useful advice

Have you optimised your website for mobile devices?

17th November 2014 by Alan Leave a Comment

If not, why not?!

Type in to any search engine “how many people own a smartphone/mobile/tablet?” and you will get a whole heap of information, the statistics of which make the mind boggle. Depending on where you look, headlines and statistics will leap out at you…

“By 2014, there will 1.75 billion smart phone users”

“1 in every 5 people across the globe now own a smartphone”

“7 out of 10 people in the UK own a smart phone”

“Two thirds of Americans have a smart phone or tablet”

“Smart phone global sales increase by 25% in 2014!”

We could on and on but what is our point?

Statistics, data, analysis, research and studies all point to one thing; the way that people (your customers) are accessing the Internet is changing. Not everyone is sitting in a comfy office chair, stationed at a desk. They are more likely to be curled up on the sofa, with cup of tea in hand, half watching the TV and half surfing the web, either on a mobile phone or a tablet.

Nearly 50% of your audience will be using a smart phone as their primary internet access device.

So what?

Not all websites are mobile friendly. Fact.

If your company website was created within the last few years – and you still think it modern – you may be surprised to find that it is not fully optimised to be viewed, successfully, on a smart phone, android or apple, or a tablet.

So, creating a mobile optimised is about creating a mini version of your main website? Er… no.

It is about making sure that it ‘fits’ with what your mobile user wants, rather than shoe-horning the website from a shoe box in to a match box. Websites can be optimised for mobile devices but, we have come across several key design practices…

Simplicity is Key

Trying to cram everything onto a smaller screen than a laptop is sheer folly; it will look too busy, there will be no white space on which your peripheral vision can rest and users will simply navigate away. It should be a simplified version of what is on your main site, with a link to your website included for users who may want to take a deeper look at what you have to offer.

Think of it as giving the headlines, rather than the whole article…

WHITE SPACE: a known ‘trick’ in the world of design, this is where the use of white space around articles, graphics etc. allows the eye to rest, rather than being bombarded with too much text and information. It allows the eye to ‘see’ the shapes of words and content and makes for a tidier, more organised appearance.

5 seconds

That is really all you have for your mobile optimised version to load. We are an impatient lot and research has found that 58% of smart phone users expect websites to load quickly – they expect your website to load faster on their mobile device that when they access it on their PC or laptop.

So, check that your graphics are not making the loading process slow and cumbersome.

Flash!

On one hand, the use of flash-based videos etc. may add a certain something to your desktop website but, for mobile users it makes the loading time on their mobile device s-l-o-w. You will also need to check that images and other graphics are also set to resize automatically to fit the smaller screen of a smartphone.

Touch rather than click

Smart phones are now touch sensitive and it is the way that the majority of users now expect their experience to be on a smart phone and other mobile devices. Think ‘click’ on the laptop, but ‘touch’ on the mobile!

Hence, your mobile-ready website needs to incorporate these changes. If you have a form for example, try to make it as simple as possible, with pre-filled boxes and questions that only need a touch of the screen to answer them.

Drop down menus work well in helping the user on a mobile device to navigate effectively and quickly around your website. Organisation of information is key in a website ready for smart phone users.

Re-direct mobile users automatically

You have probably come across this yourself and can be done on your website but basically, it is possible – in the darkest vaults on online technology – for your website to detect from which device customers are accessing your website from and can, re-direct them to the easier to use website for mobile user automatically.

Track it!

There are also online programs and applications that can also track users of your mobile-ready website and we suggest that tracking your mobile website users is imperative for understanding how your customer behave differently (if at all!) when they access your mobile website, compared to your desktop site.

Mobile is growing at a fantastic pace, in terms of both usage and screen size! Is your website ready for this gentle revolution…?

Errors

Google Analytics recently released some interesting statistics that showed there were a huge number of websites that contained errors that made the mobile-version of their website either unreadable or ‘unloadable’. Ease of navigation, as well as making sure text is readable and not too small, are just two essential key elements that Google is looking for. Be warned that if your website is not mobile ready, it may start dropping down the rankings…

The future? Undoubtedly.

There are loads of articles and forum discussion out there in Internet Land that talk about pros and cons of the how and why mobile ready websites are a must for 2014. WordPress websites are also ripe for mobile-friendly devices – take a look https://www.wpexplorer.com/mobile-optimization-tips-wordpress/

Locally Crystal Ball – what will SEO look like in 2015?

8th October 2014 by Alan Leave a Comment

Following on from our highly successful post about the look, feel and functionality of social media in 2015, we have once again dusted off the Locally crystal ball and taken a look at what search engine optimisation (SEO) could look like next year.

The online landscape is constantly changing and evolving; just as we seem to get used to one aspect, it changes, morphing in to something new that in most cases proves useful – in other cases, it can be a complete flop.

There are many predictions in the horizon for SEO. It is one of the fastest-moving aspects on any online business and so here, after much arguing, debating and general discussion, we have come up with our predictions for SEO in 2015…

“It’s all gonna be mobile!”

The format in which people are now accessing the web has changed in a way that, years ago, no one could have predicted. The smart phone is here to stay and with it increasing in sophistication on an almost day-by-day basis, you need to be ready for the revolution… in fact, it is already happening but we think that the mobile phone really will become stronger in 2015 as THE way that your customers will be buying on the Internet.

What you need to do: make sure that your website is mobile ready so that the important aspects of the buying experience is no lost in anyway.

“We ARE going to be more social!”

If you are not on any social media sites, then you are missing a trick. No, really, YOU ARE! Even though some commentators suggest that suggest social media will take over the role of SEO, there are other who think this will never really be the case BUT, social media is a marketing channel all of its own and you need to be in on the act in 2015; other people agree…

What you MUST do: take some time to look at the social media sites, research where your clients are at and develop a solid presence on your chosen platforms through 2015. If you have not already done so, you must contact us to get the various widgets and buttons on your website!

“Email? Oh yeah, we still use that…”

If you think email is on the way out, think again! Here at Locally, we predict that email will survive but how we use it will change. People are overloaded with email, data and information… this means that any direct email marketing campaigns need to be spot on.

What you need to do: check out this blog and then get cracking on an email campaign strategy for 2015.

“NOW! Now! NOW!”

As humans, we have always been impatient; from tapping a finger, belying our impatience at how slow the final seconds of the microwave seem to be taking, to counting the days till Christmas, we are just not prepared to wait for some things…

… and we predict that SEO will start to be in real time, as it happens!

What you MUST do: develop a strategy that means you communicate with customers, via social media or any other online communication, in real time; in other words, if they tweet you, you respond. This could have big resourcing implications for online, local businesses so you need to be able to manage it!

“Context is King, not just content…”

Content is great. We love content. Google and other search engine like new content, and fresh stuff that regularly appears on website BUT, there is going to be an additional sophistication in our view during 2015 and that is context.

If the search engine cannot understand WHY that particular piece of content is on your website, you may find yourself bounced down to page 10.

What you need to do: tweak your online content to fit with your other online marketing activities, such as Twitter, Facebook, G+, Instagram etc.

“EVERBODY is doing it… and that includes YOU!”

2015 is going to be THE year for making sure that you are not left behind and so if you do not have an SEO strategy, then you website will drop off the teetering edge into the oblivion of lost websites. Sounds dramatic but it may happen.

What you MUST do: have a content strategy plan, if nothing else, to keep your website on the radar but, if you want your website up there in the top rankings, in front or on a par with your competitors, you NEED to be doing SEO.

“Streamline your website”

Is it clunky? Do you have to wait for pages to load? Then before the New Year hits you need spend some time streamlining your website.

What you need to do: spend some time reviewing your website, sorting any glitches and generally having a clean and spruce up.

“G+ it!”

We think that the power of Google will continue to emanate across the web and now that the Google Authorship program is discontinued, we think that the G+ profile will become more important.

What you MUST do: take a look at Google+ and what it could offer you, and how you would use it. If you do create a profile, complete it in full and then ask us to incorporate a G+ button on your Locally designed website.

“Content is most certainly not dead”

We’ll keep saying it until we run out of breath and are navy in the face – content is king, and will still be king during 2015.

What you need to do: take a second look at hiring a content writer. They will be priceless in 2015.

“Stay fresh”

As the saying says, today’s news is tomorrow chip wrapper (or have we made that up?) but freshness in terms of your content need to be current; anything older than yesterday is old news…

Shall we blog?

29th September 2014 by Alan Leave a Comment

Like an over-excited puppy, you created a blog on your website because that is what brings traffic in (all the research said so…) and you started with gusto, creating blogs that you faithfully published every week and then…

(whistles, looks at watch)

(carries on whistling, admires hair in mirror)

…nothing.

(Disappointed sigh)

**Why as a local, online business, you should be blogging**

It’s all about content. It’s all about thriving and surviving in a competitive market place and even though you think that your local customers are just fab, you all need to sharing your eggs around your basket. Relying on one market for business, local or otherwise, is the ‘putting your eggs in one basket’ thing, hence where there are fluctuations in the market place they hit you hard, their impact magnified. Being in business is all about looking for the next thing, improving, creating and selling whether that is a local butchers with award winning sausages or a local foot clinic.

Your customers’ tastes change as they influenced by marketing, opinion shifts and budget constraints; they are busy people too so booking online for a foot treatment is great – unless they don’t find your website. We live in a 24 hour world, where we spend the majority of our time in front of different screens, from our smartphone to our tablet, then mooching around on the laptop for the next big thing.

But, people search the web differently too. They may think they have an ingrowing toe nail but how do you know? They hop on the web and do some research and guess what? Google (or any search engine) will note their location and you, wrote a blog or two on the perils on ingrowing toe nails. Google likes the look of your blog, as people have been reading it and liking it or sharing and guess what? Your website bobs up in front of their very eyes and, better still, they can book online and you have a new customers booked in for a consultation on Wednesday afternoon at 4.30pm.

Imagined if that happened once or twice a week; that’s 8 customers a month that you may not have had before…

“So I’m blogging for survival then?”

Sounds a bit melodramatic but yes and, well… er, no.

There are, the last time someone counted 164 million blogs – but that number has probably fluctuated up and down several zillion times since the man in the back room started his tally chart.

The vast majority of these blogs will have less than a 1,000 visitors a month and represent a disaster zone. Why?

You blog for months and months, seemingly for little reward and it is human nature that if you slog your guts out for months and months on something you find stressful and difficult, another tiny little thing to add to your already busy day, you will stop doing it. Fact.

How to avoiding failing at blogging…

Creating content it is GREAT! But do you market it?

If you don’t, you are not promoting yourself or your business hence you will not extend your readership passed you mum and your sister. Their ‘liking’ or sharing it on Twitter or Facebook is great, but you need more likes and shares and comments and readers…. So promote it!

And don’t forget it is not just promoting new blogs; promote older ones too. If there is an article in the news on the importance of cutting your toenails properly and you wrote a piece on it a few months, promote your blog with some well-placed hashtags.

You have permission to jump on the bandwagon.

You will then find, possibly, that people will read some of your other podiatry diatribes on the ingrowing toenails, bunions and athlete’s foot and learn something; people like being informed, hence your blog starts to gain authority with an increased following.

The next step is to start linking your blog with other authoritative sites; the ‘you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours approach’. Again, this is all about building a reader base so why not try your hand submitting a ‘guest post’ to another site, with a lovely link to your own blog? And then, ask someone to do the same for you – they write a post for your site, and your share links and readers back and forth.

Avoid: plagiarism and replicas

What does not go down well is nicking stuff from other people or simply writing a blog that says the same as everyone else’s. This can be a bit stuff as there is only so many ways and times you can take about a subject and, if it is current and in the news headlines then a blog on it simply adds you voice to many others.

Nicking someone’s stuff that they have possibly spent hours crafting is not only morally slightly-dodgy, but can earn you a penalty point from Google and other search engines. Before you know, your blog and website has disappeared without a trace and it is very hard to get it back in Google’s good books again.

The lesson is thus…

Creating content and posting it regular is great – once a week is fab
Promoting it via your social media platforms is also great
Keep promoting older blogs too
Advanced bloggers also look to guests posts and links with like-minded blogs and websites
Keep doing it!

WordPress – a counter argument

23rd September 2014 by Alan Leave a Comment

Here at Locally, we use WordPress as the basis for great business websites. We work with a growing range of clients, all local businesses making their presence felt online too.

We work with start-ups through to larger companies who offer a range of high quality products and services locally, as well as nationally and, in the vast majority of cases, globally too.

We know that websites need to be creative showcases that have high quality content, great graphics that are not overdone and that the whole thing needs to search engine optimised.

We also know that every business is different and so every website needs to be different; what suits one free school in one area of the country will not suit another free school is another area. Businesses may occupy the same trade or industry, but it doesn’t mean they offer the same product or service, in the same way.

So, we don’t have ‘templates’ as such, although we have an innate understanding of what a business could want and, working alongside our clients, we create great websites that work.

WordPress – not everyone’s cup of tea

WordPress is an open source platform, which, without getting too technical, means that brilliantly technically minded people (like us here at Locally!) can create rather wonderful and spectacular websites for businesses (for anyone, in fact). Associated with a vibrant and fabulous blogging movement, you can create, with the addition of plug-ins and design creativity, a bespoke WordPress website.

But it’s not everyone’s cup of tea as highlighted in a recent article we came across and so, we think it is only fair to present the other side of the argument and why WordPress can create fabulous, creative websites that really do work…

The criticisms levelled at WordPress websites were:

WordPress sites are not ‘truly’ able to be updated or created in a bespoke way – not true! And we think we have a growing portfolio that points to evidence to the contrary. There is also mention that people who create such websites do not know much about code and that they hitch a ride on other developers, using their ideas and creations. Here at Locally we add to the WordPress community, as well as share ideas. Since when has this been a bad thing?
Plug ins – as an open and sharing community, developers from across the web community create plug ins that others can use of their websites to enhance it. Detractors suggest that these plug ins often conflict and break, suggesting that the security of the website will be compromised. With all the recent hacking scandals and dodgy photos making their way online this is, to all intents and purposes, playing on people’s vulnerability. With the right technical help from a company like us, these breakages and conflicts in plug ins can be avoided.
Security – continuing with the theme of security, some industry experts also suggest that the open community behind WordPress is also its greatest weakness. As the platform is written by and shared by large numbers of people, suggestions are it is easier to hack and therefore, your WordPress website could be compromised. Funny how the recent hacking scandals have not affected WordPress but other open source programs…
Every site is the same – again, a common misconception we feel around WordPress is that people assume that because there are thousands of themes to choose from that this means every website looks and feels the same; we disagree. We do create bespoke WordPress websites. Simple.
Lacking in originality – another criticism of WordPress is the perceived lack of originality and that search engines, such as Google, will note this, giving such website a ‘miss’ when it comes to page 1 rankings. This doesn’t seem to affect Beyonce’s WordPress site… hers seems far from lacking in originality and ranking. In fact, research any major topic online and you will come across many bespoke websites that use WordPress and do not seem to struggle from lack of originality.
Updating – apparently the penchant for updating WordPress every few months is an issue that some find deplorable. We think that keep your website fresh, with all the latest technical wizardry a rather fabulous thing…
SEO – ah, the old search engine optimisation argument. In fact, we think our earlier point about WordPress websites figuring high in the rankings more than blows this point out of the water…

For those that knock WordPress we think you are trying to kick an open door; it is a futile exercise! Take another look at what this platform can offer your business.

It’s a tragedy! How rubbish content is costing you money

27th August 2014 by Alan Leave a Comment

Website content is a dodgy subject – what one person likes, another will detest. But there is a bigger tragedy acting out centre stage when it comes to your website content and that is the stuff that is b-a-d.

There is one huge problem with bad content – it is losing you money.

The Psychology of the Shopper

Like a title from an educational series, we need to look at the psychology of the shopper but, before you navigate away and find an entertainment website to catch up on celebrity gossip, just stick here for a while… there is a whole load of stuff written about how and why shoppers make the decisions that they do.

For example, slightly Americanised but this is a great infographic that shows how shoppers make their judgements and decisions based on offers and information they are given https://www.mycustomer.com/news/psychology-e-commerce-shopper

But we are not going to delve too deep in this article but suffice to say, as shoppers, our decisions are based on emotions.

And, buying online is no different than buying in a shop, supermarket etc. Opting to borrow money to buy a new, reliable family car is an emotional decision; looking to get the best deal on flights for your holiday is an emotional decision; deciding not to trust a website because it is littered with spelling mistakes and looks ‘cheap n’ tacky’ is an emotional decision.

Content must fit your company or business; if you are a hip and trendy local cleaning company, your colours and tone of content should reflect this. If you are a local accountancy firm specialising in tax affairs of the rich and famous, then your content needs to reflect this.

Shoddy content with bouncing 1980s clipart graphics is a sure fire of not only pointing potential customer to the exit, but opening the door for them as well. It is losing you money.

If you haven’t reviewed your content in a while, do it now. If you website is not generating leads, take a look at your content and do it now. Why not engage the services of a mystery online shopper and see what they think of the whole buying experience?

Content travesty is causing financial loss for you and your business.

How to add much-needed sparkle and authority…

Hint no. 1: what you do and what you sell

A local butcher on the high street, with an online e-commerce website. Which do you prefer from the examples below?

We make a range of sausages and home-made burgers, freezer ready and with offers on various packages all of the time, you are sure to find a bargain!

Not bad… but try this:

With a growing range of sausages and burger, all made from the finest local ingredients, you can be sure of great products at great prices;

Freezer ready packs – just choose the pack that suits you, pick up and freeze
OR, we can deliver at a time that suits YOU
Place a regular monthly order and receive 10% off
Join our ‘savings club’ for those extra special entertaining events
Organic produce and GSM-free too!

There’s a bit more pizzazz to the second one, displaying a passion for local ingredients that come from responsibly farmed sources. And they are highlighting that shopping with them is just as convenient as shopping at a local major supermarket. As a landing page, this is not too bad.

The moral of this hint: tell the consumer HOW you are different from competitors, without being negative. Remember the unique selling point (USP) that businesses need to create?

Hint no. 2: who you are and not just what you are about

Many companies have websites with an ‘about us’ page and I’m the first to admit, I enjoy a good snoop so always take some time to have a gander at this info. Depending on the value of the purchase in terms of both emotions and price, expectations vary.

A local butcher, similar to the one in the above example, may want to tell people that…

They are a family run firm and when they were established
They hold a variety of qualifications and experience
they have supplied meat and products for some fairly hefty clients and events (adding a bit of kudos…)
Awards they have won for certain products
Local farms or suppliers they use

A little bit of history is no bad thing but if a consumer is investing in a larger product, such as needing independent financial advice, they may want to know a little more about qualifications, award and experience and why they are the firm to trust, rather than the last place the receptionist went on holiday (OK, we are being a bit flippant here but we have all read those ‘about us’ pages that map out a person’s life from the cradle to retirement, and all the bits in between).

The moral of this hint is thus – why customers should choose you, over and above everybody else. Appeal to the emotional aspect of the decision. We all like to know that a firm can be trusted…

Hint no 3: And finally, saving the best till last, is your content boring or thought-provoking?

But, when we say thought-provoking, we do not mean stoking the fires of controversy unless you are prepared to field the negativity that will come your way. It may get you noticed, but is this the right impression you really want to create?

Grab attention with great headlines (this is a great piece about headlines and social media but the lesson is there for website content too – great headlines work! https://blog.bufferapp.com/shareable-content-social-media-research)

The content of your website should provoke your reader (that is, potential customer) think about what it is they need, and how you can solve this need ‘issue’.

You want to feed your kids happy, healthy meat, without nasty bits and cereal ‘padding’ – shopping at your local butcher is the answer AND, you are supporting the local economy too; double whammy and the job is done. And, you don’t want to scrabble to the supermarket and buy your meat in vacuumed, plastic packaging – your local butcher can deliver it!

The moral of this hint – the content has identified the issues, layered it on to the consumer’s life and then presented the solutions. Fabulous!

Is your website content a tragedy?

If it is, you need to spend some time and energy creating better content that attracts visitors, maintains their attention and either generates leads or sales for you BUT, in your quest to tidy up your content and create super-duper info, please do not fall into another tragic trap – sell, sell, sell! That is off-putting too.

How does your content make your customer or reader ‘think’?

How to set up an Auto Reply or Out of the Office message with Usermin

28th January 2014 by Alan Leave a Comment

Usermin is the interface we provide for managing email directly on the server. There a couple of things that work well if done on the server, such as setting auto replies, this is because your PC or Laptop don’t need to be switched on to be able to send an automated email.

The two most common forms of auto replies people use are

a generic, thank you for your message we will get back to you shortly
an out of the office message,normally set for a specific date range

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The Usermin interface isn’t the most user friendly interface, but it is powerful and for the first option you would rarely change the reply message. However, for out of the office messages, there is a little tip that can help.

The key is understanding that all auto replies and auto forwarders are all, in fact, forms of message filters, and the filters section has far more options available that are not seen in the ‘Auto Reply’ tab.

The following video demonstrates how to set up an out of the office for a date range.

(note: whilst multisite.locally.uk enable filters, not all systems using UserMin will have these features turned on, so if you are reading this and can’t see these options, you wil need to talk to your systems administrator)