This is a step-by-step content marketing guide that will help you right from creating a good content strategy to distributing it on all platforms. Let’s start!

1. Make a Content Strategy

Data suggests 64% of marketers want to learn how to build a better content strategy. And why wouldn’t they? Content marketing needs to be strategic. Basically, it should answer these 4 things: What, When, Why & How.

There are a lot of benefits of having a content strategy in place – whether it’s weekly, monthly, half-yearly or annual. Apart from giving the team a set direction and plan to work on, it also gives accountability and an eye for budget or resource allocation.

How to Create a Robust Content Strategy:

Segment Your Audience – Know your audience. It is extremely essential to figure out who you will be writing for and understand their needs. After you have your target audience, make a plan for the following:

• WHAT – What is it that you are going to deliver with your content? You could make a list of topics that you may want to write on through thorough research. You can use the topic- cluster approach to be more strategic about what you want as your main blog or the pillar blog and clusters.

• WHEN: Create a content calendar on when would you publish what content. It could also include the time of the day, date, etc.

• WHY: Give a thought to why do you want to write on a specific topic and would it be relevant or useful for your target audience.
• HOW: Spend some time finding out where the target audience engages the most, what platforms they use, where they are comfortable etc.

Read here to know more on How to Plan Effective Content Marketing Strategy.

2. Create Quality Content

It doesn’t matter if you are creating a blog, a newsletter, a presentation or a video, there are some techniques that you can use to enhance your content.

While the key point shall always be to produce original content, it is important to start the piece in a way that it grabs attention. Tell your target audience why they should read or listen, what is in it for them and how will it add value for them.

Make sure that your content keeps them engaged and curious throughout and pushes them to take the desired action. Also, close your piece of content with a specific action like “sign up here,” or “click here to read more,” or “get in touch with us”.

Want to know How to Create Content That Brings in Maximum Conversions.

3. Choose the Right Keywords

It is extremely important to know which keywords would be beneficial for your business! The right keyword helps in boosting your SEO and ranking higher in search engines. To start with, make sure the keyword you choose is 2-3 words long and related to the products or services you are offering.

Think like your customers, what they would search for in Google for a product and service and then select the keyword. For instance, if you are selling yoga pants, a good idea would be to use “women’s yoga pants” as your keyword.

Also, don’t forget to check at the end of the search page to find related searches for the same. You could decide on your keyword seeing those searches too.

#Tip: Use a keyword tool such as Google Adwords

You can use Google AdWords Keyword Planner to get ideas for your keywords. Just enter the keywords and press enter. The data will show you average monthly searches for the keywords, its relevance, and the competition. You can compare different keywords and decide which one is better!

4. Diversify Content-Type

Don’t be bounded to just creating blogs and articles for your business. There are different types of content that you could try such as eBooks, email campaigns, videos, research/whitepapers, industry reports, case studies, podcasts and audio to increase traffic and drive sales.

While blogging is mostly effective, newsletters and eBooks are a good way of generating leads and sign-ups. A diverse content marketing strategy is the best way to get significant results out of all the campaigns.

5. Re-purpose Your Existing/New Content

In simple words, repurposing or recycling your old/new content would mean making most of your efforts! A content that has been written in a particular style, can be recycled for better consumption and outreach. You can re-purpose your content into infographics, videos, and presentations.

For instance, if your target audience has missed on the blog, you can provide the same information to them on YouTube or Slideshare or other platforms and extend your reach. However, make sure the content you re-purpose is:

1. Evergreen: Is or will be relevant in the long run.
2. Popular: Something that your audience likes reading about!
3. Old but relevant: Once updated, the content might grab eyeballs!

Stats tell us that, only 29% of marketers repurpose content. However, this would increase as more and more people discover its benefits with this content marketing guide.

#Tip: You can use tools such as Animoto and Canva to re-purpose your content.

6. Distribute It Everywhere

After you have created your content, it makes sense to distribute it on social media and other community forums to bring more traffic to your site.

To start with, create a content distribution strategy wherein you name all the channels you want to distribute your content on. You may want to re-publish your content on channels such as Medium and Reddit. Your content distribution strategy may look like:

Apart from these, you could distribute your content on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest and more. However, after the distribution of content, make sure you analyze it with the number of views, comments, etc. you are getting for each post.

Click here to read in detail A Step-By-Step Guide to Perfect Content Distribution Strategy and maximize your traffic growth!

7. Do Community Marketing

Community marketing does not mean talking about only your content, but sharing information, networking, and learning. It’s all about engagement.

There are several marketing communities such as Quora, Reddit, Facebook, Twitter etc. that invite people to network while sharing knowledge. Become a part of such communities and participate in conversations that interest you!

Publish educational articles such as how to blogs or videos that are informative and help your audience understand your product or service and then talk about it! Answer all the questions like an expert in your industry and see your views and profile grow in months!

If you want to leverage communities to build your business, here is how to create an effective community marketing strategy.

8. Keep a track through Analytics

Google Analytics has a big part when it comes to analyzing the performance of your blog such as the number of sessions, bounce rate, the total number of visitors on the site, etc. How these visitors coming to your site: through referrals, social media or its organic traffic?

Apart from Google Analytics, you can use tools such as CelevrTap or Sendy to monitor your email campaigns. Also, you can use tools such as Hootsuite to analyze your social media data.

Regular monitoring of data will help you in understanding what works for you as a brand and what changes you need to bring in your content marketing strategy.

Want to know about the most important metrics on Google Analytics for your website?

Follow This Guide to Do Content Marketing Right In 2020

Establish your goals clearly and you will see a growth in the traffic on your site. The first step of a content marketer should be to have a great content plan or strategy in place. Use the tips used in this guide for better outreach and business growth!

With all your content marketing efforts in place, it makes sense to invest in a good payment gateway on your site for smooth and seamless transactions. PayU is India’s leading online payment solution provider. For more details,

The post A Step-By-Step Guide to Do Content Marketing Right In 2020 appeared first on PayU Blog.

Although content marketing is changing and evolving in many ways it interacts with the user, it is still the most relevant driving engine for Search Engine Optimization and Google Algorithms.

After working for a numerous years in the field of content marketing, I’ve immersed in the issue of latest content marketing trends. I have gathered my unique perspective to highlight the trends which you should definitely test in your content marketing efforts to gain desired results.

Here are few content marketing trends that will definitely change the way marketers prepare their content marketing strategy:

Content Marketing Trends for 2020

1. Year Strategy

Formal and organized content marketing strategy will replace a tertiary content. As I’ve grown in the content marketing efforts, I’ve concluded that a formal 12 month or a year strategy will document your content marketing plans in a more responsible manner. It includes the topics, themes, vision, audience and your business objective.

“A year strategy in your content marketing efforts can help you increase the amount of content you produce without compromising the quality”

Don’t forget to include all the basic necessities while planning your strategy. You need to cover every single perspective about why and how you are going to market your content. Go back to your analytical data and compare your efforts with the strategy you implemented in the past.

2. Increase Relevant Content

The amount of audience seeking relevant content is increasing every single day. Users are now consuming content which caters to their needs in the best possible manner. Many reports have suggested that numerous businesses are going to invest their efforts in marketing their content across various platforms.

This suggest that you need to activate every relevant channels where you can engage with your audience. It includes activating your own company blog just like PayU Blog. Keep your content relevant by continuing to publish key topics discussed by your users.

3. Value Preposition

Your value proposition is the unique selling preposition which your product or service market to its prospect audience. It is one of the single most important element which differentiate your online business from the rest. Clearly communicate what experience your brand offer for each product or service.

You must clearly propagate the purpose behind your product or service and how it benefits your users. Tell consumers how you solve their problem and what makes your online business unique and valuable.

Define below elements for your content marketing team so that it can generate value prepositions in the best possible way:

• Business Goals
• Target Audience
• Audience Needs

4. Video Content

We all know that videos continue to dominate online search queries. Therefore, it is quite important for you to start purposing your content into videos. Video marketing engages your user in a more efficient way than articles or blogs. Adding a video on your website definitely increases your conversion rate.

Video content also strengthens trust and creates long term relationship with the users interacting with your online business. Video increases the time spent by visitors on your site, thereby boosting your site’s performance in the eye of Google. You are likely to rank high on search engines if you have embedded a video in your landing page.

5. Increased Mailer Content

Email marketing still is the most consumed content marketing platform by consumers across the globe. It is easy to access and allows your online business to a niche target audience base. Email marketing is a great way to market your content in year 2020. Refine your email list in order to make it more targeted. Consider testing your subject lines to increase your open rates.

When it comes to conversion, there is no more powerful platform than email. Average click-through-rate of email is around 2% whereas average click-through-rate from a tweet is around 0.5%.  This makes email 6x times more efficient medium to interact with the audience base.

As we have witnessed content marketing over the years, 2020 definitely promises exciting times. Above trends will definitely add depth to your content marketing initiatives and the experience you incorporate to keep your users engaged.

The post 5 Content Marketing Trends You Should Test in 2020 appeared first on PayU Blog.

How To Write A Blog: 7 Steps To Master The Art

It is no wrong in saying that blogging is an art. It is an art of persuasion and sharing knowledge. You must have heard how blogging is one of the most successful marketing ways. But before you get started, it is important to learn how to write a blog. Here’s a quick guide to keep you at peace when you get started!

1. Understand Your Audience

Before you start writing your first post, have a clear understanding of your target audience. Find out what they want to learn. Understand their areas of interests. Analyze their online behavior (active platforms and hour of the day). Create a buyer persona. A buyer persona is a semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer/reader.

The idea is simple: to understand your readers’ need. For instance, if your readers are enterprise businesses, you don’t need to provide them with information about how to get started on social media. They already know that. What you need to talk is how to shift from the formal & standard way to more casual and personal approach. This type of tweak is what will separate your blogging from the generic blogs.

2. Create Your Domain

After you have a clear understanding of who are you going to talk to, the next step is to find a place where you will host each of your blog posts. This requires choosing a Content Management System (CMS) and a website domain hosting service. There are several CMS providers in the market. If you wish to start a blog independently, we recommend choosing WordPress. Sign up on WordPress and select free/paid plans and get started.

If you own a company and wish to get started with a blog for the same, you can do that by creating a subdomain that lives within your company’s domain. Some of the best web hosting service providers are:

• GoDaddy
• HostGator
• DreamHost
• BlueHost

Pro Tip: Before choosing a domain, make sure it does not exist on internet. Keep the domain catchy, self-explanatory and easy to remember!

3. Customize Your Blog’s Theme

Ones you have your blog domain set up, work on the appearance to reflect the purpose of your blog. For instance, if you are starting a blog for environmental sustainability, green must be a good color because it is usually associated with the conservation of nature. On the other hand, if you are at a stage when you are thinking of how to start a blog for your automobiles business, incorporate images of vintage cars and let the appearance do the talking!

Here are other things you must update right away:

• Logo: Add a high-resolution image of your brand logo and allow people to recognize you on the go!
• ‘About’ Page: Create a quick mission statement and let people know the purpose of your blog
• Contact Details: While you are halfway through establishing your blog, invite people to connect with you via emails or social media

4. Choose Your First Blog Topic

Before you even start writing, you need to pick a topic for your blog post. The best practice is to start with the basics. Identify the pain pointers your target audience must be facing and kick-off a conversation. If you are a service provider (like a banking app), create quick how-to guides that will assist your readers on the go.

Throw some light on the marketing trends. If ‘how to start a blog that beats the competitors’, is your question, the power lies in staying up to date and provide your readers with relevant knowledge. Most of the successful blogging sites plan a blog calendar for a quarter with a cluster topic approach. This approach refers to a way where you select one major topic (pillar blog) and write about it. This is followed by creating multiple supporting blogs about the same topic. This is one of the most important steps when you are starting off with your blog.

5. Create Your Blog

Ones you finalize your blog topic, start creating the first draft for your blog. The structure for all your individual should be consistent. The best way to structure your blog is to follow this rulebook:

How To Write A Blog: Beginner’s Guide

• Catchy Title: This is the first thing your reader will see. Make sure it is interesting. Keep it SEO optimized and catchy to read!
• Appropriate Images: Use self-explanatory cover image. You can experiment with GIFs too. Add images within the blogs. These can be an infographic, Graphical representation and so on. Remember, 75% of the marketers who use images in their blogs have better success metrics.
• Quick Introduction: Start with an introductory paragraph. Do not keep it too long but be clear with your topic. Let your readers know the gist of what they are going to read.
• Talking Points: Create a quick bullet list and introduce your readers with the major points covered in your blog.
• Main Body: Even though making the content SEO optimized is a must, make sure you don’t do keyword stuffing. Conduct proper research and produce quality rich content.
• Brief Conclusion: By the end of your blog post, give your reader a quick walkthrough of what was the takeaway. Connect all the dots and navigate them to other blogs.
• Invite Feedback: Know that each reader you get is an asset. After they have read your blog, invite them to share their feedback, recommendations, and suggestions.
• Related Posts & Shareables: Give links to more of your relevant blog posts and be open to social media sharing. This will directly increase your traffic! Do not forget to add appropriate call-to-action (CTA). This can be ‘Sign Up’, ‘Login’ ‘Buy Now’, ‘Subscribe’ etc.

6. Stick By The Checklist

Blogging is not just about writing a content piece and publishing it. There are various things apart from the main content. These includes:

• SEO Optimization: Tools like Keyword Planner have made the life of a blogger easier. After you have the first draft of your blog, look for the points where inserting your targeted keyword makes sense. Remember, Google is smart! Do not stuff your blog with keywords.
• Meta Description: Meta description are the descriptions that are shown below the title on your Google search page. They provide the searcher with a short summary of the entire post. Usually, the character limit is 150-160 words here. Make sure to make these descriptions actionable.
• Anchor Text: Anchor text is the word/ words that link to another page; either on your website or another website. Search engines takes anchor text as an important consideration when ranking your page for a certain keyword. Make sure you edit the anchor text carefully.
• Mobile Optimization: With the domination of mobile devices users, it is important to have a responsive website. In other words, having an interface that is designed for mobile has become a crucial part.
• Alternate Text: Search engines count on an alternate text as another important variable! Alternate text refers to the SEO optimization for your images. Make it a point to optimize your images so that you do not miss out on ranking on search engines!

7. Be Consistent!

Now that you are almost there, the key is in being consistent. Prepare a calendar and stick by it. Create a community of your readers and send them timely emails and newsletters. Another way to stay connected is to go for offline events. One on one conversation always gets the best results. Establish a connect with your audience and keep calling them back.
Create a mood board for your brand. A mood board is a type of collage consisting of images, texts and samples of object in a composition. To make it simple, create a brand guideline and stick by it.

At last, when these your basics are in place and you have a few blogs with you, start keeping a track of your blogs’ performance. Analyze what type of content works the best and plan your strategy accordingly. Blog performance: Measuring It The Right Way gives you an insight on how to measure your performance. Repurpose your blogs to different formats and share it across platforms to reach out to the maximum number of people.

These are the basics of getting started with your blog. In a world where millions of content pieces are uploaded daily, it is difficult and an important thing to make your content stand out. Blogging has come a long way from where it started. The advent of CRM, writing assistant tools and search engines have made the knowledge sharing platform a tough competition. How to write a blog is no more going to be a tedious task if you stick by these 7 points and execute them the best way!

With all the marketing efforts for your business in place, it’s a good idea to have an all-in-one payment solution in place as well. Be a part of PayUmoney family to enjoy the best payment gateway experience. Grow your business effortlessly!

Recommended Reads:

• What Does Social Media Trends 2019 Exactly Look Like?

• Grow Your Startup By Effective Community Marketing

The post How To Write A Blog: 7 Steps To Get Started! appeared first on PayU Blog.

In this 2018 milestone post we will highlight some of the PayUmoney blogs that did well through the year and helped businesses in some way or the other.

Hit List Of Top 10 PayUmoney Blogs

1.Introducing All New PayUmoney Dashboard: We have always thrived to make tracking and managing business easy for our users. So, if you want to make the most of all the exclusive PayUmoney features, then this is the best time to SignUp (if you still haven’t) or simply Login to your account. Let your customers experience the best online payment service ever!

2. PayUmoney Web Checkout: This year we had only one aim in our mind and actions: to make our payment gateway an extremely seamless, easy and convenient option for all its users. The moment we released a new checkout system this year, our merchants were all “yes!” for key features which includes:

• re-directionless checkout
• easy retry option
• payment mode intelligence and,
• Nitro flow – for safe & automatic access to saved cards without login

All these features in combination contributes to a better success rate! Login in to account or SignUp to experience the best if you still haven’t.

3. How PayUmoney Payment Gateway Helps Businesses Grow?: This blog post rightly and largely focuses on the fact that we are more than a payment gateway. All the features introduced by us highly revolves in churning out better growth and success rates for your business. Read the complete blog to explore our exceptional features that will help you boost your business 5X.

4.Video Content Marketing Top Trends Of 2018: Today every business wants to create a benchmark and be different than it’s counterparts. We do witness the curve of change rising higher when it comes to flourishing marketing trends and techniques where video content marketing takes the driver’s seat rather! Let’s explore this rising trend all the more in this informative write up.

5. How To Use WhatsApp Business To Sell Products: If the app has an attractive base of 1.3 billion global users and 53% people shop on direct messages (DM), then it is bound to be a hub of all things saleable! The app is a selling hub for all marketers, salespersons, established or aspiring businesses. Why do we call it a hub to sell products? Go through the entire write up to explore more about WhatsApp business’ unique features, functions and more.

6. How To Use PayU Payments Plugin For MS Excel: Innovation is motto! We all use Excel sheets to manage our business and keep a track of all things. Then why not make the most of MS Excel to accept payments as well? Does the concept interest you? Get all the details you ought to know about the plugin right away!

7. 6 Simple Steps For A successful Brand Building Process: This particular blog piece has been loved by all our readers immensely and is always topping the charts. One reason being, a successful brand building process increases your sales and advocates your product or service. Read more to understand and process your brand better.

8. A Quick Payments Settlement Guide For Businesses: The ultimate goal for any and every business is to get customer payments in their bank account. Undoubtedly this is a rock star blog because of all the obvious reasons! If you are curious about the working of online payments then, click on the blog name to know more.

9. UPI Payment Gateway: UPI surely has been the hero of 2018! As the UPI juggernaut has gained steam, major players from across the world have jumped on the bandwagon including Google with Tez, Facebook with its UPI payment facility within WhatsApp. Get the glimpse of the UPI success and otherwise curve in the blog itself.

10. Expert’s Guide To Instagram Content Strategy: India is the 3rd leading country globally with a base of 59 Million active Instagram users just after US & Brazil. Instagram is getting highly popular in the world and so is our blog on the essential things and strategies to plan content for the gram. Read more!

11. Instagram For Business And It’s Benefits: Yet another Instagram blog topping our charts in 2018! Do not exclude this ever-growing social media channel from your business plan. Explore why and how you can use Instagram for your benefit.

Once again thanks a lot for your undying support to inspire us write better each year! Continue to be a part of our journey and unfold many more useful reads. Grow your business effortlessly with PayUmoney payment gateway.

The post Hit List Of Top 11 Blogs That Faired Well On PayUmoney Blog  appeared first on PayU Blog.

Understanding Pinterest For Business

Pinterest came to life in March 2010 and was founded by Evan Sharp, Paul Sciarra and Ben Silbermann. As all unique startups go through their rough patches Pinterest was no indifferent! Initially, the founders and a few programmers conducted operations out of a small apartment until 2011. A few leading publishing houses at that time turned down the offer to even meet the founders to discuss business. Soon the years progressed and so did the visual discovery platform – Pinterest.

Pinterest Co-founders (L-R): Evan Sharp, Paul Sciarra & Ben Silbermann

Nine months after the launch Pinterest had 10,000 users and Silbermann got in touch with these pinners personally to exchange good wishes. The app was also listed in the “50 Best Websites of 2011” in Times magazine. As days, months and years passed by, Pinterest community fondly known as “Pinners” increased in size and this eventually inspired the marketers to make space for the platform in their marketing strategies. Here are some stunning Pinterest statistics to pay attention to:

• The platform hosts nearly 175 billion pins today
• 60% pinners refer Pinterest for purchase ideas
• 72% pinners say Pinterest inspires them to shop when they are actually not looking for anything
• 55% pinners sat they use Pinterest to shop for and find products

Key terms used in Pinterest:

• Pins: Images uploaded on Pinterest
• Boards: Folders created to categorize pins
• Pinner: Pinterest user
• Repin: Sharing someone else’s pins by saving them in your boards
• Followers: Pinners who follow you on Pinterest for inspiration
• Following: Pinners you follow on Pinterest for inspiration
• Feeds: Pins you see on your dashboard once you log in

Pinterest’s Official Profile

How Does Pinterest For Business Work?

1. Signup or upgrade to Pinterest for business
2. Fill all required business details – profile picture, bio, website URL, etc.
3. Choose your interests (art, dance, writing, science, quotes, music, styling and more)
4. Create boards and add relevant pins with descriptions and links to redirect

Benefits Of Pinterest For Business

If “why should I including Pinterest for business in my marketing strategy?” is the question hovering in your mind then, we have listed down the key benefits of Pinterest for you below:

1. It’s free: You can create and manage your own Pinterest for business account easily and for free. Just follow the “how it works” steps above and you are good to go.
2. Visual communication: In the era of too-many-things-to-do-and-so-little-time, a picture is worth 1000 words! Pinterest communicates to its audiences in a direct, immediate and creative manner.
3. Highly inspiring: 60% pinners refer to Pinterest for purchase ideas. Pinterest is an inspiring haven for DIY artists, crafts and art lovers, writers, designers, stylists, shoppers, and many more professionals.
4. Very Decisive: Pinterest helps 90% of people to decide what to buy. Which means, before making any purchase Pinterest is highly regarded as an influencer to make purchase decisions.
5. Site Redirection: For any business redirecting people to their website directly, this is a super benefit. Pinterest does this right! Thus, boosting your site traffic and brand awareness.
6. Common Interests: All social media platforms have mixed audiences by default as it is available globally. Pinterest specifically brings these assorted audiences with common interests at one place to find ideas.
7. Run Ads: This is optional. You can as money to “promote” a pin which you can analyze as the best performer on your Pinterest business account. Pinterest has recorded that, it delivers $2 in profit to every $1 spent on ads. Note: Ad feature is currently available in select countries (limited audience targeting) and hence currencies for ad spends are listed and accepted accordingly (high ad spends in foreign currencies).
8. Follow People: Follow and interact with relevant pinners to gain visibility, follow backs and more repins. This helps to promote your business organically and form a strong base on the platform.

Though Pinterest is a very easy to use and manage app, as a business owner or marketer it is essential that you expose yourself to a few marketing tactics that work really well on Pinterest for business. These tactics that can bring in virality for all the content you pin on Pinterest are listed below:

1. Make Your Pinterest Business Profile Attractive

What contributes to an attractive Pinterest business profile? Apart from the images and description, you need to make sure that the theme of your profile speaks what you sell. Your Pinterest business profile needs to be diverse where all kinds of people definitely find something of their choice!

Eg: Your business centers around selling Indian traditional wear so, you can choose a particular color (pink, green, purple, etc) or a particular pattern (dresses, sarees, lehengas, etc) as your theme. You can use a festive theme as well as inspiration to post (Diwali, New year, Christmas,etc.).

2. Post Creative Images

As Pinterest a visual platform, you cannot afford to go wrong with the main essence of the app. It is important to keep a profile picture which is relatable or recognizable. Eg: If you are a company then you can put your company logo as your profile picture, as people’s recognition levels are high. But, if you are an individual blogger, artist, etc, you can put up your own image as your profile picture are people are likely to relate better to it.

When it comes to regular Pinterest pins, make sure your images or videos are high in resolution, clicked well and are genuine images. You can repin someone else’s pin, take pictures from other sources, click your own, edit a picture and pin it on your Pinterest for business account. However, it is always a good idea to give due image credits if outsourced.

PayUmoney’s Pinterest Business Profile

3. Add Convincing Bio/Description

Yes, a picture speaks volumes! Here’s a hypothetical scenario: You are an interior designer and mainly pin about the destinations you travel (maybe because your job demands travel, it’s your hobby or you natural interiors inspire you, etc). People might mistake you to be an avid traveler or a photographer instead of an interior designer. Putting a relevant description is to set people’s or rather followers expectation right about you and your profession. Never skip your bio.

4. Redirect To Website

The fourth essential aspect of Pinterest marketing is adding appropriate links to your business profile. This is because when people crawl through your profile, they need to know you better which is when they’d want to see your website as well. Apart from this having a website projects a very professional image of your work.

5. Add Rich Pins, Widgets & Plugs

• Rich pins: These pins are more informative than the regular pins. They provide more context to your pin or idea by showing extra information above and below the pin once clicked on or opened. Rich pins are a free feature for anyone using Pinterest and definitely, it’s a must use!

PayUmoney’s Rich Pin On Pinterest

• Widgets: You can add a Pinterest widget to your website or blog directly so that when people are skimming through your content at these destinations, they can check your Pinterest business profile out for more work testimonials.
• Plugs: Once you install or make Pinterest plugs available to your Pinterest business profile, you are allowing your audiences to shop for products they are looking for or are highly inspired by available immediately. This satisfies their desire to buy and yours to increase sales.

Image Credits: Pinterest

6. Pinterest For Distribution

If you are a blogger like me, you can make the best use of Pinterest to promote your articles or blogs. Put up infographics, gifs or videos of your articles and link them you to your blog. This will help you increase your organic traffic and readership.

PayUmoney’s Content Distribution On Pinterest

7. Best Time To Pin

As Pinterest for business is a global platform, there are no standard pinning or search timings on the platform. However, these days and timings change as per the location of both the pinner and the business. However, in India:

• Best time to pin: 2pm-4pm
• Best day to pin: Saturday

Pinterest For Business Analytics

Efforts seem best when they score well! You should know how your Pinterest business marketing strategies and campaigns are performing. Some key analytics to check are:

1. Impressions: Refers to the number of times your pin is viewed
2. Clicks: The number of clicks your pin gets
3. Demographics: It is the type of people you reach on the basis of location, gender, etc.
4. Interests: DIY crafts or travel? Makeup tips or scientific facts? Measure what are your audiences interested in

Are You Using Pinterest For Your Business Yet?

As successful takes time to knock doors, build a strong brand presence on Pinterest for business takes time too. However, the highlight of the platform is: it is creatives, visual and highly engaged at all times. So, say goodbye to all your doubts about Pinterest for business and start pinning all your content for marketing and generating high soaring sales for your business now!

With all your marketing efforts for your business in place, it’s a good idea to have an all-in-one payment solution in place as well. Now to enjoy the best payment gateway experience and grow your business effortlessly!

The post Pinterest For Business: Interesting Tips For Businesses To Market Well!  appeared first on PayU Blog.

As per research, festival spending begins in October itself and not November.

So be smart and think through these 7 festive season marketing strategies (for B2B and B2C businesses) right away in order to binge on more sweet profits this festive season!

1. Email Customized Festive Season Greetings

Consider your favorite brand in the world sends you a beautiful bouquet of flowers, hamper of exotically flavored chocolates and a handwritten note greeting you festive happiness. How would you feel? Special, won’t you?

Treat customers and partners like your extended family! Draft a beautiful email, pampering them with customized season’s greetings, gift hampers or a voucher sitting in their inbox (if not to their address). This makes your customers sensitive to your business presence and also shoots word-of-mouth appreciation in their neighborhood and amongst friend circles. Thus, increasing your customer base and profit too.

Here’s a precise resource on how to write effective emails for sales. But if you think you need to enhance your email writing skill then read these 5 ways to improve emailers for your business.

2. Be Creative On Social Media

Social media and website are the places where your customers and partners first find and know you. Keep your online presence especially social media updated and creative.

• A simple seasons’ greeting post can also make a lot of difference to your followers. It gives a sense of consideration.

Image Sources: PayUmoney’s Facebook

• Run contests to improve engagement and to interact with your audience directly. If you think “contest” means giving prizes to the winners, then yes, that’s what I am asking you to do. Prizes don’t have to be pricey. You can invest a minimum amount but what you win back is priceless! Remember this is a one-time expense.
• If still ‘contests’ seem like a not-so-great idea, then make testimonial videos and post them across your social media channels. Testimonial videos include your customer’s or partner’s experience and what they have to say about your business. This will bring a lifelong value to your business. You can tag your costumers or partners in the video, description or comment as a cherry on the cake!

3. Offer Samples & Discounts

Today we live in a trial economy, where everything needs to be tried before the actual purchase. In supermarkets, you must have noticed a couple of salespersons selling tasters of a particular food item for free. This allows people to experience the product first and then make a purchase decision. Basically, by introducing trials for your products you are inviting people to judge your product. This, in turn, helps you to understand the true need of your customers and create apt products.

Discounts and sales during festive season are marketer’s favorite strategies during festivals. E-commerce businesses make the most of this: Big Festive Sales, Festive Dhamaka, etc is introduced in order to gain more traction. Also, consumers usually pile up their piggy banks for ‘Sales’ during the festive season. Make the most of this strategy for your SMB.

1. List down all the festivals (big and small)
2. Mention the products you want to put up on sale
3. Spread the word about these products via email, social media, phone calls, SMS
4. Allow your consumers to try your product first
5. Follow the points listed below

4. Participate In Online & Offline Community Markets

Community marketing is a very prominent part of digital marketing. Earlier offline communities were set up in the form of flea markets, exhibitions, town hall markets and so on. Today, all these communities have settled down online as well. Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest have people from all walks of life and countries grouping up to form a common interest community.

Eg: Communities like the social pop shop or social crafts are created for people who want to sell or showcase their talent related to the community interest.

• The social pop shop – Lifestyle
• Social Crafts – Craft/ Art

5. Plan Simple Costumer Journey

Journeys are the ones which decide what goes next to your customer in the form of communication. This could be an engaging post on your social media channels, a follow-up email or SMS, new product updates as push notifications or simple banners or pop-ups in your website. This journey needs to be a part of the entire campaign, where the consumer is notified about your products simultaneous on different platforms.

Make sure you don’t bombard them with messages because this can increase your spam risk instead of your business. Pick the best channel and select the right time to send updates to your consumers.

6. Cross & Upsell Your Products Smartly

If your consumer wants to buy a notepad, then what is the harm in pushing them to buy a super smooth and fine quality pen? Cross and upselling is one of the keys to unlock the shackles of increasing sales. You are well versed with BOGO (buy one get one) or BOGF (buy one get one free) concepts. This is nothing but upselling. Cross-selling is selling a pen along with a notepad. You consumers are always looking for convenience. Sell your products conveniently to them.

7. Make Ad Spends Wisely

• Myth: Advertising is expensive and meant only for big businesses.
• Myth busted: Small businesses can make the most of advertising as well with cost as low as Rs.100 – 500!

Digital advertising is not expensive as traditional advertising (newspapers, radio, hoardings, etc). You can spend wisely by running test ads with a minimal budget at first. Depending on the response increase your budget to its best (according to you) and increase your business awareness as well.

Eg: if you spend Rs. 500 (keeping this as high value) you can reach out to approx 1000 – 2000 audiences in one go.

To maximize your marketing efforts on social media, discover the commonly made Facebook advertising mistakes you should avoid now.

Competition is on an all-time rise with multiple businesses offering similar products with enhanced price, quality or feature. In such scenarios, festivals are a hot season for marketers to push their products forth. In this crowded economy, these 7 festive season marketing strategies prove to be subtle but leave a high impact on your audiences in the (near) future. Gorge on these festive season marketing strategies to improve your marketing efforts and sales this festive season!

With all your marketing efforts for your business in place, it’s a good idea to have an all-in-one payment solution in place as well. Now to enjoy the best payment gateway experience and grow your business effortlessly!

The post 7 Unique Festive Season Marketing Strategies For Small Businesses appeared first on PayU Blog.

Black or white? Heart or mind? Sweet or sour? Sugar or salt? These are the normal life question we succumb to quite often. However, these questions or their answers won’t directly affect your Rs. 1 lakh business but, creating and launching a right product will! Thus, A/B testing your product is essential and doing it the correct way is all the more essential. So, what is A/B testing all about and how it works? Read on to know more and explore your product’s or service’s true potential.

What Is A/B Testing?

Pro-Tip: Run your test long enough so you can actually differentiate between the two variations.

How To Measure Your A/B Test Results?

There are plenty of A/B testing tools available in the market. Some of them provide the same service for free or charge a price for the same service. Tools seem essential as they are automated, time-saving and above all instant result curating. Here are some of the best tools available in the market: Adobe Target, Google Optimizer, and Optimizely. You choose your pick and get started with your work.

Once you run the test, it’s time to read the results! Consider that your result of A/B testing is something like this: Group A gives 20% while Group B gives 23%.

1. Before jumping to a conclusion, note that the error rate might be 5% in most cases
2. Based on this, the conversion rate (click through rate or traffic) will be 3%
3. Check if the new version is the product or service you provide receives a better welcome than the previous one
4. if yes, then go ahead with it. If no, then go back to the original one. Don’t lose hope here. Going back to the older version is not giving up. Take this as an inspiration to create something more better and epic.

Common Mistakes To Avoid While A/B Testing

DO NOT make these 3 common mistakes businesses usually get trapped into:

1. Taking decisions too quickly without running the test for the full business cycle
2. Focusing on too many results at the same time. Before you look at the report decide on what result you want to know.
3. Not re-testing. This might give you false results.

A/B testing has been widely used by businesses to figure out that one factor that converts a visitor to a customer. When you run this test for a considerable time, you can gather enough data to make strategic decisions. But the key to unlocking this treasure is being consistent, with proper planning and execution. Follow these steps mentioned above to successfully kickstart A/B testing today.

With all your marketing efforts for your business in place, it’s a good idea to have an all – in- one payment solution in place as well. Now enjoy the best payment gateway experience and grow your business effortlessly!

The post A Step-By-Step Guide To Product A/B Testing (The Right Way) appeared first on PayU Blog.

61% marketers believe that improving SEO and growing their organic presence is their top inbound marketing strategy (source: Hubspot)

We have highlighted 6 SEO trends which are buzzing in 2018 and seem to go deeper in 2019 as well!

1.The Good Old Trends For SEO 2018

We do know that old is gold and hence, the basics of SEO are never running out of stock. Setting your keywords, meta tags, descriptions, images, and more right, is an evergreen formula that contributes to high search engine ranks. Search engines algorithms enhance every fortnight (almost). To meet the minimal requirements of these algorithms, having the traditional SEO system in place is vital. You can quickly run through these techniques in our ‘How to skyrocket your traffic by 500%’ now to avoid any mistakes in the basics.

2. Backlinks

Lately, on social media platforms like Instagram, you must have come across abbreviations such as S4S, L4L, C4C and so on. What are these exactly? These are terms used by prominent personalities or businesses to get more followers, likers, and commenters on their handles.

• S4S – Share for share
• L4L – Like for Like
• C4C – Comment for Comment

For example: if you own an online business and you want to grow your followers. You will identify similar players like yours in the market and ask them to share, like or comment on your post and in return, you do the same for them. This way you are sharing your followers with each other in order to gain more visibility.

Why I am putting this concept forth under “backlinks”? This is because, when it comes to content, backlinks work the same way as S4S on social media. Backlinks are basically, mentions of other blogger or influencers in your blog and vice versa. Backlinks are a big hit in SEO 2018, as it automatically builds brand credibility for your content. It seems easy, but it may get difficult if you belong to a very niche genre of business, where getting readers or visitors to your website is a task. However, do not skip this trend as it will get you places in the longer run!

3. Guest Blogs

Guests are always welcome. Be open and invite them to write for your blog. Guest blogs are basically in sync with backlinks. A blogger or an influencer writes for your blog to reach out something specific to your audience. Guest blogs work best if the person who writes for you or the blog you are writing for has high DA (domain authority), PA (page authority) or credibility in the industry (CEOs, independent bloggers and so on). Because of all the privileges that tag along with guest blogging, it is a mainstream SEO trend and component.

4. Smart Magnet Method

This method is where you need to bid for keywords smartly. The smart magnet method is about identifying the most used ad keywords and using them in your content or copy.

For example: I write marketing and payment blogs for PayUmoney. Here are the smart steps I will take:

1. Get into the incognito mode
2. Type my intended search. Eg: best payment gateway
3. I am sure all the top searches with have 2 letters for sure: AD
4. Now, I will see all these ads and pick the keywords. Eg: payment gateway India
5. I will this keyword in my article and make it strong enough to rank high

So, the smart magnet method is nothing, but identifying keywords from the ads and attracting more visitors by ranking high.

5. Multiple Content On Multiple Platforms

Multiple content connotes, repurposing content. Content is a vast field and carries multiple facades: long form, copy, videos, presentations, audio, gifs, infographics, memes, stories and so much more. But it is not necessary that all forms are consumed equally. Today’s fast-paced, less patient world demands something short and sweet. So it’s another smarter way to rank: create long-form content and break into small content verticals for better results and views. Try this experiment out:

1. Go to Google.com
2. Type “Instagram content strategy” in the search bar
3. You’ll see PayUmoney’s blog + video ranking on top of the second page.

Thus, having multiple forms of content published on multiple platforms is a plus point in the age of SEO 2018! You can checkout PayUmoney SlideShare and PayUmoney YouTube channel for a live demo on how to create optimized repurposed content.

6. Voice Search

This is the future! 2/3 people use their smartphones less often because of digital voice assistants such as Amazon Echo or Google Home (source: CNBC). Also, [bctt tweet=”at least 37% population uses Siri, 23% uses Microsoft’s Cortana, and 19% use Amazon’s Alexa monthly. ” username=””]

These statistics are enough to underline the fact that voice searches are the way to go for marketers. What people say is not what they type. For example: you want to learn “ways to collect payment online” but while typing you might go ahead with “how to collect online payments easily”. Hence, coating content with what people might voice search than write search is brimming up.

These 6 trends may seem very obvious. But it is always recommended to have a close view at it and explore new detailed horizons when it comes to topping up with SEO 2018. Before I close this session up I would like to provide a cheat sheet to the latest SEO tools which all businesses must have!

• SEMrush – for detailed content analysis
• Sumo – for clean email listing and subscriber forms
• Google Keyword planner – for accurate keyword volumes
• Yoast – for crisp SEO content recommendations

With all your marketing efforts for your business in place, it’s a good idea to have an all – in- one payment solution in place as well. Now enjoy the best payment gateway experience and grow your business effortlessly!

The post SEO 2018: Leading Trends and Tips For Marketers appeared first on PayU Blog.

What is B2B Lead Generation?

A Lead is basically a consumer who shows voluntary interest in a particular businesses’ products or services. Attracting these leads to your business with the help of various smart marketing techniques is called Lead generation. In case of B2B lead generation process, your leads or consumers are other businesses you need to attract. 

For example, you specialize in corporate gifts and gift wrappers. You have a website and social media presences for the same as well. Now with your online business set in full swing, you need to create awareness amongst other businesses, acquire customers and bring in sales. For this flow to take place smoothly, you need to generate quality leads first!  Before you jump in to know the B2B (business to business) lead generation mechanism in detail, set your online business on track by indulging in these 4 secret ingredients of a successful online business!

A recent report put together by a renowned marketing website reveals that over 63% marketers find steady lead generation as a key challenge.  

B2B Lead Generation: Super Techniques

In the corporate gifting business example mentioned above, the best way to generate leads would be to

• Place “order now” or “know more” forms at relevant places on your website
• Collect all necessary consumer information — name, email address, contact, address, etc..(understand which business needs to collect what data in the sections below)
• Once the high-intent consumers submit information via the form, they are your ‘leads’.
• Now you can connect with them directly. Send curated content such as engaging industry newsletters, product updates and so on.

Remember: A consumer who signs up voluntarily will never push your emailers in their spam. They want your service and so you need to make their need stronger by nurturing them well!

Broadly, there are 2 effective ways to generate leads:

1.The traditional way: Customer referrals, magazine/newspaper advertising, tele- calling, events etc.

2. The non-traditional way: Search engine results, social media, digital marketing and more.

However, you cannot hand the trophy to either of them as both play an important role in generating higher leads.

You Require B2B Lead Generation? 

67% of B2B marketers put forth that, they see at least a 10% increase in sales opportunities through lead generation.

Yes, you do! One of the biggest secrets to a successful business is a new lead generation.  A consumer lands on your website or blog because it’s their need and they happen to search deeper for it. They did their job! Now, it’s your job convert these consumers into customers by implementing an appropriate marketing strategy. If you fail to target the right audience, at the right time, all of your efforts in building your brand goes in vain. Thus, lead capturing is an important step to grow your business. 

7 Effective B2B Lead Generation Techniques 

1. Write blogs & e-books: Choose diverse topics to write on. For example, if you are a fin-tech or payments company like PayUmoney, you can write about various digital marketing trends and strategies as well apart from payments. This allows you to target a large audience, who not only owns a business and want a payment solution but also, wants to market their business well. Further, you can churn out useful e-books as well for better traction.

2. Use social media: Social media, on the other hand, is the modern-day bullet! Plan quality campaigns on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. Boost these campaigns if necessary or you can opt for the complete organic route as well. Give relevant action buttons or commands as well. You can also run contests on your social media channels.

3. Create effective CTA: A CTA is a ‘call to action’ which redirects your audience to the right URL or window.  

4. Add relevant pop-ups: A pop-up is used to collect direct leads. There are various kinds of pop-ups you can use on your website: exit intent, interestial, banner, side push. Usually, websites use interstitial pop-up which gets displayed right in the center of the web page to gage attention. Even banners prove to be useful. Choose pop-up style as required. 

Side Pop-up

Pro-Tip: You can also add a sticky subscribe button at the end of the page

                                                                                                                        Website Banner

5. Slide in request after page scroll: As the name suggests, this is one of the easiest ways to generate leads. Slide in a request to ‘subscribe’ after someone scrolls through X% of your entire page. As per research, sliding in after 80% of page scroll gives the best results.  

 Pro-Tip: Use SumoMe to track the heat map and target your audience accordingly!

6. Add a side bar: Side bar is one of the best places to add a subscribe form. Just by setting up an appealing subscribe box on your sidebar, you can gently attract a lot of visitors. Ask them to subscribe to your blog or a newsletter by clicking on a relevant CTA.  

7. Launch a dedicated landing page: Keep a particular section of your entire website or blog dedicated to subscriber button. Here, offer something that will attract the visitors and design it beautifully.  

Apart from the above-listed ways, you can also run contests, use videos and gaming for a useful B2B lead generation.

What Lead Information To Capture? 

Now that you will be implementing the above-listed ways to make the maximum of your lead generation efforts, the most important factor is the type of information to be captured. This information captured while B2B lead generation is then used for passing on further marketing and business communications like emailers, newsletters, offers, etc.  You mainly need to capture: 

1. Name
2. Email Id
3. Contact
4. Age
5. Gender
6. Profession
7. Website Details or URL
8. Other Specific Information (cars, business type, house owned, etc)

You can choose any or a combination of the information to be captured from the ones listed above as per your industry type. Businesses mainly ask for the basics: name, email & contact.

Tools For Best B2B Lead Generation  

• FieldBloom: FieldBloom is an all in one customer feedback form-creating tool. Create beautiful surveys, CRM and lead forms and increase your B2B lead generation.  
• Sumo: Sumo is one of the most popular tools that provides multi features like creating pop-ups, welcome pages, social share bar and heat maps.  
• Instapage: Instapage integrates with popular marketing and Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) platforms like MailChimp and Hubspot. It offers drag and drop landing page creation feature along with heat maps.  
• Vyper: Vyper is a tool for creating viral contests. It allows you to make best of your ideas by adding actions like filling a form, asking customers to follow social media profiles and so on.  

Find out the top 41 B2B lead generation tools you can use to upgrade your online business now.

Once you are through with the idea of B2B lead generation, just follow these simple steps: 

• • Give an effective CTAs

• • Design appealing landing pages and emails  

• Make the best use of your social media

Make a way through your sales team to implement your campaigns in the best way! Remember, the more you tweak and keep experimenting with your and B2B lead generation ideas, the higher is the probability of welcoming new leads.  

With all your marketing efforts for your business in place, it’s a good idea to have an all-in-one payment solution in place as well. Sign up with PayUmoney now to enjoy the best payment gateway experience and grow your business effortlessly!   

Recommended Reads 

• How to Build a Successful Lead Generation Form
• Leading Digital Marketing Strategies for Your Business

The post B2B Lead Generation For Online Businesses: A Beginners Guide appeared first on PayU Blog.

• • Saves overheads to set up a physical store 

• • Easy to process orders and inventories 

• • Convenient for consumers who prefer ‘sit-at-home’ services 

• • It is available 24/7 

• • Global outreach 

• • No cash handling jitters 

• • Multiple payment options
  • Easier to launch sales, offers, mega-budget campaigns  

Over years of evolution and expert observation, online businesses have certain special ingredients to achieve sure shot success in just a short time span. As per our estimates and foresight, at present

Any Successful Online Business Should Have: 

1. Website

Needless to say that going online is a synonym for having a website: a professional presence of your business. Consumers rely heavily on image and credibility of any business. Having a website and making a crisp point to give all the information about you to your customers makes them feel extremely connected with you. The feel, look and display of products or services on your website opens a field of trust in your customers.  

For example, you sell aromatic candles online, you need a place to display your products and inform your customers about from where and how to buy, other services you provide, sales you are setting up and more.  

Having a website and updating it on a regular basis: 

1. Increases the chances of returning customers as they have a high intent of interest in your product and want to be in the forefront of every update.
2. This, in turn, helps in increasing sales gradually as you are actively maintaining your website and have more to offer.  

Successful Online Business Website Checklist

• Homepage, contact us page, about us page, support us page, features & benefits and testimonials
• High-resolution images, logos, favicon and responsive design
• Keyword optimized content, metadata, sitemaps and high website load time
• Google AdWords account linked to your website
• Website PCI security
• Chatbot

 2. Blog 

Blogs help to widen your perspective and showcase it in a very different manner. You can write about your new product launches in detail, give valuable information about the line or field of business, publish interviews with thought leaders and so much more.  

For example, while you sell aromatic on your website, you can also put up a beautiful piece of informative content about How aroma therapies help relieve stress, Ways to beautiful your home decor with candles, Classic aromas from around the world and so on.  

As in the example, you can talk about much more than just your products. Almost every website will have a dedicated space for blogs as it increases your website searchability and readership on search engines.  

Pro-tip: Make your blogs short, crisp and search engine optimized (SEO).

SEO basically helps to push websites or blogs with relevant content on the top which increases the number of clicks and viewers on your website or blog. Know more about how to skyrocket your website traffic using SEO techniques.  

Successful Online Business Blog Checklist

• Homepage
• Relevant categories
• Social media handles
• High-resolution images, logos, favicons
• Search engine optimized content
• Subscription section & comments section
• To-the-point CTAs
• Website link
• Useful plugins (WordPress)
• Author details

3. Social Media

Apart from website and blogs, you can find a huge set of your target audience on social media channels such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and so on. You can target your audience on social media channels by putting up engaging posts, videos, polls and so much more. Initially, social media was mainly meant to stay connected with friends and family. Soon businesses started using these channels to draw people’s attention to their products and services. This act pumped new horizon of using social media to promote business.  

For example, you can upload your product (aromatic candle) images on your social media business page and redirect your customers to your blog or website for further information about the product and buying process.  

If you are still wondering why we have listed ‘social media’ as one of the 4 secret ingredients of successful online businesses then, here are the top social media marketing tips for your business   

Successful Online Business Social Media Checklist

• Company logo, name, category, about us, maps, & contact us details
• Crisp description & product offering details
• Engaging  images
• User-generated content
• Videos, images, and gifs
• Link to website
• Hashtags and tags
• Post descriptions

4. Payment Gateway

Once you have a website you ought to have a payment gateway attached to it! By integrating with a payment gateway you smoothen the entire buyer experience of your customers. With a payment gateway, your customers can use any payment method to pay the bill at any time and from anywhere. However being wise and choosing the right payment gateway also makes a lot of difference in the entire purchase cycle.  

For example: when your customers scan through your products on your website, they can make the payment immediately because your website is integrated with PayUmoney payment gateway. A payment gateway integration also reduces the chances of cart abandonment, rethinking about products once chosen and so on.  

Successful Online Business Payment Gateway Checklist

• Quick & Secured transactions
• Multiple payment options availability
• Customer support availability
• Customers can pay without redirection and  can save cards on your website

We wish the best for you and your business and hence we have curated these 4 factors or ingredients are highly recommended by us for every successful online business! If you don’t have all or any one of these factors in place, it’s time to do so right away.  

With all your marketing efforts for your business in place, it’s a good idea to have an all-in-one payment solution in place as well. Now to enjoy the best payment gateway experience and grow your business effortlessly!   

The post 4 Secret Ingredients Of A Successful Online Business  appeared first on PayU Blog.