FLO'S HUB

Free Youtube SEO Tools to Boost Your Rankings

Youtube is one of the most powerful media on the planet right now. Why? Its numbers won’t lie. Statistics show that Youtube right now has over 2 billion logged-in monthly users. And that is about one-third of the internet.

If you want to boost your brand online, you must not miss the views coming from Youtube. About one billion hours of youtube videos watched daily. It ranks as the second most-preferred platform to watch videos on TV screens among 18-24 years old. It follows Netflix which is the leading one.

Did you know that about 80% of shoppers were influenced by Youtube videos? Yes! Youtube videos become the first part of the shopping process. And this is a must to consider for those selling products or even services.

Even those numbers are amazing, we know that ranking for video is the toughest challenge. So, let’s make it easier with the aid of Youtube SEO tools. And take note, these are free to use.

Before, we’ve heard of search engine optimization (SEO). This deals with ranking on search engines and right now we’re hearing of ranking on Youtube. To rank your videos on Youtube is now a competition. With the help of free Youtube SEO tools, the opportunity for gaining more views is open.

And below is the list of Youtube SEO tools, you can use for free.

1. Topic Generation: Google Trends

When starting for a video topic or content it’s crucial that you picked the most valuable one. And among your choices is going for an in-demand or trending topic. And one of the free Youtube SEO tools that you can use is Google Trends

For example, you can go on a daily trending topic like the one below.

You can also go on with a local topic by filtering within the countries. You can also talk about your comfortable topic by searching according to categories. It also shows real-time search trends.

2. Keyword Research: Ubersuggest, Google Keyword Planner & KeywordTool.io

After crafting an exciting topic, it’s now time to discover keywords that search value. It’s not enough that you use familiar or common words. It’s time for a keyword search. And you need some tools.

Ubersuggest

A tool by Neil Patel. You can search base on the trending topic that you choose or if you have decided on an evergreen one. All you need to do is key in the topic and it will suggest keywords. Choose relevant high volume keywords. This must also within a set, i.e. “international women’s day 2019” must be excluded since it is not within the period.

Remember that not all high-value keywords are your target keywords. Always consider the relevance.

Google Keyword Planner

Another keyword tool that is part of our free Youtube SEO tool is the Google Keyword Planner. Same with Ubersuggest it will give you relevant keywords. The downside with its free one is that you will only see the range value. I still find it useful when you are working with relevancy.

When you wanted to see the whole estimates, you need to have an active Adwords account.

KeywordTool.io

Based on the website’s meta title it’s the number 1 alternative for Google Keyword Planner. And it has a specific section where you can search for Youtube keywords. By searching with the topic, it can also help you in finding relevant keywords.

Since it’s free it will not show the whole values but instead, it can help you in finding a set of keywords. And you can partner it with Ubersuggest to find the search volumes.

You can opt for a pro version if you decided to use this tool.

3. Video Title & Description: Hemmingway App & Grammarly

Once you’ve found the right keywords, it’s now time to create a title tag and description. For description, to make sure that it’s highly readable Hemmingway is the best tool to use. The maximum description is up to 5000 characters.

And to make sure it’s grammar free, using Grammarly is the best option.

Search friendly keywords are added within the main title and description. Make sure also that the description is 100% unique. According to Brian Dean of Backlinko you need to aim for 150 words or more. Based on his case study, optimizing the description can lead to a higher ranking.

Youtube Creator Academy suggests that keywords must be added in the beginning. Walking through the Academy can help you to maximize the title and description.

4. Video Tags & Optimization: vidIQ Extension

Added as a browser extension, vidIQ guides in proper optimization of each video.

It provides a video optimization checklist showing elements that needs optimization. For example, below it needs to work out on the info cards, end screen, and Twitter share.

Another amazing feature of this tool is the ability to suggest tag. Its keyword inspector shows relevant keywords. But make sure that it is aligned with the video i.e. “international women’s day 2019”. If you are tackling the current event it’s not appropriate to add that keyword. Additionally, it has only a “0” search volume.

The tool can also suggest relevant videos where you can get ideas with its tags.

Aside from those features, vidIQ can also help in channel audits. With this, you can able to work on the improvement of your channel. Also, it has an analytic feature that can help you in discovering more opportunities, i.e. the trends of views.

This has also a pro version with where it can suggest more tags and relevant videos.

5. Measure and Analysis: Youtube Analytics

With Youtube analytics, you will see the growth of your video over time. You can check the period where you gain more views. Analyzing this data can help you understand more your audience. For example, if you will see that most of the views are coming over the weekend, you can have an update at each weekend.

Key Takeaways

As mentioned, optimizing a Youtube video can be challenging. But, with the use of proper tools, you can make it. There are free Youtube SEO tools that can you use to get higher video rankings.

It’s not yet too late to achieve increased visibility for your videos.

Reality Check on Software Piracy in Developing Countries

Microsoft.com defined software piracy as the mislicensing, unauthorized reproduction and illegal distribution of software whether for business or for personal use. And for this act they have actually a campaign to stop piracy, emphasizing that piracy risks are real, even in the U.S. FBI has issued consumer alert warning of the possibility of malware on pirated issues. Actually nowadays we can see that piracy is big issue and software industry is fighting on it on a daily basis but what if there is a case of this: what if in the developing countries like Philippines and economically depressed countries which fall behind the industrialized world and they cannot afford access to new generations of software, is it reasonable to blame someone for using pirated software when it costs two months of his salary to buy a legal copy of MS Office? At this time I am going to share actually my insights about this issue.

In my stand point, it is not right to pirate software even if you’re reason are: (a)it is expensive, (b)other are doing it, why I can’t, (c)it’s only a small-scale piracy (d)the cost of MS Office is equal to 2 months’ salary. And let us put this way, it can be reasonable to blame someone since at the end you will see that in the end you will be the only loser, when you think that you can save since it is cheaper compare to the original copy but the thing is that aide from facing unethical issues wherein it can lead to facing criminal charges, but there is also a big risk of exposing to serious malwares and virus attacks which can lead to data theft and losses. We can see that there is truly a big risk if you are going to use pirated software. Although the short term effect is that you will definitely have big savings but in the long run instead of benefiting it can be like a parasite where in it malwares and viruses can destroy your hard drive which causes loss of information.

The best thing that software companies can do in order to stop piracy is that they can partner with the government agencies like with NBI and OMB, where in if they believe that lowering of their sales is an effect of software piracy they can report it on government agencies since it has law on it : REPUBLIC ACT NO. 8293: The Intellectual Property Office and REPUBLIC ACT NO. 9239: Optical Media Act of 2003 and they can report piracy or coordinate with PAPT (Pilipinas Anti-Piracy Team) or they can also partner with Business Software Alliance and IP Coalition. Through stricter policy and drive for removing pirated software in the market, in the end it can lessen the use of software piracy since they will be afraid of the charges. It is also essential software companies must also have their own drive why it is essential to have authentic copies like for example having a drive for entitled: Loss of valuable information because of software piracy. And the last thing that they can do is that they will have to develop preventive software that can detect software piracy or software that can hardly be duplicated.

And for additional information the big loss in using pirated software is not only on a small scale but can decline an economy where in jobs, revenue and GDP is at stake : latest study shows that International Software Piracy hampering manufacturers in the U.S. by Bill Kerr, associate professor at Harvard Business School, and Chad Moutray, chief economist for the NAM (National Association of Manufacturers) where in he finds out there is an unfair competition made by stolen software is the major factor in US manufacturing industry wherein estimated losses from 2002-2012 is about $240 billion in revenue, $70 billion in Gross Domestic Product and 42, 220 in the US manufacturing jobs. Even before that Business Software Alliance (BSA) and International Data Corporation (IDC) claim that losses from software piracy in 2009 have exceeded $51 billion, and by lowering the piracy by about 10% for the next four years can truly have a great impact on increasing jobs, wherein it can create nearly about 500,000 new jobs and can able to pump up about $140 billion in ailing economies.

Although we can save in the short term but bigger risks are awaiting. Therefore it is a NO to piracy and low income is not an excuse in doing unethical act.

Empowering to Share with Knowledge Management

Thinking big — Source:greenfieldbelser.com

This is another blog project. And for this post we are asked for the following questions.

Do you think your own organization (or a selected organization) will benefit much from Knowledge Management? If yes, in what ways? If no, why? What do you think are the biggest barriers in implementing KM in your respective organizations? Also, include in this blog your views on this statement: “Knowledge is power but knowledge sharing is empowerment.”

Knowledge Management is very essential in every organization and having it in our company can truly give a sustainable business advantage. Being in the SEO Company, knowledge or sharing of ideas is very valuable since it can make our strategy updated. It also helps in faster and better decision making since experience employees are being tapped to avoid pitfall, be able to use their solution and be able to make the right decision for the first time. With Knowledge management it can able to increase productivity, they can able to reduce costs and minimize new resources to meet growth targets. Knowledge management is also essential for innovators since they can use it for added service or launching of new service since it can reduce costs, time and inventory experience, expertise for the future, making it a flexible, fast-paced response.

Having a knowledge management project is also helpful in terms of having a group or a team since it is much easier to accomplish a strategy when the group is going to have a collaborative effort in sharing ideas. What’s good about this also is that knowledge management can accelerate the learning which increases faster accomplishment of the project but wait it can also increase efficiency or up-time. It is also essential especially when it comes to decision making process, through knowledge management a better plan can be made.

And now after discussing the benefits, you are going to see here also biggest barriers in implementing KM:

The aspect of Knowledge is power wherein too often people see knowledge hoarding as a way to personal power or having knowledge is equated to expert power that is why it is hard to implement Knowledge management since they are afraid of losing their expert power.
Afraid that errors can be penalized, therefore they are unwilling to share what they may see as failures.
They have feel that they are e not paid to share. Since knowledge management is often seen as not part of normal business, they believe that keeping knowledge is simply not part of the core business.
Since there are lots of strategies to be done, they always said that they cannot share their ideas since they have no time to share.

And finally I will end this post about my views on:

“Knowledge is power but knowledge sharing is empowerment.”

I always believe that it is more essential to share knowledge than to keep it with your selves. Knowledge sharing can truly be helpful in terms of convincing others to share their tacit knowledge, aside from that it enables to make realize his worth in an organization. And also knowledge is truly valuable if It is going to be shared.

Empowering the use of Business Intelligence Tools

From George Reynolds’ book on information technology for managers, he define business intelligence or (BI) as wide range of applications, practices and technologies for the extraction, translation, integration, analysis and presentation of data to support decision making. From that definition it is simply a tool that help us improved our decision making process. BI tools are also use often to predict future conditions and make necessary adjustment on staffing, purchasing, financing and other operational areas to better meet forecasted needs.

One of the published reports about business intelligence tools was from the research firm Ovum’s Business Intelligence 2014 Trends-to-Watch report posted last December 4, 2013 wherein they see that 2014 will be a maturing year of BI and analytics market that enable more proactive and real-time decision making. Its growth will strongly continue which is driven by fundamental changes in how businesses use information for decision making.

The report tells us that for that 2014 we will see a shift from an IT-vested query, analysis and reporting capability to a more proactive and real-time decision tool for business users. BI tools are truly essential in gathering data, in order to make it more valuable for an organization but how can organizations encourage more effective use of business intelligence tools? Is a reward system appropriate? Is a punitive program appropriate? How about pay raises based on job performance that would require employees to use BI applications?

BI tools can be effective in terms of gathering data and making it valuable to the organization but we need to encourage every member of the organization to support usage of Business intelligence tools. The following are the strategies that can lead to effective use of Business Intelligence tools:

Enabling self-service access to BI tools allows user to analyze, and collaborate on critical information in order to make best possible decisions. It is also important that you have able to inform all of your employees about its effectiveness.
Awareness. Employees’ awareness about the Business intelligence tools can help them understand the benefits or the main value of it for organizations.
Knowing what is expected. It is essential that organization must able to set what are expected with their employees, in this way they are encouraged to use BI tools for effectively.
Encourage development and learning. Through providing opportunities to employees to take responsibility, they are able to encourage in joining the group for innovation and converting valuable data into usable information. It is essential to creating a working atmosphere that enables opportunities to grow and developed. It is also essential here to provide continuous training.
Reward System. It is also vital to recognize those who have shared on the effective use of BI. A reward-based system can do in order that they will be delighted.
Develop shared culture where people value information. In an organization BI tools can be used effectively, if they will see that this organization have shared common culture in valuing information and they work together for the goal of the company. It will also help in sharing culture about working and learning together and be able to leverage the expertise of fellow employees.

When it comes to the effective use of information, Business Intelligence tools can help you on that but it is essential that using of Business Intelligence tools must create a positive experience or something rewarding. It should not be a punitive one since it can be the reason of making users don’t realize the real value of it instead they are required to use it since they have obligations to use but in the end they will not feel the freedom or that would lead to something unrewarding like they will feel that you have tight control over them.

2 Sides of Online Shopping

Online shopping is becoming more popular nowadays because of Internet and more e-commerce sites are opening to cater e-shopping. Actually in Philippines context I found an interesting statistics about this from Rappler’s Business post on Filipinos among most active online bargain seekers in Asia – Nielsen – September 4, 2012 by Cai Ordinario where in about 61% of Filipino online shoppers are finding for deals which is much more higher than the average in the Asia Pacific region which was set at 39% and this is according to the statement of Nielsen. Additionally over 2/3 or 72% of online these online consumers used the internet for researching for groceries. Another interesting statistics is that by MasterCard’s Online Shopping Behavior Study 2012 in 14 Asia Pacific countries wherein the result of it is that more and more Filipinos are beginning to shop online. Having respondents that cover the country’s 18-64 year old population, 40.4% Filipinos access the internet to shop and about 64% of them buy online which is much higher than 2011 which has 61% and 2010 that has 38%. With the stats it only shows that online shopping in the Philippines is growing. Although online shopping is advancing it is still important first to have an analysis before deciding to buy.

Let’s answer the first side of online shopping.

What are the advantages of online shopping?

Convenience. The most common and the most beneficial aspect of online shopping. With just a few second search and a click and you are all set to purchase. There is no need to go to the physical store. Even at your own time and home you can purchase immediately. There is no need to lined-up at the counter. Even you’re a busy person, there is no need to ruin your schedule just to go for shopping, all you need is an internet connection.

Better Price Deals for Comparison. As practical buyer, price is an important consideration with e-shopping; you will find e-commerce sites that offer much lower deals compare to physical deals. The reasons for this are because there are lots of competing e-commerce sites and they know that lots are searching for online deals. Another reason is that there is no added tax. Aside from that there are also discounts that make online shopping a place for better price deals.

Variety of Choices. Since there is a wide competition with e-commerce sites, you have lots of choices to choose from. And sometimes when at e-shops you can never find an item on a physical store you can buy it online and also space in a shelf of a physical store is limited unlike on an e-commerce site you have the power to choose.

Easy Access to online reviews. With online shopping it is easy to find for reviews either positive or negative that you can use in buying decisions. There are some sites actually that is dedicated to consumer reviews only like: Consumer reports.

No salesperson to convince you. With online shopping you only have to search; you will have no pressure in buying since there is no salesperson to convince you.

If there are the advantages, it is also essential to see the second side of online shopping.

What are the disadvantages of online shopping?

No Testing or Trying things on. Since it online you don’t have the chance to try it on or touch it unlike on physical store if it is a dress you can use the fitting room to try it. And this issues can lead to deceiving looks of a product. So what is important here is that if you were buying things like clothes you must know the right size first.

There is no sales rep to answer your question immediately. With e-commerce sites all you need to do is to do is wait for answers within 24 hours since you are using emails to ask for help unlike for sales rep, they can immediately answer you face to face.

Higher shipping cost can be applied. Especially when you are located outside of the local areas they are serving it can be truly costly.

Privacy and Security issues. Since you are dealing online you are going to divulge your personal information and also your account numbers, credit card and many more which can be subject to scams.

What if I am going to buy online…

What would be the 3 things that I will have no hesitation to buy online?

Gadgets. I have actually experience in buying those things like I’ve bought a tablet at Lazada.com.ph since it has great deals and in just 3 days I have received already the tablet plus what’s more exciting about it is that it is offering discount coupons like when you are going to subscribe to their e-newsletters you will able to get Php 200.00 worth of discount coupons, so that means that you will save 200 pesos. .

I have no hesitation in buying gadgets also since it has a 1-year warranty, so that means that if there is something that would happen to your gadget a year before you will just use the warranty card. .

Appliances. Just like gadget I have no hesitation in buying these things since it has warranty plus what I like about it is that it has free shipping and delivery right at your door unlike at local stores you still have to pay for delivery fee. .

Airline Tickets. It is truly more convenient to buy for airline tickets online than on physical store since you will have the chance to join the promo just like with Cebu Pacific’s Piso fare. When you are subscribed with their e-news you will get instant updates about their deals. .

What will be the 3 things that will make me think it over?

Clothes. Every time I will buy clothes online, I truly think how it will suit me since I can’t try it on. I also ask myself if the size will be appropriate with me or not? .

Shoes. Just like with clothes I usually have some comparison first or an analysis whether I will buy for shoes online because I also wanted to try it on before I will buy it but when time comes that it is available online, of course I will buy it. .

Books. I usually think it over when buying books especially when it is below Php 1000 since it has an added shipping cost, therefore it will come out in the end that it is much higher compare to books at bookstore. .

And what will be the 3 things that I will never buy it online?

Cosmetics. If I haven’t tried it on, I will suffer from irritation and that’s why I have no planning of buying cosmetics online.

Medicines. Same with cosmetics it has also an expiration wherein I need to immediately check it. With online stores you will have no chance of seeing those details and therefore I have no plans of buying ti online.

Real Estate. This one is better to checked on-site than using online deals. It is more appropriate to transact it personally than dealing over the internet.

Overall online shopping has lots of benefits over its disadvantages. Convenience and price are the major factor why it is advancing and becoming more popular but of course we have to be careful also in transacting online since spams and scams are arising.

Outsource IT Security

Outsourcing plays a vital role nowadays for companies to meet the demands of their customers or clients. With the value of outsourcing on the other hand there is also a key management concern in modern business world which is the security of information. Therefore at this issue there are questions that need answers and these are: (1) is there truly a need for organization to outsource IT security? (2) What are going to be the issues involved when you turnover security to an outside organization? (3) If there is a need to outsource what stipulations is going to be included in service level agreement with an IT security outsourcer in order to ensure it did not exploit the openness of your systems and steal strategic and sensitive information?

To gain understanding about outsourcing IT security, let us answer the first question if there is truly a need for organization to outsource IT security. Based on Bruce Schneier on his essay: The Case for Outsourcing Security, the primary reason for outsourcing is financial capacity wherein as he stated:

“a company can get the security expertise it needs much more cheaply by hiring someone else to provide it.”

Wherein he added monitoring as an example, that the key to successful security monitoring is vigilance and attacks can occur anytime, although it is possible for companies to have their own monitoring services for their networks but you can rarely find that is cost-effective. Outsourcing companies have staffs or employees having specialized skilled wherein if the company would solely build for this team it is truly hard to find and retaining them would even be harder. Aside from that the outsourcing company is knowledgeable about IT security. They have also R&D department for innovation and to get updated about the latest trend. And those are some of the reasons why outsourcing according to Schneier “the only cost-effective way to satisfy the requirements” and more importantly they have expertise on how to respond exactly to any given attack because they are well-experienced about this.

As an added answer to the first question, outsourcing IT security is not appropriate for every organization. As presented by Nick Krym on his slideshare presentation: Outsourcing Security Management:

Next before deciding to outsource we need also to consider the following issue: What are the issues involved when you turnover security to an outside organization? According to Global Information Assurance Certification Paper below are some of the issues involved when you are going to turnover to an outside organization:

Security Philosophy, Polices & Practices may differ which can result to needs for security not being met.
Critical Access, wherein outsourcing security management can allow critical access and therefore they can see company’s private as well as sensitive information which can lead to outsourcer gaining unfair competitive advantage or in short can become the competitor of the company.
Unaware of the culture and people which can lead to misunderstanding or communication weakness
Sub-contracts existed due to demand for fast and efficient services wherein sometimes outsources who have lack of manpower and expertise can use sub-contracting some parts of their work to smaller or unfamiliar companies which can increase the risk of inappropriate programming practices, virus infection, poor communication or all-in-all can lead to low-quality service delivery.
People Aspects, wherein outsourcing there can be instances that organization focus only on technical aspects but the truth is, there are some instances that people of security can add to the risks due to sharing of passwords with co-employees and to strangers, using of company resources for their own benefit and not related to business and they can also be able to insert incorrect and falsified information to the information system and computer programs.

After considering those issues, it is very important to start the outsourcing process right and as added information here is the valuable information from Global Information Assurance Certification Paper wherein it suggested that Service Level Agreement (SLA) must have the following: (1) To prevent the outsourcers from gaining unfair advantage due to critical access of private and sensitive data, the organization must stipulate to its SLA the legal clauses, which can help in preventing unnecessary risks like information leakage. Protection acts, national and security laws are also included on this agreement in order to protect both parties. It is also important to add here the Non-disclosure agreements which is also vital in preventing outsources in using organizations architectures and strategies, wherein by violating this can leads to legal actions or have penalties for violations. (2) It is also essential to add that Sub-contracting is not allowed wherein it can lead to low-quality of service or product. SLA set boundaries, quality of service levels, penalties or sanctions and deliverables that the organization is requiring.

IT and Me over the Years

The world of IT or information technology is rapidly changing. Since I was in high school up to now I can see the very huge change. Even my knowledge about it has vastly increased.

My Beginnings in the IT World…

2002 To begin my IT world story I will start my timeline when I was in first year high school (way back year 2002) since it was the period when I started to expose myself in the World of IT. That time I remembered that the only search engine I knew was Yahoo, the only email platform that I’ve used was Yahoo mail or Ymail and for instant messaging it was Yahoo messenger. And I also remembered how popular Friendster was, way back that time there is no Facebook yet. I can even recalled having tired eyes because of using PCs with CRT monitor (that time there is no flat screen monitors yet) and also we are using not USB but floppy disks or diskettes. Actually even now my mind can always recall the use of floppy disk every time I use the save button. Continue reading “IT and Me over the Years”