Monthly Archives

September 2015

Sep 30
0
digital marketing SEO content writing blog writing belfast northern ireland

How to Create an Effective Content Marketing Strategy

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Adapting an effective digital content strategy can help your business website to develop brand awareness, increase organic search engine results, drive high quality traffic to your website and increase click-through-rate (CTR).

But what is a digital content strategy?

Think of it as your online business plan.

Essentially, it refers to the creation of quality branded editorial content that is used throughout all types of devices, platforms and media channels. It provides measurable success for brands and assists your marketing goals to provide direction towards a fruitful outcome.

The first step is to define your objectives. Consider what form your content should take. Should it be in the form of a blog? Or perhaps it will be an app, video or website etc. Once you have defined your objectives and overall goal that you wish to achieve, you can begin to implement these changes into your existing content strategy.

 

Forms of Content:

Published Content: This refers to anything that has been published online by your brand such as social media posts, articles and blogs etc.

Reactive Content: When you post content and someone directly responds or reply’s to it, this is reactive content and provides a great way to develop trust and communication with your customers.

Proactive Content: Promoting your brand or business via other people’s networks. Includes re-tweeting, guest posts and sharing content etc.

 

Next, you need to define your target audience.

These are the potential customers who are most likely to be interested in your product or service. This may require some research to help you understand your market and what it is that they are looking for in a brand. Creating quality content is useless unless you know who your audience is.

Use online discussions, surveys, focus groups, competitor’s audiences’ and carry out interviews with various consumers to help you develop a better understanding about your ideal customer. You can then adapt and steer your content strategy towards pleasing your target audience.

You will likely need to appoint a digital marketing agency that will be able to provide expertise and relevant resources to help create effective and powerful content. They will also be able to help you establish your distribution strategy. Your agency will advise you on the strengths and costs of various content strategies, campaigns and formats.

How will your content reach customers?

A web design firm will be able to assist with this matter and provide ultimate solutions that will drive traffic to your eCommerce site, increase brand awareness and help you to strive ahead of your competitors.

Content topics and ideas must attract potential customers and encourage them to convert to your brand. Your header or title needs to be simple and to the point. Titles that include numbers, such as “10 ways to add creativity to your home” tend to drive a lot more traffic than long-winded titles. The body of your text should be clear, precise and use simple language. Avoid jargon and filler text that will send your readers to sleep before the second paragraph. Keep it light, entertaining and informative. Developing your brands voice will take time but after some practice, you will begin to see what kind of content drives the most traffic to your site and which have a poorer performance rate.

 

Create consistent and relevant content.

 

People have short attention spans, especially when they are online. Therefore, it is important to keep your reader engaged. Clear and concise language is a MUST. Use conversational wording to establish a personal connection with your readers. Evoking emotion is also a great element to content writing. Appeal to your customers by making them feel excited about your brand and you will definitely see a growth in conversions.

Once you have adapted and experimented with your content strategy over the course of a few months, you will have enough data to analyse and evaluate its performance. Content that performs well should be improved upon even more in the future whilst under-performing content should act as building blocks. Learn from your past mistakes and adapt changes to your content until you are pleased with the outcome.

Be patient. Developing an effective digital content strategy takes time. It’s mainly about trying new things, seeing what worked and what didn’t, and then adjusting content accordingly.

Our multi-award winning marketeers and developers are also waiting to help with any digital marketing, adwords,  social media, SEO Belfast or Magento ecommerce web design questions you may have. We also provide training for third party SEO software tools such as MOZ to ensure you can clearly monitor progress and ensure your campaign is of the highest quality.

 

 

 

Sep 29
0
ecommerce conversion rate optimisation belfast northern ireland

5 Ways Psychology Can Be Used To BOOST Conversion Rates

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Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO) is ultimately about influencing more visitors to take a desired action on your website. Understanding the psychology of persuasion and learning what influences human behaviour can help you to better understand your customers and their decision making process. This can then be leveraged and implemented into your digital marketing strategies to further improve conversion rates and increase revenue.

 

1. Encourage Users to Commit with Consistency

 

Provoking a form of commitment in potential customers as early as possible in the buying process is highly recommended. People desire consistency. They don’t like abrupt changes in their lifestyles and they certainly don’t like changes in their bank accounts. For example, if your brand offers a monthly payment service (think about the likes of Netflix) and a customer signs up only to discover hidden costs arising further down the line – they aren’t going to be happy!

Its human nature that whenever we make a commitment, we feel somewhat obligated to finish what we started. With regards to increasing conversions, encouraging a customer to make an actual commitment on your website will compel them to take action.

 

2. Attract Attention with a Clear Hierarchy

 

People tend to step back from a complex problem and search for a simple solution. This notion takes root in our basic survival instincts. Complex things often result in unpleasant or even dangerous surprises which is why we look favourably on clear and simple alternatives.

How can you take advantage of this basic human instinct to increase eCommerce revenue?

Use orderly web pages that are easy to comprehend. The way that a customer interacts with your website should be fairly straightforward. Avoid any unnecessary obstacles and present product listings and purchasing information clearly on your webpage. Make life easier for your customer and you will see a steady improvement of conversions.

 

3. Monkey See, Monkey Do

 

As with children, adults also enjoy doing things that they have seen others do. This is referred to in the online market as “social proof”. There is something comforting in the knowledge that you are not the first person in the history of time to use a service or to purchase a product which is why, when a customer sees testimonials and reviews, they are more likely to make a decision regarding your service or product.

We find security in numbers, a principle known as “Wisdom of the Crowd” and because the majority of people seek out some kind of community, whether that be in the form of supporting a football team or reading tons of product reviews before buying something, people need security.

E-Commerce is no different which is why it is worth taking advantage of this basic human nature to increase sales by showing potential customers that your brand has been used by many customers in the past. You can achieve this by publishing reviews and testimonials on your website and expanding brand awareness via social media.

 

4. Create a Sense of Urgency and Scarcity

 

If people feel rushed to buy something, there is an increased chance that out of fear of missing out, they will make an impulse buy. The same idea can be said for buying things that are seen as rare or difficult to find. This is all explained through ‘Loss Aversion’ which is a cognitive bias and states that a person is more willing to gain something than risk losing it.

Adapting this into your internet marketing strategy is fairly simple – create a sense of urgency. You can do this by presenting limited time offers, countdown clocks, limited free delivery offers, 24 hour sales etc.

 

5. BIGGER is BETTER

 

Conversion rates are effected by page loading times. For example, studies have shown that if a web page takes longer than three seconds to fully load, viewers will grow impatient and are likely to leave your site and seek out your competitors instead. To increase conversion rates even further, it is worth thinking about the time that it takes to take a desired action on your website.

The time that it takes for you to move your mouse to a specific target area (for example, a BUY NOW button) is the product of two relevant time factors: Size of target + distance to target. This is referred to as Fitt’s Law.

Having a larger target to encourage users to take action is recommended because it will take less time and increases CTR. Choose interactive buttons rather than text. People are likely to glimpse at text and shift their eyes elsewhere, whereas having a large attractive button on the screen will help to improve conversions and encourage users to take action.

Our multi-award winning marketeers and developers are also waiting to help with any digital marketing, adwords,  social media, SEO Belfast or Magento ecommerce web design questions you may have. We also provide training for third party SEO software tools such as MOZ to ensure you can clearly monitor progress and ensure your campaign is of the highest quality.

 

Sep 28
0
ecommerce web design and seo belfast northern ireland

10 Best SEO Practices for Ecommerce Websites

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Search engine optimization (SEO) is crucial for eCommerce sites to drive uphill traffic and convert customers. Reaching those precious top positions in search results is something that every eCommerce site should strive to accomplish. The average click-through rate (CTR) of websites ranked on the first page of Google search results is 71.3% with the number one position receiving the highest average CTR of 31.24%.

Your eCommerce website needs to reach high ranking positions (preferably on the first page of search results) in order to see any real changes to traffic and sales.

Here is a list of the top 10 best SEO practices for eCommerce sites.

 

1. Cleanse your Site

Identify current SEO drawbacks by carrying out an all-inclusive audit of your website. Possible SEO issues such as duplicated content, missing tags, redirects and other errors could be present within your script, CSS, images and links, which in turn can pose as a real threat to your website’s performance. Once you have cleansed your website, you can begin to implement a more tactically suitable SEO strategy.

 

2. Research Keywords

Long-tail keywords are favoured by Google algorithms. These are specifically targeted phrases that contain three or more words and are used to attract customers who are more likely to be interested in your products or services. Use this tool to attract quality traffic.

 

3. Original Product Descriptions

Avoid using manufacturers’ product descriptions and instead create unique alternatives. Duplicated content is a major concern for eCommerce sites because it ultimately lessens the value and status of your website.

 

4. Use Social Media

Add social media sharing buttons to your product pages to encourage customers to share and rave about your fantastic services. SMO (social media optimisation) influences Google rankings who look at a highly shared piece of content/web page etc. and attribute its growing popularity as being the result of a relevant and high quality website.

 

5. Optimise Page Loading Times

Boost Google rankings by optimising fast page loading times. 40% of internet users will leave your product page if it fails to load within three seconds. This is particularly true with regards to the mobile version of your eCommerce website because mobile sales are on the steady increase and when people are on the go, they are also in a rush and have no time to wait for slow loading product pages.

 

6. Interesting Metadata

Include your keywords in unique Meta titles and Meta descriptions. Your Metadata must entice your audience and encourage them to click on your website and view your products.

 

7. Easy Navigation

A complicated site structure will drive traffic away from your site. Highly ranked sites are clearly organized and presented in a way that enables visitors to easily navigate, understand and search through your site without any complications or added hassle.

 

8. Quality Product Images

Quality product images and videos are necessary to help customers get a better idea of the products that you are offering. Ensure that each picture is tagged with appropriate metadata to allow them to appear on image-based Google searches.

 

9. Search-Friendly URL’s

URL’s must be optimised for important keywords and titled appropriately to give not only customers valuable information but also to alert Google to the content of your eCommerce page and to showcase its relevancy.

 

10. Mobile Optimisation

A responsive website is crucial. 80% of internet users search online with their mobile phones before searching on their desktops. Google ranks mobile-friendly sites higher than non-responsive sites, so make sure that your eCommerce website provides a great mobile shopping experience.

Our multi-award winning marketeers and developers are also waiting to help with any digital marketing, adwords,  social media, SEO Belfast or Magento ecommerce web design questions you may have. We also provide training for third party SEO software tools such as MOZ to ensure you can clearly monitor progress and ensure your campaign is of the highest quality.

 

 

 

Sep 25
0
ecommerce web design and development belfast northern ireland

How to Choose the BEST Digital E-Commerce Agency in UK and Ireland

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A website is one of the greatest tools that a business can have at its disposal. When choosing an eCommerce development company, it can be tempting to go with the option that claims “low prices and fast results”. However, these types of companies are usually amateurs in the business and their services are unlikely to deliver neither positive nor productive results. Choosing a professional and experienced web design firm will ensure that the essence of your brand is captured and successfully executed.

Recent research has revealed a 25% increase in online sales. This number is likely to increase, which is why it is so important that you choose an eCommerce agency that not only offers you value for money, but delivers on their promises.

Think of it as a long term investment.

You are likely to be working with your provider on a long term basis for ongoing support, additional services and help with the future expansion of your eCommerce website. Because websites have so many different functions and features operating all at once, it is useful to have a professional ear willing to listen to your ideas.

You need an agency that you can TRUST.

So, how can you differ the good firms from the bad?

You must determine their credibility. Have they won any awards? What have their previous customers said about their services? Are they able to provide relevant analytic reports and evidence of previous successes?

Years of experience is usually a tell-tale sign that the company is successful, established and stable. A range of clients from different sectors will ensure that the company is familiar with various website projects and are therefore more eligible to cater to your individual eCommerce needs.

In the same way that an artist or animator uses a portfolio to showcase their skills, a website development company should have an impressive portfolio to show to potential clients. It should outline their experience and enable you to better define their professionalism and evaluate their functionality and usability (regarding previous solutions provided to clients in the past). You can obtain better knowledge of the agency’s skills, experience, expertise and overall success rate by simply viewing their portfolio.

A trusted company is a flexible company. This means that if you feel that changes are needed to the design or content of your website, a professional web design firm will be open to these changes and will offer their own ideas, solutions and possible concerns with regards to certain aspects of your site.

One of the best ways that will help you to differentiate the best firms from the rest is to meet them face to face. This obviously poses as a problem if you have chosen a company based abroad. What is the solution to this dilemma?

KEEP IT LOCAL.

Choosing a trusted LOCAL web design company will allow you to get a better feel for the firm and its staff members. Being able to negotiate ideas and possible solutions for the success of your eCommerce is a HUGE advantage. Instead of blindly trusting a company through emails, you will be able to speak to them in person, bounce ideas off one another and speak to them over the phone and via video conference etc.

Our multi-award digital agency Belfast and winning marketeers/developers are also waiting to help with any digital marketing, adwords, web design belfast,  social media, SEO Belfast or Magento ecommerce web design questions you may have. We also provide training for third party SEO software tools such as MOZ to ensure you can clearly monitor progress and ensure your campaign is of the highest quality.

Sep 23
0
ecommerce Northern Ireland

E-Commerce: Expanding to a Global Market

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Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple Inc. and Pixar Animation Studios predicted in 1996 that global eCommerce “is going to be HUGE”…and he was right.

Reeling in customers from the other side of the world can be challenging but it can also be the key towards achieving an eCommerce site that EXPLODES with success. Think about sites such as Amazon, EBay and even MAC Cosmetics. These eCommerce sites have successfully broken into the global market and have made millions as a result.

The competitive world of online sales makes up 30% of the UK’s economy, so you can imagine the mass potential that could arise if you were to expand your business internationally. Retail eCommerce sales worldwide are expected to rise to almost £2.5 trillion by 2018.

So how can your business benefit from this enormous growth in global eCommerce?

A solid platform and an effective global business strategy MUST be set in motion. Your international customers need to interact and convert with your business without any hassle or inconvenience. The purchasing process has to be as simple as it is when the consumer makes a purchase from their local online retail stores.

But how can your eCommerce site provide this if it is based on the other side of the world?

LOCALISATION.

Understanding the international market is crucial. The opportunities for success abroad are readily available, but before you dive your business into a new region, appropriate research must be conducted to access the potential demand for your services using various performance indicators. This will help you to govern the need and performance of your business within foreign regions and gauge its success.

Your eCommerce site must be localised to adhere to the specific currency and language of foreign visitors. Think about a foreign buyer stumbling across your eCommerce site. What is their frame of reference as a buyer? Well, they are probably accustomed to seeing their own language on webpages.

What else?

They will expect international delivery services. If you are a UK company expanding into the U.S market, seemingly small dialect and spelling changes such as colour (UK) and color (U.S) plays an important role. Ensure that your website takes into consideration these and other key differences between the UK and international markets and then apply your findings to your global business strategy – TAILOR the experience.

Payment methods also vary in different parts of the world. For example, Germany favours direct debit transfer whilst Spain has seen an increase with PayPal. Cater your payment options accordingly and make sure that your eCommerce provides a range of different payment routes for international customers to choose from.

The importance of currency and rounded numbers plays a keen psychological role with regards to consumers deciding to take action or turn away from a payment. For example, showing an EU visitor a product priced at €34.87 is likely to put them off making the purchase, whereas if you round off this number to €35.00 instead, you have a better chance of encouraging conversions because you have simplified the purchasing process.

Succeeding in a global market has a lot to do with efficient shipping. A special offer or Free Shipping will enable your eCommerce site to remain above the surface in this competitive foreign territory. Import and export laws vary in each country so your business must comply with these before promising a sale and your return policy for international buyers must be both clear and precise.

Global eCommerce can help you to reach a much wider audience. E-Commerce is essentially about selling products or services online instead of in person, so remember:

If you can’t sell with a smile, sell with a click.

Our multi-award digital agency Belfast and winning marketeers/developers are also waiting to help with any digital marketing, adwords, web design belfast,  social media, SEO Belfast or Magento ecommerce web design questions you may have. We also provide training for third party SEO software tools such as MOZ to ensure you can clearly monitor progress and ensure your campaign is of the highest quality.

Sep 21
0
Magento Ecommerce benefits blog

10 Advantages of Using a Magento E-Commerce Platform

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1 out of 4 businesses choose Magento as their eCommerce platform. The average server response time of this E-Bay owned brand is less than 100 milliseconds with page loading times taking less than 500 milliseconds to respond. No other eCommerce platform can compete with the high speed and performance delivered by this leading open source eCommerce platform.

 

In case you need more convincing, here is a list of the top 10 advantages of using Magento:

 

1. Mobile-Friendly

A responsive design allows users to interact and engage with Magento services on any device such as desktops, smartphones and tablets etc. With over 80% of internet users owning smartphones, this mobile-friendly development accommodates everyone.

 

2. Adaptable Content Control

This sophisticated content management system features a visual-based intuitive page editor that permits retail owners to build rich content that can be customised and amended as needed.

 

3. A HUGE Community

When 800,000 developers and 240,000 businesses use your services world-wide, you must be doing something right. Magento benefits from having a massive community base. This provides users with a great deal of additional support and the possibility of making new connections within acquired fields of interest.

 

4. Advanced SEO

Magento caters to SEO and improves your product/service chances of appearing higher on search engine result pages. Custom SEO features enables business owners to enhance organic traffic numbers whilst reducing the cost of digital marketing.

 

5. Global Audience

You can save a great deal of time and money with Magento because the platform allows you to both create and manage multiple eCommerce stores with multiple currencies and languages. Reaching a global audience couldn’t be easier.

 

6. Simple Third-Party Integrations

Third-party integrations can be added to your business site to improve data analysis. You can connect your site to other established companies such as Google Shopping, PayPal and EBay.

 

7. Well-Built Security System

Magento is extremely strong in terms of stability and security. Users are able to customise the levels of security on their websites, guaranteeing that there is always strong walls of defence against unwanted intruders.

 

8. Increase Conversion Rates

Multiple payment options can be incorporated on your online business store which enables customers to make purchases via their most preferred option.

 

9. Filtered Search Options

A unique search items cloud makes searching for specific elements of a website easy and less time-consuming. Users can filter search options to receive the best possible and most relevant results.

 

10. Powerful Platform

Up to 500,000 products can be supported with a Magento platform. There is masses of space available, allowing for future growth and continuous expansion of your eCommerce website.

 

If you want your online business to succeed, choose the software that has actively proven to uplift sales and increase conversion rates.

As your business grows, Magento grows along with you.

Our multi-award digital agency Belfast and winning marketeers/developers are also waiting to help with any digital marketing, adwords, web design belfast,  social media, SEO Belfast or Magento ecommerce web design questions you may have. We also provide training for third party SEO software tools such as MOZ to ensure you can clearly monitor progress and ensure your campaign is of the highest quality.

Sep 18
0
Web Analytics for web design and ecommerce

How can Web Analytics Enhance your Business Strategy?

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Web Analytics refers to the intricate process of analysing, monitoring and reacting to activity on your website. This involves tracking important aspects of website traffic such as where visitors are coming from, how they engage with your site, what their common traits are and how long they spend viewing your website.

Despite its obvious value to online businesses, only 17% of brands are able to fully analyse their customer journey. The main reason for this incredibly low percentage is due to the fact that they merely lack the means to execute such gradations of data analytics.

A professional Digital Marketing Agency can accurately use analytics to encourage businesses to make informed marketing decisions. Incorporating professional analytics into your online business strategy will enable you to define and improve upon specific elements that have a negative influence on your return on investment and profitability.

However, simply obtaining data is NOT enough. A Marketing anthropologist is needed to bridge gaps, implement essential changes and slash through the clutter of collected data to pinpoint exactly what is needed to transform your company into an online profit making enterprise.

 

You NEED analytics to determine:

 

Demographics – site analytics can be accurately combined with remarketing data to discover gender, age and the keen interests of your viewers.

Geographic Location – Reveal exactly where in the universe your viewers are from such as country, state and the precise city etc.

Time – Which time of day is your highest peaking point? Is there is an explanation for this?

 

Key Analytics allows your business to drive direct traffic to your website, build brand awareness and establish a loyal customer base. As a result, web analytics helps you to develop a superior business strategy and as a result, a better understanding of your customers.

Your marketing campaigns can be closely followed to gauge their success. You will be able to see the amount of clicks that your ads received and how this effects generated traffic.

Your business should integrate online marketing campaigns with web analytics to optimise campaigns and to help determine which segments of your campaign produced quality traffic and which aspects are better left in the trashcan.

Our multi-award digital agency Belfast and winning marketeers/developers are also waiting to help with any digital marketing, adwords, web design belfast,  social media, SEO Belfast or Magento ecommerce web design questions you may have. We also provide training for third party SEO software tools such as MOZ to ensure you can clearly monitor progress and ensure your campaign is of the highest quality.

Sep 17
0
website upgrade

Leading Web Design Trends of 2015/2016

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Web design is a modern art form that strives to provide an excellent online user experience. When your website speaks to the individual, taking into consideration their wants, needs, preferences and demands, you immediately have a competitive advantage.

 

First impressions are CRUCIAL.

 

Your website needs to give potential customers the best possible first impression in the limited time frame of just 10 seconds. Within these short seconds, you must accurately express what they will get out of your website. If you fail to give them a reason to stay, you’ll lose them forever.

Whilst some design paradigms never go ‘out of style’, trends do change with each passing year. 2015 trends are likely to last well into 2016 and beyond because they have proven to be influential and effective web design traits. Below are three of 2015’s most popular and effective web design trends:

 

Flat Design

Flat design is a prominent trend this year and focuses on using simple user interfaces and smaller sized images which results in increased page loading times. This functional design is ideal for smartphones, speaking directly to the contemporary web user. Responsive web design has come to be expected as recent studies have indicated that a massive 40% of people will choose a different search result if the first option is not mobile friendly.

 

LESS Clutter equals MORE Conversions

Our society has become more impatient and time conscious. People simply do not have the time to waste admiring a website that is packed with clutter. Keep it simple and you will attract a larger customer base. This trend involves using better typography and a stronger visual hierarchy which allows visitors to view the content that matters. Drawing the eye to the most important features of a web page is extremely important. Simple but powerful text will do a lot more for your conversion rates than a web page filled with too much clutter.

 

Multimedia is a MUST-HAVE

Moving images, sound and user interaction are all expected to be included in any good website. Aspects such as widgets, menus that follow your scrolling habits on the page and other multimedia features is now considered as being standard practice in web design. Use only high quality images that are clear, big and visually appealing/relevant. Future web designs in 2015/2016 are likely to continue this trend with particular focus on bigger and bolder images.

 

There are many other growing trends within the web design industry but these three seem to be the most prominent trends that are likely to become lasting marks of web design.

Our multi-award digital agency Belfast and winning marketeers/developers are also waiting to help with any digital marketing, adwords, web design belfast,  social media, SEO Belfast or Magento ecommerce web design questions you may have. We also provide training for third party SEO software tools such as MOZ to ensure you can clearly monitor progress and ensure your campaign is of the highest quality.

Sep 14
0
magento development specialists

Ecommerce: Boost Conversion Rates

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The quality and effectiveness of your ecommerce site has a direct impact on sales conversions. The average conversion rate for UK ecommerce online stores is around 3.3%. On-site optimisation drives performance which is why it is worth optimising your web pages appropriately following a close assessment of site performance using web analytics reports, user testing and online surveys. A poorly optimized website will drive potential customers away from your domain which is why you need to be aware of the different ways that your ecommerce site can boost conversion rates.

 

Create Urgency

If you visit your local supermarket you will notice that the delicious sweets and chocolate bars are situated close to the checkout tills, tempting you at the last minute of your shopping trip. The placement of these items is no accident. They are there to encourage impulse buys. In the same way, your ecommerce site can speak to the impatient buyer and tempt them into making a purchase by building the classic ‘fear of missing out’ feeling in their wallets.

You can increase this sense of urgency by using time-sensitive shipping which means having a countdown in place to indicate when certain offers or delivery times end. If you are selling a lot of single items then let your customers know just how popular they are by including a low stock indicator.

 

Entice Quality Traffic

Keyword optimisation should be a prioritised aspect to your inbound marketing strategy. It must be incredibly simple for customers to find their desired items on your site. If you make it too difficult and time consuming for them to find such items, they will look elsewhere. Simplicity is an important part of user experience. The product page for example, must be easy to navigate with important features such as the ‘Buy’ and ‘Basket’ buttons standing out from the rest of the site’s content. The pricing of your services or products must be fair. Customer reviews will entice visitors and provide them with more confidence to purchase from your ecommerce site whilst displaying credentials and awards will maximise their trust in your company.

 

Business to Customer Communication (and vice versa)

Your customers must be able to contact your business in a timely manner. Many ecommerce sites use a live chat option as 63% of customers are more likely to return to a website that offers this function as the main source of communication. Relevant contact details such as telephone numbers and email addresses should also be included on your website. It would be even more beneficial if your site offers a free phone call service as people will be more likely to trust a company that does not charge them for calls.

 

High Content Quality

Following the impact of Google’s Panda algorithm, poor content is no longer up to the high standards set by leading search engines. Give your visitors intriguing and informative content. When it comes to product descriptions, avoid simply stating the various facts about the product and instead focus your content on why and how your products are suited for potential customers. High quality images are also immensely important. Make sure that your product images are clear and of good quality, avoid posting pictures that are heavily pixelated or blurry. SEO services are now a very specialised service that must be carried out with only the highest quality content and integrated with professional social strategies.

 

Use a Responsive Design

Responsive websites produce higher conversion rates. It’s as simple as that. Your ecommerce site must be able to operate properly on all devices such as desktops, tablets and mobiles. You will be able to reach a greater target audience if you offer the same features and functions of your original desktop site across all devices.

Our multi-award digital agency Belfast and winning marketeers/developers are also waiting to help with any digital marketing, adwords, web design belfast,  social media, SEO Belfast or Magento ecommerce web design questions you may have. We also provide training for third party SEO software tools such as MOZ to ensure you can clearly monitor progress and ensure your campaign is of the highest quality.

Sep 09
0
User Interface, Usability Design

Create a Powerful Website with User Experience Design (UXD)

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User Experience Design (UXD) refers to the central process of successfully improving user experience and satisfaction by addressing each individual aspect of a website and honing them in a way that will increase the usability, accessibility and enjoyment delivered to the consumer from a functional and visual perspective. According to Tech Infographics, 68% of users leave a site because of a poorly designed UX. If your site does not meet the necessary standards of a good UXD, it will ultimately fail to provide excellent user experience and therefore is more likely to lose the interest of current and potential customers.

An improved UX Design will help to increase sales (for e-commerce sites), site productivity, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. An example of a thriving e-commerce site is Amazon which is currently one of the largest online global retailers in the world. Amazon saw a huge leap forward in the business with gains of £300 million a year thanks to the new and improved UX Design strategy that they recently acquired. Many businesses are following Amazon’s lead and hope to improve their customer’s experience by incorporating a UX Design that provides:

  • A clear visual hierarchy – the site should be designed in a way that ensures that the viewers eyes are immediately drawn to the main focal point of content. This could be anything from the login form to the main title on the page etc.
  • Functioning buttons and links – there should be no broken links or errors on site.
  • A seamless experience – all devices should be able to provide the same features, functions and design that is present on the original desktop version of the site.
  • User-friendly navigation – incorporate an easy-to-use navigating system so that customers/users can operate and browse the site however they please.

UX Design is a wise investment that will enable businesses to reap its benefits long into the future. A successful and productive UX design will decrease costs connected to training, maintenance and support because customers will no longer need assistance to navigate and interact with your site. For each £1 invested in UX, up to £100 is returned. This proves that User Experience design is an essential aspect to any website.

There are five essential aspects to a successful UX Design:

  1. Market Research – You must be aware of your customer base and target audience. Achieving this requires a deeper understanding of customers experience on your site and with your acquired software.
  2. Visual Design – The visual presentation of your site is vital towards conveying the right message to your customers. You want the design of your site to encourage decisions to be made that will result in action, such as making a purchase or signing up for the monthly newsletter etc.
  3. Interaction Design –Accurate and sufficient research should be carried out to assess user needs before incorporating them into the site.
  4. Data Planning – The architectural aspect of your sites information must be structured accordingly so that data is easy to locate, navigate and to find online.
  5. Usability & Accessibility – Improve the overall usability of the site so that customers can access all features of the site in the easiest way possible.

Our multi-award digital agency Belfast and winning marketeers/developers are also waiting to help with any digital marketing, adwords, web design belfast,  social media, SEO Belfast or Magento ecommerce web design questions you may have. We also provide training for third party SEO software tools such as MOZ to ensure you can clearly monitor progress and ensure your campaign is of the highest quality.

 

 

Sep 02
0
SEO Belfast, SEO Northern Ireland banner Ryco

The Ultimate Key to Higher Rankings

By | Blog, SEO | No Comments

Discovering the secrets of SEO is a little like opening the internet’s version of Pandora’s Box – you never quite know what you might find. Google Algorithms are constantly changing and improving which means that it can be difficult to accurately pinpoint which factors of SEO will have the most effect on your rankings. However, there are a few key components that act as the fundamental basics of SEO and will continue to have a huge impact on the ranking success of your site. Those within the SEO Belfast industry constantly change and improve upon theirskills in order to keep up to date with the evolution of search engines. 70% of links that search users click on are from SEO, but how can your e-commerce site get the most out of SEO?

Consider the various aspects and information on your website that search engines such as Google will collect and distinguish in terms of relevancy and quality. Once you have pin-pointed these features, you will be more capable of rendering a SEO strategy that will propel your site to the top of the rankings list.

Words

The words on your site are extremely vital towards having your site ranked highly on search results. Take time to optimise for the right keywords and use onlyrelevant, engaging and high quality content. 93% of all online experiences start with a search engine and ends with the click of a button. Having the right words on your site will help to ensure that your website never falls below the search engine algorithm’s radar.

Titles

Titles are usually one of the first aspects to a site that people will see. It summarizes the content of a page which is why Google’s algorithm collects such information when providing accurate search results.According to Inside Online, the first 50 – 60 characters of your title is likely to be displayed by Google. To ensure that at least 95% of your titles display correctly on search engines, aim to keep your titles under the 55 character mark and avoid longer titles which will not be displayed fully.

External Links

When a domain contains a hyperlink that links to a different domain, this is called an external link. You can have external links within your own site that point to other relevant domains or another website could use an external link to point to your own domain. Either way, whenever a website has many different links attached to it, this will impress Google because it gives the impression that your site has quality information that viewers will want to read.

Google and other search engines such as Yahoo and Bing use various metrics to help them determine the external links overall value including the popularity of the page, the anchor text used within the link and the number of domains that link to the same website etc.

Reputation, Relevance and Regularity

How frequently you publish quality content to your website will play a vital role towards getting your site noticed by search engines. Sites that regularly post fresh content that includes optimised keywords and quality links may be seen as a successful domain and appear more likely to attract a larger number of viewers. The reputation of your site is extremely important to Google and other big search engines. For this reason, the sites that backlink to your domain should only be those that are considered high ranking and relevant.

Our multi-award digital agency Belfast and winning marketeers/developers are also waiting to help with any digital marketing, adwords, web design belfast,  social media, SEO Belfast or Magento ecommerce web design questions you may have. We also provide training for third party SEO software tools such as MOZ to ensure you can clearly monitor progress and ensure your campaign is of the highest quality.

 

Sep 01
0
The Living Centre Northern Ireland Responsive Magento Developers

Responsive Design Encourages E-Commerce Growth

By | Blog | No Comments

Over the last year there has been a growing trend edging towards a more responsive approach to the design of ecommerce websites. This is largely due to the fact that 67% of online shoppers are more likely to purchase from a site that is compatible with a range of devices including mobile and tablet. This has had a positive impact on SEO and E-Commerce as Google ranks such sites higher than those which are deemed less usable, resulting in increased conversion and sales rates for sites that have employed a responsive web design.

Responsive design generates a positive user experience as consumers will be able to browse your website at home, in the office or on the go. This efficient approach is able to keep up with the fast movement and evolution of customer demands and Google algorithms (which now prioritize responsive sites above all others).

Gaining loyal customers who will recommend your ecommerce site to other users should be one of your top priorities as the owner of an ecommerce website. Enabling a responsive design can help you to achieve a loyal customer base. According to Tech Infographics, 74% of internet users said that if a site works effectively on their mobile phone, they will be much more likely and willing to re-visit that same site again in the near future.

The three main principles of an effective responsive design includes:

  • A simplified user interface. This will help to drive visitor’s attention towards the most important factors of the site by using effective progressive disclosure.
  • Consistency in website functions, features and tools across all devices including desktop, mobile and tablet and to do so without sacrificing the screen resolution.
  • Provide device specific user interactions, allowing visitors to decide what kind of experience they wish to have whilst on your site (simplified or advanced, for example).

With 4 out of 5 smartphone users shopping online with their devices, it is evident that there is a mass potential of possible customers just waiting in the palm of your hand. 70% of mobile searches lead to online action within just one hour and the same can be said for other hand-held devices such as Kindles and Tablets. Adapting your ecommerce site to function across a range of devices will encourage sales growth and increase traffic to your website.

Our multi-award digital agency Belfast and winning marketeers/developers are also waiting to help with any digital marketing, adwords, web design belfast,  social media, SEO Belfast or Magento ecommerce web design questions you may have. We also provide training for third party SEO software tools such as MOZ to ensure you can clearly monitor progress and ensure your campaign is of the highest quality.