10 Tips for Mastering LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the social network for the professional crowd. It can be a fantastic resource for networking, hiring or finding a job, gathering sales leads, staying up-to-date on industry news and participating in the conversation.

But for entrepreneurs who are just starting up, or perhaps less social-media savvy than others, making the most of LinkedIn can seem kind of daunting.

It doesn't have to be. Below are some proven tips to help you use LinkedIn to its fullest potential for your business. 

1. Fill out your page completely with all the important details of your business. 

First off, an incomplete profile simply doesn't look good on LinkedIn. So make sure you fill out all the sections that apply to your business.

Be sure to put the most critical details about yourself or your business on top, so people won't miss them. Explain exactly what your company is, who your clients are and how you help them. Also showcase your products by filling out the "Products and Services" section of your company page. 

2. Highlight your expertise.
One great way to connect with people is by positioning yourself as an expert in your industry. Others may come to you seeking professional advice and insight. Real relationships can be born.

One way to do this is to post articles you've written about your business and industry. Also be sure to share work samples or white papers to the "Pages" section. On your profile, note any honors or awards you have received. Also get endorsements and recommendations.

3. Create a call to action.
In the summary section, write a concise call to action that explains to people who land on your page exactly what it is you'd like them to do. Maybe you want them to call or email you or visit your site to sign up to your mailing list. Whatever it is, make it clear. (You can't expect people to read your mind.)

4. Include a photo.
A LinkedIn profile with a photo is 11 times more likely to be viewed and updates with a photograph get five times more shares. So, yes, you want to have photos on your page.

Businesses can share photos of their office, products or examples of their team’s work. Add photos of interesting people you meet (get their permission before snapping pictures, of course) or of yourself delivering presentations at industry events. Above all, make sure to keep it professional. Save your personal photos for Facebook or Instagram.

5. Optimize your profile for search.
You want to stand out on LinkedIn, right? There are hundreds of millions of people searching LinkedIn and your profile should be easily found by the people who are searching for the types of services you provide.

To help improve the chances of your name appearing in LinkedIn's internal search results, include keywords in your profile that are related to your business and industry. Think of these keywords as the words a potential client would type when searching LinkedIn.

6. Post consistently.
Whether posting blogs you've written or sharing news from around the web, do so often and consistently. The point is to post often enough to keep people coming back to your page. Posting regularly can also help your page's SEO.

7. Create and participate in LinkedIn groups.
Networking and gaining credibility are two goals many people have when joining LinkedIn. Luckily, both can be achieved by creating and participating in LinkedIn groups. You can use the top two or three biggest topics of interest within your industry as the basis for your group or groups.

8. Be savvy about who you connect with (and who you don't).
Sometimes it's OK to ignore connection requests. Remember, this isn't Facebook or Twitter. The point of being on LinkedIn is to connect with real professionals. You don't need to have more connections than someone else. This isn't a popularity contest.

Some people choose not to connect with anyone they haven't met or done business with in real life. LinkedIn, after all, says you should only “connect with those you know and trust. ” Others may opt to decline requests from people who seem like spammers or someone who simply didn’t take the time to customize his or her connection request.

9. Make your messages personal.
Just as you might turn down a generic connection request, make sure the messages you send to others are personalized. Let the person you’re connecting with know you have an interest in his or her business and you're not just trying to sell something.

People like connecting with people. Be human, not a robot.

10. Dive deep with trending content tools.
There's a ton of content on LinkedIn. If you don't have the time or patience to sift through it all (who does?) you can use the site's trending content and content score tools.

Use the trending content tools to weed through the posts and updates to find information relevant to you and your connections. Use the content score tool to find out how you’re doing and what you can do to strengthen your reach.

Info presented by Rankwinz

Reasons Your Email Provider Can Encrypt Your Messages

Fortunately, the organizations and companies that provide you with an e-mail are also interested in keeping you safe. Over the past couple of years, most have improved their account security and the data sent over it.

Step 1: Encrypting your log-in

Using hard math to scramble the password and user-name sent from your mobile device or computer to the e-mail server you are using is a fundamental defense against those stealing your log-in credentials. But it was not always used. As recently as 2007, I saw one major Internet provider not using basic “SSL” encryption. That meant that anybody running a malicious (or compromised) Wi-Fi hotspot could grab your log-in data without having to decrypt anything.

Bonus feature No. 1: “EV-SSL.” Ever see your browser highlight a site’s domain name in green? That means the site purchased an “Extended Validation” Certificate, a rough equivalent of having a notary public verify your identity.

Bonus feature No. 2: “forward secrecy.” Modern encryption doesn’t rely on a single key that, if exposed, gives up the game; instead, the math changes each time. In forward secrecy (often called “perfect forward secrecy,” though I’m wary of repeating that kind of a claim), cracking one of these one-time keys doesn’t reveal any equation you could use to attack another.

Step 2: Encrypting your session

Once you log in, you want your online session to stay secured. But if it’s not, it’s too easy for bad guys to hijack or snoop on the connection by looking for the tiny “cookie” files that websites save to free you from having to log in anew all the time. Once a cookie is hijacked, it can be used to log in to an account later, without its owner knowing it.

Over the past few years, full-time encryption — going by names like “sitewide SSL,” “always-on SSL,” and “full-time HTTPS” — has become standard at most webmail services and social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. 

Step 3: Encrypting email in transit

The most welcome upgrade in email in the past few months has been the widespread move to deploy “TLS” encryption to secure email as it travels across the Internet. Both mail services have to support this, which they can confirm through a quick “handshake” check before transferring a message. The great thing here is that neither the sending nor the receiving human has to do anything extra. (The bad thing is that, currently, neither party can easily tell if the message is actually encrypted.)

Step 4: End-to-end encryption

But what happens once the message arrives at your correspondent’s servers, after which point even TLS can’t protect it?

With end-to-end encryption, not even those mail server computers can read it; only the person running a decryption program and in possession of the right digital key can decode it. This is both tremendously secure and, for most people, a huge pain to use on a daily basis. 

Google’s project to build a simpler end-to-end encryption system that you could install from its Chrome Web Store is an important, promising step. But let’s see if it gets the interface right — and make sure that outside security experts inspect its code to verify that its cryptography can’t be broken by an attacker. 

Don’t forget that in any of these situations, somebody peeking over your shoulder — or using a “keylogger” program to record your keystrokes — can get around encryption and read your words as you write them. While there is no such thing as perfect email security, for many people, there is definitely better security.

Source: http://rankwinz.com/

Design Trends for 2014

Some web design trends have been gaining popularity for several years, others are more recent. If you are an experienced online marketer or professional designer, keeping on top of the latest web design trends.

Responsive Design

Responsive design is less of a “trend” and more of an increasingly effective response to the variety of Internet capable devices in use today. Users no longer view the web solely from their desktop computers. Smartphones, tablets, laptops, retina displays, and televisions are used every day to access the Internet, and each device has a different screen size and should be considered in a different context. Responsive design enables a single website to scale and change based on the device it is accessed from — without creating multiple, separate sites.

Responsive design is more of a functional aspect of design, rather than a visual trend. However, the increasing shift towards responsive design has had an impact on other visual design trends, making it an important aspect of design to consider in this list.

Content Focused Sites

There is a strong link between a greater focus on content and the increase use of responsive sites. It’s difficult to execute one well without the other. Many responsive sites establish “break points” based on site content, and content focused sites often rely on responsive design to clearly deliver content to a user based on the device they are using. We are seeing more designers focus on the “function” of design before the “fashion,” and I expect we will see more of this as designers and developers determine how to provide the best web experience for users.

More Custom Typography

Typography has been a growing trend in web design for several years. Smashing Magazine published an article in 2012 claiming “Typography is the Foundation of Web Design.” Despite the importance of type in web design, early attempts at custom typography were made difficult by browser compatibility. Thankfully, web browsers have come a long way in recent years and services like Google Fonts make it easier than ever to use beautiful, custom typography in web design.

Simple, Flat Design

I already mentioned that the functionality of responsive design has had an impact on the appearance of sites. One of the more prominent examples of this is the growing popularity of simple, “flat” designs. This trending design style isn’t entirely the result of responsive functionality. But the two are very compatible.

Simple, flat designs tend to use fewer colors and avoid textures, gradients, and shadows. The Apple iOS 7 redesign is a good example of simpler, flat design. Microsoft’s Metro UI design also utilizes a simple, flat layout. As the web becomes responsively focused on content, sites are opting for simpler designs with flat design elements.

Single Page, Scrolling Sites

This is another trend that has been growing in popularity for several years. A popular idea with early web designers was “designing above the fold.” “The Fold” is originally a term referring to newspapers, which featured important content on the top half of the folded paper to entice readers to keep reading. Early web designers borrowed this concept and were worried that content placed too far down the page would seldom be accessed by site visitors. While “the fold” is still a debated topic among designers, the popularity and success of single-page designs seem to lend to the notion that “designing above the fold” is no longer necessary. One benefit of single page sites is that visitors can expect to find everything they are looking for on one page.

Video Usage

Increasing broadband Internet speeds and new web technologies like HTML5 video have lead to an increase in online video use. Product videos, video storytelling, and even video backgrounds have all become popular with web designers.

 Larger Design Elements

As designers simplify designs and focus more on content, important site elements are getting larger. Large typography, photography, video content, and illustrations have all been growing trends in recent years. I would combine these trends to say design elements are getting larger as a whole. This helps designers utilize screen real estate on large displays, and increase usability on small displays.

SVG and Other Vector Images

Scalable Vector Graphics (SVGs) and other vector images provide designers with a way to address the need for web scalability. While responsive design allows designers to create websites that scale based on a user’s device, scaling images can be much more difficult. Designers need images that are large enough to look good on large displays, but don’t want to sacrifice load times for visitors accessing a site via a mobile device. Vector images offer a much-needed solution as they are small in size and can scale without any decrease in quality.

This is a trend that might be hard to spot unless you view a website’s source code. It’s essentially the same as being able to tell if a site is using a .JPG or .PNG image just from looking at it. Unfortunately, vector images don’t provide scalability for photographs. I suspect as the need for a responsive web increases, we will see a greater use of vector images and may begin to see scalable solutions for photographs as well.

Other Trends

Web design is continually changing. I’ve already listed the trends that I think are the most important and will have the greatest impact on web design as a whole. Other trends that are worth noting include fixed navigation, swipe navigation, long shadow design elements, improved parallax support, and CSS3 animation. Remember, when dealing with design trends, what works is more important than what looks good at the moment. Consider what will provide the best experience for a visitor to your site before using a design technique simply because it is trendy.

Source: http://rankwinz.com/

10 Marketing Tricks

Marketing is the life blood of any start-up. Otherwise, the company is going to lose the battle. Here you can find some solutions for those entrepreneurs who are looking to boost their productivity with minimum effort. Look at the following suggestions given by some of professional marketing people. Moreover, it is surprising that some of solutions are really simple!

Social Media

1. Boost your posts. Boost your social media content. It becomes harder for businesses to receive a response. So give your content a paid boost. In case you have about 100 likes on your page, you will see a 'boost' button at the bottom of each post. You can make your message out to thousands of unique users just for $30.

2. Load up on data, and do it quickly. “Facebook advertising can deliver the cheapest CPM's in online marketing with the ability to test ad efficiency in real-time. Use the power editor "duplicate" tool to create hundreds of ads and change one element per ad. Give these a small budget, and you'll quickly see what works and what doesn't without breaking the bank. Double down on the ones that work, and kill the ones that don't.”

3. Retweet and engage “Don’t just tweet out stuff about your company. Engage with other companies, your customers and thought leaders in your market. Retweet their tweets and add your thoughts. Respond to tweets that aren’t directed at you and give your thoughts on those. Followers will start flowing your way.”

Advertising

4. Explore pay-per-click advertising. Google isn’t the only show in town when it comes to pay-per-click advertising. “Google has the most volume when it comes to their ad network. But they’re far from the only option. Bing provides great results for businesses targeting the baby boomer generation. You can also look into Google Search Partner Networks for other opportunities for higher ROI.”

5. One ad per keyword. “If you’re running a campaign with a dozen keywords and only have one ad, then you’re throwing money away. Create specific ad groups that target single keywords. Then create two to three ads for that one keyword. See which ad works best, then run with it.”

Public relations

6. Don’t brag, give real value. “The greatest secret in media and public relations right now is that the press (and your potential customers) are most interested in the value added information that will help them succeed in a given area—not in hearing promotional information from you. By thinking of your readers’ needs first—not your own self-interests—you will receive business traction and audience engagement beyond your dreams.”

7. One sentence “Here’s a pro tip that’s extremely obvious, but often completely ignored by entrepreneurs everywhere: You should be able to explain your startup in one sentence. That’s it. No exceptions.”

SEO

8. Poach your competitors’ mentions. “Create a Google Alert for your competitors’ brand names. Find out where they are being mentioned and in what context. Then, see if there’s opportunities to be mentioned alongside of them. Many times journalists and editors will write about one brand and be open to including a similar brand for parity.”

Email marketing

9. Trim your subjects. "Get an immediate lift in email marketing revenue by reducing your subject lines to only one word. Choose that word carefully. It should induce irresistible curiosity, while staying relevant to your message. With the right word, your open rates will skyrocket. Do some testing to really dial it in."

Outdoor advertising

10. Think outside the box. “Get creative when working with a budget and with advertisers. A client of mine recently secured a ‘pay for performance’ billboard on one of the busiest stretches of an interstate. They only pay the billboard agency if a sale results from that billboard. You’d be surprised what you can get accomplished if you only ask.”

Source: http://rankwinz.com/

What Brands Should Do to Win Without Competition

Reliance is part and parcel of our lives. Everybody makes his own choice who can he rely on and who can he trust. As we choose our recruiters, employers and friends, in the same way we choose trusted online relationships, including shopping websites, corporate sites, etc.

Do you believe in these new influencers? Or they just replace recruiters and advertisers?

"Influencer" is a discrete role, a great responsibility and a type of advocacy from an employer’s and individual’s perspective. Influence and trust are 2 capabilities, which allow employees and employers new tools to navigate the new world of weakly connected relationships and friendships. If done properly, this influence type is a strong method to connect to individuals and significantly grow faith in a brand. However, in case it is done quite poorly, you can be turned into a scammer.

Break down the barriers and establish trust

The "brand humanization" is essential for employers. This is a mix of culture, corporation and community that promotes development of social networks in order to attract employees and prospects that believe in and trust the brand’s mission. "Humanized" brands are aimed at the communities creation. Communities can help to engage employees and prospects and they in turn attract new participants.

When trust is in its place, it is high time to start working at influence.

There are necessary investments for brand humanization to ensure their corporate persona engages at a human level. Sometimes corporate persona may derive from a leader. For example, Virgin's Richard Branson is the persona and at the same time company face.

Also brands have to create communities of interest, where influencers, employees, brand advocates and others can conveniently interact. The community can reflect the interests of the brand’s shareholders, developers, employees, etc.

Trust in a humanized brand also requires that interactions are timely, relevant and appropriate in duration and frequency. Target each interaction to the right channel. Don’t forget to make sure the community share idea about frequency of interaction and contact.

Where influence begins

Influence is a type of currency, which requires certain reciprocity. If I give you something valuable, you should reciprocate. As a rule, it works wonderfully, when two parties share a nation of value. In today’s social world, influence is acknowledgment in another’s blog post of an idea you had, a link to one of your posts in an article, a hat tip on Twitter, etc.

We must not forget that we live in a trust-based economy. We should make arrangements not only about our behaviors but also our expectations. For example, companies have to be prepared to work with applicants and employees that do not provide absolute trust, increase motivation to humanize their brands and consequently connect with communities. Building trust provides a new value equation for the brand, its consumers, employees, and employee prospects.

Influence and trust in your brand is an asset with incredible value. Guard it carefully. 

Source:  http://rankwinz.com/

5 Ways to Remember Your Company

Today the majority of company managers wonder how to be memorable enough and what can they do for that.

Being memorable is crucial for every business operator. If people don’t even remember you exist, how they will fund you or buy from you?

Check out the following ways to make a firm and lasting impression:

1. Identify a commonality.

One of the most effective ways to get someone to like you is to use commonalities. People trust you more when they feel you share their standpoint. This effect also appears, when the client finds out that you are from the same home-town as he is or you attended the same school. The fact that you both are fond of cats or the turquoise color also matters. If they trust and like you, they will certainly remember you.

2. Stir interest. As a rule, we bury the conversation in the first 15 seconds. When you hear the typical: “What do you do?,” think of giving more interesting answer then “I own a business”.

Find a way to arouse their curiosity, making them want to know more and more. Say “I help brands become more famous” instead of “I offer marketing services”.

3. Develop your own style. Your wardrobe is one of the ways to stand out. However, if it does not feel natural to you, do not force it! In case you have your own peculiar style, take advantage of it. It may make a considerable part of your brand.

4. Ask many questions. It may sound paradoxically but asking many questions makes you more memorable. Each of us is an egoist a little and each of us loves to talk about himself. So jump at the chance to take advantage of it, asking a lot of thoughtful and interesting questions. It always makes people feel understood and appreciated.

5. Find a strong reason to follow up. People won’t remember you, if you give them weak opportunities. If you want to make a strong impression, you have to turn a brief meeting into a long-lasting relationship. Find ways to continue the conversation. Get the contact information. Maybe they will be interested in receiving some new interesting information about the conversation topic.

Making a strong impression is very important to your business success. By following these techniques, you can be sure people will take note. 

Source: http://rankwinz.com/

Building Trust by Means of Content Marketing

What content marketing is all about? If you think that the principal goal of writing good website content is telling the story of a company and services it offers, you are not right. Content does much more than that. Successful content marketing is aimed at building trust. It doesn’t matter what type of content you’re creating, the actual purpose should be to reach the high level of trust between the brand creating content and the consumer of it.

How to stand out the online marketing noise?

347 blog posts appear every minute. It is the age of information overload. Don’t forget about a variety of videos, information that comes over email, Twitter and Facebook posts. Beyond the pieces of content created and shared online, we create a great amount of ads. Therefore, the average internet user can see about 5000 ads a day.

With so much information being created for internet users, it is very important to consider what can make us stand out. Some companies say that it depends on the frequency of content and some tell that on the content quality. However, both of these things matter. Many companies, including those, which have limited financial asset to spend on their marketing campaigns, decide to pay for creating high-quality content, which can build trust between the consumer and the brand.

The following 5 steps can help in reaching the greater level of trust with your targeted audience:

·         Define your audience. You should certainly know who you are writing for. The only way for content to be successful is aerating and giving the right content to the right reader. So think about the principal and secondary goals of your content-marketing campaign.

• Determine content form, location and frequency. Trust consists in putting the information the clients want in places where they can make a good thing of it. Therefore, in case your clients mainly seek content via e-mail then make it available to them. Great content marketing has to be seen.

•  Engage, promote and share. An important part of the building trust process is making sure that your content is available. However, don’t forget that it should be helpful awareness and not a boring spammy promotion. Sharing is effective, when it is done on those platforms where your targeted audience is active. Represent the content accurately: the reader has to understand at a glance why he/she may want to consume the content.

•  Connecting with your brand should be simple. Don’t forget to make it easy for the perspective clients to connect with your company. Make sure your clients are interested in the company services and make them more connected to your company brand through phone, e-mail, RSS, etc.

• Analyze and optimize your content. Company managers have to analyze what is being shared and viewed by website visitors. In case some content has an effective response and some is greatly being ignored then companies should pivot to create more of what their audience is engaged with. This will attract more readers and give much more opportunities to build trust with the audience.

Once informed it comes down to being active, connected and available for the customer to learn and find out more. Then companies must continue to self-actualize and ask themselves, "Are we providing the content our audience wants"? And pivot when necessary.

Source: http://rankwinz.com/