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5 Ways to Eliminate Comment Spam and Boost Real Conversations

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StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article, 5 Ways to Eliminate Comment Spam and Boost Real Conversations

Blogging is one of the best marketing tools for businesses and influencers. It’s a great way to share one’s knowledge, expertise and opinions. It’s also a great way to build a community of like-minded people.

The only way you can really create that sense of community though, is to boost real conversations among your readers.

Not only do comments make many bloggers feel good, knowing their work has been seen and appreciated, but it’s also a really great way to connect with your audience on a more human level. It allows people to ask questions and get answers, to offer their support, to express their opinions and even build new friendships.

Which is why it’s important to make your blog’s comment section an inviting space.

1. Eliminate Comment Spam

As many bloggers and blog readers know, comment spam is just a part of life online. The bigger your blog grows, the more comment spam there is. It’s never ending, but that doesn’t mean you have to give in.

What is Comment Spam?

So, what is comment spam? Well, comment spam is a term used to describe a broad range of comments that are unwelcome. Often, these are comments left by people advertising products or trying to get people to click on whatever link they’ve left.

Comment spam doesn’t add any value and needs to be eliminated if you want to boost real conversations.

Why You Need to Eliminate Comment Spam

Comment spam is a big deal. It’s not just annoying, but it has a few negative effects on your blog and your reputation.

First of all, if you allow comment spam to sit around, Google will punish your domain by ranking you lower on search engine results. Google sees comment spam as a bad thing, too. Even if you just have spam links in your comment section, Google might assume you have it on other places on your website and can greatly affect your pageviews. Just check your analytics and you’ll see.

Comment spam actually puts your readers in danger. You want your website to be a safe place that people can trust. If a reader clicks on a link left in your comments that directs them to a malware site, their computer could be infected with spyware. That reader won’t feel safe on your site again and likely won’t come back.

Leaving comment spam makes you look like you don’t care. You should be taking the time to clean out any unwelcome comments, which could be links to anything from advertisements to even porn sites or viruses. People won’t want to leave a comment if it looks like you don’t take the time to look through them.

How to Eliminate Comment Spam

Now that you know why it’s necessary to eliminate comment spam, you need to know how to do it.

There are five main ways to eliminate comment spam on your blog:

  1. Configure WordPress to minimize comment spam. Do this by setting it so comments must be manually approved before they are posted. If you’re still new to WordPress, you can read up on the basics here that’ll guide you through how to set your site up.
  2. Install an anti-spam plugin.
  3. Use a third-party comment-hosting platform.
  4. Shift the conversation to social media.
  5. Remove comments from your blog completely.

It might seem easier to just get rid of comments altogether, but allowing comments on your blog is a great way to continue the conversation.

So assuming you don’t want to remove comments from your blog or shift the conversation to social media, you should focus on the first three steps.

Interested in learning how to boost real conversation in your comment section? Keep reading.

2. Make It Easy

Some blogs make it incredibly difficult to leave a comment. Some require you to fill out robot tests, others require you to sign into Facebook, or even require you to share your email address. If it’s too much work, though, people aren’t going to bother leaving a comment at all.

There are a number of commenting systems that make leaving comments a lot easier. Even better, some commenting systems make it easier to keep track of comments you’ve left on other blogs so you can reply easier and continue the conversation.

Most people aren’t going to go back to the blogs they’ve commented on to see if they got a reply, so having a commenting system would really help.

Commenting systems also make it easier to moderate comments, fight spam, notify commenters of replies, offers lead generation, and more. They’re also easy to install on any WordPress blog no matter what hosting you have.

3. Write Compelling Content

If you want people to leave comments you need to give them a reason to. Quality content that’s thought-provoking and interesting will make it more likely that people will leave meaningful comments.

Surprisingly, one of the best techniques to really take your content to the next level and inspire people to comment is emotion. Add emotion into your blog posts and you’re much more likely to receive more comments.

There are a number of emotions you can try to provoke. It can be inspirational, it can be sad, or exciting, or it can even be upsetting. If you get someone to feel something, they’ll likely want to express it.

In fact, blog posts that discuss controversial topics are much more likely to get more comments that boost real conversations among people.

4. Ask Questions

A lot of bloggers now ask at least one question at the end of every blog post in hopes it will inspire their readers to answer it in the comment section. For many of these bloggers, the closing paragraph is often something like, “What would you add to this list?” But that’s not going to get people to comment.

If you really want to increase reader engagement you should ask questions throughout your blog post that actually gets people to think.

According to ProBlogger there are seven types of questions you should ask. These questions include:

  • What do you think?
  • How do you feel?
  • What will you do?
  • What is your opinion?
  • What is your story?
  • What is your experience?
  • What have you been working on?

So, for example, if you’re writing a blog post about a book you read, you can ask your readers if they have read it, what they thought of it, how it made them feel, or even if they would recommend it to someone and why. Always ask open-ended questions to guarantee a response.

5. Reply to All Comments

Any time you do get a comment you should reply to it right away. A lot of people comment for a reason. They might want to elaborate on what you said, ask a question, share their own experience related to the topic, or even thank you for sharing. So if you’re really interested in boosting real conversations in your comment section, keep the conversation going by replying to comments.

If people come across your blog and see you don’t take the time to reply, they won’t want to comment at all.

Keep the Conversation Going

Now that you know how to eliminate comment spam and boost real conversations, it’s time to head over to your blog and implement these ideas. Once they’re implemented, start your own email marketing campaign to ensure your audience stays up to date with your content and boost your conversations even further.

Data Driven Strategies for Better Website Traffic

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StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article |Data driven strategies|Data Driven Strategies for Better Website TrafficWeb traffic is the oxygen for your online business. It can help it grow, or it can suffocate it. However, you can use data for better website traffic when you understand from where it comes.

Understand Your Marketing

Online business marketing is a unique type of marketing that helps growing companies develop their brand and grow their business. It includes everything from social media marketing to email marketing. Whether you want to succeed in an online business or start one in the first place, you must learn how to understand the digital marketing tools in front of you. Marketing camp hosts and digital marketing agencies are vital for understanding the relationship between your brand and your audience with modern techniques like technical SEO and social media targeting.

Utilize Relevant Analytics Tools

A successful marketing campaign uses data to make informed decisions. Analytics can help you in creating the perfect marketing campaign. For example, suppose you’re the type of business that needs to appeal to a broad set of audiences. In that case, you may be interested in why people are clicking, giving up, and scrolling through your content. Analytics tools allow you to analyze the data from your users to see what’s working and what’s not. For example, these tools can show you if posting more images or videos makes a difference.

Study Trends in Your Niche

Getting started in a new, untested niche can be difficult, especially if your knowledge is limited or you don’t know where to start. At the very least, it’s best to start your niche and market research project so you can sort through the data for application later on. In addition, you might want to adjust decisions based on data shifts as an exciting business. For example, you can use tools like Google Trends to see which toys are trending during specific times of the year. This can be useful for ads during holidays and sales times like Black Friday.

Ask what People are Asking

The vast majority of Google searches are questions. And you can capitalize on this by using a supplemental blog that links to your website. Essentially, assess what people are currently asking in relation to your niche. You can then flesh-out blog posts that begin to answer the most relevant questions in your field. For example, suppose you make professional kitchen clothing. In that case, you can use Google search queries to assess what people are asking about your field. For example, “Which type of sole is the safest in a professional kitchen?”.

Maintain a Log of Changes

When developing an online business, you must record all changes to any part of it. These include both frontend and backend systems, any of which can affect your user experience and negatively impact your SEO score and ranking. You can revert any harmful impact by keeping a log of changes. Hence, your site resumes the quality and ease of use your audience expects. Further, minor improvements to your UI and UX might improve your site. So, if something takes your site in the best direction, focus your attention and make further improvements.

Summary

Keying in on your audience’s needs comes from data analysis. Using data to score higher in search results and SEO increases engagement and converts visitors into customers.

How Businesses Can Maximize Whatsapp API Integration

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StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article |Whatsapp API Integration|How Businesses Can Maximize Whatsapp API IntegrationThe introduction of WhatsApp business API has offered enterprises a top marketing tool. The tool provides significant possibilities for communication with clients bearing in mind that WhatsApp as a messaging platform enjoys over two billion users globally. As businesses continue to integrate the API, there is a need to understand how to get the most out of the tool.

Upon launching any business, the first step towards getting more clients is effective communication. You need an awareness campaign to target both existing and potential customers. Besides offering an opportunity for communicating with clients, the WhatsApp API designed for enterprises also comes with a host of benefits, including:

  • Seamless customer support
  • Instant collection of feedback
  • Understanding users better through the gathering of insightful data
  • Ability to recommend products
  • Global reach
  • Automated communication
  • Instant two-way communication

How to Get the Most Out of the WhatsApp Business API

The use of WhatsApp in your business is meant to offer a personal touch with customers. Considering the number of businesses leveraging the API is high, getting the attention of your clients can be a challenge in the absence of some effective practices. Below are some key tips that will likely push your business to attain the maximum potential through WhatsApp business API.

Use different message formats

Relying on text-only messages may fail to meet the desired targeted goals. Generally, text-only communication is not very engaging. To get customers’ attention, use photos, videos, locations, GIFs, files, and more. Once clients begin to engage with your content, always respond by answering questions intuitively.

Get consent

Before sending any message, ensure the target audience has agreed to receive your communication. Not only is this practice ethical, but it is also a requirement under WhatsApp policies. Always ask customers which type of communication they would like to receive through WhatsApp. Note that WhatsApp offers opt-in templates which can be placed on the website, hence exposure to more customers.

Establish a response timeline

Chances are high that your current and potential customers have scouted for several similar service providers. If they land on your business, show them you value them. Normally, it is recommended to have a 24 hour response time to avoid customers losing interest. Although you can use chatbots, always ensure a human agent is available if the message needs to be escalated further.

Maximize on personalized messages

The ordinary WhatsApp messaging app requires a more personalized approach to sending messages. Customers want to have real conversations, but not just respond to one-way messages sent to them. This should be reflected in your messaging strategy as it will also boost your brand reputation.

Work with authorized dealers

Setting up a WhatsApp business API is a technical aspect of your business that needs a reputable provider to carry out. Leveraging the services of an unauthorized company may land your business in trouble. Ensure to choose wisely to get the right fit for your business.

Endnote

The ultimate end goal of any business is to retain and attract new customers by providing quality service. Fortunately, the advantages of WhatsApp business API like instant feedback mean that enterprises can easily understand the needs of customers and use the feedback to improve services.

Strategies to Improve Your Online Presence

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StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article, Strategies to Improve Your Online Presence

The world is online, even if your business isn’t. Refraining from having a website, and associated local listings and social accounts is how you remain invisible to all but your locals. Now, this might seem like a great thing, when you’re, say, a local mechanic, but there are people just outside of your neighborhood who could use your services as well, only because you aren’t online, they can’t find you. Improving your online presence is how you’ll be found, it is how you’ll increase business, and it is how you’ll further your success. To improve your online presence, follow these tips:

1. Start (or Improve) Your Website

You need a website that uses cloud hosting. This is how you’ll ensure that you have miniscule chance of downtime, and how you’ll gain full customization options. You need your website to not just look good, but you need it to be fast and you also need it to be on-site SEO friendly. These three traits are what make a website perfect. Google will rank you based on your speed, and users may not go through your site if it takes ages to load. Similarly, you need the website to look great in order to convey professionalism, so that users can trust you before they even know you.

StrategyDriven Online Marketer & Website Developer Magazine

2. Grow a Genuine Community

Buying followers and likes on Instagram, Facebook, and any other social site is a waste of money. Keeping up the appearance is nowhere near as important as creating an organic, genuine community. You can use social media to increase your website visits and even your sales, but you need to do it the right way. This means crafting bespoke, unique posts with great pictures. It also means engaging with your community at large, before and after they follow you.

A great social media marketing campaign can get you the awareness you need, but you need to respond and be engaged with what your community is saying and doing to be on top of trends, and to nurture these relationships. A repeat customer is more valuable than a one-off sale any day.

3. Get Listed

If you are a local business, you have so many options to be referenced, referred to, and listed. This is great both for the organic hits from these second-party sites, and it’s also excellent for SEO. For instance, if you are a local boutique retailer, you can easily list your business on all directories, like Google or even TripAdvisor. You can also provide your local news agencies of any events you might be holding, since they are more likely to publish a local piece that promotes their neighborhood. This means that you’ll not only gain more traffic from these sites, but Google will rank your website higher due to the number of back-links. Additionally you have to learn local SEO tactics and strategies to increase traffic.

Being smart about your online presence is how you can not only be found by more people, it’s also how you’ll be trusted by more people. Trust, and greater visibility, will lead to success.

7 Effective WordPress Website Design Principles to Follow

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StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article, 7 Effective WordPress Website Design Principles to Follow

If you are looking to start a website, or are in the process of redesigning your current website, it is important to understand some effective WordPress website design principles. By following these guidelines, you can create a website that is both visually appealing and user-friendly. We will go over some of the most important principles to follow when designing your website using WordPress.

1. Muted Colors are the Way to Go

In general, muted web colors work best on websites. These are colors that come from the color spectrum that have been slightly “muted” down by adding gray. Bright colors can be too overpowering and distracting on your site, which is why muted colors are often best for your website. Just make sure not to go too extreme in the other direction by choosing only black and white. Also, be aware of color schemes. The difference between a color scheme and color choices is that a color scheme includes more than one color.

2. Resize Your Graphics Well for Online Use

When designing your site, be aware that you will not always be using it on a large screen. For this reason, it is important to resize your graphics for use online. By maintaining the original resolution of your image, you can ensure that it will not get distorted when used on a smaller screen. That way, your users will be able to view the same high-quality image that you intended them to see.

3. Parallax Effects Are Good But Don’t Overdo It

A parallax effect is a scrolling technique that gives the illusion of depth, dimension, and movement. They have been used on many sites to give viewers an exciting visual experience. While these effects can definitely boost the appeal of your website, be careful not to overdo it. Too much parallax scrolling can become distracting and even nauseating for some users. Find a balance.

4. Fonts Matter

Fonts are a very important aspect of your web design in Long Island. By choosing the right fonts, you can create a unique and creative look for your site. There are many great options out there to choose from, so make sure to take advantage of them. Just be careful not to use too many different fonts. Also, keep in mind that a font may look perfect on your computer, but may not look so great when used on another. So always test it out before making the final decision.

5. Think About a Minimalist Design

Another important thing to consider when designing your WordPress website is a minimalist design. This means keeping the site free of unnecessary graphics and clutter. Too much clutter can get in the way of what you are trying to convey. By using a simpler design, users will be able to focus on your content instead of having to sift through a bunch of other stuff.

6. Incorporate 3D Visuals and Illustrations

3D visuals and illustrations are a great way to incorporate an extra element into your site. Whether you use them for backgrounds or overlays, they are sure to give your site a creative feel. Just be careful not to overdo it with 3D visuals since they can become distracting.

7. Be Consistent

Finally, it is important to maintain consistency throughout your website design. This includes everything from the images you choose to use to the color scheme. By maintaining a similar look throughout your site, you can keep it visually appealing. This will also make it more user-friendly for your visitors.

There are many different things to keep in mind when designing your WordPress website. By following some of these critical rules, you can ensure that your site will be user-friendly and eye-catching as well. If you’re looking to design a WordPress website, you can consider hiring a WordPress web design company that will touch on all aspects for maximum effectiveness and efficiency.