Hello is anyone there? Where are all the sales? Where has all the traffic gone?
All to often I meet businesses who have invested in beautiful websites, they have invested time and money making sure their brand looks amazing online. They hit ‘Launch’ and sit back and wait…. They wait and wait and wait and are left sadly disappointed when the masses don’t flock to visit the new website.
So how do you generate website traffic?
Good News … there are lots of things you can do to help get yoru website out there.
This one is so obvious; we’re going to look at it first. Paid Advertising. Advertising via search ads, display ads, shopping ads, video ads or social media advertising is an effective strategy to drive traffic to your website.
SEO, advertising might be the obvious one but organic traffic is gold! The free traffic to your website that naturally comes from Google. Invest time on a strong SEO strategy, it will pay off in the long run. Look beyond short keywords, do your keyword research and look at longtail search terms, link building, video and images on your website. Develop a strong content plan around your keywords and invest time in implementing this.
Get Social, you cannot under estimate how important good social media is. A good content strategy build brand awareness and can drive brand loyalty and well put together ad campaigns can really drive traffic and revenue.
During the pandemic it wasn’t only businesses who had to pivot and change, consumers had to adapt. Suddenly buying behaviours shifted as we moved online. Below are some of the shifts in buying behaviour that are now here to stay…
1.People are inspired by Digital
Shopping online is more than a convenient way to purchase, it has become the place where shoppers discover products and find inspiration. When we browse the internet we are present with hundreds of products daily, stumbling upon inspiration often when they aren’t even looking. This now more than ever presents a great opportunity for new and emerging brands to be found.
2.Values matter
2021 has already seen an increase in shoppers purchasing based upon their values, whether it’s sustainability, corporate responsibility, or racial equality. Google released stats which showed in 2020 search interest for “ethical brands” and “ethical online shopping” grew over 300% and 600% online.
3.Convenience
Shopping during the pandemic opened many new ways to shop, ‘click and collect’, ‘collection points’, ‘fast track aisles’, ‘home delivery’, the consumer now more than ever wants to shop in places that make life easy for them, research is showing convenience is still a deciding factor when picking an online retailer with simple returns processes being a key factor to consider.
Travel and Tourism has been hit especially hard by the pandemic and will be feeling the effects of covid for a long time to come. As restrictions lift, worldwide tourism spending isn’t expected to fully until 2023 or beyond.
Google has recently shared searches for ‘where to travel’ and ‘can I travel’ are near all-time highs, worryingly though on 9% of the travel market feels their business is ready and prepared for the next phase of travel.
Here are a few key search trends for 2021 and beyond.
People over places
The primary motivator for travel as we move out of lockdown for now is to visit friends and family! Consumers on a whole are looking to travel more for people than destinations. As a travel marketer take advantage of this trend by emphasising on human connections and shared experiences on your website and ads rather than your location. Missed Opportunities packages for Hotels are proving very popular and strong. #togetheragain and #makingmemories hashtags are playing a part on social media.
Disconnect and reset
Escape and disconnect from day-to-day life. After18 months of rules, restrictions and working from home many people want to reset, mix up the mundane and get away. Focus on simple experiences and pleasures. Relax, Explore, Revive and Unwind all key words being using across the industry.
Domestic Travel
Domestic Travel is set to be key for travel over the next Over the next 12-18months. This is helping sustain the travel industry locally, in the UK search for places to stay at home in the UK has risen by over 75%. As a local travel business sell yoru destination, promote the local hidden gems and partner with others in your industry to provide unique experiences for those visiting.
Sustainability
Sustainable travel is continuing to grow, consumers are looking for eco-friendly experiences and services. Exploring ways to highlight sustainability credentials in your marketing communications, include key messages and look to even offer specific “Eco Explorer” packages.
Stay Flexible Ensure you communicate messaging around flexible booking and safety measures, make these visual on your website and advertising. People want to know they’re in safe hands and should they need to make changes to a booking can do so easily.
Help your customers find what they need and were they need to go on your website by improving your customer journey with these tips:-
Stop Pain Points These are where your customers are having a hard time. Do your very best to remove these pain points from your journey because these are the ones the customer will remember. Broken links, slow load times, problems checking out, no search facility on your website are some of the most common pain points with consumers.
Get Better Ask yourself what you can do to raise the bar and deliver an experience that exceeds the expectations? How can you improve, can you offer the customer something they want before they have to look and ask for it? Can you improve cross selling and on site promotions?
Cut the rubbish Remove any unnecessary steps required to perform an action. Get your customer to the end goal as simply and quickly as possible. Remember the 3 click rule for your website, no more than 3 clicks to get to the end goal.
Think Like A Customer Try your website, look at your social media and do it like a customer. We often get too close to our own businesses we forget to ask our customers and learn from their journeys.
This December plan ahead and make the most of your marketing. Here are a few popular December marketing activities to help spark some ideas.
Free shipping Day – 14th December
If you have an e-commerce business, consider joining in on Free Shipping Day on December 14 by offering free shipping on all purchases.
Christmas Cards
Everyone loves a Christmas Card. Send a festive thank you to your customers with a festive Christmas E-Card. For that extra surprise include a promo code or special offer.
12 days of Christmas
Maybe a little over done now but many companies run with the a 12 days of Christmas theme.
12 gifts of Christmas
12 tips of Christmas
12 must haves for Christmas
Update your Google My Business Listing
Online shoppers are going to be turning to Google make sure your business information is up to date so you can get found on search.
Be sure to: Verify your contact information Update your holiday hours Upload photos of your seasonal products and services Create Offer and Event posts
Create a Gift Guide
A gift guide is a great way to get your name out there and provide a helpful service to your community.
Add a little Festive Cheer
Update your social media profiles and website with some festive cheer. Christmas images and nice seasonal message, a bit like we decorate our houses for the festive period lets not forget about our online profiles.
Email
During the holidays, people get busy. Remind them about your business with email marketing. Why not include specials offers and remind them of key dates.
It’s nearly that time of year again! Black Friday is coming and 2020 is set to be a year for online sales and consumers wanting to grab a deal!
Now is the time to get planning your campaigns! Here are some tips and ideas for your Black Friday marketing will help maximise your sales this year.
Grow a database
Email marketing is still one of the highest converting Digital Channels. Plan ahead and encourage customers and social media followers to sign up for marketing emails in the lead up to Black Friday. This can be done with lead capture adverts on social media, on your websites and in store.
Give customers a reason to sign up, for example those on our email list receive exclusive offers or extra discounts.
Email Marketing
Send out offers to your subscribers in advance and let them know what offers and deals are coming. Make sure your emails clearly communicate when promotions will run. Time sensitive offers tend to provide a sense of urgency and convert better, “24hour sale”, “For one day only”
Target and Personalise Black Friday Promotional Emails
Email always works better when you tailor the message to the recipient. Like any other marketing campaign, Black Friday engagement really comes down to understanding your email list. Divide and group contacts into several different segments according to their interests and engagement. For example, previous purchasers, gender, online shopper or inshore shopper. Also make sure to personalise emails, put the customer name on the email and tailor your messages to fit your market segments.
Add a “Find a Store” Call to Action to Email
If you have a physical shop or multiple locations, include a local-friendly call to action in your Black Friday emails to help encourage visiting your physical store.
Snappy and Catchy Subject lines
At this time of year our inboxes become extra full with everyone fighting for our attention. Make sure your subject lines stand out. Consider running an A/B test on a small proportion of your database first to test subject lines. This will allow you to determine which will have the greatest open rate and conversion rates.
Clear Call to Action
This one seems simple, but you would be surprised how many people send out emails without a clear and structured call to action. What do you want consumers to do? Shop Now, Buy Now, Sign Up.
Work as a unit!
Your email and social media marketing should work in tandem.Utilise Facebook and Instagram posts and Adverts. Start sharing Black Friday teasers and updates on your social media from early November so people can look ahead and know what to expect. You can use these teasers to encourage email signs ups to be the first to see your black Friday offers.
Re-marketing is Key!
This time of year consumers shop around more. We see many more abandoned carts from shoppers who have not completed their online purchase.
Re-market via social media to these people and encourage them back to completed their purchase. Consider offering an incentive to come back, free postage, 10% off. Most ecommerce platforms,like choppily will allow you to email abandoned carts. Don’t wait hours and hours to trigger a cart abandonment email! Consumers are making decisions much more quickly so it is key to act fast.
Don’t devalue your brand!
Always be careful with your Black Friday Sales to make sure you are protecting your brand value. It is easy to go big and offer massive savings but think carefully about your messaging and how it impacts the overall brand long term.
Make your website start to work for you. Want to create amazing content that helps you find customers?
Here are 8 top tips for keeping your website fresh!
1.What is your USP
Is it clear what you do? Does your website showcase your primary business? Often we provide more than once service so our websites become busy and cluttered.When someone lands on your website do they instantly know what your core business is? Does your site communicate how you can help them easily?
2.Follow the buying journey
When you work on your website you are sometimes too close. You forget to look at your website and think like a customer. If you saw your website for the first time would you be able to navigate it? Could a customer easily find what they need? Think like a customer or even better get some fresh eyes on your website and ask them to test it and feedback to you.
3. Do keyword research
Google keyword finder, Google trends and your Google analytics will help you identify keywords. Also look at the websites of your competitors. Make sure your website is optimised for your most important keywords.
4. Call to Action
It always surprises me how many beautiful websites fail to have call to actions. Tell people what you want them to do and prompt them to do it. Sign up now, Book today, Buy now…
5. Check spelling and grammar
Regular housekeeping is important. Check your website, read through work and make sure you are grammatically accurate and that your tone of voice is on brand and consistent. Nothing looks more unprofessional that a big typo on a website.
6.Get visual
Video and images bring a website to life and help with overall user experience. Ensure you get a nice balance on your website and that all images and videos are optimised effectively.
7.Keep it fresh
Your website needs to be updated. Google and Bing like fresh content. Pull together a content plan and add a news section to update people on your business. All content should be focused on your keywords and business goals.
8. Check your data
Google analytics and the google search console have a wealth of data you can use about your website, your site visitors and customers. Check this data regularly, review it and use it to update and tweak your website and marketing activity.
First in our 2-minute tip series – how do you look online?
I am often surprised how many businesses don’t look at their website on different devices. Most will focus on desktop or one type of mobile device.
Screenfly is a useful free website that will allow you to check how your website looks across different devices. Take a bit of time and review how the different pages on your website look and ensure they are optimised for mobile.Give it a go!
Starting today, you can create Messenger Rooms on Instagram and invite up to 50 of your favorite people to join.
Go to send a message in Instagram Direct. Tap on the video chat button you’ll see a new prompt to create a Messenger Room. The Messenger Rooms are hosted on Messenger so while you can create a room within Instagram, you’ll still have to switch to Messenger to engage in the video chat.
Are you using the right-sized images for your social media profiles? With so many different social media channels it can be confusing to figure out what size your images need to be. It is important to upload your images in the correct sizes to avoid poor quality images, nothing looks worse than a blurred logo or your key message being cut off from an image.
Here is a quick guide to all the social media image sizes for Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and Instagram.
