Whilst this story is another show of mob stupidity in reaction to the Pakistan cricket betting scandal and a more shocking example of cruelty towards animals, it does show what can happen when you have adverts running on your website.
Click on the image and then have a look Related Partners section at the bottom of the image. I think you’ll agree it’s a little inappropriate. The lesson here is to double check everything !!!
Vertebrate Graphic’s recent marketing support for the outdoor activity brand Rab focused on two micro-sites outlining the use of technical fabrics Pertex and eVent used in Rab apparel. These can be viewed at www.rab-event.co.uk and www.rab-pertex.co.uk.
Using an integrated on-page and on-line advertising approach with traffic from Facebook and the main Rab site plus external sites such as UK Climbing and Outdoors Magic generated some additional 10 000 registered names to their database. This has created powerful marketing data for Rab to use in future campaigns as well as driving traffic through to their main website www.rab.uk.com.
Rab wanted us to keep the micro-sites simple and focused. We kept the core brand values of Rab whilst presenting the products and information in a uniform and easily read fashion.
To find out more visit www.rab-event.co.uk or www.rab-pertex.co.uk
Rather than launching in to get a website set up as fast as possible, have a plan that includes what you want to achieve from your website, how you’re going to market it and identifies the people that you will work with. You’ll need a different plan depending whether the website is the business, like an online store which should be at the hub of your online marketing plan, or if it supports your business, in which case your website is one of many parts of your marketing mix.
The days where simply having a website was enough are long gone. Now, getting a website should be just one step in your ongoing marketing plans. To have an effective website that gets results you need to market it.
This means that you either need the time and skills to market it yourself, or you need to allocate budget to outsource your marketing.
Aim to include a mix of activities like Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Social Media Marketing (SMM), Email Marketing and Blogging.
If you want people to be able to find your website in search engines and then spend time finding out what you have to offer, you need great copy. Using carefully selected keywords in your copy in the right places is a core aspect of optimising your website for search engines. And if you’re planning to write and share blog articles, your success is all based on valuable content that you’ll create.
Plan your web copy at the same time as you plan your web design and development.
Whether you choose to build a database of email subscribers, a network of followers on Twitter, members of a Facebook group or connections on LinkedIn, have a plan for expanding your network and an easy way for people to connect with you.
If you have an e-newsletter, add the subscribe box to the top right area of your website. If you’re on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn, add the icons to part of your website that appears on every page, like the right hand column.
Think of your website as the hub of everything that goes in and everything that goes out. Aim to build many many high quality links coming in to your website, which is important for your search engine ranking. And likewise, add links out to other websites. This makes you a good web citizen because you’re helping others build inbound links.
This article is an excerpt from Grassroots Internet Strategy and the full article can be found here
So you’ve go your website up an running and now you can sit back, wait for the phone to ring of the hook or the orders to come flooding in. That’s the perfect scenario but unfortunately this is rarely the case. You need to make sure that you get noticed in a competitive marketplace where people have already built loyalty and trust with existing brands.
Now you enter the fascintaing world of marketing (Qunicy ME reference for anyone who remembers that show). For this article, I will mainly concentrate on online marketing but please feel free to contribute via the comments. Digital marketing can easily become a very expensive without a coherent and well-thought strategy. People can often get over-awed by the thought of this but I have put together the basic elements of what your strategy should contain.
One of the first areas to consider is your audience. Who are you marketing your website and ultimately your product to? If you cannot identify this – then stop now and take time to make sure you can.
Are you selling B2B or B2C? Is your product gender specific? Does your product have a minumum or maximum age limit? Some products will be aimed at a wide range of people whereas others may be very specific. It is important to identify and understand your target market so you can tailor your campaign accordingly.
You will probably find that you have identified a number of sub-groups within your target market and this will help with further tailoring of the campaign.
Look at what other companies and competitors are doing on the following key mediums:
Google – how well do they rank for essential keyword searches. Do they have an advert in the Sponsor Links section and is it appearing at 1 or 10
Facebook – this is a great medium to reach a targeted audience. Change your profile data and look at how the adverts change accordingly. This is because an advertiser can designate the target audience in very granular detail and create a generic or extremely specific campaign.
Twitter – look at what your competitors are doing on twitter and make sure you keep up to speed on the trending topics.
There are other mediums such as YouTube , but these will allow you to build a picture of the marketplace and the trends and styles which are being employed by your competitors. I do not advocate copying them – how will you stand out from the crowd by copying someone else. use this information to create your own campaign.
As part of the analysis, you should have built up an idea of what mediums you will use to deliver your method. Your target market will have a certain influence on this – there is no point using Facebook for advertising Saga holidays. However Google search results would be more pertinent for this example.
Once you have decided on your mediums you need to make sure your message is communicated in a clear and coherent manner. You may wish to employ a designer or copywriter to get the best out of the available space and make sure your message is communicated effectively to your audience. You would not describe Saga holidays as “exciting, buzzing and off the hook” but you would use words such as “peaceful, friendly and relaxing”.
If you cannot communicate with your target audience, they will not even see your product – let alone begin to think about purchasing it.
This can be done in a variety of ways but whatever marketing methods and mediums you use, you should be able to measure the impact on your business. You need to demonstrate a return on your investment. It is not cost effective to continue to spend £500 per month on a magazine advert which only generates you £200 worth of orders. By using mediums such as promotional codes in adverts, specific telephone numbers or referral sites, you can refine your campaign to be as profitable as possible.
Remember people are always quicker to grumble rather than praise so it is important that when someone does talk about your site it is in a positive manner. If you look at your website and comments such as “well it’s ok” or “I really should do something with this” come to mind – then the chance are that most of your visitors are also thinking this. Don’t leave it, do something about it to improve your visitor experieince.
It can be a difficult choice when looking at who to use to design and develop your new website. Do you go to a freelance developer, do you pick a local company or pick one from Google. Some people can get blinded by the promises that some unscrupulous marketeers can make “I’ll get you to the top of Google”, “We’ll double your sales” etc etc. Many agencies and freelancers can and do successfully undertake this but for every success story, there is often a story of frustration and pain. This is often caused by a promise of big results for very little money.
By spending very little on your website, it is likely you may encounter one or more of the following common frustrations:
I meet many people through the networking circuit who ask me to have a look at their website and I am happy to provide a FREE consultation service to highlight any issues the site may have as well as provide a strategic approach to marketing the website.
The main barrier to rectifying these sites is often budget – “I’ve spent £1000 on this website and it should just work” is regularly said to me. I cannot fault the logic – however a little bit of knowledge can be a valuable thing so here are 5 tips which can aid your decision in which web design company to work with.
get a feel for the characters who will be looking after your business on the web. It is essential that they understand your business and your goals. If you feel that this is not the case then walk away.
don’t just look at their website, look at their clients websites, click around them, can you do all the things you would expect to do?
any website should have a functional specification document which will explain how your website will work and the functionality which will be available to the visitor and the administrator. Would you cook something without first reading the recipe?
don’t be afraid to speak with more than one company and shop around for what prices and ideas are available to you. Be realistic with your budget and see what you can afford.
if you are baffled by the jargon used, don’t be afraid to ask. If it still doesn’t make sense ask again. If it cannot be explained to you in terms you understand, why is it being suggested to you.
If you would like to find out more information about how Vertebrate Graphics can help with your website, please contact Owen Evans on 0114 267 9277
