As more and more content is distributed online, consumers are caring less about the bells and whistles and more about speed.

How long your website takes to load has become an all important factor in the conversion rate of your site and is the most common reason that users abandon a webpage.

One survey even found that if a web page was not loaded in 2-3 seconds that 79 percent of consumers would abandon the page and 44 percent would never return to the website again.

In fact, for every second it takes to load your website, the abandonment rate increases by nearly 20 percent. This number is even higher for mobile sites.

Google and other search engines also use page load time as an important factor in search engine rankings, giving preference to sites that load in under 5 seconds.

This shows that just a few seconds can make a huge impact on your conversion rates, revenue and sales.

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When it comes to Social Media, Facebook and Twitter usually get the most attention, but what about Pinterest?

Pinterest is quickly becoming one of the most popular social media sites and caters to a very specific demographic, women.

In fact, 71 percent of Pinterest’s user base is women which means that if you have a product or a service that is catered to a female demographic, you should definitely be taking advantage of this growing trend.

While women remain to be Pinterest’s biggest audience, the number of men who are also using Pinterest is rapidly growing. In just a 12 month period, the percentage of men using Pinterest increased from 5 percent to 8 percent.

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Facebook can be an amazing source of high quality traffic for your website or e-commerce store, however with so much competition and so much content, it can be hard for your followers to even see your posts let alone click on them.

While Facebook is an effective marketing tool and continues to be one of the most popular forms of social media, your company may be lost in the crowd.

If you want to stand out, boost your Facebook likes, comments and click through rates, here are some easy and savvy ways to maximise your presence on Facebook:

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One of the most important metrics your business needs to understand is the cost of customer acquisition or CAC.

Understanding what it costs your company to acquire a new customer can be like looking into a crystal ball that can measure whether your company is destined to fail or succeed.

It can also help point you in the right direction as to where to spend your time, money and marketing efforts.

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Wouldn’t it be great to boost the volume of traffic to your website without spending a cent?

Building good quality traffic for free is definitely not impossible, all it takes is a little time and TLC.

Here are 5 ways to boost organic traffic (for free!):

1.) Email List:

We have spoken about the importance of collecting emails before but did you know that it is one of the most consistent forms of website traffic?

This is because you know exactly how many users are receiving your content and you can track how many people open it, read it and then click through.

Your email list traffic is also some of your most engaged traffic. Think about it- at some point your site engaged them so much that they decided to enter their email to keep up to date with what you have to say. Don’t underestimate the power of that.

Because your email subscribers are highly engaged, they are also one of the best target groups to promote your products and services.

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Last year, business analysts predicted that e-commerce would explode, and they were right.

Today, e-commerce generates over $1.2 million every 30 seconds and by 2016, it has been predicted that e-commerce sales will increase by 62%.

This means that if you are not selling your products online or seeing results from online sales, then you are definitely missing out on a huge and rapidly expanding market.

Here are 10 ways to capitalise on this trend:

1.) Targeting: Having a successful business online starts with building a presence and the only way to do that is to go after the people that want to notice you- ie. your target audience. To be recognised by your customers, you need to make yourself available to those who are most likely to notice. Those who are most likely to notice are people looking for your types of products or services or people who would benefit from your company. Identify the demographics of your target audience and then strategise your marketing accordingly.

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Do you want to boost your revenue?

Of course you do.

That is why Up-Selling and Cross-Selling are crucial no matter whether you run a product or service based business. (Yes, that’s right, up-selling and cross-selling is not just for product based businesses!)

Studies have repeatedly found that companies that have a functional up-sell and cross-sell strategy experience:

• Greater customer life time value
• Increase in the average order value per customer
• Increased marketing leads
• Increased revenue and profits

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What is the most common reason for unsubscribing from an email list?

Frequency.

Collecting emails is one of the most valuable things you can do for your business however, no one wants their inbox flooded with irrelevant emails or constant promotions.

Creating a successful email list is about offering information that is relevant, somewhat exclusive and maybe even personalised. There also needs to be a ratio between asking your subscribers to do something such as download, purchase and opt-in, and offering value or freebies. It’s all about giving and receiving.

No matter how brilliant your content and offers are, unsubscribing is to be expected to some extent. Don’t despair. Those who unsubscribe, especially early on in the process, are probably not your target audience anyway.

Besides ensuring your emails are valuable, here are 5 other ways to decrease your unsubscription rate:

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We all have brands that we identify or associate with, especially growing up.

Think back to those early days when you loved Hot Wheels, or the latest Barbie. It didn’t matter if you could find an identical product at the $2 shop, it wasn’t special unless it was from the brand you saw on the TV, at your friends house or in the junk mail catalogues.

Let’s face it, branding is everything and if you do it right, it can forever sell your product through the good times and the not-so-good times.

Take McDonalds for example, how many of us can vividly recall the smell of the french fries and the taste of their fluffy white hamburger buns? Even though the company has come under a lot of flack recently and is losing sales, the golden arches has still managed to remain memorable.

Establishing a brand can take time, but understanding who your customers are and how they perceive your business is a good place to start.

Both employees and customers develop a positive or negative view towards a company based on how it conducts itself and what its overall objective is. Keeping this in mind will help you establish your brand in a holistic sense- from the inside out.

There are five main factors that go into creating a successful brand:

1.) An Understanding of Your Customers: Who are they, want are their needs, what are they looking for?

2.) Support: Do your products and services support your customers needs and deliver a desirable service?

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As a copywriter or blog owner, it is crucial to have a few good headline formulas up your sleeve, especially ones that are proven to convert.

If you don’t, have no fear because we have 7 of the best headline formulas that are highly likely to earn you clicks, sales and more….

Headline #1: Obtain the desired result in a desirable time period

This headline is about making a promise that your target market just absolutely cannot refuse. It is about allowing the consumer to know that they can have exactly what they desire in a desirable amount of days or time period. It creates a compelling and engaging headline that will instantly help you attract the right demographic.

Here are some examples:

-Lose 10 Pounds in Just 10 Days

-Learn How to Speak French in Record Time

– Grow your Investments in 30 days or Less

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