It was with more than a little sadness we heard on Wednesday of the decision to stop publishing The Gloucestershire Echo and Gloucester Citizen as daily newspapers and instead to publish them as a weekly paper. Now to put this into context I am of a generation that I still recall as a child rushing […]
The countdown is well and truly on for this year’s Gloucestershire Business Show on the 17th and 18th May at The Centaur, Cheltenham Racecourse – 9.30am-4pm each day. This has got to be the biggest and best business event in the county now in its third year – with over 140 exhibitors, a number of […]
In the ideal world, everything you ever do on the Marketing front will be a rip roaring success. But from time to time things can go wrong for even the best marketers – but then is the time for a calm head and to ask yourself some questions (or ask somebody like us), to help […]
Our top 10 tips for making sure you make the most out of your website and what it can do for your business.
The chances are that if you are reading this and you either work in a business or run a business yourself, then that business will have a website. The possible exceptions might be if your are just starting out, your business is very small or you consider that the internet is not important to your business (I know hard to imagine, but some people still think that way).
Far too many businesses though fall into the trap of thinking “thank goodness for that” when they finish their website and consider it a job done. That might be the case when you produce a brochure – after all you cannot change a brochure once you have had it printed, but this should most certainly not be the case with a website. We would urge you to think of it more as the start than the finish. In many respects websites should be thought of being a little like painting the Forth Bridge – it is never finished (although having decided to check our facts it turns out that even painting the Forth Bridge finished at some point as you can see here).
So if you accept our argument that you should regard your website as never being finished what exactly do we suggest that you should be doing to/with it. Here are our top 10 suggestions:
1. Check your Google Analytics. The amount of information and insight that the free version of Google Analytics provides is quite remarkable. It allows you to understand how many people are visiting your website (whether that number is increasing or decreasing), how they found your site, how many pages they looked at, what they looked at and much much more. If you don’t have Google Analytics on your website we would strongly suggest you get your web company to add it. Even if you don’t look at it now, from the point it is added it is compiling a history for you that you can look at the future.
2. Ask yourself what is the Google Analytics telling you (or for that matter, ask us to to do that for you)? It can for example help guide you on what aspects of your marketing are working best for you. For example if you are running a direct mail campaign or perhaps doing a door drop, does this lead to an increase in the amount of direct traffic to your website. What proportion of your website traffic is coming from social media – anything less than 5% and it is worth looking at more closely. Where is your most engaged web traffic coming from and where are you losing visitors? These are just some of the questions you should ask yourself.
3. Is your website mobile friendly or to coin an industry phrase – responsive? Google announced in February 2015 that from April of that year it would start to penalise websites that are not mobile friendly by ranking them less highly in searches on mobile devices. If you are at all unsure whether your website is mobile friendly or not, then Google have a free to use tool where you can check your website – you can find it here.
Aside from the rankings though, there are other compelling reasons why you would want your website to be mobile friendly. Firstly and perhaps most obviously you would want your website user experience to be as good as possible regardless of what device they were using wouldn’t you? Google Analytics also tells you what your bounce rate is (the bounce rate is the percentage of people who arrive on one page and leave the site immediately), not just overall, but also by device. A “bounce” could in certain circumstances be good, for example – I look at a website for a telephone number and I find it straight away. Most bounces though are considered bad and you should be looking for the lowest bounce rate possible. If your website is not mobile friendly you will usually see a higher bounce rate for tablets and an even higher bounce rate for mobiles.
The good news about responsive sites is that most new sites will be built as a responsive site and the days when it cost more to have your website built mobile friendly are long gone.
4. Look to see whether there is a correlation between web traffic and business levels. If there is, then this might increase the argument for doing more to drive traffic to your site e.g. more social media, pay per click etc – at least on a trial basis to check that this also leads to an increase in enquiries and business levels.
5. Keep your site fresh. It is generally well accepted that Google and other search engines, “like” websites that are regularly updated. It is one of the reasons that we write blogs like these, although they are also a great way through social media of driving traffic to our site. Even if you don’t blog, there are other ways of keeping a site fresh, adding testimonials or case studies are another good way.
6. Check whether your site is secure. Aside from the fact you would not want your site hacked or enquiry data stolen, Chrome announced last year that they would progressively highlight to users the websites that they considered to be not secure. If you look at an insecure website (ours included but we are taking steps to address this), Chrome will currently show an “i” in a circle next to the address in the browser, which if you click on it will show that the website is not secure. Later this year they will make this much more prominent with a red warning bar, that is likely to have a damaging effect on the traffic that visits your site. Fortunately it is not very difficult to change your site from being http to https, which is what is required to make your site secure. You will also need a security licence. Your web company will be able to quote to do this or we can direct you to firms that can help with this.
7. Measure what you can. Google analytics will tell you a lot about how your website is performing but you also need measures in your business as well. Make sure that all enquiries are logged and that new enquirers are asked how they found your business, then monitor this information and ensure that you calculate the amount of business that the website generates and that you can gauge how well web enquiries convert compared to others.
8. Look for opportunities to list your website on other websites, as this can be a good way of driving traffic to your website that might not otherwise find you. Make sure that you set up a Google My Business listing, as it is free and will help you be found even when people are searching for your type of business rather than your name. A glance at our referral traffic so far this year, found that 3 people already this year had come to our website via our listing on the Cheltenham Chamber of Commerce website. PR activity that leads to online articles can also sometimes include links to your website.
9. Consider Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). SEO is where you, or someone on your behalf will make changes to your website to make sure that you rank highly on searches for the terms that you want to be found for. Large organisations that drive a lot of traffic to their site and get a lot of business from it, can spend thousands a month on this. A one off exercise though, costing hundreds rather than thousands can highlight changes that you can make to your site that will improve its ranking. We usually suggest this is done as part of building a new website.
10. Consider paid for activity to drive more traffic to your website. If your website is performing well and you are generating business from it, then it may be worthwhile considering paid for activity to boost the amount. There is a huge variety of ways this can be done, but Google adwords (pay per click), boosted Facebook posts or online advertising are some of the most popular. The great thing about any form of online marketing is that it is highly measurable. Could you also do email marketing or e-newsletters to prospects to drive even more traffic? It is crucial though to make sure that you ensure your website is working well before you start spending money on driving more traffic to it.
Hopefully we have given you some food for thought with this blog, but if it all sounds a bit daunting or you don’t have the time or expertise to carry out this work, then that is what we are here for. You can contact us here. So what are you waiting for?
As we approach 2017, here are our 12 predictions for the Marketing industry in 2017.
1. The percentage share of Marketing budgets devoted to some form of digital marketing will increase.
2. There will be a rush to make website https as Chrome rolls out its planned changes to mark non secure websites as insecure.
3. The importance of social media will increase, but the market will also become more fragmented, with the dominance of the likes of Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin becoming increasingly challenged (very much a continuation of 2016).
4. More and more businesses will adopt content marketing as they strive to increase traffic to their websites.
5. Demand for experienced Marketing staff will climb, outstripping supply and leading to more firms to “grow their own”.
6. Integrated marketing, will become the norm – with less and less businesses running marketing or campaigns in silos.
7. Businesses will devote more time and energy to their full digital presence, not just their website and will strive for a more consistent brand image.
8. Economic uncertainty will prevail driving businesses to source suppliers locally.
9. Customer expectations will continue to climb and the gulf between expectations and reality will grow wider. This will drive more firms to measure customer experience and invest in training and technology to improve results.
10. Pressure on marketing budgets will increase the focus on customer retention, cross selling and improving conversion rates on new enquiries.
11. Businesses will place an increased importance on customer and prospect data. Ensuring it is up-to-date, complete and increasingly segmented.
12. Growing numbers of businesses will turn to outsourced providers to supplement existing resources or skills (well you would expect us to say that wouldn’t you?)
In a year of such major political events, it is all too easy to overlook some of the main events in the world of marketing. We list here a light hearted look at twelve marketing things that happened in 2016 – one for each month of the year. January John Cleese returned as Basil Fawlty […]
Here at Prestbury Marketing we have always been firm believers that businesses should play an active role in supporting their local communities. This belief is not just based upon a gut feel that it is the right thing to do, but more the fact that we believe that “doing good is good for business”. The proof in the pudding is that several of our clients have come to us through a mutual involvement in supporting a charity or cause. We also find that the support we give boosts our profile significantly.
One of the causes that we support at this time of year is Hamper Scamper, a gift and food hamper collection and distribution appeal organised by our charity client County Community Projects (CCP). The appeal has gone from strength to strength. The origins of Hamper Scamper go back to 2007 when Zurich, a charity partner of CCP asked them for their help in organising a food donation collection amongst staff to give to local disadvantaged people. They collected enough food for 10 hampers that CCP distributed for Zurich. Fast forward to 2016 and CCP collected hundreds of gifts for children in the county that might not otherwise have received a Christmas present. They also collected enough food to make up hampers for over 1,100 families or individuals who in one way or another are struggling.
Thanks to amazing support from The Regents Arcade and Cheltenham Borough Council, the home for this year’s appeal was the former BHS store in the arcade. The venue was ideal, not least because of the increased visibility it gave to the appeal but also the large area it offered to work in. The Prestbury Marketing team were fortunate enough to be invited along to help for half a day this week, joining our clients Officeworx and Smart Computers. It was a hard working, non stop morning of filling large Hamper Scamper boxes with food items, to keep up with the constant stream of volunteers and community groups, calling in to collect their hampers for distribution to the disadvantaged. It was also incredibly rewarding and satisfying to see the sheer scale of generosity of individuals, organisations and businesses that had donated food items. We were delighted to have donated a car load of items that we purchased for the appeal as well as a collection from our recent business breakfast that all the attendees generously contributed to.
We were also delighted to see many of our clients supporting the appeal. We have already mentioned Officeworx and Smart Computers, but we also know that Printwaste Recycling and Shredding, Circle 2 Success, Questline and The Royal Oak to name just a few, also got behind the appeal.
Hamper Scamper is a great way to support your local community and the team behind it, ably led by CCP’s Chris Knight deserve huge praise. We only hope they get the sense of satisfaction of a job well done – they deserve it. It is great to know that this Christmas for over a thousand families, will be a brighter and happier one as a result of Hamper Scamper.
If your business is looking to get involved in your community or to adopt a charitable cause, we can help guide you through the process, to make it as easy as possible and to maximise the benefit of the arrangement for both parties. You can find out more about this service here.
Social media isn’t just there to grow your brand and connect with old friends, when done correctly, the big platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and Instagram can play a key role in creating new business leads and attracting new customers. Let’s take a look at how Trumps triumphant yet surprising win in the USA presidency […]
Last month Chrome came out and announced that all websites that are not HTTPS, will from January next year start to be flagged by them as not secure if the sites either require passwords or take credit card details. The move has been designed to “encourage” firms with HTTP sites to turn them into HTTPS ones.
The motivation for this announcement was to quote Chrome to “help users browse the web safely” and part of “a long-term plan to mark all HTTP sites as non-secure.” So in time this will affect all HTTP sites and not just those that take passwords or credit card details. Below is how Chrome will eventually flag up all HTTP pages.
So exactly what is the difference between a HTTPS or HTTP site? If a website is not HTTPS, it is not secured and it is possible for someone else to interfere with the website before you see it. For a long time, only websites with serious security concerns bothered to get a certificate (which is what sits behind a HTTPS website) – for example businesses taking payments or banks allowing people to log into their accounts, but HTTPS sites have become increasingly common.
From enquiries we have been making to web companies on behalf of clients, changing your site from an HTTP site to become HTTPS is nowhere near as big a deal as it was for example to make a non mobile site, mobile friendly. It is an additional cost however and yet another thing to add to your growing “to do list”.
Is it worthwhile making it the change? We think so. No-one yet knows how the general public will react to these changes, but it is likely to put many users off and that cannot be a good thing for your website. If that were not reason enough it is a widely held view in the Search Engine Optimisation community that making your website HTTPS will give it a google ranking boost as well. So all in all, it probably is really a question not of yes or no but when.
When two mega brands like Unilever and Tesco clash, it is always going to be interesting and this week was no exception. Both brands hit the headlines this week, prompted by an attempt by Unilever to raise the wholesale prices it charges Tesco by about 10% of some of its household name brands (Hellmans Mayonnaise, […]
With over one billion users worldwide and continuous updates to its core features, LinkedIn remains the go-to platform for professionals looking to connect, learn, and grow their businesses. Long gone are the days when it was just a platform to find your next job. But with ever-evolving algorithm updates and shifts in user behaviour, making […]