Agwalogu Bob Norman

https://thebobidentity.medium.com Top 5 things to know before you buy an existing website One of the quickest ways to take a foothold in any market is to buy over an already established website. When you do this, not only do you take over an online business that already has dedicated users and followers, you save yourself the stress of building your business from scratch. But this only works if the website is already making money for itself or has the potential to do so. Buying an existing or already established website can be a really good business idea, it can also mean that you lose your hardearned money. It is therefore important that you know a few things if you are looking at going into business by buying over someone’s website. Let’s look at a few of the things you need to know before you jump in. 1. How much revenue did the website make in the previous year? When getting into any business, one of the first things you should know is if the business is viable. It becomes easier to get this information if you are taking over an existing business. The current owner of the website you are interested in should be able to tell you how much money the website has made recently — at least in the past few months. If the website is not directly monetized with ads and so on, the owner should give you a good idea of how many direct sales the website has brought to the business. You can easily tell if the website’s income is increasing or declining, and this will give you a great idea of where to start your offer from. 2. How much traffic does the website get? Apart from knowing whether the website you have your eyes on is profitable or not, you also should take note of how much unique traffic it attracts daily, weekly, and monthly. Of course, a profitable website most likely already has great traffic, but it would not hurt to find out. It is important that you know what the strength of the website traffic is like because website traffic equals website revenue. As more and more people visit the website, this results in more money for the website owner. Another thing is to know where these visitors come from. Does the website meet your demography need? When you buy an existing website, you automatically inherit its followers and users, so knowing where they come from will help when it comes to creating better content for your target market. 3. What technology is the website built on? Website technology is unfortunately one of the aspects people overlook when shopping for an existing website. If you happen to buy a website that is built on a technology you do not understand, you may find it hard to manage your new online business. Websites can be built with HTML, PHP, PYTHON, and a host of other scripting languages. Unless you have proper knowledge of the technology your new website is built with, you may have to engage the services of a professional to manage your site for you. What kind of hosting does the website need and does the current hosting provider meet the necessary technical demands? Be sure of all these details before proceeding. 4. Does the website have a good reputation? The reputation of the website you are buying will determine how successful your online business will be. People look for credible websites and platforms to be associated with, and if the one you are interested in already has a bad reputation, you should stay clear as it will take a lot of time, resources, and money to build up the reputation. Find out what people are saying about the website you plan to buy. Do not jump in without knowing people’s opinion about the website else you might be buying a sinking ship. Search for testimonials on review websites, they are objective and will give you a better picture than in site testimonials. Apart from reading reviews on review websites and social media, there are also a number of tools you can use to check the reputation of a website. Tools like CheckPhish, AbuseIPDB, Auth0 Signals, and so on are some of the resources you can use to check whether or not you are buying a good website. 5. Does the website have a good history? Finally, it is important that you check to verify that the website you are interested in buying has a good history. If the website or its domain name has been associated with scams, fraud, or other negative activities in the past, you don’t want to inherit such history. This will likely mar your chances of success in online business and also pass the wrong impression to people. A good way to find out changes that have occurred on the website in the past is to use the Internet Wayback Machine. This is a resource where you enter the domain name of a website and see archives of changes and updates that have been done on the site in the past. You may even be able to see changes that occurred on the domain and website before it got into the hands of the current owner. Knowing the history of the website can save you a lot of heartaches in the future. Final thoughts Entering into a new investment is never an easy thing. There is always the chance that something can go wrong. However, if you do your due diligence, you will have a better idea of what you are going into, and that way, save yourself from future potential losses and a damaged reputation. Afraid of Reviews as a Business Owner? Don’t. You need them Reviews — there’s no doubt that we all love them especially when people take the time out of their day to tell you they like your product. But how important are reviews for your business? As a business owner, having reviews is one of the most important things you can have for your business. Reviews and ratings allow more people to find you and help you learn what others think about your service or product. Today, I’d like to discuss why reviews are so important for businesses and how you can go about acquiring them. Reviews build brand confidence If you run a business, it’s inevitable that customers are going to have questions about your products and services. The tricky part is finding a way to make sure they understand clearly what you offer and how you deliver the value that makes them want to choose you. Reviews help with that question. If you think of your website as an opportunity to spread the word about your business and build brand loyalty, then reviews can do that for you. Reviews help you identify where to improve on Knowing what you do right can be just as important as knowing where you can improve. Reviews are an opportunity for you to understand how people view your business. That means if they invest time in telling you how things went, it’s likely worth listening to. Ultimately, reviews, both positive and negative, can help both shoppers and business owners identify where they should improve. This ensures that when shoppers want to shop again, they do so with you because they trust you’ve listened to their feedback and made it better. Reviews are content on your website Just because you don’t have time to write content, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have content on your website. Reviews are content that appears on your website. People leave reviews on websites to try and help other people with something similar to the issue they were having. It’s like leaving a tip for the restaurant you just ate at. Reviews are a great way to not only boost your business but also build trust with potential customers, as well as add useful content to your website. Reviews improve customer relationship Reviews are a great way to communicate with your customers. They help you understand what they love and not love about your business so can take appropriate actions. Reviews allow you to engage with your customers and let them know that their opinions matter, making them feel more appreciated. This can help create a sense of community, which is important in all business. Reviews are free advertising Reviews are the ultimate form of free advertising. A Google MY Business review is almost guaranteed to land on the first page of Google’s local results because all it takes is one positive review to get a coveted five-star rating. That rating showcases your business as an authority, which, in turn, will allow you to get more customers in the long run. In fact, for many businesses, the value that customers receive from writing reviews is worth more than what they spend to make the purchase in the first place. FINALLY: Reviews improve your click-through rates (CTRs) Repeat business is an important part of any business, and good reviews are important in getting more customers. Reviews improve your click-through rates (CTRs). When visitors can see how many people have already liked your product or service before they do, it builds trust and makes them more likely to click through. How Do You Get Positive Online Reviews for your Business? Most businesses want positive online reviews for their business. Unfortunately, they do not know where to find them. And this is why the vast majority of them don’t get online reviews, and those that do buy them. How do you get positive online reviews for your business? Ask your customers for reviews Asking your customers for reviews can be a great way to improve your ranking on sites like Google Business. Some people may cringe at the idea of this, but reviews are important and it’s better to have them than not. Remember, online reviews are great for local SEO. Give customers incentives to write reviews We have already established that reviews are an important part of your business. It helps you to attract new customers and it gives you credibility. However, most of your potential customers don’t think of leaving you a review. Providing your customers with incentives to leave reviews is the best way to encourage them. The sooner you get reviews, the higher their influence on your business will be. Be active on social media To ensure that people are willing to leave a review of your products and services on social media, you should first examine your company’s social media activities. Are you really good at responding to inquiries posted by customers? The more you engage the people that matter to your business on social media, the more willing they will be to say something nice about your business, on social media and off it. Reply to negative reviews Many online vendors face negative reviews. Sometimes the review is justified, and sometimes it is not — but at the end of the day, it’s a review! You can react to it in one of two ways: either you can ignore it and let your potential clients believe that your product or service was not good enough for this person (even though there are plenty of other satisfied clients), or you can give a reply. Your reply will have an effect on either selling more products or services or losing the sale itself. Many bad reviews come from misunderstandings, so it is possible to turn them into good online reviews again. Final thoughts Reviews are not great just at convincing potential customers to choose your business over the competition, they also benefit your business by reassuring potential customers and helping you improve on your products or services. So, if you have not been using the review tool as a business owner, it is time you take advantage of the benefits online reviews bring, quickly and correctly. 9 top tips to writing a newsletter that people will read Newsletters are one of the fastest-growing means of marketing for today's businesses. In fact, since way back in 2012, newsletters have been taking up 29% of inbox space, more than personal emails, more than business emails, and even more than social media alerts. What does this tell you? It tells you that almost everyone with a website has something to via newsletters and each and every one of these newsletters is vying for attention in someone’s inbox. How many newsletters have you signed up for and how many do you still read? This is the same scenario facing everyone with an email address including your subscribers and website visitors. Creating compelling newsletters that people will open, read, and act on, is very important in any successful email marketing campaign. A lot of newsletters getting into people’s emails fail to convert into sales. They end up as junk and die a natural death without even seeing the light of day. So how do you write a newsletter that people want to read? To write winning newsletters that will engage your readers, the following tips might help you get started on the right track. 1. Tell your subscribers to add your address to their whitelist A good number of newsletters automatically find themselves on the junk/spam folder or at best, in Gmail’s promotions folder. Take it from me, any newsletter that gets into any of these folders is dead on arrival. You need to as a matter of first priority, give your subscribers clear-cut instructions about how to whitelist. As a matter of fact, don’t even let it get to the point where you have to instruct your readers how to get you out of junk and into the box. Put the instruction on your newsletter confirmation page. Something like this would do just fine: “Great! Just one more step to take to start receiving great information and offers. Head over to your email and add us to your safe list.” This way, your newsletter will never get flagged as spam. 2. Use an identity people will recognize Nobody likes receiving emails from strangers. There is too much risk of opening an email that will trigger a plethora of issues like follow up emails, pop ups, as well as opening an email that can compromise the readers’ security. It is important to set your “from name” to something that people will recognize and trust. 3. Your subject line must be catchy The first thing your subscribers will see in your newsletter subject line is the title. If this is not catchy enough then they won’t open it, and if they don’t open it, they won’t read it and then your clickthrough rate and sales rate will drop. How’s that for a good reason to think up a catchy title? Don’t forget that most of your readers are in a hurry, they scan through their inbox looking for that thing that will stand out therefore, you really need to have an intriguing subject line to stand out among the countless number of business, personal, transactional emails and social alerts. 4. Create engaging content Know your target audience. Learn as much as you can about them and create content that they will find useful. Your newsletter should be able to answer their questions and should provide solutions they can apply to their lives and businesses. A good newsletter should informative, educative, entertaining, and inspiring, focus more on creating a rapport with your reader than on selling your products or services. Try not to do overt advertising on your newsletter; it can be such a turn-off. 5. Go for Quality You want your readers to know you are an expert and an authority in your field, so make sure your newsletter is free from grammatical errors and bogus flowery languages. Having lengthy articles in your newsletter is a negative; it overwhelms your readers and gets them tired in a hurry. Remember, the attention span of the average internet user is not what it used to be, so be clear, concise, and straight to the point. Bullets pointed tips are so irresistible, use them to point out key points in your newsletter, add subheadings, use bold or italics for important information. All of these show your reader that you are an expert and that your topics are worth spending time reading. 6. Offer incentives One good way to keep your readers reading is to offer incentives every once in a while. This doesn’t need to be worth a fortune, simple gestures like gift cards, coupons, and vouchers, or even little items related to your website or business, such as branded tshirts or sample products will go a long way in keeping your readers loyal. 7. Stick to a fixed schedule There is nothing as disappointing as waiting for a mail that doesn’t come. You don’t need to send newsletters every day, rather, find a schedule that works for you and let your subscriber know about it. If you intend to send them newsletters every Monday, let them know when they opt-in, on the confirmation page, and in the welcome email, do this and stick to it. Sending your newsletters once a week, once a month or quarterly is good as long as you keep providing engaging content that would keep your readers eager and anticipating for the next issue. 8. Have a Call to Action button The importance of a call to action button in your newsletter cannot be overemphasized. It gives your reader the opportunity to perform an action, to get involved in your business or ideas. It lets them know what you expect them to do after reading your newsletter. Use at least one CTA button in your newsletter, this also allows you to track the efficiency of your newsletter marketing campaign. 9. Respond to feedbacks Not everyone will agree with what you have to say in your article. Some others might have questions or need more clarification; some might simply want to start an argument. Don’t be afraid of questions and feedback from your readers, if you cannot reply to each email individually, and then respond in your next issue, your readers will appreciate it. 5 Scariest Places to Visit: A blog about popular travel destinations and why they are scary to visit. When you think of a holiday, do you think of relaxing on the beach with a cocktail in hand or visiting a local museum? Maybe scuba diving or going to a big old castle? What about visiting the homes of some of the most notorious serial killers in history! Or spending time in some of the scariest locations on earth. The truth is that not all the places you will visit are safe. There are some places that have such a terrifying past that you will need to watch your back while visiting them. Here, we look at some of the scariest holiday destinations in the world, should you have the guts to visit. The Island of Dolls, Mexico If you are a fan of horror movies, then chances are you have seen the American supernatural horror film, The Island of the Dolls. The movie was based on the urban legend surrounding “La Isla de las Muñecas” or the Island of the Dolls located in Mexico City. The Island of Dolls is a small island located in the Xochimilco canals of Mexico City. The island first started becoming famous when it was rumored that the island was haunted. In the late 1950s, Don Julian Santana Barrera, a local historian who managed a nearby museum, began placing dolls on the island to fend off evil spirits because he believed that dolls could protect him. The dolls are hung with care on the branches of trees that are almost completely covered by this “sea” of humanlike creatures. The Island of the Dolls is a place not many dares to go, a location few have seen, that has yet to be fully explored. You should definitely pay a visit if this is your kind of place. Akodessewa Fetish Market, Togo The African continent is like no other. It’s home to some of the world’s scariest places and creatures that will make you thankful for not being there, things like you will find in the Akodessewa Fetish Market, in the West African country of Togo. Akodessewa is a fetish market in the capital city Lomé, Togo. It is located in the Akodessawa neighborhood near the commercial harbor area. The fetishes sold there are mostly made from wood and other materials by local artists. This place is essentially the WalMart of Voodoo. The market is filled with human and animal skulls, animal skins, bones, tree trunks, pangolin scales among others fetishes. Some of the strange items sold include snake charms, snakes’ eggs and tenlegged rats. It is said that these unusual products are used as charms to protect people from evil forces. Considered to be the most haunted place in all of Togo, Akodessewa fetish market has always served as a centre where local tribal leaders come to buy items for their ancestors. Not surprisingly, many locals have reported seeing ghosts wandering around the grounds. The Paris Catacombs The Paris Catacombs are a network of tunnels and chambers, located in Paris, France. The space was used to store bones in the 18th and 19th centuries. Although this macabre historical site is open for public tours, it is not for those with a pallid disposition. The Paris Catacombs were formed when the ancient Romans mined a large quarry of limestone to use in building construction. As mines were created, they became flooded with water from the decomposing bodies in above-ground cemeteries. When Parisians began to run out of burial space underground, bodies began to be moved into the tunnels created by old Roman mines. Today, the catacombs are made up of a number of square miles worth of winding tunnels, platforms and rooms. They are a huge tourist attraction and one of the things everyone ends up seeing when in Paris. Leap Castle, Ireland Ireland is an enchanting land of rolling hills and charming villages. However, its most ancient castles leave you with a feeling of otherworldly terror. Leap Castle looks like the perfect setting for a horror film. The house is surrounded by barbed wire and warning signs. There are rumors of a dark room full of human remains, ghosts and horrific activity. The story behind Leap Castle, located in Ireland, goes back to a series of murders that claimed over three hundred lives. It has also been called one of the most haunted places in the world, which is why it’s on my list as one of the scariest places to visit. In fact, in 1985, paranormal investigators concluded that it was one of the three “most haunted” locations in all of Ireland. Forest of Brocéliande, France Forest of Brocéliande is one of five scariest places to visit on this list. Where some see wild animals, majestic vistas, and adventure, others see haunted forests, terrifying creatures and a mysterious past. The Forest of Brocéliande in Brittany, France is called the enchanted forest because, according to legend, it was there that King Arthur had a sword forged, Merlin practiced sorcery and some of the most famous knights of the Round Table were born. It was also where the Holy Grail was said to have been buried. The forest is scary, both for its beauty and the scary Arthurian legends. If you’re looking for things to do in France, you should definitely check out the forest of Brocéliande. It’s a bit off the beaten path, so it might call for a bit of research, but once you arrive, it’ll be worth every step. Wrapping up Would you like a scary holiday? If you do, then try to book one or more of the scariest places covered in this blog post. Or plan something different and perhaps next Halloween you’ll be somewhere abroad, surrounded by dark streets and deserted townhouses, looking for that one house that will truly frighten you.