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Why Your SEO Content Still Needs a Human

Wed, 07 Jun 2023 16:19:11 GMT

Don’t put all your SEO eggs into the AI basket just yet

Geoffrey Hinton, the ‘godfather of AI’, recently resigned from Google amidst warnings of the dangers of advancing artificial intelligence technology. His comments reignited the already hotly debated topic of AI and specifically the role of Chat GPT in work and life.

The topic opens an ethical Pandora’s Box, which we will avoid for the purposes of this article. Instead, we want to share our experience testing Chat GPT for some potential Search Engine Optimised content work. Based on our ongoing experience, we’re not outsourcing human resources to digital resources any time soon!

Chat GPT is only going to get smarter

Let’s preface everything we’re about to say by acknowledging that from a purely content quality perspective, Chat GPT is at its worst right now. As is the nature of the AI beast, this evolutionary wheel is moving at full sprint. As such, we will likely only experience improvements, better features and more quality outcomes.

However, don’t throw your content-writing baby out with the baby water just yet. We’re still a long way from outright replacing an experienced, knowledgeable, skilled human being. Internal linking, high-quality keyword research, optimizing content without it competing against other pages on the same website - Chat GPT is not quite there.

However, the biggest bone we have to pick right now is the quality. Upon first inspection, it’s impressive. Dig a little deeper, though, and the warts start to show.

Our client’s AI copywriting challenge

Like every digital media agency, we jumped onto Chat GPT as soon as possible to get a first-hand impression. One of our clients was equally quick, tasking it to write a blog post about a particular plumbing problem.

No doubt, the client could not believe their eyes when seconds later, a full, supposedly unique blog article was submitted. They read the first paragraph, liked what they saw and sent it to us for review.

We had to admit the opening paragraph was entirely satisfactory. But it was after the first paragraph that things fell to pieces.

AI does not always filter

We’ve all got someone in our lives who exists without a filter, right? They’re the ones we’re usually apologising quietly for in the background. Based on our experience, Chat GPT was a lot like our filterless friend. It didn’t seem to grasp what to sift out and what to leave in.

So, possibly to tick all the boxes, it submitted an e-vomit of copy. Occasionally, something of note was written, but - oh, my days! - did we have to wade through a woodland of words to find those nuggets.

Quantity might keep some analytical bots happy, but verbose copy that lacks quality won’t win over humans.

Copy was repetitive and copy repeated itself

Did our tongue-in-cheek title make a point?

This is linked to our previous observation, in that the flood of words included a lot of repetition. You could see how the intelligence gathered information about the same point from various sources. Rather than summarising them all, it had taken snippets from each and essentially said the same thing in five different ways.

We knew the sweet spot for said article was around 880 words, which Chat GPT had delivered. However, once we pruned away the repetition, we were left with a 100-word introduction that couldn’t be expanded upon.

One hundred words don’t make a blog by any stretch.

Copy compromised itself

As a result of using disparate sources, it turns out the copy had inherited disparate opinions, too. So at the start of the blog, it gave advice to do ABC. However, mid-way through the copy it back-flipped on itself and said to do XYZ. Confusing and unprofessional if you blindly accept and publish.

Yawn

We will be the first to admit it; plumbing isn’t the sexiest of topics, although it can get pretty dirty!

But that’s part of the challenge for a good content writer. Finding the points of interest and amplifying them, or at the very least making a dull topic so informative you just have to stick with it.

Based on our experiences, artificial intelligence takes a, well, robotic approach to creativity. It’s clinical; playing with nuance, introducing some colloquialism and injecting character into content seems well beyond its abilities for now.

AI and fake news

Although this does not pertain to our experience, it is a sobering word of warning. You are ultimately responsible for anything you publish - you can’t blame AI for your failure to quality control and fact-check.

By now, we’ve probably all heard about the infamous AI-generated copy that fabricated a sexual harassment claim against an American Law Professor and quoted a Washington Post article that didn’t exist . Not only was the allegation invented, but the major media outlet article quoted was also a figment of virtual imagination. Seriously scary stuff. Sure, this is an extreme example but it shows we can’t afford to down tools and hand all responsibility to computers just yet.

How we currently use Chat GPT

We treat Chat GPT a little like an assistant or a sounding board.

It can make worthwhile suggestions on how to lay out an article - information you need to include, for example. We also like to set a writing task after we’ve completed our work. This way, our work avoids any subconscious influence, but we get to see if AI has come up with an angle we didn’t consider.

It’s a little like covering all bases and getting some cool and clinical peace of mind from your non-feeling, nonplussed colleague!

How do you find Chat GPT? We’d love to hear your thoughts!

How To Launch Your Website & Pitfalls To Avoid

Fri, 05 May 2023 12:43:19 GMT

HoneyBadger’s web developers are fortunate to be responsible for hundreds of website builds and rebuilds.

Launching a new website or enhancing an existing site can - and should - go like clockwork. However, the reality is that it can go terribly wrong unless everyone understands thorough briefing and project plans.

Catastrophically, even.

We follow a well-oiled procedure that mitigates catastrophes and makes the building journey as smooth and efficient as possible. This approach did not happen overnight. It came with understanding our mistakes in those early days and working to find improvements. So, what have we learnt over time, and what mechanisms have we implemented to deliver clockwork precision? Here we cover key take-home points, such as:

Integrating best point-of-sale systems
Avoiding website gimmicks
Working through eCommerce shipping details
Ensuring the site is mobile responsive
Maintaining clear and open communication pathways between all team members
Knowing when to start from scratch rather than try to fix
How our team works

Discover more details below, or better yet, contact us and see how we can help with your website development!

Integrate a best-practice website point-of-sale plug-in system

Let’s say you’re moving your eCommerce store to Shopify, but you currently run an independent point-of-sale. If you keep all your inventory with the incumbent point-of-sale system, you will compromise your back-end operations. Essential features such as credit card readers might not be compatible, and assuming otherwise could be costly.

Start how you want to finish and partner with a point-of-sale finance service that will work for your website. Don’t try to retrofit the old with the new. Yes, this requires an initial outlay, including the time to manage a transition. However, the returns will be worth it. You will not only maximise the benefits provided by the platform, but this will no doubt open the door to a whole new world of inventory management opportunities.

Besides, surely it’s time for a stocktake and clean up, right?!

Avoid website gimmicks

It’s tempting, we know. We come across plenty daily, and you can feel like a kid in a sweet shop. However, don’t fall for every gimmick. More often than not, they can slow down and compromise your site performance.

As our team leader says, it’s like asking a Formula One car to tow a caravan and still expecting it to come first in a race. Not going to happen. Sure, our team can probably code it in - but is it really worth it? Wouldn’t you prefer to be travelling down the highway in a flashy car rather than a campervan?

Don’t forget about eCommerce shipping

It seems innocuous, but underestimating the complexity of your eCommerce shipping software integration can be crippling. This has to be one of the most complex steps in any build, and if the planning isn’t done beforehand, things can go badly for the user.

If you’re selling worldwide, it’s one thing to price dispatch from A to C. But what if you’re drop shipping and B can send to C instead? How does this affect the price? Does someone purchasing 10 miles down the road pay the same as someone purchasing from 100 miles away? Are import taxes involved? Will delivery be free after the buyer spends a certain amount?

The best eCommerce domestic and international shipping solutions come from resolving questions such as these.

The variables can be head-spinning, and it’s crucial you, the client, map out every possible scenario before construction commences.

Responsive mobile website design is key

If you want to know how to launch a website successfully, ensure you have a mobile-friendly website. It’s easy to fall into the trap of reviewing your site on PC - it’s your work, after all. But in most B2C business model cases, customers visit you from mobile. So you need to review first and foremost on mobile and then on PC. In doing so, your site will be an optimal customer experience on any device.

Create a web development task team and communicate

Here’s the clincher. As is the case with everything in life - truly everything! - it all comes down to communication. When everyone’s on the same page, things come more easily. Projects run smoothly, and websites are no exception!

Establishing a joint task team with at least the client, account manager, and Dev representative maintains communication and understanding, helps avoid assumptions and oversights, and keeps this train tracking on rails and running on time.

Don’t apply sticky tape to a broken website

Don’t pour good money after bad, and don’t try to fix a broken bone with sticky tape. If audit and performance reports indicate your site requires substantial work to even make small progress, start again. It sounds aggressive and dramatic. However, performing technical First Aid may stop your site from flat-lining, but it won’t help it do much more. It will probably take as much time and budget as a build-from-scratch. The answer is clear.

How our web design and development team works

So, how do our designers and developers approach a build?

Step one

We ask for a formal brief and when that is not available, we conduct a call and develop a reverse brief. The devil is not in the detail here - as far as we are concerned, the more fastidious and forensic the brief, the better.

Step two

We establish a call between a Dev representative, the Account Manager and the client. This is a chance to review the brief, troubleshoot misunderstandings and ensure everyone is clear. As mentioned earlier, it’s the very first of a series of ongoing collaborative meetings.

Importantly, this is not a one-way street. The client can ask as many questions as possible and contribute new, post-brief ideas and thoughts.

Step three

HoneyBadger initiates a technical audit to understand what will and will not work during the integration/update stage. We present our findings to the client and devise a plan - how to solve the problems, where we might pivot to avoid them in the first place, etc.

Stage four

Everyone is clear on what needs to be done to make this a success. Now HoneyBadger works on a plan and an estimated timeline. We table this with the client, seek final approval, and off we go. Those ongoing meetings remain, but otherwise, it’s heads-down for us as we get to work building an alpha site!

Contact our web development agency to launch your website

We hope this has given you some food for thought about how to launch a website. If this all seems overwhelming and you don’t know where to start, contact our website development team. We can catch up for a no-cost, no-obligation call to see if we’re the right fit for one another.

How To Optimise Images For SEO

Mon, 27 Mar 2023 15:56:14 GMT

When creating a new page or blog on your site, do you upload an image, insert and move on? If so, you’re missing out on many wins that can help optimise your page for search.

Clients regularly ask us how to optimise images for the web . Typically, the answer involves a combination of quick, easy wins along with more time-consuming applications (which will be worthwhile in the long run). We caught up with HoneyBadger’s specialist SEO tech team to pick their brains on how to optimise images for SEO.

Here the team shares some top tips on getting the most out of your images. We will explore the following topics:

What is image optimisation?

Remember the website user experience is crucial

Does image filename affect SEO?

Don’t ignore the alt text

Avoid keyword stuffing

Caption an image, but don’t embed text into it

Use unique images

The importance of a mobile responsive website

If you’d like to know more or you want to speak to HoneyBadger about improving your entire website performance, reach out to us via the contact link at the bottom of this advice.

What is image optimisation?

Image optimisation refers to best-practice applications that can positively contribute to website Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) performance.

Remember the website user experience is crucial

It’s important to note SEO is not the only box you need to tick - the UX design plays a central role as well.

Often, the two go hand-in-hand. The SEO oracle himself, Google’s John Mueller, tells us time and time again to prioritise the human experience. You can optimise your site until the cows come home. However, unless people land on a page that delivers quality and relevance, they are unlikely to hang around.

The same goes for image quality selection. Find the appropriate image that complements the copy and ensure it's of good quality. Don't compress it to the point it becomes too pixelated. Equally, don’t select unnecessarily large images as doing so negatively affects the site’s load time. For the most part, people are looking at your site from a PC, not a high-definition screen.

Optimising images helps create a great user experience.

Does image filename affect SEO?

Yes - it’s just one of the many slices combined to make a tasty SEO pie!

Clients regularly ask us how to name an image for SEO. If your site is full of image files that read something like, 'IMG_4748486211.JPG', you have some essential cleaning up to do. However, you most certainly are not alone.

Keep the number of words to the bare minimum and ensure they are relevant and descriptive. For example, the shot we discussed earlier might be titled:

‘kids-playing-on-computer’

Note all letters are lowercase, hyphens represent spaces, and in just three words we fairly accurately depict the photo and its relevance.

Don’t ignore the alt-text

Alt text, or alternative text (also referred to as alternative tags), describes the image to the user. We rely on this copy in case of upload failure or to assist vision-impaired users. The practice is often dismissed as inconsequential, which could not be further from the truth. Give alt text the respect it merits, because the photo search engines certainly do.

Avoid keyword stuffing

It can be tempting to maximise search opportunities by using as many keywords as possible in your file name. However, this is a great example of how to not optimise an image for web . It is ultimately counter-intuitive as search engines will likely view it as spam.

Position images appropriately

This talks to the first point, but you need to locate the image in a place that makes sense. For example, if we wanted to upload a cheesy shot of people having a fun time interacting with their computer, we would locate it above or underneath the first recommendation.

Caption an image, but don’t embed text into it

To better optimise an image, insert a caption below it so the context and connection to copy are even more apparent. Don’t make the common mistake of embedding important copy over the image itself. Why? Search engines want to make the web as accessible as possible to as many people as possible. However, not everyone can see content when it is embedded in a shot.

Captions can also be an opportunity to use additional synonym keywords that might otherwise look a little spammy in paragraph copy.

Use unique images

The best SEO images are unique. Granted, this can sometimes be challenging depending on your page. That said, wherever possible, aim to set yourself apart from the pack by using genuinely unique imagery rather than shots from a library. Even if you are an eCommerce retailer selling the same product as countless others, don’t rely exclusively on the wholesaler’s visual merchandise.

For example, you might sell trainers and have access to high-quality studio shots depicting the product on a clean, white background. This is great for giving the consumer a good idea of what the product looks like. However, every other e-retailer online is using that same shot. So what sets you apart?

Consider using the trainers in more of an in-situ setting. Do you have access to talent that resonates with the target market? Take them out for coffee in return for a few shots of them wearing the gear. It sounds like a lot of hard work but if these trainers have the potential to generate significant sales, isn’t it worthwhile? Besides, you can use these images across social media and perhaps in email marketing campaigns, so you get plenty of value for money.

Just remember to get the talent to sign a photo release form!

The importance of a mobile responsive website

People run more searches for images from their mobile devices than their PC. As such, ensure your site is built for all devices, but particularly mobile.

Optimise for SafeSearch

SafeSearch is a protective Google setting. It was developed to understand whether or not to show or block explicit content as per a user's request. Run an incognito search for your site. Turn on SafeSearch settings. If your site does not appear, it’s likely getting filtered. If this is the case, we recommend running a search on Google for more information on this topic.

Contact us about optimising images

We hope this has helped you understand how to optimise images. HoneyBadger is a digital marketing agency specialising in SEO. Our global team is always happy to share knowledge and advice. If you have any questions or would like to learn more about enhancing your website’s performance, reach out to us.

Metadata Mistakes & Easy SEO Wins

Tue, 14 Feb 2023 13:54:38 GMT

As anyone who has ever dabbled in Search Engine Optimisation knows well - there is not a one-size-fits-all solution. Instead, there are endless pieces to the SEO pie, each contributing to your site’s general performance and health.

However, some of the quickest wins and lowest-hanging fruit can be found in metadata. Indeed, this is where some of the most common SEO mistakes and misunderstandings occur. Typically, the HoneyBadger SEO copywriting team will commence most new client activity by addressing metadata before progressing to on-page optimisation.

It’s perhaps no surprise that we tend to see the same mistakes made irrespective of a client’s size, industry or audience.

So, what are these metadata research and copywriting errors, and how can you avoid them? We share all here!

What is metadata, and why is it needed?

First, let’s be clear that in this instance, we’re talking about meta titles and meta descriptions appearing in Search Engine Result Pages. So, if, for example, you run a search for ‘red balloon’ the results of that search list a series of titles and quick-snippet summaries enticing you (or not!) to click through to their page.

This information is referred to as metadata, and it serves as a kind of online billboard notice, working to convert searchers to click-through to the site.

For the purposes of this advice, we will restrict ourselves to discussing metadata writing and not the research. So, let’s now discover how to write metadata descriptions and titles!

Write for humans, not crawlers

Step back from the SEO buzz and remember the overarching principle - everything about SEO is intended to improve the user experience. Yes, you need to follow certain formulae, recommendations and best practices. However, ultimately, you are writing to try and win over a human being. Keep that top of mind, as it can sometimes get lost in the meta minutiae!

Stay within character limits

Your meta title and description must remain within 60 and 155 characters, respectively. Except for the home page, place your brand or business name at the end of your title, separating it from the rest of the copy with a pipe (the | button that sits next to your left-hand shift key on most laptops). If your title is within the character limit before you start writing your brand, don’t worry; go over 60. However, if your title exceeds the limit before the brand is mentioned, go back to the drawing board.

Use your metadata keywords as soon as possible

This makes good, logical sense. You’ve done your research, and you know people interested in this page would be running a search for word X, right? So why bury it down the title or deep into the description where they have to search some more? Shine your spotlight on this word - it’s your beacon for reaching the potential customer!

With very few exceptions, we aim to always start every meta title with our primary keyword. We then make every attempt to place the secondary keyword at the very start of the meta description. Make your metadata and keywords work for - not against - each other!

Don’t fragment your keywords

Again, you’ve done your research, and you know people are searching for this term. Speak directly to them by using the term verbatim - don’t cut it up and make it harder for their brain to connect the dots. Let’s say you’re a cycling apparel retailer. A relevant keyword example for you might be the term ‘waterproof bike shorts’. Those three words are what you want to run with, not ‘waterproof Lycra bike shorts’ or ‘waterproof men’s bike shorts’ (those will be relevant to other pages on your site).

Importantly, this advice assumes you’ve carried out rock-solid research and you know without a doubt that ‘waterproof bike shorts’ is indeed the perfect primary keyword for you.

Ensure the metadata corresponds to the on-page content

If you’re blindly going through existing metadata and simply tweaking, you could very well miss some major problems. We regularly troubleshoot client pages that are accompanied by irrelevant metadata. It’s actually better to have nothing (and let the Search Engines make their own conclusions) than have something so off-piste it creates instant bounces off the page.

Before writing copy, we visit the page to get a clear understanding of what is on offer and how keywords are relevant.

Edit your copy

Such an obvious one, yet we’ve all seen the typos in SERPs that suggest this step is often overlooked. One of the culprits can be the software you use. For instance, don’t write copy into Excel to make it easy for the Dev team to cut and paste. If you must, write it first in Word and then run a spell check (we recommend Grammarly) and then drop that approved copy into excel.. But never rely solely on artificial intelligence!

Once we’ve written copy, we step away from it for a few hours at least and revisit it later with fresh eyes. This enables us to detect typos that might not, in fact, be typographical errors but are simply the wrong word. For instance, bit instead of big.

Revisit the competition

As part of your research, you would have run a search for the primary and secondary key terms you’re targeting to see who’s ranking for them. Once you’re happy with your metadata title and description , run that search again and revisit the competition. Now compare your work to theirs and try to view it from the perspective of someone running a search. Which one sounds more enticing? If the answer is theirs, you’re not quite there yet… Remember our very first tip - this is all about winning over the user.

Metadata management best practices

We finish with a suggestion to track all your changes and the dates on which you publish them. You should capture the incumbent metadata before your work is uploaded. Don’t expect changes overnight but do begin to track performance by months two to three. If you’ve done the right research and followed these prompts, you should begin to see positive changes.

Contact us about SEO marketing

We hope these tips help you understand how to write metadata. Honeybadger specialises in technical and content search engine optimisation. We work directly for clients and serve as a white-label solution for fellow marketing agencies. We’d be delighted to hear from you and happy to provide a no-cost, no-obligation overview and quote, so don’t hesitate to get in touch!

What Clients Want (And Where Some Agencies Fall Short)

Tue, 03 Jan 2023 14:32:10 GMT

With HoneyBadger clients operating in countries and cultures around the world, our white-label digital marketing agency understands the complexities of customer service. Whether dealing directly with the client or liaising through their digital agency, our customer service team has a unique insight into what clients expect and how reality can often fall short in delivery. If your team is experiencing client challenges, we hope some of these observations and suggestions prove beneficial.

Research your client - know as much as possible

Don’t wait for the client to teach you - do what you can proactively to find out as much as you can, then let them fill in the blanks.

Set realistic marketing goals early

Don’t be the ‘yes’ agency if this means accepting unrealistic targets. You’ll either fall short of expectations or blow up your team trying. Either way is not a win.

Customer service priorities

There are three pillars when it comes to providing exceptional customer service.

1. Communication.

Transparent, clear, and prescriptive.

2. Trust.

Always be open and honest. If you can’t deliver, explain why and offer alternatives. If you’ve made a mistake, be on the front foot. Don’t wait for the client or another party to ‘out’ your error.

3. Build strong working relationships.

Don’t keep the client at arm’s length. Set up regular meetings to understand their goals, evaluate performance and just see the whites of each other’s eyes. If the client wants to deep-dive, give them everything. If they want the executive summary, don’t wax lyrical.

What are the biggest client concerns?

Clients coming to HoneyBadger for the first time often vent about previous agency bugbears. The most common causes for concern are:

1. Charging for small website changes

It’s understandable why an agency would do this, but perhaps the problem is based on a misunderstanding or lack of awareness at the start of the relationship. Again, this is a good reason to keep everything transparent and clear.

2. Minimal contact and communication .

Perhaps we should have listed this as number one, as it is a major bugbear for clients whose previous relationships lacked regular contact and information flow. The HoneyBadger customer service team meets monthly (some even weekly) with every client. This is an opportunity to review and sign off work, discuss upcoming proposed action, and agree on any next steps. Meeting minutes are shared with all attendees. In-between meetings, if the client emails, the team responds as soon as possible. Respond to all client emails before the day ends. If you don’t have a resolution, at the very least, acknowledge receipt of the email and provide the next steps.

Further to the point of clear communication, HoneyBadger’s account management team are experts in customer service, not SEO, PPC, website development, social media planning, etc (they leave that to their specialist colleagues!). However, the team makes it their business to understand what their colleagues are working on and why. When something is unclear, the customer service team seeks more information and asks the right questions internally before the client can do so.

3. Unwillingness to share “Intellectual Property”.

Clients are often surprised by how much information we share. We even provide research decks capturing the work and logic that has gone into every row of metadata research and writing! We don’t see this as losing IP but more so as investing in the client’s education and, therefore, the client-agency relationship.

Common client misconceptions

The most common client misconceptions pertain to forecasting deliverables and client management expectations. But, once more, these can all be managed (if not even circumvented in the first place) through transparent communications, clear outlines of responsibility, timelines and holding regular meetings.

How to manage a difficult client situation

1. Ensure expectations align before work gets underway.

This in itself can avoid so many difficulties.

2. Own your mistakes.

We’re all human. Owning your mistakes will be tolerated - failing to admit them will not.

3. Research, always.

Customer service represents the team and, as such, must have a good handle on all out-flowing and incoming information. If something is unclear, it’s up to customer service to proactively find out more before the client asks.

Contact us

If this advice is helpful and you’d like to contact us about our white-label digital marketing, please reach out! Equally, if you’re a customer service superstar in the making and our culture sounds perfect for you, we’d be delighted to hear from you!

How A White-Label Is Your Agency’s Secret Silver Bullet

Wed, 30 Nov 2022 09:23:55 GMT

If you’re running a marketing agency and think your team is in over its head at the moment, consider a white-label solution . An innovative solution, white labels keep resources down, increase productive output and can go a long way towards improving agency-client relationships. It’s also HoneyBadger’s area of expertise. We share more about this potential secret silver bullet for success here.

What is a white-label digital marketing agency?

I n short, it’s an agency acting on behalf of and within another agency. Consider it a fully comprehensive support service . Although this is an outsourced solution, the right white-label partner will act and feel like an extended part of the team.

And that’s precisely what HoneyBadger does.

Whether you require a full-stack solution or you just need expertise in one particular area of digital marketing, a white label does the work and serves it to you on a platter, so you can, in turn, present it to the client. The outcome? Your agency gets ahead without the overheads .

Why isn’t your agency growing?

HoneyBadger works with variously sized marketing agencies around the world. The most common challenges preventing agency growth include:

You’re a traditional marketing agency that does not specialise in digital, despite clients asking for the service.
You’ve just won new business, and you need to grow your headcount fast . However, you don’t have the immediate resources or time to do so.
There is limited budget for attracting and retaining a dedicated expert.
You need a resource bridge - a short-term solution to get you from here to there without friction.

HoneyBadger can help you grow

HoneyBadger has grown into a global digital marketing agency with team members who are leaders in their fields . Given our location around the world, we’ve effectively become a 24/ operation. We have the capacity to provide a fully comprehensive digital marketing solution, or just an element thereof - whatever you need.

Our specialist skills extend to SEO (technical and content), PPC, Facebook & Instagram ad management, or website and webshop development.

Underpinning each and all of these digital marketing services is a dedicated customer service support network. The result - a top-level, nimble team of experts committed to elevating your business and the results delivered to your clients.

What can a white label do for you?

The list is long!

Resourcing

Save time on fulfillment and project management.
Offer existing clients additional value.
Fill any services gaps.
Remove pressure on your existing team to become specialists across all areas.
Don’t worry about focusing on HR, insurance, payroll tax, superannuation and other administrational requirements inherent with new staff members.
Have the time (and head space!) to drive new leads and pursue other goals for your business.

Scalability

Generate more clients with a one-stop shop for digital services.
Pitch for more work and build larger retainer agreements.
Your agency - not your costs - can begin to scale up..
Enjoy new and upsell revenue opportunities.
Generate an easy recurring trailing income for you.
Develop new business with an expanded array of services.
Grow your agency with global businesses and experience.

Reputation and relationships

Get credit directly for the exceptional quality of work produced.
Focus on client relationships and the front end of your business.
Go ahead and go after new business, even if you don’t have the skillset or resourcing. When you win - we’ll back you, so you don’t have to back out.

Professional development

Expose your team to global specialists in their field who are willing to share their knowledge and skillset.

Contact HoneyBadger

If you think there is white-label potential for your marketing agency, let’s chat. Whether it’s now or planning for the future, HoneyBadger can become your secret silver bullet for success.

Increase Website Traffic by Implementing Onsite SEO

Fri, 23 Apr 2021 16:08:23 GMT

The most important part of designing a new website is the ability for customers to find you! Most customers explain this as appearing on the first page of a Google search and this process is known as SEO or search engine optimization. So how does this happen?

First, you need to understand the most common phrases or terms that people key into Google to find your business. A good place to start, to identify these Keywords, is to use Google Keyword Planner.
The second step to see your website rankings improve is to ensure that you add the most common search terms into the title page & meta description of your website. There are plenty of good YouTube videos that explain this in more detail.
Step three is to rewrite the content on your website to include the most common search terms.
Step four is to continuously add new content to your website. The content needs to include the search terms you are planning to improve your ranking for. It’s more important to add new content regularly than just to write one large blog.

HoneyBadger’s SEO team deliver On-site SEO best practices to help improve our customer's Google ranking position. Our SEO services include on-site SEO, off-site SEO, review and update of Google My Business, content writing to improve existing website content, and linking your website to other companies that can refer your service.

HoneyBadger Digital Marketing Agency helps local businesses in Newcastle, Sydney, Toronto, Copenhagen and Dublin.

Has Covid 19 increased the importance of updating / upgrading your website?

Thu, 28 May 2020 14:00:36 GMT

The obvious place to start is that most local businesses had to close and therefore could not conduct business and generate revenue. At the same time, consumers had more time at home to browse and make informed decisions about the products and services they were interested in.

The effect was that there was a dramatic increase in the number of products & services purchased online. Businesses that had invested in good quality websites with proper Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) did incredibly well.

The most significant outcome is that consumer confidence to purchase products and services has increased.

One of the big outcomes for businesses like HoneyBadger Digital Marketing Agency is we now are in a position to help customers that want to make the transition to digital.

The transition to digital really covers 3 key areas

Modernizing your website with lead capture, adding messaging platforms like WhatsApp, and implementing eCommerce
Ensure that your website is designed with On-Site SEO to ensure that customers can find your website online
Invest in search engine marketing to increase the number of customers going to your website to do business with you

HoneyBadger's Website Agency is currently offering to upgrade your current website for a 30% reduction in price and provide an eCommerce add on Free of Charge.

How to find a Digital Marketing Agency that works for your business

Mon, 20 Apr 2020 09:22:30 GMT

In the current environment, local businesses are investigating and researching the importance of being online. This can be a very daunting challenge and involves improving your web presence, introducing eCommerce, and learning the most effective way of getting people to your website.

At HoneyBadger’s Digital Marketing Agency we take the learning from delivering Websites, Google Ads, Facebook and SEO to local businesses in Newcastle, Sydney, Copenhagen, Ottawa, Toronto, Chicago and Dublin. The insights, best practices and ultimately the learnings allow us to speak to local businesses in common business language.

The HoneyBadger Digital Marketing Agency approach is as follows

Get the Website live as quickly as possible and update and build as you go
Make sure that all websites have the basics of Onsite SEO to ensure local businesses appear in Google
Help the local business to understand how many people are coming to their website
Weekly calls to update and brainstorm how to increase website traffic and conversions
Implement Google Ads, and social advertising to increase revenue
Regularly update content and assess the competition

To ensure that no business is left behind HoneyBadger’s Digital Marketing Agency is offering Free Websites, Google Ad’s & Facebook Advertising.

Getting a Website Live

Thu, 02 Apr 2020 08:47:09 GMT

How long does it take to design a new website?

One of the biggest challenges that local businesses face is getting a new website live. The main reasons for this are

Business owners find it difficult to find the time to create the content required to design and build a website they are proud of and represents their business
The traditional Marketing Agency billing model forces the business owner to ensure that the website design is perfect before going live. Typically, the customer gets charged in three installments and pays in full before the website goes live
The number of changes, and updates takes a long period of time due to the back and forth nature of the communication model between the customer and the Web Design Agency

The HoneyBadger Digital Marketing Agency website design and build approach is different because it’s centered around getting the business website live as quickly as possible. This is achieved by following a few key steps

HoneyBadger Digital Marketing team ports the local business existing website onto a modern platform that represents the business and has a distinct design and professional looking website
Local businesses get to make unlimited changes to the website. HoneyBadger digital marketing design team make monthly calls to customers to make changes and improvements to the website, this is in additional to the unlimited inbound calls that customers can make
HoneyBadger only charges the customer on a monthly basis for 12 months, this help cashflow, and enables the customer to go live quickly with the new site
HoneyBadger Digital Marketing Agency team normally has new customers websites live within a 30-day period

Google Ads do’s and don’ts - How to deliver a PPC Campaign. Written by HoneyBadger a Digital Marketing Agency based in Newcastle

Wed, 11 Mar 2020 15:26:39 GMT

Pay per click (PPC) advertising can be a minefield for small businesses wanting to get their business noticed online. Executed correctly it can create targeted sales leads, which have a higher chance of converting to that all important sale.

So if you are thinking of investing in Google Ads, it’s important to understand the common pitfalls and how to avoid them. Follow our guide to the key Google Ads do’s and don’ts, which will help to deliver an effective PPC strategy.

Do - Know your audience

As with any marketing activity, it’s imperative that you understand your target audience to allow you to reach them effectively. Ask yourself questions such as; what are your ideal customers interested in? Which platforms are they active on? and when and where are they searching ? These will help you to deliver a more concise and targeted plan and will increase the efficiency of your Google Ads campaign.

DO - Conduct keyword research

Keyword tools can help you discover cost, competition and volume for search terms. Finding those relevant keywords which best represent your business can be a difficult task. There are synonyms to consider, alternative meanings to negate, and long tail terms to unearth, all of which take time and the navigation of specialised tools. Without this research, you can end up overpaying for unrelated keywords or worse, identifying queries that are searched for so infrequently that you never get the chance to do any advertising.

DO - Write killer ad copy

Not every advertiser also happens to be a copywriting expert. The key to success is a healthy balance between qualitative and quantitative components. To write copy that converts, focus on maximising click-through rate by ensuring every text ad has a pair of compelling headlines, a call to action and includes the keyword you’re bidding on.

DON’T - Bid on broad keywords

Don’t try to be all things to all people. It's wonderful to deal with keywords that have 5,000 searches a day, or even 500 searches a day, but in reality, these popular search terms actually make up less than 30% of the searches performed on the web. The remaining 70% lie in what's called the "long tail" of search. The long tail contains hundreds of millions of unique searches that might be conducted a few times in any given day, but, when taken together, comprise the majority of the world's search volume.

Another lesson search marketers have learned is that long tail keywords often convert better, because they catch people later in the buying/conversion cycle. A person searching for "Ford Focus" is probably browsing, and not ready to buy. On the other hand, someone searching for "best price on Ford Focus 1.6L" practically has their wallet out!

DON’T – Dive into Google Ads without setting clear objectives for your business

I t’s important to set out clear goals and objectives before you begin, otherwise how will you know if you have been successful? How you structure your Google Ads account and the features you choose to take advantage of will impact on the response you receive. Realistic measurable goals are the foundation of every good Google Ads account. It’s likely you will have a specific goal in mind. Common ones include selling more products and services, improving lead quality and lowering cost per acquisition. The key is to make them SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timed), which will enable you to more effectively measure the success of your Goggle Ads campaign.

DON’T – Forget to activate the conversion tracking tool

Testing, reviewing and evaluating performance is one of the most important aspects of PPC and if you fail to do this you will not reap the rewards in your future PPC plans. The Google Ads conversion tracking is a powerful tool that lets you identify how well your ad campaign is generating leads, sales, downloads, email signups and other key actions for your business.

The data recorded by conversion tracking allows you to identify which areas of your campaign are working and which are not, so you can optimise your bids, ad text and keywords accordingly. The whole process relies upon placing a ‘tag’ on your website and then watching conversion data roll in. It sounds easy enough, but it can be tricky to get this linked. Getting it right is a necessity, because the only thing worse than no conversion tracking is inaccurate conversation tracking.

Avoid the pitfalls

Google Ads can be a minefield for small businesses wanting to promote their business online, but many recognise the need to participate and develop a PPC strategy. So if you are thinking of investing in Google Ads, it’s key to understand the key do’s and don’ts to avoid the common pitfalls. Honing in on these elements will help create a solid foundation and deliver a stronger and more effective PPC campaign which has a higher rate of converting sales.

If you simply just don’t have the time or resource to deliver a PPC strategy, HoneyBadger have a team of in house experts who can help. To learn more.

How to deliver an effective Business website and convert prospects into sales

Wed, 11 Mar 2020 12:52:25 GMT

Every small business owner understands that in today’s market they need a website which represents their business, but what many fail to recognise is how to create a website which works hard to create ‘business’ for them.

Just like an online dating profile, it’s all well and good having a sexy looking photo to attract customers, but what do those customers do once they have knocked on your digital door. Maybe they ‘swipe right’ [1] and call you or pop into one of your stores or maybe they ‘swipe left’ [2] , because they are just browsing and not ready to engage in sales conversations at all. It’s a tricky business getting it right, so follow our 4 key principles to delivering an effective website which converts prospects into sales.

Getting your online profile right

Your website may be the first touch point a customer has with your business so it needs to represent your organisation and your objectives perfectly:

Ensure your website has a sleek design and represents your company in a professional way, whilst highlighting your key assets.
Make it visual – we shop primarily with our eyes so image quality is crucial, as is video, but it’s also about the little things that make a website easy to navigate and use, such as speed and page load times.
Keep your website content relevant and up to date; it engages your customer and gives them confidence that they are working with a thriving business who is ‘on the ball’.
Show them how adaptable you can be - ensure your website is optimised for mobile, allowing your site to change its format so it works just as well on a laptop, tablet and smartphone as it does on a desktop computer.

Create social proof

Show customers that you’re not all talk (or a one-dimensional robot) and let other people confirm what a great person you really are! Social proof is the term used to describe convincing a potential customer that you are a genuine fully rounded and ‘normal’ person. In the new age of marketing, social proof carries more weight than it has ever done before, therefore it’s important for businesses to think about social landing pages. This may sound like a difficult task, but it’s actually fairly simple.

Make it easy to share – make your web pages easy to share by adding social media icons, which allow your visitors to share and comment upon an offer, product or blog article.
Add numerical data – add details next to your social icons about the number of times a specific piece of information has been liked or shared.
Invite customer testimonials – Nothing is better for a business than real life customer testimonials. Make these pages relevant, with the name and picture of the customer in question and this will deliver a strong source of social proof.

Give yourself the best chance with all the fish in the sea.

The more ‘swipes’ you get the better the chance of success, so building your email list will become one of your biggest assets, as it provides the opportunity to deliver regular (authorised!) communications straight into the inbox of potential customers. With 81% of users researching online before they buy [3] , it’s important to capture as many of these prospective customers as possible. The easiest and most effective way to do this is to create an offering or service such as those listed below, which they can gain access to if they sign up and consent to provide an email address for you to send information to:

A checklist
Access to resources, for example white papers or blog articles
An educational course or online tutorial
An appointment with your team
A free assessment for part of their business

The key is to ensure this offering or service has value and benefits the customer in some way. Once you start to build your list, feed it with a constant drip of useful information and content. Push products, services and updates to your base through regular email communications, blogs and offers. Always create trackable links and ensure these communications have a strong call to action and feed back to your website, closing the link and allowing you to measure success.

Understand who’s looking at your profile with web analytics

Imagine a dating app where you can understand which bits of your profile people like or dislike or which parts of your profile are read the most. Understanding how people visit, navigate and interact with your website is key to not only delivering an effective website, but also targeting prospects and converting them into valued customers. Web analytics tools allow you to track and monitor your potential customers’ journey through your website and to measure their engagement. These insights can be used to evaluate many things. For example, the success of a particular online campaign or understanding which products and services a person is interested in, thus allowing you to keep them up to date with your most recent offerings. Perhaps the best known example of this would be Amazon.com. With millions of customers browsing its product lines daily, they are able to build up a detailed picture of products their customers have viewed, liked and are interested in and in turn start to send them emails of products which they think may be of interest. Their analytics are far more complex than most small businesses, but it demonstrates the power of analytics and the key to understanding this data in a much more detailed way to drive success within your own small business. By the way, you don’t need Amazon’s budget to achieve this. An analytics tool like Google Analytics will do an awesome job of giving you this type of information, and it’s free!

So there you have it, before you embark upon your journey to capture the hearts and minds of potential customers, ensure your website is set up to be as effective as it can by following our 4 key principles.

Why investing in Facebook marketing and Google Ads | PPC delivers the perfect hunter-gatherer approach

Wed, 11 Mar 2020 06:45:25 GMT

A Conventional wisdom teaches us that mankind evolved from hunters to gatherers, and in doing so were able to form static, larger and more successful groups – it was one of the pivotal moments in human history. But the most successful communities were those that didn’t put their eggs in one basket, allowing then to maintain a balance in their approach and mitigate the risks of a single method failing and rendering the community no longer viable.

But what an earth does the evolution of mankind have to do with digital marketing, and specifically the two channels of Google Ads and Facebook marketing? Well, like our forebears, we are prone to favour which we are familiar with, and sometimes find it hard to recognise a change in the environment and push ourselves to adapt. Google Ads and Facebook marketing are strong channels in their own rights, however can deliver a more successful marketing strategy when used together. Many small businesses are adapting their plans across both channels to deliver a stronger more coherent plan for their business.

Google Ads – The Hunter

Google Ads has one very clear and important central tenet that is vital to remember; the user has actively entered a search term. Usually, they have made the mental leap to identify a potential need and are already in the mind frame to purchase. Google Ads is therefore a vital element of any successful digital marketing strategy, and a business must hunt those individuals with a focused precision. A successful hunt will result in a likely sale; the holy grail of a business, which generates cash through the tills, new relationships and opportunities for more sales. To ignore the search-based marketing channel would be to risk losing sight of what almost all businesses exist to do – sell ‘stuff’. As with any single marketing strategy, just relying on hunting through Google Ads increases risk. It’s a little more expensive than other marketing streams and it’s well known that getting people to actually commit to buying online is a problem all companies face. In a manner similar to the hunters of early mankind, those who rely purely on hunting could often be disadvantaged by circumstances outside their control – the arrival of a rival ‘tribe’ (online competitor) with more money to resource their Google Ads for example.

Facebook Marketing – The Gatherer

If Google Ads is about the hunt, then Facebook is about the gathering. It’s more efficient and cheaper than Google Ads in terms of conversions, but it doesn’t have that crucial search intent, hence it’s akin to generating brand awareness and gathering leads. Facebook’s marketing tools and focused campaign plan is both flexible and fully customisable so it’s more likely to generate a crop of interest and traffic, which can be nurtured over time to deliver those all-important sales. Facebook marketing can be the less immediate of the two channels in delivering a sale, however it can and should be used to build the brand and profile of your business through delivering content and ads which interest your audience. It also works to deliver social proof, something which potential customers actively search out in today’s market.

Optimised for success

Whilst both Google Ads and Facebook marketing present obvious benefits, the best option is a balanced approach of both, primarily because their differences work well together. Developing a balanced strategy that leverages those strengths requires all involved to invest some additional time and effort in understanding and executing an effective hunter-gatherer approach, but that additional effort has got to be worth it. After all, if evolving and adapting to master new and novel techniques worked for our ancestors, then we should probably learn from their success!

5 tips to add some sparkle to your social media plans this Christmas

Thu, 07 Nov 2019 13:35:38 GMT

Christmas and the holiday season is a busy time for many businesses. As consumers spend more time and money than ever before online, the holiday season has become big business with marketeers striving to compete in a frantic market and claim their slice of the yuletide log.

With the average person spending 9 hours per day on digital devices[1] and accessing their social media accounts up to 15 times daily it’s essential for small businesses to understand how they will connect with potential customers via social media during this busy trading period. An active social media profile across a number of platforms can make a business appear more professional and trustworthy[2] and can build your brand to new heights. Furthermore, with 75% of people saying they consider social media as part of the buying process[3], it’s a necessity for any business wanting to increase their customers and revenue.

With big brands investing millions to ensure that they hit the right spot with their customers this Christmas, we look into the more cost effective and quick fire ways that you can add a touch of Christmas sparkle to your social plans this year, without breaking the bank.

Deck the halls and decorate your cover or profile photo

Get those sleigh bells jingling on your platforms by ensuring that your profile picture and cover photos have a holiday theme. Your profile and cover photos should be crisp, clear images that represent your brand. Think about investing in some bespoke images created especially to promote your business over the festive period, but if budgets don’t allow, then there are plenty of free festive frames which can be used to add to your existing images; the key is that your followers and visitors need to feel that the account is ‘alive’ to the times, and celebrating the festive season with them, rather than a stale ‘baa-humbug’ page.

According to research[4] the average person has 5 social media accounts and they actively use 3 on a regular basis. To create consistency across your social media profiles (consistency improves the trust and durability of your campaigns) post the same Christmas themed images on all the accounts and continue to build your brand identity.

Set out your Christmas stall and create timed offers

Decide what your holiday offer(s) are and set out your stall early. Having a clear idea and focus of what you can offer potential customers and how this compares to the competition will stand you in good stead. Create a series of images or preferably a short video to promote your offer. 80% of all Internet traffic is based around videos[5], so visual (and in particular, video) content is a necessity, as this type of content is more than 40 times more likely to be shared on social media than any other kind[6]. Create regular posts surrounding your offers and think about boosting your post regularly or creating a series of adverts which can be placed across platforms.

Spread the Christmas cheer

The holiday season is a happy time of year so keep your posts full of festive cheer. This will allow you to join in the glad tidings around the holiday season, projecting positivity and joy through your brand. For example if you are a food related business think about sharing festive recipes (ideally through a video) or why not launch a competition to win a meal for 2 by asking potential customers to post a comment or photo of their family’s favourite festive food? This will enable you to generate discussion, likes and hopefully shares. Globally we have come to know it’s that festive time of year when we see the Starbucks red holiday branded cups start to appear on the high street or the Coca Cola truck rolls onto our TV’s. Whilst you might not have the promotional power of these giants, try and find that trigger that resonates with your potential customers and for your particular brand.

Send customers to a winter wonder-landing page

Whether you are promoting a product, limited offer or competition, it’s important to create specific landing pages to direct your potential customers to in order to create a targeted call to action and add perceived value in the buying cycle. E.g. a 20% off post should link through to the product page on your online site where there is an action to ‘order now’. Similarly a post promoting a competition could lead direct to a landing page which captures the potential customer’s details. Landing pages should replicate any festive branding, which will create a more seamless brand journey.

Wish customers Happy Holidays

Finally don’t forget to wish your customers, potential customers and followers Happy Holidays. They will be logging into their social media platforms to wish their friends and families a happy day, so this is another opportunity to connect with them. Choose a crisp festive image, add your logo and keep your message short and simple.

Start now

There you have it! Our top tips demonstrate that you don’t need a champagne budget to create a strong, cohesive and relevant plan to dazzle your potential customers, so get started today and get ahead ready for the festive season.

4 Top tips to deliver a successful Google Ads pay per click strategy

Tue, 08 Oct 2019 10:25:45 GMT

With over 85% of online searches completed on Google it’s the world’s largest search engine [1], so when it comes to pay per click (PPC) advertising, Google Ads is a popular choice for small businesses wanting to invest in online advertising.

If you haven’t participated in any form of PPC before, then Google Ads can feel like a daunting and complicated process, however because PPC traffic is 50% more likely to convert to a sale than organic traffic [2], it’s important for businesses to start advertising online and developing an effective PPC strategy. Follow our 4 top tips to get started.

Ensure you know your audience

As with any marketing activity, it’s imperative that you understand your target audience to allow you to reach them effectively. Ask yourself questions such as:

What do your target customers do online?
Where do they do it?
When, where and what are they searching?

These will help you to deliver a more concise and targeted plan and will increase the efficiency of your Google Ads campaign.

With 3.5 billion [3] daily searches on the Google platform it’s tempting to ‘go big’ and try to get your ad in front of as many people as possible. However while it may sound counterintuitive to limit the number of eyeballs eligible to see your ads, doing so will ensure that your offerings and messaging are as relevant to a searcher as possible, ensuring your ad’s reach to the right audience. Understanding who your customers are allows you to use demographic information like gender, age and location to adjust bids and develop a more targeted approach.

Conduct keyword research

Spend time researching what keywords are going to be best suited to your products and services. Ask yourself how much a keyword is worth to your website? For example, if you own an online holiday cottage company, do prospective customers search more commonly for ‘self-catering cottage’ or ‘holiday cottage’, and is it more important to capture the common search terms, or the ones that indicate a more committed potential customer.

Write killer ad copy

Part of writing killer ads is to ensure you’ve designed a great landing page, ensuring that your customer follows a strong call to action and embarks upon a sound customer journey and experience with your brand, hopefully converting into a sale. Follow these 5 guidelines for high performing landing pages:

Minimise form fields
Focus on benefits, not just features
Use multiple high quality product images
Make your call-to-action really clear
Make sure your landing pages work on mobile devices.

Activate the conversion tracking tool

Testing, reviewing and evaluating performance is one of the most important aspects of PPC and if you fail to do this you will not reap the rewards in your future PPC plans. Google Ads conversion tracking is a powerful tool that lets you identify how well your ad campaign is generating leads, sales, downloads, email signups and other key actions for your business.

The data recorded by conversion tracking allows you to identify which areas of your campaign are working and which are not, so you can optimise your bids, ad text and keywords accordingly. The whole process relies upon placing a ‘tag’ on your website and then watching conversion data roll in. It sounds easy enough, but it can be tricky to get this linked. Getting it right is something you really need to do, because the only thing worse than no conversion tracking is inaccurate conversation tracking.

Deliver a stronger strategy

Google Ads can be a minefield for small businesses wanting to promote their business online, but many recognise the need to participate and develop a PPC strategy. So if you are thinking of investing in Google Ads, following our 4 key tips will ensure you get a head start. Honing in on these elements will help create a solid foundation and deliver a stronger and more effective PPC campaign which has a higher rate of converting sales.

What Facebook’s vision to create a “private social platform” means for small business

Fri, 09 Aug 2019 02:39:14 GMT

At the recent F8 developer conference Facebook announced a number of changes to its platform. These changes put privacy front and centre with Mark Zuckerberg vowing to do a better job in protecting its users. Privacy issues aside, Zuckerberg highlighted Facebook’s push to create a “private social platform” across all of its apps, including WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, and Facebook. We cover the top updates and what these might mean for small businesses.

Facebook is being redesigned around stories, groups and events

Facebook unveiled a simpler, faster, more immersive interface which revolves around Stories, Groups, and Events. The new look puts Stories at the forefront and features a prominent Groups tab with a personalised activity feed with updates from all of your groups that you’ve joined. The mobile app will see the more immediate changes, with the desktop site getting a revamp in the coming months. Zuckerberg made no mention of business pages, so it’s unclear at this stage whether business page updates will continue to run in the News Feed or whether these will become part of the ‘Groups’ architecture.

Introduction of new Messenger mobile app and desktop site with new business tools

Facebook is re-engineering the architecture of the platform from the ground up to be faster and lighter. The stripped-down version of Messenger will focus on chat, highlight your “close friends,” and feature video co-watching capabilities. The redesigned Messenger experience will roll out to mobile later this year, with an updated desktop site to follow soon.

Along with the revamped interface, Messenger is providing a new set of plug-and-play solutions aimed at making it easier for businesses to drive in-store traffic, generate leads, and provide customer care. These include an appointment-booking function, a lead generation template built directly into Ads Manager, and easy authentication [1].

Page admins can now change their display name and photo on messenger

Facebook now allows page admins to select their display name and photo when they use Messenger on behalf of their page or business. This is particularly interesting for small businesses who offer instant messaging with potential customers. Customers like to put a face to the name and this also helps to create that all important trust that’s needed when dealing and buying from a business online.

Instagram has given key influencers the ability to add shopping tags to their images

Instagram continues to push into the shopping market via a new tagging tool, which allows influencers to promote a particular product, giving the user the ability to shop and buy products direct from their Instagram accounts, all without having to leave the app. Testing for this tool is already underway with a small group on influencers and it’s hoped that this feature will roll out globally, making this an exciting update for businesses with cool, trendy products.

Whats App will let businesses display an entire business catalogue on their profile

Businesses using Whats App can already have their own profiles with business descriptions and contact information, but Whats App will now let businesses display entire product catalogues directly on their profiles within the app that customers can browse through. This means that Whats App users will be able to easily locate key information on products and services and the change could serve to shorten the buying cycle and turn browsers into buyers. Whats App also plans to expand in-app payments and introduce ads to the platform in the near future.

So there you have it, our top 5 highlights from the recent announcements, which demonstrate the continued investment from Facebook to create a private social platform for all.

https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/new-facebook-f8-announcements-for-marketers/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=NewsletterIssue&utm_campaign=smenl19-nlweek18-nldaily-nlsat&omhide=true

How to Create an Effective Social Media Profile for Your Business

Thu, 01 Aug 2019 12:28:40 GMT

Most businesses today are expected to have good social media profiles. It’s what customers expect, but, even more than that, it provides a business with a platform to meet, communicate and connect with users in order to gain more leads and potential customers. For many, delivering an effective social media profile across different platforms can seem like a daunting process, but it’s actually very simple if you have the right information and know-how. Here we share our 7 point checklist to help you get your business profiles up and running.

Identify key social media platforms

It’s important to identify which social media sites will work for your business. Facebook is the top social networking site in the world [1] and Instagram, Linked In and Twitter all have massive followings. But it’s fair to say that each site has a different demographic of users (some of the facts might surprise you) so think seriously about your target audience. If in doubt start with Facebook, however you should aim to deliver a consistent profile across all 4 networks, if resource and time allows.

A picture paints a thousand words

You will need to add good quality images for your logo, cover photos and any images you regularly post on. Large corporates tend to use logo’s, logo’s, logo’s, but as a small business, you can add a little more personality, fun and perhaps show the human face of your business.

Image Sizes:

Profile pictures – should be at least 180 pixels wide by 180 pixels high

Cover photo dimensions are 851 pixels x 315 pixels, but only the centre 563 x 315 portion of the picture appears, so choose an image which has interest in the centre rather than one that has detail on the edges of the image. You can play around with this until you find the one that best projects your bushiness brand.

Bringing your business to life

Think of your social profiles as your shop window. It needs to be professional and give the customer a view of what your business offers/sells and how it can benefit them. But don’t be boring – avoid lengthy analysis and dull company descriptions. Instead focus on your values and your identity. Your profile should bring your company to life, demonstrate your credentials, convey your values and appeal to your target audience. Look at other profiles of firms that connect with you for guidance and inspiration, whilst remembering that you are probably NOT the target audience.

Enabling inbound communication

As soon as you have set your pages up, you’ll want to adjust your message settings to be bespoke to your business and the way in which you want to communicate with your customers. Enabling your profiles to receive inbound communications will ensure that there’s a way in which potential customers can get hold of you should they wish to. It also provides a call to action for any customers wanting to buy.

Get your customers to “Like” you

Once you’ve created your page, invite your friends, family and existing customers to like your page. It’s really easy and will get you your first likes! Encourage them to invite their friends and family and so on. This can be executed in the form of a competition where people who like your profiles are given the chance to win a prize. This could be one of your products or services, or the prize could be based around a seasonal theme or event.

Make your posts interesting and relevant to the customer

You will need to create a steady flow of information and posts for your customers to ensure that you deliver an “always on” approach. Plan on 1-2 posts per week per social profile and think about the quality of information that you post to your page. Ensure the information is relevant, current and topical and that your customers will be interested in it. This could be a post about a new product you are launching, an offer you are running, a key feature of one of your products or an article about the industry you compete in. The key here is to communicate regularly and with information that is relevant to your audience. Replicating the same content and imagery across platforms will create a more consistent approach to your social strategy.

Using video as standard

Content using video is increasingly the absolute minimum standard, unless you are an industry with a long history in photography such as fashion – but the maxim that quality counts remains. Those who can use developing technology such as AI, or use the tools that Facebook and Instagram provides such as the Carousel Ads, will engage potential customers looking for a much more meaningful engagement than perhaps might have previously been the case.

So there you have it, our checklist to help you deliver an effective social media profile for your business. Best of luck!

[1] https://social-media.co.uk/list-popular-social-networking-websites

4 Steps to Delivering a Strong Digital Marketing Plan

Fri, 19 Jul 2019 12:28:40 GMT

The average person spends nearly 9 hours per day on digital devices [1] so it’s essential for small businesses to not only understand digital marketing but to embrace it and build an effective strategy to connect with potential customers. However, with so many areas of digital marketing to focus upon (everything from websites and e-newsletters to social media, text messaging, blogs, gaming and more), it can be difficult for small businesses to know just where to start. We look at 4 key steps to get you started, which will enable you to build a strong foundation for your digital marketing efforts.

Deliver a great website

A great website is the cornerstone of successful digital marketing activity as it’s where you’re going to point your customers once they click your ad, open your blog or go to get that free game. So if your website is poor, you’re heading for a digital marketing fail. Make sure your website is the very best it can be by ensuring it’s well-designed, mobile responsive, easy to navigate, and regularly updated with content that is relevant to your audience. Ensure your site is SEO optimised to ensure that it ranks well in search results. For a free website health-check click here.

Social media marketing

Social media is a fantastic digital tool and provides an opportunity to interact on a more personal level with potential customers. Facebook, Instagram and Messenger are among the top 5 most popular apps and Facebook is the third most visited site in the world, after YouTube and Google [2]; social media is just too big a marketplace to neglect.

An active social media profile on these platforms can make a business appear more professional and trustworthy [3]. The key is to communicate regularly with useful information targeted at those people who closely match your target audience.

Video content is a necessity, as this type of content is more than 40 times more likely to be shared on social media than any other kind [4]. Keep your videos short, (60-90 seconds), relevant to your audience and upload them direct to the individual platforms.

Email marketing

Building your email marketing list can be one of your biggest assets. Companies use email marketing as a way of communicating with their audiences to promote blog content, discounts and events, as well as to direct people towards the business’ website. Visitors rightly don’t like to give away their information for no reason, so a great tactic to build your list is to provide an incentive for them to sign up, via giving them access to specific resources, tools or training courses but if you want to establish a relationship make it clear that you are interested in them, and not just wanting to sell their information. You must also be careful to comply with legislation on the capturing and storage of personal information.

Pay per click

Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising can be a great way of getting your business noticed online. When your target market use a search engine to find what they need, Google (or their preferred search engine) will give them a list of options. Some will be ‘organic’ or natural results, based on what Google believes the customer is looking for. Others will be ‘paid-for’ results, where a site has paid to be ranked highly for certain keywords.

Paid-for results are displayed slightly differently and more prominently, normally at the top of the results page. Once the customer clicks your ad, Google will take them to your linked page and charge you for that referral – which is the Pay Per Click. Well-planned PPC activity can be a really cost-effective and intelligent way to market your business – especially for pulling through customers who are already searching for the thing you offer.

Building the foundations

Digital marketing is no different to any other marketing in that there’s no exact formula for success.

Even the most experienced marketers will tell you that digital is always going to be a learning curve, but you can give yourself the very best chance of success by following certain steps and tactics.

One of the best things about digital marketing tactics is that they’re really easy to track and evaluate. So you can instantly see how well your new website is performing or how your email campaign worked out because the evaluation tools – from clicks to conversions – are all built into the technology. Plough the same amount of effort into evaluating your tactics as you do planning each campaign, and learn from the insights you gather.

Building a plan around these 4 key digital tactics will allow you to not only dip your toe into the digital marketing world, but it will help you to build a solid foundation from which to develop and deliver your future digital plans.

Google has never been more exciting for small business – Key Updates

Mon, 08 Jul 2019 12:28:39 GMT

Google recently made a number of announcements and updates to its platform [1]. Here we provide a snapshot of the key updates which demonstrate why Google is an exciting place to be for small businesses.

Updates to the Google Ads mobile app

You can do more on the go with the new Google Ads mobile app. Users will now be able to create and edit search ads directly on the mobile app, meaning that you can create and amend your plans around your daily routine. New enhanced notifications will update users on new keywords, pause poor performing keywords and flag new opportunities to improve you

Local campaigns for everyone

Most people do research on their mobile device before heading to a bricks and mortar store. To capitalise upon the growth of this trend, local campaigns will now be available to small businesses, meaning that once you have set your store locations, you can participate in ad campaigns that promote your stores across Search, Maps, Display and YouTube, in order to drive footfall to your local

Introduction of Discovery ads

After re branding their news feed ‘Discover’, Google have launched a new way to advertise on it. Discovery ads provide another avenue for advertisers to engage consumers with a carousel ad where users can swipe and click for deeper detail and

Gallery ads

Like Discovery ads, Gallery ads exist in the carousel format and allow consumers to seamlessly swipe through image creative. They are designed to sit at the top of the search results page to capitalise upon the precise moment that a user searches on a particular keyword offering the potential customer a virtual shop window and gateway to find out more information and connect with your business. These types of ads are becoming popular for a reason as they have been enjoying growing success on both the Facebook and Instagram platforms for some time.

Custom audience and audience expansion

Google is merging custom affinity audiences and custom intent audiences to create custom audiences, meaning that you will be able to target potential customers on both their interests and behaviours at the same time. This offers advertisers a powerful tool, given Google’s direct access to search data.

If you find that one of your custom audiences is working particularly well, you can use the brand new audience expansion tool to reach consumers who look and behave similarly to the people within that custom audience. If this sounds familiar to you—it’s practically the same as a Facebook’s lookalike audience tool [2].

Improvements to smart bidding

Given the popularity of automatic bidding, there have been 3 key improvements to its Smart Bidding tool to account for the changing needs of advertisers.

Campaign-level conversion setting – Advertisers will now be able to map relevant conversion goals at the campaign level. This will be especially useful for accounts that have clearly differentiated campaign goals (e.g. campaigns representing different lines of business or distinct marketing budgets).
Seasonality adjustments – Smart Bidding will now contain greater flexibility with seasonality adjustments to allow advertisers to account for adhoc events or one time promotions.
Maximise conversion value – Up until now, bidding strategies around conversion value have been largely focused on efficiency e.g. ROAS (return on advertising spend), however businesses like to look at number of measures such as volume or growth. Maximise conversion value allows an advertiser to set a number of different conversion values within a specified budget.

YouTube bumper ads

Due to the success achieved with the launch of 6 second bumper ads, Google are building upon these foundations with the introduction of their new tool, Bumper Machine. Many small businesses may want to participate in bumper ads, but don’t have the skills, knowledge or budget to create 6 second ads. The new Bumper Machine tool will, via machine learning, be able to spot the key moments in longer videos to create a series of bumper ads for any business. It will include a suite of editing tools, meaning that the advertiser can tweak as necessary, giving total control over your own ads. Watch out for its introduction to the Google Ads interface very soon!

For all the detailed announcements from this year’s Google Marketing Live visit https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/9341751?hl=en-GB

Get your business summer ready – 4 Social media tips to avoid the summer slowdown

Mon, 17 Jun 2019 02:28:47 GMT

If you are a business that sells ice cream, swimwear or focuses on outdoor activities then the summer months are welcome arrivals. However for many businesses the summer season can be difficult to navigate through as business can slow. So how do you keep consumer eyeballs on the great work and plans you have, whilst they are enjoying their summer activities?

The good news is that even though many things get quiet over the summer, social media is not one of them. The average person accesses their social media accounts up to 15 times a day.Therefore it’s key to understand how you can connect with potential customers via social media during the summer holiday period.

We look into cost effective and quick fire ways that you can add a sprinkling of summer to your social plans, so that you can continue to connect and engage with potential customers during the slower summer months.

Get your business summer ready on your cover or profile photo

Ensure that your profile picture and cover photos have a summer holiday theme. Your profile and cover photos should be crisp, clear images that represent your brand. Think about investing in some bespoke images created especially to promote your business over the summer period, but if budgets don’t allow, then there are plenty of free summer and beach themed frames which can be used to add to your existing images; the key is that your followers and visitors need to feel that the account is ‘alive’ to the times, and celebrating the (hopefully) hot summer season with them.

According to research [1] the average person has 5 social media accounts and actively uses 3 on a regular basis. Create consistency across your social media profiles by posting the same summer themed images on all your accounts, which in turn will improve the trust and durability of your campaigns whilst continuing to build your brand identity.

Set out your summer stall and create timed offers

Decide what your summer offers are and set out your stall early. Having a clear idea and focus of what you can offer potential customers and how this compares to the competition will stand you in good stead. For example, you could decide to offer a summer discount or a free gift (Sunglasses, beach ball, inflatable unicorn) when bought with other products to create a clear up-sell strategy for your business. Once you have defined your offers, create a series of summer themed images or preferably a short video to promote your offer. 80% of all Internet traffic is based around videos [2], so visual (and in particular, video) content is a necessity, as this type of content is more than 40 times more likely to be shared on social media than any other kind [3]. Create regular posts surrounding your offers and think about boosting your post regularly or creating a series of adverts which can be placed across platforms. Remember that most of your content is likely to be consumed on mobile devices whilst your potential customers enjoy the summer sun, so keep your posts bite sized and appealing.

Spread the summer vibes

The summer season is a happy time of year so keep your posts full of lighthearted summer fun, projecting positivity and joy through your brand. For example if you are a food related business think about sharing summer pudding recipes (ideally through a video) or why not launch a competition to win a holiday or weekend break by asking potential customers to post a comment or photo of their family’s favourite summer activity? This will enable you to generate discussion, likes and hopefully shares.

Send customers to a sizzling summer landing page

Whether you are promoting a product, limited offer or competition, it’s important to create specific landing pages to direct your potential customers to in order to create a targeted call to action and add perceived value in the buying cycle. E.g. a 25% off post should link through to the product page on your online site where there is an action to ‘order now’. Similarly a post promoting a competition could lead direct to a landing page which captures the potential customer’s details. Landing pages should replicate your summer branding, which will create a more seamless brand journey.

It’s time to hit the beach running!

4 ways to ensure you achieve landing page optimisation

Mon, 20 May 2019 02:49:35 GMT

Many businesses focus on the importance of having a solid SEO plan to hunt and target prospective customers, but what happens when they click that all important link and embark upon their first encounter with your business? Do you have the correct landing page set up to meet their needs and move them through the all-important sales cycle? Landing page optimisation plays a vital role in seizing and holding a prospective customer’s attention and turning browsers into buyers.

The importance of landing pages

A landing page is a single web page that appears in response to clicking on a search result or an online advertisement, with the general goal being to convert site visitors into sales or leads. The landing page will usually display directed sales copy that is a logical extension of the advertisement, search result or link [1]. There are many different forms of landing page which can be used to increase your chances of conversion:

Click through landing page – This is the most simple of landing pages, often designed for a specific campaign or offering with the sole purpose of getting the visitor to complete a transaction. It normally sits outside of the website hierarchy and is created for the sole purpose of a campaign with its own unique URL.
Lead capture landing page – Lead capture landing pages focus on capturing prospective customer details, which can be used to send newsletters or offerings to in order to convert them into a customer. Many pages focus on gathering names and email addresses as a minimum, but the more information you can gather will help you to subsequently target them with products and offerings.
Social landing pages – Social proof carries more weight than it has ever done before, therefore it’s important for businesses to think about social landing pages. Creating social landing pages may sound like a difficult task, but it’s actually fairly simple. All you need to do is to make some fairly minor tweaks to your existing landing pages through the use of like and share buttons.
Product detail landing page – These sorts of pages do exactly what they say on the tin. They are pages dedicated to a specific product or offering, which sit within the main frame of your website. These often carry detailed information about the product specifications.
Microsites – A more sophisticated and often more expensive form of product detail landing page is a Microsite, which comprises of a separate site within a site. These regularly accompany larger and more expensive campaigns and so are often associated with higher value or larger brands.

Tips to improve Landing page optimisation

Know your audience

Understanding your audience is always important in any form of marketing, but even more crucial when it comes to optimising your landing pages. Think about what information your different audiences need from you in order to move them through your sales cycle as quickly as possible and convert them into a valued customer. Be concise and use language and terminology that they understand, not terms and acronyms that will scare them away!

Analytics

Ensure you set up your analytics tools and that you are reviewing the information from these pages. If you are not measuring and reviewing it, you are unlikely to know if your landing page optimisation is successful or not. Reviewing the data regularly will tell you where your potential customers are clicking from, which part of your landing page they are interested in and how long their attention is kept for, before they make a second click to enter your sales funnel or leave your site never to be seen again.

Demonstrate social proof

Today’s generation seek the advice and counsel of their peers much more readily than previously, particularly when buying online. The more social proof you can include on your landing pages the more your landing page is optimised in that direction. Types of social proof you could think about including are:

Customer testimonials
Customer quotes/ratings
Case studies or success stories – showing the impact of your products or services
Social media user generated content – this could be achieved by showing how many followers you have or through linking to your social media profiles where customers have commented on or shared your content

Use your brand to deliver trust

Your brand is your beacon and it is important to ensure your extend your branding into your landing pages to continue to build trust and increase landing page optimisation. Ensure your branding is consistent with that of other elements of your marketing plan and that they complement your key messages.

Future planning

It would be crazy to have spent time, effort and marketing budget attracting potential customers to your page, only to lose them with off-putting copy, clunky technical arrangements or bad design so it’s vital to ‘think to the finish’. Think carefully what you (and more importantly your customers) want from the landing page and how best you can convert potential customers to cash by making sure their first direct glimpse of your ‘offer’ is consistent, confidence-building and clinical. Go to it!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landing_page#cite_note-2

4 tips to get started with influencer marketing

Fri, 12 Apr 2019 06:01:02 GMT

Influencer marketing focuses on hiring key leaders to drive a brand’s message to the wider market. It goes hand in hand with social media marketing and will continue to grow with many prominent figures and celebrities endorsing branded goods and partnerships through videos and posts on their own personal social channels. They can be incredibly effective in heightening brand awareness and driving traffic because consumers are generally influenced by, and are interested in, the people we follow on social media.

Influencer marketing will become more important in 2019 with brands using this form of marketing as a way of reaching wider news feeds and gaining greater organic reach than they would otherwise be able to achieve on their own. So is influencer marketing just for big brands that have stacks of marketing budget? The answer is simple; whilst it remains a strong strategy for big brands, small businesses can learn from the giants and adapt their marketing to include some elements of influencer marketing, which can drive their business forward. Here are our 4 top tips to get you started:

Identify potential influencers

Finding and leveraging that influence is not an easy process; take your time and think carefully about who are the REAL influencers in your business area. As ever, understanding your market and your customer is key. When looking at influencers ‘trust and suitability’ are key components in any influencer selection. Buying time or favour with an indiscriminate or injudicious influencer without market credibility might do your relationship with prospective customers more harm than good, so it’s important to do your research and get it right. You will also need to be realistic with your budgets; Kylie Jenner didn’t become the world’s youngest billionaire by luck! Instead, look to your local market or area, or to an individual with a growing reputation, to become your influencer; for example:

Think local – If your company operates in the building trade, you might not be able to afford Nick Knowles or Kevin Mcloud. However, is there an architect or individual with a local reputation who might be interested in linking up with you? Perhaps they have just won a prize or large contract and you can ‘catch the wave’ of their publicity.
Catch a rising star – Keep abreast of developing trends in your sector of the market. Use a wide variety of social media channels to find the sudden developments and rising stars, and catch them early in their careers. For example, a business in the fashion or beauty sector might visit local university and college graduation shows to find the ‘rising stars’ whose influence will grow as their experience does. For those in the sports or leisure sectors, can you find the local sportsperson destined for greater things, or the footballer in a local club who might not quite be premier league, but commands a loyal following from hundreds of devoted local fans?. This route is not without some level of risk as you are not investing in a ‘sure thing’, but the much lower levels of financial outlay might well make the risk more tolerable.
Partner for success – Why not establish a link with a local public service organisation that would welcome some additional funds or products, and could support you in return. The local or national armed forces sports teams might welcome a partnership and often have significant social media followings. Similarly, local charities, clubs and organisations might all be open to a reciprocal arrangement which doesn’t always need to be financial.

Develop your own micro-influencer – If you’ve got a member of staff who has got credibility, liability and charisma, why not put them front and centre on their own social media channel. Encouraging your existing customers to ‘like and follow’ could quickly build a solid fan base.

Create killer content

There’s no point having great influencers behind your brand if the content they are sharing and promoting is not topical, interesting and relevant to your potential customers. It’s important to spend enough time and budget on creating killer content which represents your brand and highlights its key selling points. Some ideas to focus upon might be:

Videos / podcasts
Guides and tutorials
Guest blogs
Infographics
Interviews with your influencers

Amplify influencer content on Facebook

Last year Facebook made changes to its platform giving brands the ability to amplify influencer posts[1]. Prior to this update when an influencer used to post about a brand on Facebook, that brand simply had to be content with one of two scenarios: Either the post would reach the influencer’s network, or the brand could essentially re-purpose that post as brand-generated content. Now, brands have the option of scaling the reach of influencer-generated content directly to their target audiences and all at the click of a button.

Activate content across social media channels

For a balanced influencer campaign, ensure that you promote and share your influencer generated content across all your social media platforms. Target Facebook, Instagram, Linked In and Twitter, but also consider setting up a You Tube Channel as a supporting function. Ensure your other marketing efforts such as your website and e-mail marketing also convey the same content and messages to deliver a coherent strategy to your audience.

Influencer marketing is projected to be worth $5-10 billion by 2020 [2]. It’s big business for many brands who continue to focus and invest in this area, however it will become more important to small businesses. Getting your plans started now will stand you in good stead for the future.

Facebook Ads Manager adds even more tools to its armoury

Mon, 01 Apr 2019 05:43:58 GMT

Facebook Ads Manager is a powerful ad management tool often referred to as your “campaign command centre” [1]. It’s an all-in-one tool for creating ads, managing when and where they’ll run, and tracking how well your campaigns are performing. Designed for advertisers of any experience level, it does require some investment in time to develop the expertise to fully benefit your own business. However once you have developed that expertise, it will allow you to execute a much more structured and in-depth approach to your advertising.

Facebook are making continued investment in their Ads Manager tools and recently announced the following features, most of which have been phased in over the last month [2]:

Redesigned notifications experience on Ads Manager

Facebook have updated their notifications experience in order to help the user prioritise what information needs to be actioned. The new interface centres around 3 distinct categories along with customisable default tabs and alerts based upon what matters to you as a business.

Accounts – view notifications for access requests, role updates, billing and account settings
Ads – view notifications for status updates, results and tips for your ads.
Pages – view notifications for interactions on your business page, comments and likes.

Each set of notifications has colour coded icons which make it easier to gain an overview of key actions requiring attention. For example, the red icon highlights ‘errors’ which may have occurred such as an advert not loading correctly. Similarly a green icon highlights ‘success’, which could indicate that an ad has loaded correctly or that your request for monthly invoicing has been approved.

‘On behalf of’ in ad account creation

Facebook understand that many small businesses may not have the time or resource to do their own Facebook advertising and may often outsource this function to a 3rd party. The new ‘on behalf of’ function in Business Manager allows agencies and Facebook marketing partners to specify which accounts they use on behalf of other businesses, ensuring they have access to the appropriate product features. This change means that companies can opt to select an agency to create and execute ads on their behalf without having to sign over their entire user account to the agency.

Video Performance Card

The way people view and interact with video is changing. The new Video Performance Card allows users to see the percent of video plays that occurred at different intervals at a granular level. The visualisation is shown for the first 60 seconds a video. This feature will help businesses to understand key performance metrics for video ads and the milestones reached. For example, if your advert is 30 seconds long and details of your product offer appear in the last 10 seconds of the ad, but users are terminating their view of your ad after 15 seconds, they are not reaching your main marketing message and call to action. This key information enables you to understand that perhaps your video needs to be shorter and/or that your key marketing offer needs to appear closer to the beginning of the advert in order to grab the user’s attention and impact the effectiveness of your campaign.

Carry over existing post engagements on duplicated adverts

When businesses deliver an effective ad campaign they often duplicate these to drive additional reach and engagement for their business. When a business does this there is now an option to carry over existing engagements (reactions, comments and shares) when duplicating the ad using the exact same creative. This a great new feature which allows you to continue to build engagement from the point you stopped, rather than start building from scratch. Although beware that if you make any changes to the duplicated ad creative, the existing engagements will fail to be carried over.

Making it easier to review your work in Ads Manager

Facebook are making changes to the ‘Review View’ which will now highlight modified fields when you edit previously published fields; all to allow you to see the before and after changes to those values. It’s hoped that this update will make it easier to review campaigns, ad sets and ads in bulk within the tool.

As Facebook marketing continues to grow, more and more businesses will make the move towards using Facebook Ads Manager as a more professional way to manage their online campaigns. These recent updates are the latest in a long line helping Facebook to deliver a better user experience and in turn help deliver stronger, more effective campaigns.

Worried that you are just talking to yourself? How to optimise your website content for voice search.

Mon, 18 Mar 2019 11:03:36 GMT

The use of voice search interfaces, such as Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri and OK Google, are increasing in popularity. According to Location World, more than 40% of adults used voice-based search on a daily basis in 2016 and predictions by ComScore estimate that by 2020 more than 50 percent of searches will be voice-based [1].

So how do small businesses start to prepare and optimise their business for voice search? The key is to ensure you have solid technical and search-optimised foundations in your current web platform, allowing you to build upon them to optimise the growth that voice search will bring. Here are 3 key tips which will be crucial to nailing those all-important foundations.

Ensure your website is focused on the ‘long tail’.

It’s wonderful to deal with keywords that have 5,000 searches a day, but in reality, these popular search terms actually make up less than 30% of the searches performed on the web. The vast majority of searches lie in what’s called the “long tail” of search. The long tail contains hundreds of millions of niche and separate search terms that might be conducted only a few times in any given day, but, when taken together, comprise the majority of the world’s search volume.

Try to focus your website upon long tail keywords. Questions are particularly effective because they tend to convert better as they catch people later in the buying/conversion cycle. For example, someone conducting a voice search for “where can I get an American Hot pizza delivered to me?” practically has their wallet out! People are also more likely to conduct a voice search using a conversational pattern of speech; it’s just a more natural use of our voice to ask a full question, rather than barking out single words.

However, it’s difficult to focus on search terms that are, by their definition, niche and often slightly obscure. Consider investing in expert copywriters who are experienced in writing copy that represents a business, whilst also ensuring that it contains the keywords and questions which potential customers may use when searching for a business. Having this sort of specialist support can pay dividends when it comes to optimising your site for voice search opportunities.

Use Schema.org markup to provide structured data

Structured data, contained within or ‘behind’ the cosmetic look and feel of the website, helps search engines to understand and be confident about the exact nature of the content on your pages. Unlike a textual search, the multiple results of which are presented in a manner that allows further refinement of the results, voice search tends to deliver a single result. Therefore, structured data will help to differentiate your website from others, and improve your voice search results.

Schema.org markup is one such tool designed to help you optimise for voice search. It is widely used, having been developed by Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Yandex as a universal vocabulary to help search engines interpret web-pages. Implementing structured data often results in increased click-through rates, drives traffic, and brings you competitive advantages as well as helping you get recognised as an authentic site to feed voice results.

If you want to make sure that your schema.org markup is Bing-friendly, you can use Bing’s markup validator to check your code too.

Don’t just optimise for Google

Although Google is the most widely used search engine, it’s important to not put all your eggs in one basket and to ensure that your site is optimised for other search engines and voice platforms.

Set up a Bing ‘places for business’ profile – this is free and easy to do and requires little effort to maintain in addition to your Google MyBusiness profile. This will also give you a presence on Bing Maps, which is the default for local searches carried out through Amazon’s Alexa.
Optimise your Apple Maps listing – Create a business listing on Apple Maps to ensure that you show up in local searches made through Siri, whose results are drawn from Apple Maps by default.
Utilise Bings SEO tools – Just as Google has webmaster guidelines and tools, so does Bing. Bing’s webmaster guidelines will help you get to grips on how Bing approaches search, and check for individual points of difference in treating search results [2].

Start to plan now

The increasing popularity of voice search means that it’s a trend that businesses can ill-afford to ignore. However the technical challenge and extra level of detail required to optimise your website for voice search requires both sound technical foundations and carefully crafted copy. But if you agree that it’s worth paying attention to the opportunities that voice search offers, don’t despair. There are tools such as schema.org that can really help, but you may feel that when it comes to requiring an extra level of support, it’s worth investing in some external help. That way, you ensure that your website is able to enter into a lively conversation with your prospective customers, and not talk quietly to itself in a forgotten corner.

HoneyBadger have a range of website offers built to suit all requirements and budgets. Visit our website to find out more https://www.honeybadgersme.com/websites-for-small-businesses