  • The Akamai Technologies State of Online Retail Performance report of 2017 has this to say about the website load speed which is a critical factor in SEO:
  • A delay of 100-milliseconds in website load time can bring down your conversion rates by 7%.
  • A delay of 2-second in the web page load time increases bounce rates by as much as 103%.
  • If a mobile site takes more than 3-seconds to load then 53% of its visitors will leave the page
  • So, is there any connection between cloud hosting and website visibility? Yes, there is. Let us take you through how cloud hosting can have a positive impact on your website visibility.
  • Cloud hosting in today’s competitive internet environment is one of the fastest ways to improve your website’s ranking on search engines. And, it also helps increase your page views and boosts your traffic.

Types of cloud computing

  • Broadly, based on a service the cloud model is offering, it is classified as under:
  • Infrastructure as a service or IaaS
  • Platform as a service or PaaS
  • Software as a service or SaaS
  • Or, Storage, Information, Database, Integration, Process Application, Testing, Management, Security as a service.
  • And, based on the deployment type, the cloud is classified as under:
  • Public
  • Private
  • Hybrid
  • Community

    • What is cloud hosting and how does it work?

    Cloud hosting is a method where a series of interconnected servers are used to host your website. The interconnected servers (known as nodes) are spread across geographical locations which makes it easier for your website or application to be accessed by users regardless of their area or device platform. Cloud hosting has grown by leaps and bounds in the recent past, and there are several cloud hosting service providers who now offer competitive cloud hosting packages to host your websites and applications.

    In cloud hosting, the resources for maintaining your website are spread over multiple servers, and you are only supposed to pay for what you use.

    Cloud computing offers some significant benefits which help boost your website’s visibility substantially.

    Here is how cloud hosting can impact your website visibility

    As mentioned earlier, cloud hosting offers several benefits to businesses. And, one of the major benefits is that cloud hosting helps improve the visibility of your website. Here is how cloud hosting improves the visibility of your website:

    1. Increases page load speed – As a website owner, you must be aware that page load speed is a critical factor which impacts your rankings on the search engine result page. The advantage of cloud hosting is that it improves the load speed of your website. Hence, when you move your website to the cloud, it starts loading faster. And, the faster your website loads, the better are your chances of climbing the search engine rankings.If your website takes too long to load, it creates a poor user experience which can decrease the number of visitors coming to your site and increase your bounce rates. And, when your bounce rates are low, it means that you are meeting the expectations of your users which is sure to be rewarded with better rankings. Since cloud hosting makes your website load faster, you can expect a higher page rank, hence improved visibility.
    2. The benefit of local SEO – In comparison to traditional hosting, cloud hosting helps your website gain an advantage in local markets. For local searches, your website needs a country related domain extension or domain name which should indicate that it is part of a particular region or country. For instance, a website with a domain name synergy.co.nz will rank better in local searches in New Zealand and Australia than a website with a domain name synergy.com. In the case of local searches, search engines take into account the details of the local market your website caters to and the place where it is hosted. As a website owner who has opted for traditional hosting, if you want your website to fare well on local searches, you will have to purchase domain names featuring the country extension so that your website is hosted on local servers.But with cloud hosting, you don’t have to worry about all of this because the server nodes are spread all over the globe. There is no need to host your website on different local servers to fare well on the search results. You also do not need to tie your website to a particular ccTLD. With cloud hosting in place, your website can have a presence in any country, and you can fare well on the local search results.
    3. It improves your performance – Cyberattacks, server downtime, and other security complications can seriously impact your SEO efforts. People do not want to engage with a website that regularly performs poorly, does not offer a decent uptime, and is vulnerable to security breaches. But when it comes to cloud hosting, it is extremely reliable. In cloud hosting, the resources you need to run your website is spread across multiple servers. Hence, when there is a problem with one server, the other takes over which ensures that your website remains up and running always. Also, with cloud hosting, you get improved bot protection, and you also get enhanced security to ward off other forms of cyberattacks.Since cloud hosting improves the performance of your website, it is bound to have a positive effect on the search rankings of your website which in turn increases your traffic.
    4. Enhanced mobile compatibility – People these days are increasingly using mobile devices to access the internet. Due to this, major search engines now include mobile responsiveness as one of the ranking factors. What it effectively means is that your website should display properly on all the devices, including mobile devices. And, in case your website does not load properly on mobile devices, you will lose traffic from users who access the internet from mobile devices. It is, therefore, important that you optimise your website for mobile devices which ensures that you get traffic from all the quarters. And, when you opt for cloud hosting, you get the resources and tools which you can use to make your website mobile compatible. When you make your website mobile compatible, it is sure to boost your SEO efforts which ultimately makes your website more visible.
    5. It offers BOT protection – Top cloud hosting service providers make sure that you are protected against bots. Bots or malicious scripts are tasks that can negatively impact your website which, in turn, adversely affects your search engine rankings. Bots are applications that command and attack the search engine. For example, scraping bots which are responsible for duplicating content can negatively impact your SEO ranking and should be avoided at all the costs. And, when you opt for a cloud hosting server, your website is protected against these bots. Link spamming bots are another challenge that cloud solution providers can effectively address. Therefore, cloud hosting impacts your SEO efforts positively.If you want to host your website on the cloud, you can get in touch with vStacks Infotech now. The reason you should select us is simple – our cloud servers are built on powerful machines and offer the bandwidth that helps your website surge ahead in search rankings. Our cloud hosting packages are affordable, and it can help you empower your website as well as business.

What Is Responsive Web Design & Why Is It Essential For Your Business?

It is difficult for businesses to survive and do well these days without a website. But not everyone out there on the internet with a website is doing brisk business. To succeed in the online circuit, you need to make sure that your website has an attractive layout, it has a user-friendly interface, and most importantly, it should have a responsive web design.

It is true that if you want to succeed in the online landscape, you need to have a responsive web design. Responsive web design is essential for your website not only because it offers a better user experience, but it also improves your search engine rankings.

In 2015, Google altered its search engine algorithms to take into account a website’s mobile presence for ranking purposes. What it means is simply this – you need to develop websites that are user-friendly on mobile devices, especially on smartphones. Your users should be able to read the text on mobile devices without zooming it, the design should have adequate space for tap targets, and users should be able to read the text without horizontal scrolling.

So, why is it essential to make your website responsive?

As the number of mobile users increases worldwide, businesses cannot afford to have a web design that is not responsive. Smartphone users worldwide crossed
2 billion in 2016, and according to estimates, in 2018 they will surpass 2.56 billion. Also, mobile searches have seen a steady rise in comparison to the desktop searches which has consistently seen a dip over the years.

What it means for businesses is that you cannot and should not ignore your mobile users. Hence, if your website is not optimised for mobile devices, it can experience a dip in your search engine rankings. And, it is not a cost-effective solution to have different solutions for different devices, so you need to make sure that your website design is responsive.

What is responsive web design?

RWD or responsive web design allows your website to fit into the size of your user’s device without changing the URL and content source. Responsive web design should offer a seamless experience to your users on all the devices. It means your website should look the same on all the devices, namely a desktop/ laptop, tablet, and mobile phones.

Responsive web design uses HTML and CSS to automatically resize a website to make it appear good on all devices, be it a desktop, laptop, tablet, or smartphone.

Earlier developers had to make more than one website to accommodate different screen sizes. But as mentioned above, it is not a feasible option to have different websites for different devices. Having a responsive web design, therefore, is not a trend anymore, it is a necessity which businesses cannot ignore now.

Why is it important for businesses to opt for responsive web design?

With a responsive web design, you can increase your reach to your prospects who use mobile devices. Also, with responsive web design, you offer a seamless experience to your customers which can increase lead generation, boost your sales, and improve your conversions.

Having a responsive web design ensures that analytics, reporting, and tracking can all happen from one place. You also save on time and money in managing the content of your website.

Last but not least, it helps you stay ahead of your competitors.

Benefits of using a responsive website

With Google dominating the search market, there is no way you can ignore it. And, according to Google, smartphone-optimised sites should have a responsive web design.

Opting for a responsive website offers several benefits, here are some of them:

Responsive web design increases your traffic – Mobile users form a formidable chunk of your prospective customers, and you cannot afford to ignore them. Also, it is not a viable option to maintain two websites – one for your desktop users and the other for mobile users. Hence, the best practice is to opt for a responsive website which works well for all the devices. When you opt for responsive web design, you do not need to worry about losing out on your mobile users. This also keeps you abreast with competition.

Responsive web design is cost-effective and low on maintenance – Maintaining two websites (one for desktop and the other for mobile) is not just more time consuming, but it is also a costly option. But when you opt for responsive web design, it turns out to be a cost-efficient option in the long run. Though responsive web design would cost you more initially, it is easy to maintain, and it is also more cost-effective. Moreover, setting up two websites is a more time-consuming option in comparison to creating one that is responsive in design. With only one site to maintain, you can have more time to focus on other areas which need your attention.

It offers a seamless user experience – If you cannot offer a seamless experience to your customers, it is difficult for you to survive in the business world these days. If your website is not responsive, it can distort the appearance of your site on mobile devices which can put off your customers. Nobody likes to do business on a site where the images do not align properly, texts are jumbled, and you have to search endlessly for one single information. And, when it becomes difficult for your users to navigate the site, they might leave you for good. It is, therefore, important to offer a seamless user experience to your prospects. That is why you should have a responsive web design.

Responsive web design adapts easily to all screen sizes – With a responsive web design in place, you do not have to worry about the competition. You can remain ahead of your competition because you can cater to all your clients. When your website adapts easily to all screen sizes, you will not lose out on customers who use smart devices like smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, other IoT devices, etc. When you have a responsive web design, your website can adjust to every screen with perfection.

Most importantly, it improves your SEO efforts – A website with responsive design is likely to rank higher on the SERP. After the Google algorithm update, if your website is responsive in design, it increases your visibility on the search engine because it is mobile-friendly. If your website offers a seamless mobile experience, it is bound to fare well in search results in comparison to the one that is unresponsive. The more seamless the user experience you offer to your customers, the more are the chances of improving your SEO efforts. And, the more you rank high on the internet, the better are your prospects of generating leads, increasing your conversions, and boosting your sales.

For making responsive website design, you should get in touch with vStacks Infotech now. vStacks Infotech is a digital marketing company, and we have the necessary experience and expertise in designing responsive web designs for businesses in all the verticals.

How Small Businesses Should Leverage Social Media?

Effective communication is integral to the growth and development of organisations, both big and small. You need to devise ways and means to effectively reach out to your target audience and keep them engaged.

So, how do you effectively communicate with your target audience?

Without a doubt, social media is one of the best channels available that offer ample opportunity to businesses of all sizes to effectively reach out to their target audience.

If you want to engage with your audience effectively, you cannot ignore social media these days.

But as a small business, are you leveraging social media to your advantage?

In case you are not using social media to your advantage, you are missing big time on opportunities. But small businesses should know how to devise an effective social media strategy to reap its benefits. Here are some of the benefits of social media and how small businesses should leverage social media to their advantage.

Benefits of social media for small businesses

The social media channels have made it possible for small businesses to engage with their customers effectively and scale new markets. In case you want to stay ahead of your competitors and improve customer experience, then it is vital for you to use social media effectively. Here are some of the major benefits of social media for small businesses:

Using social media effectively can improve your website traffic.

Social media increases brand awareness. When used effectively, you can create a space for your brand among your customers.

Social media can be rewarding for your customers. You can ask your customers, who follow you on the social media platforms, to use the promo code in your posts to avail the discount.

Social media can generate the right kind of buzz for your business. Social media is probably the most cost-effective method to generate buzz for your small business.

You can use location-based social media apps to bring in customers from your area.

Social media can help you connect with other businesses.

How should small businesses use social media?

If you are a small business and want to connect with your customers and prospects, you should start using social media effectively to climb the success ladder. Small businesses might feel overwhelmed when it comes to getting started with social media, but there is nothing scary about it. With a bit of planning, you can use social media to your advantage. Here are some social media tips for small business owners:

To start with, you should have a good plan in place – Just like you have a strategy for growing your business, you should also have a plan for social media marketing. Though you can start posting organic posts for free, without a robust social media marketing plan, it will not help you achieve much. To achieve the desired results, you first need to have a definite plan in place. Having a social media plan upfront will ensure that your social efforts support your business goals.

Your social media plan should include the following:

You should set clear, attainable, measurable, and relevant social media objectives and goals for your business. It is important that you base your goals on what you want to achieve from your social media campaign – do you want to increase your customer base or do you want to boost your conversions.

Do a bit of research on what your competitors are doing on social media. It will help you formulate your social media strategy as you would come to know what works and things that you need to avoid.

In case you are already on the social media bandwagon, you should take stock of what your campaign has achieved so far, and where you need to improve.

It is also important to create a social media calendar. It helps your social media campaign if you post the right content at the right time. Try to make sure that you follow the 80-20 rule where 80% of your content should be educational, informational, and entertaining, and the rest can be used to promote your brand or for selling your product.

The second important thing is to know your audience – Understanding your audience is probably the most vital thing for your business. You can compile data on your present customers, and then go further with social media analytics to know what your customers are buying from you and who all are interacting with you online. You can formulate your social media plan according to the preferences of your audience.

If you know your audience well and understand what they want, your social media campaign can generate a huge response.

The next most important thing is to select the right platforms for your social media campaign – Going by your gut feel in selecting the right platforms for your social media campaign would not help you much. For example, if you think you can avoid Facebook, then it is wrong because it remains the most popular social media platform even today. You need to know where your online audience hangs out the most.

These are general trends, but with a bit of research (especially demographic profiling), you can find out where your audience prefers to spend their online time. It is always better to use a combination of platforms to reach a wider audience.

Concentrate on building relationships – Social media allows you to engage directly with your customers, prospects, and followers. Without asking your prospects to buy upfront, you can cultivate strong relationships with them over time. Most people who follow small and medium-sized business on social media, tend to buy from them in the longer run.

People who engage with your content on social media expect you to respond to their queries. And, when you respond promptly, it builds trust which is the building block of developing strong relationships with your customers.

And, one way of developing a relationship with your prospects is to form Facebook Groups. You can build community, develop relationships, and increase brand loyalty among your group members who in turn can act as brand ambassadors for your business.

You can also use social channels to develop relationships with other business owners and influencers in your vertical.

Focus on expanding your audience – You can use social media tools to target new audiences after you have saturated your market. For example, you can use Facebook targeting options to reach out to new audiences. You should never lose focus on your core market, but ensure that you tap into new audiences once you are ready to expand. You can also exploit social media to bring in new customers to your local business.

Make it a point to share captivating visuals – People these days want to see more of visual content. Data from Twitter shows that people are more likely to engage with a tweet that has visual content such as video, GIF, infographic, or photo. Also, some of the other visual-first platforms are Instagram, Pinterest, and Snapchat. People, especially the younger generation, are more likely to make their travel plans or visit a restaurant after they see their friend’s video or image on social media. All you need to do is do a bit of research online, and you will find many high-quality pictures that you can legitimately share with your content on social media.

Concentrate on quality instead of quantity – Social media spoils you with options. But it is not necessary that you make your presence felt on all the platforms. What you need to do is create quality content and identify the platforms where you think you can connect with your audiences. Your social media posts should offer value to your customers. People will not engage with your content if you only try to sell your product. What you need to understand is that social media marketing is about relationship building.

It is, therefore, important that you start with one or two social channels and after mastering it you can expand your reach.

It is important to select and use the right social media tools – If you want your social media campaign to fetch you great results, you need to make sure that you select and use the right social media tools. Social media tools can simplify your job by automating much of the work. These tools can improve your productivity which increases your social efforts.

Monitor, track and respond to the conversations – Social listening is an important aspect of social media. If you want to make your social media marketing efforts more effective, you should monitor your campaign and respond to all those who engage with your content. You should also keep a tab on the online conversations that are happening about your business and respond to it appropriately.

Also, when you track and monitor your social media campaign, you can fine-tune your efforts so that it produces better results. Monitoring and tracking will also help you determine what is working for you and things that you need to avoid or improve.

If you are the owner of a small business house, and you want to make a mark on social media, you can get in touch with vStacks Infotech now. We will make sure that you get a robust social media marketing strategy so that you can communicate with your target audience effectively. vStacks Infotech has been leveraging social media for businesses of all sizes, and our customers have had tremendous success in keeping their clients engaged.

What You Need To Know About Backlinks, And Its Importance In SEO

If you have a website, you should know the importance of ranking among the top few search results. Every website owner wants to rank high on the search results. However, it is not possible for the search engines to accommodate all the websites on the first page. Only a limited number of websites can figure on the first page.

So, how can you improve your organic ranking on the search engines?

As search engines frequently change their algorithms, it becomes imperative for the website owners to put in place a smart SEO strategy to climb the search engine rankings. SEO or search engine optimisation is a method which is used to increase the quantitative as well as the qualitative traffic to your website through organic or unpaid search engine results. A lot of factors influence your search engine rankings, but backlinks are one of the most vital of them all.

In case you want to climb the search engine ladder, you need to make sure that your website has relevant backlinks. That is the reason why you need to know about backlinks.

So, what are backlinks?

A Backlink or an inbound link is a link from an external website to your site. It is the building block of an effective SEO strategy because these are links that are directed towards your website. In simpler terms, when a website or a webpage has a hyperlink, which redirects to your website is referred to as a backlink.

Search engines, especially Google, considers your website reliable and trustworthy if it has several backlinks that come from reliable sources. And, one thing which website owners need to understand at the start is that the quality of the backlink is much more important than its quantity.

Backlinks are considered to be of high-quality if they come from authority websites that have some relevance to your content. Backlinks that redirect to your website should be real, and it needs to come from a similar niche. For example, if your website is about cookery and your page is linked to a furniture website, then these links become irrelevant because they negatively impact your search engine rankings.

And, why are they important for your website?

Backlinks are known to improve your search engine rankings provided they are of high quality. As mentioned earlier, search engines including Google consider your website to be more trustworthy, reliable, and relevant if they have links that come from authority sites related to your business. But make sure that you never get backlinks from spammy, harvested, or paid sites. Buying backlinks randomly will not improve your search engine ranking; it can only have a negative effect.

Search engines (including Google) measure the relevancy of a website through the number of backlinks it contains. Search engines (including Google) consider that if a web page is linked by other relevant pages several times, then it has the quality and should rank higher. And, this is the main purpose of building relevant backlinks. Also, when you get a backlink from a website, it passes the link juice to your website which is what helps you climb the search engine rankings. Another benefit of creating quality backlinks in SEO is that it helps you to increase your organic traffic.

Hence, if you want to climb the search engine ranking and increase your organic traffic, then you should concentrate on creating relevant backlinks for your website.

Faster indexing is another big advantage of relevant backlinks in SEO. Relevant backlinks in SEO helps your pages to get indexed faster on the search engines. Websites that have several relevant backlinks are picked up faster by the search engine bots for indexing. Hence, if you want Google to index your pages faster, you should create high-quality backlinks for your website.

Types of backlinks

There are two types of backlinks – dofollow backlinks and nofollow backlinks.

  • Dofollow backlinks – Natural linking of one website to another without putting the no-follow tag is termed as a dofollow backlink. These type of backlinks (dofollow backlinks) pass on the link juice to the website which helps it in climbing the search engine ranking.
  • Google crawlers crawl the dofollow backlinks which help Google bots to reach the page that has been given the link. That is the reason why dofollow links are considered vital in search engine optimisation. Every link by default that is given to a website is a do-follow link.
  • Nofollow backlinks – Backlinks that contain the no follow tag are referred to as no-follow backlinks. These links are not all that relevant from the SEO perspective.
  • Google crawlers ignore the links with no tags when they crawl a web page. Google crawlers don’t bother to crawl to the linked website via the nofollow link. Also, nofollow backlinks are not relevant in search engine optimisation, and it does not improve your page rankings.

How to create relevant backlinks?

Now that you know that creating relevant backlinks is vital for your SEO strategy, here are some ways that you should adopt to get relevant backlinks for your website:

  • 1. You should create high-quality content for your website that is relevant to your audience. When you produce high-quality content, people with related content will automatically link back to your site, and this is the most natural way of getting a relevant backlink. Also, high-quality content will attract many followers who can share your content on various social media platforms.
  • 2. Get into a habit of writing guest articles on top forums and blogs.
  • 3. Look for influencers in your niche and request them to review your products on their site.
  • 4. You also need to leverage high-quality Q&A sites like Quora to increase traffic to your site. You can participate in the discussion boards and link it to your blogs. You can comment on these sites to engage with your prospects and increase your brand awareness.
  • 5. You can use tools like SEMrush, Open Site Explorer, Open Link Profiler, and Ahrefs to review backlinks of your competitors and fine-tune your SEO strategy. Here are some more ways that you can adopt to get relevant backlinks for your website.
  • 6. You can start relevant threads in Forums, and then link it to your blog posts.
  • 7. Work on broken link building. Usually, every link on a website links to another page online. However, since websites frequently move their content around, some of the links ultimately break or point to pages that are not in existence (the 404-page error you sometimes see when you click a link). When you find broken links on other websites, try and identify the content they referred to originally, then offer the site the chance to replace the broken link with a valid link. Use Ahrefs Broken Link Checker to get to the links that are not working. You can go to Internet Archive to find out what the original post was about and if you generate relevant content for that broken link, then you can offer the owner of the site to replace your link with the link that is now broken. This is how you get a backlink by working on the broken link building exercise.
  • 8. Social bookmarking is also important (because they are considered as backlinks); hence target sites like Google+, Twitter, Pinterest, Twitter, etc.
  • 9. Submit your blogs posts on blogging communities (BlogEngage, Medium, Ampower, etc.)
  • 10. You can also visit Answer sites and ask questions related to your blog, and then link to your blog in your questions.
  • 11. You can also submit your blogs to top blogging directories.

Backlinks, therefore, are an integral part of an SEO strategy. To get on top of the SEO game, you need to focus on creating relevant and top-quality backlinks for your website.

For an effective backlink building strategy, you can get in touch with vStacks Infotech now. vStacks Infotech is a one-stop shop for all your digital marketing needs. Also, if a smart SEO strategy is what you want for your website, we have you covered.

Common Uses Of Cloud Computing

Businesses the world over have now understood the benefits of cloud computing, and that is why they are moving their operations to the cloud. Some of the cloud computing benefits are cost reduction, storage, greater flexibility, optimal resource utilisation, backup, and scalability. With so many benefits (of cloud computing), it is not surprising that businesses use cloud computing to further their business goals.

When you opt for cloud computing, you don’t have to invest heavily in creating an IT infrastructure. Moreover, cloud computing offers matchless mobility, which means you can access your files from anywhere and at any time if you have an internet connection.

The world over, more than 50% of businesses will depend on the cloud for a minimum of one public cloud platform to drive digital transformation and delight customers (Forrester).

And, not to forget that the public cloud market is growing at a CAGR of 22% and is projected to touch $178 billion in 2018.

Businesses on an average predict that they will invest $3.5 million on cloud apps, platforms, and services in 2018.

Do we need to say more about the utility of cloud computing in today’s times?

So, what are the top most common uses of cloud computing?

The top most common uses of cloud computing

Some scenarios where cloud computing is used to further the ability to realise business goals are:

Cloud database – Every organisation needs an IT infrastructure. Businesses who need a database, but do not want to invest in acquiring the IT paraphernalia can turn to the cloud for all their IT needs. What you stand to gain if you embrace cloud computing is you don’t have to invest huge amounts upfront, and you also don’t have to hire a team of IT experts to run the show.

With cloud databases, you get powerful databases that work fine, and you don’t have to bother about physically acquiring an IT infrastructure. The upkeep of cloud databases is the responsibility of the cloud service provider. Businesses don’t have to bother about maintaining and operating the databases. All you need to do is handle your data.

Moreover, businesses get endless scalability if they opt for cloud databases. Whenever you need to increase your resources, you can inform your service provider, and within minutes you get the additional resources. For example, during the seasonal sales period, you know that your visitors increase many folds which means you need additional databases. You can upgrade and downgrade your requirements as and when you want when you opt for the cloud databases. You don’t have to install additional servers to meet your requirements.

Website hosting – Hosting takes up a large portion of IT resources. If you have a growing business, you need to host your website on the cloud or else you need to upgrade your IT resources constantly. With cloud-based web hosting, you don’t have to worry about your growing needs as scalability is an inbuilt option in the cloud package you select. And, if there are issues, then your website can migrate to the nearest server, or you can add more servers during uptime to offset the problem.

Also, with cloud web hosting, you pay as you use. There are no security concerns as it is the responsibility of the service provider to provide foolproof security.

Test and development – Testing and development are important because you need to make sure that your application can run smoothly, without any hassle, and is usable. And, to test your application, you should have a simulated environment which needs to be exactly like the actual business operations to authenticate the results.

And, it is cloud computing that comes to the rescue of businesses as there are various ready-made environments which are tailored to suit your requirements as and when you need them. The moment your application is ready, you can introduce it to a test environment for analysis. You can also use the platform for training purpose.

Big data analytics – In today’s times, every data that you come across – be it the resumes, the stack of paperwork, or digital data, it is all categorized as Big Data. The importance of data management is well documented, but its sheer volume makes the job a bit challenging. When you put your data into the cloud, it makes the job of data management easier, accessible, and when you combine it with analytics, it offers useful insights.

The biggest challenge that you face in data management is the processing part. So, how do you get the most useful information from the sea of data? There are Big Data Analytics platforms that use cloud technology and help businesses to process structured as well as unstructured data.

Backup and disaster recovery – You need to backup all your data so that you don’t lose any information. Be it your files, documents, or any other data; you need to back them all up. But, not all of us follow it routinely. Even today, we manually dispatch data by using portable devices and storage facilities which is both time-consuming as well as costly. That is where cloud computing’s disaster recovery steps in. Disaster recovery is a process that efficiently backs up your data in case of any eventuality, whether natural or otherwise. A disaster recovery plan not only save you costs, but it also offers several benefits to businesses. If there is a natural disaster that destroys your business partially or totally, your data is kept safe in the cloud which can be recovered timely and automatically. It thus eliminates the need for tapes, disks, or other storage facilities.

File storage and sharing – It makes life easier for businesses that work from different locations. Since all your files and documents are stored in the cloud, it makes sharing and retrieving data very easy. The most popular example of this service is Google Drive and Dropbox. With file storage and sharing, you and your colleagues in different locations can work on the same project without wasting time and money. You can upload the information which can be viewed and worked upon by your colleagues and vice versa. You can receive feedback, edit or review things online instantly which saves you a lot of time as well as money.

Business applications – There are cloud-based applications that are intuitive which are easy to use and are tailor-made for a specific industry. For example, you can use cloud CRM to build and maintain a strong relationship with all your customers. You can use cloud ERP to keep track of the resources, get decision-making insights, and update the budget plan. And, you can use cloud LMS for corporate training to keep your employees engaged. These cloud applications can help small, medium, and large enterprises in the same way. Organizations don’t have to pay any upfront cost for the hardware and software, and the pricing is typically cloud-based which is pay as you use.

Some companies still have security concerns as far as cloud computing is concerned. But, any service provider worth its name in the market will offer adequate security measures so that your data and company information remain safe at all the times.

In case you have not thought about migrating your business operations to the cloud, you need to urgently think of shifting to the cloud so that you can reap the benefits of innovative technology. For affordable cloud computing plans, you should get in touch with vStacks Infotech now and take your business operations to the next level.

If you want to manage all your IT and file storage needs efficiently, you should opt for cloud hosting packages from vStacks Infotech. With fully redundant data centres, we are capable of keeping all your information safe and secure.

How To Choose The Best Website Colour Scheme?

What we see has more impact on us than things we read or hear. Humans follow the visual stimuli in most of the things they do. The same is true when it comes to shopping and buying on the internet. Hence, it is important for businesses who have an online presence to create and design a website that attracts people. And, if you have a website that is boring and unattractive, it can put off your visitors permanently. But it is not all that easy to design a website that ticks with the masses. And, what can make or break your journey in the online arena is the website colour scheme. You have to be right on all the counts when it comes to website colour scheme.

Therefore, people who do not pay attention to the colour scheme of their website should not expect to do well on the online circuit.

Most of the buyers (85%) base their product buying decision on colour. Though the statistic is surprising, but it is none the less true.

If you think of some of the world’s most popular brands, you will notice that each one of them has a distinct colour scheme. Be it McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, or Dell, each of them is the leader in their vertical, and all have a distinct colour scheme.

Creating a brand….

If you are in the world of business, you must be aware that creating a strong brand identity is essential for the success of your organisation. A strong brand identity generates trust, comfort, and develops a long-lasting relationship with customers.

And, one thing that is central to any brand that has created a name for itself is its logo.

So, if you want to have a lasting effect on the minds and hearts of your consumers, you need to select the colour scheme of your logo carefully.

After all, colour is said to increase brand recognition by as much as 80%.

This proves our point beyond doubt that colour scheme is vitally important for creating a successful brand. It is not in the interest of the successful brands to play with their colour scheme. Hence, you would seldom see a change in the colour scheme of brands that are successful.

Website colour scheme – how to choose the best for your business?

When you start your business, you do a lot of brainstorming to select the right colour for your brand logo. Similarly, it is crucial for businesses to choose the right colour scheme for their websites. It is not advisable to select the colour scheme of your website randomly or follow your gut feeling.

If you want your website to look aesthetic, you should do a lot of deliberation when it comes to picking up the right colour scheme.

Within 90 seconds of initial viewing, people form an opinion about a product or an environment. And, 62 to 90% of that assessment is directly based on the colour.

It is therefore vital for you to select the right colour scheme for your website, one that suits your demographic.

Follow these simple tips to select the best colour scheme for your website:

Colours have an emotional connect with humans, try to understand it – Before deciding on the colour scheme for your website, it is important that you try to understand the human connection with colours.

Try and understand the psychology of colours. Every colour conveys a message.

For example, the colour green represents nature, health, wealth, and tranquillity. Green colour has relaxing effects and is the easiest colour for the eyes to process. It is the second most preferred colour by men and women. Leading brands using colour green – Tropicana, BP, Animal Planet, etc.

The colour yellow is associated with youthfulness, cheerfulness, and optimism. The yellow colour is mostly used to grab the attention of the audience. Leading brands using colour yellow – McDonald’s, Hertz, National Geographic, etc.

The colour orange represents enthusiasm, creativity, and friendliness. The orange colour prompts people to act – for example, buy and subscribe. It attracts impulse buyers. The leading brands using colour orange – Amazon, Crush, Payless, etc.

The colour red represents energy, passion, danger, urgency, vibrancy, and excitement. The colour red is mostly used to create urgency to buy. It triggers strong emotional reactions. You can see most of the restaurants using the colour red to stimulate appetite. Leading brands using colour red – Heinz, Coca-Cola, Red Robin, etc.

The colour pink is associated with sweetness, feminism, romance, fertility, and innocence. The colour pink is mostly used to market products and services that are used by women and young girls. Leading brands using colour pink – Barbie, Lyft, Pink Victoria’s Secret, etc.

The colour purple represents wisdom, royalty, success, and wealth. The colour is mostly used in beauty and aging products. It has a soothing effect on people. Leading brands using colour purple – Qatar Airways, THAI, Cadbury, etc.

The colour blue represents security, calmness, trust, peace, and stability. The colour blue is mostly used in banks and businesses to create a sense of security and trust among customers. It is the most preferred colour by both men and women. Leading brands using colour blue – Dell, GE, American Express, etc.

The colour grey represents simplicity, neutrality, calmness, and logic. The colour grey lacks emotion and is associated with precision, technology, control, industry, competence, and sophistication. Leading brands using colour grey – Mercedes, Bosch, Tesla, etc.

The colour black represents luxury, power, elegance, and sophistication. The colour black is mostly used to market luxury brands which evoke a sense of professionalism, precision, and strength. Leading brands using colour black – L’Oréal, Chanel, Rolls Royce, etc.

Hence, depending on the type and sector of your website, you should choose the colour scheme for your website. Also, very carefully you need to select the colour for the CTA button. You also have to understand that the effect of colours may vary on the place of your geographical location. For example, colours that attract Americans might not appeal in the same way to the Britishers.

Check out your demographic audience – This again is an important consideration. Try to figure out your target audience and then select the colour scheme of your website. Based on the emotions that colours evoke (as mentioned earlier), you need to choose the primary colour for your website. For example, if you are in the food business, you can consider making red as your primary colour.

Find out gender preferences – Depending on the business you are into; gender preferences can also play a significant role in selecting the colour scheme for your website. If you are specifically catering to a particular gender, try to pick up a colour that connects with your audience. You should know which colours attract men and women and those that they don’t like. Each gender has a clear colour preference. For example, the favourite colour for men is blue, and they generally don’t like brown and purple. Similarly, women’s favourite colour is also blue, and they don’t like brown and orange. Hence, it is important that you keep gender colour preferences in mind before finalizing the colour scheme of your website.

You also need to consider the age group of your audience – Just as colour preferences are different for men and women, it is different for people in different age brackets. Younger people like bold colours like yellow and red, while older people prefer sober colours like purple and white. Blue, green, and purple are liked by people in almost all the age brackets. As people age, their preference for green decreases, and they start liking purple. Hence, depending on the age group that dominates your demographic, you should select the colour scheme for your website.

Don’t be biased – It is not about what you like; it is about what others prefer. Hence, you should select a colour scheme that is based on psychology and not on your gut feeling. If you select your favourite colour as the primary colour, it might not give you the desired results. For example, if you like the colour green, you might want to select green as your primary colour for your restaurant business (which is not what colour psychology recommends). So, it should not be according to your likes and dislikes. Base your decision on psychology and not on your preferences.

Decide on the number of colours you want to use – After selecting the primary colour, you need to decide on the number of colours you want to use. Using too many colours can spoil the fun and can complicate things for your website. Usually, businesses opt for three colours in the following ratio – 60-30-10, where dominant colour takes up 60% of the space, secondary colour accounts for 30%, and accent colour takes up 10%. It is therefore best to follow a combination of three colours in the ratio mentioned here.

Now, select the colours you want to use – Choose the set of colours you want for your website. Do keep in mind that contrast generally works fine when it comes to websites. A background that is light in colour with contrast foregrounds can be an ideal combination for a website. The combination is soothing for the eyes of your customers and has an aesthetic appeal as well. However, websites with a dark background and light foreground can also look great. But, in such cases, you should select the colours carefully.

Take the help of the colour wheel – When it comes to selecting the colour scheme of your website, taking the help of the colour wheel is always a good idea. You can choose analogous colours that are pretty much the same and lie next to each other on the colour wheel. Alternatively, you can select complimentary colours that are bang opposite each other on the colour wheel.

Take the help of tools – The internet pretty much teaches you everything. Take the help of the tools that are available on the internet to select the best colour scheme for your website. It can make your job easy and save you time. You can take the help of Colormind, Colour Spire, colour explorer, or any other.

Study your competition – Your competitors can teach you a lot. Do a detailed study (check out at least three) to find what works best in your industry (colour scheme). You can choose a colour scheme that is similar to those of some of the popular websites, or you can pick up a combination that is just the opposite.

Work on two-three colour schemes then compare – Don’t finalize the first colour scheme that comes to your mind. Check out at least two to three colour schemes, and then finalize one for your website. Work out your options and show them to your friends and colleagues. See their reactions before finalizing the colour scheme of your website.

If you still have any problem, you can get in touch with vStacks Infotech and get new ideas for the colour scheme of your website.

vStacks Infotech has been in the business of website designing for long, and we know what it takes to design an attractive website.

Why Cloud Hosting Is Good For Your E-commerce Business

E-commerce industry has seen phenomenal growth in the recent past, and the trend is set to continue in the years to come. You need to have an e-commerce platform in place if you want to beat the competition in today’s times. That is the reason why businesses these days want to have an online presence to sell their products and services.

In 2017 the total e-commerce sales amounted to roughly $2.3 trillion which is set to touch $4.5 trillion by 2021 (Statista).

But with so many e-commerce platforms already out there in the market, it is not easy to climb the success ladder in the online business unless you have a well-defined strategy in place. And, when we talk of a well-defined strategy, it is important for businesses to select the right kind of hosting for your e-commerce business.

Many businesses, especially those entering the ecommerce market for the first time wonder whether to choose an on-premise or cloud-based online interface. It is a decision that has a far- reaching impact on your ecommerce business. It not only controls your capital and operating budgets, but it also determines your ability to grow and the way you respond to the opportunities present in the market.

Why cloud-hosting for your ecommerce business?

It is no secret that businesses all over the world are moving to the cloud thick and fast. According to Gartner, in 2018 the worldwide public cloud services market is expected to grow at a healthy rate of 21.4% and will touch $186.4 billion, up from $153.5 billion in 2017.

According to Forbes, the cloud equipment market worldwide is expected to reach $79.1 billion in 2018.

According to the LogicMonitor’s survey, 83% of enterprise workloads will run in the cloud by 2020. It is not surprising to note that on-premise workloads are expected to come down from a present 37% to 27% of all workloads by 2020.

Companies, cutting across all verticals, from financial services and manufacturing to healthcare and retail, are planning to shift their operations to the cloud because it offers the ultimate storage solution for a range of activities that include online storage gateways, backup storage, and data movement and access.

So, if your ecommerce business is looking for an efficient data storage solution, then the cloud can offer numerous benefits, and hence makes it a perfect option.

The ecommerce companies are opting for cloud services because it allows them to reach their goals and provide a customized experience to its customers. Also, those who have adopted the cloud have a distinct competitive advantage over the ones who have not yet embraced the cloud.

Here are some major benefits to consider cloud hosting if you are planning to start your ecommerce business.

Benefits of cloud hosting for your ecommerce business

The ecommerce industry has hugely benefitted from the cloud computing market. If you are planning to start your ecommerce business, you should consider cloud hosting for the ecommerce platform. From cost and scalability to reliability and flexibility, cloud computing can offer several benefits to your ecommerce business.

Here are some of the major benefits cloud computing has to offer to your ecommerce business:

Cost savings

Whether you are planning to shift your present operations to the cloud or start your new ecommerce business, there are a lot of savings that are up for grabs in case you move to the cloud.

When it comes to cloud computing, you only need to pay for the services you take and use. Also, as and when you grow, you don’t have to worry about investing huge amounts in upgrading the hardware and software infrastructure. You also don’t have to bother about developing and maintaining the IT infrastructure which amounts to substantial savings.

When businesses plan to foray into new geographical locations, cloud-based ecommerce solutions offer them a great deal of flexibility and scalability at prices that are reasonable.

Unmatched accessibility

When your ecommerce business is hosted in the cloud, all the relevant business information is easily accessible by the users through any standard web browser. When you start or move your ecommerce business to the cloud, you don’t have to worry about setting up an in-house system. Your business processes can be fast and easy because all your employees, partners, distributors, and suppliers have easy access to information.

Unquestioned scalability

One of the most important attributes of cloud computing is scalability. When businesses opt for cloud computing, you don’t have to worry about increased customer activity or a surge in the number of customer visits. As and when your requirements go up, you can easily scale up the resources in any given active session. Whether it is a promotional activity or flash sale, with cloud hosting you can easily manage your resources to suit your needs. Cloud servers are designed to provide maximum performance. Moreover, as easily as you can scale up your resources, you can also scale them down after your requirements are over. Scalability for the ecommerce business is an important consideration as it is difficult to upgrade and downgrade your IT infrastructure.

Unparalleled security

Security for an ecommerce business is always an important consideration. It is important to secure your business files, applications, tools, and networks. Since cloud hosting solution is professionally managed, you can rest assured that your business data remains secure at all times. Providers of cloud hosting solution ensure that the highest levels of security measures are put in place to keep your data secure. From end to end encryption, antivirus programs, and managed firewalls to multi-level authentication process, cloud hosting provides complete protection of your business data and files.

Recovery and backup

Cloud hosting allows you the best available option for backing up your customer data. There can be a lot of problem for your ecommerce store if your data isn’t secure and backed up at all times. From natural disasters and hard drive failures to power surges and corrupt software, you have to keep your data protected from a lot of factors. Local data backup can provide you some protection, but it proves insufficient in case of extreme emergencies. Cloud hosting offers you better control over the data you want to save and gives you the option of the place where you want it stored.

Your business operations can get adversely affected if there is a power outage or system failure at your place. And, in any such eventuality if you lose your business data, then it is a big problem. But, when you have your ecommerce business hosted on the cloud, you don’t have to worry about system failures or physical damage. When your website is hosted on the cloud, your servers remain functional at all times which ensures smooth customer operations.

More flexibility

Cloud powered solutions are perfect for ecommerce websites because they generally have fluctuating bandwidth requirements. It is easy to scale up the resources as and when your bandwidth requirement increases. And, since scaling up of resources is possible in cloud computing, hence there is no reason why your website will become slow.

Enhanced mobility

Your employees can access important data and applications from anywhere they want and when ever they so desire. This allows the employees to manage their work at their convenience from their smartphones and tablets. Your employees can also share important documents and data through the cloud without any hassle. This helps you reduce the time-to-market and improves product development and customer service.

Increased reliability

In the case of cloud hosting the servers are linked to the same network because of which they work in a complimentary fashion. This helps the load to get evenly distributed between the cloud servers which improves the functionality. It means your website has an on-going backup system which makes it more reliable.

Competitive edge

Since you don’t have to invest time in IT procurement, the cloud hosting resources gives you a distinct edge over your competitors. You can get significant business benefit by deploying critical applications for your ecommerce website. And, you can do all of this quickly and at no additional cost. With cloud hosting, you can concentrate on expanding your business instead of investing too much of your time on IT infrastructure.

Complete Root/ RDP access

When you opt for cloud hosting, you get complete control over your hosting platform. You get complete root/ RDP access which allows you to install applications and do a lot many other things. This feature can be used to enhance the activities of your ecommerce platform and for the smooth functioning of your website.

If you want to propel your e-commerce business to the next level, you need the necessary resources and cloud computing is what offers you all of that and more. If e-commerce business is what you are planning to start, you should get in touch with vStacks Infotech now for affordable cloud hosting plans.

vStacks Infotech has been in the cloud hosting and storage business for a long time now, and we know what it takes to make your e-commerce business a success.

Reasons Why Your E-commerce Business Needs To Do Content Marketing The Right Way

If you are familiar with the internet, websites, and SEO, you probably understand the importance of content marketing.

But is content marketing crucial for the success of your e-commerce business?

Yes!

Your e-commerce business needs it the most.

It is important for businesses to keep devising ways so that they can effectively communicate with their prospects and customers. Businesses adopt different ways to put across their messages to their customers and prospects. And, content marketing is by far the most effective way of communicating with your target audience, especially if you are in the retail vertical.

The retail sector needs content marketing the most because their target audience is selective and they interact only with the content that interests them.

Sample these statistics:

Effective content marketing can increase the conversion rates by almost 6X for an e-commerce brand.

Websites that do not have a content marketing strategy in place have an average conversion rate of 0.5%, whereas those brand websites that focus on content marketing have an average conversion rate of 2.9%. What a staggering difference to say the least.

Also, we know that the time spent by the adults on the digital media has constantly seen an increase over the years and is set to go up further.

Content marketing, therefore, helps you conquer the social media battle as well and is the best place for the word of the mouth publicity. Social media is the go-to place if you want to create a buzz for your product, service, or brand.

In this blog, we will take you through why content marketing is important for your e-commerce business. But before getting into that lets first try to understand what is content marketing?

What is content marketing?

According to the Content Marketing Institute, content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.

Naturally, content marketing has found favour from all forward-thinking marketers because traditional marketing is getting less and less effective. All the leading brands across the world are using content marketing to promote their brands.

You do not have to hard sell your product or service in this form of marketing. All you do is provide truly relevant content that is useful to your customers and prospects that help them solve their issues, in turn, making them your loyal clients.

And, why does content marketing work?

Customers are fed-up with offers, advertisements, and sops to buy products and services on a day to day basis. The slide in traditional marketing has led to the rapid rise of content marketing where companies and brands publish relevant content in the form of articles, blogs, etc. to provide useful information targeted at their customers. It is an inbound marketing strategy where you do not go to the users at the point of sale instead content visibility ensures that customers come to you.

Content marketing helps you generate brand equity and attracts new customers. Content marketing educates your prospects which helps in building a rapport with them that can lead to an immediate sale and long-term loyalty.

When you ensure that your content marketing is effective, it spreads like wildfire on the social networks, and word of mouth publicity can generate a lot of goodwill for your brand which helps drive sales.

Why do brands need a content marketing strategy?

Content marketing educates and solves your customer’s problems and is the perfect way to create customer engagement. Content marketing improves your search engine rankings, increases brand awareness, and drives traffic. Also, content marketing promotes integrated marketing, generates leads, and provides you the competitive edge.

In content marketing, your message directly interacts with your target audience which creates a direct connection with them causing deeper levels of emotions as compared to the traditional ways. This leaves a lasting impact on your customers as you can convey your brand message more effectively.

According to Demand Metric, content marketing is three times more effective in lead generation than traditional forms of marketing.

Content marketing is more cost-effective which works out to 62% less than traditional marketing.

With custom content, 82% of the customers develop a positive opinion about the brand.

Content marketing helps 70% of the customers to develop a personal connection.

Content marketing helps 72% of the customers to develop a relationship with a brand due to custom content.

This is how your e-commerce business can benefit from an effective content marketing strategy

People in the sales function know it pretty well that selling is more about building an emotional connection with your customer.

Sample these statistics:

  • 60% of the customers plan to buy a product only after getting informed about it.
  • 90% of the customers like to read custom content that is relevant.
  • And, 86% of the customers are ready to pay more for better customer experience.

This is how your e-commerce business can benefit from an effective content marketing strategy:

Content marketing helps in product research – Before buying a product, more than 80% of the online shoppers first conduct detailed research. What is more interesting is that around 60% of these customers start their product research over search engines. Hence, with a content marketing strategy in place, businesses in the e-commerce sector stand a better chance to attract online shoppers to their site through the process of search. For example, up-to-date product reviews and insightful buying guides are an effective content marketing strategy that can do wonders for your e-commerce business.

It increases your brand awareness – It is a known fact that brands that produce custom content are more likely to develop a positive connection with their customers. This proves that putting in place a content strategy is an effective method of building customer relations. If you generate high-quality content, then people will retain information about your brand and can also make a positive association with it. And, in case you use social media to promote your content, then it can create a lot of awareness and buzz about your brand. It is no secret that relevant and useful content is shared on the social media like wildfire which increases your brand awareness significantly.

It improves the overall experience of the shopper – Content marketing provides relevant and useful information to your online customers, which generates more user engagement and also keeps them entertained. When you provide custom content to your online shoppers, they tend to spend more time on your site. For example, adding terms and conditions policies increases your customer’s understanding as well as enhances his or her trust in your site. Hence, content that is high in quality increases the overall experience of your customers.

It allows you to display your products in a more meaningful way – Custom content can display the products in the right frame and in a more meaningful way. While going through the content, an individual can understand the value he or she would get if they buy the product which increases their urge to own your brand. The custom content educates the customers on how to use the product and informs them about its useful features. All this develops a stronger emotional bond with your customers which encourage them to buy the product.

It increases conversions and augments brand loyalty – If people can relate to your content more, then they develop trust in your brand and feel connected to it. Hence, if your content is useful and relevant, then people get attracted to your brand more and this, in turn, can increase your conversions. If you carefully position call-to-action in your content, you can redirect many individuals where you want them to go. You can increase your conversions if you have a good content strategy in place.

Useful and relevant content not just improves your conversions, it also boosts customer loyalty. People who find your content interesting and useful will keep coming back to your site to gain knowledge which, in turn, can boost customer loyalty.

Content in the form of product videos increases the trust and augments sale – Adding product or explainer videos to your site is another way of influencing your customers positively. Almost three fourth of the online buyers make their decision after watching the video. Not just that around half of the online buyers (46%) avoid shopping if they don’t get to see a video. Also, 71% of your online buyers consider that a video offers a better explanation. And, not to forget that 58% of your online shoppers trust a brand more if it has a product video. Hence, you need to add product videos to increase the trust and augment sales.

If you want to improve customer engagement for your e-commerce store, you should get in touch with vStacks Infotech now. We will make sure that you get a smart content marketing strategy for your e-commerce business.

vStacks Infotech has been in the world of digital marketing for long, and we not only create meaningful content for your e-commerce store, but we can also create, run, and manage your social media activities.

Benefits Of Cloud Computing

The cloud market is growing at a break-neck speed, and there are no signs of a let up in the years to come. Cloud computing offers several benefits like affordability, security, and scalability. And, that is the reason why companies around the world are shifting their business operations to the cloud.

Cloud computing has been around for a pretty long time now. For example, the banking transaction we do on the internet, the music we listen to on the phone, and emails that we send and receive – all of it is managed and stored by cloud computing.

The cloud computing market is projected to touch $411 billion by 2020 (Gartner).

Cloud computing has the potential to solve all your IT infrastructure needs. With cloud computing in place, you don’t have to invest in costly IT infrastructure. And, it is just a myth that cloud computing is meant only for big businesses. Cloud computing has several benefits to offer to businesses both big and small.

So, what are the benefits of cloud computing? But before getting into the benefits of cloud computing, let us try to understand what is cloud computing.

What is cloud computing?

The use of various resources like software development platforms, software, storage, servers over the internet is called cloud computing. And, the companies that offer these services are known as cloud service providers. When it comes to cloud computing, you only have to pay for what you use. The cloud service providers generally manage the backend of the application (hardware), and you only have to pay for the services you use like bandwidth, processing time, memory, etc.

In cloud computing, you can run all your programs and applications over the internet. And, since you don’t have to invest in costly IT infrastructure, that is why you save so much money. That is why cloud computing is a boon for small and medium enterprises because businesses don’t need to arrange liquid funds to create the IT infrastructure.

Cloud computing is generally categorised into three main types – Infrastructure as a service or IaaS, Platform as a service or PaaS, and Software as a service or SaaS.

Benefits of cloud computing

Cloud computing has several benefits to offer to businesses both big and small. Here are some of the major benefits of cloud computing.

Cloud computing is/ offers:
Cost-efficient – Small and medium enterprises need to invest in the infrastructure set-up carefully. Putting in place the IT infrastructure and the team to run the show requires a lot of money upfront. And, many a time, arranging liquid funds becomes a problem for organisations that are starting their operations. And, cloud computing comes as a major respite for all such organisations that don’t want to invest big at the start. You are not required to invest big (or even small) when you start your operation in the cloud. All you have to pay for is what you use.
It is the responsibility of the cloud service provider to acquire the hardware, run it, maintain it, and upgrade it. All you have to pay for is the services you use, and that too in a convenient way – yearly, half-yearly, or monthly.

Scalable – At the start organisations have limited requirement, but as you grow, your needs grow. It means that as you grow, you need to increase and improve your IT resources (read infrastructure), employees, team collaboration, etc. But when you opt for cloud computing, you don’t have to worry about your growing needs because cloud computing offers scalable solutions. You don’t have to keep investing money to upgrade your IT resources every time your business operations grow. It is the responsibility of the cloud service provider to arrange all the resources for your organisation. For example, if your bandwidth requirement grows, your service provider will scale up your capacity. Likewise, if your requirements come down, your service provider can scale down your capacity.

Safe – Cloud computing is safe. Cloud providers take adequate measures to make sure that your data remain safe at all the times. You can put in place different security settings to keep your data protected from prying eyes. Also, encryption provides additional security to your data in the cloud. Your data remains safer in the cloud in comparison to the traditional on-site servers.

Mobility – Cloud computing can increase the productivity and efficiency of your team members because it offers them mobile access. Your team members can access the corporate data as and when they need it, and this helps them remain on the same page on any given subject. Those at a remote location and high-flying executives who are short on time can keep themselves updated on all the recent developments. It makes life much easier for your remote staff and freelancers who can remain equally productive. It also empowers your sales team because they have access to all the data on the move.

Increased collaboration – Cloud computing makes the process of collaboration seamless. It allows your mobile workforce and remote workers to access information seamlessly across devices making them more productive. With cloud computing, your team members can view and share all the information securely without any delay. Collaborating without cloud computing is not easy, and it is also not all that effective.

Disaster recovery – Data is important for every business, and that is why businesses need to invest in robust data recovery. But due to lack of expertise and liquid funds, it becomes difficult for smaller businesses to invest in data recovery. That is where cloud computing comes to the rescue of businesses. You can avail the cloud-based backup and recovery solutions which ensures that your data remains safe at all the times. Businesses not only save on time and third-party expertise, but they also don’t have to spend money on disaster recovery. Be it power outages or natural disasters; cloud computing offers a robust data recovery solution.

Document control – You need to have stringent document control in place when employees and partners from different region collaborate on documents. Earlier, employees used to send the documents back and forth as an email attachment for inputs and correction where only one person at a time could have given his or her views. All of this resulted in unnecessary confusion. But when businesses move their operations to the cloud, all your documents are stored at a central place and in a similar format. And, when people in your organisation access the same information, it helps you to maintain data consistency and eliminates human error. It improves collaboration which, of course, results in better outcomes.

Competitive edge – Businesses who have moved their operations to the cloud firmly believe that it has provided them with a competitive edge. With cloud computing, you get access to enterprise-class technology which helps small and medium companies to act faster than big and established corporates. When you opt for cloud computing, you get all the resources to compete with the big players.

In case you are planning to move your business operations to the cloud, and you are looking for a reliable cloud service provider, you can get in touch with vStacks Infotech now.

vStacks Infotech offers affordable and flexible cloud hosting solutions. We have the necessary experience and exposure in the software industry to take your business to the next level.