Online Marketing Jargon: What Are You On About?

There are 10 types of people. 

Those who understand binary and those who don't.

Geeky jokes generally have a lot of jargon! This one in particular will only be understood by those who know binary, and those people are usually programmers. 

The Matrix (2000 film) was made up of
binary 1s and 0s because it was a simulated
world!

Joke Explanation: Binary is completely made up of just 1's and 0's, and in binary, the number 2 is written as '10'. 

So the first sentence essentially says 'There are two types of people..." Funny, eh?!

Jargon can creep into your everyday language without you even realising it. It doesn't just crop up in the office!

Loosely defined, jargon refers to any words used by a group of people that are difficult for others to understand. 

So if you bamboozle your granny when you talk about SEO and coding, then congratulations, you're a jargon-user! 

The Biggest Change We've Seen in 2014

As we hurtle towards Christmas, the T.V. guide will inevitably start to fill up with such delectable treats as ‘Most Shocking Celeb Moments of 2014’, ‘Richest People of 2014’, and ‘Top Cars of 2014’. Notice the theme?  

Now whilst these shows may not be everyone’s cup of tea, they certainly do provide a little perspective for us all.

So with "end-of-year-perspective" in mind, the whole team at Vital Hike have been discussing the biggest changes we've seen for websites in 2014. But don’t worry; we’re not going to count down the list from 100... because there was actually one major game-changer in 2014.

And the winner is...

Modern Website Design: What to Avoid!

Everyone has a high-end brand they keep an eye on, whether it’s clothes, shoes, sportswear or games.

And if that brand is well out of your price range, you simply wait for the sales, right?

Sales bring the price down to your level, whilst the quality remains high… You just have to be patient.

But it's not the same with website designs - you might unknowingly pay full price for a really dated design. 

Nobody wants to pay through the nose for a website that looks like it just time-travelled from 1992.

So let’s take a crash course on website trends to turn you into a seasoned, steely-eyed pro.

The Evolution of Website Design

The first website was published in 1991 (23 years ago unbelievably!) and back then websites looked a lot like Word documents, without the images;

An In-Depth Look at Vital Hike's Latest Website Project: Luxury Blinds Direct

Luxury Blinds Direct has a new website!
Visit it here: www.luxuryblindsdirect.co.uk

The popular online photo blinds creation website has been running for a few years, but in the past year we have been working closely with the Luxury Blinds Direct team in order to redesign the website from the ground up.

And all of the team here at Vital Hike are very proud of the new website, which went live just eight days ago on Tuesday 14^th October!

Take a look at the new homepage below.

The project was a major redesign of their existing website, which you can see below in grey.

Straight away you can see we stripped it back and swapped the steely grey for a cleaner and brighter white. But more about the design later…

Why Did the Website Need a Redesign?

What is Web Hosting & How Does it Affect Your Website?

Web hosting is often overlooked until the last minute, and then a new website-owner gets a bit bamboozled by all the hosting options out there.

But it’s actually quite straightforward; think of your website as a house.

When you get your new “house”, you will need to rent some land to put your house on.

The land you rent is “hosting” your house.

So web hosting is essentially rental space on the World Wide Web for your shiny new website!

That was easy, wasn’t it?

But What About All The Different Types of Hosting Plans?

There are a few different ways to host your website online.

We’ll focus in on the two main ones; shared hosting and dedicated hosting.

Content Organisation: More Than Just a Party Trick

So you finally got around to creating a website for your business.

But you have so much you want your website to say… How do you separate it all out?

Don’t panic.

This is a good starting point.

SEO: The Mystery Revealed

SEO is mysterious.

Search Engine Optimisation essentially means ‘Making your website more effective on Google’.

Although SEO work doesn’t solely focus on Google, if you’re doing well on Google, you’re generally doing well across the board.

Need proof? In 2013, Google went offline for 5 minutes and overall web traffic dropped 40%... Globally. 

As of March 2014, comScore reports that Google commanded 67.5% of the search engine market, with the next highest being Microsoft sites at 18.6%.

Are All Web Pages Created Equal?

Websites are funny. Some people come to us asking for a 5 page website, or a 12 page website, as if they’re ordering a series of leaflets. They subsequently expect the price to increase at a fixed rate per page.

But this isn't how we do things.

If you look hard enough, you’ll probably find someone who will charge £X amount per page of your website…

But this isn't how it should be done.

Free Tool: Be Top of Google With Better Keywords

Google ranking is often used as a quick measure of how good a website is.

This won’t give you an accurate assessment however, as it won’t tell you anything about how well your site is converting visitors into sales. You may be ranked at number 7 on page 1 of Google, but maybe you’re making twice as many sales as the websites above you!

However, Google ranking is often seen as the be-all-and-end-all.

To help you get a better idea of how your website compares to your competitors, and potentially why they’re ranking higher than you, we would like to introduce you to something…

The Free Keyword Density Analyzer Tool from SEOBook.com.

This nifty little tool is very straightforward to use, and will give you instant information on the kinds of keywords your competitors are using and how frequently they use them on their website (the keyword density).

Bear in mind that keyword choice and keyword density are only two factors in the Google Ranking system. 

As we’ve mentioned in earlier articles, there are around 200 official and potential Google ranking signals but a little bit of insight into your competitors' keyword density, and even your own, is very useful when considering your content.

Benefits of Knowing Your Competitors' Keywords and Keyword Density

Google: AdWords Even Better… But You Lose Traffic

On Friday 5^th September, Google announced another little update to their Search Engine…

When users search for a company on Google, it’s logical to assume they’re looking for something specific on that company’s website. To help these users, Google typically displays a few sitelinks below the search result to specific pages on the website.

So instead of the user being directed to the homepage, they could, for example, click on the Web Design page in the Vital Hike sitelinks above, if that’s the exact page they need.

Google also include a mini search bar below the sitelinks, for navigation within the company’s website, but this often goes unnoticed.

And Google’s latest change is…

Get More Customers Using KFC's Marketing Strategy

The Secret Marketer over at Marketing Week has been talking this week about Pricing Strategy. He believes post-recession consumers are savvier than ever, and we would tend to agree. When recession doom and gloom is on every TV show, blog article and newspaper, it seeps into your brain and you subconsciously pay more attention to prices.

Specifically, consumers now recognise that the packaging of a product takes up a lot of the cost, so they will expect to pay more for a smaller package. They will also expect to pay more for something with higher quality ingredients than an “economy” version. Consumers are even adjusting to plastic bag charges all over the country now, knowing that it encourages better habits for the environment.

Where we run into issues however, is when consumers or clients are charged more for no logical reason. The Secret Marketer used the example of customers getting penalised for taking a later train than their advance ticket was booked for. The trains will all run regardless, they got their money upfront, so why should the customer have to pay more for taking one train over another?

And it raises a very good point.

If customers today are demanding explanations for every fluctuation in price, then pricing structures need to be made more flexible and open. We can’t just carry on as we are, when the mindset of the customer has altered dramatically.

With this in mind, let’s look at the latest burger released by KFC…

Google Update: Will your Website Pass the Test?

Google introduced a new ranking signal this month, which will affect where your website is ranked on the Google search results.

Previously, there were over 200 known and unknown factors that affected your Google rank, so it is big news that Google has declared this new factor as an actual ranking signal.

What is the new ranking signal?

The new signal for Google is the security level of your website.

On top of the other 200 factors, Google will now assess the security level of your website when deciding on your rank. They will do this by looking to see if your website uses SSL encryption, and if it does, the URL should start off HTTPS, which stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure. The standard website just uses HTTP, so the SSL adds a level of security on top of that.

Basically, they want all websites to use a HTTPS connection as it has an extra level of security than plain old HTTP.

Negative SEO: Your Website is Under Attack!

All of you must be fairly familiar with SEO by now, but have you heard of negative SEO? 

It used to be just a dark rumour online, with many doubting it was even possible… But Google confirmed it’s possibility in 2007, and those who work in the SEO industry today have confirmed it’s easier than ever.

Negative SEO refers to someone carrying out a smear campaign on your website, using SEO against you.  

Just to clarify, your web company will do a million and one things to your website in the name of optimising it for search engines, but negative SEO is something anyone can maliciously do to your website... from anywhere. They don’t need login details, server information or anything else, just the website address. 

There are a series of rules and guidelines that your web company will follow in order to make sure your SEO boosts your site rather than making it look spammy, but negative SEO attacks essentially break all of these rules to make you look like the ultimate Bond villain of the internet...

BREAKING NEWS: Blogger Missing

Authorities are at a loss this week, as the hotly anticipated Vital Hike Blog has not surfaced. 

The only clue as to the bloggers whereabouts is the following image. 

Stay tuned for live updates. 

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Who is Dominating Facebook in the UK?

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Negative SEO: Your Website is Under Attack!

Who is Dominating Facebook in the UK?

Everyone has someone on Facebook they look up to.

You might particularly admire Debenhams, or think Boots really nail their posts, but who is actually hitting the big time when it comes to Facebook?

Social Bakers are a global social media platform who analyse social media use professionally. More than a fifth of Fortune 500 companies use their analytics tool to maximise on their social media performance, so let's just say... they know what they’re talking about.

Each month, they produce a social media report which outlines the big guns on Facebook by region.

We’re going to look at the UK today, but the other regions are available to view here.

Social Bakers are great because their reports are very user-friendly. Their main focus is making it all understandable, so you don’t just get bombarded with figures and statistics.

When judging the top performing Facebook brands they look at a number of factors, but we’ll focus in on 3 separate measurements;

1. Top brands by number of local fans
2. Top brands by engagement rate (number of likes, comments & shares)
3. Top brands by response times to customers

You Need a Business Blog

And now you’re thinking to yourself; what is a business blog?

Well, a business blog is a short-form of content about a particular subject related to your business, which is then posted to your business website. Typically, websites have a blogging section set aside for this content, so that your website reaps the benefits of frequent blog updates.

Four Benefits of a Business Blog

We’ll focus in on four main ways a blog can boost your online business, with results you can measure.

1. It helps drive traffic to your website

Social Media Username: How to Look Like a Pro

Choosing a username for your social media accounts may seem pretty straightforward, but there are a lot of things you need to be thinking about. All social media platforms and most websites require a username now, so you get into the bad habit of recycling that old username from 10 years ago. But do you still see yourself as “JamesBond007”?

"I guess it doesn't really suit the business..."

Well, you might, but does it suit your business?

When coming up with a social media username for your business/professional persona, there are a few things to consider. Let’s run through them.

1. Social Media Usernames are a Form of Branding

Ok, so you’re not Coca Cola, Virgin or Heinz, but creating a strong brand image for your business should be top of your list.

Branding your business involves your logo choice, colour palette, font choice & more, and your username should fit in with those branding choices, whether you decide to be young and fresh, or established and reliable. A consistent theme in all you do is what you’re aiming for.

So for example, if you’re a Christmas shop, it is unlikely that a username like @sunshine will be on-brand.

This is especially important if your business name does not fit neatly into username character limits. For example, VitalHike is nine characters long, so this was the obvious choice for all of our social media accounts. 

However, a longer business name would cause issues, because of the character limits on some social media. In this case, you might look for a way to blend the business name with an on-brand word, e.g. FunkyFoto, BoldBlinds, DesignerClothes.

Consistent use of the same name across all social media sites will boost consumer awareness of you as a business and a brand, solidifying your online persona.

2. It must be Memorable!

Making your username easy to remember is one of those things you might overlook when trying to focus on branding. It might be great for your brand to abbreviate your business name down to an acronym, but what if the acronym is an impossible list of letters?

For example, if your business was “Coffee and Sandwich Sellers in UK”, and you shortened your name to @CSSUK for Twitter, just how memorable is that? 

@Coffee would arguably be better, but it’s unlikely it would be available...

So you’ll have to make a lot of judgement calls during this process, but it’s important to weigh all the options.

"Nope, I still can't remember what that username was..." 

3. Length of your Username

So you've done your branding, and hunted for something memorable, but when you go to sign up for your shiny new social media account, your name is too long! This is one of the main obstacles in creating your new username.

So lets take a look at your limitations.

1. Facebook sets a username character limit of 50, but it would be unwise to make a username that long anyway (it wouldn’t be memorable, and is unlikely to be brand-focussed).

2. For your Facebook Business page name, you have a character limit of 70. So you get a bit more leeway with your page name over a username, which means long business names won’t need to be changed.

3. Google+ sets no limit on your business name, so you’re safe there.

4. Your YouTube channel name is currently linked to your Google+ account, so if your username is good for Google+, it’ll work on YouTube too.

5. Twitter sets a strict 15 character limit on your username, which excludes the “@” symbol. Remember that Twitter posts also have a character limit of 140, so if people retweet your posts, a 15 character name will take up a lot of real estate.

As a general rule of thumb, try to keep it short and snappy, whilst still remaining related to your business and brand.

Think Chihuahua: Short and Snappy

"Actually, I'm a delight"

Branding, how memorable it is, and length are the top three things you should keep in mind when setting up your social media accounts. It can be a bigger task than it seems at first, but taking the time to get it right leads to stronger, future-proof results. 

Plus, you'll look like a pro.

Don't forget about the Planning Stage

When Creating a Username

- vitalhike

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Bad Reviews Hurting your Business? 3 Tips for Responding

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You Need a Business Blog

Bad Reviews Hurting your Business? 3 Tips for Responding

Negative reviews, angry comments and controversial social media posts can very quickly overtake the positive content you have created for your business online. You may spend an hour a week writing up some nice new content for your website, but if countless consumers are leaving negative comments on your Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and independent review websites, then you’re fighting a losing battle.

Those 20 pages on your website might glowingly describe your ethos and products, but negative content from consumers is like a plague; it will rapidly grow out of control if you don’t control it.

There are two options with negative content; ignore it or respond.

Firstly, lets talk about why you can’t afford to ignore it.

Some Google Results Have Pictures: But No Longer!

Have you noticed that some Google search results have a picture alongside them?

Well not for much longer! Google is currently removing this feature, as of June 25^th 2014.

So how were people getting their picture in search results? Was it some sort of hack?

No, it was all perfectly legit! It was a feature of Google Authorship, whereby you can link up any content you write on the web to your Google+ profile. Once linked, when your content popped up in Google search results, it displayed your profile picture, name and the number of Google+ Circles you were in.

After this latest change from Google, Authorship will now add your name to search results, but no picture!

6 Causes of Shopping Cart Abandonment

There is one deadly disease striking down online shops of all shapes and sizes… SCA (Shopping Cart Abandonment)…

It can happen at any time, with seemingly no explanation. One minute, your customer has the item in their shopping cart and everything looks rosy, when suddenly… they up and leave the website! What went wrong?

With shopping cart abandonment rates at an average of 67% as of March 2014, this is not a phenomenon that can just be brushed off. At its core, this signifies a failure in conversion. Your website should be guiding customers through to a sale, and if they’re falling at the last hurdle then it’s time for a new strategy!

Another potential cause of this is the psychology of online shopping. No one is watching you, and no one will know if you just ditch your shopping cart to go off and have your dinner; it’s very different to doing the grocery shopping in a busy Tesco. If there’s no urgency to make the purchase, and no consequences to leaving your cart, why spend your money at all?

In 2010, Forrester Research found that a massive 89% of consumers had abandoned a shopping cart at least once. Why do they do this, and how do we combat it?

Using Landing Pages To Get More Customers

What is a landing page?

A landing page is a term used to describe a page on your website that is highly targeted towards a certain visitor. Most pages on your website will be quite general in comparison, focussed on saying who you are and what you do, but landing pages are more precise tools, aimed at converting visitors into more sales, more email subscriptions, more phone calls etc.

So all landing pages are webpages, 

but not all webpages are landing pages.

When Does My Website Need a Landing Page?

Landing pages become essential when you are running an email marketing campaign, Google AdWords or something similar. With each of these advertising methods, you’re trying to promote something specific on your website, for example, a new range of products. To maximise the effect of your promotion efforts, you need to make it super simple for customers… So instead of directing them to your homepage, in the hopes that they’ll go searching for your new products, you need to send them to a targeted landing page.

Google’s Faulty Redirects: How your mobile website angers visitors

Last week (June 5^th) Google initiated a major change. This change will only affect smartphone users, but could potentially have a devastating effect on your website (say the pessimists). It will be a while before we can talk about the real impact of this change, but it could be quite bad.

The issue is mobile optimisation. 

(Yes, you hear a lot about that on this blog!)

Not everyone’s website is optimised for mobiles, and sometimes websites are optimised badly. In the cases of poor optimisation, the following might occur:

Google Adwords: 7 Benefits for your Business

Talk around the office this week has been leaning towards Google AdWords, and how it’s drawing more and more businesses away from older advertising methods like the Yellow Pages. If you can even get your hands on the Yellow Pages these days, you’ll notice they’re a lot smaller than they used to be; visible evidence of their decline in popularity and effectiveness.

And if you’re looking to get a decent ad in the Yellow Pages, it could cost upwards of £200… After parting with your cash, your advert will be printed in a single Yellow Pages edition, and the next time you hear from them is when it’s time to renew your subscription. You will never know the statistics on how effectively it’s working for you, you can’t change the ad after it’s been printed, and you’re only reaching people who don’t immediately dump the publication! These are a lot of serious limitations.

A survey of 3000 Canadians found that the Yellow Pages only influenced 10% of purchases, compared to search engines influencing a massive 80%. 

Predictably, the internet is crushing this outdated advertisement medium!

So what is Google Adwords and what can it do for me?

Google Adwords is an online advertising service, provided by Google (shocking) that allows you to get advertisements for your business/products onto Google search result pages. Having mentioned Google three times in that last sentence, you probably won’t be surprised when I mention that Adwords has become Google’s main source of revenue. In 2012, Google’s total advertising revenue was $42.5 billion, and in 2013 that rose to $50.5 billion.

The reason it's so successful is because, quite simply, it is a fantastic service! But more on that later…

Example of a Google Ad for Humble Pie, Edinburgh

Online Marketing: Why Does My Website Need It?

Does a website really need online marketing?

Surely once it’s made, and up on the old worldwide web, the world can see it, so why do you need to do anything else?

Well, the problem lies in the way people find your website. Your website is worth nothing if it’s not getting visitors, but how can those visitors even get to your website in the first place?

Source: Levelwing Infographic

In 2013, Levelwing created an infographic showing that 82% of all internet users use search engines and in reality the percentage is probably a lot higher by now. This highlights that the vast majority of people online are turning to Google & co. for answers. And it’s mainly Google, as they remain the largest of all search engines, with a 65%share of all searches online in December 2012; the rest of the searches were spread across more than five other search engines, with the second highest share being a meagre 8.2%.

So if everyone is on Google, your website better be on there too! It’s worth noting that search engines aren’t the only way your website can be found, but they are the main way.

What is a Dedicated Mobile Website?

Recently, more and more businesses are moving into the mobile website game, meaning a lot of people are faced with the decision; dedicated mobile website, or responsive website design?

These are currently the two options when it comes to creating a mobile website, and there is no clear favourite. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. We spoke about responsive website design previously, so it’s only fair that we introduce you to dedicated mobile websites before you have to make your decision! So without further ado…

What is a Dedicated Mobile Website?

If you’re opting for a dedicated mobile website to run alongside your main desktop website, then essentially, your main website is your suit and the mobile website is your tie pin. It’s an accessory to your main outfit, more of an add-on than an entirely separate website. You’re going to be funnelling most of your time and effort towards your main, classic website, whilst the dedicated mobile website will have a very trimmed down version of your content, and is really just so you can have some sort of presence in the mobile game.

Stand-alone mobile websites typically look different to their desktop counterparts, because they’re created separately. So instead of designing your main website responsively, allowing it to rearrange everything onscreen when it pops up on a mobile phone, you’re designing and creating 2 separate websites; one is just a lot smaller!

What are Meta Descriptions?

Today we’re looking at meta descriptions, also referred to as meta tags, which come into play when optimising your website (SEO).

Ever wondered where those little descriptions of websites come from in the Google search results?

Well, they’ve typically been written by the person that made the website in the first place! They’re written up in the code at the back-end of the website, so you might not even be aware of them, but we’re writing up meta descriptions quite a lot here at Vital Hike! Creating compelling meta description content is part of our SEO package.

So let us shed a little light on the subject for you…

What are Meta Descriptions?

Basically, they’re the blurb for each page of your website. They provide a general idea on the content

of the page. You, or your SEO web team, will write one up for each webpage of your website, making each one unique!

What is a Responsive Website Design?

Some of you may feel like ‘responsive website design’ has come out of nowhere, making website creation even more complicated, so don't worry, we’re going to break it down for you. We'll start with a quick outline: 

Responsive Websites detect the device you're using and shift their contents around.

Non-responsive websites just get squeezed onto the screen.

Responsive design has only really emerged as a viable new way of creating websites in the last 4 years. Ethan Marcotte is credited with the actual phrase ‘responsive web design’ in a May 2010 article in A List Apart magazine. He started off his article by quoting John Allsop, author of “A Dao of Web Design”, who said that

“… the web doesn’t have the same constraints [as print media], 

and [we need to] design for this flexibility.”

And flexibility is a key benefit of responsive designs.

Think of responsive websites as the yoga masters of the internet, compared to a desktop-only website… which is more like your great-uncle Michael with the bad back.

"I'm responsively designed!"

Your Business is on Facebook… But are you doing it right?

Today we’re doing a quick run-down of the top.. Facebook crimes!

Really, it’s more like bad Facebook etiquette, but ‘crime’ is more dramatic, am I right?

The following 6 crimes seem to pop up time and again on Facebook pages, and it’s killing your business. If I had to narrow it down to just one, I’d say inactivity is the biggest nono. Businesses today need websites and some sort of social media presence; if your social media page is neglected, it suggests you just aren’t on top of things, or you can’t see the value in Facebook for your business! 

You don’t want to be that guy…

So take a quick jaunt through our horrific crime list, and make sure you’re not a repeat offender, ok?

Video on the Merging of Social Media and Mobile Use

Following on from our blog article on Mobile Websites and why your business needs one, this video presents the latest statistics on social media and mobile use. A lot of our clients ask for advice on social media promotion for their business, but not all of them are convinced of it's value!

Are you a non-believer?

When you look at the sheer number of people on Facebook, and how digitised our world really is, you might be shocked...

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The 4 Latest Tips for Small Business Websites

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Your business is on Facebook... But are you doing it right?

The 4 Latest Tips for Small Business Websites

We’ve talked about writing content, mobile websites, customer-friendlywebsites, and we’ve even dipped a toe into Google Analytics. Today, we’re drawing it all together for small business websites.

1. Writing web content

We’ve spoken in detail about writing content for your website. Some key points from that blog were;

• Try to sound like an expert in your subject.
• Give the visitors what they want, e.g. your prices, your services, etc. 
• Add something to the online conversation, don’t just copy other people’s content. It’ll make your website, and you, stand out from the crowd.
• Write for your customers, not for Google. So don’t just use keywords over and over, make it readable.

This applies to the even the smallest business. Even a business as small as a one-man local dog walking service needs a website. It’s the best way of telling people who you are, and what you do, 24/7; so the content really is essential.

The main difference between a large organisation and a small business, is that your website can be a lot simpler. Your customers might be primarily local, meaning they will use your website for contact details, opening hours, and prices. Get started with the basics and you can build your content up over time.

Top tip for knowing what to write: speak to your customers!

What We Learned From... Tourism Websites

Here at Vital Hike, we have quite a few clients working in the tourism industry, including rental cottages, tour operators, campervan hires, hotels & more. So today, we thought we’d give you a little taster on what we’ve learned from working on Tourism websites!

We’ve tried to keep it tourism specific, but a lot of the tips are adaptable for different industries…

Why do tourism businesses need a website?

Whether you’re a family-run bed & breakfast, a luxury Scottish tour operator, or an independent hotel, trust us, you need a website. Websites used to be nothing more than an online poster for your business, but they’re much more powerful now. Websites are the first port of call for potential customers. If someone in America is looking for accommodation in rural Scotland, their main source of information will be the internet. The drawback for them is a lot of small businesses still aren’t online, so they’re limited to the businesses that ARE online.

"I think I'll browse for top Scottish Cottages!"

We mentioned in an earlier blog that more than half of mobile users now exclusively use their mobiles to browse online. If you’re in the tourism industry and AREN’T online, that’s a huge customer base you’re cutting off.

Mobile Websites - 7 Reasons Why Your Business Needs One

Most of us started out in the world of mobile phones playing Snake on the Nokia 3210. T’was a simpler time... So it really should come as no surprise that mobile usage is primarily games and social media today.

But amidst the Candy Crush marathons and Facebook Newsfeed checking, it seems mobile internet browsing is overtaking desktop internet browsing…

Source: Mary Meeker, Morgan Stanley, "Internet Trends," April 12, 2010

Is Your Website Too Bouncy?

Businesses see more growth once they go online. It's becoming a fact. A BCG report found that small/medium businesses with a high internet involvement saw 22% more revenue growth than offline businesses. Can you afford to ignore something that could increase your revenue by more than a fifth?

For business owners who are not already online, the whole process can seem a little opaque; what exactly goes on behind the scenes? What exactly is involved in maintaining and analysing a website?

In the last few blog articles, we have mentioned Google Analytics. This is a program we use to analyse a website’s success/impact; to see if the website is helping to further the goals of the business owner. Now, there are a lot of statistics involved in this process, and it can seem quite overwhelming all at once, so we’re going to dip a toe into web analytics today and talk a bit about Bounce Rate.  

Do I need to be Stephen King to write web content?

Short answer? No.

Today, we’re going to look at writing content for your website, with practical tips on how to do it well!

But first things first…

What is website content?

It’s all the text and multimedia (pictures, videos etc.) on your website. We’re going to focus on the writing alone, as it can seem like quite a daunting task if you’re not used to doing it on a daily basis!

The text content is highlighted by the red box.

The Customer-Friendly Website Strategy You Need Now!

Customers need to be led through your website - are you ready to step up?

Would you stand in the middle of your shop shouting out all your product information at the top of your lungs?

No, you’d go up to a specific customer and ask them how you can help.

Today, we’re going to look at:

 how to make your website more customer-friendly.

When you search for something on Google, what do you type in?
      

1. Maybe you have a cold and want recommended medicine, so you type “best cold medicine”


2. Or maybe that pain in your knee is still there after two weeks, so you want to find out what it is; “knee pain causes”.