by Marianna Muscat | Jun 23, 2020 | Website Design
You have spent a lot of money on in-store advertising, brochures, flyers, and other forms of promotion. You probably thought that your marketing was 100% sorted before the global COVID-19 pandemic made its presence known. Even if your business has reopened, there will still be a need for social distancing, meaning that fewer people are likely to visit your store in-person. As a result, your offline campaign will not generate the results that you had hoped for.
How can you remedy this? The answer lies in creating a website with a web design that is both functional and attractive.
Below, we highlight the main reasons why a website is still an essential marketing tool, even if your offline marketing strategy is up to scratch.
A website adds credibility to your brand
If a potential customer wants to learn more about your business after seeing one of your flyers or brochures, the first place that they will go is online. Not having a digital presence can be a black mark against you and can make your business seem behind the times and unprofessional. However, having a great website mirroring your offline campaign message can be the push needed to encourage the potential customer to take action and convert, visit your store, or get in touch.
A website boosts customer support
If your customer has any questions about your business, campaign, or offering in general, they will head over to your website to access your contact details. However, if you have decided to implement a simple chatbot in your web design, they might get their answers that way instead.
A website increases sales
You will need to embrace the world of e-commerce for this to be the case. The beauty of e-commerce and online sales is that customers are not restricted to business hours should they wish to make a purchase. The process of buying and selling will be easier for the customer and for you.
Are you looking for a digital marketing agency that can assist you with web design to support your offline marketing campaigns? Choose WSI OMS. Along with expert web design for businesses big and small, we also specialise in SEO, content marketing, PPC, and social media marketing. Contact us today to learn more.
by Marianna Muscat | Jun 17, 2020 | SEO
The world is currently facing a challenge like never before with the COVID-19 pandemic. Because this virus has permeated every part of our lives, SEO will definitely be influenced by the pandemic. If you’re trying to understand how you can switch gears to rank for the SEO keywords during the pandemic, here’s a list of our top tips.
6 ideas for SEO ranking during COVID-19:
1. Find ways to connect with the issue
The time is ripe for brands and businesses to show how they can provide value to their audiences, so don’t slip in a few COVID-19 related keywords for the sake of ranking. Insread, do proper research and find ways to connect your business to the issue at hand. You don’t have to provide an essential service to be relevant, but you do need to create a clear link between your business and the issues your audience might face during the COVID-19 pandemic. Think about the products and services you provide and emphasise how your business can solve problems.
2. Research COVID-19 related keywords and plan your target strategy
Even if your brand does not directly relate to the COVID-19 pandemic, you can still find ways to target certain keywords and rank in search results. You will have to spend a considerable amount of time in researching which keywords are appropriate to use and find creative ways to use those keywords in your content.
3. Ask your audience
If you feel lost in your attempt to rank for questions related to COVID-19, ask your audience about their experiences, pain points and worries. If you understand what your audience needs, you can change your strategy to align with what your audience wants to know right now.
4. Create a dedicated page to address the COVID-19 situation
If you want to provide information to your audience about your business during the COVID-19 pandemic, you can create one dedicated page on your website that contains relevant content, answers their questions and stipulates how your operation will address the challenges of the day. Be sure to include appropriate SEO keywords on this page to get the best results.
5. Be sure to update your FAQ page
If you don’t want to dedicate an entire page to COVID-19, be sure to at least update your FAQ section so your audience can stay informed on your strategies for coping with the situation. If your business can still operate normally, tell your audience of the measures you have taken to keep them safe when interacting with you.
6. Explore new channels
Most businesses have suspended regular trading, which has created the perfect opportunity for you to explore new communication channels. Experiment with providing content via webinars, create video content or host online meet-ups to stay in touch and add value for your audience in this time of uncertainty.
Are you looking for the best ways to improve your SEO ranking? Contact us to find out more about our SEO services, web design and mobile marketing.
by Marianna Muscat | Jun 2, 2020 | E-mail Marketing
The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown the entire business world into crisis mode. Marketing functions, such as email marketing, have had to be modified to keep up with the disaster. Email marketing remains an important strategy and you still have the capacity to reach a large audience – in fact you might even have a larger captive audience, with so many people sitting at home. Here are the practices you need to adopt to keep your email marketing relevant at this time.
Always acknowledge the crisis
Don’t try to pretend the crisis isn’t there and just blithely go on promoting your product. Acknowledge the situation and work it into your content as far as is possible. Data indicates that people are opening and reading more emails than they were before the crisis, particularly those that mention COVID-19.
Relook your automated emails
If you have been sending out automated emails since before the crisis began, take another look at them now and ensure that the tone and content is still appropriate. You don’t want you audience to think that you are out of touch or insensitive, simply because you failed to updated your automated mailers.
Assess the atmosphere
Watch what your competitors and marketers in unrelated fields are doing. Look up great and poor examples of email marketing and emulate where applicable.
Be sensitive and do not try and leverage fear
While you do want to acknowledge COVID-19 and demonstrate that you are working around it and are being conscious of its effects on your audience’s lives, do not stretch your mentions of the pandemic (or any crisis) to instil or leverage off the emotion of fear. It’s all too easy to do – especially in certain industries – and it must be avoided. You will find that your brand and your sales will all the better for keeping a positive tone and working to provide an antidote to fear.
Do you need help formulating a top notch email marketing strategy? Contact WSI OMS.
by Marianna Muscat | May 25, 2020 | PPC
“Trust is built when no one is looking” – Seth Godin
If you’re clueless about trust factors and you don’t understand why they are a massive focus point for top website design companies, keep reading for the low-down from WSI OMS.
Trust Factors that need to be included in your website design
Social media icons
Having your social media profile icons visible on your website is good for local SEO, PR purposes, as well as establishing trust. You can put your social media icons in your website’s footer, at the top of the page, and on your Contact Us page. Make sure the icons link to your social media profiles and that these pages are regularly updated.
Well constructed site navigation
Your site structure should be designed with users in mind. Not only does it help search engine crawlers index pages, but it shows users that your website (and business) has been carefully planned and executed.
Location and Contact information
Include your phone number, email address, and full street address. This will help users get in touch with you and assure them that you are a legitimate business. It will also help drive leads.
Client Testimonials and Reviews
People want to do business with companies that have been reviewed by real people. Reach out to your existing and happy clients and ask them if they would give you a review to publish on your website. It is a good idea to do this once a year so that you have updated reviews. Set a reminder in your calendar so that you can get ongoing feedback to share with potential clients on your website. An added benefit is that it can highlight potential weaknesses in your business.
Articles and Blogs
Blogs are a great tool to drive traffic to your website and driving leads to your website. If you have educational and helpful blogs on your website, it can also help create trust with your website visitors.
Policy on returns and warranties
If you are selling products on your website, make sure that you have your returns policy and warranties where website visitors can easily find it. People are cautious to part ways with their credit card details and this information can make all the difference in closing more deals.
Indication of trusted payment gateway
Potential clients need to know that you are using trusted payment gateways and credit card processing. Include the information and iconic logos on your website.
Contact WSI OMS, the top web design company to help you pull together your entire digital marketing strategy including web design, SEO Optimisation services, pay per click advertising, and more.
by Marianna Muscat | May 19, 2020 | SEO
When you spend money on SEO services, you need to find ways to monitor your performance and see if your rankings are climbing thanks to new tactics being employed. Using SEP optimisation tools can cut down on manual monitoring, they are quite affordable and they are easy to use. Here is more information on the best options available and how you can use them to your advantage.
Top SEO services and tools:
Backlinks and more with Open Site Explorer
This tool is your go-to when it comes to keeping track of your website’s backlinks, which is an imperative part of SEO. Every business should have a decent mixture of follow and no-follow links, as well as anchor texts and links to your website from other websites in order to make a difference in your rankings. Open Site Explorer provides information regarding your website’s domain authority, along with the number of backlinks that your website has accumulated and where they come from. It also offers advice regarding link building opportunities going forward.
Check your bounce-rate with Crazy Egg
Did you know that your bounce rate has a tremendous effect on the way in which Google recognizes your page? A website with a high bounce rate will notice a knock in its rankings over time. CrazyEgg has been designed to help you keep track of this bounce rate and user behavior on your site in general. It is essentially a heat-mapping tool which shows you exactly how far people are scrolling down on a page, how long they are spending reading what content and where they are clicking. This gives you a good idea of where to spend most of your time making improvements in order to maximize user experience and, ultimately, boost SEO optimization.
Address technical issues with Screaming Frog
When it comes to the technical elements of your website, such as response codes and missing image alt text, Screaming Frog is your best friend. With this tool in your corner, you’ll know exactly how well (or how poorly) your site is performing from a technical SEO perspective. The tool will also provide helpful advice in terms of how to go about fixing various issues.
If you’re looking for a local company that offers world-class SEO services including link building services and SEO optimisation, contact WSI OMS for more information on our packages and services.
