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Be relevant to improve website optimisation

08/19/202201/22/2021 by scmarketing

Lockdown has pushed many businesses to take a good close look at their online presence. With so much business being conducted online, understanding how to get the most out of your website could prove a gamechanger in 2021.

One of the key things to think about is relevant keywords for your website. Creating a list of specific keywords and phrases for your business is essential and it’s as simple as thinking about what phrase or words you would like to be found for when people search online.

If you think about the products and services you offer then you can start to create a list from that.

Then, the more content you produce using these relevant keywords, the more your website is recognised by search engines and this helps improve search engine optimisation (SEO).

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Review your website content

So, why not conduct a review of your website and check that what you are saying on your website is relevant to what your target audience will search for. If your content doesn’t explain what you offer in a concise and simple way, then how can a search engine find your business?

How can you get noticed by search engines?

Once you have updated your web pages then you need to keep on adding content to your website. Search engines look for fresh content to return the most relevant pages in search results.

A great way to add new content is in the form of a blog or news page. This allows you to add timely articles that answer questions that your target audience will be looking for when they ‘Google’ (or use other search engines of course!). Then think about those keywords you’ve listed and make sure that you mention relevant phrases in your blog.

Can video help with page SEO?

Videos can also help optimise your website. We’d recommend having accounts on channels such as Vidyard, Vimeo and YouTube. This all helps with your rankings in search.

Think about the name of your video file and its title when you upload to the video channels as it should contain keywords. On YouTube you can add an SRT file to enable you to add subtitles and closed captions rather than burn them onto the video file. This can help with long term SEO within the YouTube channel. Don’t forget that Youtube is another search engine.

But don’t forget that it still needs to be relevant content for your brand to help with optimisation. When creating your video, it’s useful to write a script so that you incorporate your keywords. Memorise it as best you can and then speak naturally to the camera offering your clients and prospects tips and advice.

SEO company Croydon

As a digital marketing agency in Croydon, we’re well placed to offer local businesses digital marketing services and online marketing advice on relevant Local SEO Services and content marketing to help increase presence in search engine results pages (SERPs). Get in touch to chat about your business goals and how a tailored SEO campaign can help.

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Tips for being on camera

08/19/202201/20/2021 by scmarketing

If you’ve read our Think virtual in 2021 blog then you’ll know that there will still continue to be a lot of emphasis on online events and video for your digital marketing activity throughout 2021 and well into the future.

With this in mind, we thought it a good idea to revisit some tips for working with video so that you can produce a great looking piece of content marketing for your business.

Video is perfect for content marketing. Not only is it a great way to bring products and services to life, it also keeps people engaged for longer on your website and provides content for sharing on social media and email marketing. With one-third of online activity spent watching video, is it time to add this to your digital marketing strategy?

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Tips for video

Adding a face to your brand is a fantastic way for making your marketing more personal. With so much technology at our fingertips, it’s still nice to know that there’s a person dealing with orders and enquiries. So, here is our tips for when you do a piece to camera.

Look at the lens.
Keep your hands away from your face.
Try not to fidget.
Avoid looking at notes when you’re talking. You don’t need to be word perfect. You want to come across as natural.
Smile or make sure your face is animated. Be expressive, much more than normal.
Keep the message concise. Stick to one point.
Speak slowly. This helps make the piece authoritative, easier to understand and easier to edit.
Try to stick to under a minute for an informative soundbite.
Practice, practice, practice.
Above all – be natural.

Tips for video set up

Appearance: Check your appearance, hair, collar etc.
Background: Keep this as clear as possible. It also provides a great canvas to then add text post-production.
Lighting: Soft light to the face, also a light to the wall behind works well, if possible.
Sound: Make sure there is as minimal background sound. Reduce the hum of your PC, fans, air conditioning, switch of the ringtone of mobiles, and your messages on PC/Laptop etc.
Check your sound recording is good.

It’s not just about sharing your videos on social media and adding to video channels such as YouTube. Remember that you should be adding the video to your website. Placing a video higher up the page, above the fold, is much better for engagement with website visitors. and therefore an incredibly useful tactic for lead generation.

Digital marketing Croydon

If you would like help with creating video content for your business, get in touch with us.

Smart Cow is a digital marketing agency in Croydon. If you’d like a free website review to look at how your website is performing in search to find out how a digital marketing campaign can help you in local search results, complete our form and we’ll take a closer look for you.

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YouTube culture and trends of 2020

08/19/202212/22/2020 by scmarketing

An interesting report has been shared by YouTube which looks at some fascinating trends of 2020.

As COVID-19 impacts our lives with many working and socialising remotely, the video sharing platform’s insights reveal how people are consuming digital media and what’s of interest.

Key stats from the report revealed that 70% of people used YouTube to watch online replacements of live events. While 47% agree that this year, online videos helped them cope through a problem in their life.

From a marketing perspective this is incredibly important to know that half are consuming online videos that provide them with solutions for challenges they face.

We often talk about the importance of answering your target audiences’ questions and concerns in your content marketing. This just validates it further that your content marketing strategy in 2021 should not only encompass insight led informative written information, but that you should bring it to life with video supporting material to help engagement further.

You can watch the YouTube Culture and Trends report here.

Digital marketing Croydon

Get in touch for a free consultation where we can discuss a digital marketing strategy for lead generation for your business encompassing video, search engine optimisation, google ads, and social media.

Smart Cow is a digital marketing agency based in Croydon, South London.

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Part 1: Digital marketing trends 2021

11/26/2020 by scmarketing

At this time of year many of you will be making business plans for the year ahead. It’s time to look ahead to 2021 with hope. In our series of digital marketing trends blogs we’ll be highlighting some key areas to consider that can help your business attract leads and grow.

Digital technology and ‘agile’ marketing

Digital transformation for businesses has accelerated beyond imagination in 2020. Where possible, businesses have quickly had to move employees to remote working this year. A move that you could never imagine prior to March 2020. This has therefore brought ‘agile’ marketing to the fore. While agile marketing is a specific process, put simply it’s about placing the customer first and identifying opportunities through data analytics and being able to act on the analysis in an ‘agile’ way. Many smaller businesses we work with can take the core principle of this approach for their own business growth strategy.

At a basic level this could mean the ability to test marketing campaigns and act on results such as with a Pay Per Click (PPC) campaign by amending ads, adding or removing keywords. Or with an email marketing campaign conducting an AvB test. However, at the heart of agile marketing should be the understanding of who your customers are that you want for your business and their journey with your firm.

Therefore, when you look to 2021, don’t just think that you need to get on social media because everyone’s talking about online presence and digital technology. Social media may not be right for your business, but a mix and match approach to your digital presence will be. Therefore, getting a marketing strategy in place to kick start 2021 will help your business be flexible for targeting leads that are right for your business.

Personalisation

To be flexible with your marketing, it is vital to contact your prospects in a personalised manner and at a time convenient to them.

This is where understanding your target audience is key. If you haven’t already conducted the exercise to delve into who your core customers are then now is the time to do this. This will ensure that your marketing content in 2021 is tailored to your audience therefore helping to attract the right leads.

Creating an online persona will help you in this process as you will understand the challenges and pain points of your prospects and existing customers so that you create informative blogs, email marketing or social media posts that answer their questions. This will help you build awareness and trust as well as position you as a thought leader in your field.

Video and images

Whether you embraced video content in your marketing plan before lockdown earlier this year, we’re certain you will have touched on this in some way during this year. Whether you joined virtual events with recorded videos or you’re looking more and more at social media and finding yourself drawn to video content, now more than ever video should form part of your content marketing plan.

You can make videos efficiently, simply and at no extra cost on your mobile phone.

Repurpose content from your blogs and make short and snappy videos to bring your blog web page and social media posts to life.

Read our blog on using video for business for tips on setting up videos for your business for some useful dos and don’ts.

We also have some top tips on using images for digital marketing including keeping your website engaging with images and a summary of image sizes for social media platforms including Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Free digital marketing resources

We’re a digital marketing agency in Croydon and we have the following resources you can draw on during this time. Get in touch with us today to talk through your requirements.

Free website review: Find out how to improve your website’s performance.

Free digital marketing consultation: Our Free consultation should be between 15 and 30 minutes. The goal is to provide you with thoughts on how to start an effective marketing campaign and for us both to see if it would benefit your firm. No obligation at all, we just want the best for you.