My website is now live… but how do I promote it?

There can be no mistaking the buzz and excitement when you see your business website go live. It represents the fusion of creativity, ideas, business messaging, branding, and hard work to make your site a valuable business tool. You have every right to be proud.

After you crack open the champagne and enjoy a well-earned glass there is something, however, you need to know. Marketing and promoting the site is the next phase and this phase lasts for as long as you have a business.

With this in mind let’s look at the four core online marketing areas.

Pay per Click

The idea behind pay per click is that every time someone clicks on one of your online ads you pay a fee. This enables you to have thousands of impressions gaining plenty of online exposure on search engines, social media, and high traffic websites. There are caveats involved which are important to understand.

Google Ads are displayed on search engines and Google partner websites (not owned by google) as part of what is called the display network. Google’s model works on relevant keywords to your business and a bidding system. The higher your bid the better your positioning and the more times your ad will be displayed.

This drives up the cost of online advertising but as the visitors have search intent the chances are you should see more traffic to your site. Providing you have good context between ad and landing page you should also see a high conversion rate and a good ROI.

Facebook PPC works on the same model but ads are shown by interest and acquaintances of your page followers rather than keywords. They tend to have fewer conversions but are considerably cheaper. This is due to a visitor seeing an ad by chance rather than having an interest in your offering and searching for it. Again, it works on a bid system so the more competitive your industry the higher price of clicks.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

Up until a few years ago, search engine positioning was everything, as the top three organic search results received the most traffic. Several algorithm updates later, the need for SEO is still there but other forms of online marketing such as email marketing and PPC have risen to compete with the once almighty marketing giant called search engine optimisation.

SEO is a two part operation: Onsite technicalities such as having a mobile responsive, fast loading website, and keyword specific copy in all the right places. The second part of the game is building external links and getting mentions from authority sites to push your website ranking higher.

SEO is a long game and often an expensive one. Being in the top 3 results no longer necessarily means you are capturing the most traffic. Google tends to promote brands over small businesses and also paid ads, and google maps listings, and as such users are starting to search a few pages to find what they are after. Nonetheless, good search engine positioning for your chosen keywords will drive lots and lots of traffic to your site.

SEO and content marketing are often used to build links. This is where you create a good piece of content say a blog post or video and promote it. Good use of content marketing can drive results both in terms of SEO and in their own right.

Email Marketing

Email marketing is one of the most effective forms of online marketing there is. Once a visitor gives you their email contact details and consent to do so, you can put your sales message in their inbox where they are most likely to see it.

Many marketers see this as an essential form of marketing. If you have the right message and landing page you can drive sales and conversions, despite regulations such as GDPR.

Social Media

Social media is another way of driving visitors to your site and arguably it is more suited to B2C rather than a business to business entities with the possible exception of LinkedIn. There are two basic tricks to success on social media. One is to build followers who are in the market for your offerings and the second is to publish a mixture of conversational posts and product and service offering to your audience.

Again content marketing is invaluable here and many in the SEO community believes that a social media presence is a ranking factor for Google.

No business can be without social media even if you are not fond of the available platforms.  Embrace it do not shun it.

Online marketing is best when it works as a whole rather than separate facets although you may have consultants, agencies, and teams working on different aspects.

Do you need help to promote your website? Get in touch with us.

To make sense of all this, and discuss how we can work together to help your website reach the visibility it deserves, get in touch with us today and we can help you promote your site in all relevant fields.

Digital Marketing Errors to Avoid at all Costs

Online Marketing Errors that will Cost your Business

Every day the world of digital marketing gets a little more complex. It is an ever-evolving concept with new technologies and new methods being developed all the time.  It is important to keep up with trends and ideas to avoid your marketing becoming obsolete.  This ensures your revenue streams are maintained.

We put this post together to help you avoid costly online marketing business mistakes.

DIY Websites

Do it yourself websites are fine for vanity projects.  They can be up and running quickly, you can insert images, copy, blog, and contact details and a few other features.

For a commercial business, however, they lack many of the fundamental qualities needed to convey a professional brand in both terms of appearance and functionality. Furthermore, you could be losing customers if your business is relying on a DIY site, as from a commercial perspective, most of the time they look of poor quality.

With this in mind, it makes sense from all business perspectives that you invest in your own website designed by a professional. Your customers deserve no less.

Using Facebook as your Business Website

Facebook can be great for engagement and to drive traffic to your website but its limitations become evident if you try and run your business entirely from a Facebook Page. You may sell from the page but you could be selling a lot more if you expanded your horizons a little.

Social Media extends to Twitter, Instagram, Pineterest, LinkedIn, and Google plus. Are you promoting your product range and services on these?  If you’re not, you should. Although they have slightly less reach, giving your customers a chance to engage with you on a different medium is a good move.

Moreover, investing in your own website will allow you to showcase your product range continuously, and not lose them as they are pushed down your feed. Also, you’re not limited to Facebook page design elements. Call to actions, picture size, etc, can all be all configured for maximum impact enabling you to sell more.

Not Engaging your Customer Base with Social Media Updates

Many businesses only use social media to broadcast offers and products. This is fine to a certain extent, especially if this is the sole purpose of the page… but updates should be written that engage your customer base. Try updates that provoke a response about your product range. Get people talking about it. Think about how they will use it; does it combine with something else you sell? If so why not post updates canvassing opinion or showcasing this fact?

If you want or need further information on these topics, get in touch. We can help you put together a first class business website and help you better engage your customer base.

Questions to Ask When Evaluating the Competition’s Website

When you have lined up a development company to design your business website, it is tempting to look at your competitor’s site and tell your people to duplicate it.  Although you may feel your competitor’s site is the best thing since sliced bread, the reality is that it could have flaws that you are unaware of.   With this in mind, this post tries to pinpoint the right questions to ask when you evaluate the competition.

Do you know the site is working well for your competitor?

Unless you have solid insider knowledge about your competitor, you may not know how well the site is performing for the business.  Although it looks pretty and you may admire the design it is possible that it is failing to attract clients and customers to the business.  Good web designs encourage conversions, and goes beyond aesthetic beauty.  Your competitor’s site could easily look the business, but breaks the rules of conversion and as such fails to do the business.

Is there anything you dislike about your competitor’s design?

This is a good question as it forces you to look objectively.  It will also make you look at your competitor’s site with a customer/client eye, rather than as a business owner.  If you see something that should be improved, make a note of it and give it to your designer.  Explain why you don’t like it and why it isn’t suitable for your business.

Improving a Good Design

If you feel your competitor has a good website in place, try and see areas where it can be improved.  This should be done with a customer/client eye.  This will give you good insights into the site.  It might be an idea to bring in people that have no connection with the business to evaluate it for you.  Once you have seen areas that you want to improve, talk to your designer about it and explain why.

Is your Competitor’s Website good for your Customers and Clients?

It is essential and vital that your site is designed with your potential customer or client in mind.  This will make or break your site and dictate how well your business expands.  Try and be objective as possible and approach analysing it from the perspective of your customers and clients.  Is the site

  • Easy to navigate
  • Easy to find important information and products
  • Easy to follow instructions
  • Easy to checkout (if applicable)
  • Displaying information clearly
  • Usable on your mobile
  • Conveying feelings of trust and professionalism

The answer to these questions will help guide your own design. Always think about what your future customers want to see on the website, and not how you, as a business owners like things to be done. At the end of the day, your customers are the ones that need to be attracted to your website, and not yourself. It’s not that easy to think so objectively, so in some cases, if you have a group of trusted customers

Trust in your Designer and Instinct

The best websites are a fusion of designer know-how and ability and a business owner’s knowledge and insight about their business.  It is not uncommon for a business owner to be unsure about design elements a designer puts forward, only for them to be surprised when customers and clients start complementing the business owners for their great website.

If you want to improve or have a new business in mind and need a website, talk to us and we can help you establish an online presence for your business.  Click here today and start competing with the competition.

Avoid these Business Website Mistakes at All Costs!

Despite the 21st century being well underway, new websites are launched daily carrying several of these mistakes which will result into usability nightmares for your future customers and ultimately loss of business.  If you’re about to launch or commission a web design for your business, ensure these mistakes are not featured on your new site.  Ultimately they will cost you money.

Ensure you understand your Customer/Client Base

To make sure your website serves its purpose and your customers, ensure it is targeted towards the right audience.  Ensure that it has the right look and feel that your customers and clients will expect to find, and ensure that all of the content will be at least useful to them, and that your business sales message comes across.

Lack of Responsiveness

All business web designs have to look good when viewed on a smartphone, tablet or any computer of any sized screen.  If they do not, then it’s fair to say you will lose business.  Not only do they have to look good, they have to be able to be interacted with in a user friendly way on any sized device.

Recent research by Ecommerce Week shows that online purchases using mobile and tablet sales are accounting for one third of all purchases.  Search engines now also “punish” sites that lack responsiveness. That is how important such a feature is.

No Visual Content

Today’s web requires good visual content.  Videos and images should be used where possible to bring your USPs to life. Where you need copy to sell a product or service, you should break the content up into chunks to make it easier for your customer and client base to digest. If you look at this blog for example, you can see that each section is broken down into sections to make it easier to read.  You should ensure this approach runs through your site.

Also, consider using infographics where you can.  This is highly shareable content.

Avoid Automatically Playing Videos and Sounds

Always avoid automatically playing videos and sounds on a website.  It distracts from your sales message and many find this disorientating when they first land on your site.  If it is too much they close your site straight away.

Poor Call to Action

Call to actions are highly important for business websites. Your call to action should be clear and prominent and easily understood by your customers and clients.  If you can, try and avoid using click here on your product and service pages and use professional forms and buttons to make bring your call to actions to life and USPs to life.

A good call to action is not just a very good navigation aid, when they work in conjunction with compelling content; they are a powerful sales tool.

No Analytic Tool in use

Some business websites do not have a way of measuring the amount of traffic that comes to their site.  This is a mistake and surprising, considering Google Analytics is free and provides you with the following information:

  • Amount of visitors your site receives
  • Where in the world they come from
  • Traffic sources
  • What pages they look at
  • What pages perform/fail
  • Key touch points if you set up goals/events and sales funnels

And this just scratches the surface.  With this information you can make changes to your business site with confidence.  The alternative is to have no information to make a good decision.

And Finally

Your business website is a sales tool so make sure you use it as such.  To that end don’t say ‘welcome’, say ‘50% off with your first purchase’.  Which one do you find more appealing?

This Makes Sense… What Next?

Get in touch with us and let’s discuss your business website or upgrade to your existing site.

 

Use Search Engine Marketing (SEM) to your Advantage

SEM (Search Engine Marketing) is simply the use of search engines to market your business.  If you sell in demand products or services, then utilising search engines to get your message to a new audience can be hugely profitable.

As with all forms of advertising it is a question of cost vs. return.  For search engine marketing there are two methods to sell your products and services.  They are pay per click (PPC) and search engine optimisation (SEO).

Pay per click (PPC)

To utilise PPC effectively you must ensure that your ad catches the eye.  It is in competition with a lot of results on a search engine result page, and you only have a limited space to get your sales message across.  Every word in your ad is important.  Professional ad writers have stated that a change in one word can be the difference between 1 click and hundreds.

The second part relates to the keywords and demographics being targeted. It’s very important that the keywords you pick to deliver your ad are relevant to the product or service that you are selling to the right customer. Don’t restrict to only standard keywords you know of, but do some research of other keywords that your customers may be thinking of that may trigger interest in your offernings.

It is not just the ad and keyword which have to do the business.  Your site’s landing page has to do the business as well.  Landing page design is an art in itself.  To make a PPC campaign profitable, you must ensure your page looks professional, is clear with instructions, and has big clear forms and or buttons which make it obvious what to do next.  Your landing page and your ads and keywords should have context with one another.

If you can pull this off then your PPC campaign could be massively profitable.  PPC works on a bidding system a little like eBay where you pay for position.  So if your bid limit is £10, and your highest competitor bid is £8, you should appear first.

Organic SEO

The other way to market your business on search engines is to invest in an organic SEO campaign.  Instead of marketing via ads, you make use of onsite and offsite SEO elements to help appear organically in the search listings following a keyword search.  Costs can be a little murky but the results tend to be better than paid ads as they tend to be more trusted by users.

The downside to search engine marketing is that it can take time to get right, regardless of which route you go down.  Organic SEO can also take time and there are pitfalls which are easy to fall in.  Most businesses which successfully utilise search engine marketing normally use both PPC and organic methods.

TIP: To learn more about what is SEO, please click here.

Bring in Customers and Clients via Search Engines

With the draw of search engine marketing being potentially massive profits, it is too big a marketing opportunity to turn down.  It has pitfalls however, and this is where our expertise comes into play.  Talk to us about marketing your site on search engines today.  Click here to learn more about our SEO services, or click here and complete the contact form in order to discuss your online marketing needs.  The sooner you do, the sooner you can capture the market share from your competitors.