Archive for March, 2010

How to give your website designer feedback

I believe that creating and building the perfect business website requires a bit of team work.  No matter how good your designer, they can only work with the information you provide.  A good designer will ask A LOT of questions about your business and the more detail you can provide – the better.

Whilst it is the responsibility of the design team to meet the clients brief, realistically it just won’t happen first time every time.

As a business owner myself, I know how emotive buying a large ticket item like a website can be. However, team work is the key to success and here are some guides as to how to provide feedback.

1. Providing feedback needs to be goal driven and therefore constructive.  Including in your feedback a comment about how your son doing his A Levels could do better is not helpful.
2. When I was a corporate bod I attended a HR training session, where I was made aware of the notion of a positive sandwich. The rule was that if you have something negative to say you should try and sandwich it between some positive information.
3. Use a numbered list. A list of things you like, followed by a list of things you don’t like (and to finish on a positive you could include a nice thank you for the work so far!).  Numbers are important to help track what points have been completed.
4. If you are reviewing the very first proposal, do not be disappointed if it looks like a lot of things are wrong. If you are talking about small things like fonts, shades of green, moving things around – then this is a good sign.
5. Remember it is very easy to “see” the things you don’t like in a design as these will stand out to you. Most probably you won’t even notice the elements that are spot on.
6. If you have not worked on a website project before, give your designer opportunity to explain their design choices. Website design is very different from print. Colours don’t work in the same way, screen widths are all different, websites will look different on different browsers, there is a limited font selection, text can grow/shrink, SEO – and the list goes on. There may be some valid reasons for some of the design decisions so be prepared for a bit of a learning curve.
7. Your website is not being designed for you. And this might be a bit of a shock – part of your designers brief will be to create a website that wins you more business. You might want an iPod inspired website – but be prepared to listen to your website designer when they explain that it might not be right for your hairdressing business.
8. Feedback via email is often the most helpful. Requesting a face to face meeting might help, but nothing can beat written words. An email will provide a detailed list and work as a trail to track requests. Meetings can be time consuming and not always useful. I am sure you have left plenty of meetings before believing that you were all on the same page, only to find out later that you were no further forward. For me the perfect combination is a nice email followed by a call if there are issues to clarify.
9. Try not to use the word “professional” as part of the brief or critique. The word professional is overused and not at all specific. You may mean corporate, shiny graphics, full featured and we had a client once who used it to mean that his clients would wear ties.
10. If you have hired a website designer based on the strength of their portfolio, have some faith. If the design you see in front of you does not look like the quality of the portfolio then ask why.
11. And lastly, do not expect the very first design iteration to be spot on. Our success record is about 80% which means that about 20% of the time we have significant revisions. This is completely fine and just part of the design process.  Sometimes the designer will share their ideas with you early on in the process, to clarify colours and layout.  At this stage the design can look a bit unpolished and empty.

I think 11 pointers is enough for now (although I can think of more!). In essence, there will always be a bit of team work involved in building a website and providing effective feedback is all part of the process.

Website Design | 26.03.2010 9:32 | No Comments

New website for The Sea Deli

We have had a bit of fun working on this one!

There was not a massive budget for this website and it was therefore really helpful that The Sea Deli came to us with a shinny new logo and branding guide (courtesy of Flourish Studios, Guildford). 

The website is currently using mostly stock photography since the deli is under refurbishment.  The website will benefit from swapping the images over with some professional (and real) photography in the future. The great news is that we built the website around our very own SMART CMS which means that The Sea Deli have full control over their content and can easily swap image when they are ready.

Hopefully we will be ready to share the blog after Easter.

Website Examples | 25.03.2010 12:12 | No Comments

Why you should know your customers

I was talking to Rachel Miller from Marketing Doughnut yesterday regarding some research she was doing into branding for small businesses.  During the interview I did get into a bit of a rant about how some small businesses really overlook some of the most important aspects of running a business.

When drawing up our clients initial website brief we ask lots of tough questions about their business and customers.  Ideally we need to understand your business inside out before we can create a single unit of digital marketing material (it’s not just a website…!).  And building a great website takes a bit of time and understanding.

Recently we have been working on a website for a restaurant.  One of the questions we asked was “Who is your target market?”. And we received the answer that we always dread – “Everyone“.

Now whilst it’s true to say that everyone does need to eat and that no sane restaurant would turn customers away – it’s not feasible for the small business market everyone.  Deciding on a target customer is integral to running a business.  For a restaurant the following factors all need to be focused on your target customer: the prices, quality of food, menu choices, drinks, decor, table layout, location, service, uniform, marketing – (can you tell that I am a big Gordon Ramsey fan?!). 

Knowing your target customer, for me, is one of the most important aspect of running a business.  If you know the answer to this questions then all other area’s of your business will benefit.  Some companies simply struggle with putting their target market into words, some go on instinct and some just have not really thought about it at all.

So from now on instead of asking “Who is your target market?” we are going to ask “What type of customers do you have?” and “What type of customer would you like more of?”.  The answers to both these should help us in understanding how to market the business on line. 

If you have not really thought about who your target customer is – then find some time today. Write a list of all the attributes that your perfect customers has (and it’s fine for the list to change over time).  Keep the list safe, it will help you when making business choices.

Digital Marketing | 25.03.2010 11:54 | No Comments

My top 5 fav things about blogging

Wow – I have just realised that I have been blogging for almost 2 years now (and here’s my first proper post ).  The funny thing is – it seems like yesterday yet I have learned so much. I have absolutely loved posting my blogs and this is my top 5 reasons why.

1. I have found writing to be therapeutic.  As predicted in my first ever blog, writing does help me to clarify my own thoughts.  Some business owners might find it a chore, but I meet many with so much passion about what they do that I just know that they would become excellent bloggers. 
2. Fantastic vehicle for answering client questions.  I often choose to write blogs about subjects raised by our clients.  For example if the same question crops up a number of times, I often find it helpful to use it as a topic for a post.  The post could help new customers and I can also point people in the direction of the blog if needed.
3. I have had some really great feedback.  Feedback from customers, competitors, potential customers, my dad (does that count?!) - you name it.  People have been reading my blog and finding it useful.
4. Authority.  This is probably my biggest reason for blogging today.  Each post I write adds value to my business.  Potential customers see that we put effort and time into running our business and I can show visitors that I really know my stuff.
5. Search Engine Optimization.  I said this in my first ever post and I stand by it now – regular posting on a blog is fabulous for search engines.  Hook up a blog on the same domain as your brochure website for a winning combination.  If your website is optimised for SEO (in the HTML code) then it does not matter so much for the blog.  Blogs are great for keeping the main brochure website clutter free and Google just loves all the extra content.

We love blogging so much that we have been offering blog setups as part of our brochure website packages for some months now.  Some of our less confident clients have declined the offer (for some blogging is not quite right – after all a blog with one post 2 years old is not going to portray the right image at all!) but we’ve now had quite a few takers which we look forward to sharing with you over the next few weeks.

In a nutshell – setting up a simple branded blog on your website is just a few hours work (and therefore not a huge investment!) so why not try it and see? Get yourself up and running and then invest further in design and widgets if it suits you.

Blogging | 23.03.2010 20:33 | No Comments

How can a squeeze page help your business?

Most savvy business owners recognize the importance of a mailing list (or two!).  Being able to send newsletters, emails and special offers to potential clients can be a valuable source of leads.  However managing the mailing list can be a bit of a chore so ensuring your list is targeted helps with removing clutter.

There are a number of ways to create a targeted mailing list including the tried and tested Squeeze Page.  Put simply a Squeeze Page is a web page aimed at harvesting email addresses from potential clients. 

A good Squeeze Page should consider the following points:

1. Identify a single service or product. Let’s imagine for the purposes of this exercise that you are a Virtual PA offering a range of services and for the Easter period you really want to push that fact that you can arrange holiday, accommodation and flight bookings.  Selecting one single service will help focus both the squeeze page content and the way it is promoted. 
2. Targeted information.  Once you have chosen a service to promote you’ll need to create some compelling copy to entice your visitors to sign up.  Often Squeeze Pages will use a combination of text, video and audio, but be careful of information overload and ensure that the page is accessible to visitors with different computers/software and abilities.
3. Relevant free offer.  Offer something for free in exchange for visitor sign up.  The offer needs to be targeted, there is no point in offering a free bottle of plonk if you are targeting “time poor affluent business owners”.  Instead offer something relevant. for example in the case of the PA – a link to a free 3 minute video with top tips for travel locations this year.
4. Easy sign up.  I have seen a lot of signup forms that request name, age, country, email address etc… Consider asking for the email address only.  You can find out more information about your list at a later date and all you really need to keep in touch is the email right?
5. Testimonials.  If you have them, use them!
6. Limit outward links and distractions.  Traditionally a Squeeze Page is a single page containing no external links at all. This formula has proven to focus visitors in signing up.  However, there are a couple of exceptions: 1) If you have a complicated offering you might want to consider multiple pages (all with the important sign up forms) and 2) if you plan to promote your page using Google Adwords then you will need some external links. Google can penalize single web pages (often treating them as spam) so adding some external links (perhaps to a relevant  blog, website, social networking site) at the bottom of the page can help Google verify that the page in genuine.
7. Autoresponders.  It is imperative that once a visitor has signed up that they receive a nice welcome email along with any to special offers as soon as possible.  This is essential to ensuring the best possible chance of converting your mailing list to customers later (don’t forget the goal is to eventually convert your list and not just collect email addresses!).
8. Timing.  If your service or product is time bound, for example in this case we are targeting Easter Holidays, then ensure that the Squeeze Page is created and promoted in good time.  Once you have the mailing list you also need to convert them into customers, all of which is likely to take additional time.

So now you have your perfect squeeze page, here’s how to promote it:

1. Catchy headlines. Remember that you are running a highly targeted campaign, in this case “time poor affluent business owners”.  All promotions will require a catchy headline like “Running out of time to book your next holiday?” or “Promised the kids a break this Easter?” (tug on those heart strings!). The headline need to grab the attention of those potentially interested in your targeted service.
2. Presell. Where possible all promotions should presell the service on offer. 
3. Where are your customers?  Traditional marketing is often overlooked for the virtual world. Targeted flyers and printed adverts can help win more visitors.
4. Google Adwords.  PPC can be a great way to boost a campaign but be careful with your keywords and the spend per click.
5. Article writing. Don’t limit yourself to your own blog.  You can try guest blogging, posting articles to linked-in, posting on relevant forums, using article submission sites – always remember to include a link to your relevant Squeeze Page.
6. Social media. Direct links to your Squeeze Page might work if you are using a catchy headline, but for best results use social media to promote an article which links to your Squeeze Page.
7. Optimize. For the best results a Squeeze Page should be regularly optimized.  You’ll need to keep an eye on your visitors stats, monitor how many sign ups you receive, which adverts/promotions result in the most conversations.  If you are receiving lower results then expected then tweak your promotions/copy and monitor the effects. 

Once you have the prefect formula that works for you then you should be able to replicate for different area’s of your business.  I’d love to hear from you if you have some additional tips to add to this list?

Digital Marketing | 22.03.2010 11:58 | No Comments