5 Steps To A More Engaging Blog

The effectiveness of publishing a well maintained business blog is no longer in question. Blogging has long proved itself as a viable online marketing activity that can achieve a number of company objectives:

• Enable you to easily publish and then archive content with ease to establish your expertise.
• Act as a hub to integrate your various social media activities.
• Help increase website visits by attracting more search engine traffic.

However, while many businesses may consider it a worthwhile marketing activity, they struggle to implement a workable plan which enables them to make the most of their limited resources, while at the same time make their blog interesting enough to engage their intended audience.

The following tips can be used as a blue print to help make your blog more engaging for visitors.

1. It's All About the Content
The quality of your content should be paramount, whichever format it comes in. Set aside some time on a regular basis to review news, blogs and other resources to plan a schedule for your own blog content. Time spent little and often will stand you in good stead when looking for new content ideas and initiatives.

2. Integrate Your Social Media Activities
As mentioned, your business blog is an ideal place to bring your social media activities together in one place. Include your Twitter stream on your website for example, or enable Facebook comments right from within your blog pages. The increasing ease of posting videos into your posts provides another great opportunity to further engage your audience.

3. Keep it Consistent
While the quality of your content is crucial to your blogging success, consistency comes in a very close second in its importance. Post once in a blue moon and you will quickly be forgotten. Plan your blogging calendar in line with your regular marketing initiatives in order to consistently schedule, prepare and publish your content.

4. Don't Make It All About You
Look for opportunities to reach out to other business blogs. Perhaps as a guest writer, or simply to recommend some great content you came across. Other bloggers will appreciate the genuine attempts to cross promote your content. A blogroll (yes, that's right) is a great way to recommend other blogs which not only shows you have your finger on the pulse – but can also result in expanding your business network.

5. Don't Be Afraid To Be Different
Don't be afraid to be different, in fact, insist on it. Brain storm ideas which will help you stand out from the crowd. This can come in many different shapes and sizes – a little thinking outside the box can go a long way in making you that little bit more interesting than your competitors.

In all your blogging activities, if you fail to plan, then more often than not you are planning to fail. Keep in interesting, be consistent and don't be afraid to share some personality. If you would like to review your business blogging activities, or wish to add a blog to your website, call 01454 261111.

Return to the top

Adding Video to Your Marketing Mix

The continued advancement of web technologies brings with it increased opportunities to interact with customers in more sophisticated ways, such as online video. In the past, the cost of hiring a video production team to create, process and host your video would be prohibitive to the average small business owner - but not anymore. Now you can have professional video presentations on your website or blog for a price that fits your budget.

The meteoric popularity of online video confirms the fact people much prefer to watch a video that shows them how to do something rather than have to read about it. Consequently, video delivers much higher response rates and better informed customers.

Additionally, online video marketing is a great way to attract search engine traffic – used in the right way, YouTube (owned by Google) can deliver excellent search results. Video is also an ideal medium for viral marketing activities.

So how can you get video marketing working for you? The following points will help you to successfully implement video into your marketing mix.

1. Know Your Audience
The first step, as with any marketing activity is understanding your audience. Knowing their likes and dislikes will help determine the tone and content of your video, whether it should be educational or more of a sales presentation for example. Consider also where your intended audience will be viewing your video, if over a mobile device for example; this might also impact what your content should be.

2. Begin with the End in Mind
Knowing from the beginning what you are hoping to achieve will help guide the preparation of your video presentation. For example, what is the purpose of your video? What do you want viewers to do as a result of watching it?

3. Joined Up Marketing
Your video marketing efforts shouldn't stand alone. Instead, integrate your presentations to be in line with existing marketing goals and initiatives. Your video should be a means to strengthen your marketing messages when shown alongside your existing Facebook posts for example.

4. Test the Water First
Keep it simple to start with – a short, inexpensive video can be just as effective as videos produced on a huge budget. It would be a fruitless exercise to 'go out all guns blazing' only to find your audience is not yet ready for video content.

5. Monitor, Tweak, Go Again
Video, as with most online marketing activities provides very useful viewing statistics which should act as a guide for determining what's working and what isn't, enabling you to fine-tune your next video presentation accordingly. This kind of data used over a period of time will help you find your customer hot spots.

In conclusion, if you are deliberating whether video marketing is for you, keep in mind that when people better understand what you are offering and what you can do for them, making sales (often at a higher price) is far easier. If you would like to explore using video marketing to help grow your business, please call 01454 261111.

Return to the top

7 Must Do Web Design Tips

Website design has come a long way since the origins of the internet. A natural progression which has been brought about by both improvements in web technology as well as internet trends that seemingly mark the start of something new - such as the move for more informal, colourful designs introduced by Web 2.0 websites for example.

While it's the quality of your content that will keep visitors coming back, the benefits of a well crafted website design shouldn't be ignored. Your design can not only significantly improve user experience – it also plays a very large part in relation to how your business is perceived.

With this in mind, the following 7 'must do' web design tips will provide some tried and tested design techniques that will not only help improve aesthetic appeal, but will also guarantee a good user experience.

1. Be Clear From the Outset
Make it easy to understand what your website is about and what to do next. A jaw dropping design shouldn't come at the cost of leaving the visitor guessing how to proceed into your website.

2. Speaking a Thousand Words
Using cleverly selected pictures and/or videos can help get your message across even before a word is read.

3. Keep it Short and Break It Up
Following on from the previous point, keep copy to a minimum, especially on your home page. Break up your copy into simple bite-size pieces with the use of headlines and sub-headlines.

4. Maintain Design Integrity
A clever use of different colours and content layout can help differentiate your content in various parts of your website – but visitors should never be made to feel they have left your website entirely.

5. Make It Easy to Interact
Just as visitors shouldn't be left in any doubt who you are on visiting your home page, it should also be obvious how to stay in touch. Social media, email and RSS subscription buttons can be prominently displayed without detracting from aesthetic appeal.

6. Where Do I Go Next?
Your design should also act as a 'funnel' to steer visitors in the right direction (the right direction = the direction you want them to take). This doesn't mean excluding a main menu, It means giving more emphasis to the button or graphic being used to lead visitors a step closer to conversion.

7. Make It Easy To Get Around
While your menu doesn't need to take centre stage – it should be easy to find and simple to use. Keep in mind also, that your menu is key to enabling search engines to crawl and then index your content.

In conclusion, when it comes to designing a new or existing website, think more in terms of simplicity rather than sensationalism, paying attention to basics before going for the 'whizz-bang' effect, being careful to place the user experience at the heart of your design choices. If you would like to review the effectiveness of your website design, call us on 01454 261111.

Return to the top