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9 Rules to Create an Awesome Business Website

on November 28, 2019

Table of contents

  • Introduction
  • 9 Rules to create an awesome business website
  1. Define your website’s purpose
  2. Pick an easy-to-remember domain
  3. Get an eye-catching logo
  4. Make your website mobile-friendly
  5. Keep the pages uncluttered
  6. Keep it easy to navigate
  7. Place your contact details above the fold
  8. Have a clean & compelling CTA
  9. Keep your website’s design simple
  • The final word

Introduction

In today’s fast-changing business ecosystem, an online presence is a must for any business — from brick-to-mortar. No matter whether you’re a seasoned business owner, if you have not created an effective website yet in this changing environment, you may lose significant business opportunities.

So no matter whether you’re just getting off or an established business owner having no online presence, building a website is inevitable. As per a recent study published by Bazaarvoice, online research greatly impacts the in-store shopping decisions. The report, The Robo Economy demonstrates that about 82 percent of smartphone users consult their phones on shopping they’re going to make in-store, while around 45 percent read reviews before they purchase.

Considering the latest shopping trends, having a business website to attract buyers is crucial to growing your business. But what are the fundamentals of creating one such website? For many business owners, creating a website seems daunting. They think that creating a website needs extraordinary skills and cutting-edge tools and technologies. But it’s not true. You’ll need to know just a few rules to create a powerful business website.

Here are the top 9 rules to create an awesome business website:

1. Define your website’s purpose

Before you go ahead with the website development, it’s important to identify the purpose of your website. What do want to achieve?

You must clearly understand what your USP (unique selling point) is and what is your plan to come across. Merely knowing your industry and determining the content strategy is not enough.

Once your fundament purpose is defined, your focus should shift towards determining the actions that you want from your visitors to take after they land on your site. Is the website just for information, or to sell products/services, or to get signups?

The answers to those questions will significantly give you an overall idea of how your website design should be.

2. Pick an easy-to-remember domain

Selecting a domain for your website is tricky. Your domain or web address should be so easy and sticky that anyone after seeing it can remember for a longer period. Don’t include any number as it can confuse surfers and dashes. Also, such web addresses are not SEO-friendly.

Pick a dot com domain as most people are familiar with this extension.

3. Get an eye-catching logo

Images and symbols are the most effective way of communicating your message. A logo, which is often called the face of the company, is crucial to convince your customers. People will make a perception of your company based on your logo. In fact, a logo should be one of the most essential branding investments. You must not create your logo design casually.

Apart, you should also take care of other graphic design elements of your website. If you’re not sure which graphic design and logo fit your business website, hire a professional graphic designer to get them done.

4. Make your website mobile-friendly

The number of Smartphone users worldwide is growing rapidly. As per the Statista, Generation Z shoppers use a Smartphone while making an in-store purchase. They use smartphones for comparing products’ features, prices, and reviews. Therefore, it becomes imperative to have a smartly designed mobile responsive website for your business if you plan to run a successful business venture.

5. Keep the pages uncluttered

Studies have suggested that website visitors love to read clear, precise and short information. A website having too much and irrelevant information, it simply diverts visitors’ mind which leads to increased bounce rate. Give ample blank space on your web pages to breathe in. Also, whitespace increases the readability of your copy. Make sure that text and graphics on your web page are in good proportion and present a clean page.

Brainstorm if your website really needs social widgets like Tweeter feed etc. If the widget content doesn’t meet your purpose, remove it right away to make your page clutter-free.

6. Keep it easy to navigate

Creating a different website by using attractive Flash presentations may look tempting, but it might be a little difficult for your customers to quickly find what they are looking for. Therefore, it’s always advised to take the medium route when it comes to your site navigation. You should use drop-down lists with clear headings which present on every page of your website, incorporate a site map and the search bar at the top right-hand side so that it can be easily traced.

7. Place your contact details above the fold

What’s the benefit of having a website if no one knows how to get in touch with you? Of course, such a website is of no use. In fact, a website must include a “Contact Us” tab on your home page. Make sure that the contact us page contains information such as your address, phone number / mobile number and email address so that your potential customers can easily reach you out should there be any business related query.

Also, put social media links, either at the header or footer, if you use social media to connect with clients.

8. Have a clean & compelling CTA

Once the visitors have found something interesting on your website, you would like them to take an action — buy a product/service, call, sign up or download. Make sure that all of your pages have relevant call-to-action buttons/links that are clear. Also, the area around the CTAs must be clutter-free. If possible, keep them above the fold so that visitors do not have to scroll down to find the call to action.

9. Keep your website’s design simple

Avoid using fonts, colors and animated gifs which you think can distract visitors from the focus point. Keep the paragraphs short and informative, the ideal length of a paragraph is less than six sentences. Also, use bullet points that draw readers’ attention thus increasing readability.

The final word

Having a website for every business is crucial in the present day shopping environment where most shoppers search online before they finally reach a buying decision. This article aims at guiding new entrepreneurs and established business owners with no online presence alike to create an awesome business website. I hope these 9 simple rules will guide you through the process.

Cheers!

About the author

Campbell Joef is a graphic designer and blogger associated with Designhill.com , a custom designs marketplace, I generally write on topics custom clothing, concerning design and education logo, ecommerce, start-ups, small business.

Digital Branding

Design Elements to Consider For Your Business Website

on April 23, 2019

The web design of your business website will be one of the most vital aspects of your business marketing strategy on the internet. In this article, you will be learning more about the essential design elements which you should be incorporating.

Responsive: You need to make your web design responsive so that it can ensure that users who are accessing your website through smartphones and tablets are easily able to access them.

Clean design: When you are contemplating the nature of web design that you want to use, it is important that you do not end up creating a cluttered web page with too many information. You should go for a web design which is clean and free from extra clutter and with all the essential links placed at the right spots for the user to locate them. So you should not burden your web pages with too many pictures and videos and colors.

Search box: One of the first things that a user tries to locate when he or she visits your business website is the search box. Most users will not be spending too much time on your page initially when they visit to navigate and look for interesting stuff; they will want to get specific answers for their specific questions. If you have those answers, then you should provide the users with an easy way to access them, and a search box will come in handy in this respect. You need to put your search box in the top of your web pages so that people can quickly view them and enter the necessary keywords to find what they are looking for.

Pictures: You need to decide whether you want to use a background picture or go for a solid colored background. If you want to use a background image, then you can consider using the logo of your business venture. You can also think of putting a specific image which defines your business. Either way, your background image must be mellow and should not be contrasting too much with the content that you are putting on the page. Also, in the contents, it is important for you to use photos. At times, it can so happen that your content is not big enough and hence to compensate for that you may use certain photos to make your article look bigger. You need to use photos which are of high resolutions and are optimized to be viewed on various devices with ease.

But you should also ensure that the pictures do not increase the amount of time it takes for your pages to load. Often, it can happen that having a lot of photos in your pages can slow the loading time of your pages. This can be frustrating for the user. You must also put images of your products which you want to sell along with your content and other allied photos of such subjects; this will help in creating a detailed perspective of the content that you are putting on your pages.

Texts: you will need to focus on both the font sizes and the font types of your texts. You must use a font type which looks professional and not amateurish. Thus, you must choose to use fonts like Times New Roman and Calibri or Cambria instead of Comic Sans MS. You can choose to use different fonts for your headlines and your main content. You will have to use your texts in a way that makes it easy for the reader to comprehend the information that you are sharing. You should use your italics, bold and underlines judiciously also. Do not go overboard with them. Use them to highlight specific information which is important for the reader to know. In terms of the size of the fonts, you must not choose a font size that is either too small or too big.

You can use an optimum font size of 12 or fourteen points because they would work well in driving the information forward without being too bright for anyone’s eyes. Also, you must optimize the fonts so that they become readable on different screen sizes that is, on both smartphone screens and desktops. These little things will impact how a viewer feels when he or she visits your website.

Colors: One of the essential facets of good web design is in choosing the correct color combination. These colors are both for your web page’s backgrounds and your texts. You need to choose a combination which is aesthetically pleasing to the eyes. You can either go for a single colored background or a combination of different colors. Ideally, you should limit yourself to a maximum of three different colors if you want to use a color combination. These colors must alternate between lighter and darker shades.

Also, it is vital that these colors should be contrasting each other. You should choose the color of your texts also in a way that they contrast the background. But this color should not be too bright for the eyes. You can use a simple black and white and background and use black for your texts. This is a classic theme and has been used multiple times with increasing efficiency.

If you want to get more information about how you can make a top-notch web design for your business website, then you must visit SEO Atomic Design and take advice from the leading professionals in the industry.

Conclusion

Perhaps the most important aspect of a business website is its web design. The web design determines how the appearance of a website will be to be an outside viewer and a user. It will determine the overall user experience of the website. To make your business website attract more and more people, you must ensure that it is functional, easy to navigate and responsive. This will help in creating a good first impression on the minds of the users. It is also important that you use the appropriate color and picture combinations. Hopefully, the information mentioned in this article will have helped you.

Digital Branding

4 essential components that need to be part of your startup business website

on February 4, 2019

90 percent of start-ups fail. Don’t get us wrong. We haven’t mentioned these horrific statistics to discourage you from your entrepreneurship venture, rather we want you to learn from other people’s mistakes and not reinvent the wheel. If you want to stand out from the crowd, then you need to do things differently. Your product or service might be exceptional, but your marketing strategy will differentiate you from your competitors. While you may not have the budget to spend as much as the giant multinationals, but simple things done correctly will help you set a ground for your success. A website is one of the most basic yet crucial tools for a start-up. A website provides your potential customers with all the information about your product or service, it adds to the credibility, and it is a great marketing tool. To take advantage of your website, make sure that you include these essentials:

1. A professional design

Your website should capture your audience in the first few seconds. According to research conducted by Putnam, titled Trust and Mistrust of Online Health site design elements play a greater role than content in generating mistrust. The study showed that 94 percent of the people regarded design elements as the reason for mistrust while only 6 percent cited content. Another study shows that 38 percent of the people will stop interacting with the website if they find the layout and design unattractive. A good website design conveys the story of your brand to your customers. A consistent theme including the colors adds to the credibility of your company. Moreover, a professional design improves the usability as well as helps you stand apart from your customers. Good website design also entails that a website is responsive, as we’ve seen with Cheap Computer Server, which means that its design can change according to the medium it is being viewed on. With the increase in mobile proliferation, it is a necessity that a website is mobile responsive. An increasing number of researches has compelled Google to make changes to its ranking algorithm. In 2014, Google updated its algorithm to give more points to websites that are mobile friendly.

2. Blog

To get more business, you need to rank higher on Google, and a blog is the best way to achieve that goal. There are around 72,000 searches per second on Google, and if you need to stand apart, then you need to play by Google rules. According to Google’s Andrey Lipases, Google uses high-quality content and link building as one of the most important factors in ranking a website. Hence, good quality content is one of the most important factors in driving traffic to your website. Other than that, good content increases the trust of your potential customers in your brand. The more helpful your content is to your customers, the higher they will regard you as an authority in the industry. Blogging also gives you a great opportunity to promote yourself on social media. You can share your blog posts on Facebook or Instagram and drive traffic to your website. Research shows that companies that posted more than 16 blog posts per month got 3.5 times more traffic than companies that did not.

3. Visual content

Well, your job does not end at driving traffic to your website; your objective is to hook your customers and make them come again. People will only visit you again if they remember about you and a boring, dull website is not going to achieve that. Research shows that people remember only 10 percent of the information they read after three days. However, if that information is paired with an appropriate image, people can retain about 65 percent of the information after three days. Visual content is especially important if you have e-commerce, real estate or tourism website. You need to add compelling videos and pictures to lure in customers. It is hard for people to trust products online. Hence, high-quality pictures of your products will help them make their decision. For example, this leather skin shop website has done a great job in showcasing its products, which make them visually appealing. Videos can play a crucial role in educating customers about your service or product, especially if it is new to the industry. Statistics show that 64 percent of the users are more likely to buy a product after watching a video. Infographics are also a great tool to make your website more attractive. Infographics basically combine text and pictures in such a way, which makes them easier to remember and understand. Moreover, they are also three times more likely to be shared on social media than any other type of content.

4. Subscription Popups

Source Subscription popups allow you to capture email addresses of your potential customers so that you can conduct email marketing. Email marketing is an inexpensive and effective tool to convey any information or promotions to your customers. Unlike other mediums, email marketing is cost effective because it allows you to tailor and personalize your messages according to your audience. Also, you can segment your audience based on their likes and dislikes and then target them accordingly. Research shows that people who make a purchase through email spend 138 percent more than people who don’t receive any offers. Being a start-up, you need to make the most of the available resources and your website is an important one. If done right, a good quality website can alone do wonders for your marketing strategy. Make sure that you don’t just put a website just for the sake of it; leverage this asset as much as you can because it is the most effective marketing tool. If you are an e-commerce website, then you need to pay special attention to the website aesthetics and its usability. It would be better if you get your website made by an e-commerce website design company that knows how to make customers move towards purchase.

Digital BrandingLocal Branding

How Can You Drive Business to Your Website?

on June 27, 2019

https://unsplash.com/photos/5fNmWej4tAA

 

Have you ever developed a website? I mean not literally with coding and stuff but have you ever had to hire a team, work with them to get a website developed. If yes you would know it’s not as easy as fishing in a barrel. There are plenty of factors that affect website development like cost, delays, and team management. It’s better to understand these things before you hire the website development company or a freelance developer.

When you don’t exactly know the requirements of your website, there is a high probability of making blunders. That can be a set off for bringing the business to the website. Here are some of the ways to save your website from that and help drive business to it.

Pick Your Functionality

Developing a website is a bulky and time-consuming thing unless you are just picking a template and launching it. It takes a considerate amount of time in building it from scratch, finding the right partner to do it for you, and by the time you launch it, the precious time has gone.

To cut down the delay, decide the most important functions of the website before passing through the development phase. Let me put it this way, a good website is way better than having a perfect website in far in the future.

Sometimes, it’s the time you need to take the most advantage of. Start with an MVP model and get in the digital world at the earliest.

Design That Everyone Can Connect

“Design is not just about how it looks and feels but it is also about how it functions.”

So, instead of scrutinizing the design images in the jpg format and have a lot of discussion and improvement in those images and then do it all again in the functional website. It is better to be able to see the design live in the browser, have a discussion and make the changes accordingly. A functional website is way better than static images. It would be easier to make a decision with a live website.

Newer Needs, Higher Cost

If you hire a company that has adequate experience in website development, they will help you figure out the essential features or the ones you are missing out and a fair estimate of the same. In the absence of that, there might be a chance of missing out key features which you have to add at a late date and have your budget all up and down. They can help you review and show you what’s best for your website and the best ways to drive the appropriate amount of traffic to your site.

Security Blunders

One of the reasons for losing traffic from your website can be security issues. Make sure that the developer keeps the backup or copy of every single thing. The CMS and the code have to be kept as secure as possible. Try to set a complex password, versions updated, and several layers to security for utmost security. The help of a professional is always appreciated.

Mobile Compatibility

The website must be mobile compatible as a large amount of traffic is driven from a mobile device. The design has to be such that it works on the device with every type of device and screen size. Make sure that it does not crash when it opens on the mobile device and avails the user with great user experience. Also, the loading time should not be too long. Long loading will definitely drive the user away instead of inviting them.

 

Authors Bio:

I am Pratik Kanada, founder & CEO of 360 Degree Technosoft, an iPhone and Android app development company which makes app ideas into reality. We also provide unique design and development services globally. I generally write blogs on mobile technology, app development services, app marketing, website designing, and development. 

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Digital Branding

Website Design Tips to Avoid Deceptive Patterns

on November 10, 2022

The majority of modern website design companies attempt to provide an honest user experience. Some, on the other hand, will go to any length to increase conversion rates, even tricking customers into completing specific behaviors.

Cybercriminals pose a risk to all digital interactions, but some unethical site design practices cross the boundary into criminality. Learning what “deceptive patterns” are and how to prevent them will help your brand avoid this extremely damaging error.

Tricking vs. influencing users

We’ve all seen it: clickbait that directs us to dubious landing pages, bogus pop-up advertising encouraging us to click here to prevent computer viruses, and emails that use spammy jargon to entice us.

Most frauds are easily identified and avoided by savvy web users. Unfortunately, unethical web design methods are blurring the distinctions between genuine and false, making it more difficult to recognize trickery.

When people search the internet, they do so with caution. Most people have formed a healthy skepticism as a result of things like badly designed websites and irritating pop-up adverts.

Users have been too frequently victimized by fraudsters who steal vital information or install viruses on their devices to blindly trust web content. Using deceptive/dark patterns in website design, some website designers have found a technique to escape consumer skepticism and fool users into falling into their traps.

Deceptive/ Dark Patterns

The user interface (UI) is one of the vitals of website design. Websites and applications employ dark patterns in UI to deceive users into mistakenly signing up for or purchasing anything. Deceptive patterns in UI design trick the user from discovering the actual objectives of the website and/or corporation until it’s too late.

Some branding agencies employ dark patterns by capitalizing on the dual readership path, which is the reality that many readers scan web information.

In order to disguise the truth of what they’re saying, a dishonest business may make particular phrases bold or large. As a result, someone browsing the site may feel the firm is saying one thing when, in fact, it is expressing something else. Dark patterns are harmful because they can lead people to take activities they would not have taken otherwise, such as purchasing a product or subscribing to a service.

Some websites may be unaware that the sales strategies they employ are classified as dark patterns. Many sites, for example, use pushy sales adverts and ads that users must reduce before viewing the webpage’s content. Nobody accepts these dark designs.

Google has started penalizing websites that use “intrusive interstitials,” such as pop-up advertising or email capture lightboxes. These illicit methods have become old with users, and search engines are noticing.

Go through these very common deceptive patterns-

 1. Clickbait

Clickbait is one of the oldest tactics in the book, yet users continue to fall for it. Clickbait is internet content (typically links) designed to pique readers’ interest and entice them to click, only to reveal a web page with considerably less dramatic or even completely irrelevant content.

Clickbait entices viewers with exciting content and keywords, much like bait on a fishing line. When a reader bites the bait, the firm hooks and reels them in, frequently trapping readers with pop-up ads and email account lightboxes. Clickbait articles fall short of their promises. They are, in some ways, deceptive. They use exaggeration to stimulate a user’s attention and persuade him or her to click.

Many people have mastered the art of deceptive content writing. Deceptive information is designed to trick, fool, or confuse users into performing specific behaviors. We discover fake content most commonly during the newsletter and marketing material unsubscribe procedure. Many websites route visitors to an unsubscribe page in order to confuse them with a multi-step procedure and/or buttons with misleading names.

 2. Confirm Shaming

“Confirm shaming” is one of the most apparent dark patterns on today’s websites. This occurs when a website creates an email capture lightbox (a popup requesting an email address before allowing access to the site) with a message that makes those who opt out feel ashamed.

Confirm shaming makes consumers feel horrible about themselves for not entering their email addresses and complying with the company’s marketing strategy.

Confirm shaming may appear to be a pretty innocent technique to convey a message, but it actually makes consumers feel frustrated, inadequate, and resentful of the organization. These light boxes miss sales and are red flags now.

3. Roach Motels

Another common dark pattern tactic on the internet is roach motels. Roach motels are online design tactics that urge visitors to join up or subscribe – only to find it incredibly difficult to cancel. They are named after the cockroach baits that lure creatures in simply to trap them there. Roach motels make it incredibly easy and enticing to join up, but if a person realizes the deal is not for them, it is virtually tough to remove their name from the list.

“Trick questions,” or the technique in which a user must intentionally untick boxes to opt-out of receiving marketing material, are widely used by web designers.

Marketers purposefully make these boxes inconsistent in order to mislead users and raise the chances of a person unintentionally consenting to receive additional emails or marketing materials. When the user realizes what they’ve done, the unsubscribe button may be difficult to locate – or the corporation may force the user to call customer care to rectify the issue.

 4. Hidden charges

These are hidden costs in your shopping basket products that are not displayed until the user reaches the checkout stage.

5. Forceful Continuity

This occurs when a person is forced to pay to be a part of a specific group without their consent.

When someone joins up for a free trial and then gets charged for the paid service at the end of it. They are instead notified once the amount gets deducted from their account. Indeed unethical.

This method is immoral and should be avoided when making such grants.

Final Words

 Dark patterns deceive individuals, making it difficult to flee or avoid being caught in the first place. Dark patterns lead people down perilous roads, leaving them bewildered, misled, and angry at themselves for falling for the ruse. It is advisable to avoid dark patterns totally as a consumer or as a creative agency.

Take an alternate path if you believe a marketing strategy is ethically problematic. Dark patterns in UI are coming to the attention of users, search engines, and the main social media platforms. As a result, sites that participate in dubious practices are starting to suffer consequences. Don’t succumb to the appeal of utilizing dark patterns; instead, detect and avoid these common scams to protect your brand’s reputation.

 Author Bio:

 Brijesh Jakharia co-founded SPINX Digital in 2005 and takes great pride in crafting web and mobile marketing solutions for mid-market businesses to enterprises. Marketing is his passion, and the thrill to build a brand from the ground up has helped him craft successful brand stories for world-class clients. While not at work, he loves to spend his time on research and reading digital content stories.

Digital Branding

6 Online Reputation Management Tips for Local Businesses

on October 7, 2022

 

If you are a local business, it is essential to take steps to ensure you have a positive online presence. You’ve probably heard the common expression, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” In light of this advice, businesses spend a great deal of time and energy trying to build a strong online reputation. Once you’ve achieved this goal, how do you maintain it? How do you remain relevant in the minds of your customers? What should you do if something bad happens? 

There are several factors that can impact an online reputation, such as articles written about you, online reviews about your business or products, and social media actions taken by you. The key is to keep up with these factors so that users will see your business in an accurate context since you are providing information from your perspective. Here we provide some tips on managing your online reputation as a local business.

Ensure a Consistent Online Presence

The first thing you should do to manage your online reputation is to ensure a consistent presence. You have to make sure that your business has a website (or a blog) and social media accounts that are active and updated frequently. You must also ensure that your website is up and running. Moreover, your website should be responsive and compatible with mobile devices so that it can be viewed by all kinds of audiences. 

Register the Domain Name As Your Brand Name

If you don’t already have a business website, it’s time to get on the ball and register the domain name for your website. It would be advisable to consider your brand name when coming up with the domain name. This will make sure that when people search for your business, they’ll be able to find your website easily. 

Your business name is unique, and so will your website/blog name. A distinctive domain name will make your website stand out. It will pop up at the top of the Search Engine Results Page (SERP). In this way, it can save you from strenuous SEO efforts. It even helps you stay out of legal problems and allows your customers to reach you successfully. 

Rank Your Business Profiles in Google

There is an enormous amount of competition among local businesses. This competition can make you lag behind your competitors in Google’s search results. Therefore, your reputation is not just about having an online business profile. Optimizing your profile for better search visibility is important too. Here’s where your SEO strategy enters the scene.

Studies have shown that some of the most searched keywords originate within local business pages. So, using the right local keywords will help you get found more easily when people search for relevant information. Ensure that the keywords you use match the content of the website itself. In addition to keywords, other SEO elements like meta tags, backlinks, page speed, etc. matter too. 

Watch Over Individuals Associated With Your Business

Make sure all of your employees have their own social profiles on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. This will allow them to share positive information about your business with their network of friends and family members.

But always ensure that they don’t post anything negative about your company. They must not make such a mistake on their personal social media accounts or while dealing with customers. Whether intentional or unintentional, any bad word from your employees side can lead to lost customers. The customers may also decide to leave after reading negative reviews about previous customers’ experiences with someone from your own company.

Listen to Your Audience

Audience

Cheerful business people applauding in a meeting

As a business owner, your customer service matters the most. You need to listen to what your audience has to say. Reply to their comments and respond to any bad reviews or online complaints. You can excuse them by apologizing for the bad experience they had. You may later compensate them for this experience. Answer all the questions from your customer’s side on a regular basis. For example, if your customers are having trouble finding some information on any of your platforms, give them tips on how to do so. As an illustration, you may reply with something like: “Try searching for…on our main page.” This will help them find what they’re looking for more easily. 

Invest in Maintaining Your Online Reputation

For the reputation management of your local business, hiring some professionals is something that you’re bound to pay attention to. For example, you may need someone who can handle negative reviews and remove them from the Internet as soon as possible. However, there’s more to reputation management than just removing negative reviews. 

You have to hire an online marketing agency to handle your marketing campaigns. Then, you’ll need an SEO specialist to optimize your web pages. A social media manager is also needed to handle all of your social media accounts. But if you want all these things to be handled by a single agency, do hire ECentres. This agency has a team of professionals to handle your reputation management in Ireland. 

Final Thoughts

Online reputation management is something that local businesses should take seriously. When having a good online presence, can help your business in a variety of ways. You’ll be able to expand your reach by getting more customers, finding new partners, and making more money. But, reputation management in Ireland can be a bit tricky for a small business. 

Fortunately, with the right strategies and help from some of the best experts in the industry, it’s been easier than before to manage your online reputation as a local business. With the tips we gave you earlier, you’ll be able to spread positive word-of-mouth like wildfire among potential customers. These will keep your customers coming back to your business for more. 

SEO
Digital Branding

Top Reasons Why SEO is Important for Businesses

on September 23, 2022

Search engine optimization, aka SEO, is a critical digital marketing service. You might not already know the service or lack in-depth knowledge, preventing you from understanding the full benefits of SEO. In truth, in the digital-focused area, SEO is the pinnacle of digital marketing and can be the difference between growing your business and losing revenue.

Activate Digital is a specialist SEO agency in Liverpool with years of experience helping various clients boost their visibility on search engines like Google and Bing. As experts in this area of digital marketing, they’ve provided some input on what SEO is and why businesses should utilize it.

What is SEO?

A summary of SEO is that it helps position your website in front of potential customers. When a person is looking for something, what do they usually do? In most cases, they turn to search engines like Google and Bing. Search engines are powerful tools storing billions of data to help users find solutions to their queries. For instance, a tourist entering a new city may look to Google to discover things to do in that city. Therefore, it’s in a company’s best interests to make its brand present when potential customers seek what they offer. This is where search engine optimization comes in.

Search engine platforms use several factors to determine their search results and where websites should appear. Ultimately, they want to display the most relevant and trustworthy results for the user’s query. Most people click one of the first five results, so it’s vital to get your website as high as possible. Factors that can influence a website’s position include on-page optimization, creating high-quality blog posts, and building authoritative backlinks, to name just a few. SEO is when businesses use these ranking factors to optimize their website accordingly. Firstly, SEO involves keyword research, discovering relevant queries that potential customers may search for. With a list of keywords, you can then plan a strategy for how to optimize your website for each query.

Why Businesses Need SEO

Essentially, SEO is a cost-effective way to attract new customers to your brand. SEO is organic growth, so you don’t need to pay huge advertising fees to reach your audience. Organic search is a huge source of a website’s traffic, and in many cases, it will be the primary source. Google is the largest platform with a market share of 92% and only Bing is the closest rival at 2%. Google also happens to be the most visited website on the internet, so it’s clear Google is a powerful way to reach customers.

SEO is all about increasing your visibility to a local and international audience. Organic search creates highly relevant traffic as people who click through to the website will be interested in what you’re promoting. In comparison, traditional advertising can be expensive just to reach a broad audience that may not be keen on your products or services. With organic search, you know people are looking for a solution you offer at this very moment in time. When someone visits your website, you can use engaging and appealing designs to help them convert. Other digital marketing tactics, such as re-marketing, can be useful to guide them through the customer journey.

SEO is not just about taking actions to influence how Google judges your website and where it should be positioned on its platform. SEO will help you develop a marketing strategy that places your customers at the forefront. Google itself advises businesses to build websites for users, not search engines. With SEO, you will develop a customer-friendly mindset that means clean and effective user experiences, fast-performing websites, and platforms built to improve conversions. Similar to this, SEO will help you identify who your customers are, what they want, and how you can help them.

Competition can be an exciting and powerful motivation for businesses. The SEO market is very competitive as the core aim is to beat similar websites. SEO helps you push your business further by presenting an opportunity to find out where your competitors are lacking and ways you can overtake them for certain search queries. You don’t need a budget of thousands of pounds to win. When you overtake a competitor, it can be highly rewarding.

Ultimately, SEO is a cost-effective and necessary way to attract new customers for your business. This is an evolving and ever-changing service that will develop your mindset to create user-friendly experiences and build trust with your potential customers. SEO will keep you on your toes and help you contentiously discover new opportunities for growth, including finding new keyword opportunities and refining the customer journey.

Factors in SEO
Digital Branding

Top 10 SEO Companies for Small Businesses 

on July 26, 2022

To survive in this competitive ecosystem, small businesses need to make themselves visible online. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is one of the most effective ways to ensure that your target market can find you when they’re looking for your products or services. The challenge, however, is finding the right SEO company that can deliver results without breaking the bank. In this article, we will have a look at 10 of the best SEO companies for small businesses. 

1. WebFX 

WebFX is a full-service digital marketing agency that offers SEO services specifically designed for small businesses. Their team of over 150 experts will work with you to create a custom SEO plan that meets your specific needs and budget. In addition to SEO, they also offer a suite of other digital marketing services such as social media marketing, PPC, web design, and more. Moreover, WebFX also offers priority customer support so that you can get the help you need when you need it. 

2. Ignite Visibility 

Ignite Visibility is one of the leading SEO companies in the world. They offer a comprehensive suite of SEO services that are designed to help small businesses reach the top of the search engine results pages (SERPs). In addition to SEO, they also offer PPC, social media marketing, web design, and more. Ignite Visibility is a great choice if you’re looking for an all-in-one digital marketing solution. 

3. EZ Rankings

Stay connected iwth social media

EZ Rankings is a results-driven digital marketing agency that specializes in SEO. Over the years, they have helped numerous small businesses improve their online visibility and reach their target market. Their team of experts will work closely with you to identify your business’s unique needs and come up with an effective SEO strategy that delivers results. They offer custom SEO packages that help you stay within your budget while still getting the most out of their services. If you are looking for an affordable and reliable SEO company, EZ Rankings is definitely worth checking out. 

4. Coalition Technologies 

The coalition is a global team of over 150 experts that has worked with clients such as Motorola, Manchester City Football Club, and the University of California. One of their unique selling points is their focus on long-term results, rather than short-term gains. This means that they will not take shortcuts that could jeopardize your website’s future success. Their popular services include SEO, web design, and social media marketing. If you’re a mid-sized business, Coalition should be at the top of your list. Their team will help you with everything from technical SEO to link building and content marketing. 

5. Thrive Internet Marketing Agency 

If you’re looking for an SEO partner that can help you achieve top rankings and increased traffic, look no further than Thrive Internet Marketing Agency. With over 10 years of experience in the industry, this company has a team of digital marketing experts that are more than capable of helping small businesses grow their online presence. Services offered by Thrive include search engine optimization, pay-per-click (PPC) management, social media marketing, and reputation management. In addition, they also offer web design and development services. They can help you quickly build a high-quality website that is optimized for search engines and easy to navigate. 

6. Victorious 

With a focus on small and medium-sized businesses, Victorious is one of the leading SEO agencies in the game. Their team of experts is dedicated to helping brands grow their organic search visibility and drive more qualified traffic to their website. One of the things that set Victorious apart from other agencies is their use of data and analytics to drive their campaigns. This ensures that they are always on the pulse of the latest algorithm changes and can adjust their strategies accordingly.

7. Captivate Designs 

Captivate Designs is an SEO company that specializes in small businesses. They have a team of experts that will help you with everything from keyword research to link building. Their services are affordable and they offer a money-back guarantee if you’re not satisfied with their results. Moreover, if you are looking for a long-term SEO partner, Captivate Designs is the perfect option. They offer affordable monthly SEO packages that will help you achieve and maintain your desired ranking. 

8. DAR (Digital Agency Reseller) 

They are among the leading SEO resellers in the USA and work with over 500 digital agencies. They help small businesses with their search engine optimization needs by providing them access to a team of SEO experts. This is a great option if you’re working with a limited budget as you only need to pay for the services that you use. If you don’t need the complete SEO services offered in a package, you can pick a few à la carte services. This is a very practical and affordable solution for small businesses. They use data-driven methods to come up with the best possible strategies for their clients. So, whether you’re a startup or a small business owner, you can customize your SEO plan with DAR.

Let your personality shine through on social medial9. Market Keep 

Market Keep is a results-driven SEO agency that specializes in small businesses. Their team of experts will help you create and implement an effective SEO strategy tailored to your unique needs, ensuring that your website ranks high on search engines and drives organic traffic. In addition, they also offer other digital marketing services such as social media marketing, content marketing, and email marketing. Moreover, if you need dedicated assistance, you can opt for their VIP service which provides you with a personal account manager.

10. SEO India Online 

SEO India Online has been in business for over 10 years. The company offers a wide range of SEO services including on-page optimization, off-page optimization, and link building. SEO India Online also provides social media marketing, reputation management, and web design services. 

Wrapping up! 

There you have it! These are 10 of the best SEO companies for small businesses. By working with any of these agencies, you’ll be sure to improve the visibility and traffic that you need to take your business to the next level. You can get in touch with these companies and request a proposal so that you can compare their services and find the perfect fit for your business. 

  

Brand
Legal Branding

6 Reasons Brand Image is Important for Your Business

on July 19, 2022

Forbes indicates that business branding is more important than you might think. Business branding is more than your company logos, name, and colors. It includes everything that gives identity to your business, making it distinct from competitors. Your business brand image brings out what your enterprise stands for. In today’s business environment, a positive brand image is a more crucial component of business than ever. Proper branding based on the technology will give your company an edge in the competitive business environment.

Below are reasons why the brand image is important for your business.

1. Improves Recognition of Your Business

Among the reasons to create a brand image for your business is to make it recognized. Therefore, if your business branding is positive and strong, customers will notice it more. Solid branding makes your business remain in peoples’ minds longer.

So, your business should possess visual elements like a distinct logo to make it unforgettable to your customers. You can also use customized embossed stationery to make an enduring impression on your customers. You can use it on; thank you notes for special occasions like when appreciating your loyal customers. Embossing is a stylish way to present your business name or logo, leaving a lasting impression.

2. Helps to Create Trust

A reputable brand image will generate a lot of trust among your clients. A trusted brand will create a good perception amongst customers and the public in general. Consequently, your brand will earn a positive reputation making your brand to be robust.

Nevertheless, your branding should not only strike a healthy level of trust between your company and its stakeholders but also maintain it. You can attain this if you can set realistic promises that strategically position your brand in the market and then deliver on the promises.

Once the promise is delivered, trust automatically builds in your clients’ thoughts. Indeed, trust will distinguish your brand and give your company a competitive advantage in the crowded market.

3. Motivates Your Employees

Every employee takes pride in working for a company with a strong brand name. The satisfaction that comes with working in such a company is a strong motivating factor. Nothing is as fulfilling for an employee as working for a reputable brand. It gives job satisfaction and makes working for such a company both pleasant and fulfilling.

More importantly, your employees are part of the stakeholders of your brand image. They form the first line of communication for your brand hence the first ambassadors. If your employees associate well with your brand, they will disseminate it to customers and other strategic partners. Remember! Your employees interact more frequently with company partners.

4. Branding Brings New Customers

One of the benefits of a good brand is to increase referral business. When your company has a strong brand image, it creates a positive impression on clients. Customers like a familiar and dependable company based on the brand’s trust. Consequently, they will likely engage in business because of your company’s good name.

All that counts is establishing a good perception of your brand in the market. What follows is the influx of new customers. So, a positive reputation will drive a chain of new clients to your brand leading to more purchases.

5. Branding Boosts Business Value

advertising-brand-branding

Branding is crucial if you are focused on generating future business ventures. If your brand is solid, it can boost your business value by giving your company extra leverage over competitors. Eventually, your company becomes an attractive investment vehicle since it is well grounded in the market.

When your brand earns a good reputation, its rise in value will be consummated. So, a robust standing is equivalent to a strong brand, in turn, rendering into great value. Apart from being an asset, a business brand holds fiscal value. Hence, it increases the general worth of your company.

6. Supports Your Advertising Efforts

Advertising is one of the most vital elements of your brand image. You should stage a comprehensive promotion of your brand if you are to expand. If you want to create a good brand image, you must focus. Subsequently, you will be able to create a lasting positive impression of your company in clients’ minds.

Concluding Remarks

The concept of branding is an ever-evolving subject. It encompasses several areas of expertise, such as marketing, business management, and psychology. While the brand image is not the same as marketing, the two are subordinate to one another.

If the idea of building a brand name from scratch sounds daunting to you and would prefer to start a business with an already established & trusted brand name for a low fee you should consider opening a franchise business. You can find the best franchises available in the United Kingdom at a website called www.franchise-uk.co.uk. 

 

Guest post contributed by Tracie Johnson

Ecommerce depends on great SEO
Digital Branding

Essential Tips for Hiring the Right SEO Professional for Your Website

on April 7, 2022

SEO is all about boosting your website’s organic search and improving its inbound marketing. Search Engine Optimisation, when done correctly, can help increase your visibility and provide a higher ranking in search results when your audience searches using keywords related to your services.

Many brands are unaware of how their website ranks can be improved; hiring a professional SEO service can be beneficial. However, choosing the right one matters. So if you are unsure how to hire the right professional, here are tips that will point you in the right direction.

Ask questions

Behind-the-scene aspects of SEO

While searching for the right professional, you should ask several questions to understand their work process and whether or not they are on the same page as you. So before getting on the first page, being on the same page matters. Here are some questions that will give you some idea.

-when will the process start showing results?

-what fees will you charge?

-what happens if I decide to cancel in between?

-what kind of assistance would be required from our side?

-Do you offer multiple budget options?

Asking questions also helps know whether the professional indulges in unethical practices such as “black hatting “. If they indulge in such practices, it’s advisable to move on to other professionals as this can cause heavy penalties for your brand. 

Maximize your product pages

Check their performance

Request them to show their previous work, case studies, and result reports to ensure their performance. This will also show you evidence of whether or not the person is compatible to handle your website’s SEO process. Here are a few things you should check.

-how much organic search traffic they have generated for their clients

-how much revenue have they generated?

-how do they handle the process of finding keywords?

-What were their high-performing blogs?

-top-performing landing pages

-Blog views and sessions

-keyword traffic value

Are they individuals or work in teams?

Lookout whether the SEO professional works individually or is associated with an agency. Working in a team means they would have skilled members who would look after different aspects of SEO. A team should comprise of; 

  • SEO content strategist
  • SEO copywriter
  • SEO link builder
  • On-page SEO expert

If you prefer working with individuals, make sure they are competent enough to handle all aspects.

Set your budget

SEO services can vary when it comes to cost. That is why setting a budget will help you find the right professional. A business requires different SEO needs at different stages; go for someone who fits the bill and has all kinds of tools and resources that can help deliver the results. 

Be realistic about setting a budget and what expert can deliver it to you on that scale. Ask how they would prefer payment. Are there any terms or plans which can be arranged?

Communicate your expectations

LInk building works for SEO

Before you decide on the expert handling your SEO process, make sure you have openly discussed your expectations and goals. Everyone boosts their efficiency; however, no one can guarantee results as SEO relies on various external factors. 

Things to consider

Another thing to consider before hiring an SEO expert is whether or not their approach best matches your needs. Here are some questions you can ask for understanding their approach 

How will they measure the success of your SEO campaign?

How often will they communicate about processes or any changes they make?

How will they track any progress, updates, and reports?

A professional providing SEO services in Birmingham will keep you in the loop and provide regular check-in calls. 

Summary

Investing in SEO experts is essential for any business that needs to increase its online reachability. These tips will help you save your time, money, and headache to find a perfect one. Collaborating with SEO experts helps in improving marketing strategies and your business reachability. 

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