I’m going to keep this post short. The piece of advice we’re going to impart on you today is so simple that even a ‘waffler’ like me should be able to keep it short and sweet! It relates to websites and specifically what makes an effective website that actually generates real enquiries and revenue for your organisation.

Now, whilst we’ve always known the different elements you need to get right to make a website successful, actually explaining this is a different kettle of fish altogether. Clearly there are a number of different factors that make a website effective but a recently launched project has made me realise that there’s one common element that all effective websites have.

The website launch was for VanLeasing.com and it marks the culmination of a 12-month project to completely rebrand and relaunch this business and their online presence.

The website (and mobile app) allows users to search from over 1,000 vans from every manufacturer and model available in the UK today. Once they’ve selected their van, they can get a completely customised online quote in less than 60-seconds. Once they have their quote they can print or save it – or if they really like it - apply online to lease the van in less than 5-minutes.

This website was launched last month and, from pretty much a standing start, it has generated results beyond even our own expectations. At the moment the site only gets around 4,000 monthly visitors but from that generates 450 enquiries – that’s an 11% conversion rate (the industry average is around 2-3%)!

So what’s the secret behind such a high traffic-to-enquiries conversion rate? The answer is insanely simple:

This site actually does something!

In other words, it gives users something back in return for making an enquiry. The site has multiple interactive elements but the 2 most popular actions people take on the site are to get a customised van leasing quote or check online if they are approved for finance. These 2 interactive elements of the site don’t do anything special – they just give a user a simple way to answer the 2 questions they came to the site to get answered:

How much will this cost me?
Am I approved for vehicle leasing?

This isn’t rocket science but it’s amazing how often people get it wrong when launching a new website. How often have you been onto a site and there’s absolutely nothing to do on that site but fill in a boring old contact form? Think about this – when was the last time you filled out a ‘contact us’ form on any website? We asked this question in the office and most of us couldn’t remember a time in the past five years!

It’s all very well having a website that tells your customers all about you, how great you are and why they should work with you, but the harsh reality is that no one cares! Customers only care about what’s in it for them and, quite frankly, a boring old brochure-based site with a simple contact form just won’t cut it.

But never fear; the solution doesn’t need to be as complicated or costly as you might think. Even offering something as simple as allowing customers to book appointments or events online is all you need to turn your lacklustre conversion rates around. There are even creative ways to turn a simple contact form into something much more appealing – you just need to think of them!

So if you’re reviewing your current website or wondering why you’re not getting any enquiries then look at your site and answer this simple question: Does it actually do anything?

If not, maybe it’s time for a new approach.

Search Engine Copywriting is an area that we get asked about a lot – so much so that we will shortly be launching a whole new dedicated section on our site to it.

It’s an area that is, not only a bit of a science, but also requires the ability to balance a number of different equally important factors to get it right.

The issues are that, to get found online, you need to take SEO into consideration, which means using your selected search term/s repetitively (or so many think…). Most don’t make a good job of this and it ends up reading like a very contrived piece of SEO copywriting that is designed to keep the search engines happy and not the potential customer.

At the same time as having the pressure of the search engines weighing on your shoulders, you also only have 3 seconds to engage any visitor to your website – if you don’t, they’re gone. So you also need to write powerful copy that will capture a users interest, engage them and compel them to take the desired action.

These 2 forces are completely different – search engines like lot’s of relevant, and often repetitive, content for the terms you’ve optimized your site for and potential customers like clear, engaging and easy-to-read copy that isn’t repetitive or too long.

We thought we’d share with you our process for producing search engine copy that is SEO friendly and engaging at the same time. We believe the process we use makes a much more effective process for writing great web copy.

THE GOLDEN RULE: YOU MUST FOLLOW THE STEPS IN THE CORRECT ORDER!

Step 1 – Identify Search Terms

We use SEO tools such as Wordtracker and Google Developer Tools to analyse, not only the most popular search terms, but also the terms with the least competition. Identifying and selecting terms that your competition haven’t found will mean you have the best chance of getting found by potential customers.

Step 2 – Create a Word List

Good search engine copywriting isn’t about saturating each page with1 search term; by creating an extensive list of related words (up to 300 per single search term!) you actually make your site more SEO friendly and generate increased traffic.  This is because your site is then optimized for the ‘longtail’ and not just one specific term.

Step 3 – What’s the Call to Action?

Effective website copywriting should always have the ‘call to action’ in mind whether that’s buying a product online, filling in a form or picking up the phone. Plan what action a user should take before you start writing the copy.

Step 4 – Get Writing!

The writing begins – you have search terms identified, an extensive list of related words to use on each page and know the action you want the user to take. Have 3 things at the forefront of your mind – writing copy that will result in an effective SEO ranking, engaging user interest and encouraging user action. 

Step 5 – Take a Step Back

The golden rule of copywriting is to step back, leave it for at least a couple of hours and then comeback. This time away helps you go back to it fresh and give the work a final ‘once over’

We’re using this process to optimise and engage on the new search engine copywriting section of the website. I’ll let you know once it’s up and running and, more importantly, what the results are!

In the meantime – GET WRITING!

This is a question I not only often get asked but also ask myself from time-to-time!

Blogging is one of those things that people suggest you should be doing but they never usually tell you why or what the benefits are. It may be a low-cost method of marketing but it’s also very time consuming so it requires a commitment from you to keep it up-to-date with relevant, interesting information for your customers on a regular basis.

So what’s the point and what are the actual benefits to your business?

The truth is there are many benefits but I think it actually boils down to 3 major reasons that make it all worthwhile:

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

All website design, web development and internet marketing experts will tell you that search engines such as Google like to see lots of text content, dynamic (constantly changing and updated) content and quality websites linking to you on your website.

A blog achieves all 3 of these things:

If you regularly update your blog then it’s an easy way of constantly changing and adding to your site, which will push you up the rankings.

Also, by regularly updating your blog you are adding to the text content that is on your website and, because you are providing users with interesting and relevant information relating to your line of work, it will increase the visibility of your website when people are searching for key terms relating to your industry. In addition, because of the nature of your articles and the rich text content included within each of your posts, you are actually optimising your site for ‘the longtail’ meaning you are more likely to be found for a huge amount of differing search terms (see article here for more info). For example, if you are an IT services company, think of how many different terms relating to IT you will contain in just one post. This will all help you be found when people are searching for these terms online.

Good blogging is all about providing interesting information and insight into your area of expertise (your line of business). By providing truly insightful information, you are increasing the amount of other websites that link to you. Think about what you do when you read an interesting article. Many share it online and if people share your article then they will link to you, therefore increasing your search rankings.

Brand Building/Positioning

Good blogging is actually a great way of positioning yourself and your company as an expert in the field. At Brinn Marketing our expert field is marketing (obviously!) and we use our blog to provide interesting tips, insight and information to our readers. Does that mean you’re all going to become a new client tomorrow? No it doesn’t but if we’re providing useful insight for your business I’d be willing to bet you’ll engage with us next time you’re looking to work with an outsourced marketing company or provide a recommendation if you know someone that is.  So in that sense blogging is a great public relations tool.

Also, there’s nothing better than when you go onto a company’s website to find that they have loads of free tips and information for you to use without any obligation. It’s a great way of demonstrating the expertise and knowledge within your business that could be of benefit to the user if they were to work with you. So it actually has a big effect on brand positioning and perception as well.

Word-of-Mouth/Viral Marketing

Why did I choose to title this article 'What’s the Point of Blogging?'

The reason is because it’s a question that I’ve been asked many times so I know lots of people are interested in the topic and I know the title will engage interest enough to make people want to click on it and read more. Blogs that provide information that people want to know about tend to spread both virally through online social networks and through word-of mouth.

Wordtracker (an SEO software company) are a great example of this - they blog a huge amount about all the elements of SEO, providing tips on how to make SEO work to your advantage.  I have seen countless people on social networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn sharing links to the Wordtracker blog and they are now seen as THE  experts in SEO.

So if you provide the right kind of information on your blog you’ll actually find that others will pass the information on for you.

Get blogging then!

P.S. Hitting the right tone and knowing what to blog about and what not to blog about are whole topics in their own right – so you know what my next blog post will be about then!

Every business regardless of size needs to be involved in marketing. To be as successful as you can be it needs to be a central part of your operation.

But so often it doesn’t work. Or perhaps more accurately, we don’t know if it works.

The truth is, investing in marketing should make and not cost money. So what are the top 5 reasons that it doesn’t deliver the results that it should and what can you do to make your marketing generate real revenue?

Reason No 1 – Targeting
There’s no point in spending your money marketing to people that quite frankly, aren’t interested. Many businesses don’t think carefully enough about who they’re marketing activity is reaching and if these people are the same ones that they want to be talking to. 

Solution No 1 – Target Practice
Know as much as you possibly can about your potential customers. Research and profile them and use this knowledge to base your future marketing decisions on.

Reason No 2 – Marketing in Isolation
Have you ever received a phone call from someone trying to sell advertising? Most of us have and are told that doing this will vastly improve our results. The truth is that in isolation advertising, or any other type of marketing activity, won’t do anything. To be effective it needs to be a part of a much larger, planned process.

Solution No 2 – Work Together
To really make your marketing return its investment you need to make it all work together. Make sure everything you do when communicating with potential customers ties in with each other and is all designed to achieve one set of common objectives.  Then you’ll achieve the best results

Reason No 3 – What Next?
A good marketing plan will drive new opportunities into your business. That’s just the beginning though. It’s actually what happens next that many forget to think about and therefore fail to capitalize on. How do you follow up on new enquiries or purchases and then move on to build that prospect into a loyal customer?

Solution No 3 – Build Your Master Plan
Plan out the whole process from start-to-finish in your marketing plan. Think about what will happen after a customer makes an initial enquiry and have systems in place to keep a track of and build relationships with that customer. Integrating a CRM system into your business or using your current system to its full effect is a great way of doing this and it helps turn marketing opportunities into real revenue.

Reason No 4 – Accountability
Traditionally it’s been extremely difficult to know what’s working and what’s not. If you’re not sure how effective your marketing activity is then it means you can’t continually improve on your plan and areas that aren’t generating a good return

Solution No 4 – The Wonders of Modern Technology
The good news is that today there are cost-effective platforms available for all businesses that allow you track how effective your marketing activity is and give a full overview of your businesses performance. A good marketing plan mixed with such a platform equals better results for your business

Problem No 5 – Where’s the Creative Spark?
Marketing is a creative discipline and the best performing companies are the one’s that are the most creative with marketing. Whether that means an advertising idea or a new, effective process to gain customers. Very often though creativity is lacking in marketing and this leads to lackluster results regardless of how much you invest.

Solution No 5 – Identify Hidden Marketers!
Creative people help deliver better marketing results. That doesn’t always mean you need to involve marketing professionals though. Why not try and identify people in your business that have a creative spark and get them to help with marketing. They’re not always easy to find but it’s worth looking because these people will really help improve results. 

All good marketing is creative – it engages our attention, it stands out from the crowd, it hits us in the right places at the right times, it evokes emotion and, ultimately, it makes us consume that particular product or service.

At the same time, coming up with something truly creative is no easy task. Big multinational companies spend millions of pounds each year paying top creatives in the world’s best advertising agencies to come up with new ideas – and even they don’t always get it right. So how can you?

By it’s very nature, creativity isn’t something you can teach but there are a few little tricks and pointers you can use to make it that little bit easier.

Here goes:

Find your creative space – Sounds like the words of a pretentious artist or experimental dancer right? Probably, but we’re not talking about working in a room filled only with cushions and sandalwood incense! We’re talking about finding a space, whether you’re working on your own or with others, that’s away from your desk. Go into the meeting room or other area where you can just purely focus on coming up with ideas and get away from the ringing phones and cluttered desks. It makes a real difference.

Know the goal – Good creative marketers constantly revert back to the end goal, checking if their creative solution actually solves the problem. When you think you have an idea that is truly brilliant think back and make sure that your marketing idea will achieve what you want it to.

Know the audience – Sometimes otherwise great creative ideas just don’t fit with the audience that they are trying to engage. We’ve all had those ideas for truly hilarious new strap lines for our products (or more often someone else’s!) but if the people that you are trying to reach don’t quite share the same sense of humour then it’s time for a rethink!

Know the audience you’re engaging with and create solutions that compel them to take action.

Don’t play it safe – Despite the point above, you should never play it too safe when it comes to marketing ideas. In today’s crowded market place it’s difficult to stand out from the competition; so doing the same as everyone else won’t get you anywhere. If you’re looking at the competition then look for what they’re not doing and then try and outplay them.

A good trick for coming up with ideas that beat the competition is to take inspiration from companies you admire that operate in completely different industries to you. Then you can apply new ideas to your business that your competitors haven’t thought of yet.

Keep it simple – If the idea confuses you even slightly it’s going to be much worse for the potential customer who has no prior knowledge of your business. Define your message and convey it in the simplest, most creative way possible.

Sleep on it – If possible, sleep on it. If not, get a fresh pair of eyes to go over your ideas and give you an honest opinion. We’re all guilty of having had those ‘revolutionary’ new ideas that don’t seem quite as revolutionary with the benefit of a good nights sleep!

An unbiased view – When soliciting opinions on your ideas from others, try to ask those that have no prior involvement with what you’re doing and what you’re trying to achieve. If possible ask someone that doesn’t even work for your company. This way you will get two things:

1. An honest opinion because the person is less likely to worry about hurting your feelings or angering their superior.
2. An unbiased first reaction because the person has no prior involvement in the project - they are coming to it completely fresh. They also have less knowledge of your company in general so you are essentially gauging what the opinions of consumers may be when they see your advert (It’s not quite cutting edge market research but it does help!).

Try these next time your working on a new idea and let us know how you get on.

Good Luck!