For shower screens business owners who are seeking ways to increase traffic to their website, presumably to boost the number of new leads that it generates, one method which must be considered is improving search engine ranking via SEO.
We are not suggesting that you drop everything to do with running your business and become an SEO expert, but instead, gain an understanding of what is required.
In a digital age where every click, like, and share matters, the question arises: Is social media part of digital marketing? We believe at eMarketing Connected, located in the bustling metropolis of Sydney, NSW, Australia, that this is a definite yes. Social media is a game changer, and we have seen it happen firsthand through our long-standing experience in digital marketing.
Social media, once considered simply another means of communication, now represents a dynamic marketplace where companies can converse with their audience. It has nothing to do with just posting pictures or other information; it is about building a digital persona that influences your audience.
“In a world where digital presence is like the heartbeat of your business, routines aren’t just recommended; they’re essential.” -eMarketing Connected.
Welcome to eMarketing Connected, your Sydney-based destination for digital marketing expertise.
Today, let’s open up a question in every savvy business owner’s mind: “Is there a need for continuity?”
Spoiler alert: it’s a resounding yes. But let’s dig into why.
In the saturated world of Sydney, NSW, where digital products and marketing solutions are tiringly sophisticated, what is content in digital marketing? We are true content design masters at eMarketing Connected. We know how to design content creatively and strategically to not only stimulate but also transform.
The media consumed online is derived from an umbrella term for digital content. It’s not only just what you say but how, where, and who you say it. Here’s a quick picture:
The worlds of available digital marketing efforts are not merely content that takes up space. It is a strategic tool that can:
The secret behind creating quality content for our clients lies mainly in their needs and in our knowledge about audience preferences. Here’s how we do it:
As such, the components of digital marketing are not simply a matter of words and pictures; It is a tool for performance. At eMarketing Connected, we believe that we would not write for you a story that tells your story but, in fact, propels it to better heights. Dig with us on our path to online victory and see the way a professional creates a high-quality story.
For any website to rank well on search engines and thus benefit from the organic traffic that this generates, search engine optimisation (SEO) is essential. Of that fact, most business and website owners are aware. However, what many of them are not so sure of is how they ensure that the necessary SEO is achieved. More specifically, they may have a dilemma in deciding who will carry out the SEO.
Whilst they have several choices, the two main ones which they are likely to be considering are doing the SEO themselves, or hiring an SEO agency to do it. Both of these options have their respective pros and cons, so let us look at them all in the hope that this may help you make this decision if it is one you are currently in the process of weighing up.
Pros Of Doing SEO Yourself
Many businesses, large and small, are creative; by that, we are not just talking about those in the arts or fashion industries. Anything a company creates, from a product to its logo, can and should be protected, and this is something that your commercial lawyers can advise you on.
The umbrella under which designs, new technology, written material, artwork, branding, and so on can be placed is called intellectual property. Just as with any physical property you own, intellectual property can be stolen, and when that happens you have legal recourse which can be instigated by your commercial lawyer.
You could try to do so yourself, but given the complexities of the law relating to intellectual property, you want the experts to ensure that your rights are adequately protected. Part of those complexities is that different types of intellectual property are protected under different laws, and knowing which is which is something every business owner should know.
Whilst we will not turn anyone into a lawyer with the following information, at least we can better understand which protection you need for each of the three main areas of intellectual property.
Doing business online is full of opportunities. Access to a national (or international) audience, the ability to augment your ‘offline’ offering and an efficient way to spend your advertising and marketing dollars are all form ticks in the ‘pros’ column.
But while the cons are limited, there are some essential tips and legal considerations to be aware of when thinking about online business. Knowing them can help you plan properly and hopefully be mindful of any avoidable (but potentially expensive) mistakes that could be made.
Intellectual Property (IP) – Domain Names
In online business, IP is most likely your domain name or web address.’ A few things to note – just because you have registered a business name with a regulator, or even if you have a company, that doesn’t mean you have any ‘right’ to the same web address.
So, if your business is Sunrise Furniture, and your registered company name is the same, nothing stops another company from buying the domain name ‘sunrisefurniture.com.au’. A competitor could even buy the domain name and then redirect anyone who clicked on it to their own website, potentially costing you a customer.
In Australia, domain names are ‘rented’ rather than ‘owned’. That also means you’ll want to keep on top of when any renewals are due to avoid dramas with re-registering a name if it lapses.
Hopefully, if your business is one that occasionally has to refund a customer, you have all the rules related to refunds in place and, therefore, do not require your commercial lawyer to represent you in a court case because a customer is suing you for a refund.
These rules are in place to protect not only customers but also businesses; however, if they are not known or misunderstood, it can cause either party to feel they have been wronged by the other.
We have outlined the basics of each rule below, but please do not consider what we have written as legal text. If you have any queries about refunds and their legal implications, please consult your commercial lawyers.
Rule #1: A customer is not entitled to a replacement or a cash refund simply because they change their mind and no longer want the item they have purchased. You might choose to have an exchange policy, but there is no legal obligation for you to refund because of a change of mind.
Rule #2: When the goods or services that you have sold the customer have a problem, then the customer is entitled either to a replacement or a refund. A replacement can be a like-for-like or an alternative if the customer is happy to accept it.
Increased Loyalty To, and Awareness Of Your Brand
Your customised social media strategy will have many parts to it, and each of them will add not only to the awareness that people of your brand, but it can also increase the loyalty that those who are existing customers or clients, feel towards it.
In terms of awareness, social media is a really effective way of achieving that. Bear in mind, your campaign is likely to be active in multiple platforms, and there is also the real possibility that a really good post or piece of content is shared, to the point of going viral.
To a local business that might not seem as important as it might to global business, but do not dismiss its impact though. Every one of those shares, even if from someone on the other side of the planet, is a signal to Google that gives your search engine ranking a boost.
As for brand loyalty, the more your customers are exposed to your social media posts, the more they will associate themselves with being one of your customers. Also, your customised campaign will have specific posts that help to cement that loyalty.
This is particularly important now, as the customers who are buying today now include the Millennial generation born between 1980, and 2000. These are known to be especially loyal to companies, businesses, and brands that engage with them on social media.
Increased Inbound Traffic
Online business has a currency, and that currency is traffic. Usually, the companies that can generate the most traffic to their online properties, such as their websites, are the ones that are the most successful.
With that in mind, your customised social media campaign will be generating currency for your business, not in dollars (that will come), but in terms of traffic. That traffic will be visitors to your website who may have clicked there or searched for it, having been exposed to some of the social media content that has been created as part of the campaign.
Whichever business niche, sector, or industry you are in, any marketing campaign which is implemented to increase customers and revenue, needs to have a social media strategy included as part of it.
The reason why, is simply that 3 out of every 4 people use social media, and more important than that, the vast majority actually use and refer to social media before making an online purchase.
Now you may not be a local business where customers actually buy your product or service directly from your website. However, if you want them to take action that may lead to a purchase, such as filling out an online enquiry form, or calling you on the phone, then social media is every bit as relevant and necessary.
Whilst the internet and other technological advances have brought many advantages and transformed how we have done business over the past few decades, they are not without their downsides. One is data breaches and the stealing of private information, and undoubtedly many a business owner has made frantic phone call to their commercial lawyer asking for legal assistance after realising they have been a victim of data theft.
This is undetectable because of the penalties for business owners who fail to ensure that any confidential information which they hold for clients, customers, business contacts, and indeed their employees can be severe. There is also the fact that around the world the rules and the laws relating to data protection are becoming increasingly stringent.
One example of that is the European Union whose General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) which were implemented in 2018, meant that it was not just companies within the EU had to get their house order, but any company from around the world who wanted to trade within the EU market of almost 450 million people, had to meet those standards too.
Vague Explanations of Their Processes
If an SEO agency is not prepared to give you an explanation of how they operate, then the question that needs asking is ‘What have they got to hide?’.
With a poor agency, the answer is going to be either they do not have any processes and thus the campaign will be a shambles, or they use black hat techniques and do not want to reveal that to you.
Little or Poor Reporting
As part of your research, you should be asking what the reporting from the SEO agency is going to be. Good SEO agencies will have detailed and regular reporting, which is what you want to see.
However, poor agencies who know they are not going to get results will shy away from giving you regular reports, and if that is the case with any prospective agency you are looking at, do not even consider hiring them.
Low Ratio of Staff to Clients
When speaking to a prospective SEO agency, always ask them about their staffing levels. One point here is that many agencies sub-contract out specific areas of the work, and there is nothing wrong with that, especially if they are giving those parts of the work to experts.
However, if an agency tells you they have 90 clients, 3 staff, and everything is done in-house, that should set alarm bells ringing.
That ratio means that each member of staff is servicing 30 clients each, and given the time necessary for proper SEO analysis, planning, implementation, monitoring, and adjustments, it suggests that each client’s campaign is getting hardly any time, if any, each day.
Negative or Poorly Handled Reviews
Presumably, you already know to seek out reviews and testimonials, but one other thing to look for carefully is how the agency handled those reviews, especially the negative ones.
As we mentioned previously, no business is perfect, and even the best gets it wrong sometimes. If they have an unhappy customer who has left a 1 or 2-star review, look to see if the agency has responded. If they have and have also taken full responsibility for their error, then that is a positive sign.
If they have simply ignored it, or worse, pushed back on the customer and started an online argument with them, they are not an agency you want to do business with.
When any business owner is seeking to employ another company to work for them or carry out some kind of service, it is normal practice to take some time to assess one’s options, and carry out a reasonable level of due diligence.
This should especially be the case when selecting a digital marketing agency, and there are number of reasons for that. The first is that carrying out SEO is a service which differs in several ways to many others, because the actions that the agency will undertake can actually change during the contract due to the nature of search engines and how they often ‘move the goalposts’ with little or no notice.
Another reason is that an SEO campaign is something that doesn’t always have a finite end. For example, if you employ a company to come in and replace the five printers that you have in your offices, once they have replaced them, set them up, and have them working, their job is done.
Compare that to SEO, where a campaign’s length is something that might not be defined due to the many external factors that can affect a website’s rankings.
You may be in an incredibly competitive niche where your competition is working every bit as hard to gain or maintain their rankings as you are. In that case, you may retain your SEO agency’s services for longer, or even on an ongoing basis to ensure your rankings remain high.
