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 Simple answer - YES! Whilst there are website design companies like us that optimise websites for a living, undertaking this role is something that you can do yourself. For example, designing a landing page that’s built for leads doesn’t have to be an overwhelming nor time-consuming exercise. By simply looking at examples of some of the best converting lead generation websites, you can learn precisely what works and why. If you want to attract visitors who have a strong intention of ultimately using your services, your landing page will have to have plenty of good content, quality links and authority.  14 Top tips for optimising your website… The following steps are proven to increase not only conversions, but also your site's trust factor and presence. For good optimisation of your website that will help generate more customers it's worth considering the following... Top tip 1 - add forms to the pages that get the most traffic To begin with, conduct an audit of where most of your online traffic and outreach comes from. Here are some of the most common places that a business might get visitors from: Email Marketing - traffic might come from users who click through to your website from one of your emails that you have provided. Social Media - traffic might come from users who engage in a campaign through one of your social media profiles linked with your website. Live Chat - traffic might come in the form of users who reach out to your customer service team through a live chat window on your website. Blog Posts - traffic might come from your highest-performing blog posts. Top tip 2 - start with a basic CTA on your homepage If your homepage's design is what catches a person's attention, the CTA (Call to Action) is what keeps it. Your homepage sits at the top of the marketing funnel and should therefore offer either a free trial or subscription to a recurring campaign, such as a newsletter. Consider including one of the following CTAs on the front of your website:
 Top tip 3 - offer ebooks for download on specific blog posts Another way to generate interest in your business is to create blog content that promotes an ebook or whitepaper, wherein your website visitors can learn more about the same topic they have just read about on your blog. We are always writing about the importance of blog posts and keeping content on your site fresh and relevant and this strategy is where lead generation meets search engine optimisation (SEO). To start, conduct keyword research on a topic that's relevant to your industry, and create a group of blog posts around this topic. Then, draft a report that delves much deeper into this topic. Package this report into a PDF that your blog readers can download using their name, company, and email address.  Top tip 4 - develop a live chat service for your website To generate leads though live chat, audit your website to see which pages your visitors spend most of their time on. With the right development resources, you can install a live chat tool on the pages where customers need the most assistance or information. This allows you to practically collect and log insight on their product needs while answering their questions. Top tip 5 - personalise your calls-to-action Personalised calls-to-action convert 42% more visitors than basic calls-to-action. Visitors who see website pages that remember them from an earlier date are more inclined to stick around and start a conversation with you. Top tip 6 - make your videos speak to the user Online videos greatly increase conversion rates for a wide range of industries (particularly e-commerce websites). The highest performing videos speak to the user rather than at them. Online users who viewed a product video are much more likely to convert over users who simply viewed an ad. Top tip 7 - use action oriented words when describing your offers Using action-oriented words in your offer (such as, ''feel'' and ''get'' etc.), places the customer in a pivotal role as the one receiving the benefits as opposed to simply imagining them. Top tip 8 - featured image Every great post has a great image. This makes the post more attractive, both on your site and in the social streams when it gets shared. This is your chance to explain concepts visually with informative charts or diagrams. Top tip 9 - descriptive header A descriptive header is good for visitors and good for search rankings. Top tip 10 - social sharing buttons Make it easy to spread the word. Share buttons can appear at both the top and bottom of the post, or even as a “sticky” element that follows them as they scroll down the page. Top tip 11 - try to avoid cookie-cutter site templates It is best you avoid any cookie cutter “all-the-work-is-done-for-you” website templates. Instead, consider investing in the best possible website that you can afford, and make sure you make the purpose of each page clear, up front, so that the designer can tailor it to generating leads.  Top tip 12 - evidence, data and social proof Add evidence of your legitimacy and the value of your services. This may include examples, statistics and research. Top tip 13 - personality, values and your story Talk about your values, your origin and why this work is important in order to make this a page that sets you apart. Top tip 14 - nurture your leads Place leads into a workflow once they fill out a form on your landing page so they don't forget about you. Deliver them valuable content that matches their interest. Lead nurturing should start with relevant follow up emails that include great content. Finally, take a look at your website. How do you think it’s doing against the above points? Call us today so that we can discuss how we can help you put in action what you currently have missing.
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 Last week, 13 July, Christine Huntingford from Perfect Layout Digital Marketing was invited to give a presentation at the Havering Chamber of Commerce and Industry (HCCI) breakfast meeting, where members and visitors attended. She thought long and hard about what to talk to them about and decided to make it an interactive session with the participants and let them know in 10 minutes, after a few simple checks, whether their website was working well for their business and whether their website and digital marketing need some real Tender Loving Care (TLC). Firstly, to get a sense of their initial thoughts she asked the following questions:
This gave everyone a moment to reflect not only if were they genuinely happy with their current service, but also to validate if this was a way in which they were bringing in customers. Now we know its all very easy to think that everything is fine with our website, but how do we really know? Well, these next simple tasks can reveal whether your website is working for you. You can do this for your site at any time.  Task 1 Open your search browser for the internet and look for your business, by type and location. Please don’t type in your company name but instead type in say ‘Accountants in Romford’. Is your company is listed on page one? If it is that’s great news. Potential customers have a chance of finding you and calling up your business. For those of you that didn’t appear on page one, you may need to think about how to improve the content of your website to help you to be found. Task 2 Whilst before you were asked not to type in your company name into the browser, this time, do exactly that. For example, for our Company it would be, ‘Perfect Layout Digital Marketing’. Can you see the Google My Business (GMB) listing for your business? Can you also see photos, posts and full details about your company? Do you have reviews? If it’s a ‘yes’ for all of that, that is excellent! You are on track with taking full advantage of GMB’s latest updates and features. If you didn’t, Perfect Layout can help you either set up a Google My Business, or help you enhance what you already have there. Task 3 Keeping the page that you had open for task 2, now scroll down the results page, do you have your business listed in external directories? Such as Yell, Thomson, Netmums, or any online directory for your sector? If you have more than 3 external directory listings, you are doing well, these connections on external sites help give your website relevancy and demonstrate that you are an active business. If you are not listed on any external directories, it is recommended that this strategy is employed in order to help your business get found. Task 4 Does your website have a blog section? If it does, was the last post published within the last month? If this is you - congratulations! You are doing a good job of sharing news about your company’s activities and products to your community. If you don’t, get in touch with Perfect Layout about the benefits of a blog, which can help your website rank better.
Being on external directories can improve your online visibility with prospective clients. Having a blog section is an opportunity to update your community on what you are doing and makes your business more authoritative. In the second half of the presentation we introduced an alternative strategy for phone-based businesses who don’t have the money to invest in a new website or redesign of their current website - but need to be earning more money and secure new customers. To clarify, a phone-based business is when people would call you as their primary way of contacting you, rather than via email or walking into your business premises. Let’s imagine the following: Our client, a dentist, gets some enquiries from his website, but he would like more. His family is growing and they need a bigger house, but what he is currently earning isn’t quite enough to be able to move, just yet. He doesn’t have the money to rebuild his website and invest in keyword-rich content. However, as a phone-based business, he has the option of securing potential customers through a customer generating website that’s run by a digital marketing agency. This website will generate new contacts specifically for his business by creating a new website free of charge. It will be found organically on the top pages of search engines and could bring him that extra revenue that he is looking for. From these new clients there’s a high likelihood of them becoming repeat customers, who will visit for check-ups, as well as the need for ad hoc additional treatments. Fabulous recurring revenue for years to come. It’s a no brainer – so where's the catch? It’s simply a matter of paying a small fee to the digital marketing agency for each enquiry that comes via that website. If this has struck a chord with you and you would like your business to build up its client base and recurring customers, give us a call today to talk about whether your niche would suit such a website.  For many businesses, social media is an indispensable tool for finding and engaging with customers, improving sales, advertising and promoting products and services as well as gauging trends and offering customer service. Social media has a significant role in helping businesses as it:
While 76% of direct sellers use social media for promotional purposes, 55% use it for recruiting new distributors and 42% use it for reactive purposes. Consumers are the most popular target for social media, followed by distributors and communities. Social media has evolved into a driver of strategy, and will become even more important in the future as customer relationships are improved and developed by listening and reacting to concerns. The transparency created by social media is enhancing trust and ethical organisational cultures. In addition, consumer brand communities are emerging that are increasing brand value.   1 – Facebook This is easily the largest social networking site in the world and one of the most widely used. Facebook was perhaps the first that surpassed the landmark of 1 billion user accounts. An average Facebook user has 180 friends. Apart from the ability to network with friends and relatives, different Facebook apps can be accessed to sell online and market or promote a businesses brand and products by using paid Facebook ads. Facebook has incredible insights about their users and can target very specific demographics with very specific ads. Facebook ads are shown more regularly to advertisers who are willing to pay more than other advertisers targeting the same people. This creates a bidding war and makes advertising campaigns that focus on a small niche more profitable. Number of active users per month: approximately 1.7 billion
  2 – Instagram Instagram was launched as a unique social networking platform that was completely based on sharing photos and videos. This photo sharing social networking app thus enables you to capture the best moments of your life, with your phone’s camera or any other camera, and convert them into works of art. This is possible because Instagram allows you to apply multiple filters to your photos and you can easily post them to other popular social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter. It is now part of the Facebook empire, with 1 billion registered users. More than 80% of Instagram’s community lives outside of the U.S. More than 300 million users check Instagram Stories daily. Number of active users per month: 500 million approximately
  3 – Twitter This social networking site enables you to post short text messages (called tweets), containing a limited number of characters (up to 240), to convey your message to the world. With the growing craze for online shopping, Twitter makes it possible to promote your business and shop directly through tweets. More political leaders use Twitter than any other social platform. 276 heads of state, government and ministries in 178 countries use Twitter. 68 million monthly active users are located in the U.S. 262 million monthly active users live outside of the U.S. (roughly 80%of all users). 42% of Twitter users use the site daily. 8% of US Companies use Twitter for marketing purposes. 74% of Twitter users follow small businesses to get product updates. Number of active users per month: 330 million approximately
  4 – Google+ Owned by the tech giant Alphabet (Google), this interest-based social networking platform enables you to stay in touch with people by sharing messages, photos, videos, useful links to sites and so on. It is estimated that it has a total of 2 billion registered users. It also extends support for video conferencing through Hangouts and allows businesses to promote their brands and products through Google+ business pages. Top 5 countries using G+ are USA, India, Brazil, UK & Canada. Number of active users: 395 million approximately
  5- LinkedIn LinkedIn is easily one of the most popular professional social networking sites or apps and is available in over 20 languages. It is used across the globe by all types of professionals and serves as an ideal platform to connect with different businesses, locate and hire ideal candidates and more. It also boasts over 500 million members. The more precise demographical data about people you are connected with is usually behind a pay-wall (a tool to monetize digital content securely and efficiently) such as on LinkedIn. 171 million users are based in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The U.S. has the largest national user base (146 million members), followed by India, China and Brazil. 49% of college graduates use LinkedIn. 45% of adults making more than US$75,000 per year are on LinkedIn. More than 46 million students and recent college graduates use LinkedIn. They are the networking site’s fastest-growing demographic. Number of active users per month: 250 million approximately
 Love them or loathe them, social media platforms are a must for all business owners to use. Denying your business a presence on the right social media platforms could lose you leads, revenue and repeat custom. If you are overwhelmed with where you should start, give Perfect Layout Digital Marketing a call to see how we can help build the right social media strategy for you. Perfect Layout believes that sharing knowledge and experiences is a great way of helping each other learn how to run a business better. Interviewing local businesses is a bi-monthly ritual that we really enjoy as it allows us to become more known in the community and learn about how other businesses work. We hope that sharing the personal experiences of these companies will give them exposure to you - readers, that may need their services as well as providing insights into what has worked for them and what they could do a little better… This month, we interview Cyrus Mehta. An experienced Photographer that has recently taken the leap and become a full-time business owner.
 How did your career in photography begin? I have always loved photography from a very young age and dipped in and out of it over the years but my passion really reignited whilst working as a Project Manager for an events company that specialised in automotive press launches. We were away on a launch in Siena for about 4-5 weeks and during one of my weekends off I decided to explore the landscape and took the company digital compact camera with me. The Tuscan landscape is simply beautiful and I was totally hooked on capturing images of anything and everything from that moment. During this trip one of my colleagues on the launch was due to get married when we got back to the UK. I was invited to the wedding and took the photographs throughout the day. I retouched them using Photoshop and the couple really liked them. I loved doing it! Then another friend asked me to do his wedding and I thought, if I’m going to do this properly and one day make this my full time career I have to invest in the right equipment. So I invested in a Canon DSLR system. It was my first paying wedding. I continued doing this alongside my main job. How long have you been a photographer for? I’ve been working as a part time photographer for over 10 years now. But I actually got my first camera when I was 10 years old and I was hooked from then. I also studied photography as part of my graphics course at college. I set up my own darkroom at home where I processed all my images. Even with a full time job and travelling for work, I managed to study O’level photography at night class. What draws you to taking photographs for a living? The passion for creating. I love the whole process of capturing the still image and then making a good image even better through post production … if the image needs it.  What did you do beforehand? I was a Project Manager for an events company that specialised in automotive press launches. How has the transition been from taking photographs part-time to doing it full time? Exciting! I can now concentrate on getting things done as there’s no longer the distraction of my main job. Before, I had to book days off as holiday well in advance to make sure that I would be available for my clients. I would never want to let clients down. I have a lot of trust put on me to capture events like weddings for instance where you only get one chance to capture the whole day. What type of pictures do you enjoy taking the most? Mainly weddings as this encompasses a wide range of photography skills like portraiture, social interaction, fashion, landscape and architectural photography. Although my main photography avenues are weddings, portraits etc, I photograph a wide variety of subjects such as products. I recently shot a range of high end scarves for a client who is selling through her new website. I’m just about to do a shoot in Southend for an adventure playground who are revamping their website. So my photography is quite diverse. What makes you different from other photographers? I go out of my way to make sure my clients are happy with what they have hired me for. Retouching for me is also a big part of photography. It can really enhance an image and as a tool makes a difference to the quality of a photo. I go the extra mile with my post production retouching and the techniques I’ve developed over the years help me achieve the look I’m after. For example a wedding is a loving and romantic occasion and I try to convey that in every image I take on the day so that I can produce a digital story for the couple that they can cherish for many years to come.
Which ways are you promoting your business at the moment? Through my website, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Google+. I post images as often as I can and slowly but surely I’m getting likes and my name out there. I’ve tried pay per click with Google before but that didn’t really work for me. I recently tried an ad campaign through Facebook with a very small budget over ten days. The ad reached over 2,500 people but unfortunately no enquiry’s. My next step is to go to wedding fairs and try to get business face to face with couples who are planning their big day. Do you have a website? Yes, which I built myself. How did you find designing your website yourself? I’ve been dabbling with websites for a number of years now so I found it relatively easy but with some major headaches along the way as the learning curve with my current platform provider was quite steep. I’ve now got the hang of it, so I can make changes quickly and whenever I want. Which search engine optimisation techniques have you used? Nearly every image is described with alt tags and keywords embedded. On each page I’ve also got relevant keywords in the text. I transferred my domain to my current platform provider as my previous site was old and non-responsive making my site not very user friendly. I’m also working my way through business directories and making sure all my details are correct on all the free listings. Do you have a business plan? To make it work! The plan is in my head regarding how I want it to develop and all the things I need to do. I think social media will play a big part but also bringing my portfolio up to date and going to wedding fairs … I need to attend face-to-face, live events which I know will bring in the business.  So, if you’re thinking about hiring a professional photographer for your next special occasion you can contact Cyrus via: www.cyrusmehta.co.uk GooglePlus Email: cyrus@cyrusmehta.co.uk If you have a business that you would like to feature in this regular slot, why not get in touch? We’d love to hear from you! You can contact us via the social media methods below or call us on 01708 578 015.   Christine Huntingford, CEO, Perfect Layout Digital Marketing will be one of the guest speakers at the Havering Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s (HCCI) breakfast meeting this Friday (13 July). She will talk about how businesses need to invest in their website and digital marketing; in order to stay ahead of the competition. Breakfast meetings are free to members and guests are welcome too. As a local business owner, it is likely that your days are filled working with for your customers with your specialist skill-set. If you are lucky to have a lot of referral work, it is likely that one day rolls into the next and one week into another and before you know it, that promise that you made to yourself that you will update your website, or that you will post more often on social media, falls to the way side. If you are one you one of them, now is really is a good time to take stock and find out if what you are doing is really working for your business? Ask yourself: when was the last time you really looked at your website? Does it really work for you in the way that you want it to? (- i.e. are you getting leads from it). Do you know how easy it is for potential customers to find you? Is your social media activity where it should be? We all know that there is more that we can, and should, do. There are simple and relatively quick things that you can do that can make a big difference to your visibility online. Some elements cost you time, not money. And those that do cost money, can be scaled to what is affordable for you.  Come along on Friday 13 July to the Havering Museum in Romford and join the members and guests of the Havering Chamber of Commerce and Industry to hear Christine share ways for you to check if your website is easily found (or not); your website is the foundation of your digital marketing strategy and if that isn’t right, that is where you need to start first. From there we can build the blocks to ensure that you are engaging with potential customers on a regular basis. The meeting starts at 7:30am for networking and the speakers will be presenting between 8am and 9am. There is a further opportunity to network until 9:30am. Guests welcome: £10 on the door.  You may have noticed that the world we live in is changing…how we communicate, how we shop and how we do business. Many of these changes have come about as more and more people walk around with mini computers in their pockets. The owners of these Smart Phones range from the very young (many a lot younger than my 12 year daughter!) to the very old - my father wouldn’t thank me for mentioning his age (!). They have a worldwide appeal and their technology becomes more and more sophisticated with each passing year. According to a recent survey of 170,000 adult internet users in 32 markets conducted by GlobalWebIndex 75% of adults that own a smartphone are using them to access the internet. That’s a lot of people! If your business has a website that doesn’t convert for mobile users, you will be missing out on a massive market of potential customers and the real chance of increasing your profits. If you’re reading this blog and wondering how it is that you’ve never come across the term, ‘mobile strategy’ before – don’t worry, there is a way for you to catch up if you implement these 5 tips to creating a mobile strategy. Tip 1 – ask questions Before you begin creating your strategy, have a think about what you would like to achieve by asking yourself and/or your team some of the following. For example:
Tip 2 – do you want a mobile site or a mobile application? If your business has a website you will want it to be mobile responsive. This means that users will not have to download anything to view your information properly. The mobile site can detect the user’s device and automatically format the content for optimal viewing on that platform. Mobile applications require a device-specific download from a marketplace, such as the Apple App Store or the Android Market. Whether you choose to incorporate a mobile site or mobile application as part of your strategy, you will want to ensure that the information is clear and concise – thus easy to understand. Make the user experience as smooth and enjoyable as possible. You want to encourage people to return or recommend your service and/or product.  Tip 3 – combine the use of Social Media into your campaign We all know the power and influence social media platforms have, so now it’s time to think about how best to turn their strength to your advantage. Each social media platform offers tools that enable you to listen to, engage with and monitor your audience. Did you know that 40% of Pinterest, Twitter or Facebook users have purchased something after watching and sharing it? This means that your mobile strategy should integrate with your social media platforms. This includes sharing reviews, having social sharing buttons and creating content that is both engaging for your audience and promoted through social media ads. Tip 4 – create different device campaigns It’s common that households today have multiple laptops, tablets and smartphones that cater for the uses of all the family. According to KISSMetrics, “over 40% of smartphone users watch TV while browsing a smartphone.” Because people are now adept at multi-tasking on this level, it’s important that marketing campaigns are adjusted to take into account the device, location and time of day of the end user. This way, you will be able to maximise your return on investment by delivering content that is relevant to different members of your audience. Tip 5 – send out timely alerts Have you ever found yourself checking your phone even when it’s not made one of those little ‘ping’ noises? Well you’re not alone. If you have done your research and truly know your audience and the time they would like to receive these alerts, take advantage of people wanting to look busy by sending out notifications of your latest discounts, savings or next big event. Please note that this list is not exhaustive and is offered as a starting point to help businesses create a strategy. Have you found this article useful? Give us your feedback and let us know how you have implemented your mobile strategy. We’d love to hear from you! |
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