Too many businesses have gotten comfortable with simply setting up and populating a profile before posting uninteresting content and abandoning it for a couple of weeks. Many businesses also spend a large majority of their time on sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn – following and befriending various individuals and random companies – without understanding that they’re probably not getting any business benefit back for their time. Don’t brush off a good marketing opportunity; little do these businesses understand, they could actually gain a lot more traffic to their social media page, gain interest and therefore gain business thanks to a little strategic thinking.

When assembling a solid social media strategy, you first need to set some goals, before building a strategy to reach those goals. Here are some example goals your business should focus on through the aid of social media marketing:

-       Increase customer base

-       Build awareness/reputation

-       Educate customers

-       Reach new channels of customers

-       Generate leads

-       Drive sales

-       Generate feedback

Every social media strategy is different, but it’s important to set yourself some goals, which will help you to map out your strategy. Think of it as going from A to B; what route are you going to take to reach destination B?

You also need to undergo in-depth analysis into your target audience. After all, they’re the ones who are making your business, well, a business. Consider what they may be interested in seeing on a social media platform – are they likely to be attracted by discounts and offers or more likely to be attracted by good, informative content? Many businesses without a social media strategy fail to actually captivate their audience completely, as no market research is undertaken and they’ve simply opted for the “hit and miss” strategy.

If you’d like help with your social media marketing or would like more information on how social media can benefit your business then feel free to read our previous social media blog or contact us.

The client opted for a simple yet bold design, which incorporated a way of displaying the services in a visually sound manner. We believe each image used on the services buttons really do add a great injection of colour into the website and manage to complement the rest of the colour scheme. These buttons are also featured on every other page on the site, which is a user-friendly features as people browsing the site will be able to click onto whichever service they want when they are on another page. The house-style is maintained throughout the site thanks to the use of green and yellow on every page and even the rotating images featured on the home page complement these colours well! Overall, we believe Sunlight Energy’s new website to be a great success. Why not see what you make of it?

The client asked for a completely new logo design in addition to a new website design and full development. We decided to create a bold and eye-catching yet simple logo by using a clear font and a subtle purple gradient. We then used this logo to help form the website design; purple gradients and colouring can be found throughout, in addition to the font face used in the logo.

We aimed to create a user-friendly site by creating an easy navigation system and bold buttons which direct to other sections on the site. We believe the new Purple Recycling website to be a real success! Why don’t you check it out for yourself?

The client asked for a complete website revamp and asked for a professional design that incorporated the colours from the logo. Team Wonder aimed to create a completely user-friendly design by creating an easy navigation system in addition to using various images that clearly illustrate each of the products or services.

The subtle use of gradients and social media integration brings the whole design up to date, as does the slideshow of images on the homepage.

Why not visit Bliss Beauty’s brand new website and see what you think of it?

The client asked for a colourful and captivating design, while still incorporating a touch of professionalism. The ease of navigation makes it completely user-friendly, while the contrasting coloration of each service box seemingly sets the services apart, allowing each one to stand out individually.

The use of gradients brings the whole design up to date, as does the eye-catching JavaScript banners. The integration of social media icons allows the user to explore the brand further and the icons used also complement the colour scheme effectively.

Why not check out DigiMedia360 and see what you think of the brand new website?

The Facebook Timeline embraces the fact that marketing is becoming increasingly visual and provides businesses with multiple ways to attract their audience through an emphasis on photos, videos and various other types of media. Business-owners will be pleased to hear that the Timeline is a perfect way to market their business for free. If you haven’t already, it’s now time to jump on the Timeline bandwagon and get creative – are you ready to explore all of the innovative ways of giving your business a boost through social media?

The first feature on the Facebook Timeline that has been heavily applauded and embraced creatively by businesses is the cover photo area. The cover photo area is essentially a large space that you can fill with an image that represents your business best. After all, it’s the first thing people will see when they visit your business page. Although there are certain regulations concerning the cover photo (see here), this visual section is simply fantastic; capture the eye of your audience immediately with an immediately eye-catching image or series of products/services in which your business wishes to promote. The more creative you get, the more likely you are to gain ‘likes’ and thus, gain business.

Wonder Media believe that this new cover photo feature may have been designed in order to get people to remain on brand pages for longer – so why not take advantage of this fabulous 850 x 315 (dimensions for the cover photo) of pixels? If you’re stuck for ideas on ways to market your business visually through the aid of the Facebook Timeline profile, consider creating a banner packed with sought-after products or encapsulate the main aspects of your business, while replacing your profile image with your company’s logo.

Unfortunately, (and as some of you may have already grasped) landing pages are now only still accessible via the tabs below your page’s cover photo. If you have already created a landing page then consider re-creating it according to the Timeline’s new dimensions. If you haven’t, not to worry – use the cover photo area as a way to visually capture your audience instead.

Another really great feature on the new Timeline profile is the ability to ‘pin’ posts, which will provide your business with additional marketing support. Users can now pin posts to the top of their page’s feed for up to one week, creating the perfect opportunity to feature any discounts, offers or important content that you’d like people to see right away as soon as they’ve landed on your page. If you’re announcing free giveaways or any offers that can apply to a wide target audience then this is the place to do just that.

This ‘pin’ feature also largely complements the fact that the new layout introduces two columns of content – you can pin everything you want visitors to see straight away to the top of your feed, meaning you have a bigger chance of them ‘liking’ your page if they like what they see right away without the need of scrolling further down your Timeline. Let’s be honest, people are lazy.

Above all, the Timeline shows your brand’s story. People can browse through your company’s history and sneak a peek at how much the company has grown as a whole. You can even create a Milestone and highlight a significantly important moment in your brand’s timeline. Facebook describes, “Tell your life story through photos, friendships and personal milestones like graduating or travelling to new places.” Play on this ability to feature your brand’s key moments.

Once you’ve made the switch to the Timeline profile, continue to think about how to visually improve your page. Facebook always posts great advice for business’ looking to market their business a little more…

“A great way to learn about what’s working for your Page and what’s not is to check your Page’s Insights. Insights provide measurements on your Page’s performance. By keeping an eye on when people like your Page, engage with your posts or create their own posts, you can better understand which of your posts people respond well to.

To see metrics on your Facebook Page or Platform application, go to the Insights Dashboard. Only Page administrators, developers, and domain administrators can view Insights data for these entities. To view comprehensive Insights on your specific Page or website, click on the corresponding item on the left navigation bar.”

If you’re in search of Social Media Marketing or perhaps Search Marketing, please don’t hesitate to give us a call.

Tags: Search Engine Marketing Harrogate, Search Engine Optimisation Harrogate, Social media harrogate, Social Media Marketing Harrogate

Known to have a good eye for design, Aaron’s already created some really great website and logo designs for us so far and we’re sure there’s many to come!

Aside all things design, Aaron is a real car enthusiast and is also the proud owner of a cute Budgie, who he claims, “is cheaper than a Furby, but harder to turn off.”

Blog

A ‘web log’ (or blog for short) is a term for a website where a user publishes short entries on a regular basis. Each entry may comprise information, thoughts or anything else that the user wishes to share. As for me, I enjoy blogging about the web itself and various stories involving day-to-day life.

RSS (Really Simple Syndication)

You may or may not have heard of the term ‘RSS Feed.’ This is when a type of text file ‘feeds’ a list of content directly to a user who is subscribed to that feed. No, not literally; someone on the Internet may want regular updates of my blog subscribe to by blog via RSS.

CMS (Content Management System)

A CMS is a web application (a database-driven website) that providers its users with the ability to add and edit web pages on a website. What’s more, you don’t even need to bother with learning HTML! Perfect for those whose eyes go square at the slightest sight of code, it makes editing your website that extra bit easier.

SERP (Search Engine Ranking Page)

A SERP is basically what you see as soon you’ve searched for something on a Search Engine such as Google. You’ll see results of your search from a number of sources, all of which are compiled using different criteria. Along with the main organic results and sponsored links, a SERP may also include local or map listings, products, news items, media results, blogs and social media results.

Keyword

A keyword is a word (or set of words) that is relevant to the intent of the searcher. In other words, they’re words used by a search engine during its search for relevant web pages.

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)

Activity to achieve a better position in the organic results is called Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). Ethical and well-practiced SEO is often called Organic SEO; the word ‘organic’ is well suited, as organic SEO is made using the finest and most natural marketing ingredients, without any unnatural schemes involved. Visit our Black Hat SEO blog for more on this topic.

*PPC (Pay-Per-Click Advertising)

PPC is an Internet advertising model used to direct traffic to websites. You will notice that all PPC ads are visible at the top and right hand side of a SERP. Read our Understanding PPC blog if you’re keen to find out more.

Page Level Link Metrics

These are based on the number of incoming links that point specifically to the page. Not only do search engines review the quantity of unique incoming links, they also analyse the topical relevance of each incoming link. Diversity of links is also a key factor to think about when it comes to SEO.

Domain Level Link Authority Features

Similar to Page Level Link Metrics, this is the number of incoming links to a domain as a whole. If you have a lot of incoming links to your site as a whole then search engines will take this into consideration when it comes to indexing your website.

Page Level Keyword Usage

These features describe use of the keyword term/phrase in particular parts of the HTML code on the page. You should be using keywords in H1 Headings tags, HTML Page Titles, Meta Descriptions, URLs and image file names and ALT tags.

Domain Level Keyword Usage

These features cover how keywords are used in the root or subdomain name and how impactful that might be on search engine rankings. If you’re picking a new domain, visit our previous blog, which guides you towards choosing a “search friendly” domain name: http://www.wondermedia.co.uk/2011/11/04/domain-registration-harrogate/ 

Page Level Social Metrics

These features relate to third-party metrics from social media sources (such as Facebook and Twitter) for the ranking page. It seems Facebook currently has more impact than Twitter, although a Twitter page that has authority and gives out links to your site can be extremely beneficial for SEO.

Domain Level Brand Metrics

These features describe elements of the root domain that indicate qualities of branding and brand metrics.

Page Level Keyword Agnostic Features

This relates certain features that aren’t related to link metrics or keyword usage – it’s more to do with the speed of the web page and the length of the page. Faster loading pages tend to rank higher, whereas webpages with lengthy URLs, hyphenated URLs or too many images with a large file size won’t rank so brilliantly.

Page Level Traffic/Query Data

These elements describe user and usage data about the ranking page, bearing in mind that through their toolbars, browsers and mobile devices, search engines have access to a large swath of web traffic (for analysis purposes).

Domain Level Keyword Agnostic Features

The features relate to the entire root domain; things like the length of the domain name in characters, the quantity of error pages on the site and the relative uniqueness of content on the site.

If you’re looking for Search Engine Optimisation services then contact us today.

It was our job to completely re-brand the business and provide them with a simple yet striking design and we’re very happy with the overall result of the website if we do say ourselves!

Our main aim was to keep the design consistent by incorporating the oranges and darker hues that come from the logo. Seeing as there’s many visa options to choose from, we’ve opted for a very simple and clear navigation in order to make the website as user friendly as possible. We’ve even added a ‘Which Australian Visa?’ page for new visitors to the website for that extra bit of help when it comes to choosing an Australian Visa.

Visit the new Visas4oz website here!