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marketing attribution

Marketing Attribution: It’s so important to your business, here’s why!

“You wouldn’t drive a car without a dashboard so why drive your marketing without one?”

Businesses in the UK were estimated to have spent £13.4bn in 2018 advertising through online marketing channels it shows just how important marketing attribution is to the UK economy.

I worked with a business person a number of years ago who used to sell call centre solutions; one of his go-to phrases was “you wouldn’t drive a car without a dashboard, so why drive your business”. I still think about this phrase to this day.

From a digital marketing attribution point of view, so many businesses spend a lot of money to generate awareness, sales leads etc. why would you not want to be able to see each and every touch point they took along the journey to end up in your database?

47% of buyers viewed 3 – 5 pieces of content before engaging with a sales rep (Demand Gen Report 2016), so which piece of your content is the most important for you and your business. Without full attribution it could be very easy to attribute your marketing budget to the wrong areas.

Why is it so often an afterthought?

Marketing Attribution, is sometimes the last thing people think about when starting a marketing campaign.

The problem is, this is like driving a car without a dashboard.

How do you know if the money you’re spending on marketing is actually turning into leads, sales or phone calls?

If you don’t understand what campaign is driving the sales you won’t be able to make the correct decisions down the line when it comes time to start building the next month or years marketing strategy.

How did your content perform towards your goals?

Which keyword or search phrase contributed most to your overall leads pool?

As John Wanamaker once said “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.”

We now have access to more data than we have ever had, and for some reason some companies are still happy to plough cash into marketing without properly measuring the returns.

Marketing Attribution software

We use a piece of software to help us understand the whole journey.

Ruler Analytics, it’s an analytics platform similar to Google Analytics but will enable you to understand where your form fills are coming from, you can see what the first click was right through to the last click.

Google Analytics is set to default to the last click but think about the journey a prospect now goes on before they make contact.

You want to know where they originally became aware of your website/brand and you can then start to invest more into that particular channel.

Ruler Analytics Dashboard

Along with knowing where the form fill came from, Ruler also allows you to track where your phone calls come from.

Some of our clients get more phone calls due to the nature of the business they work in, this means that normally there would be no way to understand if the call came from a piece of content, and organic search or a paid advert.

Using the Ruler Analytics call tracking we are able to attribute these sales calls to the right channels and reinvest in those.

By the way, using this for one of our clients who sell photocopiers allowed us to prove that the best leads were coming from our SEO services.

Multiple touch points now lead to a conversion

I today’s connected world the number of devices people can find your website from is incredible.

Add to this that most B2B buyers now look at an average of 12 pieces of content before even making contact with a potential supplier now and you can see how different attribution models can give you very different pictures of where that sale came from.

Make sure you’re not throwing money away on your marketing by upping your attribution game! We can help too, just give us a shout and we can help implement Ruler Analytics in your business.

Sources:

https://www.marketingweek.com/online-ad-market-spend-uk-2020/

https://www.hubspot.com/marketing-statistics

https://www.ruleranalytics.com/blog/inbound-marketing/measuring-marketing-performance/

structured data tips

5 Structured Data Tips For Your E-Commerce Site

The latest power-technique in boosting your SEO is now upon us – in the form of schema markup. This is one of the most underused tools in e-commerce right-now.

However, those websites that are using schema markup are benefiting from the royalty of high rankings on search engine result pages (SERPs).

Are you interested in having your e-commerce sat at the top of Google, soaking up all of them paying customers?

Read on as we have 5 juicy tips for how structured data can benefit your website!

By the end of this article, you will have the essential tips that you can implement today on your website.

Let’s look at what’s included in this post for you;

  • Microdata 
  • Review markup
  • Product availability
  • Video
  • Price attribute
  • Final thoughts

1. Using microdata

What on earth is microdata?! 

Don’t worry, by the end of this section, you will be impressing your work colleagues with your knowledge of microdata.

To simply describe it, microdata allows you to add Metadata within the body of a web page (without microdata, metadata must remain in the header of the page) and allows you to give Google more detail into what the content is.

Still a bit unsure how this works?

Okay, so if you have a header on a page <h2>Trainers</h2> this will be displayed on the page. However, the page has no idea what the string means (trainers). This is where microdata is your key-weapon to let Google know exactly what your content is.

Now, your content is a lot richer for results, inevitably allowing Google to display your content in rich snippets!

2. Add review and product markup

Review markup data is a proven technique to increase the click-through rate (CTR).

There is a simple psychology to the benefits of having positive reviews on your e-commerce site. Because the public wants to feel safe when departing with their hard earned cash.

So, by using review markup, you’re not only encouraging a click through to your website, but you’re also making the customer feel safer in buying your product. Inevitably leading to a sale!

Cha-ching!

Use product markup on product category pages

You will have undoubtedly seen a clothing brand’s item sat at the top of Google in the rich snippet. With enticing information about the product being displayed, also in the rich snippet.

How do I get my product showcased at the top of Google?

Easy, well, fingers crossed it should get you under Google’s spotlight and your product showcased to all them paying customers.

Okay, so the secret is, product markup. To put it simply, giving your products efficient schema markup will give them a golden opportunity of being displayed in Google’s rich snippet.

3. Product Availability Schema

Another piece of the puzzle to your e-commerce schema tips – product availability schema. Having this little snippet of information adds a lot of value to your products.

You want to avoid frustrating your potential customers. Therefore, showing them a product is either in-stock or not, is very useful. This allows customers to decide if they want to view your other products, without having to click on the out-of-stock item.

Check out the image below:

Product availability schema

Having this snippet of data allows a user to avoid disappointment of potentially finding an “out of stock” product.

Providing great customer service before a user has even landed in your site.

4. Video Schema

Video is one of the top ways you can entice users to buy your products. According to Emarketer, over 70% of top e-commerce stores use product videos on their pages.

This is having a positive impact on growth of sales.

A study from Singlegrain shows that over 60% of customers will watch a product video before reading text.

Okay, so we now know that video marketing is powerful. The thing we need to do is to get our video displayed on SERPs.

Below is an example how to use J-SON (If you don’t understand this, pass it to a developer) to markup your video:

video schema code

5. Use the price attribute

The pricing attribute is one of the most important schema markups you can use.

Why?

This will allow customers to compare prices without clicking on individual websites. Inevitably, giving a user an easier session when searching for their product.

Massive move for user experience (UX) by Google once again.

The image below shows how the price attribute is utilised:

Use the price attribute - trainers showing price

Using this strategy is essential for gaining more traffic to your e-commerce store.

Another example is the image below:

Use the price attribute - blazers showing price on google

The interesting one on this, is the rating markup used with the price.

Out of the four jackets, which one is a potential customer most likely to view first?

It will most likely be the blazer with a review. The power of just having them stars displayed with your product and price is immense.

Another killer tactic for your e-commerce store can be seen on the image below:Use the price attribute - showing reduced price in excerpt on google

Did you notice the section (Was £45.00 Now £35.00)?

This is a brilliant way for increasing CTR to your ecommerce store.

Everybody likes to save money.

Showing a potential customer that you have a current sale in place, will definitely increase the likelihood of your page or post being clicked.

Final thoughts

There it is, 5 tips for structured data you can add to your e-commerce site today and start soaking up all that juicy traffic.

Once you start implementing these strategies, you should no-doubt see an improvement on CTR to your e-commerce store.

10/07/2019

Matt Tomkin

If you own a business and don’t currently have a website, we aren’t going to judge… but we recommend you get one!

If you're looking for a new website we can help.

Having a website allows you to connect with the millions of people scouring the web and opens up the opportunity for your customers to find you.

Your website acts as a brand touchpoint and ultimately shapes how customers perceive your business. Not only that, it gives you the opportunity to make sales online or gather quotes/leads. You know, the things that actually mean something to business owners.

With all that in mind, how do you want your customers to perceive your brand? What type of website is going to achieve this? What type of website platform should it be built on? And most importantly, how much is it going to cost?

That’s a lot of questions to ask yourself - we understand. But there’s also a lot of answers! There are now hundreds of new websites being built every minute, built on different platforms with different features. Our job, in this article, is to compile information on the most popular types of websites, so you can make an informed decision when coming to buy/build one!

Table Of Contents

1. E-commerce sites
What is an e-commerce site?
What is the best platform for an E-commerce site?
How much do E-commerce sites cost?
2. Brochure Websites
What is a brochure website?
What is the best platform for a brochure website?
How much do brochure sites cost?
3. Portfolio Sites
What is a portfolio site?
What is the best platform to build a portfolio site?
How much does a portfolio site cost?
4. Entertainment Sites
What is an entertainment site?
What is the best platform to build an entertainment site?
How much does an entertainment site cost to build?
5. Personal Site
What is a personal site?
What is the best platform to build a personal site?
How much does a personal site cost to build?
6. Affiliate Marketing Website
What is an Affiliate Marketing site?
What is the best platform to build an Affiliate Marketing site?
How much does an Affiliate Marketing site cost to build?
7. Educational Website
What is an educational site?
What is the best platform to build an educational website?
What is the best platform to build an educational website?
8. B2B Websites
What is the best platform to build an educational website?
What is the best platform to build a B2B website?
How much does a B2B website cost to build?
Final thoughts

1. E-commerce sites

What is an e-commerce site?

So, you think you have what it takes to sell your products/services online? If your willing to venture into the world of online selling, you are going to need an E-commerce website.

An E-commerce site is a website that allows you to sell a product or service through your site itself. This means people can go to your website, choose a product they want, add it to their cart and make a payment.

Imagine you have just started a T-shirt business. Instead of paying for rent for a shop in the high street, you could instead start an e-commerce site and sell your T-shirts to people directly online.

What is the best platform for an E-commerce site?

For pure, unadulterated load SPEED; you can't beat Aero Commerce. Read our review here...

There are many platforms out there that are built solely for e-commerce purposes. If you are planning on having a handful of products in your shop or working with a small budget then Wix, and Squarespace all come with E-commerce functionality.

However, if you have big plans for your shop and you would like something more feature-rich then you should look towards Aero Commerce, Shopify, BigCommerce, EKM and Magento.

These type of platforms will guarantee you bang for your buck along with the stability that comes with platforms built for e-commerce. Also, WordPress is an amazing platform for medium to large E-commerce sites.

How much do E-commerce sites cost?

Now, the part you’re waiting for! How much is an e-commerce site going to set you back?

Well, it really depends on your goal and scope of the business. If your goal is time-based and you want to get a website up as quickly as possible and start selling today then you can use a template on sites like Wix, Shopify, GoDaddy and Squarespace. These sites are based around subscriptions so here are some typical options below.

Shopify Costs

Basic: £22 p/month

Shopify: £62 p/month

Advanced Shopify: £235 p/month

Wix Costs

Business Basic: £13 p/month

Business Unlimited: £16 p/month

Business VIP: £22 p/month

Squarespace Online Store Costs

Basic: £20 p/month

Advanced: £30 p/month

GoDaddy Costs

Online store: £19.99 p/month (when billed annually)

We advise you to weigh up your options, clearly define your goals for the site and then decide whether you want to invest in something for the long term or want to start selling right away!

2. Brochure Websites

What is a brochure website?

A brochure website can be defined as an extension of a businesses sales brochure. Typically, a brochure website will provide information on a business such as who they are, what they do and where they are located.

As opposed to an e-commerce site, a brochure website does not actually sell its products or services on the site. The purpose of the site is to display companies goods and services to influence customer’s decisions.

If you want to buy something on a brochure site, you would have to contact the business themselves.

In order to have a good brochure website, it needs to stand out visually and be engaging to look at. Not only does it need to look good, but it also has to read well.

Hiring a good copywriter can come in handy for this to really showcase your business in the best light and persuasively engage readers.

When it comes to promoting your business, brochure sites can be highly effective, providing that you have some stunning images and quality marketing copy to go alongside it.

If, however, you have a certain sales target you want to hit, an e-commerce site may be more appropriate for you.

What is the best platform for a brochure website?

As brochure sites will normally only have a few pages and do not need to be constantly updated, a website builder such as Wix or Squarespace could be a great option for you.

Typically, small businesses will use a brochure website to establish an online presence - an essential component of any business today!

If you are looking to include a blog on your brochure site, it may be a good idea to get a developer or web design agency to build the site on WordPress.

Wix and Squarespace do, however, include blog functionality, although, from our experience, a developed site on WordPress is your best bet.

When creating a blog for your site, you should look at developing an inbound marketing strategy.

How much do brochure sites cost?

Much like E-commerce sites, the price of brochure sites will vary depending on the complexity and functionality. You may find that some freelancers or web agencies offer to build these types of sites for a few hundred pounds.

Again, from our experience, cheaper doesn’t always mean better. Your website is an investment. A quality website with SEO optimised content, beautiful images and good user experience design is guaranteed to generate a greater return on investment than a quickly thrown together site.

Many aspects go into a good website such as time spent building wireframes, design, developing, testing, optimising and much more.

The more time you can spend efficiently in these areas, the greater return you will see from your website. Our starting rates for standard websites like brochure sites are £2500 and upwards.

Our approach is to value quality over price and never to cut corners.

3. Portfolio Sites

What is a portfolio site?

This is one for all the creatives out there looking to show their work off to the world! Portfolio sites act as, yes you guessed it, a digital portfolio.

For many individuals, portfolio sites are the perfect tool for gaining more business and most importantly, building their personal brand.

Many employers will normally hire creatives based on them demonstrating their level of skill beforehand.

Portfolio sites are essential when it comes to showcasing your talent, whether that’s videography and web design or marketing and SEO.

Communicating your skills/abilities with potential customers/employers is so much easier when you can quickly send them a link to your site and they are met with a library of your previous work.

Portfolio sites are usually laid out in a simple way, by using engaging media such as high-quality images, text and video.

What is the best platform to build a portfolio site?

When it comes to building a portfolio site, there are a few stand out platforms that people usually go to.

The first suggestion is a platform called Behance, an online platform to display creative work, owned by Adobe. Behance is extremely easy to use and is perfect for someone who doesn’t want to spend a long time building out the look of the site.

Simply upload your work to Behance and it will display it within its clean interface.

If you are looking for some more freedom and really hone in on the design of your portfolio, WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy, and Fabrik are all excellent platforms to use.

If you have a keen eye for design, you will love customising your portfolio to your liking with these alternatives.

It is worth noting, Adobe has recently come out with an upgraded version of Behance called “ProSite”. This will cost more but give people the freedom to design their portfolio in any way they choose, similar to Wix.

How much does a portfolio site cost?

In terms of pricing, you can set up a Behance profile for free and upload your work almost instantly.

If you want more customisation and features, the “ProSite” is $11/month or $99/year. Alternatively, if you are already paying for the full Creative Cloud suite, you can get ProSite included in this for free!

For the other platforms, here is a full breakdown of their costs.

Wix Costs

Business Basic: £13 p/month

Business Unlimited: £16 p/month

Business VIP: £22 p/month

Squarespace Costs

Personal: £10 p/month

Business: £15 p/month

GoDaddy Costs

Personal: £4.99 p/month (billed annually.)

Business: £6.99 p/month (billed annually.)

Business Plus: £10.99 p/month (billed annually.)

Fabrik Costs

Personal: £6.25 p/month (billed annually)

Professional: £7.92 p/month (billed annually)

Unlimited: £15 p/month (billed annually)

4. Entertainment Sites

What is an entertainment site?

An entertainment website usually has the goal of driving high amounts of traffic to the site in order to make money from advertisements or affiliates.

These websites tend to always be centred around content, whether that’s video content, text-based content or a combination of them both.

A great example of a video-based entertainment website is Youtube. Youtube’s gains millions of views daily from user-generated content and let’s be honest, it’s very easy to spend hours of your time watching random videos on YouTube.

BuzzFeed is a great example of an entertainment website that is centred around text-based content. Buzzfeed pulls in around 22 million visitors per month and thrives off breaking news, quizzes, celebrity gossip and much more trending content.

If you have dreams of building the next BuzzFeed then you are going to need the right platform to manage and support all the content.

What is the best platform to build an entertainment site?

In order to build your very own version of BuzzFeed, WordPress is definitely the best platform to go to.

For a content-based website, you are going to need a content management system and WordPress is easily the best on the market.

WordPress is a really flexible platform that welcomes beginners but also has the functionality to support technical developers.

Expect to browse from thousands of plugins and themes when using WordPress, making it easy for you to get the “BuzzFeed” look right away.

Not only does WordPress have viral-content themes such as Novapress, Buzzz and Newspaper, it also comes loaded with pre-existing solutions for building quizzes and member registration.

How much does an entertainment site cost to build?

In order to build an entertainment site, it’s going to cost you, but not much. Thanks to the wonderful platform that goes by the name of WordPress, you can install a free theme onto your site which will give you the layout and look of a BuzzFeed style site.

But firstly, you are going to need a domain. Now, domains can vary in price based on how general you go.

Want to buy “apple.com”?

Yeah... good luck with that one.

Want to buy “viralnewsstop.com”?

That’s more like it.

The more niche and specific your domain name, the cheaper it is going to cost you.

If you go for a domain name that is valuable to others then expect to be paying £2000 and above for one.

Our advice… stick to £0.99p domains when you are starting out, there’s still plenty to choose from.

Next, you are going to need a secure web host. Web hosting can cost as little as £0.80p per month, our favourites are Namecheap, Godaddy, Siteground and A2 hosting.

When you have the domain and hosting sorted, you can now look to install a free WordPress theme in the style of your choosing.

Whilst there are many free themes that will do the job, if you are looking for more features from a theme, you can buy the full version for £25 - £100 depending on the quality.

Once you have your theme, get ready to write some viral-worthy content and bring those views in!

5. Personal Site

What is a personal site?

Looking to build a personal brand or get your thoughts into the world? A personal website might be what you are looking for.

A personal website is a website that has the sole purpose of providing information about an individual.

This can be great for future employers to get a feel for what you are like or to become a thought leader in your field of expertise.

For some, a personal website is just an extension of themselves and allows them to build an online diary.

Personal sites will usually engage readers by sharing personal thoughts, interests, opinions, advice and much more.

Personal sites usually will have an integrated blog that allows the owner to constantly update.

What is the best platform to build a personal site?

More often than not, personal websites won’t be hand-coded by the owner of the site (unless they have a flair for HTML and CSS).

Typically, free hosting services such as GoDaddy will include a page-builder that allows users to get a website up and running with no coding required.

The typical website builders, as mentioned above, would be perfect with someone who has little technical skills.

WordPress also has some really great themes for personal websites such as Jevelin, Soledad and Kalium.

How much does a personal site cost to build?

Because of the nature of a personal site, getting one up and running isn’t going to set you back too much.

If you want a site that is fast, simple and easy to set up we strongly recommend you use a page-builder such as Wix, GoDaddy or Squarespace.

Wix Costs

Business Basic: £13 p/month

Business Unlimited: £16 p/month

Business VIP: £22 p/month

Squarespace Costs

Personal: £10 p/month

Business: £15 p/month

GoDaddy Costs

Personal: £4.99 p/month (billed annually.)

Business: £6.99 p/month (billed annually.)

Business Plus: £10.99 p/month (billed annually.)

If you would like something a little more professional, we recommend you use a WordPress theme, as mentioned above, that normally start around £45.

If you aren’t familiar with WordPress, it might be best to go to a web design or marketing agency.

As long as your personal site doesn’t demand all the latest bells and whistles, paying someone to build one for you should be relatively cost-effective.

6. Affiliate Marketing Website

What is an Affiliate Marketing site?

Everybody who owns a website would like to make money from it, right? If you have strong desires to earn some income on the side of your day job, or even want to do this full-time, affiliate marketing may be what you are in search for.

An affiliate marketing site is a website that recommends products and services through content leading to a commission from the sale of those products/services.

Usually, there are four main parties involved with affiliate marketing: the affiliate website, the affiliate network, advertisers and finally, the buyer.

For example, let’s say you want to start up a photography blog to advertise affiliate products (cameras and equipment).

You, the website owner, would act as an affiliate and create content with product links to cameras.

Your advertiser could be Amazon or other retailers, whilst the affiliate network would track the sale so that when someone clicks the product link on your site, the advertiser knows the sale has come from you.

So, the next time someone is searching for camera equipment on google, your SEO optimised blog will, hopefully, be seen by a searcher.

If they trust your recommendations of the product and choose to purchase it through your link, then ker-ching, you’ve just made money online.

With affiliate marketing, your aim is to generate traffic to your website. In order to do this, you are going to need to look at Search Engine Optimisation.

What is the best platform to build an Affiliate Marketing site?

If you’ve bought into the idea of affiliate marketing, you are going to need the right platform to build it on.

While we could list probably about 50 different website builders, we have chosen four main builders that we think will provide you with the best functionality.

The first option is an obvious one: WordPress.

WordPress is a great platform for an affiliate site as it comes loaded with plugins and templates specifically for affiliate marketing such as “AffiliateWP”.

Wix and Squarespace is also an option for affiliate marketers, in particular for those who are restricted by budget. Squarespace and Wix are popular affiliate marketing site builders, helping users who aren’t technically gifted build beautiful websites.

How much does an Affiliate Marketing site cost to build?

Before you go ahead and choose your platform of choice, it’s important to compare which site builder is the best value for your money.

So, let’s start off with WordPress. WordPress is the most popular website builder on the market currently and there isn’t too much debate about this.

WordPress excels when it comes to affiliate marketing, boasting over 50 templates designed for affiliate sites.

Before you go ahead and build your WordPress affiliate site, be aware that the affiliate theme on WordPress usually cost around £40 to access all the features.

If you have a slightly smaller budget, Wix may be a good option for you. Wix comes with some really great tools for SEO, Social Media and Email Marketing. Each template on Wix is optimised for mobile so you never have to worry about the responsiveness of your sites!

You can find the Wix costs below.

Wix Costs

Business Basic: £13 p/month

Business Unlimited: £16 p/month

Business VIP: £22 p/month

Squarespace is a website builder that comes with a plethora of customization options and really stunning site designs. Squarespace has 24/7 customer support along with an easy way to upload and format your images. You can find the Squarespace costs below.

Squarespace Costs

Personal: £10 p/month

Business: £15 p/month

7. Educational Website

What is an educational site?

Who doesn’t love learning online? If you’ve ever visited Udemy, Lynda or Coursera, you have interacted with an educational website. With the vast amount of information on the internet, educational sites can act as a hub to absorb information and learn new skills.

Educational websites are sites that allow users to learn new information wherever they are in the world. This could be through blog posts, videos or even interactive elements on a website.

What is the best platform to build an educational website?

If you were looking to create a website that teaches people how to learn facebook ads, for example, you may have a blog or a series of videos on your site. For these types of educational sites, that are quite simple in nature, WordPress would be an ideal platform to build this on.

However, if you are planning something big, you may want to look beyond WordPress.

If you need a website where people can login, make payments, view their chosen courses and view them in a smooth and efficient manner, it may be best to have a custom site built.

While you can still achieve most of the above features on a WordPress site, if you plan on having thousands, or even millions, of users each month, a custom built site would be the way to go.

What is the best platform to build an educational website?

As mentioned above, the complexity of your site will always factor into the cost. If you want a website where users can learn information through blog posts and videos, you could be looking to spend £1000 to £3000 on a professional website.

This website would work well out of the box but may not have some of the features i.e online payment, like a more complex website would have.

If you don’t plan on taking over the e-learning space and just want to help as many people online as you can, we would suggest building the site on WordPress.

On the other hand, if you are in fact looking to take over the e-learning space and have your sights on competing with Udemy, we would suggest getting a custom built website.

A custom built website that will store lots of video, online payments, user portals etc, could cost from between £4000 to £20,000+.

8. B2B Websites

What is the best platform to build an educational website?

Are you looking to reach other businesses online? Or, maybe you are looking to generate a high volume of leads every month. If you are a B2B (business to business) company, then it’s a no brainer that you build a website that can generate leads and drive sales.

A B2B website is a site that is built specifically for business looking to attract other businesses to their services/products. What does a B2B website look like, we hear you ask. Well, a B2B website needs to make their sales process as quick and easy as possible.

This may consist of having clear call to actions for phone numbers or contact forms presented clearly on the page. While Brochure websites are all about the aesthetics, B2B websites are about capturing user information and eventually closing a deal.

What is the best platform to build a B2B website?

With our experience building B2B websites for a range of different industries, we have found WordPress to be the most cost-effective and efficient platform to build on.

Not only is it easy for the business to update content in the backend but WordPress websites are generally more cost-effective than custom built sites.

When it comes to adding forms to your website and collecting user information, WordPress is really effective and has a host of plugins that you can utilise, a lot of them for free!

How much does a B2B website cost to build?

A typical B2B website may cost anywhere between £3000 to £10,000, depending on how complex a site you require.

If you are looking to build a website that is much more than a brochure site, one that will bring you leads and sales, then you need to invest appropriately.

At Tao Digital, we are a B2B digital marketing agency, so we have invested in our website to ensure that it is optimised for conversions.

This is commonly known as conversion rate optimisation. If you work with a professional digital marketing agency, they should build your B2B website with conversion rate optimisation in mind.

This means friction will be removed between the user and their ability to send their details to you. The purpose of this is to increase the volume of sales coming through the site and, ultimately, increase your bottom line.

Final thoughts

Hopefully, we have provided you with some insights into the most popular types of websites in 2019. If you are looking to make money online, we definitely recommend building an e-commerce site, entertainment site or an affiliate marketing site.

If you want to build a personal brand or showcase your talent then a personal site or portfolio would be best for you. And finally, if you are looking to establish an online presence for your business, a brochure site is the way to go!

If you are looking for a website, feel free to check out our Web Design and Development services page.

How to check competitor backlinks [Full Guide]

In this guide we’ll be talking you through the exact steps we take when researching our competitors backlinks and the competitors of our SEO clients.

It’s not massively complicated to do, you just need the right tools and time. We’ll show you how to use these tools and how to evaluate the backlinks you find.

Wh​​​​​​y are backlinks important?

In pretty much every report on SEO you read, backlinks are always one of the most important organic ranking factors.

In all the research conducted that we have seen over the years, backlinks are up there in the top 3 most important factors everytime.

Not all backlinks are created equal though.

Making sure that links you gain or earn are highly relevant and can be trusted is now more imperative than ever.

The type of links are also really important too. Everyone can set-up social media profiles and gain links back from the profile pages. (Please do this if you haven’t yet!)

So you need to make sure you are gaining a real variety of links to your site.

Doing research into your competitors and your wider industry will help you invest in the right areas when looking to gain links.

The type of content sites are linking out to is great for your strategy going forward. If you can replicate that style of content and make a better job of it you should be able to gain links from other sites similar to those linking to your competitors.

How to see a competitors backlinks

There’s a number of tools on the market to help you do this. Our favourite tool ​SEMRush.

Both these SEO tools do a very good job at providing link information and make is really easy to export the information and manipulate it.

They will provide you with all the metrics you’ll need to make an informed decision on whether to add a specific site to your list of outreach targets.

For this article we’ll be focusing on Serpstat backlinks checker and how you use it.

Quick steps for more advanced users are:

  1. Copy the URL of the competitor you want to find backlinks of
  2. Paste the URL into the search bar on the homepage of Serpstat (link here) and click search
  3. Select “Backlink Analysis” from the menu on the left hand side of the screen
  4. Once the dropdown opens, select the “referring domains” option
  5. This will give you a list of all the referring domains your competitor has
  6. Export this list out to Excel and manipulate the data

Below is a more step by step guide to finding competitor backlinks

The first thing you want to do is to find out which competitors rank above your website in the search results for your chosen keyword or search query.

To make sure you do this without any personal cookie settings being used on your web browsers we suggest using the Google Chrome Incognito window to search Google.

Google Incognito window

Firefox also has a function similar to the Incognito window but it is called “private window”.

On Google Chrome you will find the Incognito window by clicking the 3 dots on the far right of the address box, the same place you would change settings, add extensions etc. You can select “New incognito window” from the dropdown menu.

Once your new window opens, enter the Google URL specific to your country, we’re google.co.uk.

Google Search box

​

Enter the keyword you are looking to rank for and this will give you a list of all the competitors you want to be checking out the backlinks of.

Once you have a list of competitors URL’s you want to find the backlinks for we can then go to the Serpstat front page.

Serpstat Growth hacking tool for SEO

Enter the competitors URL into the search box and click search. We’re going to use the website www.edp-uk.com for this example as we know they have a good backlink portfolio.

You will land on a page which is a domain overview (great for all types of SEO research and PPC research too!) but for backlinks you want to select the “Backlink Analysis” tab from the menu on the left hand side of the screen.

You have 5 options on the dropdown. Below is a brief overview of what each does:

Backlink Dashboard

This section is an overview page which gives you the top level statistics for each section. Amongst other bits of information this area shows you the Page rank and Trust rank of the URL you entered.

Page Rank and Trust Rank information from Serpstat

In our opinion and many others if you can have a trust rank higher than your page rank its a good sign that your website is moving in the right direction.

Referring Domains

This section will go into details on the top level referring domains that are pointing at the URL you have entered. Some of this information is the most crucial when you analyse competitor backlinks.

You have to be able to look into which links are giving them link power or link equity and which ones are not. Even more importantly, you don’t want to go out building links that are not going to help you rank higher or even worse might get you penalised by Google.

Referring Domains Dashboard free backlink checker

Referring Pages

The referring pages section breaks down the actual pages which contain the backlinks.

This is great when you are researching the type of sites you need to be gaining links from and the type of content which is proving popular for your competitor. It can really help you with your link building strategy.

Tip: click on the link and it will take you to the page

Referring Pages Dashboard

Anchors

Does exactly what it says on the tin really.

This section will give you a breakdown of all the anchor text for the URL in question.

Along with the estimated link flow metrics for you to gauge whether or not you need to be competing on a similar anchor text and the best way to go about it.

Anchor text ratio has never been so important so this information is like gold dust when used in the right way.

Serpstat Anchors Dashboard

Top Pages

Lists all the pages on the website in order of the most amount of backlinks. This will also allow you to export the information into excel where you can manipulate the data to your heart’s content.

A great way to do this is to filter by flow metrics and see which pages are likely to rank higher than others.

Top Page by number of backlinks

How we use this information to check competitor backlinks

Once we have gone through the above and can now use the backlink analysis section. The process is reasonably simple but is a job which is not quick to do. And you need to keep a keen eye on the data.

Sadly, one flaw with Serpstat is that it still doesn’t give you the option to filter the links by the metrics within the software itself.

As a default it shows the referring domains at the top that refer the highest number of pages to the site. This is not the best way of doing it in my mind, just because a site has more links it doesn’t make it the best domain to gain links from.

Instead we export all of the information into excel.

Export competitor backlinks into Excel

From there we will use the filter option on the top row which contains the titles. The information that is exported includes Domain, Number of backlinks, Serpstat Trust Rank, Serpstat Page Rank, the date the link was first found and the Alexa rank for the website.

Excel sheet with backlinks exported from Serpstat

In the image above we have made the titles bold and increased the font size to help read it better.

By filtering the information you can sort the columns by either the Page Rank or Trust Rank. The one we always look at first is the Trust Rank. This is because it gives you a better understanding of the topical relevance of the links.

Select the top ones, we normally look to build a list of websites that have a trust rank or page rank above 30. This does completely depend on the industry too as you may need to build a much stronger backlink profile to compete in your SERP.

Perfect example is the SEO industry. SEO services is probably the hardest to compete in as most people looking to rank for it are normally working in SEO themselves.

Alexa rank is also something to look at. The alexa rank is based on the most popular websites online. A site in the top 1 million should be able to generate you traffic just by them linking to you, whether they are dofollow backlinks or no-follow backlinks.

Why analyse competitor backlinks?

So we have all the of the information on where your competitor backlinks are coming from. Why should we worry about this?

Well one of the main ranking factors to Google, Bing and other search engines is site authority.

What do we mean by site authority?

If you were looking for someone to replace your UPVC windows on your home before the internet existed and possibly still now, the first place you would go is to a friend or a trusted source to recommend a UPVC installation firm to you.

This recommendation would carry more weight if you trusted this person, they were a close friend or a trusted figure in your mind rather than a random bloke who you had never met in the pub who just told you they were great.

If you then hear the same thing from family members, other close friends and trusted people then it gives the recommended company lots more credit and psychologically gives you permission to make a purchase with them or to at least get a quote.

It works in very much the same way with backlinks and your backlink profile. The more backlinks from trusted and relevant sources the more credit Google and other search engines will give you when looking where to rank you against your competitors.

The more relevant, topically trusted backlinks you have to your website, the better the websites authority or domain authority.

If you know you need to build more links and want someone to help then get in touch with us or find out more about our link building services here.

Why The Avengers: Endgame Marketing Is Genius

Iron man, Thor and Captain Amercia

The time has come.

After years of character building and countless superhero battles, April 26th will bring fans together to marvel at a true spectacle: Avengers Endgame.

Endgame is a true culmination of the 21 films that have preceded it, the final chapter of the saga that’s set to break box office history.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a pure force of nature (even if it is comprised of mostly CGI). Since 2008, Marvel has gathered a colossal and dedicated fanbase that stretches right across the world.

Avengers Infinity War took everyone on an emotional roller coaster, the follow up to that film looks to do exactly the same but on an even bigger scale.

Avengers Endgame Marketing Graphic

The ending of Infinity War left audiences shell shocked. A true cliffhanger has had millions of people speculating, theorising and predicting how the next instalment is going to follow it.

The marketing of Avengers: Infinity War was epic in many ways. Trailers showed huge action set pieces, new characters coming together and brand new settings never seen before.

While this built a huge amount of hype, and saw Infinity War make a whopping $2 billion, there were certain fans who thought the trailers showed too much.

It’s a common issue among moviegoers today.

Studios will aim to sell tickets by showing epic set pieces in marketing materials but in doing so, it spoils the natural surprise fans would have got if they hadn’t been exposed to it.

This is where Marvel has excelled with Avengers: Endgame marketing. Here’s our breakdown of how Marvel has used different platforms and strategies to build even more hype around the film.

Trailers

Less is more

So far, there has been around three trailers released for Endgame. However, pretty much all the trailers have only shown the first 20 minutes of the film.

This is a smart move for many reasons. Not only does it protect fans from spoilers, it also leaves audiences eager to buy tickets to the film out of sheer curiosity.

Focusing on story and character development in the trailers, instead of spoiling the action, only builds even more anticipation.

Going into a film and not knowing how it’s going to pan out, or what scenes are going to be shown, is very rare these days.

Showing very little story and action sequences also encourages audiences to speculate how the film is going to turn out. This leads to masses of people producing speculative content for sites like YouTube, indirectly marketing the film from a user generation point of view.

One YouTuber in particular, Deffinition, gives a breakdown of the first, second and third Endgame trailer, connecting the dots that others may have missed.

Deffinitions channel

You can check his channel out here: https://www.youtube.com/user/definition1988/videos

Nostalgic feels

The trailer’s have done a great job at evoking nostalgic feelings within audiences by scattering them with clips from previous films.

In the second trailer, we get shots from the first Iron Man through to the first Captain America, this takes people down memory lane and highlights where this journey started.

The throwbacks to previous films works perfectly for Endgame since it is the final chapter in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Adding the older films to the trailers really builds background context to the events whilst also showing how far the individual characters have come.

Cross Promotion

As well as promoting the actual film, the Endgame trailer also effectively promotes the movie that has come before it: Captain Marvel.

Captain Marvel receives the spotlight in the second trailer through her interaction with Chris Hemsworth’s Thor.

As Captain Marvel is still showing in the cinemas, this is a clever move by Marvel as it gives people a reason to go and watch the movie so they are prepared for her appearance in Endgame.

Marvel’s Social Media

A Multi Channel Approach

With 32.5 million followers on Instagram, Marvel has a well established platform to publish content on.

They have catered their marketing materials specifically to individual channels, for example, using condensed snippets of their trailers on Instagram with a link to the full trailer on YouTube.

Marvel has also stayed consistent with the #AvengersEndgame hashtag being used on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Many iterations of poster designs for the movie can be seen on Marvel’s Instagram, Twitter and Facebook too. The stylish poster designs work perfectly on social media to engage fans and visually showcase the actors/characters in the films.

Avengers End Game poster

*Spoilers from Infinity War ahead*

*Are you sure you want to carry on?*

*We’ve warned you..*

After the infamous “snap” from Thanos, we saw half the marvel universe dusted. That big purple b*stard.

To capitalise on the audiences bereavement, Marvel has produced a series of images for social media juxtaposing the characters who survived with the ones who were sadly snapped out of existence (The trauma is still very real).

A very simple idea but one that builds up anticipation as to whether the dusted characters will return or not and drives huge engagement.

Dusted Super HeroAlive Superhero

Actor’s and Director’s Social Media

A Communal Effort

Not only have marvel done a fantastic job at filling our feeds with superhero goodness, the actors and directors from Endgame have also done a great job at promoting the film.

The Russo Brothers, who have directed Infinity War and Endgame, have populated their social media feeds with relevant marketing materials from the film, as well as behind the scenes images.

It shows how much the directors care about their creation and how proud they are to see their ideas come to fruition. As a fan, its encouraging to see directors so passionate about their work and gives people more reason to care about this movie.

Russo Brothers Instagram

This leads us to our next point: The casts social media.

Endgame is filled with some huge stars. From Chris Hemsworth and Robert Downy Jr to Bradley Cooper and Scarlett Johansson. The 5 main stars of the Avengers have a collective audience of around 35 million on Twitter and 50 Million on Instagram.

This gives Marvel the ability to leverage their actor’s social media platforms to again build anticipation for the film and drive ticket sales.

A great example of the actors getting involved was tweeting the recurring line from the trailers: “Whatever it takes”. The constant repetition of this line sticks in peoples heads and really drives home the message that this is a film where the stakes are incredibly high.

End Game actor tweet 2

End Game actor tweet 4

End Game actor tweet

End Game actor tweet 3

 

Avengers: End Game Marketing Budget

Marvel isn’t exactly shy of money. So, you can expect that their marketing budgets for each film are usually pretty high. For some background context, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 had a marketing budget of $80 million while Spider-Man: Homecoming came in at an impressive $140 million. Avengers: Infinity War increased on Homecomings budget by $10 million, with Marvel spending $150 million on End Games predecessor. With all that considered, how much do you think they spent on marketing their biggest film to date?

Over a whopping $200 million. Yes, you read that correctly. The Avengers End Game Marketing Budget is actually higher than the average Hollywood movie budget. Marvel partnered with some huge brands to promote the film such as Audi, McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Google, General Mills and Ziploc. So with a staggering budget and the right partners, you’d expect a big return, right?

Avengers: End Game Box Office

After months of anticipation, End Game finally released on April the 26th and raked in a huge $1.48 billion worldwide. Within only a week of releasing, End game has risen to the 8th highest grossing movie of all time. For a movie that contains a talking racoon, that is impressive.

Endgame has rocked the world by providing a satisfying conclusion to the epic adventure that Iron Man started us on.

The way Marvel has marketed the film has been refreshing, especially in a world that contains so many spoiler ridden trailers. Marvel has used mystery, curiosity and leveraged their own stars platform’s to generate a buzz.

End Game now sits at third position for the highest grossing Marvel movie, with Infinity War and the first Avengers edging above.

But with looking at how things are currently going, End Game will soon over-take both.

​​​​​Your Domain name doesn’t matter for SEO

The domain name that you use doesn’t matter when it comes to search engine optimisation or acquiring organic search traffic.

When thinking about a domain name, you don’t need to worry about what that domain name ends in. Whether its a .com, an .xyz or org.uk, it really doesn’t matter.

It really doesn’t matter anymore. Google’s job is to provide the most relevant search results, and to do that, all the information and content on your page has to be relevant to that search.

You also need your off-site metrics to be absolutely bang-on, too, so your ‘domain rating‘, or the ‘domain authority’, is very important. This is calculated by where your backlinks are coming from and how relevant and trusted they are.

All that needs to be taken into account when you’re thinking about what domain name you want to buy is whether you like it!

Does Domain Name Matter for SEO

Is A .com Better Than A .co.uk Or .guru?

When it comes to what your domain name ends in, or as we call it, the top level domain, it really doesn’t matter.

All you need to think about is what it looks like to the user. Up until very recently, a lot of people wouldn’t really have seen many websites ending with a .io TLD. Now, every technology company that’s worth they’re weight have a website that ends in .io – they’re everywhere.

Nowadays it’s more and more common that you’ll find in the search results a website that ends with a .london, or another type of top level domain.

When it comes to search engine optimisation, there are three crucial areas that you need to address, rather than what the domain name is.

The three pillars of search engine optimisation

There’s three areas of website optimisation you’ll want to focus on.

Technical

So, this is the technical side of SEO. Can Google access your website properly? Can it understand the page content?

Do you have a single Heading 1, then Heading 2s and 3s throughout the page? Is the page fast enough when it loads? Is it mobile responsive? Is the text big enough on mobile? Are all the clickable elements big enough to click on mobile, and don’t conflict with anything else?

There’s a vast number of things that you need to think about. The best way to do this is to get a full technical SEO audit done for your website. Click here for more information.

Content Marketing

The next thing to consider is the content on your website. Google is getting better and better at understanding the intent behind a search and whether your website is relevant to that search. Your content has to be better than your competitors if you want to rank for a search term.

When we talk about better content, we don’t necessarily mean just the amount of words. Whilst there is proof out there that the amount of words in an article does correlate to where a page ranks within the search results, if your content is written in a way that it’s just stuffing information in there, it’s not best for the user. Google’s artificial intelligence will be able to pick up on that, meaning your rankings will start to drop.

Digital PR

The third thing then is your off-site optimisation. Is your website an authority? If so, you are going to have backlinks from some of the bigger websites in your industry.

If you provide telephone systems, for example, you will want to be getting not only links from telecoms industry publications, but you’ll also be getting links back from small business magazines and other large outlets.

The more visibility your website has online, the better your rankings are going to be, as long as the other two pillars are in place.

Which domain registrar would we recommend?

At Tao Digital Marketing, we use three domain registrars:

Namecheap are our preference. We just like the interface that they use and we like the pricing, along with the ability to just jump on and register a domain name. Within minutes you can start making changes, and it’s really easy to use. We also use GoDaddy for .co.uk domain names.

TSO Host are another domain name registrar that we have used in the past. They are a UK-based company, so we like the fact that we can just pick up the phone to the support team if we do have any issues.

But in our minds, Namecheap is the one that we would suggest using over any other.

What’s The Difference Between Traditional PR and Digital PR?

PR is PR, right?

Well, not exactly. Not anymore. There are two main types of PR now; traditional and digital.

Fundamentally, the mission of traditional PR and digital PR is the same. The core objective of both is to build brand awareness, whilst putting together a positive message, to help engage the most relevant audiences.

Traditional Newspaper PR versus Digital PR Tablet news

That said, public relations has moved on dramatically in the last 15, or so, years. Digital marketing is becoming an ever-important part of outreach. The use of online media in communications is on the rise too.

Do you want to know the biggest difference between these two types of public relations? It’s the fact digital PR needs to be considered as part of a wider online marketing strategy. Traditional PR doesn’t.

We get asked “what’s the difference between traditional PR and digital PR” all the time. Let’s explore, in more detail, some of the things we get asked most frequently. These questions include:

  • What does digital PR do that traditional PR doesn’t?
  • Are the messages the same?
  • Any differences in terms of audience interaction?
  • What different channels and tools are commonly used?
  • How do you measure a PR campaign’s success?

What Does Digital PR Do That Traditional PR Doesn’t?

Digital PR is designed to align public relations with your wider online strategy including SEO, lead generation and inbound marketing.

SEO and improved search rankings are two areas in particular that traditional PR simply can’t help with. Done well, digital PR will drive performance improvements across the whole online profile of your business.

Digital PR can help you gain quality backlinks from higher authority domains, build a useable sales funnel via your content output, increase the value of PPC campaigns and leverage all the engagement opportunities that social media can provide.In a nutshell, you can do so much more than bog-standard PR, with digital PR. If you do it well, that is.

Traditional PR versus Digital PR - Whats the difference?

Are The Messages The Same?

When it comes to digital PR the message can often be much more subtle than traditional PR. When working with bloggers and online influencers there’s a higher level of focus on creating quality content around a specific subject. A subject that their audience will appreciate, whilst also somehow relating to your brand.

You have to be cleverer with your content output, otherwise the likelihood is it won’t get published. If your content isn’t published then you won’t get those all-important backlinks or improve your SEO.

Traditional PR will tend to be more direct. Perhaps a corporate communication that speaks directly to the target audience about the brand or a product. It can often be a bit more ‘salesy’ too. However, the message won’t be able to be shared, or engaged with, in the same way as a strong piece of digital PR.

Any Differences In Terms Of Audience Interaction?

With traditional PR, interactions with the audience tend to be a one-way-street. A press release in an industry paper, for example, or details of a new product launch; these are the sorts of things that get a message out there, without offering any level of interaction. The ‘shareability’ of the content released will also be more limited.

Digital PR on the other hand will generally provide more scope for feedback and engagement. Website blogs and posts on social media sites are two good examples. By giving your audience a voice, interaction levels will rise.

Also, with users having additional functionality such as being able to ‘like’ and ‘share’ content, you can grow your audience. The potential is there to reach new prospects that you weren’t originally targeting. This can help extend your campaign’s reach at no extra cost.

What Different Channels and Tools Are Commonly Used?

Traditional PR tends to focus on channels such as the general press, niche printed publications, TV and radio. Digital PR on the other hand has a multitude of other channels available. These include websites, social media platforms, blogs, influencer campaigns, online news and video portals.

Just like the channels available, there are also big differences in the tools that need to be used, when comparing traditional PR and digital PR.

To do digital PR correctly, tools such as SEO software, marketing automation services, website analysis (including Google Analytics), social media solutions and many others should be used concurrently for greatest effect.

How Do You Measure A PR Campaign’s Success?

This is an area in which a huge difference can be seen. Digital PR, done properly, can offer far more in the way of metrics to decide how good a public relations campaign has been.

With the right tools in place you can track every aspect of a digital PR project. Important metrics such as impressions, click-through rates, the time users spend on a piece of content, social shares and cold, hard, sales, are all measurable.

With traditional PR the main way of measuring cost is with something called AVE (Advertising Value Equivalent). This basically means measuring the column inches of an article and comparing how much that space is worth according to the publications advertising rate card.

This is old-fashioned and doesn’t provide any tangible evidence of success or cost-effectiveness. That doesn’t mean it isn’t still used by traditional PR firms today though!With digital PR having much more precise metrics in place, an actual ROI (Return On Investment) can be worked out. You’ll be able to better understand which campaigns have worked well, which ones haven’t and ultimately improve things accordingly.

Summary – Does Your Business Need Traditional PR Or Digital PR?

Pretty much all businesses would benefit from having a strong and consistent approach to PR. There are significant benefits to both types of public relations we’ve spoken about here. In our opinion, if budgets permit, a firm should have a good mix of traditional PR and digital PR in place to maximise their exposure.

There’s no denying the world is becoming increasingly online though and this is demonstrated by the number of traditional PR agencies that have moved into the world of digital PR. Mind you, not all of them are well-versed in the finer details of digital marketing. This lack of understanding about the bigger online picture can have a dramatic impact on the overall effectiveness of a digital PR campaign.

Digital PR is perfect if you want to ramp up engagement, measure performance and ROI more effectively and enhance your business’s overall online presence. With most firms wanting to improve their online profile, digital PR is something that should definitely be detailed in your marketing plan.

Get your contacts in the Cookie Jar!

We all have a contact database, people we’ve met over the years. Maybe out networking, at lunch with a business contact or even down the local pub.

But how can you capitalise on this within your companies marketing. The last thing you want to do is annoy those new found contacts with cold sales calls.

Get them in the cookie jar! Then provide them some value.

Remarketing to your cookie jar

The first and most underutilised way of using a website cookie is remarketing.

You can use your list of contacts on a number of platforms to build a custom audience of people you want to get your brand in front of.

What is remarketing?

Facebook custom audiences, Google custom audiences, Twitter custom audiences, Linkedin custom audiences to name a few platforms allow you to add your contact data and put your adverts in front of them.

It is such a cost effective way of having your contacts see your brand as they browse round the world wide web.

Even if they take no action, your brand is being reinforced over again.

It is of course very important not to overdo this and create a negative brand impression. But this can be carefully managed by defining the right campaign settings.

Understanding your contacts needs and requirements

We now have access to some great technology when it comes to utilising the information a website cookie can give a webmaster or business owner.

I’m sure we have all seen Google Analytics data? If not, 1, where have you been? 2, get it set-up right this minute!

But did you know you could use the same information to build up a profile of what your website visitors are interested in? What pages have they visited?

We work with a marketing automation platform called Active Campaign. Using this software we can create lead scores based on what a contact has done on the website.

For example:

If a contact clicks through from an email sent using Active Campaign we install a website cookie. They click on a training course information page, then they click through to a specific course page and then look at the pricing and dates page for the course.

We can use this data to add points to their lead score. Once this threshold is reached we email the contact information through to the sales team. They can then contact the lead.

This has 2 benefits for the business, first they aren’t wasting time on people who have accidentally clicked through from the email but have no interest in the service and secondly they know that when they do call the contact, they will know who they are and a bit about what they’re talking about.

It’s a warm lead rather than a cold lead.

Summary

It’s really important in business these days to take advantage of all opportunities to get your business in front of people. You never know when they might need your services.

Utilising cookies and your existing contact data can help you do this and for not a massive cost.

If you feel the above might be something your business needs to get in place but worried you don’t have the time or the resource in house to set it up. We can help, just give us a shout.

Ten Great Ways To Optimise Lead Generation For Small Business

ten ways to optimise lead generation for small business

You spent good money on the new website for your business. It looks great and is a decent tool to refer people to when they already know about your business and want to learn a bit more.

It’s kind of like when a salesman hands a brochure out to someone who’s already in the showroom looking at a new car.How can you do even more with your website though? Is it possible to turn your business website into a lead generation machine?

Reach out to potential customers before they tour all the different car showrooms. Most importantly, what steps can you take to automate this lead generation process so that your website does all the hard work for you?Forgive the car showroom analogy. No matter what business you’re in, you can maximise the use of your website.

Driving new customers towards it, keeping in touch with existing customers and compelling all visitors to act while they’re surfing your pages. These are the three main things your site should be aiming to achieve.Whether that’s buying a product, signing up to a newsletter or sending a request for further information, there’s plenty of great ways to optimise lead generation with your website.

Let’s explore ten of the best ways to convert your website’s visitors into your business’s customers.

1. SEO Improvements And Higher Traffic

Well, first things first, you need visitors to your website if it’s going to turn into a key part of your lead generation strategy.

Having a great SEO strategy, using keywords and phrases to your advantage and having awesome written and visual content on your website is a sure-fire way to drive more potential customers to your business.

If you’d like to learn more about all the different SEO services available, click here.

2. Speed Is Of The Essence!

Turning up late or forgetting to attend a job interview probably isn’t the best way to impress your prospective new boss.

Will you get a second chance? That’s exactly what it’s like for customers when they try to visit your website and it either loads really slowly or, even worse, crashes and doesn’t load at all!

According to recent Google studies, 53% of mobile users abandon the site if it doesn’t load within 3 seconds. This is a stat that seems to be ever-increasing too.

3. Call-To-Action (CTAs)

You may have come across the acronym CTA or call-to-action to give it its full name.

Strategically positioned CTAs throughout your website can be very useful for making people take action and ultimately give them the opportunity to easily do what you want them to do.

These work best on pages that have higher traffic and usually following on from either some compelling sales copy or identification of a customer pain-point and an idea on how to solve the problem.

4. Offer Useful Information; It’s Not All SELL SELL SELL!

A common mistake some business owners make is by having all their CTAs as sales aides. ‘Buy Now’, ‘Add Item To Basket’ etc.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Sure, when done well the sales CTAs are perfectly fine but you can also use CTAs to sign people up to your mailing lists or give them a free copy of an E-book about a certain subject for example.

Not all customers are going to buy straight off the bat.

It’s well worth developing relationships over time to make sure you’re well positioned when someone does want to buy.

5. Landing Pages And Paid Ads

Sometimes it’s best to create an entirely separate landing page to get people to sign up to a certain offer or buy a certain product.

A landing page coupled with paid advertising is a superb way to drive leads fast.

6. Automate Your Email Marketing

As your customer and potential customer lists grow, you can start tailoring your automated marketing content.

With services like Active Campaign and Mailchimp it’s easy to reach a wide audience and further refining can be done as well. For example, you can send certain offers to newly registered people or special discounts for existing/long-term clients.

It’s worth trying lots of different things with email marketing too. Do text-based emails or ones featuring pictures work better?

Was your offer of a free trial more productive than your countdown/limited time offer?

7. A/B Testing; What Works And What Doesn’t?

A/B tests can help shape your digital marketing strategy. By understanding what works well and what doesn’t will allow you to optimise and improve your lead generation, moving forward.

A/B tests can be aligned to review campaigns side-by-side or even which title for the same blog gets more interest.

There are some great tools out there including Optimise by Thrive Themes. Well worth a try if you want to enhance the effectiveness of your marketing output.

8. Share Insightful Content With Blogs And Social Media

There’s no better way of gaining the trust of a prospect than by being a leading source of knowledge on your specialist subject.

With interesting content output on a regular basis you’ll become the go-to source of information and this will also give people a reason to visit your website blog or your social media pages.

9. Follow Up After Events

A simple ‘thank you for subscribing’ email to a new subscriber goes a long way to building familiarity and confidence.

It might sound obvious but reaching out to new contact after networking events or seminars is also a great way of improving lead generation.

10. Make The Most Of Dynamic/Smart Content

When email marketing or a piece of content is personalised to someone, click through rates increase by 14% and conversion rates by 10%.

On the flip side, in a recent survey, 74% of people get frustrated when content isn’t tailored to their interests.

Dynamic content, or smart content as it’s also known, is a rising star within the lead generation world.

Giving people the information and offers they want to see will help drive sales through the roof!

What does GDPR mean to your digital marketing strategy

If, like me you’re now fed up of people using the four letter word; GDPR! You’re probably asking yourself, how do we actually market our business to suspects past the 25th May 2018? 

We’re getting all these emails about updated privacy policies and asking us to re-subscribe to an email marketing list. People are going on about it like its doomsday for businesses.

The new rules will prevent certain aspects of business that have been practiced since business first started marketing, but, there are some major positives to take from this legislation.

And yes, we’re bound to say this as it puts us in a great standing as we’re the experts in inbound marketing. But, what can you actually do to keep on the right side of the rules and keep your marketing moving?

What are the positives of GDPR?

As a marketer I feel this is a positive move, in general, towards a better and easier life. I mean we get so many unsolicited emails, phone calls, direct mail etc. that it sometimes becomes a bit overwhelming.

I subscribe to people I find interesting or companies that I have a vested interest in or thinking about purchasing from or even sometimes just for the fun of it.

GDPR and your digital marketing strategy

I want to be able to read about what these people and businesses offer form time to time and happily ask them to do so.

I do however find that a lot of time is spent deleting emails rather than reading them. I’m concentrating on email here because it is something we do a lot of for our clients.

Being very busy I regularly just purge the lot as the time I want to read I spend time deleting unsolicited SPAM.

I am very hopeful I get lots of time back from those SPAM vampires when the GDPR comes into effect.

Will it work? I doubt it, but I’m very hopeful!

Anyways, what marketing can you do and what should you be doing better?

Email Marketing! But much better, and the way it should really have been done before GDPR.

Yes, email is still one of the best tools to move a prospect from a newcomer to your brand, into a full on evangelist for your business.

When I say better, I mean by using either a checkbox on your forms or by using double opt-in. It’s easy, so why aren’t you doing it? If you are then what you worrying about.

You will, in fact, definitely won’t gain as many people into your marketing database but do you really want people in your database that aren’t really looking for information from you or your business? I would argue it’s wasted energy, and money if you’re using a tool based on number of contacts such as Active Campaign (p.s we’re a reseller!).

How do you get people into your marketing database?

Inbound marketing or content marketing, call it what you want. It works! Look at Hubspot, the worlds best inbound marketing company in my humble opinion. They appear in pretty much anything you search for around their niche.

You can too!

Anyone who spends any time online will know the scenario, you are searching for a solution to your problem and suddenly you find yourself reading an article on “how to attract the right customer” finding it really engaging and a nice slide in box or in content box pops up asking if you would like more information?

Yes, you would as the content you are so engrossed in means that there must be more you don’t have time to read now but want to. So you fill in your email address.

Within a few weeks, or months you’re proposing the solution or service of said company to the boss or your line manager. You’ve become an evangelist for the brand who you didn’t even know about a few weeks or months before.

This is inbound marketing at its best. And it’s much easier than you think to do.

Need help with inbound marketing, give us a shout we don’t mind saying we’re pretty good at it!

So what does Inbound marketing consist of?

Just to set expectations, we’re not looking to produce an exhaustive list here. We’re simply looking to help with a few ideas which might be common place in certain industry sectors.

Here are a few types of inbound marketing we’d suggest starting right away:

Subject leading articles – Most people don’t know as much as you do about your industry, service or product. Write about it, not from a sales point of view but from the view of the user. What will they gain and why is the service or product a good thing for them in general?

Ultimate guides – You might think that telling someone how to do the actual service you offer is counterintuitive. But it really isn’t. There are lots of people who just want to know you can complete the job they would like you to do. Plus, an ultimate guide should give you an enormous amount of exposure. Hopefully leading to subscribers and those all important links from other websites.

Case Studies – Producing engaging case studies are great for lead generation. People will actively look for these on your site and in any marketing literature they have before they make a decision. They can also be great for SEO and can often be found by people searching for your service. Perfect opportunity to bring in new prospects.

Videos – If you aren’t using video as part of your marketing strategy at the minute you should be! The growth of video is massive and just keeps on growing. The world’s second biggest search engine is Youtube, and they now show as tiles within relevant searches on Google! Get on it if you haven’t already!

Like I said above, I’m not going to go on about too many types of content for your inbound marketing. Just try a few at first! 

Make sure you have a way of converting those site visitors into subscribers or prospects! A great tool for this, if you’re using WordPress is Thrive Leads. If you’ve read this far you will, no doubt, have seen a perfectly designed opt-in section or slide in. It’s perfect and integrates via API into Active Campaign to help build a seamless inbound marketing platform.

Anyways, that’s where we’ll end this one. Hope you enjoyed reading it.