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BEGINNER’SGUIDE TO

DIGITALMARKETING

Why having an online presence is thebest decision you’ll ever make

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Beginner’s Guide to Digital Marketing

IntroductionToday more and more small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) are recognising the internet as a catalyst for growing their brands. Recent figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show online orders in Australia are worth $237 billion a year.However, the 2013 Sensis e-Business Report found that only 19% of SMEs connected to the internet had a clear digital strategy, which suggests that the bulk of businesses logging on may be missing out on some key opportunities.

These days, a savvy digital marketing approach must include a well-designed website, knowledge of search engine optimisation (SEO), and a hands-on attitude to social media. Without a strategy to guide you, all these activities can quickly eat into your time and money, and leave you wondering whether you’ve actually made any progress.

This eBook will bring you the basic starter tips to form a digital marketing strategy and get it up and running. With a chapter dedicated to each of the three major aspects of a successful online presence, you’ll be enjoying the benefits of the digital space in no time.

The Team | SmartCompany

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Part 1 - WEBSITES

WEBSITESJust as a shop front with clear signage and a great window display can lure in people walking by, a good website will effectively communicate what your company does and why you are a trusted choice for online consumers.

Craig Reardon from online consultants The E Team puts forward the case for investing in your website.

“In many cases web users have no other criteria on which to judge the quality of your service than what is presented via your website. So it stands to reason that a poor quality website will suggest a poor quality business behind it.”

But what are the key ingredients for a website that will turn potential customers into regulars? It’s a delicate game of balance between attention grabbing design and clear communication, and the key insights presented in this chapter will get your website off to the best possible start.

Why design mattersThe thought of web design can conjure up images of young men with thick glasses editing a matrix of code, behind a sleek website with flashing lights and moving images. But at its heart, design should be about user experience.

As the former chief executive officer of IBM, Thomas J. Watson, famously said, “Design must reflect the practical and aesthetic in business but above all... good design must primarily serve people.”

As we noted in the previous SmartCompany

eBook Supercharge Your Website, the first mistake many businesses make is to consider what they want to include on their website, as opposed to what their customers want to find out about the business.

Every element of your website, whether it’s a contact form, blog, or banner image must by prefaced by the question: “Will potential customers understand what to do here?” Because, in marketing, the critics that count are the consumers.

Even if you want to put your website completely in the hands of an experienced designer, it’s important to get an idea of what works and what doesn’t and use this in your design brief.

The basics of user-friendly web designWhen a web user clicks onto your site, you don’t have long to impress them, with a Microsoft study suggesting that the first 10 to 20 seconds are critical for retaining interest on a landing/home page.

For this reason, it’s essential to have your best content above the ‘fold’ – the point where a user must scroll down to view the rest of the page.

Velocity Media + Communications owner Amanda Jesnoewski advises, “Instead of sticking a large image that doesn’t establish your value or what you do, place your most critical and compelling information there so your reader has incentive to scroll down.”

Don’t forget that this includes offline contact details for people simply looking for a phone number.

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Part 1 - WEBSITES

Logos should go at the top-left of a page, where people expect to find them, and a menu of main pages for navigation should be clear and easy to use.

An “About us” page is a highly recommended way of telling the story behind your brand and introducing the human side of your business.

On the whole, websites are becoming less cluttered, says StartupSmart contributor Oliver Milman.

“Where once the desire to display as many links, flashing buttons and graphics at users was in vogue, the trend is now to offer a more stripped back, minimal experience.”

This goes to the foundation of good website design, in that the vital elements are given the opportunity to shine through.

The added advantage of a less complex website is that owners without much web experience can edit details and add new content on a regular basis. Where once this was a job that had to be outsourced to your designer – a costly and time-consuming activity – a website with basic content that can be maintained by the business owner is the best way to keep it up to date and fresh.

Learn more about the basics of web design by downloading our eBook: Supercharge Your Website.

Optimise for mobileThere are few hotter topics in the field of web design than ‘mobile optimisation’. With 78% of Australian mobile users researching products through their phone, and with over 40% going on to make a purchase on the same device, it’s essential that your website displays perfectly in the mobile environment.

Often, sites built for a desktop experience will suffer on the smaller, portrait orientated mobile screen. Navigation is more difficult and clicking on large images will eat up the whole display. Some dropdown menus won’t function on a touch screen, meaning that not all content is available to the mobile user.

Luckily, websites that can detect the kind of device that is being used to view them are becoming common, so investigate these options to ensure that your company is open for business anytime, anywhere.

ThE NEED fOR SpEEDSlow-loading websites are frustrating. A user’s urge to abandon your website grows with every second it takes to display your home page.

Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool quickly and easily rates your entire site for speed and, if it’s not turbo-powered, gives you a tailored list of recommendations to get you back in the fast lane.

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Part 1 - WEBSITES

READ MORE: Three ways to understand and design your business website for mobile

Finally, here are some all too common mistakes in website design that must be avoided at all costs.

Using a facebook page in place of a websiteAlthough you can use Facebook to good effect to display your location, contact details and other basic information, it should never take the place of a real website.

Digital publisher Jane Friedman says this is because “Facebook is a soft connection tool, for people to stay in touch in a very organic way. It’s not about structured information delivery, but conversation and social engagement.”

You have far less control over how your information appears on a Facebook page, and it can’t be tweaked to conform to SEO guidelines (which dictate your visibility in Google searches and are covered in the next chapter).

Not displaying contact detailsIt may seem hard to believe, but a 2013 study of SME websites found that more than 90% did not display an email address. Business is going to be very slow for these guys.

hidden pagesSometimes in the rush to create a new product page and share it on Facebook, you can forget to create a link to it from your homepage, making it invisible to anyone using that as their point of entry. Keep a regular eye on maintaining good navigation and healthy links to ensure you aren’t keeping some of your customers in the dark.

Have we convinced you yet?Site Smart. The quick, easy and affordable way to create a websitefor your business. From just $1.30* a day.

DISCOVER HOW

*Minimum contract period is 6 months. Standard or Premium website customisation must be purchased.

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Part 2 - SEARCH

SEARChThink of a fresh food market selling fruit and vegetables. Inside there are lots of stalls selling similar items, which vary in quality and price. Those at the entrance to the market are doing a bustling trade as customers rush in to buy the ingredients on their list and get home as quickly as possible. People don’t have time to shop through all the stalls to get the best deal, and those at the back of the market aren’t getting any attention.

The same idea goes for search engines like Google, where 75% of people don’t bother looking past the first page of results and the number of competitors is exponentially higher. The brands that make it into the top few spots on a search engine results page (SERP) will have a much better rate of prospective customers clicking through than those further down the list.

This cutthroat race to the top has seen the emergence of search engine optimisation (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM), two tools used every day by brands around the world to ensure heightened visibility as people seek out their products and services online.

Search engine optimisationThe method used by Google to decide who will get pride of place on a results page employs ‘bots’ to regularly scan and index all websites. Google then uses a complex and constantly evolving algorithm to rank pages according to their relevance for specific search terms.

SEO is the science of ensuring that Google’s

bots recognise your online content as significant when people search for products or services which you offer. The founder of online marketing blog Online Kickstart and SmartCompany contributor, Edmund Pelgen, describes SEO as the key to a steady flow of web traffic.

“SEO helps search engines understand what your page is about and its relevance to users,” he says. “And if your pages are relevant and sufficiently authoritative, you will be rewarded with a high-visibility search listing and traffic to your site.”

READ MORE: What is SEO?

Search engine marketingThe way around Google’s ranking system is to pay to appear at the top of the results page. SEM is targeted advertising for specific search terms, which get the highest priority spots – above the leading ‘organic’ result.

SEM is often referred to as Pay Per Click as this is a common format for campaigns. The limited spots are auctioned off to the highest bidder, but page relevance still counts as Google scores ads based on quality.

While basic SEO and SEM can be performed by business owners, many choose to hire professionals in the field to develop a long-term strategy.

READ MORE: The basics of paid search

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Part 2 - SEARCH

Keywords: The building blocks of SEO and SEMKeywords are the terms people enter to perform a search, and they are also the main marker of relevance for a Google bot as it crawls a page. Therefore, much of the work performed around SEO and SEM is about making sure that the keywords likely to be used by people hunting for your products appear in the right places on your website.

As Pelgen puts it, “Understanding keywords is critical because they help you to understand your customers and how they search for you online.”

It’s no use blogging about tiles if you sell bricks, because people looking to build a wall won’t find you, and those ready to put a new roof on will be dissatisfied with your content.

Keyword researchIn the majority of situations however, simple keywords like ‘bricks’ and ‘tiles’ won’t help you because the number of other companies battling it out for SERP places is so huge.

Keyword research delves deeper into the minds of consumers to find specific, targeted search terms that accurately describe your brand while avoiding areas of heavy competition. A phrase like “Melbourne terracotta bricks” might work better in this case.

Online marketing consultant Beth Hayden urges us to get this initial stage right before moving on with SEO or SEM, saying that “all the optimisation in the world won’t help you if you have no clear idea of what terms you really want to rank for in the search engines.”

Once a strong list of keywords has been selected, these can be worked into the content on your website where Google’s page scanners will find them.

READ MORE:

5 Keyword Strategies

Content before keywords – every timeWhile appropriate keywords must appear within the text on your website, industry professionals warn against writing for robots,

pRO TIp: LISTEN IN TO SOCIAL fOR REAL LIfE KEyWORDSElise Gould at the Content Marketing Institute suggests that if you’re having trouble thinking about specific keywords, put your ear to the ground with social media.

By observing how people talk about your area of business in real life, you’ll get some great ideas about what kind of terms they might plug into a search engine.

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Part 2 - SEARCH

that is to say, piling your site with keywords at the expense of original content that consumers find engaging.

Well-written, relevant content should always remain your top priority, since this is what is going to persuade people to shop with you once they have found your site through a search engine.

READ MORE:

Chasing algorithms vs great content: No contest

SEO reinvention: How and why to keep up with Google’s latest changes

Choosing a professionalIf your growing SEO and SEM needs are becoming too much to handle, you might consider hiring an agency that specialises in this area of digital marketing. But there’s a lot out there, and choosing one can be daunting.

Edmund Pelgen has some good tips on what to look for.

“The ideal SEO agency should be trying to educate you about why you need to

invest in content, blogging, audience development, the lot,” he says. “Make sure before you start you have a detailed campaign plan that breaks down the proposed activities by month.”

GOOGLE DOESN’T hAvE AN EyE fOR IMAGES

While the visual elements of a website grab the attention of users, SEO specialist Chris Thomas warns against relying too heavily on images or flash-based media to present keywords, such as a logo which displays your geographical location. Since Google can’t properly scan text presented in these files, you need to make sure that the same information is available in a form that can be indexed for search.

Learn about the 10 biggest SEO mistakes.

With so many Websites, how will customers find yours?

Our Search Marketing team will help show them the way.

DISCOVER SEARCH

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Part 3 - SOCIAL MEDIA

SOCIAL MEDIAIn recent years, social media has become a dominant force in digital marketing, with a report by the Content Marketing Institute showing that over 80% of Australian marketers employed at least one source of social media to communicate their message in 2013.

However, Dean Ramler, chief executive officer of furniture retailer Milan Direct, warns newcomers that the initial focus of social media should not be on direct sales.

“Social media is a great tool to build brand awareness, build trust in your brand, engage with your customers and fans, share your company’s passions and build loyal communities.”

As awareness and trust in your company grows, so too will sales.

Although it’s relatively easy to set up accounts with a host of social media sites and apps, building an audience and then measuring the effect of these interactions on the bottom line can quickly see you swimming in the deep end.

This chapter will keep you in control, by getting to the heart of the conversation that makes social media an essential investment.

facebookWith 1.19 billion monthly users worldwide, social media heavyweight Facebook is the number one stop for SMEs looking to expand into social media. It’s also the most productive channel for turning your audience into customers, with an Adobe study reporting

that over 75% of people visiting retail websites through social media clicked in from Facebook.

Apart from these enticing figures, Facebook also allows business owners the most control over how they build and communicate with their audience with the ability to build increasingly complex company pages. You can now target specific demographics and schedule posts to land at the time of day when they will be most visible.

READ MORE:

Why your business should be on Facebook

TwitterTwitter is the most conversational form of social media, with the 140-character limit on tweets encouraging direct dialogue between you and your audience. It’s fast-paced and needs constant management to be effective.

Although they exist on Facebook, Twitter is the land of the ‘hashtag’. Hashtags help you expand your tweets beyond your official followers by allowing users to search these trending phrases, collecting multiple conversations on a similar topic on the one page.

READ MORE:

Six hints to learn how to tweet effectively

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DISCOVER SOCIAL

Our Social Expertscan give your

business a voice.

Struggling to be heardon Social Media?

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Part 3 - SOCIAL MEDIA

The other playersSocial media offers an endless array of channels that may be helpful to your business. For example, fashion designers and others driven by visual products are regulars on photo sharing app Instagram, while businesses looking to network within their industry make the most of LinkedIn. Restaurants and cafes commonly appear on recommendation sites such as Foursquare.

It’s time to start a conversationIn its simplest form social media is another tool to distribute your brand’s news to an audience, just as you would with a newsletter. However, the key to success lies in getting people to do the talking for you.

Social Media Today contributor Matthew Peneycad states that, “Despite having an amazing opportunity to initiate and sustain meaningful dialogues with their consumers, many brands treat social media primarily as a broadcast platform.”

Think of your job as starting a conversation.

By encouraging participation, whether it’s a comment on Facebook, or a reply on Twitter, you stand to increase your audience (by becoming visible to a user’s wider network) and build a positive relationship with the public, who get to see a human side to your business.

READ MORE:

What should you post on social media?

ListenThe other side to starting a conversation is listening to the response, which will give you unprecedented insight into how the public reacts to your brand. As Laurel Papworth, social media author and consultant, puts it, “Social media tells you exactly what your customers think, no more guessing games, no more marketing evaluations, no more feedback cards.”

BE vISUAL TO LOOKyOUR BESTThink about the kind of content you are most likely to share on social media, and you’ll find that much of it is visual – either photos or text with a graphic component. Visuals are a sure-fire way of increasing interaction with your posts.

Compfight is a good starting point for sourcing engaging images that are registered with a Creative Commons license – that is, free to reuse.

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Part 3 - SOCIAL MEDIA

Think outside the appAlthough social media channels primarily exist as sites or apps, their influence is spread right across the web. Most online stores have buttons or ‘widgets’ next to their products that allow customers to share new purchases across a range of social media networks with a single click. It’s standard practice for sharing informative blog posts as well.

By embedding widgets such as Facebook’s ‘like’, Twitter’s ‘tweet’ and LinkedIn’s ‘share’ throughout your website, you are expanding the reach of your social media strategy dramatically, and inviting conversations to begin outside the channels themselves.

Dealing with negative commentsAs with real-world conversations, not every interaction you have with your audience will be positive. Increasingly, customers who have had a bad experience are taking to Facebook or Twitter to complain. The additional downside of this is that the comments are public, and can influence other consumers who happen to notice the interaction.

Dealing with negative comments is something everyone will have to come to grips with – even the most careful businesses. As Laurel Papworth points out, there is no golden rule when it comes to your response.

“Many social media guidelines have a one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to addressing negative criticism in social networks, but assessing the situation and the potential positive versus negative outcomes of responses is a skill that comes from experience,” she says.

READ MORE:

Handling negative comments on social media

SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLBOxManaging multiple social media accounts can be time consuming, so make the most of these tools to streamline your efforts:

• Dlvr.it automatically reposts blog articles to your Facebook and Twitter feed.

• Mention monitors conversations about your brand, both on websites and in social media.

• Hootsuite helps you review your social media strategy by supplying easy to decipher analytics from all your accounts in a central place.

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Part 3 - SOCIAL MEDIA

ConclusionIt may seem that there’s a multitude of details that come together to form an effective and relevant digital marketing strategy, and we’ll admit that there’s a lot to take in over the past three chapters of this eBook.

However, before you put our tips into practice to form your own strategy, take a step back.

As online retail consultant Mark Freidin points out, “The most important part of any strategy is to start with the end in sight... Ask yourself: What do you want to achieve?”

When you have a clear goal in your sights, and return to this frequently while reviewing your current and future online activities, your website, search strategy and social media can work in conjunction to turn your business into an online powerhouse.