Web design

5 essential digital marketing strategies

There are so many exciting options when it comes to digital marketing. It is so much more than just "doing Facebook". Posting on your social media pages once in a while does not mean you’ve got a handle on digital marketing. There’s also more to a successful digital marketing strategy than paying for a few Google Ads or sponsored social media posts. Spending money on digital marketing without a clear strategy or understanding your options is just a recipe for burning cash. We’ve worked with clients who, before finding us, had literally spent tens of thousands of dollars on Google Ads for zero results. Don’t do this! Not all aspects of digital marketing are stand-alone components. Search engine optimised articles improve your results in paid searches, automation makes email newsletters simpler, and social media impacts readership and page ranking. In fact, the different strategies of [...]

Making your website Google-friendly will increase traffic

There’s an art to writing for an online audience these days. Not only do you need to produce content that is engaging and interesting to your intended audience, but you need to know the latest SEO trends and at least be aware of Google algorithms to ensure your well-written content is actually found. The folks at Google are pretty transparent with how the search engine works but that doesn’t mean creating optimised copy is easy. In fact, keeping Google happy without making your article confusing to humans can be quite a challenge. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO): This refers to any activity used to improve search engine rankings for a website. The aim is to improve organic (unpaid) results. How does Google actually decide what sites are delivered to searchers? Phase 1: Crawlers analyse your site This is far less creepy [...]

You’ll lose customers if your site is not mobile responsive

We’ve known for a while that people are using their phones to view websites, but as of March 2018 Google cares more about how your mobile site looks than the desktop version. If your website is not mobile responsive you’ll be turning away both customers and search engines. It has never been more important to get your mobile site right. What does ‘mobile responsive’ mean? A mobile responsive website changes (or responds) based on the size of the screen on which it is being viewed. Imagine your website has three columns of information, perhaps with some images and text that flows lengthways down the page. This probably looks great on a desktop screen with enough space to see each section clearly. If this webpage was not mobile responsive, it would simply show a smaller version of the site on the mobile screen. Imagine trying to [...]

Reducing the risks around website hosting

Over the years we’ve come across a few horror stories where businesses lose access to their own websites and are forced to pay someone to get back in. All because they didn’t have control over their website hosting. Many people we’ve talked to have no idea who controls their website hosting or their domain name, they simply leave it all to an external web guy to deal with. Which is fine, until he disappears. A website might have your name, your products, contact details and even a giant picture of your face on it, but that doesn't mean you actually own it. It’s like if someone moved into your house, threw your stuff outside and changed the locks – it would be theft. But if you gave that person ownership and now they won’t let you back inside, you’re the one who’s trespassing. Recently a [...]

Seven common myths and misconceptions for b2b websites

We’ve been working with some fairly small companies to upgrade their web presence and have come across a lot of common myths about web design. Sometimes the views expressed were true a few years ago, other times it’s based on misinformation put about by less scrupulous operators, and sometimes people have ideas that are just plain wacky! It’s time to bust a few myths. Myth 1: You shouldn’t have too much content on your website. What they say: I don’t want too much info on there, I don’t want to overwhelm people. Reality: No-one is sitting there going through your website page by page, feeling overwhelmed. It’s more likely they’ll google some info and come in through one of your content pages to get the answer they need. Having all the relevant and quality info you can get onto your site is the best way [...]