We’re extremely proud to announce that our digital agency has expanded to Brisbane.
At Arkhi, we’re really excited about this growth stage after 11 years on the Gold Coast. Expanding into the state’s capital was the most logical next step to further grow and service the needs of our fast growing client base.
We believe in growing businesses in Queensland. Arkhi was the first (and still the only) Shopify Plus Partner in Queensland. Being in Brisbane allows us to reach more businesses and expand our services throughout the Gold Coast and Brisbane communities.
With our extensive local experience and knowledge, our in-house digital team build successful Shopify stores and develop digital strategies for your business. As a Shopify Plus Partner, we have first access to upcoming developments, industry trends and Shopify ecommerce development strategies, to ensure clients achieve maximum visibility among other merchants.
Our expansion into Brisbane also increases our broader networking opportunities outside the office. We host four Shopify meetups a year for up and coming local businesses to help provide further insights to their Shopify ecommerce needs. Collaborating with other local businesses and hosting Shopify Partner catch ups, aligns with our value of developing our team of professionals and strengthening relationships with businesses.
Located in South Brisbane at Andzen HQ, our co-working space itself is in a great location and hosts multiple businesses within tech, marketing, business and creative industries. Working so closely alongside other professionals, networking happens naturally and gives us great access to bigger and better ideas.
Andzen were the first team within the co-working space at Andzen HQ. They’re a customer journey agency who specialise in growing ecommerce revenue through automated and personalised email and messenger campaigns. Being in the same space as Andzen has given us great opportunity to regularly collaborate and do even more for our clients. We’ve previously worked together on brands like Moana Bikini and Muscle Nation and seen epic results.
Our Brisbane location has onsite parking and multiple meeting and board rooms so we’re always happy to host client meetings here. Though being in such a great location, there’s no shortage of choice for cafes and restaurants so offsite meetings are also an easy option.
We’re really excited about our new location and the opportunities it’s bringing to us and our clients.
Gold Coast businesses do epic things. And the 2022 Gold Coast Young Entrepreneur Awards is proof. As a GC-founded small business ourselves, we’re so proud to have joined the ranks of finalists and winners who recently celebrated their business growth and success.
How Stead Lane worked with HiSmile Founders Nik Mirkovic and Alex Tomic to help build the e-commerce powerhouse.
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) privacy laws are coming into effect on the 25th of May 2018 and while it’s primarily an EU law, the requirements are going to change the way Australian organisations handle information.
It is called the influencer effect.
In the space of four-years, Gold Coast based entrepreneurs Nik Mirkovic and Alex Tomic have turned their teeth whitening brand, HiSmile into a global phenomenon by using celebrity driven social media marketing campaigns to build awareness of their products.
This success driven by endorsements from the likes of Kylie Jenner and Connor McGregor has seen an initial investment of $20,000 to start the business turn into a company turning over $40 million per year.
Underpinning this success is the support of an e-commerce platform developed by leading Gold Coast digital marketing and creative agency Arkhi, who’ve worked with HiSmile since 2014.
Arkhi’s co-founder and managing director Flynn McFarlane said the agency’s focus on providing e-commerce solutions for its clients aligned perfectly with HiSmile’s decision to only sell its products via its own website.
Part of our strategy as an agency has been to focus on providing turnkey solutions for enterprise clients, with a focus on driving revenue growth,
said Mr McFarlane, who is also President of Young Professionals Gold Coast.
“We’ve worked with HiSmile founders Alex and Nik, from very early on in the development of their business. Our focus was to provide them the ability to seamlessly convert website traffic to actual sales, while they focused on delivering the marketing strategy.”
Arkhi, which works with leading national and global brands including HiSmile, SurfStitch, Morlife, The Mad Hueys and City of Gold Coast, aims to redefine the e-commerce space.
Its focus is on providing marketing and e-commerce solutions for businesses looking to scale their businesses nationally and internationally through the strategic application of digital solutions focused on growing revenue.
For HiSmile this process took the form of developing a platform to support subscription growth built through third-party apps, with the model funnelling customers through to sample and trial new HiSmile products.
This multi-platform approach yielded almost instant results according to Mr McFarlane.
“Within the first month of the new website launching, it delivered more than 25% of their yearly subscriber’s goal,” Mr McFarlane said.
“Our focus was to deliver a seamless, international launch across five separate online stores (all using different currencies).
This is a perfect example of the way we operate and how we focus on ensuring that we complement our clients plans and focus on assisting them achieve their commercial goals.
Arkhi worked with HiSmile to ensure that the implementation was seamless and tied in with the overall marketing strategy,
HiSmile founders Nik Mirkovic and Alex Tomic believe it is this focus on developing digital solutions & focusing on building client revenue that has made Arkhi a valued partner for HiSmile as the business has grown.
Initially selecting the agency in 2014, HiSmile worked with Arkhi across the following years as it grew, even using them to help develop an internal technology strategy once they’d reached a size to accommodate dedicated IT resources.
“We’ve worked with Arkhi closely for a number of years and the reason why is because they’ve helped to build a platform for us that has allowed us to easily convert website traffic into sales as it is so seamless,” Mr Tomic said.
“This approach has allowed us to focus on developing and implementing our marketing strategy knowing that Arkhi had developed a seamless experience for our customers once they’d arrived to our website. This is much the same way in which bricks and mortar retailers rely on seamless customer service, our business relies on the online equivalent – a service Arkhi delivered.”
Gold Coast businesses do epic things. And the 2022 Gold Coast Young Entrepreneur Awards is proof. As a GC-founded small business ourselves, we’re so proud to have joined the ranks of finalists and winners who recently celebrated their business growth and success.
We’re extremely proud to announce that our digital agency has expanded to Brisbane. At Stead Lane, we’re really excited about this growth stage after 11 years on the Gold Coast.
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) privacy laws are coming into effect on the 25th of May 2018 and while it’s primarily an EU law, the requirements are going to change the way Australian organisations handle information.
Voice Assistants are quickly becoming the most efficient and effective way to get answers. Whether it be Siri, Google Home or Amazon Alexa – within a few seconds, you can have your question answered. Because of its convenience, more and more people are turning to their Voice Assistants for answers. In fact, Google found that of all mobile queries, 20% are now voice searches.
Voice search is now more accurate than ever, sitting at about 92 percent accuracy. In 2013, Google’s word recognition was below 80 percent, showing this technology is quickly improving and will only continue up from here.
We know already that Google has been delivering – where it can – rich snippets that give us one answer to general questions. After this rich snippet, however, is millions of other search results.
When you say ‘Ok Google’ and ask a question using voice, Google will use this rich snippet to provide you with one answer, saving you time scrolling through search results.
This works particularly well with location based search. Let’s say you’re in a new city and looking to grab some food on your drive home from work. You’d simply ask your phone – ‘Ok Google’ or ‘Hey Siri’ – ‘Take me to the closest mexican restaurant’ and you’ll be given directions to get there.
Maybe you wake up the next morning and want to find a good cup of coffee. You might ask, ‘Where is the best coffee in town?’ and based off Google reviews and check in’s (among other things), you’ll be given a list of the best places to grab a coffee near you.
On top of this, speech is 3 times faster than typing and has 20% fewer errors.
At last weeks Networx event on voice assistants, Clarissa Keil, CEO & Founder of Two Griffins, said that voice technology is more than just speaking to something.
“It’s about understanding the natural language of the user to process and respond to queries efficiently.”
The key takeaway is that people talk and type very differently. The way someone asks a question through voice is probably not going to be the same way they type it. For example, if you were going to cook spaghetti bolognese for dinner, you might type into google ‘spaghetti bolognese recipe’ or ‘spaghetti bolognese.’
If you’re using voice, your search is going to be more conversational. Something like ‘what ingredients do I need for spaghetti bolognese or ‘give me the best recipe for spaghetti bolognese.’
Ultimately, your content needs to be even more optimised for the customer. Your content should have a conversational tone and written in a way that your customer would communicate. Look at how your customers talk on social media, on your reviews, to customer service – and take note of it. Notice trends through the language they are using and replicate this through your content.
Research long tail keywords that are relevant to your brand. Because people talk in a way that is conversational, long-tail and question based keywords are going to be more relevant than anything else. Look at how your website can be optimised for these types of keywords. Keyword stuffing, if it weren’t already, will be completely obsolete.
Mention your location where appropriate. People using voice search are often looking for things that are near them – think movies, restaurants, stores, services. Use terms on your site that identify your suburb and where you are located.
Prepare for a shift in site traffic. Voice search will not directly convert into a tangible website session. With general search, users are most likely going to click through to your website. However, particularly with query based searches that have an answer provided within a rich snippet, the user may not click through to website. When Google reads out a rich snippet, they will say where the content has come from by beginning the answer with, ‘According to YourBrandName’. So you will still be getting credit for the content, it just may not convert to site traffic straight up.
Think about what the customer wants and create an enjoyable customer experience. Write content that is easy to read, answers questions and isn’t filled with industry-based jargon that customers won’t understand or ever use in conversation.
The most important point – get started now! This is a trend that is undeniably going to change the way we do things and is something you don’t want to get left behind on. From what we’ve seen in the UK & US, most businesses are already falling behind with how consumers are using voice so be prepared for change!
Keywords, links, title tags, meta descriptions—these are all important but the ultimate thing affecting how your content ranks, is whether or not people want to read it.
There has been confusion in recent years between the effect on SEO for subdomains, subdirectories and exact match domains. We're here to clear things up for you.
Keyword Research is about being where your target audience is searching, and delivering the information they are looking for. Keyword research can be used for SEO, Blogging and digital advertising and will help you deliver more appropriate content.
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) privacy laws are coming into effect on the 25th of May 2018 and while it’s primarily an EU law, the requirements are going to change the way Australian organisations handle information. The new laws are not just a suggested direction; they’re a strict regulation and the consequences of not complying are huge.
Every time we open our phones or jump on our laptop, we’re sharing personal information with businesses and organisations.
From sending work emails to Facebook messages; sharing Google docs, paying phone bills and shopping online – we share a lot of information without giving it half a thought. The GDPR laws are to set boundaries on what data is actually being collected and how it is being used.
From the 25th of May, businesses and organisations will need to be able to explain what data they’re collecting and why. It won’t just be a matter of businesses updating their privacy policy, companies are going to be held accountable for the information they are collecting and the reasoning behind it. And the penalties for not complying with the new regulations are huge – up to 20 million Euros or 4 percent of global revenue, whichever is higher.
If you have any operation in the EU, you have to comply with the new rules. Even if you don’t currently, you run the risk of potential sanctions if European customers eventually sign up to your services.
Basically, the regulations put individuals in control of their data, who sees it and how it is used. Some key points from the jurisdiction include:
By not complying with the rules, companies run the risk of being shut out of a market of 500 million consumers.
If your business gathers any type of personal data, understanding these regulations is essential – even if you only operate within Australia. Not complying with these rules puts you at risk the moment you have a European customer sign up to your services.
Personal data can be anything from name, age, IP address and profession to more sensitive information like ethnicity, political views, union memberships and biometric information – so if you’re collecting any of this information, you need to be able to explain why and be able to hand the data over to anyone who asks.
The GDPR laws will be some of the largest changes to privacy regulations in the last decade and we can expect other countries to follow suit. Even if you have no current connection to the EU, it would be a smart move to understand these regulations and how they could potentially affect your business.
Gold Coast businesses do epic things. And the 2022 Gold Coast Young Entrepreneur Awards is proof. As a GC-founded small business ourselves, we’re so proud to have joined the ranks of finalists and winners who recently celebrated their business growth and success.
We’re extremely proud to announce that our digital agency has expanded to Brisbane. At Stead Lane, we’re really excited about this growth stage after 11 years on the Gold Coast.
How Stead Lane worked with HiSmile Founders Nik Mirkovic and Alex Tomic to help build the e-commerce powerhouse.
Addressing over 500 small business owners and investors in Sydney on Monday, Amazon Australia Manager, Rocco Braeuninger announced the sites’ launch is “getting really, really, really close.” Though he didn’t give a confirmed date, analysts are expecting to see it go live before Christmas with predictions they will start taking orders in time for the Black Friday sales events on the 24th of November.
The Amazon executives have remained very tight-lipped about what their Australian business model will actually look like. So, what we do know? Globally, more than half of all Amazon sales are made through Amazon marketplace and this trend is expected to continue in Australia according to Mr Braeuninger.
Amazon Marketplace allows third-party retailers to list their products and sell at their own prices however they are also responsible for all shipping and deliveries. Products sold through Amazon Retail are managed entirely by Amazon. Amazon will buy the products from suppliers, set their own price and manage deliveries.
To sell through Amazon Marketplace, third-party retailers can expect to pay a monthly fee of $49.95 plus a commission of between 6 and 15 percent, depending on the product category.
While some analysts expected Amazon Australia to build gradually, Mr Braeuninger has said the rollout will be similar to that of European markets; Spain in particular.
So what did Amazon’s introduction to Spain look like?
Amazon started selling products across more than half a dozen categories in Spain in 2011. They launched Amazon Prime within months of entering the market and launched Amazon Prime Now in Madrid and Barcelona in 2016.
This is where Amazon has the most potential to disrupt the market. 2-hour delivery is a massive game-changer that other businesses are going to struggle to compete with. However, we’re not going to expect to see this in Australia for quite sometime. According to Koala Safe representatives who spoke at the Sydney event on Monday, Amazon is aiming for a two-day turnaround in freight delivery. Marketplace sellers will be responsible for their own deliveries so times will vary between retailers.
According to Australian Retailers Association executive director, Russell Zimmerman, the biggest opportunity here is for small-medium sized businesses. “The biggest growth at the moment in retail sales is coming off online, so this is the right time to be putting out an Amazon,” he said.
Amazon Australia manager, Rocco Braeuninger is certainly optimistic about the Australian launch.
“We will bring thousands of jobs into Australia we will invest millions of dollars, and we will help sellers to access millions of customers here globally,” he said.
“We want to be Earth’s most customer-centric company.”
If you think you may be interested at some point, you can sign up here. Given the little detail given by Amazon, it’d be worth signing up just to get some more information!
Black Friday Cyber Monday (BCFM) 2021 isn’t until November, but don’t let that lull you into a false sense of security. Now is the time to get your business BFCM-ready.
At this year’s Shopify Unite, they announced one of their biggest updates in company history: Online Store 2.0. This presents new opportunities and makes new themes more flexible than ever before.These updates are set to roll out soon so it’s important to know what changes are happening to Shopify Plus and how they can benefit you.
Starting and growing a business is no easy feat. The ATO realistically expects that many new businesses won’t turn a profit until their second or third year, and when you start to experience some strong growth, it can be really easy to make some ill-advised decisions. Here, we dive into 5 common mistakes most high growth eCommerce brands make.
In this tech savvy age we live in, we have the ability to purchase anything on our phones from a cheeseburger to a car. Technological advancements are brilliant for business in so many ways and can help deliver a seamless customer experience.
From personalisation to retargeted marketing, there are so many ways tech advancements can benefit the customer experience. While the positives definitely outweigh the negatives, we feel it is important to take a step back and look at the overall communication between a brand and its customer.
Good communication focuses on its customer FIRST. It can be so obvious when a brand comes up with a brilliant technology or app that has been created before thinking about what their customer actually wants. In theory, it may be a really clever creation, but if it doesn’t speak directly to their customer, they are not going to use it. It’s all well and good to design something special but if your target audience isn’t going to use or interact with it, it’s irrelevant how creative it is.
Of course, you want to separate yourself from your competitors and gain a distinctive advantage over them. But while competitive advantage is important, it doesn’t have to be in the form of a new technology. And you certainly don’t need to be superior in every aspect of your business.
Great communication and maintaining customer relationships may end up being your competitive advantage in the long run and will be much more valuable to customers than an app.
When we talk about communication, it derives from every aspect of your business. From your website to social media, emails and face-to-face communication. Let’s talk about the ways in which you can deliver effective online communication.
It depends on your audience and your industry but generally, an overcomplicated website is only going to deter people. Firstly, one of the most frustrating things you can have on a website is a ‘pop-up’ on the home page. Asking someone to sign up to your newsletter with a pop-up after they’ve been on your website for less than 30 seconds is probably not the best way to go about things.
Yes, you want to grow your email lists but you also want customers.
Annoying your customers within seconds of coming to your page is not going to get you off to a great start. If you want a pop-up, have it appear after the user has been on the website for 1 minute or has viewed 2 or 3 pages. Let the customer see that there will be some value in it for them before shoving a pop-up in their face.
Secondly, have an idea of the journey you want your customer to take through your website. This way, you can clearly indicate which pages are more important than others. Too many websites attempt to grab your attention in a number of different categories and it becomes difficult to try and decide where to click. Have one clear call to action on each page instead of numerous different buttons that lead to the same page. The mentality that some people have is that being more obvious all over the website will lead to more clicks. The reality is that you shouldn’t need to have so many buttons. If your website is set up nicely, there should be no need to have multiple CTA buttons.
Everyone loves memes, right? I’ll put my hand firmly in the air to this one. However, my feelings towards memes are probably not reciprocated by everyone. It’s important not to assume that your audience will like certain things just because you or your team does. Memes are great, but there is a time and a place. If you are wanting to establish your brand as the experienced, professional in your industry, your communication through social media should be educational and informative.
Likewise, if you’re a male in your 30s writing for an over 60s female audience, you are going to need to do a bit of research into their communication methods. Researching topics for conversation in blogs and social media posts will be pretty easy but using language and grammar that speak directly to them is just as, if not more, important.
And you don’t have to be using every single social media channel. Find the channels that work for your industry and business and focus on those.
So, you’ve come up with this brilliant idea for an app! You’re so excited about this technological advancement for your business and cannot wait to get started on building this platform. First things first, how much is it going to cost? Who is actually going to use it and how often are they going to use it if they do? It might be an awesome creation but is it really going to be worth it? If you get past these questions and still think it will improve the communication in what you’re trying to achieve, then that’s great. But the reality is, less than 0.01% of all apps are considered a success by their developers.
We are all for advancements in technology and keeping your business up to speed in the digital world, but changes need to be made for the right reasons. First and foremost, work on fixing things at a more simplistic level. Good communication and engaging with the right audience should be your priority. If you can’t communicate with your audience, it won’t really matter how tech savvy you are.
Want to know more? Get lost in our list of digital education articles.
With social media taking over the marketing space, gaining awareness, retaining attention, and converting people is a competitive space. So how does your business stand out and meet your goals through social media marketing?The key is having an effective digital marketing mix. Each platform is unique in its offering and its audience, requiring different marketing methods and tactics.
With changes in attribution models and numbers not adding up across platforms, how do we know what’s really working?
Don’t lose your powerful message in confusing, jargon-filled copy. One of the best tips for writing is to simply write clearly.Copywriting is about inciting action. If your message is entertaining, great! But if the call to action isn’t clear, you simply won’t see results.
