Monday 31 August 2020

Best VPN Services

The pandemic has changed work permanently. Before COVID-19, only 9.8 million (out of 140 civilian workers in the U.S.) worked remotely. Today, almost 70 million people are working remotely. 

Are you working remotely?

If you are, there’s a good chance that you’ll need a virtual private network (VPN). If you’re running a small business and your employees need to work remotely, you need a VPN as well. Today, we’re going to take a look at VPNs — what they are, why you need them, and how to find the VPN that’s right for you. 

What’s a VPN, and Why Do You Need One? 

A VPN is a private network that’s run through a public network — imagine that a remote worker sitting in Starbucks had an extra-long Ethernet cable. They plug one end into their computer, and the other end directly into their company’s servers at work. 

That’s basically what a VPN does; it creates a secure and encrypted tunnel from your computer to a server on the internet. This is great because it means no one can access the data you’re sharing with your computer and company server. You have privacy and data security. We’re going to look at seven of the top VPN Services, explaining the pros and cons of each service. 

Our 7 Picks For Best VPN Services:

  1. Perimeter 81 
  2. NordVPN Teams
  3. ExpressVPN 
  4. VyprVPN
  5. SurfShark
  6. Mullvad
  7. TunnelBear

How to Choose the Best VPN Service for You

When you’re looking for a VPN, the first thing you’ll want to do is identify your needs. What do you want your VPN to do for you? What kinds of things do you need from your VPN? In general, most people focus their attention on four specific criteria. 

Criteria #1: Speed and Reliability

If you’re planning on using your VPN for things that require a lot of data or activity, you’ll want to choose a service that’s optimized for speed and reliability. If you’re sharing large files routinely or you’re streaming video consistently, you’ll want to select a VPN that provides unlimited connections, unlimited bandwidth, and high download and upload speeds. 

When it comes to speed and reliability, there are factors you control and factors your service provider controls. 

  • Factors you control: Improving Wi-Fi stability, using a wired connection (which is always faster), upgrading your internet connection speeds, or upgrading your VPN. You can also choose a VPN service with more servers or servers closer to your desired location. 
  • Factors you don’t control: Number of servers, server load, or server location/distance – longer distance = slower speeds. International bandwidth restrictions (i.e., VPNs in Australia are slow due to underwater fiber optic cables carrying a set amount of data at any one time) and VPN protocols also impact speed. And another thing, complicated peering relationships between networks, also reduces speed.

You’ll want to test your VPN speed so you can verify the claims your provider is making. You’ll need two things to do that — an accurate testing method and a baseline for your tests. Here are some of the more reliable speed tests you can use to verify your VPN speeds. 

Next, run a speed test on the same connection, with and without your VPN. If you’re on Wi-Fi, stay on Wi-Fi for both tests. Run the tests twice to get an average speed. Run your tests using the same VPN server/location you plan on using with your service. 

Criteria #2: Security and Privacy

VPNs should be secure by default; the VPN service you choose should have the basics of security and privacy protection down. Here are the most important security and privacy requirements you’ll need to consider when choosing a VPN. 

Security

  • Handshake encryption: This takes place at the beginning of the VPN session where you and the server you’re communicating with exchange private keys that encrypt or decrypt data and messages to acknowledge each other.  
  • Authentication: Reputable VPN services will use a hash algorithm to automatically verify the packets they receive, making sure that data from a middleman hasn’t been injected into your packet. They’ll also verify that your data hasn’t been tampered with or changed in any way. 
  • Ciphers: This is an algorithm, like AES, that encrypts and decrypts your data in a series of clearly defined steps. Using a key to encrypt your data makes it impossible for unwanted eyes to spy on your data unless they have the specific key that was used to encrypt the message. So the unencrypted message “VPNs made easy” would become “FVWWOluB9rHb5KUtyJYqlA==” using the AES algorithm. 
  • Encryption strength: 128-bit AES encryption is faster but less secure; 256-bit encryption is slower but more secure. Stronger encryption is obviously harder to break, so this is more of a priority if you’re focused on security. 

Privacy

  • Activity logs: Many free VPN services track your activity — the websites and pages you visit, files downloaded, etc. These free VPNs sell or monetize your usage activity on their VPN without your permission or knowledge. 
  • Connection logs: Other VPN services track assigned IP addresses, connection start/end times, or bytes of data transferred. This typically doesn’t include your data, but it can be combined with other data (i.e., the IP address you used to log into your Slack account) to expose your identity. 

If privacy is important to you, you’ll want to stick with log-free VPN services that don’t track your activity or metadata. 

Criteria #3: Compatible Devices

If you have an iPhone, but you use Windows on your computer, you’ll want to verify that the VPN services are compatible with your devices. While most VPN services are compatible with the standard platforms — Windows, Mac, Android, Linux, and iOS, etc. some aren’t available on all platforms. The VPN that’s Windows ready may not be available on Android or iOS.

You’ll want to verify that your devices are all compatible before signing up. 

Criteria #4: Connections 

How many devices can connect to your VPN service simultaneously? The availability of connections tends to vary from service to service. Some providers allow just one; others allow up to three, while others are unlimited. You’ll need to identify what you need ahead of time. 

It’s not just connections that you have to worry about, though. You also have to take a look at the availability of countries and the availability of servers. If you have specific availability needs, you’ll want to verify this with your VPN service provider ahead of time, then confirm this during your free trial or guarantee period. 

Other important considerations include: 

  • Payment plans: The cost you’ll pay for VPN services varies considerably, and it depends on the features you choose and the length of your subscription. 
  • Customer service: If you need on-demand customer support (in case something goes wrong), you’ll want a VPN service that provides live chat or phone support (which will impact the price). If that’s not as much of a concern, then a provider who offers email support may be a better option. 
  • Free trial or money-back guarantee:  If you opt for a service that offers a free trial, you’ll want to choose a service that gives you enough time to try things out. Some VPN services’ free trial period is quite short, which may not be enough time to verify the service on your end. A money-back guarantee is ideal because you have a way out in case their service isn’t what you’ve expected. 
  • User friendly or tech-savvy: If you’re not comfortable with setting up and configuring your VPN, you’ll want to make sure you find a provider with a user-friendly interface. Some providers will configure your VPN for you virtually, so everything is done for you ahead of time. 

You must figure out what you’re looking for ahead of time. 

The Different Types of VPN Services 

It’s important to make a distinction between VPN technology and VPN services. As we’ve already discussed, a virtual private network boils down to a secure, private connection between your device and endpoint. That is VPN technology. The VPN service, on the other hand, uses VPN technology to provide you with a package of tools. Using VPN services, you can not only protect your internet connection and guard your privacy but gain access to extra customer service with configuration guides, automatic setup, and live chat support. 

Different types of VPNs:

  • Remote Access VPN – Provide a secure connection from a user to a remote server to gain entry to a private network.
  • Intranet-based Site-to-Site VPN – Provide a secure connection for various users in different, fixed locations to connect to each other’s resources. For example: With a site-to-site VPN, multiple local area networks (LAN) can connect to a single wide-area network (WAN). Think of one company with numerous locations sharing resources.
  • Extranet-based Site-to-Site VPN – Difficult to implement, these VPNs are common in large-scale business environments where you are looking for a secure connection between two separate intranets, but you do not want them having the ability to access each other directly. Think of two different companies working together. 
  • Cloud VPN – Also known as virtual private network-as-a-service (VPNaaS), is designed for organizations that rely on outsourced cloud data centers instead of in-house infrastructure. A traditional VPN doesn’t work if your organization stores all of your data in the cloud. A cloud VPN allows users to access a company’s resources — applications, data, and files through a website or via a native desktop or mobile app. 

As a user looking to secure your privacy and access the internet, or secure business data for your remote workforce, you’re most likely looking for commercial VPN Services, let’s take a look at our picks for the top VPN providers.

1. Perimeter 81 – The Best for Small Business Teams

  • Pricing: $8/mo. (annual), $10/mo. (monthly
  • Number of servers: 700+
  • Money-back Guarantee: 30-day
  • Support: 24/7 live chat
  • Single sign-on: Yes
  • # of Users: Minimum of 5 team member

Perimeter 81 is an Israeli-based business VPN service that’s unique because of its Cloud VPN architecture. It’s great for users on multiple devices. You don’t need external legacy hardware or tools. It comes with the business features you’d need to run your remote organization safely in the cloud. 

Perimeter 81 is ideal for remote businesses because it protects your business from unexpected mistakes. Their automatic Wi-Fi Security and DNS Filtering features instantly shield your data by automatically activating VPN protection when employees connect to unknown, untrusted networks. According to their website, “All outbound and inbound traffic is encrypted and routed through your dedicated private servers – concealing your company’s actual IP address with an IP mask.”

This protection shields your company from man-in-the-middle attacks and unsecure Wi-Fi networks. Their service keeps your business safe from data breaches, lawsuits due to negligence, and other claims. Employee training is important, but Perimeter protects your employees and your business when they’re working. 

They also provide you with the data you need to monitor network activity. You can audit resource access, monitor bandwidth consumption, and detect network anomalies remotely and at any time. All of this is important because more organizations have a “bring your own device” (BYOD) policy in place.

The potential downside to Perimeter 81’s service is access points. As of today, they have 700 public servers in 36 countries. That might sound like a lot until you realize some of their competitors have double or triple that amount in twice as many countries. 

Pros

  • Single sign-on (SSO) functionality
  • User friendly and easy-to-use
  • Great for remote businesses
  • Auto-integrated with all cloud providers
  • Secure access to both managed and unmanaged devices

Cons

  • Higher price point
  • Fewer servers than their competitors

2. NordVPN Teams — New Service From Industry Leader

  • Pricing: $7 – $9 per mo. 
  • Number of servers: 5,000+
  • Money-back Guarantee: 30-day
  • Support: 24/7 response within 3 hrs.
  • Single sign-on: Yes
  • Multi-device support: Yes apps on all devices

NordVPN Teams is a new VPN service from an industry leader. NordVPN is known for its consistent performance, a strong stance on privacy, and aggressive security features. The company is based in Panama, where there are no mandatory data retention laws and no legal obligation to collect your data. It’s also important because Panama doesn’t participate in the five eyes or fourteen eyes alliances. 

They don’t track, collect, or share your private data — activity, usage, or metadata. They invited one of the big four auditing firms PriceWaterhouseCoopers AG, to run an industry-first audit of their no logging claims to verify that they’re telling the truth.

NordVPN is one of the few providers that offers double VPN, an advanced VPN security feature that routes your traffic through two VPN servers instead of one, encrypting your data twice. They provide two-factor authentication and single sign-on, which are standard features for top-tier VPN services. They also provide you with a kill switch, if your connection drops for even a second, the kill switch will cut off all the Internet traffic on your device, ensuring none of your information is exposed online.

For business customers, they provide you with a dedicated account manager that’s assigned to your account. Your Control Panel enables you to manage user accounts, control permissions, and create gateways. You can oversee user activity, monitor server load, add new users, and create custom teams from inside your control panel. 

Pros

  • A trusted brand name
  • Thousands of servers around the world
  • Single sign-on (SSO) functionality
  • Strong on security
  • Apps on all devices
  • Fast speeds
  • Cryptocurrencies and cash accepted

Cons

  • Slow app and server connections
  • Open VPN connection is not user-friendly
  • No split tunneling
  • Shared IP addresses

3. ExpressVPN – Consumer Favorite, Best-in-Class 

  • Pricing: $8.32 per mo. (annual), $12.95 (monthly)
  • Number of servers: 3,000+
  • Money back Guarantee: 30-day
  • Support: 24/7 live chat
  • Multi-device support: Yes

ExpressVPN doesn’t have a product strictly designed for businesses. They’re consumer-focused, which is great if you’re a sole proprietor or a remote, contract, or freelance worker on your own. Their apps are compatible with almost every device on the usual platforms; they also have apps for nontraditional platforms, including— Linux, Kindle Fire, Chromebook, and even Barnes and Noble’s Nook! 

Since they’re consumer-focused, their apps are user-friendly, easy to set up, and simple to maintain. They provide you with all of the standard encryption and security features you’d expect from a top-rated VPN provider. And, they also provide you with some unique features like split-tunneling or using their own DNS servers. 

Like NordVPN, they have a no-logging policy as their company is based in the British Virgin Islands. There’s no mandated government surveillance and no data retention laws. 

Pros

  • Consumer-focused
  • User-friendly and easy-to-use
  • Apps available on all devices and platforms
  • Strong reputation
  • Top-rated security and encryption

Cons

  • No VPN services for businesses
  • More expensive than their competitors

4.  VyprVPN – The Best VPN for Speed

  • Pricing: $2.50 per mo. (24 mo. plan), $3.75 per mo. (12 mo. plan), $12.95 per mo. (1 mo. plan).
  • Number of servers: 700+
  • Money-back Guarantee: 30-day
  • Support: 24/7 response within 3 hrs
  • Privacy: end-to-end
  • Multi-device support: desktop and mobile

Owned by Golden Frog GmbH and incorporated in Switzerland, VyprVPN focuses on a few areas — speed, anti-censorship, and privacy. They call their service the “most powerful VPN.” They offer more than 200,000 IP addresses and 700+ servers, across 70 locations internationally. 

Their platform resolves speed issues due to ISP bandwidth throttling. It’s common for users to state that their speeds are close to 100% of their original speeds. This is impressive when you realize that they rely on AES 256-bit encryption. They provide users with unlimited switching between servers and protocols without restrictions. 

VyprVPN provides some of the same features listed from other providers — kill switch, public Wi-Fi protection, and DNS protection. But they also offer a proprietary technology called Chameleon. In this protocol, VyprVPN scrambles your metadata, so it’s not recognizable via deep packet inspection, but it’s still fast and lightweight. As a result, VyperVPN can bypass restrictions from governments, corporations, and ISPs while fighting censorship and maintaining speed. 

VyprVPN also owns and operates their data centers to reduce any risk of a data breach. Other VPN providers route traffic to third-party servers, so they’re not as secure as a service that keeps things in-house. VyprDNS keeps your browsing history private. Their no-logs policy makes a breach unlikely. 

Pros

  • Unlimited high-speed bandwidth
  • 70+ server locations
  • Chameleon protocol
  • 5 Simultaneous connections
  • No activity or usage logs
  • Fast customer support
  • VyprDNS
  • Self-owned servers

Cons

  • Fewer servers than bigger competitors
  • Poor speeds in specific regions (EU)
  • Slower connection times in specific regions

5. Surfshark – The Best for the Price

  • Pricing: $1.99 per mo. (24 mo.), $5.99 per mo. (12 mo.), $11.95 per mo. 
  • Number of servers: 1,700+
  • Money-back Guarantee: 30-day
  • Support: 24/7 live chat, email tickets
  • Multi-device support: Desktop and mobile platforms

Surfshark is an award winning VPN service that offers incredible value for the price. According to VPNMentor.com, SurfShark is ranked 4th out of 357 VPN services. Their service provides users with 256-bit encryption, double VPN, an automatic kill switch, and a no-log policy. 

They’re headquartered in the British Virgin Islands, so like other VPNs in our list, they’re free from the five, nine, fourteen eyes alliances. While they don’t collect usage or connection data, they do collect your email address, password, and basic billing information. If you’d like to avoid sharing this info, you can use cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. They also collect unique advertising identifiers from third parties for marketing purposes and user analytics.

One detail that stands out with Surfshark is unlimited connections. The number of devices that can connect simultaneously, per license is unlimited. This is great if you’re an individual, but it’s also great if you’re running a business. There are no additional licenses or requirements once you’ve signed up. Just set your VPN up, pay for the service, and you’re all set. 

Surfshark offers its Adblock VPN that blocks advertising and malware, counters phishing attempts, and boosts browsing speed. They offer premium features like private DNS on each server, camouflage mode to mask activity from your ISP, and Multihop – connecting via multiple countries at the same time to maximize footprint masking and ID protection. 

Pros

  • Best value for the price
  • Unlimited connections/devices
  • Built-in ad-blocker
  • Whitelister
  • Private DNS
  • Double VPN
  • No logging
  • Engaged customer support

Cons

  • Medium-sized network
  • Moderately reduced speeds in specific regions

6. Mullvad – The Best for Anonymity

  • Pricing: $5.50 per mo.
  • Number of servers: 315+
  • Money-back Guarantee: 30-day
  • Support: Email

Mullvad believes privacy is a universal right.

Privacy isn’t the same as security. If you’re looking for a VPN service that will go to extreme lengths to protect your privacy,  Sweden-based Mullvad is at the top of the list. They don’t require an email address or even a password from their customers. The company randomly generates a unique code for your username. You use this code to log in to the desktop apps or add credit to your account. They even allow customers to send cash in the mail to pay for your account!

They want to know as little about you as possible.

Mullvad will store your account number, your counts, paid time remaining, and the number of simultaneous connections that are used by your account. This data is kept in temporary memory, then purged once you log off. They log the total number of current connections for a given server, the bandwidth used per server, and the CPU load per core on each server. None of these items contain personally identifiable information.

Mullvad only offers connections in 38 countries, and they only have 315 servers. They don’t use virtual servers, so your VPN connections are running on physical hardware at the location specified. The speed varies based on your location. If you’re in Europe or North America, speeds are generally good. If you’re in Australia or Asia, the performance is generally much slower.

Pros

  • Privacy-focused
  • Simple and user-friendly
  • WireGuard support
  • More anonymity than most VPN services
  • No affiliates or resellers

Cons

  • Focused exclusively on privacy
  • Slower speeds in certain locations
  • No password protection

7. TunnelBear – The Best for Newbies

  • Pricing: Free, $3.33 per mo., $5.75 per user, per mo. for teams 
  • Number of servers: 20
  • Money-back Guarantee: 30-day
  • Support: 24/7 email support tickets
  • Multi-device support: Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android

TunnelBear’s service is designed to be incredibly simple for newbies.

They’re based out of Canada, which is a member of the five eyes, nine eyes, and fourteen eyes alliances. This means data that goes through or is stored in Canada is subject to intelligence agreements —they may be legally forced to share your data. TunnelBear states that they have a no-logging policy, so everything seems okay until you read this in their privacy policy. 

“TunnelBear makes good faith efforts to provide you with the ability to delete your Personal Data. However, there may be circumstances in which TunnelBear is unable to delete all your Personal Data. For example, we are unable to delete it where we are legally required to keep it, including where we need it to continue to offer you the service or if you are involved in litigation with us, we would be required to retain your personal data, which is limited to the fields we discuss above in 1.21.3 and 1.4.”

This data includes your email address, twitter id, paid user designation, operational data, and personal and financial data. If this isn’t a concern for you or your organization, TunnelBear is a great option for individuals and businesses that want to get started with a VPN but aren’t as knowledgeable as they’d like. 

TunnelBear includes the standard features you need to get started with a VPN — AES 256-bit encryption, tunneling (Android only), hashing, and more. Their service is reasonably priced and designed to help inexperienced people get started with a VPN. 

TunnelBear is transparent about its service, sharing the results of its independent security audits each year on its website. 

Pros

  • Designed for inexperienced users
  • Generally open and transparent about their service
  • Low cost
  • Built for individuals and teams
  • Offers a free plan

Cons

  • May share your data with governments
  • No phone or customer support

Conclusion

Whether you’re a freelancer, an entrepreneur with a small team, or a growing business looking for options, a VPN will provide you with the security and peace of mind you need to keep your remote team connected and working safely. 

Your needs are unique, and they’ll dictate which VPN service will work best for you and your business. Weigh the options against your needs for speed, security, privacy, compatible devices and number of connects. Millions of people are working remotely, and that number continues to grow every day. If you’re not already using a VPN service, now’s a good time to start. 

The post Best VPN Services appeared first on Neil Patel.



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Creating Relevance with Multivariate Testing and Digital Analytics

From optimizing the site experience to sending out a marketing email, the modern marketer should always be mindful of one important factor, relevance. The more relevant an experience is for the user, the more likely he or she will convert on a major KPI that will positively impact your business’ bottom line.  Will your website visitor find content relevant to them?  Will this email be delivered to your customer’s inbox at a relevant time?  Will your product offer be relevant to your customer?  Identifying barriers to conversion allows a marketer to create relevant opportunities.   

Creating relevant opportunities is especially important right now, with the ongoing pandemic causing major disruptions across industries.  One of the hardest hit industries is travel.  According to eMarketer, the travel industry is expected to experience a 44.7% loss in digital travel sales, a $93+ billion-dollar economic loss.

Digital travel sales aren’t forecasted to hit pre-pandemic levels until 2022.  With fewer people spending money, it’s crucial that every single customer experience is relevant.

How do you make each experience relevant? With the sudden increased reliance on digital channels to singlehandedly drive revenue and sales, one should look to invest in optimization tools that utilize A/B and multivariate testing as well as digital analytics.

A/B and multivariate testing

Which lead capture form is going to drive more submissions?  What’s the optimal length of a checkout funnel?  What design and content are most easily digestible?  These are all use cases that can be answered with personalization and testing capabilities.

Using customer data, you personalize each touchpoint along the customer journey as much as you can, making it as relevant and of value to your audience as possible. You test variants of your landing pages, sites, headlines, copy, and offers to see which audiences respond more to in order to revise and optimize each touchpoint. In this way, testing leads to business intelligence and actionable insights that help you improve the customer experience and show what’s relevant to your audience to inform what other revisions you make and projects you undertake.

Digital analytics

What is the bounce rate of the website?  Where’s the biggest drop off in the purchase funnel?  Which content is most downloaded?  These are some of the use cases that can be answered by digital analytics tools that provide insights into how users are behaving while visiting your site.

Such a tool allows you to harness real-time data and analytics to generate actionable customer intelligence. It gives you a picture of the overall health of your website, by showing how many visitors you’re getting, what pages they’re viewing, and what they’re downloading and clicking through. How long do they spend on the site?

These analytics show you where you can improve and what direction to move in to generate more customer interest. How testing and digital analytics can go together

Both testing and digital analytics provide valuable data with powerful, actionable insight for businesses. When combined, the value of these tools can increase exponentially in showing what customers are interested in, what they respond to, and how you can optimize accordingly.

For example, let’s say,

  1. A user arrives to the website.

  2. They browse the site and are ready to check out.

  3. However, after finishing that first step of the funnel, the user drops out at the next step and abandons the cart.

  4. From having looked at the data and analytics, you know this might be a weak point in the funnel, therefore, the actions of the user abandoning the cart triggers a window with a “Save/Offer” message to intrigue them enough to not drop off.

  5. To achieve optimal results, you test all the steps that lead to the “Save/Offer” message to see what causes customers to abandon, how you keep them from dropping off, and/or keep them moving on through the funnel.

Optimizing your website doesn’t end with only testing and digital analytics. You can also combine those tools with an email marketing platform and a marketing automation platform so no missed conversion opportunities occur.

DEVGRU is Oracle’s preferred partner for Maxymiser and Infinity.  With over 25 years of industry experience, the team at DEVGRU has successfully created and managed optimization programs for Fortune 100 and 500 companies within numerous industries.  All our work, including development, strategy, analysis, design, copywriting, training and implementation, is proudly done here in the United States.  We look forward to working with you on optimizing your user’s experience.

To learn more about DEVGRU, contact us here.                                                                                                                                                             

To learn more about A/B and multivariate testing, check out Oracle Maxymiser.

For more information about digital analytics, check out Oracle Infinity.

 

 

 



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Sunday 30 August 2020

Understand Your Purpose and Goals for Content Marketing

On the Fly is our video series with small bites (two mins or less) of marketing and customer experience advice and training from experts given to you during the current disruption.

Content marketers, are you feeling like an “on-demand vending machine”? Are you struggling to keep up with all the asset demands from your team? You are not alone. Robert Rose, Chief Strategy Officer at the Content Advisory, says the two most common types of questions he gets on digital content strategy are about scalability and measurement. Both challenges are related though, he insists. You need justification through measurement to show that you need more resources.

Robert says that success with content marketing comes down to a documented real strategy. It’s about understanding the reality of a content strategy against the goals and purposes of your team. You should aim for a balanced operating model for content. Watch full video to learn what he means and for tips on how to do that:

 

Visit OnTheFly.Expert to see all episodes. 

 

What goes into a great content strategy? Find out by reading “The Key Ingredients for a Great Content Strategy.”

 

 



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Friday 28 August 2020

How to Choose The Right SEO Agency

Today, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of SEO agencies out there. 

And each one of them is good for something. 

Thus, your question shouldn’t be, how do I find the right SEO agency, but how do I choose an SEO agency that’s right for me?

I’m glad you made it here, as I’ll guide you through how to avoid choosing an SEO agency that’s right for something not relevant to growing your business. 

Deal? 

Well, then, keep reading. 

First things first, why do you need an SEO agency?

Know Your Goals and Desired Outcomes

Imagine you hurriedly booked a last-minute flight from New York to meet some business partners. Thankfully, the airplane you boarded flew fast with no delays. 

And you land safely at the airport.

On arrival, the announcer congratulates you for a safe journey and welcomes you to Beverly Hills in Texas. Meanwhile, your intended destination was Beverly Hills in California. 

You’ll regret the waste of your time, right?

Hiring SEO agencies is like boarding that airplane – each one could be great at flying your site’s organic ranking somewhere. Your first job before you start flying, therefore, is to ensure you choose and are on the right plane. 

Thus, to choose and onboard an SEO agency that’s right for you, you must:

  • Know your business destination (your goals), and 
  • What you want to achieve when you get there (your desired outcomes).

In SEO, where you’re going requires a different airplane (or agency). The main ones being: 

  • SEO-optimized content marketing
  • Voice SEO
  • Link building,
  • Local SEO, and 
  • eCommerce SEO

And for outcomes? 

You may need to:

  • Rank your entire website or specific keywords higher
  • Get more qualified traffic and leads, or
  • Drive sales directly from organic search. 

Your target business goals and outcomes determine what SEO strategies and tactics you’ll need. 

And because no SEO agency is a one-size-fits-all for all strategies, industry verticals, and company sizes, knowing these basics lays the foundation for who you’ll partner with. 

Let’s take some hypothetical examples. 

Example #1 

Pretend that your goal is to show up on Google’s 1st page when certain people use certain words to search for certain information relevant to your business. 

And the outcome? 

You want to attract this set of people, educate them with engaging content, and pull them into your sales funnels. 

In this case, you’ll need an agency with expertise in SEO-optimized content marketing. And you’ll need one with proven results in helping other companies achieve similar results: 

Example #2

Okay, let’s assume you have freelancers creating excellent content pieces for your site. But you realize Google isn’t ranking them for your target keywords. 

Instead, when people search, content pieces below the quality of what you’re creating keep showing up on the top pages while yours languishes on Google’s 17th page. 

This situation indicates your competitors probably have higher domain authorities or more backlinks pointing to their website and high-ranking content pieces. 

In this case, to increase your website’s domain authority, get relevant links pointing to your content, and boost ranking, you’ll need an SEO agency with expertise in link-building

As you saw in both examples above, it’s easier to know what type of SEO agency is worth considering when you’re definite about your goals and outcomes. 

Taking this first step to look at yourself in the mirror and know exactly what you need streamlines the selection process. 

It also ensures you only shortlist agencies with expertise and experience driving other businesses to your intended destination. 

But, it doesn’t end there. 

Even with only a few dozen agencies to consider, choosing one that’s right for you still demands you look out for characteristics that prove they walk the talk.

Doing this further helps you vet and choose an SEO agency that’s perfect for you.

6 Characteristics That Make a Great SEO Agency

Regardless of the specific SEO needs you have, you’ll still find dozens, if not hundreds of agencies, vying for your business. 

The search engine optimization service providers’ industry is valued over $65 billion

Thus, expect anyone with a laptop and internet access to make wild claims of being an SEO agency, as they yearn for a slice of the industry’s billions. 

There are characteristics great SEO agencies possess. And you’ll find these traits in all the best SEO companies.

I’ll list the fundamental ones below. 

Use them to vet an SEO agency from the list you shortlist before choosing to work with any.  

1. A Defined Process to Execute SEO Strategies

Excellent SEO execution follows a battle-tested process. 

As an SEO agency gains experience working with numerous clients, they outline their winning process to give potential customers a peek into how they deliver results. 

Thus, each company with practical SEO experience has its own process. And this makes it a characteristic of SEO agencies with proven results. 

For example, at Neil Patel Digital, our process follows eight unique steps: 

2. A Diverse Team of Specialists

The next characteristic to look out for before choosing an SEO agency is the team to put their process and recommendations to work. 

A lot of thought goes into SEO execution. 

From strategic ideation and leadership to account management and execution specialists, ask for the team who’ll work with you to achieve your goals. 

Again, experienced SEO agencies are proud to make their team public: 

3. An Impressive Client Portfolio

Results-generating SEO strategies are hard to manage from ideation to execution, but they also take time and commitment. 

Thus, as exceptional SEO agencies work with clients to achieve results, displaying their clientele has become a common characteristic. 

Doing this does two things. 

It shows you they’re experienced. And it helps your decision to choose, using the type of companies they’ve worked with as a benchmark: 

4. Real Customer Testimonials

If an SEO agency helped increase your website traffic, leading to more sales, you’d be open to giving them a testimonial, right?

In the same vein, when choosing an SEO agency, scan their website for what past customers say about them. 

A common characteristic you’ll find with the best SEO agencies is the proud display of what happy customers say about their service: 

5. Industry-specific Thought Leadership

Exceptional SEO agencies are always on the forefront of the latest trends, especially how it impacts rankings, traffic, and business in general. 

In most cases, you’ll find a top executive of the company sharing insights via blogs, social media, and research papers, which makes them maintain thought-leadership.

So, before you hire an SEO agency, check if they’re up to date and share recent trends about the SEO industry that help you keep pace with the market: 

6. A Crisp-clear Company Culture

An SEO company may have the unique expertise you seek and all the characteristics listed above. Yet, their company culture may not fit with yours.

The truth is, exceptional SEO agencies don’t take on toxic clients; neither would you like to work with people whose values you don’t agree with.  

To avoid this, top SEO companies have the characteristic of displaying their company culture, so potential customers can decide if working with them aligns with their culture:

How to Work With an SEO Agency

Most SEO agencies work as an extension of your in-house marketing team. 

Thus, there are steps to working with an SEO agency that’s right for you. These steps are essential, as they ensure your collaboration with them is successful.  

Let’s explore the major ones.

1. Prepare your in-house, front-facing team

Before you work with an SEO agency, get relevant teams in your company on the same page. Let them know why your company needs to hire SEO professionals and how working with them will impact your business. 

Also, select those who’ll work directly with the SEO agency to drive the results you seek. The people you choose would help to bridge the communication gap between your company and the agency.

Doing this ensures that there’s always someone to keep the SEO agency in sync with your company culture, goals for working with them, expectations, and timeline. 

2. Discovery session

Working with an SEO agency could be to rank higher for target keywords, generate more traffic, drive sales, or all three. 

But, no business case and needs are precisely the same. And SEO strategies that worked for company A may not work for yours. 

Thus, take the time to share everything about your business as it concerns SEO with an agency you choose to work with. Doing this helps them develop custom strategies and plans unique to achieving your goals. 

Exceptional SEO companies allow you to share this information with them via a discovery session

3. Research and Recommendations

After you share your business situation, needs, and goals with an SEO company, be on the lookout for what they do next. 

Top SEO agencies don’t jump into sending you quotes and invoices. 

They delve into research, using what you shared with them to gain the right context about your business situation. Doing this brings them on the same page with your company, target audience, business goals, and competition.

After this research, they usually share recommendations of what needs to be done to get maximum results. They can send this recommendation via a report sent over email or talk you through it over a phone call.

4. Contract with Deliverables

After your discovery call and follow-up conversations, expect to receive a contract with deliverables from an SEO agency, if working with you looks like a good fit.

It’s best to share this contract with relevant members on your team, especially those working directly with the agency. Ensure to go down to the nitty-gritty of the contract’s terms and conditions. 

Also, share it with your legal department to avoid signing an agreement that hurts or binds your company in the future. 

5. Onboarding, Project Scoping, and Management

To work with you, an SEO company would request access to some of your digital assets. 

Depending on your work scope, such access could include your website or blog passwords, your analytics tools login codes, selected in-house staff, etc. 

To kickstart a working relationship with your company, SEO agencies usually take you through a detailed onboarding process. 

So, you should expect one. 

Over this onboarding session, the scope of your project, delivery timelines, communication channels, and an understanding of how both parties manage your project is defined and communicated. 

How to Find The Right SEO Agency For You

So far, I’ve outlined the characteristics of exceptional SEO agencies and walked you through some fundamentals steps to working with one. 

But, as I established at the beginning of this guide, you don’t just need the right SEO agency, you need an SEO agency that’s right for you. 

How do you find one?

To help you, we put together a list of companies that we believe to be the best in the business.

Also, we skipped SEO agencies who can’t even rank their site organically. Finally, we looked away from digital marketing generalists who do everything under the sun for a quick buck.

The result?

What follows is our vetted list of the five best SEO companies of 2020 by the types of projects they’re exceptional at working on.

The 5 Top SEO Agencies

1. Neil Patel Digital – Best For SEO-optimized Content Marketing

At Neil Patel Digital, we’re great at SEO-optimized content marketing.

Our team of highly experienced SEO experts and content marketers brings decades of hands-on experience to the table. We believe brands can influence how their customers think through the creation of distribution of thoughtful, engaging content. 

And we put this belief to work by partnering with forward-thinking companies to develop SEO-focused content, performance-based digital marketing strategies and programs that get the attention it deserves. 

When you work with us, you’ll deliver content the right types of content to your target audience at the right time:

2. Voice SEO – Best For Voice Search

Voice SEO started as a small team of SEO experts. Initially, they focused on using their SEO skills to help businesses like them to grow online. 

Through dedication and close observation of the ever-changing SEO industry, Voice SEO realized the growing use of devices such as Alexa, Siri, and Google Echo, to query search engines. 

Seeing that 50% of all online searches in 2020 would be voice-based, a statistic in the upward trend, Voice SEO followed the highest standards in SEO to narrow its focus on helping companies with voice search engine optimization: 

3. ReachLocal- Best For Local SEO

When it comes to executing best-in-class local SEO strategies, ReachLocal needs no introduction. 

This SEO agency is responsible for generating over 201 million local leads for more than 19,000 clients across the globe. 

Not only are they the go-to company for practical and strategic local SEO executions, but ReachLocal’s experience also spans over 15 years, and they have offices in five continents:

4. FATJOE – Best For Backlinks Acquisition

FATJOE comes highly recommended for acquiring backlinks for SEO. Turn to this SEO agency if you need help generating high-value backlinks. 

And you can do this with the assurance that even other SEO agencies rely on them for the same. 

FATJOE was founded in 2012. Today, they’ve grown to become one of the world’s biggest outsourced link building agencies, and they serve more than 5,000 clients:

5. OuterBox – Best For eCommerce SEO

OuterBox is our pick for eCommerce SEO

They’re an SEO and performance marketing company focused on helping eCommerce brands drive growth through search strategy, design, and conversion rate optimization. 

Irrespective of which eCommerce platform your business is built on—Magento, WooCommerce, Shopify, Drupal, or others; OuterBox’s eCommerce search engine optimization strategies and tactics are effective and reliable: 

Conclusion: Be Patient with Your Chosen SEO Agency

Choosing and partnering with an SEO agency, even one that’s perfect for you, isn’t a get-rich-quick scheme. 

It takes time before you’ll start seeing results. 

However, it is worth the wait because once things kick-off, SEO is like a flywheel that gets better by the day and works like a vicious cycle

So be patient. 

Only ensure you choose an SEO agency that’s right for you. And most notably, one with a diverse team of experienced experts who breathe SEO:

The post How to Choose The Right SEO Agency appeared first on Neil Patel.



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Make the Most of Your Customer Data

It’s every marketing professional’s dream to turn customer data into actionable insights that inform their campaign efforts. Recent research from Forrester (as shown in the infographic below) found marketing leaders wish to use data to help:

  • Build long-term customer loyalty

  • Provide insights into customer behavior

  • Create a seamless cross-channel experience

  • Contextually personalize customer interactions

Good news—our dreams are coming true. Unified customer data management platforms, called CDPs, are giving marketers the opportunity to collect customer data from multiple disparate sources and create a single, unified database. Now, not only are we able to better “see” our customers, we’re able to paint a fuller picture of them. 

Take a look at this infographic from Forrester highlighting all the ways executives are thinking about and adopting CDPs for their own marketing strategies.

How CDPs make a difference

With a CDP, marketers can use customer data to improve targeting and personalization, as well as create more relevant, helpful, and engaging content across multiple channels. Experiences become more consistent, seamless, and enjoyable for customers, decreasing the likelihood of drop offs and increasing the chances for engagements, conversions, and long-term loyalty.

Further, Forrester’s research shows that mature customer data profiles bring better business results. Businesses with mature customer data profiles are 7.9 times more likely to increase revenue by 10%. That’s something to pay attention to.

Customer data is essential

The personalization needed to win over customers and earn their loyalty depends on what you know about them. Look at your customer data. Learn your customers’ pain points and preferences. Understand their objectives, history, and behavior. Offer solutions to make their lives easier. We, as marketers, should be focused solely on how we can help the customer—and solutions like CDPs are making our jobs easier.

                                                                                                                                                 

Watch the webcast “Building a Customer Data Strategy That Lasts” to learn how to develop deep data insights and utilize martech to keep up with customer changes. It was recorded, so you can view it anytime from anywhere.

For more information on how to best utilize customer data, read the Forrester study “Getting Customer Data Right.”

 

 



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