As recently discussed in the blog post, The Rise of Visual Content, we generally want to do things in the most efficient way possible. As busy people, we are always looking for shortcuts or ways of doing things in the most quick and efficient way. Apps are created every day aimed at saving people time and new technologies are constantly being made to minimise steps in processes.
This is one tip that can easily be applied towards improving a website. The more steps or clicks someone has to make before finding what it is they are looking for, the less likely they are to continue clicking.
These should all be clear and easy to see almost immediately. Sometimes, we may be oblivious to these being hidden as we are so used to seeing our own websites; we know where all the links are and almost assume that everyone else would too.
Another key tip is to ensure these important links actually work, for both desktop and mobile. These ideas may seem overly simple however an overwhelming number of websites have links that appear visible however do not work when clicked. It is a good idea to regularly check the links on your own website to ensure everything is working as it should be.
If a link or phone number isn’t working or cannot be found, you risk losing a potential customer. As we have said before, if it’s too difficult or takes too long, people will find an easier, more efficient way.
Think your website needs some serious work? We’re here to help, contact us today
Have you ever been involved in a website project where the final deliverable or outcome just didn’t hit the brief of what you wanted or had envisaged? If not, that’s awesome! But if your answer is a resounding ‘yes’, you’re not alone. This, unfortunately, happens a lot with website projects. However, it can easily be avoided if a proper discovery process is followed to truly understand the expectations and objectives for the project.
Our favourite CMS platform SilverStripe has recently released its newer version 4.0. We thought it’d be best to share the reasons why you should update your CMS, and the new features and improvements you can expect in this new version.
The most important aspect of user experience is putting yourself in the user’s position. Understanding your audience is the first step in most marketing strategies and designing your website is no exception
Most Google users are ‘searching’ on mobile devices, so it only seems fair that Google ranks websites accordingly. In the coming months, Google’s rankings will primarily focus on the mobile version of websites, only looking at desktop if there is no mobile version available.
If your website isn’t mobile friendly, Google has said this will not affect your rankings, as it will continue to crawl the desktop version if mobile is not available. Although, now would be a great time to join the mobile revolution. The reason Google is starting mobile-first indexing is due to the overwhelming number of mobile users which has continuously outgrown desktop since 2014. Making your website mobile-friendly is only going to be beneficial to you.
If your mobile site is not as impeccable as your desktop version, it would be a good idea to improve it now in preparation for the change. Websites with a responsive design will not need to worry, however websites with a desktop and mobile version with less content and links on mobile should look at trying to update as soon as possible.
Google only let us in on this update on November 4th, so it has not gone live yet and no information has been given as to when it will occur. We can probably expect changes to occur in a few months time. In the meantime, here are some tips to ensure your mobile site is optimised as best it can be.
Previously, many site owners removed structured data from the mobile version of their website to improve speed and make the page lighter. However, for this data to appear in search results, it will now need to be available on the mobile version.
Developer Programs Tech Lead, Maile Ohye, stated in Google Site Performance for Webmasters video, that
Two seconds is the threshold for e-commerce website acceptability. Google aims for under a half second.
This way, all the information that is available on the desktop version will be available on mobile. It might be an investment at the time, but it will certainly be worthwhile in improving the optimisation of your website.
Building a quality website is not something that happens overnight. If you have not yet begun working towards creating a mobile version of your site, don’t panic at this announcement and have a rushed, poor-quality attempt. Google has said that a functional desktop site can still rank better than a broken mobile version. Launch the mobile version when it’s a standard you’re happy with.
Are you freaking out right now? Need some help creating a responsive website? Of course you do, that’s what we’re here for.
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.
The convenience and efficiency of Voice Assistants have seen more people shifting towards using voice search. But how will this change SEO?
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.
For retail businesses, these new payment options could be a valuable opportunity to increase your sales. It’s an interest-free payment option which allows customers to pay for their purchases in four fortnightly installments, instead of one immediate lump sum.
Customers initially sign up to the payment option and add their payment details. This information creates an account for the customer and doesn’t have to be repeated. The customer then selects afterpay or zipPay as their payment option when purchasing a product and their selected card will be charged the amount.
When using afterpay or zipPay, although the customer is charged in four installments, your business receives the full amount immediately. Your business is charged a small fee for each purchase that is made through the payment options. There are no set-up fees, monthly charges or ongoing fees.
The idea of paying $25 on four separate occasions, to some people, is nowhere near as daunting as paying $100 in one transaction. This mentality is what is leading to such success for businesses using these options.
Businesses such as SurfStitch, Princess Polly and Cue have all seen considerable increases in average order values, store sales and conversion rates since adding these payment options to their websites. The fact that it is interest free and the customer receives the product before paying in full are two reasons these options are proving to be so successful.
The low-risk association of these products are leading to significant sale increases.
Not for the business. It is advertised as interest free, however the customer will end up paying more if a payment is missed. This has no effect on the business though as you get paid as if it were a regular transaction.
zipPay offers instant integration on Magento, Woo Commerce, Shopify, Neto and Shopp. Afterpay offers instant integration on Magento, Shopify, Woo Commerce, Neto, Island Pacific and Infinity. Both companies offer integration support for instalment on other platforms.
At Stead Lane, we can help you with the integration of either of these payment options. If you think this could be a good opportunity to increase sales of your business, contact us today.
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.
The simplicity and ease of use for both the customer and business is a quality consistently mentioned in online reviews and articles for shopify. The dashboard, which appears when logging into the back end, gives an in depth insight into products, customers and inventory. This is extremely useful in recognising purchase trends and being able to plan campaigns accordingly.
This gives you the opportunity to understand which products are selling successfully and which products may not be. It also allows you to recognise any purchasing trends where X amount of customers who purchased Product A also purchased Product B. This can be really insightful in creating and producing promotional campaigns and techniques.
At the quickest of glances, you are able to briefly see who is purchasing products and where these customers are purchasing from. This information can then be further utilised to create customer groups and segmented marketing campaigns.
Keeping track of sales and inventory is easy to manage with the inventory dashboard, which allows you to fulfill multiple orders in one click. All information is updated in real time so once a product has zero inventory, it will appear as being sold out and no further orders will be accepted until restocked.
If you have global customers you will probably want to charge for shipping according to their location. Shopify offers the option for shipping price alternatives whether it be by weight of product, location of shipping address or total cost of order. It also gives you the option to offer free shipping for orders over a selected price or for certain products.
A huge number of customers are shopping from their mobile phones so being available there is extremely important. Your shopify store will include a built-in mobile commerce shopping cart. This is available on any phone or tablet.
By downloading the mobile app, you can even manage everything from your phone as you would on the computer including inventory, orders and contacting customers.
When first installing Shopify, your business might only be one tenth of the size it will grow to be. Shopify has an unlimited bandwidth so you will never be charged more based on the number of customers you have on your website.
These are just some of the many key qualities Shopify has to offer. It’s simplicity, insightfulness and customisation for customers is what makes it a great platform for many businesses. The ability to recognise purchase patterns and fulfil multiple orders in one click make it a productive and time-effective platform. Do you think Shopify might be the best move forward for your business? Contact us today to find out how we can make it happen.
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.
Two years ago, we wrote a blog post explaining what content marketing was exactly and how to utilise it to best benefit your business. Since then, the principals have remained the same but the importance of these principals have only increased. In today’s digital media dependant world where businesses are all bidding for our attention, a well-structured and engaging content marketing strategy can be extremely effective.
The purpose for content writing can be really ambitious. You want it to:
It’s a lot to ask of an article. And the likelihood of ticking all of those boxes with one blog post is pretty slim. All of these goals can only really be achieved through a well planned content marketing strategy. Although the goals you have may be ambitious, with a good structure and engaging content, there is no reason they can’t be achieved.
Getting to know your current audience or market is a good start. Having a clear goal of what you want to achieve from the content marketing strategy is another key element.
By understanding who your audience is and what they want to know, the content you create is going to be engaging and relative. Creating your own content is an opportunity to show people how knowledgeable you are and what skills you have to offer. It also builds a sense of trust. Particularly with services, customers are unable to ‘try on’ a service before deciding it’s the right fit for them. Content marketing is an honest and trustworthy way of showcasing your professionalism and capabilities in a way that customers will respect and believe.
Before creating content, decide what it is you wish to get out of each post. There is no use trying to tick all of the boxes in a single post. Segmenting your audience and having articles targeted toward different segments will be a successful way to engagement. An example of segmenting your audience may be
You want your content to be entertaining enough that your audience will return for more. You want to create brand awareness so that traffic is driven to your website and people see how awesome you are. Most importantly, you want to grow your customer base, so make sure a call to action is present so customers can enquire easily.
“There’s no way I have time to write my own content, if only there was someone who could do it for me…”
Oh, hey! We are the answer to your problems and we’re here to write your content for you too.
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.
The convenience and efficiency of Voice Assistants have seen more people shifting towards using voice search. But how will this change SEO?
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.
Social media has become a huge influence in our society. Most businesses are aware of this and the importance of being on social media. Over 60% of Australian businesses have a social media presence and this number is continuously growing each year. Facebook is still overwhelmingly the most popular social platform for businesses, however there are constantly new social platforms popping up. Instagram, Snapchat, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr and YouTube are just a few of the most common platforms businesses use to communicate and engage with their audiences.
We know businesses understand having a presence on some of these platforms is important, but do we really understand why we bother? Is all the time spent thinking of posts and replying to customers really worth it?
Simply, yes. It is 100% worth it.
The thing with social media is that it needs to be engaging and effective. It all comes down to understanding your audience and what they want to know. By understanding your audience, you will know what social media platforms they use most and what they’re going to be interested in seeing. There is an extensive list of platforms out there and not every business needs to be on every one of them.
Depending on your industry, what you want to achieve from social media will differ. For a retail business, the ultimate goal will be sales and this is easier to measure than in some other industries. For other businesses, some of the most important aspects of being on social media include:
Engaging with your audience allows you to give the brand a personality and allows the audience to gain a sense of trust in your brand. This is a great strategy for developing brand loyalty
Being on social media gives you the opportunity to be recognised by potential customers. Given that majority of businesses are on social media and 70% of Australians use it, not having a presence is a missed opportunity to be recognised
Using social media organically is completely free and is, therefore, the cheapest marketing strategy one could utilise
Due to its instantaneous nature, customers have the ability to write complaints or give praise at any time. Having a public complaint can give you the opportunity to rectify the problem and it actually tends to have a positive effect when handled effectively
Like anything, setting goals and aiming for success is irrelevant unless you are able to measure it. Social media success is not something that happens overnight. It can take a long time to build an active following of people who are interested and engaged in what you’re showcasing. No matter what it is you are trying to gain from social media, setting measurable, realistic and relevant goals is so important.
It depends on what you want to achieve but some examples of goals for social media include
Although not the most measurable of goals, creating a presence among your audience is one of the most important aspects of social media
It is vital to have a link to your website on your social platforms as generating leads and sales is the overarching goal
Particularly in the retail industry, this is a priority and is easy to measure. However, this can be used in most industries with the conversion being made more specific to the business.
All of these goals would need to be made more specific depending on your business size and industry, but it gives you an idea of what is important and how social media success can actually be measured.
Do you want the best social media strategy you’ve ever had? Of course you do
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.
