Latest Digital Marketing Trends Dominating Coming Year

Digital marketing has undergone a substantial transformation over the last few years – not that anyone expected it would be any different! Here are some of the latest online marketing trends you will see in 2016;

• The continued growth of Content Marketing

With the growing awareness of the need for professional content marketing, companies are paying more attention to the quality of their website content. Websites with blogs are predicted to generate 67% more leads as compared to companies that don’t. The key to successful online marketing will be relevant and high-quality content written by professional copywriters. Web copy that has been poorly written through bad grammar and syntax, whether via a novice writer or someone with English as a second language, will only turn customers away. It creates distrust and exhibits a lack of attention to detail.

• Stop depending on Google

That is by no means to say don’t optimize for Google – you definitely should! Marketers spend considerable time looking to Google to promote their products and services to achieve effective Search Engine Optimization; but for truly effective marketing, learn some techniques to optimize for Bing and Yahoo also. Any relevant web traffic you receive via these channels will improve your relevancy and rank in Google’s eyes anyway, so indirectly, by optimizing for other search engines, you will simultaneously be doing the same for Google.

• Adwords / Pay Per Click will become more expensive

The cost of advertising through Google or Bing PPC will only accelerate with increased competition. The way to keep this down is either by gaining a full understanding of how you can reduce spend by improving the quality of your landing pages, or hire a digital marketing company who has Adwords Certification.

• Information Hierarchy

When you land on a page, there is only a certain amount of information you will be able to see, based on the size of your viewing window and font. Here, you need as much of your important content as possible, before a user has to scroll. This is called placing information “within the fold”. Anything that is “below the fold” may not always be seen, depending on whether the user is engaged from what they have seen so far.

Looking to gain further brand awareness? At Five Rivers, we adopt the latest online marketing trends, to help take your business to the next level by considering your main business objectives, and translating that to a web page that engages your web traffic. Contact us today - http://www.fiverivers.net/contact-us.aspx and see how we can help.

Let Google Search Console optimize your website

The Search Console (formerly Webmaster Tools) is a very useful feature used to identify website issues. Created by Google, there are naturally plenty of benefits on offer, for those willing to use it. There’s an online guide as to how to link it to your website, in order that it can probe every web page for possible problems. Here are some examples;

• Crawl errors

When Google crawls your site, it’s looking for issues such as broken links. This most often occurs if for some reason you have altered the URL of a web page, and neglect to change the links from other pages on the site that link to it.

• Top search queries

The Search Analytics section displays the most popular keywords that have been used to find your website in results pages. By identifying what is driving your web traffic, you can build on this by incorporating these terms into your marketing campaign. You can also view the average position of your website for any particular keyword in search results.

• Sitemaps

Sitemaps are an essential tool for allowing search engines to crawl your website more easily. Simply type in “sitemap generator” into a search engine, click on a link, submit your website address, and download the XML Sitemap option. Then go back to Search Console, and upload it there, as well as asking your web developer to add it to the website code. This will give you a small boost in search results pages.

• Demote a web page

In Search Console, you can find this in the Sitelinks section. Google randomly exhibits extra web page links underneath your home page URL. In order to ensure a higher chance that your most important pages are chosen, you can demote pages such as Careers or Meet the Team.

Other Benefits

• Enables you to access useful data and metrics, relevant to any specific aspect of your marketing campaign
• Use it to assist with your link building campaign
• Detection of any security breaches via malware / hackers

Website developers, digital marketers and website owners alike use Google Search Console to help monitor, diagnose and optimize. The overall aim is to make sure that your web traffic isn’t suffering from a bad user experience, and therefore helps to encourage customer growth.

Benefits of Using Social Media for Your Business

Over the last few years, social media has transformed the way people play games, share information and communicate. Today, it helps many businesses to connect with new as well as existing customers, while allowing people to connect with their services and products. Deployment of social media marketing lends an increased opportunity to reach out to new and targeted audiences, thereby enhancing brand identity, and the ability to communicate directly.

Other main benefits of using Social Media for your business are;

• Brand Management

People are increasingly turning to social media to voice their opinion, whether good or bad. This allows you to identify and address issues your business may have, and allows the opportunity to correct them.

• “Return on Relationship”

Liaising directly with customers can stimulate loyalty and respect for your product or service. By creating social media accounts, you will need to keep a daily eye on what people are saying about you, in order to show that you care about the customer experience.

• Increase Sales

Social Media is a great digital marketing tool that helps in increasing revenue. When customers see posts about your products and services on a social media website, it generates anticipation and traffic to your website. The ability to target very specific demographics and online communities, is one of the major benefits of social media marketing.

Reviewing customer feedback will ultimately help you in making your business more effective, and successful. Positively encouraging this feedback will help you be seen in a positive light, and may even help to generate online referrals, and the sharing of your posts.

If done correctly, Social Media Marketing is very useful for small businesses to achieve great returns.

If you’re looking to outsource your digital marketing campaigns, Five Rivers can help. Contact us for a FREE one hour consultation on 0203 397 7545, or read more about what this entails here - http://www.fiverivers.net/free-digital-consultation.aspx

How effective is SMS Marketing for Businesses?

The internet has the influenced the lives of many people. Whether it is for shopping, information, or business, we are all turning to digital. Every business wants to stand out online, and effective marketing strategies are therefore almost mandatory. However, with the global popularity of mobile phones, SMS marketing has grabbed the attention of many businesses. This is not only inexpensive, but an effective way to advertise your products/services and reach your targeted audience directly.

Here are the latest trends of SMS Marketing;

• Personalised and customised SMS

Turning visitors into buyers requires a knowledge of your target market. If you are looking for an effective strategy, customized and personalized messages are widely considered to be the best option. A personalized message doesn’t just grab the attention of the potential buyer, it can increase business output.

•  Location-based

Not considered as effective as personalized SMS, however location based SMS marketing still stimulates customer engagement. This strategy targets mobile users within a specific geographical area. The messages can be sent through location-based broadcast, Bluetooth, or Wi-Fi.

• Narrowcasting and bulk text messaging

Both of these terms represent mobile marketing. Bulk text marketing has been around for many years. You can send bulk SMSs to convey your services/ product information to potential customers.

Narrowcasting is not a particularly familiar term. This marketing strategy is all about sharing details and information with a select and targeted demographic.

• Micro SMS

Micro SMS or very short SMS is considered by many businesses. The small texts are quick to read and understand, and therefore encourages someone purely due to their brevity.

SMS Marketing can be an effective marketing method for businesses, as it offers direct contact to individual customers. This is an inexpensive, yet valuable marketing strategy that could be adopted by many businesses. 

Different Types of Software Applications

Software development for businesses has become increasingly necessary, to assist with the smooth running of day to day processes. Software can be totally flexible – you can either purchase an off the shelf product, or create a customised software application. Fully bespoke software applications allow for a much greater – and cheaper – ability to modify further down the line, and work more easily with business expansion. Your business plan can guide you as to what would be the better option.

I’ve listed below, some different types of software applications available;

• Word Processing software
• Database software
• Spreadsheet software
• Multimedia Software
• Presentation software
• Enterprise software
• Information worker software
•  Educational software
• Simulation software
• Content Access software
• Application suites

Other Types of Software

Off-the-shelf software applications are generally licensed and not sold. This means that the user purchases a single license of the software, but not the license itself. This can work well for many businesses.

• ‘Freeware.’ Some of these applications can be downloaded, copied and used. However, their use is limited.
• ‘Shareware.’ Free to download, but you eventually have to pay for continued use.
• Need to be installed on the hard drive of your computer for use, such as a data management processor, word processor, or spreadsheet software.
•  One of the most effective software ‘Anti-virus’ runs online. No need to download, use it online.

Benefits

Software applications acquire numerous benefits.

• Cost Effective – An efficient software application saves money by carrying out different tasks simultaneously. For example, creating customer contacts, filling in time sheets, raising invoices and quotes are done by using a single business management software.
•  Keep track of progress- You can check employee’s status, project details, and updates.
• Allows Flexibility- With many software applications, you can access the reports and information about your business from anywhere, and from any device – whether it be a tablet, a smartphone, or a PC.

Software applications provide many benefits for both SMEs and large corporations. Finding the right softwaredevelopment for your business can improve processes and efficiencies, leading to an increase in productivity. Of course, you need to invest up front, but the financial return is always far greater than the initial outlay.

Types of IT support Services for Small Businesses

With ever increasing competition, every business strives to be the best in their market sector and stand apart from the crowd. To help facilitate this, they need an efficient and trouble-free computer network. Hiring IT professionals for the setting-up and maintaining of systems is more cost effective than hiring someone full-time and adding them to your payroll.

Types of IT Support

• Network Setup and Services- If you own a small business and you do not have the knowledge to set up a network, then you need a qualified network administrator service. Their main role is to streamline some of your software processes in order to achieve efficient business functionality.
• Network Security- Network security is of paramount importance for businesses, a necessity for every company. When you hire an IT support provider you can be rest assured that your network will stay up-to-date with the latest firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and latest security patches, which secure your business critical data.
• End-user and Help desk Support- For the small business owner, Help desk support can be an additional drain on financial resources, but it’s a crucial part of maintaining business stability. You need to consider what would happen if your systems crashed – what impact would it make to your bottom line? How much money would you lose while you were offline and non-operational? When you factor this in, you soon realise and appreciate the importance of having a reliable IT Support service. Some people are proactive, and some reactive – it’s like homes that get burgled; people generally only install an alarm after they have had something taken. Can your business afford to lose customer data, or details of financial transactions, or company finances that you need to keep safe for tax purposes?
• Data Recovery and Backup- This is another critical feature of IT support, which every business requires. A reliable IT Support provider can backup important files and data before disaster hits. For protecting small business data, cloud based solutions are becoming ever more popular, as they keep costs to a minimum, and you can access your data from anywhere in the world. Your business can’t afford to lose details of customer leads, or email trails – therefore backing up your information is crucial to the longevity and success of your business.
• Email Services - Email is one of the most crucial means to communicate and every business relies on it. A reliable IT Support provider can help you to manage and protect your email systems at minimal cost, and furnishes you with an efficient and responsive customer service.

Hiring a reputable IT support company can be hugely beneficial for your business. Having the right IT tech support ensures a professional diagnosis and resolution of any issues within your IT environment. 

Digital Marketing vs SEO – What’s the Difference?

Digital Marketing is a broad term that brings together all types of marketing that can function both online and offline, and as such, has transcended the original term, SEO, which now comes under the Digital Marketing umbrella. Over the last few years, Digital has become a staple requirement for many businesses, and will continue to do so. This marketing technique blends many different elements, such as SEO, On Page, Off Page, and Social Media, email newsletters, and pay per click (PPC) advertising via Google and Bing.

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) - You can either call it a science or an art, SEO can help your website to gain visibility on the search engines. This can be done by increasing the volume of quality keywords on a page, or ranking for a particular keyword. There are different kinds of SEO techniques available, such as, outreach, blogging, link building, on-site technical analysis and improvement.
• On-page- This is one of the most important processes and should therefore be the bedrock of your online marketing campaign. On-page goes far beyond specifying Meta tags and keyword densities. It determines the success or failure of your overall internet marketing campaign. Optimising the URL structure, the menu navigation, and internal linking improve the ranking of your website will make it easy for search engines to crawl through and file your web pages. And don’t forget to add a sitemap!
• Off-Page- Done properly, this technique can be used to improve your website’s position in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). Off-page SEO includes, link building via social media accounts, directory listings and social bookmarking.
•  Social Media- A social media strategy is the process of gaining the attention of the visitors using “click bait” (a sentence that persuades the reader to click on your website link, such as a sales offer) and bringing them to your website through the varying social media channels. The main focal part of this marketing strategy is therefore content, as you are looking to encourage users to share your posts amongst their friends and family.

If you are looking for Digital Marketing services, get in touch with the team at Five Rivers today. In addition to customised marketing campaigns, we offer many web services, including, web development and design, software development, and IT Support.