Name: Smart Cow Digital Marketing and Website Designer
Price range: $$$

Why we recommend setting up your Google My Business page

11/03/202009/30/2020 by scmarketing

In our Smart Cow ‘Marketing Minute’ series of videos we provide a snapshot of marketing top tips for online lead generation for your business.

In this video, Simon Cripps tells us why setting up or optimising your Google My Business page is one of the first things to look at when marketing your business online.

Get Google My Business

Search Engine Optimisation

If you look at our blog, we’re always shouting about the benefits of Google My Business as part of your Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) strategy. This is about your business rising organically in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).

Therefore, having a Google My Business page means your business is detailed on one of the biggest search engines. So, getting this page in place is something you should do before having a domain name, website or social media account.

Remember, this is Google’s directory of business and you need to be on it.

What Google My Business offers

Essentially, Google My Business is a free tool that lets you manage how your business appears on google search and maps.

Google My Business shows your business location, contact details and opening hours.

It offers the opportunity to upload and share photos and updates showcasing your products and services.

The directory also offers a place for customers to write reviews about your business. This provides a great place for you to source testimonials for your website and sharing on social. When people search online, they often look for reviews so a recommendation from a happy customer goes a long way to encourage prospects to your website.

Importantly you can access insights into your search results to help you understand your target audience so you can tailor your ongoing inbound marketing strategy.

SEO agency Croydon

To get started, go to Google My Business and follow the simple steps to manage your account. If you need help the give us a call at Smart Cow on 020 3137 1826 or book a free consultation to discuss our SEO services and how to improve your organic rankings.

We can also work with you on your digital marketing strategy including a mix of tactics such as social media management, Pay Per Click (PPC), email marketing and CRM – read more about our marketing services.

Blog as part of content marketing strategy

Content builds trust

09/30/2020 by scmarketing

Building trust is essential for lead generation. A huge part of building trust with potential clients is through the type of content you create and publish on your website and other digital channels.

Your content marketing strategy will encompass blogs for your website and social media posts through to email campaigns and Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising. It is your chance to build brand awareness and through regular unique content, start to build trust as leads begin to familiarise themselves with your products and services.

Content marketing plan

When it comes to content, it is important to develop a schedule, this will make sure you are uploading blog posts, distributing email newsletters or sharing updates on social media on a regular basis with a constant stream of new and relevant content.

The more you share, the more people will see what you have to offer and the more likely they will remember it. However, you don’t want to bombard potential customers with information. There needs to be a healthy balance.

In your blogs, you can cover topics which showcase your expertise in specific areas while keeping content clear and concise. Remember do not be afraid to give away information for free, this is a great technique to bring people in. So, create tips and advice articles, publish case studies, offer fact sheets or ebook downloads.

Content has to add value and help people solve a very specific problem. That’s why we always recommend creating an online persona of your target audience and that you always consider solving their challenges with your products and services.

Write blogs that answer their questions. The goal is to optimise that post to appear in related searches by including keywords.

Marketing your business, whether an accounting practice, construction firm or retail environment, needs to establish trust with your target audience. The way you do that is by providing value and repetition through creating content that is unique, timely and frequent.

SEO

Improving Search Engine Optimisation / SEO is key to improving your ranking in search engines helping to get your company seen online. Your content is part of this strategy. Prospective clients type in keywords relating to your business, so the more you include specific keywords throughout your content will help your SEO.

Digital marketing Croydon

If your company is based in South London, Croydon and surrounding areas get in touch to receive advice on creating a digital marketing campaign that’s tailored to your business. We can provide support on content for websites, social media, Pay Per Click campaigns through to emails.

Blogs to check out:

We work with a range of clients including accountants and accounting firms providing professional digital marketing services including content marketing for accountants.

Boost your SEO

09/18/202009/16/2020 by scmarketing

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is a long-term strategy but if you can get into the routine of doing a few simple tasks whenever you upload content to your website then this will support your ongoing SEO strategy well into the future. Here’s our four tips.

Internal links

As with signage in a shop, your website layout needs to be easy to navigate. This is not just for your website visitors but it’s also for the search engine web crawlers. Always remember that these are part of your core audience. If search engines can simply find their way around your website, then this will help you rise in organic search engine rankings.

So, how can you help people and search engines move with ease around your site? Well this is where adding internal links is essential. Always have at least three internal links from one web page to elsewhere on your website. Think of it as a signpost and remember to point people in the right direction. Adding a link to the homepage also helps.

Keywords

Include your keywords in your web page URL as well as an H1 or H2 header tags – these form part of your technical SEO that you’ll add when you upload your content to content management system (CMS) like WordPress. Again, these act as a guide to search engines about what the content on your web page is about so that your website can appear in search results for an appropriate enquiry.

Keep it simple and people will find you.

Content marketing keep it fresh

Unique content is a crucial part of your content marketing strategy. It’s about being informative and knowledgeable providing advice for your target audience.

Remember to add keywords in your website content that are relevant to your products and services. Basically you need to think about what people will search for in search engines and therefore you need to write about it and include these words in your blog post, services pages and homepage.

Title tag and meta description

Always complete your title tags. These show on search engine results pages (SERPs). This is what your audience will click on to your website. So, make sure you have your keyword in the title tag but keep within 50-60 characters.

You can then give more detail for your meta description so that potential website visitors can see more about what’s on offer. Rally think about what will make them click your web page link over your competitors and have that information in you meta description but restrict this to 50-160 characters.

SEO Croydon

We’re an SEO company based in Croydon and London with a specialism in helping businesses gain quality leads. We work with a range of businesses including professional services such as accounting firms. We can help with setting up an SEO campaign including SEO audit.

Is your website user experience up to scratch?

12/22/202409/10/2020 by scmarketing

The user experience (UX) plays a fundamental role in the success for any business’s online digital marketing strategy. The reason being is that if your UX is not up to scratch then you can easily lose a prospect who has just clicked on your website having found you in search.

With your website at the centre of your digital world, the user experience is vital to the business growth strategy of the firm. You need to keep your prospects on your website as long as possible to increase the chance of a sale or further engagement with you.

Make updates to your website

It’s worth always checking back on your website for a little refresh and update where necessary. Let’s face it when your website was designed and built you may have expanded the services you offer and be looking to add more interactive elements than you had previously. Therefore, taking a step back and looking with a fresh eye will help you see where gaps need to be plugged.

47% of website visitors view the products/services pages before any other sections of a website. With this in mind, take a look at one of your core product or services web pages and really question whether it does what it says on the tin.

Are you giving visitors to your web page enough information?
Are you giving top tips that they can take away that will help them grow their business?
Have you added internal links to aid navigation on your website further?
Have you included clear call to actions?

These are just some of the key questions to ask yourself to help update your website. But don’t forget the design – how does the website look? Is it time to update your images or add more? Be ruthless, as that’s what your potential customers will be doing! They could be telling their colleagues and friends about the website experience is.

Digital marketing plan

With competition rife, being critical about your website will help you in the long run. Add a website review to your core digital marketing plan to ensure that you regularly set time in the calendar to take a look over your site and make any necessary changes to content or design.

You’ll find this is good for SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) purposes too as regular updates with fresh content and relevant keywords are noted by search engines.

Website landing pages

With many customers now looking to conduct paid advertising such as with Google Adwords, the UX is also an intrinsic part of the success of a PPC campaign. Having a great landing page relevant to the ad makes for a much smoother customer journey. A lead wants just one click to find out exactly what they want.

Over half (51%) of people believe thorough contact information is the most important item missing from many company websites. So, don’t let this be missing when your lead clicks your ad!

Web design Croydon

We’re web developers in Croydon working with clients across Croydon and South London. We can provide a Free Website Review. The knowledge gained from this can guide on any website updates that may be required to help improve your online presence and turn enquiries into customers.

Whether you want a new website designed and developed or just need a refresh, we can guide on the best strategy for optimisation. We can create WordPress web design and content managed system so that you can be in control of your site once it is complete.