4D Digital are pleased to be renewing our sponsorship for our local rugby club, Corsham RFC, for the 2022-23 season. We are Player Sponsor for first team player Adam Draper. Adam plays centre for Corsham and is part of the 1st XV who play compete in Counties 2 Tribute Dorset & Wilts Central, Dorset & Wilts Cup and the Bath Combination Cup.
In recent months, social media signals have had more importance in Google’s search results. Some experts believe social posts are now one of the top ranking signals for your website.
Why is social media important?
Social media is important not only to individuals but also small businesses. If you utilise it correctly, it will create many opportunities for you to grow and connect better with your target audience.
Did you know that Facebook has an estimated 2.7 billion people using it every day. They have one of the largest databases across on social applications, also owning Whats App, Instagram and Messenger.
Increases brand awareness
With nearly half of the world’s population using some form of social media, it is now becoming a natural place to share & promote your brand. Social media advertising now gives you a way to target your audience effectively and achieve worth while results.
Values & authenticity
Social media brings real value to your community with content, images, offers and discounts. It now gives you the ability to build real relations with your customers, whilst also allowing you to give someone back to them.
Increases Website Traffic
Whilst posting content is beneficial to your followers, you can redirect your traffic straight to your website. Links from social media to your website are developing as strong ranking signals for SEO. Did you know that your twitter and instagram links can be found in the search results?
Ad Targeting
Online advertisement is one of the most popular ways to generate leads in 2019. It displays valuable data that gives your better insight in your customer behaviour using analytics. Facebook is one of the most cost effective forms of online advertisement and it also provides one of the largest databases.
Whilst ad targeting is popular, it can also be easily spent if small businesses don’t know how to optimise their ads correctly.
Why should you post content?
Content on social media is what makes up the internet. Just like a website, if we didn’t have quality content, we wouldn’t have a working web.
Images & video
Social media started very basic, it used to always be messages and captions updating friends on their daily life. However updated quickly because it gave businesses and users the chance to show their skills through images and video.
32% of marketers say that images are the best form of content, and this is why the photography industry has grown drastically over the past years. Companies are finding it easier pick up a camera and generate their own unique style of content to display their audience.
Video is now continuing to grow in industry, driving customers away from still visuals and directing them to something authentic. Video is also introducing other areas such as augmented reality, 3D photos and drone footage.
Grow a following
Having an audience on social media gives you a better representation of customer loyalty. It demonstrates who wants to continue following your content and also who will return again as a regular customer.
Followers have also given brands trust and strong authority across the web, giving them higher success and growth rate in the long run. Marketers also believe that having a strong follower increases brand awareness by 91%!
As the New Year festivities fade and we all head back to work, inevitably thoughts can turn to plans for 2019 and how to progress your business. One of the main factors in a sales and marketing strategy has to be to optimise your company’s online presence. We might well be a bit biased – but there are a number of ways we can help you and we’ve outlined some options below.
New website
Most companies and organisations will have a website in place, so mainly we’re looking at a website redesign. Unless branding and logo have changed, typically a second, third- or fourth-generation website just needs to be refreshed, with perhaps a look again at the focus of the content. Responsive design is often a key, to ensure focus is given to mobile and tablet view. Depending on the industry sector, over half of traffic to a website will be on mobile. This also guides us into making sure the content is as clear as possible, with key action points as a focus.
Website Audits & Consultancy
From our basic website audit to a more in-depth consultancy role, we try to use our experience to help you ensure your website or mobile app is delivering the results you need. Focus is given to planning improvements and then measuring the performance over coming months and years.
Digital Marketing
Digital marketing, which includes a wide variety of areas such as SEO, Social Media and PPC campaigns, is the method of marketing your website or app online. With such choice of channels to use, it’s key nowadays to ensure the most effective route is used, and most importantly, to measure the success of the campaign. With analytics and insights metrics available to measure the finest detail of traffic source and flow, it’s possible to accurately show any return on the investment.
2019 and beyond
If you feel that any of the options we outline above may be of use please contact us, we’re always happy to chat through any enquiry. We hope you’ve enjoyed reading some of our #blogmas articles this year, and wish everyone good fortune in 2019.
SEO has already been adjusted in 2018 with the new ‘medic’ core update. But now as we move into 2019 we can expect to see some new influential changes to the algorithm.
Why will there be changes in 2019?
As humans we continue to grow with technology and any changes in modern movements. The search engines will have to maintain that standard, and there are two ways this could be affected – advancements in technology like artificial intelligence, and voice recognition and commands through website search.
What will be the next focus for SEO?
Although the core of SEO will stay the same, here are a few things to consider.
Voice Commands
In 2018 voice commands systems such as Siri and Alexa have been on the rise. Google may consider putting this as a ranking factor for websites.
Security
You may want to take a look at your website and see how secure it is overall. We already know that HTTP’s is a ranking factor, but we may have to increase this in the future with threats of cyber hacking and spamming.
Mobile Indexing
80% of the UK population now owns a mobile phone that they use for internet purposes. Any websites that are not mobile friendly or don’t use responsive designs will be in the lower ranks.
Featured Snippets
When you’re searching for a keyword or phrase online might have noticed a snippet of information pop up. This will be used for educational purposes so that users can see and find the answers more efficiently.
Star Ranked Data
Data online that contains a star ranking (1 to 5) will be valued more than normal links. Google will look at users website feedback and may prioritise 5 star links.
Will SEO trends change drastically?
The short answer is no. However, many new SEO trends are likely to pop up, so heres what we need to stay focused on.
The SEO Do’s:
• Continue building high PR links through mentions in top ranking and relevant websites
• Focus on keywords that matter and don’t neglect long tail phrases
• Expand your visual content and remember to use alt text and tags
• Helpful content is a must. Remember it’s quality over quantity
• Make a responsive web design that is perfect on all devices
This year we are joining the #blogmas campaign and will be running our own 12 Blogs of Christmas over the festive period. Featuring articles that look back on web developments in 2018, looking ahead to 2019, guest posts from friends of 4D, and a few offers thrown in for good measure!
We’ll be running our blog over social media using the hashtag #4D12days – keep a look out and let us know what you think. Any feedback on the articles is welcome!
Every day from Christmas Day we’ll release one blog, articles will cover web design, mobile apps, social media marketing, SEO and all things web! From in-depth assessments of the state of web development to a more light-hearted look back and ahead we hope you’ll enjoy the blogs.
No, you probably haven’t. Unless, that is, you’re one of those lucky souls who remembers to buy cheap wrapping paper and cards in the January sales. The rest of us though, will probably start thinking about it as the nights draw in and the crisp Autumn air rings with the sound of fireworks being let off a month early.
Ecommerce preparation
The vast majority of our festive purchases will be made online, a sign of how quickly ecommerce has become the norm. If you own or run an ecommerce store you will know that the next few months sales make up a large chunk of your annual turnover. As these crucial weeks approach, we’ve put together a few tips on how to make your life easier and keep those orders flowing.
Marketing
Automation is the key here. Make the most of scheduling tools such as Buffer, HootSuite and MailChimp to schedule your content. Set up your Social Media activity and promotions a week ahead and then leave it to run itself. You may need to respond to any customer enquiries in these channels but the majority of the work can be done in one hit.
Don’t be afraid to give your customers plenty of offers over this period. We’ve all received the daily Amazon email in the run-up to the big day – and it’s done for a reason – people are ready to buy.
Customer support
Predict and prepare for your busiest periods. Unless this is your first Christmas selling period, you’ll know pretty well which weeks, days and even hours are the busiest for orders and enquiries. Half of the population will leave their buying until, at most, ten days before the 25th of December. This may not be ideal from their point-of-view, but it gives the store owner a heads-up on when to expect their busy time.
Black Friday is an American thing, right?
Not anymore. This year Black Friday falls on November 23rd and the big online stores will be hoping to maximise sales. With a little preparation you can set yourself up to make some sales here also. It might be a bit annoying for so much focus to be given to one day, but people love a bargain – why not make the most of it?
Christmas website embellishments
My personal favourite. Christmas for me only starts with the first client that asks for the animated snowflakes to be added. In truth, the flakes have been there waiting all year to be reactivated, but the sight of those digital flakes slowly drifting down the screen never fails to lift my spirits. Which it does for many people, and is why adding a few tastefully-designed Christmas graphics to your website can freshen it up and add a little sparkle to your orders.
Try to avoid the Santa hat on the logo though…
Quick wins
We all like a quick win, and this can apply to your website also. Have a look through to check on any broken links, missing images, odd spelling – the sort of thing that can give customers doubt and lead to missed sales. Check your Privacy Policy is bang on (we all did that for GPDR so that’s ok…) and your T&Cs protect both your and your customer. Increased sales will, inevitably, lead to increased returns and now is a good time to remind yourself of what you actually say in your Terms and Conditions. A good rule is to set expectations – delivery times, stock availability – and to be realistic with what you can deliver – literally.
Christmas Offers and Sales
The days of the January Sale being the only time goods were discounted are long gone. Did we all really wait to go out on Boxing Day for a good bargain? Maybe it was just to get away from the relatives and experience some fresh air. Why not create a Christmas Offers page? Most ecommerce frameworks, such as WooCommerce, Shopify and Magento, let you create a new category and copy existing products into it within minutes. People love a bargain!
Gift Vouchers
You know that Uncle who’s a pain to buy anything for? Gift Vouchers. We’ve all done it, and it’s a great option to add onto your ecommerce site. The upside of Gift Vouchers is that a decent percentage never get used. That’s a little sad but at least it’s good for your profit margin…
Merry Christmas!
If you do own or manage an ecommerce store then best of luck for 2018, maybe one or two of these tips will have been of use. Merry Christmas and Happy Black Friday!
