Simplify Your Website and Boost Your Sales and Enquiries

Remember when the advice given to any business was to have a website? Just that one piece of advice: get a website. It doesn’t have to be special, or beautiful, it just needs to be functional.

Somehow over the years, this advice has changed. The advice became: add more calls to action. Get people to sign up to your newsletter by using a pop-up on the home screen (make sure you sign up to mine while you’re here - ha!).

Mobile access is vital — make sure every page is optimised and suitable for smartphone users.

The only piece of advice I agree with in the previous paragraph is to make sure your site is screen optimised. That’s just good sense. You want everyone to easily be able to access your site, whether they’re on a state of
the art Macbook or a clunky old tablet with a smashed-up screen.

Everything else is unimportant, really, although I do find my newsletter pop-up helps to boost my mailing list a bit. Here’s how to streamline your website to make it clearer and easier for your customers to use.

Only Use Calls to Action When Relevant

Don’t you hate it when you’re at the shop trying to pay for something and the cashier asks:

“This is actually on a three-for-two offer, do you want to grab another one?”

It’s great to get something for nothing, but when having to enact that offer is a hassle, it can often hardly seem worth it.

Here’s a similar scenario: If you’ve just nipped into the shop to buy a pen, and you’re being asked if you want a Kinder Egg and a bottle of Pepsi Max because ‘they’re on offer’, this calls into question the idea of relevance.

Do you like these items? Maybe. Would you buy them on a different day? Perhaps. But right now, when all you need is a pen, the extras don’t feel like a bonus. They feel like a pain in the bum.

Keep your call to actions relevant and use them sparingly so they retain their impact and you’ll see much better results than if you pepper them all over the place.

Use a Maximum of One Pop-Up

Pop-ups are the website equivalent of a sales assistant asking: “Can I help you?”

I’ve mentioned already that I have a pop-up on my website. It works well for me, because it’s not too intrusive and it’s offering something genuinely useful — the opportunity to sign up to my newsletter and pick up some handy hints and tips you can use in your business.

It appears once on the homepage once you reach my site, and once you’ve entered your email address (or clicked out of it), it goes away, never to return.

Keep using pop-ups throughout your site, or worse, set them up so they keep returning on every page, and you run the extreme risk of getting on everyone’s nerves. Your well- meaning pop-ups quickly turn from slightly useful to incredibly annoying.

That helpful shop assistant offering to show you what aisle you need to be on has started following you around the shop, asking you, every 30 seconds, if you need them to get anything for you.

You’d leave the shop, wouldn’t you? I’d run out of the door. People will do the same to your website.

These are my main two website content tips for 2020…

Stop hassling your customers. By now, everybody knows how websites work and what they need to do
in order to purchase items or find the information they need. If not, they’ll use your chat box, call you, email, leave a comment on your blog, or message you on any of your available social media profiles. They’ll reach you!

If you’d like a hand with looking over your website, get in touch with me and we can work together on a website audit to get everything back in perfect working order.

Until next time…

Ditch Linked Postings and Make The Most of Social Media Scheduling

There is one thing I’m asking all of my clients this year, and it’s to please, please, please stop linking their social media accounts in order to create duplicate posts.

It sounds like a time-saver, and once-upon a time it was the perfect (and only) way to post on more than one platform at once. Back when social media wasn’t a major sales driver, all we needed to do was keep our profiles mildly active.

Now it’s a huge part of our marketing and sales strategies, it’s time to start looking at how we make ourselves look on each of our chosen social media platforms.

 Why You Shouldn’t Link Instagram To Twitter

A few years ago, Instagram was bought by Facebook. This severed any friendly links Twitter had with Instagram, stopping Instagram posts from being mirrored properly on their site.

You might have noticed that Instagram posts on Twitter show a truncated version of the original Instagram post, and a URL, rather than an image preview. That’s the way it is now, unfortunately, and it’s not changing any time soon.

This means that your customers and followers are being presented with half the picture (pun intended) and this isn’t how to create an engaging post. Instead, use the same picture and take the time to compose a Twitter post separately. This will ensure the right amount of characters are used, and your image will be shown in-Tweet in all its glory.

Why You Shouldn’t Link Twitter To Facebook

Tweets work on Twitter because everyone using the app understands the short, sharp way we communicate on there. Hashtags are used in a different way to search and build trending topics, but also as punchlines to jokes and as memes, and there are different ways of using gifs there too.

Essentially, Twitter is a different world, and should be treated as such. Linking Tweets to your Facebook page looks weird because the most-read and clicked Facebook posts are laden with pictures and have plenty more words to read and engage with. A single line with a URL looks ideal on Twitter. On Facebook it looks impersonal and robotic.

Luckily, Facebook pages don’t need to be updated as often as Twitter, so if you can only take the time to form a great Facebook post a few times a week, this is fine. It’s much, much better than auto-updating every week with content your customers see as surplus and impersonal.

How To Schedule Posts To Save Time

I manage my social media accounts, and the accounts of my clients, using a range of scheduling apps like Buffer and Hootsuite. By scheduling, I can set aside a couple of hours each week to compose posts and arrange them in a calendar for each business and social media platform.

Yes, you can copy and paste if you think the posts will be just as effective, and yes, you can re-use content over time as long as it remains as relevant as it was when you first posted it. The beauty of scheduling apps is
that you can see right there and then what you’ve planned to post over the coming weeks and months, and there are analytics built in to show you which posts have been successful.

On the whole, I find using scheduling apps saves me hours every week, and I no longer miss being able to mirror posts across platform

Finding it hard to keep on top of your social media calendar? Get in touch and let’s talk about how I can help you out.

Until next time…

How to Start a Podcast for Your Business

According to Ofcom, roughly 7.1 million people in the UK now listen to podcasts each week. That’s one in eight people!

If you want more stats, here they are: this figure shows an increase in podcast subscribers and listeners of 24% over 2019.

So now you’re definitely thinking about starting a podcast, aren’t you? It’s even made me think about it! Podcasts are growing in popularity year on year, and they’re only set to continue to be popular among a huge range of demographics. Read on for my tips on how to join in with this lucrative trend and start your own podcast for your business.

Find Your Niche

Whatever your business specialises in, there’s a niche you can exploit. Dig deep into the nuts and bolts of what you do as an organisation. What is it that sets you apart from your competitors? What do your customers find interesting? What are you experts in?

Finding your niche can be as simple as looking at the industry your work within, or as complex as looking at customer data and finding out what links them in new and innovative ways.

Here’s an interesting graph I found that shows what types of topics podcast listeners are mostly interested in. It’s important to remember, however, that while some subjects seem to be less popular, they may have an
extremely devoted fanbase.

Source: Populus Research, March 2019 (Chart taken from the official Ofcom website.)

Choose A Great Name

Your podcast needs a name that your listeners will notice, remember and look out for. Don’t get trapped into thinking your podcast needs to be the same as your company’s name. Unless you’re a household name, it won’t make any difference to how new customers and leads chose your podcast over others in the
subject you’re interested in.

Pick something memorable and easy to say — 22% of podcast listeners use their smart speakers to listen to them, so make it easier for them to find your podcast by voice search.

Outline Your Style, Content and Format

Don’t wing it. While many podcasts seem to have a loose, relaxed feel, the truth is that each episode will have a plan and even a script to make sure it stays on track.

Think about the information you want to sound in your podcast and how you want to put it across. Here are some ideas to help you think about it:

●     Informative

●     Conversational

●     Witty

●     Interview

●     Round-Table

●     Storytelling.

Once you’ve worked out how you’d like your podcast to sound, you can start using your thoughts on your niche to create engaging content for your episodes. Also, don’t forget your podcast is essentially another route for marketing, so be sure to include several ads or plugs within each episode for relevant offers, products or services.

Sort Out Your Equipment

Podcast listeners are surprisingly discerning. Gone are the days when a tinny phone recording full of background noise and choppy editing would suffice.

There are plenty of videos on YouTube that go into details about the best types of podcasting microphones and editing software. I still think it’s perfectly acceptable to use your phone to record as long the sound quality is clear, and there are free sound editing app options out there if you’re looking for a quick trial to see how a podcast would work for you.

If you’re planning to keep making professional podcasts, however, my advice would be to invest in the right tools for the job. Your listeners will appreciate it.

Promote

All that’s left to do now is to promote your podcast! Use your social media channels to get the word out, send a mailout to your customers, add it to your email signature and speak about it to everyone you meet. Word of mouth is so important!

Encourage your listeners to review your podcast so you can take their feedback on board and encourage more subscribers to join your growing group of fans. If you like, you can pay for advertising on your chosen podcast hosting site to bring you up the rankings. It all depends on how important subscriber
numbers are to you.

Are you thinking of starting a podcast? Need some help with scripts, interview questions or marketing content? Get in touch and let’s chat about how I can help you!

Until next time…

Avoiding The Junk Folder: How To Create a Winning Email Newsletter

Email marketing (or e-marketing) is one of the most effective ways to maintain a relationship with your customers. When they signed up for regular updates from you, it was the first sign that they were interested in buying something from your site again. So, don’t waste that energy by sending them emails they don’t want to read.

Here are my tips to make sure your marketing emails make the points you want to make, and quickly grab the attention of your customers. Don’t sit in junk mail; be a must-read publication!

 Think about your customers’ interests — and then be those interests

When you’re writing an email, put yourself in your customers’ shoes. Would you open an email that said “5% off your next cauliflower”?

Well, that depends, doesn’t it? On whether you’re really into cauliflowers?

Your marketing email list represents a diverse cross-section of individuals who are brought together by an appreciation of the products you sell or the services you provide.

Bearing that in mind, think about what it is you give to these people that they like. What is it about your brand, your products and your online persona that brings these people together? Once you’ve come up with your answer, all you have to do is give it to them!

 Get to the point!

Everyone knows email newsletters are selling something. The difference between an email newsletter that ticks a box, and a great newsletter your customers love to recieve, is the quality of the content inside.

You might not be surprised to know that people prefer receiving personalised emails — it makes them feel like you’re reaching out to them directly. But what also counts is relevancy, and getting to the point right away.

If you’ve got a great story to tell — perhaps you’ve got a brilliant review you want to share, or an upcoming special release — get to the point quickly and then elaborate later. In journalism, this is called the inverted pyramid, and it helps to make sure you’re hitting all your important information before you start noodling around with the extra fillings.

Come up with an incredible subject line

Your subject line is what sets you apart from junkmail. When your customer swipes open their emails on the morning commute and sees 17 unread emails since they left the house, which do you think they’re going to read?

●      The ones specifically relevant to their interests

●      The ones that sound important

●      The ones that seem like they’ll be a diversion

●      The ones that are impossible to ignore.

How can they tell which emails are going to fulfil at least one of those criteria? The all-important subject line. The urge to be cryptic and clever is strong, I know, but follow these rules and you’ll create a great subject line every time:

●      Use power words

●      Make promises (you can keep)

●      Be simple and effective

●      Use actionable words — in other words, use verbs rather than passive language

●      Tease and pique curiosity.

You might also want to try A-B testing with emails that have “sale!” or “special offer!” in the subject line, and those that don’t. Often these can be filtered into spam or junk folders by email clients. Give it a go and see what works for you.

Need some support with your email marketing? I can help. Send me a message today and let’s work together to boost your sales.

Until next time…

Beyond Keywords: Content That Does More Than Rank

For some time, I’ve had clients email me in desperation, worried about a new Google update that’ll somehow reduce their hard-won ranking to rubble.

Every time Google threaten to change the way they crawl websites - and now more recently every time Instagram or Facebook decide to change their algorithms - it sends content creators and marketing departments into a panicked frenzy. What about our stats?! What about our processes?!

I’m going to say something controversial now: forget your ranking for a minute. Freeing, isn’t it?

 Writing with Freedom

For me, thinking about Google rankings and keyword selection feels like handcuffs are being slammed around my wrists, and that doesn’t make it easy to type. In fact, it makes it near impossible.

Thinking about your ranking is important, of course it is, but that’s what you consider at the first stage of your content planning. By the time you get to writing your content, whether it’s social media posts, photo captions or blog posts, all the technical work should be at least 80% done.

By considering what you’re using as keywords well in advance, you have the wonderfully freeing sensation of actually being able to write your content without distractions. Slip those keywords in at will. Make the words speak for themselves.

Or, even more controversially, don’t use keywords at all.

The Lost Art of Keywordless Content

I’m going to put this out there: I’m not entirely convinced keywords are necessary 100% of the time.

For a lot of content, yes, keywords are vital. Active content, like the descriptions of items for sale, needs keywords to enable customers to easily search and find the things they are looking for.

However, on the whole, if you’re writing a blog post or a page of web content, your words need to grab your readers. A thin paragraph of key phrases isn’t going to do that. What does engage your audience is reality, frivolity, sense and diverse, interesting content. People want to read something genuinely gripping, or emotive or amusing.

Google’s updates aren’t designed to make your life harder, they’re actually created with users in mind. They want to steer content away from churned-out robotic writing and into more creative, informative forms.

Essentially, Google will reward you if your content is useful.

Using Natural Speech

How often have you searched ‘shoes 5 black’ recently? Or ‘healthy snack’?

What we search for and how we search for it is changing, and with it so are the keywords we spend so long analysing. More and more, customers are using natural speech to find what they’re looking for. Think about how often you ask Alexa for some help, or tell Siri to find something out for you. You don’t chant ‘cheap holiday Lapland Christmas’ into your phone do you?

If you’re having trouble snapping out of a keyword-focused mindset — I understand, I’ve been there! — just read what you’re written out loud. Does it sound like a person said it? How could you improve the flow so it sounds more natural?

Above all, write your content for your customers, not for search engines. Gaming the system won’t improve your sales figures. Targeting your customers will.

Until next time…