3 Tips for Making the Internet Work for Your Business

If you work in the digital space for 8 years, or any industry, you pick up quite a bit of knowledge.  This article will share some of that, so that you as a local business owner can get the most out of your online presence and digital marketing.  Everyone wants to be number 1, and the Google rankings isn’t an exception to that so in this article you’ll find 3 tips on how you can improve your online presence and digital marketing yourself; without the help of a digital marketing company.  Each of these tips is easily something that you could jump online, log into your site and do yourself, but of course, Mars Digital is always here to help if you need us.

But first, here’s a bonus tip that you should seriously consider!

Online bookings are just about essential these days.  We’re increasingly occupying ourselves with tasks and are always on the lookout for the quickest, easiest way of doing something.  Booking an appointment for a dentist, doctors visit, haircut and so forth isn’t the exception, not by a long shot.  If you want to stay ahead of your competition and really shine; look into adding an online booking system to your website.  A good booking system will be able to link in with your existing calendars and keep itself up to date so you never get any double bookings and will allow you to schedule breaks and holidays with ease.

We’ve used booking systems countless times in the past, integrating them into clients websites to create an absolute seamless user experience, but it doesn’t have to be, at least not to start with.  The most important thing is having the option to book online.  Even if it’s just a button that links away to our booking form that’s hosted and designed by the forms provider such as Timely.  At least it’s there, at least your customers can make a booking if they want to.

You can have the most wonderfully designed website in the world, spend hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars on the user experience and making it look appealing, but if no one sees it; it’s worthless.  That doesn’t mean you should only focus on getting site to your traffic, what is means is that you should focus on both.  A healthy mix of digital marketing and design.  But here’s 3 tips to help you drive traffic to your site.

Tip 1: Creative Content

Chances are you already have a website, or at least in the market for one, otherwise I’m not sure why your reading this article.  So I’m sure by now you’ve come across the term SEO or Search Engine Optimisation.  If not, put extremely simply SEO is the process of getting your website onto the first page of Google for organic, unpaid, results; these are the sites that Google deems to be most relevant to a users search term.

As far as digital marketing is concerned, SEO, is arguably the most powerful and most potent activity you can master.  If done right you can get your name in front of hundreds, even thousands of qualified leads and customers every day.  In fact I’m sure many of our competitors have tried to sell you their own SEO services before, from keyword research to link building and more.  But what they probably didn’t tell you is that the most important factor with SEO is good, solid, unique and relevant content.  And that is something you can write yourself.

About the Author

Founder

I’ve always believed that each business is unique. Bringing this view to Mars Digital means we take the time to understand you and your business before going away, doing the research and coming back to you with our thought out recommendations and the reasoning behind them.

For me, it’s all about building a mutually beneficial partnership.

Our Work

Destination Orewa Beach
Destination Orewa Beach

Destination Orewa Beach

Comprehensive Care
Comprehensive Care

Comprehensive Care

Coast Residential
Coast Residential

Coast Residential

Cain Built
Cain Built

Cain Built

Daylite Skylights
Daylite Skylights

Daylite Skylights

3D Online
3D Online

3D Online

JC Project Consulting
JC Project Consulting

JC Project Consulting

Taxi Tax
Taxi Tax

Taxi Tax

Trident Electrical & Air Conditioning
Trident Electrical & Air Conditioning

Trident Electrical & Air Conditioning

Zakmir
Zakmir

Zakmir

Hibiscus Coast Panel Beaters
Hibiscus Coast Panel Beaters

Hibiscus Coast Panel Beaters

Stella Beauty
Stella Beauty

Stella Beauty

Osteo Clinic
Osteo Clinic

Osteo Clinic

How to Add Content to Your Website

  • ● Create a blog on your site.  You don’t need to post daily or weekly, even once every two months is fine.
    Write about success stories.  Had a particularly challenging job?  Write about how you solved the problem.
  • ● Write about the industry.
    Often small changes occur in every industry that only those working in it find out about, post a little article online so people know.
  • ● Give out tips and tricks.
    Just like this email, write a few DIY tips and tricks people can do themselves.

Tip 2: Directory Listings & Google My Business

Yellow Pages maybe dead, but it Yellow Online still has it’s uses.  Yellow has spent so much money, time and energy into their brand and their digital marketing that their website is everywhere.  You can’t search for a plumber online without having a Yellow Pages result come up on the first page.  Capitalise on this.  Claim your free Yellow listing and give the directory up to date information so customers can actually call you, send you an email or at least get to your website.  It’s also a great source for a reasonably high quality, relevant, link back to your site.  That alone is SEO gold.  Yellow isn’t the only directory either.  Finda and NoCowboys, NZ Directory and Kiwi Directory are other options, there’s even industry specific directories that you can jump on and utilise.  But perhaps the most important of them all is Google My Business.  This is Googles own directory that links in with Google Maps and always displays for local searches.

How to Create a Successful Google My Business Page

  • ● Add your office address.
    This will make it easier for people to find you online and in person.
  • ● Fill in all the additional details.
    Your website address, phone number and hours of operation.
  • ● Take unique images.
    Don’t use stock photos here, take your own, even if its just of your shop front.
  • ● Get reviews.
    Ask happy customers to post a review on your page.

Tip 3: Use Video Content

You may have noticed that this post doesn’t only contain images but also a couple of videos.  This wasn’t a decision I made for no reason, it was strategic; designed specifically with our own digital marketing and SEO in mind.  This doesn’t mean that I could insert any old video into this article and for it to magically grant me the number 1 Google ranking for digital marketing.  Just like the content itself, the video should be relevant and engaging.

Chances are the video will be on YouTube (like the Google My Business one above), in fact, I’d recommend that you upload the video to YouTube and embed it on your website rather than uploading it directly, unless the file is under 5mb, and the video still good quality (such as the background video behind the call to action section of this blog).  If your video is on YouTube, consider that Google owns YouTube and that they have algorithms designed specifically to review the content of all videos uploaded to the platform, to the point that they are automatically generating closed captions for most new videos.  Point being, there would be no advantage for me to upload a video of a cat here.

Why Video Content is Important

Having said all that, just like with the first tip, utilising video content on your site can drastically improve both your organic rankings and your engagement.  For example adding the video above from one of Google’s own YouTube channels, Google Small Business, that discusses the same topic I was, does have a positive influence on the digital marketing and SEO rating for this article and the Mars Digital site in general.

Many studies have shown that the way we interact with websites is changing and video content is becoming increasing more and more powerful.  In fact Instagram and Facebook have seen this trend as well and have publicly stated that their own algorithms for determining how long a post will stay in someones feed or on the explore tab is heavily influenced by whether that post is of a video or not.  You don’t need a Hollywood budget to add video content to your site though.  All you need is a computer, an internet connection and a phone or digital camera.

How to Create Video Content for Your Website

  • ● Decide on the best type of video.
    Such as a stock footage background, e.g. this free video of a man smiling from Videvo.
  • ● Film yourself on the job.
    It doesn’t need to be fancy, just 30 seconds of you working.
  • ● Equipment montage videos.
    This isn’t the best option but it’s easy; take photos of your equipment and use Windows Movie Maker to automatically put them together into a short video.
  • ● Give out tips and tricks.
    Record yourself giving a few DIY tips and tricks people can do themselves.

 

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