Red Kite Creative

marketing

Weekly Links Roundup – Product Descriptions, Button Design, Accessibility, Low-cost Marketing Ideas

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The top website and online marketing links of the week.

Selling online? Check out this detailed post on how to write a good product description. A persuasive product description might be the very last chance you have to convince a potential customer to buy – just like high-quality photos are critical for ecommerce sites, so are well-written product descriptions.

Here’s an interesting post about button design that I found when working on a new theme this week. Have you ever thought about the differences between rounded vs. sharp-angled buttons – especially if you use a plugin for creating lots of different types of buttons? There’s more to it than you might think – the shape of a button can send a subtle message to your user. Learn how to have more control over your messaging.

While there are some plugins and overlays that claim to make websites ADA-accessible, think twice before relying on them. Lawsuits are being filed against some sites using these quick-fix tools. Learn why there is no silver bullet for making a website accessible.

Looking for low-cost marketing ideas for your business? Here are 14 small business marketing ideas you can execute online today.

Did you find this information useful? Please share with your friends and colleagues! And comment below with questions or observations.

Weekly Links Roundup – 2018 Marketing Statistics, Blogging Benefits, Website Redesigns

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The top website and online marketing links of the week.

Are you a stats person? This is just for you! Here is HubSpot’s ultimate list of marketing statistics for 2018 – enjoy! Some of the standouts for me include:

  • 84% of people will not make a purchase if they are dealing with an unsecured website. (Blue Corona, 2018). What this means: you need an SSL certificate for your site if you don’t already have one.
  • 70-80% of search engine users are only focusing on the organic results. (MarTech, 2018). What this means: the majority of searchers ignore the paid results on search results pages.
  • B2B companies that blogged 11+ times per month had almost three times more traffic than those blogging 0-1 times per month. (HubSpot, 2015). What this means: you need to pay more attention to your blog.
  • 11 a.m. ET has the highest clickthrough rate for email sends. (HubSpot, 2015). What this means: your email platform likely offers you the choice of when to send out your mails or newsletters, so take advantage of that.

And a logical next item: see 5 reasons why fresh content is crucial for SEO. That means regular blog posts or other additions of high-quality content on a consistent basis. Google likes regular updates, and regular updates make search bots visit your site more frequently. More frequent visits can lead to ranking improvements, as long as the new content is high in quality.

How can you tell if you need a website redesign? A few key things that say “yes, you could benefit from a redesign” include:

  • Your site is not mobile friendly (this will impact your search rankings).
  • Your site is older than 3 years, and may be looking dated.
  • Your site isn’t converting well (people aren’t contacting you or buying or signing up the way you want them to).
  • Your site doesn’t have the features you need anymore as your business has changed.
  • Your site doesn’t reflect your current business identity or brand.

When you’re ready to chat about a redesign, please get in touch. Red Kite is here for you!

Did you find this information useful? Please share with your friends and colleagues! And comment below with questions or observations.

Weekly Links Roundup – Website Problems, Nofollow, Android vs iPhone, Local Competition

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The top website and marketing links of the week.

I’m on a constant campaign to get my clients to overcome these common problems that hold their websites back. Mobile-unfriendliness, low-quality (or mostly absent) content, free website builders, and lack of trackable conversions are always issues that can be fixed to make your site a more powerful marketing tool.

What is the “nofollow” tag, and when and how would you use it? Learn how to use nofollow to avoid passing linkjuice to sites that may be in any way questionable.

Here’s something interesting (if a bit clickbait-y): did you know that research suggests that iPhone users spend more on online transactions than Android users? See what’s behind this and how you might use it in your marketing efforts. Make your own decision as to its validity!

Finally… if you’re in a battle for customers and conversions with other local businesses, learn how to perform a basic local business competitive audit. This can help you identify why Competitor A is doing better in Google Search than you are.

Friday Link Wrapup – Blogging, Email Marketing, Millenials, SEO Tips

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The top website and marketing links for this week.

I always advise my business clients to consider including a blog in their new or redesigned website. Sure, it can be a lot of work, but most of my clients who do it consistently find it’s worth the effort. If you’re on the fence about whether to commit or not, here are some great reasons to start that blog including: benefits for SEO.

If you run an email newsletter (or are thinking about starting one), here are five tips from CopyBlogger to make your new signups feel all warm and fuzzy.

If you market to Millenials, here’s an infographic that can help you focus your efforts where they’ll have the most impact.

And finally… are you confused or frustrated by SEO? Here are 10 quick fixes – really, most will take under an hour – to boost SEO on your website.

Friday Link Wrapup – Promotions, Millennial Shoppers, Analytics Spam

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The top website and marketing links for this week.

Need a marketing boost? Quality Logo Products has a monthly grant in which they provide $500 worth of promotional materials from their site to a small business that has a unique story to share. What could you do with all those marketing goodies? A giveaway? Stock your table at a trade show? It’s all up to you. And, you must be willing to be interviewed – yet another opportunity to get your business out there.

To sign up for the next monthly grant, visit Quality Logo Products.

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If you’re running an ecommerce site that targets Millennials, here’s an insightful post on how Millennials work out their buying decisions. Learn how they feel about advertising, product research, authenticity and more.

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It’s not just important to have a business website today – you have to have the right features too. Here’s a list of the top 10 essential features that every business site should have. The ones that are the biggest problems for new clients that come to me for help are:

  • Non-responsive design – if your site’s not mobile-friendly by now, you’re really just helping your competitors.
  • Missing or unclear calls to action – not making it super-easy for the user to figure out what you want them to do.
  • No testimonials – let your happy clients help convince the new customers how great your company is.

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Finally… if you’re dealing with the headache of Google Analytics spam, here’s a big, detailed guide for getting rid of it. Warning: this is not for the faint-hearted.

Friday Link Wrapup – Hiring a VA, Optimizing Pages, Marketing Fails

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The top website and marketing links for this week.

Okay, so these first three aren’t website or marketing links, but they might be good for you anyway.

I just hired my first VA (virtual assistant), something I probably should have done a few years ago. It felt good, even though right now it’s just a 2-week trial to see how we work together, but I’ve taken the first step.

If you’re interested in having someone who can help you get more done with you working less time, here are some references I used when figuring out how and who to hire:

From MOZ, here’s great SEO tip: optimize a page for how users are actually using the page. There’s a detailed and helpful 7-step guide to pulling this off here.

Finally, a guide to why your marketing efforts are failing from Soul Proprietor.