Why Marketers Need a Secure Website

As cyber criminals become more and more sophisticated and daring, marketers are becoming wary and taking more precautions. The real focus now is on browsers and the features they display to assure users that the websites they are visiting are secure. That is where “hypertext transfer protocol secure” HTTPS has become something you cannot afford to ignore if you market online. For security reasons, marketers have placed a lot of focus on the move to HTTPS over the past few years. Google itself has taken note of that and has taken steps to give better recognition to HTTPS websites. Right now, some reports indicate that over 90% of pages listed on the first page of Google search results are secure. That gives marketers some bit of comfort and assurance about cyber security. Many web users are now well informed enough to, easily recognize the padlock icon on the top left corner of their browser as a sign that a website they have opened is properly secured. You can trust smart marketers. They are quickly latching on to that fact to promote their businesses. Here is what marketers can easily take advantage of right now.

Some browsers like Google Chrome usually notify users that a website isn’t secure. That leaves the user the clear option of taking the risk and continuing on the site or leaving the site as quickly as possible.

Websites using HTTPS load quicker and tend to rank higher particularly on Google.

Businesses that use HTTPS usually feature higher on Google SERPs than others.

If you market online through a self-storage website and it isn’t on HTTPS, you are missing a lot. Take urgent steps to get your business on HTTPS or you keep risking low patronage from lack of trust on the site. Taking your business on HTTPS confers many benefits associated with it including those earlier mentioned above.

You can set it up yourself if you know how. If not, you can request your web hosts to help out. It is relatively simple and straightforward. But, first you must acquire a Secure Sockets Layer, SSL certificate which you can get from service providers or Webmasters. The function of SSL is to prove that the website provider is exactly who it says it is and also attests to the fact that it is you who actually owns the website. This is a factual and reliable attestation no doubt and it helps to enhance trust and reliability needed in business. You may get some hosting providers who offer this service free within their control panels. You can check with your own hosts to be sure. Alternatively, if you so decide, you can use a service like “Let’s Encrypt” to get a free SSL certificate.

Securing your website against cyber criminals is one great way to enhance the credibility of your business and to attract more and better customers from cyberspace. Keep a keen eye on it and act appropriately.

How to Increase Focus on Google My Business Amid a Pandemic

As internet technology changes rapidly, so is digital marketing. Smart marketers learn to keep pace particularly in their marketing strategies. Google My Business, GMB is one business-marketing place many marketers find easy and convenient because they want to get noticed in the hugely competitive digital space. At the outset, GMB listing used to be something marketers could just set up and move on hoping for best results in perpetuity. Not anymore! These days, it is very important to see GMB as a constantly changing platform. Marketers need to keep up with these changes to make GMB a very viable channel in which they can easily communicate with customers and to give them more real-time information.

Even before the global pandemic occasioned by the advent of covid-19, it was important to keep up with the changes in GMB. It is even now more important to do so because of the general restrictions affecting most businesses. It now appears that GMB development team is responding well to these restrictions. Marketers cannot afford to ignore these changes at this material time. We notice that the team has been working to add still more great features to GMB. These features include a new post type that allows you to communicate any big product or service updates to customers. 

With covid-19 pandemic still ravaging the world, the team has also added the following health- and safety-related listing attributes. Marketers must take note and adapt quickly in the best interest of the businesses they have listed on GMB. Just look out for these new features.

•    More hours feature. Marketers who operate out of self-storage sites should take note of this one very important new feature. Previously, marketers could only list one set of hours. What that meant is that they often had to choose between showing their gates or office hours. Now they can set these separately.

Other new features in direct response to covid-19 are:

•    Staff undergoes temperature checks
•    Staff wears masks
•    Temperature check required
•    Appointment required
•    Mask required

These new features no doubt will help your business to address the huge concerns of customers who may be eager to do business with you from Google My Business mart. It is smart marketing to adapt these features into your listed business on GMB very quickly.