Sameer Panjwani, Author at Mondovo Blog

Website Security: 5 Strategies Brands Can Follow to Keep Their Website Safe

Your website is the face of your business. It reflects how you want the world to view your brand. Strong website security communicates professionalism. It establishes trust between a website and its visitors. More than that, though, search engines like Google favor secure websites.

So, implementing website security strategies could give you a nice search engine boost. According to a SiteLock report, cyberattacks cost SMBs around the world roughly $25K every year.

Therefore, implementing simple security strategies is easier – and cheaper – than removing malware or trying to recover a hacked account.

The screenshot below shows statistics from SiteLock’s cybersecurity report. You will notice the recent explosion of security incidents. I.e., the volume of threats doubled in 2022 compared to 2021.

With that in mind, here are five strategies that brands can follow to improve website security.

1. Choose the Best Web Hosting Service

Web hosting services can be a minefield, especially if you’re new to managing a website. When browsing a web hosting website, you will see services like WordPress hosting, VPS hosting, dedicated servers, and plain old web hosting. These all vary in cost, bandwidth, and storage. When you choose your hosting plan, security features are some of the most essential aspects to consider. You will likely find that many hosts offer decent security measures as standard, protecting their customers against common attacks. Paying a little more gets you extra security.

Look out for things like:

A backup solution
DDoS (distributed denial of service) attacks protection
IP blockers, which block requests from hosts with specific IP addresses

Complement these with a tech team that carries out a strong cybersecurity strategy and your website should be fine.

Additionally, some hosting types are naturally more secure than others. VPS (Virtual Private Server) and dedicated hosting, for example, tend to provide more effective website security than shared hosting.

VPS and dedicated hosting gives users their own hosting environment. Shared hosting, on the other hand, involves sharing server space with other websites. This can cause servers to overload and crash, which can lead to cyberattacks.

The screenshot below is taken from GoDaddy. You will notice it has three hosting categories. There are also two types of hosting plans under each of these categories, each with their own features and perks.

Unless you have a tech team behind you, managed Indian hosting services are normally the better option. With managed hosting, your host will take care of many aspects of managing and maintaining your website. This includes updating, configuring, and optimizing.

Managed hosting tends to enhance website security too. You will normally receive much better support from your host, should you fall victim to malicious activity.

We all know that the keywords and phrases you use in a document can play a part in your Google Rankings. However, can having similar articles on the same topic add more value to your rankings? Can the “topical depth” you add to your content present your site as being an authority on that subject.

In this video, we cover a practical example of how you could add depth/authority to your content. You can apply the same tactic to any topic.

Topical authority is an important SEO factor. It might sometimes make more sense from an SEO perspective to develop similarly themed content, and establish an authority around a topic than to focus on multiple differently themed topics.

Also, if you’re looking for a great tool for keyword research, I’d recommend KWFinder as a first preference because of it’s low cost and second, you could consider SEMRush.

I just stumbled upon a link building tactic that I think might be worth a goldmine (at least to me)! First, some background information to give you some context. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been actively scouring the internet for opportunities to build links for a site in the real estate niche – I’ve been browsing through forums and their marketplaces, reading articles on various link building strategies and even experimented with a few link purchases for some of my lesser known sites.

Giving you this background information because it’s necessary to realize the state of awareness I’ve been in while browsing through content online. During the day, I’d typically consume at least 7-10 articles in that niche and I’d always look at the outgoing links from within each article to figure, “why did this author choose to link to this article”. It bothered me not knowing how I could get my links featured in those articles when I had equally good and relevant content available on my site. Read More

Impossible to Emulate your Competitors Backlinks? Of course it is! But here some key ideas.

Backlinks – It’s hard for us SEO folks and much harder for regular folks to really spot opportunities from your competitors’ backlink profile. A lot of people talk about how you must analyze your competitors’ backlinks and try to see if you can emulate those same kinds of links.

The fact of the matter is if you don’t know what to look for, you won’t gather many actionable insights. Sameer covers some practical things you could do in this short article about how to find those patterns that you should look for when analyzing your competitors’ backlinks.

If you’re looking for a decent tool for backlink analysis, then I’d suggest LinkMiner which is super affordable and if you have a higher budget, then SEMRush.

eCommerce is by its nature connected to technology. It’s in the name after all, electronic commerce, meaning commerce done by electronic means. However, just because you’re connected to technology doesn’t mean you’re getting the most out of it, after all some people still operate on Windows XP and don’t bother getting upgrades.

That’s not to say that you need to get every upgrade you can, but there are definitely some upgrades that you can’t afford to miss. Digital transformation, the art of fusing technology with the way you operate your business, is key to e-commerce.

We’ve gathered below some of the noticeable e-commerce upgrade trends that have cropped up over the past few years, as well as some that are just starting out but look to be big game changers.

Hybrid or Remote Working

Remote working is the idea that you and your team can do your work from the comfort of your own home, not bothering with an office or other central location. Hybrid working takes the same idea but on a part-time basis, with some necessary days in the office and the rest at home.

For obvious reasons this won’t be possible with hands-on types of work, but it suits e-commerce just fine. It’s a benefit to the employees since they don’t have to take the time to get into work, nor pay for transportation costs to get there.

It’s also a big boost to any business that can do it, since it takes away the costs of running an office space. No having to pay for power and water, any rent and taxes that are relevant to using an office, and no worrying about the extra staff that such a space needs like security or cleaners.

There’s also the logistics factor, if you don’t have a central location then you don’t need to worry about moving all of your stock into it and can instead direct it around from manufacturing locations.

Of course, you’ll need to have a good system in place for communicating since you won’t be able to just pop your head into the next room and ask a question. The internet provides just that, with many free pieces of software such as Zoom or FaceTime available for face-to-face meetings, and dozens of text-based methods of communication, assuming plain old email isn’t fast enough for your liking.

It isn’t the 1960’s anymore after all, offices and the systems they put in place aren’t ones that you have to follow. Instant communication across the country means that you can run your business from New York, with outposts in Hawaii, Alaska and California, without having any delays or

Remote working exploded with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, since lockdowns and other restrictions meant that new methods of working had to be found if businesses were going to keep going. Two years on from the beginning, workers have seen the benefits and don’t want to go back into the office if they don’t have to.

A lot of ordinary businesses are reluctant to keep remote working and want their employees to come back to the office, since they don’t want to deal with the hassle of restructuring the way they work. eCommerce businesses, operating online already, have the advantage of already being a few steps along the path towards full remote working and can implement it much more easily. Many people ask us what the best virtual offices are in the UK because so many people run their businesses from home and require that level of privacy. If you need a great virtual office in the UK, virtual office in London is easily the best option.

Cloud Computing

What do you do when you don’t have a big filing cabinet to store all of your paperwork in, and don’t have a computer that everyone can share to keep your team up to speed? Well, you use cloud computing software.

Of course, this approach needs an internet connection to work which can be a downside for many ordinary businesses, but you’re in e-commerce! The internet is your thing and you’re always going to have access to it. The main drawback where you’re concerned is cost, but it’s almost always one worth paying. Communicating with an IT support company with a solid strategic relationship with either your solutions or cloud provider can also be beneficial.

Search engines are a popular medium through which people discover content on the internet. If you optimize your blog posts for search engines, you make it easier for people to find your content.

Enhancing your blog posts for search engines will not only help you rank higher on Google, but also increase traffic to your site, as well as increase your brand awareness.

Optimizing your blog posts for search engines is not complicated, but it does take some time and effort.

Here are some simple steps to help you get started…

Find high volume low competition keywords

Every blog post you write should be optimized to rank for a specific keyword. The best way to find keywords that you can rank for is by looking for low competition keywords that have high search volume. There are many ways to identify these keywords: through your own research, by using Google Keyword Planner, or by using keyword research tools like SemRush or Ahrefs.

Add keywords in the right places

Just adding keywords anywhere in the post won’t help you rank higher on Google.

When you are writing your blog post, it is important to add your valuable keywords in the right places so that your blog post can be found by readers who are searching for content on specific topics. You can use keywords in the title, the introduction, and the conclusion.

You should also include keywords in the body of your content and your subheadings. Remember to incorporate the keywords at least 3-4 times throughout the text so that search engines get a better understanding of your blog and eventually your blog will be ranked higher. For example, if you’re trying to build an online community with the help of podcasts, you need to focus on keywords related to the guest and the topic.

Another type of keyword you should add to your posts is LSI keywords. There are some tools like Clearscope that will help you find these easily.

Build high-Quality links

Every blogger needs to build high-quality links to their blog posts.

Links are still one of the most important factors in ranking a site on Google. There are many ways to get quality backlinks for your site, but not all of them are ethical and white hat. So it’s important to be careful while building links for your blog posts so that you don’t get penalized by Google or other search engines.

In order to build high-quality links, you should share your content on social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook. This doesn’t have a direct impact on your SEO, but it improves social proof. This will make your content look credible and more people will want to link to you.

Everyone deserves the right to navigate the internet, unrestrained by poor design choices, bad layouts, or inaccessible sites. In a world where over one billion people live with some form of disability, with this figure increasing every day, it’s time we all stopped to think about internet accessibility.

Web accessibility is about creating equal access online, allowing all users to navigate all the sites they want. While leaps have been taken in the past several years, with WordPress having a wide range of accessibility support pages, the uptake still isn’t moving fast enough.

In this article, we’ll discuss exactly why you should incorporate accessibility into your WordPress site, as well as demonstrate three easy ways of doing so. By the end of this, you’ll be an expert in digital accessibility regulations.

What Are Online Accessibility Standards?

Otherwise, known as WCAG, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines are currently the global standard when it comes to creating an accessible website. These standards are created and imposed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which is made up of an international selection of disability experts.

As suggested on their regulations page, the WCAG has the end goal of “Providing a shared standard for web content accessibility” that aims to “meet the needs of individuals, organizations, and governments internationally”. In short, they’re trying to create a fairer world of internet access for everyone.

Social media marketing is a great way to promote your business online, but the main problem with it is that it takes time to see a positive ROI. First, you need to spend an ample amount of time to grow your followers and nurture them with the right content and then only can you promote your products. This can take weeks to months and even years.

If you want to skip all this effort and get quick results, then you should invest more of your marketing budget into social ads.

Ads let you get your marketing messages in front of your audience instantly. But again, to see a positive ROI from your ads you need to create the right ad. Just creating something whimsically and pushing it with a big budget won’t automatically generate big results. A good social video ad can even be made with a startup marketing budget.

You need to be very meticulous with your social ad creation process. One way to do this is by creating more social video ads instead of text or image-based ones.

Why Should You Create More Social Video Ads?

Videos get more reach: Social network algorithms these days give preference to videos. Some reports have shown that they drive more engagement on Facebook and Instagram.

And then there are popular networks such as YouTube and IGTV where you can only publish videos.

You can include more content in a video: Another benefit of creating videos is that you can include more content in them, when compared to still images. This is highly beneficial especially on networks such as Facebook where adding too much text to the ad image can reduce reach.

Email campaigns remain a cornerstone of online marketing, and the numerous statements of email being a dying communication tool have, at least thus far, proven entirely unfounded. From the most prominent brands to the smallest boutique businesses, there’s still no better way to reach an audience that has actively consented to receive promotions from you than directly in their inbox. Indeed, email still usually outperforms social media marketing in terms of sealing the deal and so warrants every bit as much time and effort as ever before.

Of course, if you’re going to the trouble of sending an email out to your audience, you must be confident it will perform. A broken email will not only lead to no sales, but it might set you back further than where you started! Therefore, it’s imperative to test emails before they reach your subscribers’ inboxes, and here’s why.

1. There are Hundreds of Email Viewers Out There

When most email marketers think of email, they tend to consider Gmail and Outlook. However, there are hundreds of ways to interpret a given email. Different webmail platforms alone account for dozens of different ways to display communications, then you’ve got all the free email services, corporate email addresses with their security features, and more.

Indeed, there are so many different viewing tools out there that it might be impossible to create an email that looks the same no matter how the recipient views it. However, it’s vital to ensure that an email looks as good as possible to as many people as possible.

One of the best reasons to be involved with social media marketing is that there’s always something new to learn and explore. Of course, many of our readers will be familiar with the concept of dark posts, whether that’s on Facebook or an alternative platform. But, for those who aren’t, especially those who are still using boosted posts, there’s an opportunity for even better results.

What’s a Facebook Dark Post?

There are certain similarities between boosted posts and their dark counterparts. Both represent paid advertising on the platform to position posts in the feeds of your target audience. However, the critical difference is that dark posts exist as ads and nothing else. They don’t appear on your regular feed, and they don’t go out to people that follow you already – unless they fall into the specified target audience.

Conversely, regular boosted posts involve taking something you’ve already posted to Facebook and paying for further reach. If you’ve experimented with boosted posts already, alongside conventional Facebook advertising, you’ll know that there are nowhere near as many options with the former as the latter. Dark posts represent something of a middle ground, whereby your paid posts benefit from all the flexibility of ads while still appearing in the main feed.

1. They’re Perfect for Targeting Without Disturbing Your Full Audience

You’ve probably segmented your audience in dozens of ways already. Dark posts enable you to communicate directly with those segments without compromising everyone else. Boosted posts require a more general tone regardless of who you target, as anyone that visits your page will be able to see them. With dark posts, you can target people of certain ages, in specific job roles, or even an exact location. You can use a VPN to emulate their location, too, to see firsthand how your post appears and what other local promotions appear nearby.

Website Security: 5 Strategies Brands Can Follow to Keep Their Website Safe

1. Choose the Best Web Hosting Service

Why Topical Authority Matters, all you need to know about the “Topical Depth” SEO Ranking Factor

Impossible to Emulate your Competitors Backlinks? Of course it is! But here some key ideas.

Keeping Up With Digital Transformation Trends In eCommerce

Hybrid or Remote Working

Cloud Computing

8 Ways to Optimize Your Blog Posts for Search Engines

Find high volume low competition keywords

Add keywords in the right places

Build high-Quality links

How To Make Your WordPress Site Compliant With Accessibility Regulations

What Are Online Accessibility Standards?

7 Tips for Creating Better Social Video Ads

Why Should You Create More Social Video Ads?

7 Reasons to Test Every Email Campaign Before You Hit Send

1. There are Hundreds of Email Viewers Out There