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Are You Part of the PRADA Marfa Club?

04/27/202304/27/2023 by scmarketing

Hey there, fellow business owners! Today, I want to talk about a topic that should be near and dear to your heart – your website. Let’s talk specifically about the infamous Prada Marfa “shop” in Texas and what it can teach us about the importance of having an engaging website.

For those of you who may not know, Prada Marfa is an art installation that looks like a small luxury boutique.

From the outside, it’s a beautiful sight to behold, and anyone who stumbles upon it can’t help but be intrigued. But as soon as you step inside, you’re hit with an underwhelming surprise – there are no prices, no salespeople, and no vibe to speak of.

Website Design

This is the perfect analogy for what can happen to your website design if you don’t invest time, effort and resources into making it attractive and user-friendly. Sure, you may have a gorgeous homepage that catches people’s attention, but if the rest of your site is barren and uninspiring, visitors will run for the hills faster than you can say, “Welcome to our site!”

Think of it this way. If you step into a store where it’s hard to find anything, you’re unsure of the prices, and you’re not sure of the product information, would you stay there? Of course not! It’s the same with your website. You want to make sure your website is engaging and informative to your visitors, so they are more likely to stick around and convert into customers.

Now, let’s talk about the importance of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), PPC (Pay Per Click) ad campaigns, and marketing. Imagine Prada Marfa in the middle of the desert – it’s a stunning art installation, but it’s not in the right location to get traffic from potential customers. In the same way, without proper SEO, PPC, and marketing efforts to promote your website, it’s like you’re operating in the middle of nowhere, with no traffic or potential customers.

But fear not – there is hope! Smart Cow Marketing can help you build an attractive website that is sure to get traffic. A website that performs like Bond Street, rather than being lost out in the virtual desert. With our help, you can connect with customers, achieve sales targets and take your business to the upper echelons.

Your website is critical to the success of your business. Take a step back and evaluate your website’s user experience, if it needs work, invest the time and effort to improve it. Remember, just as Prada Marfa needs a makeover on the inside to match its striking exterior, your website needs a perfect balance of design, content, functionality, and optimisation to engage visitors and convert them into loyal customers.

New Year, New Website!

08/18/202201/04/2022 by scmarketing

It’s the new year and a time for resolutions. For small business owners now is the time to set your goals for your business growth plans. As part of your new year’s resolutions perhaps it’s time to refresh your website?

At the centre of your digital world is your website, but so often we hear that website’s are difficult to navigate and visitors leave all too quickly before a lead capture form is completed. So, is it time for a website refresh? Here’s our top tips for a review of your current site to understand what you need to consider for creating a quality website that will be found in search engine results pages.

1. Build your website with a good CMS

You need a good framework to build your website on. These days that means using Content Management Systems (CMS). Once the website is designed and developed, it enables easy upload of information so that content updates can be managed inhouse.

2. Simple and engaging content

Review all your marketing collateral and decide what you’ll use on the website and what needs to be cut out. For an accountancy firm, think about the services you offer and provide clear, precise information about each. If you think of who your target client is, then write content that speaks to them.

3. Easy website navigation

When you design the menu and site map, think about the layout and whether it’s relevant and easy to navigate. You want visitors to find things quickly to help reduce the bounce rate and to keep them looking through your website for longer.

4. Call to action

It’s not just about a clear menu, but it’s also about adding clear call to action buttons. These are often used for inbound marketing campaigns to drive visitors to take action such as download a form or ebook or sign up to a newsletter while collecting an contact email address to build your database.

5. Imagery

This forms part of your content too. It makes the website more engaging and easier on the eye. But don’t forget to use the right size as too large and this could impact on the speed of your website loading. Does your current website have good imagery that reflects your brand well?

6. Blog

Does your website have a blog? A blog is vital for a business website to be seen in organic google search. Why? Because it provides a dedicated space for uploading fresh content regularly. This keeps the website up to date and engaging for prospects, current clients and also the search engines.

7. Website optimisation

When it comes to digital marketing, Search Engine Optimisation or SEO is probably something you often hear about, but why is it so important for your website? Optimising your site can help your website be found in search engine results pages (SERPs) such as Google or Bing. Any agency you work with will tell you about Meta Descriptions, Alt Tags and H1/H2 headings. A web designer can provide you with simple training on this once your website has been developed. Or you can engage a digital marketing agency to manage this for you moving forward. You can read more about Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) here.

8. Back up your website!

If you’ve not already been regularly backing up your website, add this to your new year’s resolutions. If you’ve worked thorugh this list of considerations for your website and feel that you need to create a new site then make sure that your web designer incorporates regular back ups as part of their process and ongoing management fee.

Is it time you had a new website?

If you can get all this working yourself, then you will be off to a great start. However, if you need help with your website design and development book a consultation with us.

9 web design tips

08/19/202205/04/2021 by scmarketing

Your website is your shop window for your prospects and existing clients. It should attract and engage visitors to keep them on your website for as long as possible.

Clear and bold call to actions with simple messaging and an easy to navigate menu is a solid foundation to build your website on.

If you’re looking for a new website to be designed and developed to help grow your business as part of your wider marketing strategy, here’s our top web design tips for businesses to consider.

1. Build your website with a good CMS

2. Simple and engaging content

Review all your company information including your ‘about us’, case studies, product information, contact details and pricing. No is the perfect time to update everything. Read your content and ask yourself is it clear, accurate and informative. If you think of who your target client is, then write content that speaks to them.

Make sure that your URL for these pages says exactly what’s being talked about on the page as this help with SEO. So, if you’re an accountancy firm talking about Corporation Tax or Self-employment tax, name the specific URL just that.

3. Easy website navigation

4. Calls to action

It’s not just about a clear menu, but it’s also about adding clear call to action buttons. These are often used for inbound marketing campaigns to drive visitors to: ‘download ebooks’; ‘sign up to a newsletter’; ‘book a consultation’.

5. Images

This forms part of your content too. It makes the website more engaging and easier on the eye. But don’t forget to upload the right size as too large and this could impact on the speed of your website loading and affect your SEO. Resize images so they are under 1200pixels wide. You can also install a plugin that means that whoever uploads an image to your CMS website it will automatically be resized.

6. Should websites have a blog?

Absolutely! A blog is vital for a business website to be seen in organic google search because it provides a dedicated space for uploading fresh content regularly. This keeps the website up to date and engaging for prospects, current clients and also the search engines.

The one job of a search engine is to get the best result for the person searching for a particular term. Therefore, providing content with helpful tips, advice and links, will help your website rise in the search rankings.

7. Be targeted

Your website needs to appeal to your target audience. We refer to this as an online persona which is a made up stereotypical customer. So, this is where a blog page can allow you to create specific content which answers the challenges of your audience.

8. Optimise your website

Any digital marketing agency you work with will tell you about Meta Descriptions, Alt Tags and H1/H2 headings. A web designer can provide you with simple training on this once your website has been developed. Or you can engage a digital marketing agency to manage this for you moving forward.

9. Back up your website

Most CMS websites provide modules to allow you to back up and to make safe against hackers. Do what you can to make it safe. A digital marketing agency that designs websites will usually incorporate regular backs ups into their ongoing management fee, so make sure you ask about this when you look to engage a web developer.

Web Design Consultant Croydon

If you need help with your website design and development book a free consultation with the Smart Cow marketing team. As an inbound marketing agency in Croydon, we create and design websites for accountants and the local businesses.

Digital marketing resources

Web design guidelines

06/16/202102/10/2021 by scmarketing

Whether you have a website already or are looking for a web developer to create a brand-new website for you, here’s some of the key considerations to think about to ensure that your website is doing what it should – engaging with visitors and being a lead generator.

1. What functionality should your website have?

A website will be developed to your brief. Therefore, think about what you would like first before you speak to a developer. Look at other websites to see what type of functionality you would prefer. Keep a note of these so you can chat with your chosen web developer about your preferences.

Having a Content Managed System (CMS) gives you the ability to update content yourself once the website is created. Therefore you have the choice to maintain the website yourself or work with a digital marketing agency to manage this for you. A CMS website gives you a lot of flexibility for the future for regular blog uploads through to ad hoc landing page creations for new products or services.

You also need to consider the functionality. Do you need an e-commerce website or will a brochure website be suitable for your requirements?

2. Website design

Now you know the purpose of your website and understand your target audience, you need to ensure that your web design will appeal.

Work with your web designer so that they understand your company values, branding and target audience.

A web developer will usually create a mock design for you on a wire frame – check this out when you ask for a website quote.

This mock design will give you an idea of what the homepage will look like providing you the opportunity to feedback on any likes or dislikes. Sometimes it’s easier to do this once the design is in front of you.

If in doubt, keep your website simple.

Keep colour to a minimum and ensure they are in keeping with your brand. Sometimes the more space on the page the better on the eye.
Keep font consistent across your website and ensure you can read it – there’s some lovely different styles out there but some offer design over functionality!
Use images to help break up space.
Use bold call to actions to encourage website visitors to ‘contact’, ‘get a quote’, ‘download an ebook’.

Above all it’s about ease of navigation, this is where a sitemap comes in.

3. Sitemap

At design stage your web developer can help create the sitemap with you. This will be something you agree at initial stages. The structure of the website hinges on this. Most importantly you need a website that is easy to navigate, easy on the eye – as this helps guide you around the website, and you should always have the purpose at the back of your mind.

4. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

Establish up front with your web designer what content you already have, whether you need content edited or written from scratch.

Usually content is transferred from the old website. Or you can provide new content at design stage, indicating where copy needs to be placed.

Check with your developer that the website will be optimised and mobile friendly. SEO includes activity such as completing the meta descriptions. alt tags and H1 headings.

As SEO is a long-term strategy, you will need to keep up with adding fresh content to your website with keywords to help it rise in search engine rankings.

Help potential customers find your website with a digital marketing strategy for lead generation. Link building is a key part of this so activity would include adding links into social posts, completing your Google My Business page, inclusion in email marketing with ‘read more’ call to actions with links to your website.

If your website is new you might want to consider a Pay Per Click (PPC) campaign as this can help give your site a boost in search engine results pages (SERPS).

5. Security

Get security sorted at early stages such as with an SSL certificate as well as an updated privacy policy. Captcha is another security measure to determine whether users are human which you can add to forms or logins. Captcha helps to prevent bots from accessing these areas.

Website design Croydon

Your digital marketing activity should have a consistent look and feel to help brand awareness and encourage loyalty.

We are a web design company in Croydon. Our digital marketing services include creating bespoke websites for accountants, SEO, social media marketing and PPC for accountants in Surrey.

Further resources for web design and development: