For many of us in the small business space we simply get started on the basis of a good idea, the need to do our own thing, or by accident when a hobby or interest goes well and expands into a business.
While there is normally always a wealth of life experience supporting a small business, the level of formal training or experience is often narrow rather than wide in scope. Against this backdrop, marketing activities can often be “hit and miss” or see long term goals surrendered at the first short term “stumbling block”.
While we all seem to be “time poor” these days, one of the activities we have been expanding at SiteSuite is the sharing of information and skills within our small business client community.
I firmly believe that by concentrating on writing quality product and web page content, and publishing regular blogs – and all the while sticking to some simple writing conventions – that your so-called SEO will take care of itself.
I spoke to a customer yesterday who asked what she could be doing to improve her website’s position on Google, and how she could lift sales. Her online shop is a recognisable brand and the site’s design crisp and sharp. So what’s wrong?
Create a Google Analytics account in 4 steps, and learn why Analytics is so important to the ongoing maintenance of your website. Google Analytics is as comprehensive a tool as most small business owners could want.
At SiteSuite we host regular coffee mornings where various presenters will discuss a particular topic relating to the web and online business. Our latest seminar, which focussed on the use of Social Media in Business, was held this week.
Understandably, I still get a high degree of indifference from some clients whenever I mention the likes of Twitter or Facebook (with Twitter taking the cake). If you don't understand something, sometimes it's a natural reaction to shy away from a subject or dismiss it entirely as "irrelevant" or "stupid". I believe that most of that indifference is fear-based.
If you're itching to learn about Twitter or to perhaps assess the viability of Twitter for your small business, then this article is for you. What I will show you is how to become an everyday Twitter user, and how to actually enjoy your time using it. Here's what you need to do:
A report published this week suggested that you forget search engines or manufacturer's websites as ways to drive traffic to your online shop or website. Instead, it suggests, consumers of today are researching products in new ways, albeit with an old-fashioned twist: they're asking their friends first.
Retire your web pages of boring, plain text, and replace them with newly designed, interactive content that engages your readers and leads them to the target on the page: your call to action. Move beyond embedded page video and image galleries, and introduce elements that better engage your visitors.
Apple. An amazing brand that has captured people's imagination the world over. Their products (love 'em or hate 'em) have revolutionised the way we work, play and do business. At the airport this week I noticed more Apple iPads being used than people reading magazines!
In a recent post we looked at website usability and focused on navigation. Today we’ll look at on page usability.
It’s interesting that various studies show that website visitors typically read less than half the text on a page, with some studies showing less than 30% of text read. Whatever the statistics actually are, it’s clear you have to plan and write specifically for the web rather than copy and paste text from other media.
When you’re writing a blog the best way to keep on schedule is to have a series of topics ready to write to. One that I hadn’t intended to cover again for a while is copy writing, especially as it relates to products although the principles apply to any copy on a site. So why revisit this topic? Over the last week I’ve had discussions with a couple of clients who have been keen to improve their online sales results, but really don’t see the need to rewrite and spruce up their product descriptions.
Today we’ll provide some essential tips for writing product descriptions or any website content. Some are obvious, and others perhaps less so.
In a recent blog we talked about how you can encourage users to leave product reviews. Quite often though, when you first enable product reviews in your online store, customers see there are none and can be reluctant to contribute. So how do you get the ball rolling wiith product reviews on your site?
Last week we talked about using your product descriptions as a selling tool. One thing that is often overlooked though is the role that the snippets presented in the search results have in getting customers to your site. If the text that you use for your descriptions doesn’t grab the customers’ attention, they will immediately move to the next result and they might never get to see what you have to offer on your site.
Saturday afternoon and a little off topic. In this industry we not only meet a lot of business people who are developing new online businesses or have existing businesses that need to move online, but we obviously take a very keen interest in what’s happening with offline businesses.
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