Need help with marketing? Join my Marketing Club

☰

Category: Pro Content

IMC19: Architectural Photography

I’m joined by Jack Nelson (Photographer) to discuss why great photography is crucial to show your property in the best light.

Notes

The importance of great photography

  • Why is it worth the time and money?
  • Examples: Exterior Croome Court, Interior Croome Court & Heath Town

Get the lighting right

Examples: Kensington Palace & 3D Render image comparison

Staging

  • Interior or exterior
  • Make sure everything is neat and tidy
  • Image examples: Airbnb Slide 17 & Airbnb Slide 18
  • Light and bright  
  • Dark and Dull  
  • Trace of life

Video walkthrough

  • Drone or Handheld
  • Understand the layout and flow better than photos
  • 3D Experiences

3D Experiences

Matter Port

Augmented Reality (AR)

  • Move freely within 3D space View products in situ 
  • Communion AR example and commentary video
  • www.apple.com/augmented-reality/

IMC18: How to design and build a website

I share my website design process from planning to going live as well as reviewing some of the most popular website platforms to chose from.

Notes

My Process

  • Series of calls
  • Client and dev team working together 
  • Planning > Content > Design > Go Live > Review Iterative design
  • Objectives – What must the site do?
  • Audience – What do they need? How the website will help? Competitors – What are they doing well?
  • Site plan – Main landing and supporting pages + other content ideas 
  • Add everything to a Project Plan

See my full Website project checklist

Project Plan

  • What are your website’s objectives?
  • Vision – What do you want to be known for? 
  • Outcomes -Downloads, sales, signups etc
  • What content needs to be on the site 
  • Sites or styles your customers like 
  • Deadlines and dates

More information on What to think about when planning your website

Audience

Watch #11 Understanding your customer

Competition review

  • Search as your customer
  • Review the top three results
  • What do you like? What are they doing well? What can you do 10x better?
  • Placement and use of keywords
  • Outline site plan 
  • Landing page based on keywords 

Content Gathering

  • Focus on content, not design
  • Wireframe – Copy site plan into real pages on dev website SEO
  • Identify keywords people use when looking for a product 
  • Review existing content – What to keep, discard or made new

 “If you create a page on a keyword that is 10x better than the pages being shown in search results (for that keyword), Google will reward you for it, and better yet, you’ll naturally get people linking to it!”

Check out Moz.com for a Beginners Guide to SEO

  • Start with the snippet
  • Write title and description – This is the first thing people will see 

Landing page SEO

Watch #6 SEO Strategy
Watch #16: Improve landing page SEO
More information on Creating and supplying content for your new website

Design & Build

  • Confirm pages / page elements
  • Refine content on each page to best enable a visitors objective.
  •  Add supporting content. Such as FAQs, PDFs or blog articles 
  • Review the internal linking structure
  • Design around content to help it stand out (where it needs to)

Landing page

  • Titles and Headings include keywords.
  • Use a variety of content: headings, lists, images, tables Include keyword variations in the content
  • All related supporting pages link to LP
  • Use FAQ and other schema markups
  • Include social proof
  • Include Call To Action: Signup, buy, download

Supporting pages

  • Help someone, add value
  • Questions you get asked a lot
  • FAQ Misconceptions people have of your industry 
  • Mistakes people make
  • Things you wish more of your clients knew 
  • Provide insight into you and your business 
  • Customer interviews and case studies – 
  • Testimonials Benefits of your product
  • Link back to LPs in the first paragraph

Images and video

  • Increase time on page
  • Helps people scan content
  • People more likely to read if the text is broken up with video and images

 Watch #8 Image Editing to learn some key skills

Go Live (before)

  • Test site on different browsers and devices
  • Test all contact forms, checkout process, downloads Review site plugins and extensions
  • Make migration plan – Set up page redirects Check for missing pages or page errors

Go Live (after)

  • Add SSL certificate
  • Check for missing pages and issues (again)
  • Verify site on Google Search Console (GSC) and add XML sitemap 
  • Add Google Analytics (GA) tracking code
  • Test GA code is collecting data

Watch #7 Google Analytics for a primer
Watch #17: Google Search Console (GSC) walkthrough

Review

  • Review of the site against objectives
  • Review GSC to make sure there are no errors
  • Improvements and future ideas

Website CMS (Content Management System)

Ways to make a website
Help keep up to date Balance of price / complexity

WordPress

Shows the dominance of WordPress that it is still growing
https://kinsta.com/wordpress-market-share/

  • Has an active community and developers 
  • Can get started for free on WordPress.com 
  • Completely flexible when self-managed Lots of plugins such as ecommerce 
  • Best control over SEO
  • Two options: Managed (like Wix or Squarespace) or Self Hosted
  •  New layout editor

Wix

  • Quick to set up with simple questions
  • Lots of templates
  • Setup process helps refine 
  • Simple blocks & prompts help write content 
  • Additional apps for appointments and ecommerce

Weebly

  • The platform I have the least experience with Plenty of themes
  • Design editor allows too much freedom 
  • Free account available

Squarespace

  • Lots of control over design Interface can be a little fiddly at first Ecommerce quite basic
  • Can adjust template code

Shopify

  • Used by 18% of ecommerce websites 
  • Simple setup, ecommerce focused 
  • Customisable templates
  • Has a point of sale app
  • Simple editor but very quick
  • Geeks can dive into template code 
  • We make our mini projects shop in it
  •  Easy to manage products, even from app

IMC17: Google Search Console (GSC) walkthrough

In this episode I talk you through how to use GSC (Google Search Console) to find your website Google rank and page errors.

Notes

What is Google Search Console (GSC)

Tool that shows data from Google Search Understand how people find you online What keywords get the most clicks Identify problems on your site

Setup and verify

  • Domain or specific URL
  • Example mydomain.com for Domain or https://mydomain.com for URL
  • Prefer verifying with GA

Overview

At a glance look to make sure there are no issues

Performance

  • Compare traffic you are getting with clicks
  • Impressions are times snippet show in search results
  • Clicks are when people clicked through to website
  • Queries are the search terms people use

Identify traffic issues

  • Filter on blogs
  • View traffic to pages. Why lots of impressions but not many clicks
  • Click URL to filter on specific URL and view queries
  • View average position, are things headed in right direction
  • View page snippet and page content, do they make sense

SERPS

  • What search engine ranking position you are for certain keywords (Add new query)
  • Add new query for ‘marketing club’
  • Just started optimising. Starting to get impressions but lacking clicks
  • View page snippet and page content, do they make sense

URL inspection

  • Make sure a page is indexed and if not expedite indexing
  • Adding or refreshing a sitemap can also force Google to index your site again sooner that it would otherwise
  • Check snippets work

Coverage

  • Start with errors first
  • Next any pages that are blocked from index
  • Email domain believed to be from client’s posting email link on website
  • If issues fixed you can re-verify

Excluded pages

* Why are they indexed? Are they linked on your site?
* How to find links that appear on your website site:ratherinventive.com “email.ratherinventive.com”
* This year we changed over the site. Found lots of old URLs still in Google index and have setup redirects to new pages
* Yoast also had an issue where it made all image into pages

Sitemaps

  • Add sitemaps to make sure google indexes all your pages
  • Also helps highlight if there are pages in the sitemap aren’t indexed
  • On WordPress Yoast SEO plugin makes sitemap Yoast > General > Features > XML Sitemaps (click question mark), then see the sitemap

Removals

  • Useful if you must have a page removed from the index
  • Temporary measure. Make sure the actual content has been removed, marked as 404 or no-indexed

Enhancements

Manual Actions

Make sure there are no penalties against your site

Links & Settings

  • Interesting to see what domains are linking to you
  • Add other users. Only give full permission if they really need it

Connect Google Analytics (GA) to GSC

Allows you to view the search data and landing pages in GA

IMC16: Improve landing page SEO

I share how to improve landing page SEO by optimising a specific page of your website to rank higher on Google

Notes

Improve landing page SEO

Optimising a specific page of your website to rank higher on Google 

What is On page SEO?

Work on your site to improve SERP (Search Engine Ranking Position)
All in your control (website platform dependant) Watch session #6 for general SEO Strategy.

Selmach Case Study
Sell high value metal working machinery a Competitor was starting to win business and their Laser landing page was not ranking in Google results.


The Method

Competitor Analysis | Make Changes to Page | Measure Result 


Step 1: Competitor analysis

Compare the Competition’s SEO to our page Keyword Correlation Report and interpret the findings into action.

Process 

  • Group call – Client, SEO, Web dev
  • Review the report – Needed interpreting
  • Decide on easy wins
  • Basecamp to assign actions 


Observations 

  • Category Landing Page (LP) not in 100 SERPs
  • Title tag not using optimised keyword
  • Poor/few internal links
  • No external links to landing page 
  • Increase word count to over 1400 per page
  • Add keyword or variations into content more 
  • Use variety of content: Lists, images, tables 
  • Use schema markup
  • Page not in index. Yoast issue 


Step 2: Make Changes  

  •  Made observation changes to the landing page. 
  •  Add links from other pages.
  •  Create the ultimate guide 

What we did 

  •  Add keyword to heading: CNC Fibre Laser 
  •  Optimise meta description. Not too long and include keywords 
  •  Added product info, testimonials, FAQs, images, comparisons 
  •  Add keyword variations into content 
  •  Added FAQ schema markup 
  •  Add links from related news articles back to LP 
  •  Another review to check progress 


Step 3: Measure & Tweak 

  • Measure SERP (Search Engine Ranking Position) Content update took one month
  • After two months jumped to #3
  • Then to #1 one month later 

What is a Keyword correlation report?

Comparison of your page against competitor pages based on keywords you want to rank for.


On page SEO tips 

  • Title, Meta Description and Heading must include keyword 
  • Great the ultimate guide. 10x better than competitors 
  • Use variety of content such as headings, lists, images, tables 
  • Include keyword variations in the content 
  • Make sure all related blog, product and supporting pages link to LP 
  • Build external links from other websites to the LP 
  • Use FAQ and other schema markup 
  • Check in GSC that page is indexed!!! 

Helpful Links

IMC15: How we make our podcast

I share everything we do to create our Rather Inventive podcast, including lessons learnt, stats and helpful tools.

Notes

What is a podcast?

  • On-demand radio show
  • Daily, weekly, monthly
  • In a series
  • Generally audio only
  • Over 550,000 on Apple Podcasts in more than 100 languages (June 2018)
  • 49% people listen at home
  • Podcast listeners are loyal and affluent
  • 81% of people take action as a result of listening to a podcast

Sources
https://www.podcastinsights.com/podcast-statistics/
https://rainnews.com/spotify-shares-podcast-stats-and-advertising-examples/

Why did we start a podcast?

  • Used to record radio shows on tape recorder
  • Chatted with Al regularly, good to share
  • Great opportunity to meet people
  • Wanted to learn

If you’ve not subscribed to the podcast please do at https://ratherinventive.com/podcast/

  • April 1st 2014 First show with Nick Van der Walle
  • November 2018 – First video podcast
  • December 2018 – Moved entire podcast to video
  • October 2019 – Interview with Nick again!
  • March 2020 – Latest podcast with a magician

Over 90 recordings!

Format

‘Two guys chatting’
Interview show
Reporter / NPR
One voice

Our process

Prep

Structure has evolved
Show notes
List out questions
Practice your start and ending
Script for Podcast running order (template)

Guests

It started with an interview
Interview people that inspire you or youraudiencee
Scheduling – Doodle, Calendly
Script for Inviting a guest onto your podcast/vlog (template)

Recording

Audacity, Quicktime
Zoom, Demio
iPhone (front and back cameras)
External microphone – reducing echo (I use Shure MV5)

Editing

We edit for audio consistency
Audio only – Fission, Quicktime, Audacity
Video – iMovie, Final Cut, Adobe Premier, Shotcut
Music – Intro, background music, Envato Elements (£13/mo, Free account 12 free files/month)

Publishing

Titles – Informative / funny
Graphics – Find the smile
YouTube (free), SoundCloud (£125/yr) / Libsyn (£52/yr)

Sharing

Share on Twitter and LinkedIn. I prefer LinkedIn
Better to share direct link to video/media or teaser clip
Tag in any guests. Share link by email

Sponsorship

How to ask. Pitch an idea Insert or live read Industry standard CPM £10-20
Charge what you think it is worth
Script for Asking for sponsorship (template)
Starting something newTakes a lot of effort and planning
Want to focus on RI, not just guests
Build up IMC
Marketing currently too diverse
Re-use current material

IMC14: How to make fab client testimonial videos

Learn why you should start asking for video testimonials. I share my tips on filming & editing including my recommendations on which software to use.

Notes

Why you should start asking for video testimonials

  • Helping people make a decision
  • Adding value
  • Educating potential customer


Stats

  • 92% of customers read online reviews before buying
  • 70% of people trust reviews from strangers
  • Customer reviews create 74% increase in product conversion.
  • Videos trigger emotions. We mirror people
  • Video has a higher retention rate compared to text Videos are easier to share


How to ask for a video testimonial

‘Can you do me a favour’
Opportunity for customers to get involved

View full list of email templates

Interview formats

Formal Interview

  • Traditional / professional
  • Interviewer behind camera or facing each other
  • Considered response
  • Take longer to organise and film

Quick ‘Vox Pop’

  • Casual, more authentic
  • Capture opinion and emotion
  • Quick to film and request
  • Risky for live broadcasts, if unplanned

Video Conference

  • Easier to schedule, less travel
  • People feel more comfortable in own environment
  • Difficult to control audio/visual quality – Internet speed!
  • Limited camera angles

Selfie

  • Authentic / intimate
  • Easy to request and schedule
  • Mostly concise. Ask one question
  • Rely on technical ability of customer
  • Easier for people to say no. Incentivise?


Questions to ask

  • Impart trust and proof of your service
  • Get a testimonial
  • Share something secret or a tip


Questions to ask

‘What’s your name and who do you work for’

‘What do you do and how do you/your company help people’

‘What’s one thing you do that people remark on or enjoy’

‘What one area have [insert company] helped you in your business’

‘If you were to recommend [insert company] to a friend or colleague, what would you say?’

Sample questions you can use for your own interviews

Tips for filming, editing and publishing great video
Filming. Audio first, then lighting

  • Use external mic, close to mouth. Get rid of external noises. Soft room
  • Outside or face a window. Turn on all lights. Not backlit
  • Turn camera on early, avoid starting. Practice run
  • Sit dow to relax and prevent moving in the shot. Table in front for protection Be positive and be relaxed. People will echo this
  • Allow time, don’t rush. Remove distractions and pressure

Live or recorded?

  • Shared immediately
  • Cannot correct or fix
  • Make sure to warm people up Record ‘as live’

Cut aways

  • Filming extra footage ‘B roll’
  • Buildings, products, people milling (soft focus)
  • Get more than you think you need
  • Use another camera for alternate angles

Editing. Story is key

  • Jump cuts or hidden edits
  • Make notes of good takes.
  • Use mini whiteboard
  • Start with the best interview clips
  • Edit out dupes, cough, ems etc Remove waffle

Hiding edits

  • Two camera angles
  • Behind interviewee’s head
  • Noddy shots of interviewer
  • Cut away shots that relate to conversation


Publishing

  • YouTube / Vimeo
  • Create your own Thumbnail. Optimise for smiles
  • Embed on blog post or client page
  • Add mini text transcript to video or add to blog
  • Title for SEO so people can find e.g. ‘Avigilon camera review’


The kit Ben uses

  • iPhone 7. iPhone 11 has better cameras
  • Shure MV5 mic. Tie clips would be better for formal interviews
  • Clips on iPhone for quick social posts
  • iMovie or Final cut for formal edits (macOS / iPhone)
  • Manfrotto tripod.
  • Joby iPhone mount
  • Mini whiteboard (new idea)

IMC13: Productivity at work

I share my thoughts on how to make better use of your time so that you feel more in control of your workload.

Notes

Productivity books / Concepts / Workflows etc

So much info out there but much of it is fluff

Getting Things Done (GTD)

  • Ben’s first productivity book
  • Capture actions in a trusted system
  • Do the small things first

Capture everything

  • Note down ideas, actions and thoughts in a trusted place.
  • Use Apple Notes, small memo book
  • Helps stop your mind racing

Process your inbox(s)

  • Clear to zero – Paper inbox, capture system, email Do, Delegate, Delete – Don’t skip anything
  • Process your inbox each day
  • Set aside time in the calendar

Is it actionable?
Yes: Do, Delegate or Defer
No: Delete, Incubate, Reference

Weekly review

  • Collect your thoughts
  • Note down in trusted capture system

GTD Podcast

Really interesting podcast, even if you don’t do GTD https://gettingthingsdone.com/category/podcast-2/

Working with email

  • Archive emails, don’t file them
  • Search when you need them
  • Use a clear subject line, so you can find it later
  • Only include people that need to see it Filter email (if you can)

Default diary

  • Block out regular time
  • Share with your team / partner

Don’t let time be stolen from you

  • Keep meetings short / request short meetings
  • Turn off notifications
  • Plan time for social media etc

Don’t write it twice

  • Think like a lazy programmer
  • Save time
  • Reduce mistakes

No excuses

  • Get on with it
  • Take responsibility
  • Just start

Be above the line. Accountability not Blame
Idea from ActionCoach
Helps to prevent procrastination

Exercise

30-60 minutes a day. Walking is fine
Get access to light
Get 7-8 hours sleep (or as much as you need)

Free audio books

Free copies of my fav
Audible books Ping me if you want me to gift you a copy

IMC12: Google My Business walkthrough

From claiming your listing, setting the correct categories to optimising for local SEO

Notes

Why use Google My Business (GMB)

  • Only way to get into the local pack
  • Small factor (<9%) in regular SEO
  • Get a knowledge panel Collect reviews
  • Control of your map listing – Anyone with a Google account could: suggest an edit, post photos, ask awkward questions

Screen-share of Google My businessCreating/claiming a listing

Getting your profile info order https://business.google.com/dashboard/l/11925252192446860058

Add Products / Services

  • Recent updates to this as now split into categories, worth reviewing
  • May have products instead (dependant on category)

Add Photos and videos

Photos

  • Anything that showcases your business
  • Identity – Business logo, cover image, etc
  • Team – your team in action, around the office, etc
  • If you category allows: 360, Inside and out of office or store

Videos

  • A welcome video or tour of the store
  • Why your company stands out versus the competition
  • The company mission, and goals.
  • An inside look at daily operations and customer interactions
  • Customer testimonials
  • Owner, employees, or customers interviews
  • Answer FAQs

Posts

  1. What’s New – Limited to seven days, can be up to 1000 words. General updates, blog posts, customer showcase
  2. Events – Promote an event you are hosting, involved in, or supporting. All events require a title, start & end dates, and time. Add a description and details too.
  3. Offers: If you are having any promotions, sales, or coupons, you can use this post type to showcase them. Like events, offers also require titles, start & end dates, and time-frame. The “View offer” CTA is automatically added.

Questions & answers

  • Make sure to monitor, I don’t always get emails
  • Create your own FAQs
  • Perhaps ask clients to seed the questions for you?

Reviews

Other tips

  • If have duplicate listings, incorrect details. Get someone else to ‘Suggest an Edit’ very powerful way of correcting mistakes
  • Call tracking on website – Change phone number depending on website source. Speak with Ben if you’d like to implement this
  • Add extra users – For marketing team or in case you lose access

Apple maps connect

IMC11: Understanding your customer

Learn how to better understand your customer and fulfil your customers needs with more targeted products

Notes

Two ways to address a customer need

  • Solve a problem
  • Support the life goal

Solve a problem

  • Hungry – Need food
  • Back pain – Take medication
  • 10mm hole – Need a drill / laser cutter / punch
  • More social engagement – Need interesting posts / followers / video

Support a life goal

Move someone from where they are to where they want to be

Jobs To Be Done
‘…your efforts should focus on helping them make that change. Ideally the consumers wouldn’t have to do any work.’

  • Not to be hungry – Food
  • Be fit and health – Medication / Diet / Exercise / Physio
  • Sell more widgets with holes Tools / Contractor / Automation
  • More leads – Focused sales strategy / Sales team / Outsource

‘When we buy a product, we essentially “hire” it to help us do a job. If it does the job well, the next time we’re confronted with the same job, we tend to hire that product again. And if it does a crummy job, we “fire” it and look for an alternative.’

Question: Why do customers hire you?
Why do people hire the IMC?

Build a customer profile

Start simply, add detail as you learn more

Describe your customer in five words Good place to start
Here’s Ben’s: Passionate Professional, Mac user, 40

Download Persona sheet blank.pdf to help build you customer profile

Customer / product fit

What are your customers goals?
How your product helps achieve these goals?

Customer Goal / Product Aim

  • Lose weight / Simple diet
  • Feel healthier / Exercise plan 
  • Meet new friends / Group meet-ups

Other considerations

Awareness

  • How do customers describe the product?
  • Where do they look for recommendation?
  • How can we reach them?
  • What’s your backstory?
  • Why should they care?

Consideration

  • What do they know already?
  • How will they compare us?
  • How long will this process take?
  • What questions can you help answer?

Decision

  • What do they need to know to make a decision? Price, delivery, returns…
  • Who will make the decision?
  • How do they buy from us?
  • And how can we make this easy?

Paradox of choice

We’re addicted to choice
Broadly seen as a good thing
Taken to extremes

Search waitrose.com for “cheese”
564 results found
136 Cheddar products (was 108!)
Choose from Mild, Medium, Farmhouse, Mature, Extra Mature & Vintage (10 products)
Most expensive, No.1 Rollright £29.50/kg

What if I made the wrong choice
Missed a better option
Able to research options endlessly, the internet makes things harder

How do we cope with choice?
Dozens of sizes, prices and features
Opinions from friends, magazines, podcasts
Mental energy to make informed decision
Decision overload

End up differentiating on price
Why we think choice is a good but actually it paralyses us

Restaurants are the worst
Large menu plus specials board
First 10 minutes not deciding
After meal – unlimited coffee choices!
Decisions left un-made by the designer (chef)
We need to make decisions for our customers
Reduce choice and anxiety Increase the throughput

Thali Restaurant
Vegetarian curry house – Bristol
2 set meal times, 2 set menus, one fixed price
Make it easy for me, keep it simple

Use choice to your advantage
Experiment with 2 beers, 80% chose most expensive, 20% least expensive
Add 3rd option, 80% chose middle, 20% choose expensive
No one bought the cheapest – Have 3 options

“seeking the perfect choice is not only a recipe for misery but more than likely does not actually exist.” – Barry Schwartz from book “Paradox of choice”

There is no perfect choice. Don’t beat yourself up about it

No decision is the worst decision
Why we think choice is a good thing but actually it paralyses us

Getting feedback

Helps to understand the customer better and deepens customer relationship

Learn to talk you customers language

Use testimonial text in your copy
Reflect language back in conversation
Use to improve customer persona

Bring your customers closer

A positive review reinforces your opinion of a company
More likely to refer to others

Sign up for a free SayHola account https://sayhola.co

Resources

IMC10: WordPress walkthrough

In this episode Ben walks your through how to use WordPress, from logging in to posting your first blog article.

Notes

Why WordPress?

Can get started for free on WordPress.com
Completely flexible when self managed
Lots of plugins such as woocommerce.com for commerce stores
Best control over SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)
Powers over 30% of the worlds websites
Used by the biggest companies in the world: TechCrunch, Bloomberg, BBC America, Sony, Disney, Playstation, Facebook
Has active community and developers

Screen-share and demo of self hosted WordPress
Log in

1. Go to /wp-admin
2. Use forgotten password

Dashboard

1. Quick tour of key features
2. Check time location

Add pages

1. Create Home page
2. Add dummy content
3. Make sub title H2
4. Add an image. Name image ‘John Doe accountant profile’
5. Link up CTA (Call To Action)
6. Publish
3. Add other pages About, Blog and Contact
4. Show page permalink

Customise

1. Change Title ‘Yellow Jumper Accountants’ and Strapline ‘Xero and Quickbooks specialists’
2. Select logo
3. Add Main menu and add Home, About, Blog and Contact
4. Remove widgets Comments, Archives, Meta, Categories

Add video

1. Add some media to the About page
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=of9809TALDE

Add blog

1. Add a new blog post with image
2. Rename uncategorised as ‘News’
3. Create new category ‘Tax’

Other stuff

Media library
Adding a new user
Changing your password
Adding a contact form contact page
Search optimisation of a page with Yoast SEO

IMC9: Blogging & Content Strategy

Developing a blog content strategy to get found online.

Notes

What is a blog?

  • A page on your website that is updated regularly Company News
  • Helpful information
  • “Your business diary”

What is a blog for?

Insight into your business Passive helpdesk Credibility / Influence Search optimisation

Why should we write one?

  • Get more leads
  • Educate our customers
  • Improve SEO to key product pages 
  • Support sales / tech support

Who will read it?

  • Who you are writing for?
  • Think of your best customers
  • Pay well, friendly, good referrers
  • Understand what they like

Three types of content

  • Helpful – long lasting and specific
  • Topical – relevant but short lived
  • Product (or service) – sales content

Content type examples

  • Helpful (about them)
  • How to file VAT return
  • How to plan your business cashflow
  • How should I price my services?

Topical (about them)

What does Auto Enrolment mean for me?
What is IR35 and how will I know if it affects me?

Product (about you)

Do I need an accountant?
Benefits of cloud accounting with Xero

Topic ideas

  • Questions that clients ask Hints and tips
  • How to
  • Clever ideas
  • Insider info / secrets
  • What makes you different?
  • Something you want to learn or be better at

Use answerthepublic.com to get topic ideas

Content checklist

  • Is it based around a relevant topic?
  • Am I adding value?
  • Do people desire to see it?
  • Will they share it?

Focus keywords and SEO

Build a keyword list
Use Google Trends for simple comparison or Google Keyword Planner for detail
Add keywords to the blog title and copy

  • (most important areas of on page SEO)
  • Title
  • URL
  • Heading 1
  • Keyword research
  •  Use Yoast SEO WordPress Plugin in WordPress to edit on page SEO

Blog styles

Example style and formats

daringfireball.net (simple design, linear format)
loudandclearaccounting.co.uk/blog (linear format with images)
ratherinventive.com/blog/ (blogs in two columns)
hellopippin.co.uk/copywriting-blog/ (main/popular blogs high-lighted)
communionarchitects.com/articles/ (broken into categories with popular blogs)

Writing tips

Allocate time

Create a regular event in your diary
Find a place that removes distractions
Make a routine, start small

Keep it focused

Write for your audience
Write the snippet first
Read around the subject

Ask for action

Email signup
Find out more
Buy related product
Get in contact for help

Images and video

Increases page views
Helps people scan content
More visible in a social feeds
People more likely to read
(Make sure you check the image license, can you use it for business?)

pexels.com / pixabay.com (free image library)
giphy.com (animated images, mainly silly)
selmach.com/news/going-the-extra…tooling/ (example of video in post)

IMC8: Image Editing

Best practices, how to prepare an image for the web or social media, handy tools and live demos.

Notes

File formats

Formats (JPEG, PNG, EPS SVG) Compression
Best pixel size

Vector/icons

(respective sizes of example artwork)
JPEG     PNG   SVG   EPS
147KB   12KB   2KB    324KB

Raster/photos

5760 x 3840 (resolution of example photo)

(respective sizes of example artwork)
JPEG 20%    JPEG 40%.   JPEG 80%    JPEG 100%
471KB           628KB          1.4MB            9.7MB

Image dimensions

At least 1500px on the smallest edge
Recommend 3000px
Start with the biggest image possible
Always keep the original

Naming images

Describing an image to someone over the phone
Describe the content of the image in text
Add keywords if you can, may show up in Google image search
Name before you upload

A tabby cat in a wicker basket.jpg (example file name)

Live demos

Cutting out an image – Colour correction
Social profile icon
Social post
YouTube thumbnail – Podcast cover art

Finding legal images online

Free and paid image libraries
Free – www.pexels.com
Free – pixabay.com
Free – https://www.flickr.com
Free – giphy.com
(make sure you check license is for commercial use)

£14/mo – elements.envato.com/photos/
Other paid options (Adobe Stock, 123RF, Getty images)

Media Selection tips

Show don’t tell – Product in action
Evoke emotion – Include people
Draw up a shortlist, use light boxes
Test out with previews before committing

Useful image processing apps

Free – https://pixlr.com/x/ (image editor, browser based)
Free – https://www.canva.com (image editor and layout, browser based)
£22 – https://www.pixelmator.com/pro/ (image editor, macOS only)
Free – https://imageoptim.com/mac (image compressor, macOS only)
Free + paid – https://imagify.io/optimizer/v (image compressor, browser and WordPress)
£49 – https://flyingmeat.com/retrobatch/ (multi image processor)
Free – Digital Colour Meter (colour picker, macOS only)

IMC6: SEO Strategy

How to improve your website content and structure with an aim of getting to page one in Google.

Notes

What is Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)?

Making changes to your website that you know (or believe) will gain a higher position in search engine results for a given keyword search
There are many search engines We’ll focus on Google:

Why people search

  • Do something e.g. ’camping france’
  • Know something e.g. ’how to fix washing machine’
  • Go somewhere e.g. ’facebook’

First five results get 68% of clicks
Desktop & mobile ranking position CTR 2014 data from Moz.com
 

Terms you should know

  • SERP – Search Engine Ranking Position
  • Snippet – Information on a Google search result
  • Impression – How often your snippet shown
  • CTR – Click Through Rate. Number of clicks compared to impressions
  • Keyword – A phrase used to find something online
  • Long tail – A long and specific keyword phrase
  •  Keywords and how to find them
  • What keywords do people use to find services like yours online?
  •  Keyword examples: “accountant” “cirencester accountants” “accountants in cirencester” “how to prepare end of year accounts”

Google Trends for simple comparison

  • Broad, simple keywords
  • Keyword Research
  • Google Keyword planner for advanced searches
  • Related searches on Google

Create content that search engines will love and people will share

  • Find the best keywords to rank for
  • Find out who else is ranking for them
  • Create content that’s better than those pages
  • Meta Descriptions: Writing a snippet is a great way to start writing content
  • Blog Content
  • Help Content
  • Content Checklist
  • Must have keyword on the page
  • Keyword order and spelling often matter
  • Content of page must be relevant to keyword
  • Avoid ‘thin’ content. Write enough to answer the question
  • Write for people not search engines
  • Page structure development
  • Link to main pages Adding keywords to images Simple URLs
  • Link to page on your site <a href=“/bookkeeping/”>Bookkeeping</a>
  • Link to a page not on your site <a href=“http://website.com/”
  • rel=“nofollow”> A link to another site
  • Add no follow if you don’t want to pass any Google SEO credit

 “If you create a page on a keyword that is 10x better than the pages being shown in search results (for that keyword), Google will reward you for it, and better yet, you’ll naturally get people linking to it!”
https://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo/on-page-seo


 Images

  • Describe the content of the image in text <img src=“tabby-cat-in-wicker-basket.jpg” alt=“A tabby cat in a wicker basket”/>
  • Add keywords in if you can. Can then show up on image search
  • Short and human readable i.e. /blog/how-to-fix-washing-machine’
  • Use hyphens ‘-‘ not spaces
  • Yoast SEO WordPress Plugin

Getting linked

  • Links from other websites (often called backlinks) can be most beneficial
  • Self created
  • Links by you to other sites e.g. directories
  • Natural: Referenced by another website because your content is awesome
  • Manual outreach: Asked for the link or guest blog post

   
 Do Measure Repeat

Use Google Search Console to track performance Tweak site slowly to look for improvements

  •  GSC performance
  •  SERP listings
  •  Page errors and indexing issues

Other Important factors

  • Site speed. Less than one second
  • Mobile friendly
  • Engagement / Long click
  • Reviews and ratings (structured data)

IMC7: Google Analytics

How people find your site, tracking sales and setting up a dashboard.

Notes

Social Media Round Table

What is Google Analytics?

Free tool to track people who visit your website Like a security camera in a shop but not as creepy
 

How do I install Google Analytics? Don’t have GA installed?

I’ll help you
Book free half hour session


Questions to ponder on

Who uses Google Analytics?

How do you need your site to improve? What information do you need to track?

  • What are you trying to measure? Sales, Downloads, Form fills?
  • Social engagement? Best marketing channels?
  • Overview of Google Analytics (GA)
  • Key sections
  • Real-time, Audience, Acquisition, Behaviour, Conversion
  • IMC7 – Google Analytics – 29 October 2019
  • Select account – Five key sections
  • Change date range – Export

Terms you should know

  • Users: Unique visitors
  • Sessions: A block of time spent on your site
  • Bounce rate: A single page visit
  • Pages/session: Average pages viewed in one session

 How people find your site

  • Best sources
  • For new traffic
  • For new visitors
  • For people who spend time on your site • Where you money is coming from !
  • Connect Google Search Console

What keywords drive traffic and SERP

  • GSC performance
  • What people do on your site?
  • Popular pages? Where do they click next?
  • Tracking conversions
  • Which sources generated sales? Does Instagram deliver email sign ups?

Segmenting data

  • View only data from people who buy Or people who who visit key pages
  • View just the sources where traffic converted
  • See which landing pages they saw
  • Campaign URL generator
  • Get more clarity from inbound links
  • https://ga-dev-tools.appspot.com/campaign– url-builder/
  • Setting up a dashboard report
  • Stay informed with regular updates
  • Custom dashboard
  • datastudio.google.com “

IMC5: How to get Five Star Reviews

And why they are good for SEO

Notes

Review examples
What do I mean by reviews?

Why are reviews useful?

  • Find local contacts
  • Multiple keywords

Support SEO

  • Get shown in Google map pack
  • People more likely to click on your entry
  • May also help improve organic rankings

Learn to talk you customers language

  • Use testimonials text in your copy
  • Helps target SEO
  • Reflect language back in a conversation
  • Use to improve customer persona

Bring your customers closer

  • A positive review reinforces your opinion of a company
  • More likely to refer to others

How to collect reviews

  • Ask after a positive engagement – ‘If you were to recommend us to a friend what would you say’
  • Asking after a few successful deliveries. Want testimonials from long term customers
  • End of your support emails
  • Ask for review directly on your Google My Business profile . Send people to the review page directly https://support.google.com/business/answer/7035772
  • Thank people for their review. A free coffee, discount or other small gift No bribes, keep it under £20

Structured Data (don’t be scared)

  • A standard format to identify types of content
  • Recommended to add by Google/Bing

Example schema for a company. Provides context to the data Ties together other online identities Added directly to HTML

 <script type=“application/ld+json">{ "@context": "http://schema.org",
"@type": "Corporation",
"name": "Selmach Metalworking Machinery",
"alternateName": "Selmach",
"url": "https://selmach.com",
"logo": "https://selmach.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/medium_selmach-
logog.jpg",
"contactPoint": {
   </script>
"@type": "ContactPoint", "telephone": "+44(0)1432346580", "contactType": “sales"},
"sameAs": [ "https://www.facebook.com/SelmachLtd", "https://twitter.com/SelmachLtd", "https://plus.google.com/117812825186653408748", "https://www.youtube.com/user/SelmachLtd"
], "aggregateRating": {
"@type": "AggregateRating", "ratingValue": "5",
}"reviewCount": "1" }

Interview with Duane Forrester who helped to develop schema.org
Well worth a listen.


https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?visual=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F559389345&show_artwork=true

IMC4: Get more out of LinkedIn

Get you up to speed with LinkedIn and learn about some of the key ways people use it to get new business.

Notes

LinkedIn overview

Great place for sharing business content
Authoritative personal search result in
Google Good for engagement

LinkedIn stats

610 million users / Over 260M monthly active
LinkedIn provides 50% of social traffic to blogs

Profile checklist

Professional and friendly
No photos from holiday

Personalise the URL – linkedin.com/in/benkinnaird- marketing-expert/
Professional headline – Write how you help people
Profile photo – Recent picture that resembles you. Smiling, approachable
Banner images – Add contact number/email
Summary – Expand headline. Share your experience you have. Keep it simple. Include testimonials that share why people should buy from you.

Screen-share

Review Ben’s profile
Any anyone else who’s brave enough…

Q?

What do you look for in an LI profile?

Endorsements and Recommendations

Who uses these?
Do they help you to decide work with someone?

Engagement

Be the first to comment or help others
Original poster will appreciate your support
Helps stimulate more commenters
First follower video

Posting

Share links to your blog or other content
Alternative / addition to blogging

Screen-share

Review of posts and how to

Advanced Search

Find local contacts Multiple keywords

Screen-share

Demo of advanced search


Get noticed

Visit other peoples profiles
Use Google search to find people

Personal pages

These rule over business pages (Alex Galviz)
Get your employees to post your content on their personal pages

Stay connected

Connect with people you meet with or connect in advance (podcast interviews)
Ask a question when connecting

Become a tribe

Idea of WEN (Worcestershire Education Network)
All members reviewing group account
Looking for ideas to share

Resources

IMC2: Using email marketing effectively

How to use email marketing effectively

Notes

Uses for email marketing

  • Regular newsletter
  • Sales promotions
  • Nudge down the funnel

What is a good open rate?

20% seems to be about right
(via mailchimp.com/resources/email-marketing- benchmarks/)

Selmach case study

More focused emails Increased customer calls

Plan

  • Set out the goals
  • Who emails where aimed at Sketch or Wireframe
  • Plan ahead

From 18% to 21% open rate
From 14% to 30% click rate (7% to recipients) Above average 😀

Witley Jones case study

  • Tricky audience
  • Customers mention email content
  • Interesting content or video most clicked

Communion Case study


Email Tools

Email marketing tips

  • Streamline
  • Clean your list, remove the duds
  • Segment your list. Send only to those who want/need it

Personalise

  • If possible use their name Can help visibility in the inbox Can increase open rates
  • Use a named email rather than a generic one to increase open rates
  • Interesting or challenging subject line
  • Ask a question Intrigue
  • Tell the reader exactly what your email contains

What is the goal?

  • Why are you doing this?
  • Have purpose
  • Include a still or animated GIF
  • Including a person seems to get more clicks
  • Use video
  • Ask for action
  • Include a call to action
  • Link out to your website Include a phone number
  • Draw people to the action

Built trust

  • Aim to create an unmissable email
  • Make it easy to unsubscribe
  • Make it clear why you are contacting them Send consistently

Run experiments

Test out different subject lines or content to find out what works best

IMC3: YouTube Engagement

Understanding YouTube analytics and getting more engagement from your channel.

Notes

Why use video

Easy for visitors to watch Helps with SEO

YouTube stats

Worlds 2nd largest search engine 63 million daily viewers Average CPV $0.044 (3p)

businessofapps.com/data/youtube-statistics/

Selmach Case study
Reduced dropout Increase subscribers Get more goals

Plan

  • YouTube delivered most visits and often goals
  • Review stats and optimise engagement
  • Want to increase subscribers to get more website visits and goals
  • Most visits from YouTube
  • Traffic source
High drop off during static title image

Subscriptions increase

YouTube Optimisation tips

  • Optimise keywords
  • Research what people are looking for Similar rules as on page SEO
  • Add keywords into the title
  • Videos indexed faster than web pages
  • Get to the action within the first five seconds Remove boring bits to keep the pace
  • Don’t be boring
  • Know your audience
  • Watch other videos your audience might like
  • Check your retention stats to see where people drop out
  • Ask for action
  • Include a call to action
  • Link to your website in the first two lines of the description
inventivepeople.co.uk/collections/video- production

IMC1: Planning your marketing strategy

Planning your marketing strategy

Notes

Look back at the previous year

  • What worked well?
  • Do them again or ditch?
  • Incorporate the good ideas back into plan
  • Review social and blog efforts
  • Which networks gave you most engagement? Check profiles are up to date
  • What are your most popular blog posts?

 Review ad campaigns

  • Are you getting the return you expect? How do you measure this?
  • Review your marketing plan
  • Vision / Objectives Mission
  • Strategy
  • Audience Competitors

 Vision / Objectives

How do we want to be thought of? Long term objectives, blue sky visions New products or more family time

Mission

Quantify the vision. What are the numbers? e.g. sell 10 tractors a week

Audience

What are their problems and how can we help them?

Competitors

Who are they? What do they do well? Where do they fall short?

Look ahead

What events can you get involved in? Partner with businesses who have same audience?

Review your website

Easy for a visitor to find out what you do? Is it clear how to buy from or contact you? Do you have reviews on your site? Has relevant structured data been added?

Design review

Design Branding
User Journey Visual Content Mobile

 Usability review

Content Site Layout Menu Forms Speed

Example review
Homepage layout Images

Website usability report

  • Increase conversions – make it easier for customers to act (buy, call, or sign up)
  • Improve brand perception – your website is your shop window for customers and prospective customers
  • External opinion – Why? Objective review, experienced
  • Website design and usability report

Newer Posts