Does Google Issue Certificates? Can Anyone Be Google Partner?

I have heard many time prospects or my social network connections asks me this question or look suspiciously to the people who are claiming to have such certification or partnership. This inspired me to write this Blog. This blog will answer their queries and it will also be helpful to the aspirant marketers.

The answer is, "YES". Not only, Google, but also Bing, Hubspot and other known names in the Online marketing industry provides such certification. This certification usually has a validation date on it due to ever-changing nature of the marketing and internet field.

Why Google (or other such organization) Gives Such Certification?
I haven't approached Google to answer this, but as per my knowledge and experience, I'm trying to answer this question :) . As we all know, Google is fighting against "Spam" and "Poor Online Marketing Practices". Such courses provide in-depth knowledge of the ethical and result oriented marketing standards and practices. This helps Google to educate marketers with the guidelines and standard practices to be followed. At some extent, it also helps in getting other core information of people which helps search engines in other ways.

It also helps people to recognize the qualified individuals who can work for them as per the set standards.

Some organizations (including Google in the past) also bag some money from such courses. It still helps indirectly to add revenue to the organizations.

How To Get Google [or other Related] Certification?
Google and other related organization like Bing, Hubspot provides different courses or material to the aspiring marketers. These materials can be PDF ebook or series of video lectures which provide in-depth knowledge of chosen subject. Once the learner feels, he has acquire enough knowledge, he can give an evaluation test which is a time bound exam. The exam will test the knowledge of the learner by both theoretical and a few practical scenario based questions. If a learner achieves the set milestone of score, the organization issue an online certificate to him/her.

Usually, such certifications are valid to specified time period, then one must need to give exam again to regain the certification.

How to Be Google Partner?
There are a few requirements to be "Google Certified Partner" which are listed below:

• Google Partner's profile creation for company
• Google certified individual  [Pass minimum 2 exams out of 3]
• Meet minimum spending requirement which is at least $10,000 USD (or local currency equivalent) in total AdWords spend over the last 90 calendar days.

Can Anyone Cheat in The Exam?
The chances of cheating in such exams are denied in 99.99% cases. These exams are time based, so one don't get much time to surf around or explore the material to find the answers. Also, the questions are logical, so all question don't have answer on net. It can be only acquire by thorough subject knowledge.

We can't ignore the 0.01% ratio of possible cheating. Sometimes, students give exams in a group or ask someone to give exam in behalf of them. So there can be cases of dummy student achieves certification for someone else. This is possible because there is no verification policy, but this is a very rare scenario.Again it's quite difficult because the passing score usually set to very high and the time constraint exam policy.

Which Types of Certificates are Available?
There are many organizations providing various certifications. Each has their own set rules, passing score, etc. A few courses are offered only once in limited time period, but there are a few courses which are open to all for free for 365 days a year. Below is a list and link of a few well-known certification programs. By exploring the links, you will find more related details, like course material, passing marks, validity, etc.

• Google Adwords Certification 
• Google Analytics Individual Qualification
• Bing Adword Certification 
• Hubspot Inbound Certification (Both, free and paid courses are available)

Hope this information has added some knowledge in your knowledge base. You can reach me anytime, if you need more information on anything.

Ash Vyas is working in Internet Marketing field for 6+ years. Have experience in handling projects of SEO, SMO, SEM, Content Marketing, Branding etc.
Likes : Blogging, Learning, Networking, Traveling, Photography
Connect with the author via: Twitter | LinkedIn | Google+ | Pinterest

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Posted in: Google certification,Internet marketing certification facts

What A Successful Marketer Do?

It can be a trivial or a million dollar question, depends on the person. For example, some of you have an instant answer, "A marketer market or sell the things." Well, that can be a generic answer, but to be a "Successful Marketer" one has to do much more specific things than marketing or selling the stuff. Marketing is not as easy as people assume, it's a logical and quite challenging job. A marketer needs to follow a step by step process to be a successful marketer. In today's Blog, I will try to cover the top 10 practices in stepwise manner which each marketer needs to practice to become a "Successful Marketer".

Understand the Business
This must be the first step of anyone who wants to be part of the marketing industry. You have to be quick learner and understand the organization or company you are going to work with/for. You have to understand the rules, policy and standards which can help you to take marketing decisions without any conflicts in the future. As part of the business knowledge acquisition, you have to understand the products/solutions/services of the company. You have to grasp the thorough details of each product and solution you are going to sell. It will help you to get the confidence to deal the real market more effectively.

Understand the Business Goal
You have to do in-depth research to understand and clearly define the goals of the company, both, long term and short term. The quote a marketer needs to keep in mind is "Blind marketing, without any clear goal will reach nowhere."

Understand the Industry and Competition
Once you have a clear idea of the company, its products and the goals to be achieved, this is the time to carry out a thorough research to understand the targeted industry and the competition. To conquer the market, you have to understand the industry trends and possible future changes. You also have to spot the strength and weak points of the competitors. Here a quote to keep in mind is "Never underestimate your competitors".

Understand the Persona
The next step is to understand the persona of your market. Persona is an assumed character with all the possible characteristics of the targeted audience. One business can have more than one persona and you have to get the detailed characteristic to define a specific persona.

Define the Priorities
After the research phase and defining the goals and business related entities, you have to define the priority. It's obvious to have more than one goal for any business. You have to give priority to each goal. You can also classify goals in micro and major goals. You have to give priority to the persona whom to target first. You can't aim all the directions at the same moment. You have to be clear which milestone to achieve first.

Outline a specific Marketing Plan
After defining the clear priority, you can create a specific marketing plan. You can create a phase-wise marketing plan as per the set priorities. Make sure you keep all the gathered data and processed information in your mind during marketing plan creation. Use your experience, but don't stick to it. Each market needs a different strategy. You can't use the same marketing plan everywhere. You should use your experience to create an effective plan, not to impose it. You can also take help of the industry experts from direct or indirect resources.

Be a calm listener
Many times you might have seen people speaking so much, sometimes exaggerating, about their products/services. This is traditional sales practice. A good marketer is always a good listener. As a good marketer, you have to listen to everyone, yes everyone. You have to listen to your prospects/clients, your boss, your colleagues and many other entities. Sometimes, you will get stupid, agitating or provoking suggestions, but you must listen carefully by keeping your mind open. The reason is sometimes, you might get excellent ideas or suggestions directly or indirectly. All people giving their suggestions are after all belongs to the audience area. Their suggestions will be helpful sooner or later. Even the worst suggestion will bring you to an idea of what you should never do. :) So be a calm listener.

Go with the experience and instinct
As I said earlier, listen to everyone, but do what is right for you to achieve your business goals. You should use both your experience and instinct to take the right marketing decisions. Do not follow anyone blindly, not even your own self or your own experience. Market and audience changes dynamically and you have to change your marketing practices accordingly.

Accept the Mistakes & Learn from it
Like any other field, it is possible that your marketing plan proves to be a disastrous thing. The key take away here is to don't justify the things. You must understand and gracefully accept your mistakes. Not only, accepting, but you also have to understand the factors which lead you to such failures and make sure you don't repeat the mistakes. You must take lessons from your mistakes which can help you to make better marketer. The thing to keep in mind is "Making mistake is not wrong, but repeating the mistake and not taking lessons from the mistake is wrong."

Never Stop Learning
As a marketer, you can't be an expert ever. You have to be a student of the field. You have to learn from each entity and each person around you. Even the worst things can teach you the best marketing strategies. Never think that you have reached the summit of the marketing industry, but keep your eyes, ears and mind open to learn new things from your's and others' experiences. Be a good reader and learner!

So these were top ten things, every marketer should keep in mind and follow at its best. Each successful marketer practice these process in his each marketing project. Hope this helps you in one way or other.

Ash Vyas is working in Internet Marketing field for 6+ years. Have experience in handling projects of SEO, SMO, SEM, Content Marketing, Branding etc.
Likes : Blogging, Learning, Networking, Traveling, Photography
Connect with the author via: Twitter | LinkedIn | Google+ | Pinterest

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Posted in: how to be successful marketer,marketing tips,top 10 marketing tips

Internet Marketing As Career Objective and Internet Marketing Brief

I had a conversion with a Professor of a University in Singapore which inspired me to write about Internet Marketing as a career objective and a brief introduction of Internet Marketing. This Blog is for the aspiring marketers and students who are interested in building their career in the online marketing field.

What is Internet Marketing?
First of all you have to understand the meaning of online advertising aka Internet Marketing. Internet Marketing is an amalgamation of different branches or standard activities which helps people or businesses to achieve their business goals. A business goal can be anything, including,

• Generating a sell of a product
• Generating awareness about a cause or products
• Getting donation for an NGO
• Getting subscription for a newsletter
• And so on

Different Internet Marketing Branches
Internet marketing is a collage of various activities, including:

• SEO [Search Engine Optimization]
• SMO [Social Media Optimization]
• PPC [Pay Per Click]
• Affiliate Marketing
• Email Marketing
• Adsense
• And more

Internet Marketing As Career Objective
Internet marketing aka Online marketing ka Online advertising is a very interesting field. You will have a great fun working in it. The minimum requirements to be a Successful Internet Marketing Professional are listed below:

Above mentioned channels of Internet Marketing are whole field in itself. As per your interest you can choose any one field, like, SEO and get expertise in it. If you're interested in each and every field, then you can start with anyone and gradually get specialization in each branch of Internet Marketing which eventually make your profile as an Internet Marketing Professional.

Be Passionate
This is the core requirement to get into this field [or may be in any field]. You must be very passionate about your job. You shouldn't expect much of holidays or weekends because sometimes new market updates or new projects can make you work on weekends and holidays as well.

Ready to work in Competitive environment
Every industry has a competition, but in this field you might face more competition than normal. There is a strong competition between global and local Internet Marketing professionals.

Good Logical and Reasoning Power
As an Internet Marketing professional, you have to think from four different perspectives.

• Your targeted prospects to whom you want to sell your products
• Your client to whom you're providing your services
• Marketing platform where you're targeting the audience to achieve business goals, i.e., search engine, social media, etc.
• A marketer

You also have to assume the algorithms of search engines and other platforms you are targeting. To deal with these different aspects, you need to have a good logical and reasoning power to create channelized marketing plans.

Why Opt Internet Marketing Field as Profession?
As I said earlier, it's a really fun job. If you are interested in the amalgamation of marketing & Internet field then this is the perfect job for you. Other reasons to choose the Internet marketing profession are:

• You get opportunities to work in different industry verticals
• Global platform to showcase your skills
• Various opportunities to meet different people worldwide
• And many more

My reason to be in this field is I'm loving it. :)

So that's the brief of Internet Marketing as a career objective.

Hope this Blog has added some valuable information in your knowledge-base and can help you to select an online advertising career. If you have any query, feel free to ask.

Ash Vyas is working in Internet Marketing field for 6+ years. Have experience in handling projects of SEO, SMO, SEM, Content Marketing, Branding etc.
Likes : Blogging, Learning, Networking, Traveling, Photography
Connect with the author via: Twitter | LinkedIn | Google+ | Pinterest

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Posted in: digital marketer,Internet Marketing career,Online marketing as career objective

International SEO: Technical details Deep Dive 2

Last week I explained about International SEO and related terminologies. If you missed that article, read it from here: http://digital-marketing-ashvyasseo.blogspot.com/2014/11/international-seo-multilingual-Multiregional-SEO-Tips.html. This blog post is second part of the International or multinational SEO. In this article, I will share some technical details which shows how to implement and successfully run a multinational SEO campaign. Let's explore step by step guide.

How To Practice Multinational/International SEO?
There are different ways to practice multinational SEO. It starts with selecting the right alternative of the URL aka domain. There are three options which are explained below with small tips to make decision easier.

1. CCTLD
Buy country specific domain like example.de. This is suggested only when

• You want to target a few regions only now as well as in future.
• You have enough resources to work on specific country wise domain. As CCTLD will completely new domain, you have to put extra efforts to get the authority for that domain.
• Some regions has its rules to get cctld, so you have to pass those standards to get the rules.

2. Subdomain with gTLd
Use your current domain and add subdomain for each targeted location. For ex: de.example.com.
You can set targeted geographical area from Google webmasters easily. The benefits of using it will be:

• Easy to setup
• Your authority of the current site will be passed to it and vice verse

3. Subdirectory with gTLD
Use your current website and add subdirectory in it, .i.e., example.com/de.
You can set the geo-target from the Google webmaster tool. It has the same benefits as a subdomain.

4. URL Parameters
Use url parameter for each targeted location, i.e., example.com/?location=france
This is not recommended at all from SEO point of view. Why? The important reasons are

• You won't be able to set the geotarget from GWT
• Google [most search engines] are not good in dealing with URL with parameters

If you ask me, I would suggest to go with either subdomain or subdirectory with gTLD. Further, narrowing down, subdirectories are best with some of the SEO factors + it's easy to handle. Still, there are no clear evidences of benefits of subdirectories over subdomains, many SEO experts suggest using subdirectories based on their experience and so do I.

Once you have decided the URL, then you can use different methods to serve the language/region specific users. The possible options are as below:
1. HTTP redirection
2. Javascript enabled redirection

I suggest to use http redirection as again search engines are not so good in dealing with javascript. Though it has started improving and handling javascript, still there can be some problems.

Once the redirection portion is done you have to specify the region specific landing pages. How to handle it? It's explained in brief below:

1. Rel="Alternate" Hreflang Annotation
In google, rel="alternate" hreflang="x" annotation is used to specify which page is served to which geographical location. This is recommended when you have a different version of the same content which is either translated or adjusted to serve the different regions. There are three ways to implement this markup:

HTML Link element in head section
In the head section of example.com add a link element pointing to the french version of a webpage which is example.com/de
Code: <link rel="alternate" hreflang="de" href="https://example.com/de" />

HTTP Header
This option is useful when you are publishing non-HTML files, i.e., PDF. You can use HTTP header to indicate the French version of a URL.
Code: Link: <https://example.com/de>; rel="alternate"; hreflang="de"

Sitemap
I find it quite easy and less chances of any issues. You can submit language version instead of any markup.

One thing to keep in mind that there are predefined hreflang values for languages and regions. So use the right value only. Beware of any silly mistake.

2. X-Default Hreflang Markup
It's important to keep in mind that, you won't be able to create different pages for each and every region or language in this world. What if a visitor come to your website for whom you haven't created any specific landing page. In such case, you have to create a general landing page and redirect the user there. For this purpose use xDefault hreflang attribute.
Code: <link rel="alternate" href="https://example.com/" hreflang="x-default" />

If you are using different region specific URLs, then you will have cluster of code as below:

<link rel="alternate" href="https://example.com/de" hreflang="de" />
<link rel="alternate" href="https://example.com/" hreflang="x-default" />


Once the code is setup, you can create a separate account for each version of the site serving a predefined audience in both, GWT and GA. It will help you to monitor your efforts and fine tune it.

Hope this Blog added some value to your knowledge-base.

Ash Vyas is working in Internet Marketing field for 6+ years. Have experience in handling projects of SEO, SMO, SEM, Content Marketing, Branding etc.
Likes : Blogging, Learning, Networking, Traveling, Photography
Connect with the author via: Twitter | LinkedIn | Google+ | Pinterest

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Posted in: Global SEO tips,How to practice international SEO,International SEO,Multinational SEO,Technical info for multinational SEO

International SEO: Multilingual and Multiregional Deep Dive Part 1

International SEO which is also known as multinational or global SEO is a part of an advanced SEO tactics. If you got an opportunity to run a multinational SEO campaign, you must be one of the few lucky SEOs. If not, then there is still an opportunity to come. What exactly a multinational SEO is? Let's explore in today's article.

What is International/Multinational SEO?
International aka multinational SEO has two parts. Multilingual and Multiregional. Both are not only different, but also overlap each other. When a website expands the territories and start targeting people of specific region or language, at that time SEO professionals use these international SEO strategies. It is one of the most complex SEO practices. The reason is, you have to handle all the different SEO campaigns and related activities without messing it.

What is Multilingual and Multiregional SEO?
You might get an idea from the name itself. Multilingual SEO is when you customize your website in different languages to serve people speaking those specific languages. Multiregional SEO is a customized SEO strategy used to serve a different geographical area with region specific SEO strategies.

Key Benefits of International/Multinational SEO:

• Expand the horizons of your business
• You can reach a potential audience which are not a native English speaker
• Go beyond your competitor
• Diversified visitors & Improved conversion rates
• Create a global Brand [My personal favourite :)]

Challenges in International/Multinational SEO
International SEO has various challenges including:

• Local SEO tactics changes frequently. As you are targeting different regions, you have to be updated with such updates and change your strategies accordingly.
• Targeting only Google won't work. When you are doing region/language based SEO, you have to target local search engines along with Google. For example, in Russia, you have to target Yandex. You have to customize your SEO tactics based on target region's popular search engine.
• You have to understand the traits of market, culture and buying behaviour of the local people of each location you want to target.
• You might need a local marketing person. In some geographical regions, still people believes in one to one meeting rather than placing online orders. For such cases, you must have a resource to satisfy this requirement.

A Few Important Tips to make your International/Multinational SEO Campaign successful

• Perform thorough linguistic research and understand the region, culture, local competition and other factors.
• Understand the localized market and its specific terms. In SEO language, get a list of region specific "keywords".
• Write a region specific page with usage of the selected keywords. Don't just translate the pages into regional languages. It won't give as much benefit as expected. It's strongly recommended to write specific pages in the targeted languages using the localized voice and standards.
• Optimize SEO attributes specifically for the localized market. 
• Understand the local popular search engines and optimize the site according to that search engines. You can also amalgamate standard SEO practices for major and local search engines, but be very careful.

I hope this article has given you a brief idea of multinational aka international SEO. In the next Blog, I will share some technical details to show how one can implement a multinational SEO campaign in a website.

Ash Vyas is working in Internet Marketing field for 6+ years. Have experience in handling projects of SEO, SMO, SEM, Content Marketing, Branding etc.
Likes : Blogging, Learning, Networking, Traveling, Photography
Connect with the author via: Twitter | LinkedIn | Google+ | Pinterest

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Posted in: Global SEO tips,International SEO,Multinational SEO

Are You Making Any Mistake In Your Marketing Strategy?

Probably a million dollar question in today's time "Is your marketing strategy well aligned with the current trend?" or "Are you making any mistake in your marketing strategy?" Let's delve this topic in this Blog.

What is "Marketing"?
To run your business successfully, the first thing you need to understand is to understand the "Actual meaning of marketing". In a simple language, "marketing is the strategized way to reach your targeted audience as and when they are looking for you [your services/ products] and convert them into a lead by explaining how you [your services/products] can make their life better. Once lead is made, the journey continued to maintain and delight your clients."

How marketing was practised?
Previously, marketers were taking help of a few activities, including:

• Print media ads
• Cold calling
• Door knocking
• Email marketing
• Large network

These activities were quite good in 90s and before when people used to entertain such calls,emails and sales people. But, with the revolution in the technology, people changed their approach. They start losing interest in such sales approaches and started finding them irritating, disturbing and interfering. The audience start looking, comparing and reviewing things on the internet. The buying habits are getting changed and so does the marketing activities. It's the time to switch, or start the online marketing practices.

I'm not saying that traditional marketing activities are completely dead, but at certain extent it has lost its original impact. There might be a few industries where people are still getting good business from these activities. But the question is till when?

The world is moving towards the online media and digitization. Your audience is spending majority of their time on search engines, social media, e-commerce sites and similar places. So, don't you think you should target those people, too. Even if, you are getting a great deal of business from the traditional activities, don't you think you should target the other branch of people with various online and digital marketing activities.

If you think why? I suggest to read the failure story of Kodak.It's difficult to cover that story here so giving the reference link of the story http://www.forbes.com/sites/chunkamui/2012/01/18/how-kodak-failed/

No matter how good position you are holding, you have to change with the trend. If you think old practises give you good results, do work on it, but, start making pace with the world by taking online marketing services. Assign a portion of budget to it and don't wait till the time to get completely failed and then starting from a zero.

If you have doubts or finding it risky then allot a fraction of marketing budgets to online marketing. Check the result and then take the next step. This is the right time to think again for the upcoming quarters of this financial year. Are you on right page or not? Don't you want to open the new doors for getting more clients? Don't you want to reach those people spending most of their time on the online world? Think wisely, think now.

If you have any query, you can reach me by commenting on the Blog.

*Image credit goes to omnistudios

Ash Vyas is working in Internet Marketing field for 6+ years. Have experience in handling projects of SEO, SMO, SEM, Content Marketing, Branding etc.
Likes : Blogging, Learning, Networking, Traveling, Photography
Connect with the author via: Twitter | LinkedIn | Google+ | Pinterest

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Posted in: digital marketing,modern marketing,traditional marketing

SEO Tips To Market eBook on Amazon

Amazon is one of the big search engines in the world of ecommerce. Somewhere, it dominates the market when we talk about ebook selling. According to Forrester research findings, more than 30% of product search begins at Amazon from mid 2012 which is quite less compared to Google, only 13%. In today's post, I will share a few easy to follow tips to get your ebook rankings up in the Amazon. These tips you can use in other ebook selling website as well.

If you are willing to sell your ebook on more than one online store then the most important thing is, you should get your own publisher account on ebook store to get the most benefits of the platform. If possible, don't use the third party aggregators or distributors as it can reduce your meta date to the lowest common denominator of each store.

SEO tips for ebook selling on Amazon
Amazon has very good influence in ebook store market. Here are a few areas where I suggest you to focus and be precise to get your rankings up in the Amazon store.

Title & Subtitle
Title is the most important thing. Properly fill this field with the name of the book. Subtitle is a new field for KDP. You can add information to it, if applicable. Be precise, as title and subtitle has combined character limit of 200 characters.

Description
Use keyword rich description to get the best rankings. I would also suggest to use html formatting to make your description appealing to the reader. You can use heading, subheading, bold, italic to format your description.

Series Title
If your book has legitimate series then don't forget to mention it. As it's one of the ranking factors in Amazon.

Publisher Name
Never forget to add the publisher name. It adds credibility to the ebook and also build a brand for the author. It also helps to get rankings in search by author name. 

Name of Contributor(s)
If anyone contributed in completing the book then this is the place to give credit. It will opens a door for search by that author name.

Category
This is one of the main reasons to use KDP instead of third party distributors. Amazon allows to give two categories for your ebook. Use both and open another door of high ranking in Amazon search. It will also make you more fit for general search rankings.

Keywords
Unlike Google, Amazon allows to use keywords and use it as ranking factors. You can use seven comma separated keywords., So take complete benefit of it.

Practice above mentioned tips and opens the doors of high rankings in Amazon for general and specific search. Hope this helps.

Ash Vyas is working in Internet Marketing field for 6+ years. Have experience in handling projects of SEO, SMO, SEM, Content Marketing, Branding etc.
Likes : Blogging, Learning, Networking, Traveling, Photography
Connect with the author via: Twitter | LinkedIn | Google+ | Pinterest

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Posted in: Amazon ebook optimization tips,how to optimize ebook in Amazon,SEO tip for ebook optimization