Most companies have at least one website these days, some dabble with search engine marketing and social media. However, only a few companies are being forensic with their results and even fewer are really getting to grips with their websites to turn them into sales or lead generation machines.

At a time when discretionary expenses like marketing are under pressure, business owners should be scrutinising their costs. Many businesses do not analyse their marketing spend against any criteria or results. Some businesses think they should be marketing in the good times, some businesses think that they should be especially marketing in the bad times, so which case is right? Of course as a discretionary spend, marketing is an easy target. Far easier to cut a discretionary spend with the swipe of a red pen than to actually make real efficiency improvements, or to set real investment tests and comparisons. However, cutting marketing indiscriminately risks killing the goose that lays the golden egg.

So what should Managing Directors, Financial Directors and Marketing Directors be doing to make the right calls in hard times? It has always been true that you can’t manage what you don’t measure, so the first thing is to start measuring marketing activities. With the Internet this is so much easier than any offline marketing.

Google Analytics is a free bit of code that can be inserted into websites. Google Analytics shows a raft of information including data on where your traffic has come from e.g. referring websites, search engines and keywords used; pages visited, time spent on pages, and paths taken to a site. It is also possible to set desirable  events or actions as goals e.g. clicking on an e-mail address, submitting a contact form, downloading a document, buying a service or product etc, In addition the pages that lead up to the “transaction” or goal can be defined as a funnel.

What does all this data let us do?

• By tracking which sites refer business and which keywords buyers use, suggests which keywords to best invest in, for search engine marketing. Conversely, keywords that have a high bounce rate ie when visitors leave the website almost as soon as they have landed, we can learn which keywords not to invest in, or indeed, that our website needs to meet and greet these visitors far better, by using a specially designed landing page. This is one of the easiest ways to increase sales and decrease marketing costs, essentially doubling the effectiveness of the marketing spend, by doing more of what works and cutting out what isn’t working.
• By defining a checkout funnel, we can identify the pages that potential customers are dropping out on, and take action to identify reasons for drop out, e.g. a needless login process, bad sign posting or unclear pricing. By careful attention to the checkout process a website can change conversion rates from 1% to 4% or more, potentially quadrupling sales.
• With accurate onsite data it is possible to run tests, for example varying the headline, the offer, the image, the call to action etc, often minute changes on page can dramatically increase the amount of potential customers that engage and click on to the next stage. Google themselves have run tests on their analytics sign up page, and by running a series of tests, have increased sign up by 56%

So why don’t more people use the tools that are available?

Often the volume of data can be perplexing, but with a little hand holding from a professional adviser, the data can be made clear and the resulting actions directed.

Many web designers do not install Analytics or inform their customers about the analytics.

Some web companies will not only explain about Analytics, but will make a point of going through the analytics on a regular basis and can advise on or indeed set up goals and goal paths.

So if you’re not sure if you have web analytics installed on your website, ask the company that built it, they may want to charge, and although analytics is free, it does take some time to install the analytics and set up the goals and goal paths.

Once you have access to the information, keep a simple spreadsheet of your most important statistics so that you have a record of the key data, you will then be in a position to ask searching questions about the power and effectiveness of any online marketing or search engine optimisation, and you will have the answers at your finger tips.

So don’t get the red pen to your marketing budget just yet, work out what is working best and what is working least, then invest the under performing budget in the over performing budget to secure your companies growth.

Even more exciting is the second stage, currently in development. This will allow club members to access a private login-only area where they can create a profile detailing their interests, find new people to play with and sign up for upcoming events.

We also gave them a social media presence by designing a blog, connected to Facebook and Twitter pages. This will allow their members to connect on a more personal level and keep up to date with the latest club news.

If you’re interested in our web design and development services or would like to learn more about our easy to use content management system, contact Ben for more information.

WSI Yorkshire are a Huddersfield based Web Design and Online Marketing Agency offering everything from design and development of websites to website training and online marketing consultancy.

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Profiled in the Huddersfield Examiner Steve Harvey-Franklin said that companies could be making much more of their internet presence.

Yorkshire Companies have invested in the internet but are  failing to maximise their opportunities, which considering the economic climate is highly surprising. There is is some extremely low hanging fruit to be had, by taking some simple steps with their internet presence:

The first step is to develop an internet strategy, set some goals and be forensic in your analysis of what works and what needs refining.

A Social Media campaign when done properly can help improve conversions and increase keywords.

Simple Analysis of the website statistics can reveal what elements of the Internet Marketing Strategy are working best , and therefore where to invest versus where to save money.

Steve also called for Yorkshire’s Managing Directors and Financial Directors alike to look to the Internet, to squeeze the most out of their marketing budgets.

Read more of the article in The Huddersfield Examiner

Steve Harvey-Franklin is a lead Internet Consultant and owner of WSI Yorkshire, the Huddersfield based Digital Marketing Agency.

Steve’s team of Huddersfield based Internet Consultants are on hand to give Expert Advoce to their clients throughout Yorkshire and Manchester

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The new position is for an Internet Savvy Account Manager to help promote our internet marketing services to our customers and to help plan and manage or Internet Marketing Campaigns. No campaign is the same. We may mix such techniques as: SEO – Search Engine Optimisation, PPC Pay Per Click Google Adwords Marketing, Social Media,  E-mail Marketing, Internet Analysis, Internet Consultancy and Web Analytics.

We have achieved outstanding results for our customers and are looking for a new member of our team who will add value to our customers.

The Job Specification is below.

New Internet Marketing Jobs at WSI

Role: Internet Marketing Account Manager
Location: Huddersfield
Salary: £20k-£25K according to experience

As the Internet Marketing Account Manager in our growing Digital Marketing Agency you will be responsible for the planning and management of SEO and PPC for client websites. You will also be responsible for analysis and research of prospects. Training will be given, and you will have access to the latest SEO and analysis tools. You will also analyse the results implemented by our SEO Consultants and liaise with clients, looking for opportunities to improve the clients’ online business. You will attend client meetings and be in constant communication with the client to ensure all Search projects are achieving their targets.

You should have hands on experience of Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Google Analytics. As this role is client facing you must have strong communication and presentation skills. You will implement Search Marketing strategies and be competent in the delivery of SEO & PPC Social Media and Conversion Analysis. You will also be responsible for making ongoing recommendations and campaign improvements.

There will be significant training opportunities to further develop your skills.

If you would like to apply, please e-mail your CV and a covering letterincluding salary expectations to lisa@wsiyorkshire.co.uk.

You can checkout the person spec on our careers page

This role overlaps with similar jobs such as

Internet Consultant, Internet Marketing Consultant, Internet Marketing Analyst, Internet Marketing Account Manager, and is based in Holmfirth near Huddersfield

There is a real danger when selecting a web design company that they don’t know what they are doing ! Harsh? Well possibly not.

Many companies are graphic designers first, which is fine as long as Graphic Design Agencies play to their strengths and develop effective partnerships with other online experts. A website of course should look great, but it also needs to get found on Google, Yahoo & Bing, it also vital that those designing websites, particularly e-commerce websites, design the website using best conversion practices, so that the traffic coming to the website is really maximised.

It is therefore incumbent on all web designers to know about:

• Usability & Conversion Strategy
• Web Analytics
• Business and Business Trading principles
• Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
• Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
• Social Media Marketing (SMO)
• A host of other good practice principles such as build quality, W3C Compliance, Accessibility

We’ll cover off many of these points later in the article.

So why is this so important, doesn’t a picture tell a thousand words? Well yes!! But it’s more than just great looking web pages.

So Why Should Your Web Company need to know about all of this. Well because a good website and especially a good e-commerce website should be more than just a vanity purchase, it should deliver a real return on investment and if done properly will represent possibly the best value for money marketing.

Usability & Conversion Strategy

Whether your e-commerce website is your main path to market or not, be sure not to leave “money on the table” by making simple usability and conversion mistakes. Some common mistakes include:

• Bolting an online shop onto an existing site. If you intend selling online, then that is what your site needs to be about, not just a single button taking the user to what may look like another site, not sure about this? well just checkout best in class sites like Amazon & Next.
• Small navigation with Products & Services buttons. nearly all low end websites have buttons for “products” or “services”. This tells your potential customers nothing, it tells Google even less. Instead, your left navigation should be persistent on all or most pages and be your main product categories.

When considering content for your website, you need the right amount of detail at the right time. For Landing Pages, the information needs to be direct. Top 3-5 key points, a great image or graphic with a call to action. the idea being to convert your visitor as quickly as possible making it as easy as possible to see your offering and move on to the next stage. Good practice is often honesty and good layout:

• No hidden surprises
• Clear prices
• Clear call to action
• Key information above the fold
• Uncluttered so as not to distract

It’s a good idea to offer comfort such as:

• A friendly customer service face
• Clear telephone help
• Live help
• Goody badges (showing your security standards, awards, service levels)
• Guarantees & money back offers

This will work very effectively with an allied Social Media Marketing Strategy, we find that of our customers that use us for Social Media Marketing experience conversion rates 2-4 times greater than those that do not use Social Media.

Web Analytics

All of our websites come with Google Analytics ready installed. We also recommend that functions like Goals and E-commerce tracking are set up as well, particularly if about to run a comprehensive marketing campaign. Analytics is the information system that can turn a bad campaign into a great campaign. Typical measurements we report include some obvious web statistics:

• Time on site
• Number of visitors
• Bounce rates (the number of people who stay for less than 5 seconds)
• Pages Visited / Pages Per Visit

We also track more complex information like

• Campaign ROI
• Brand mentions
• Social Media Traffic
• Keywords and pages that deliver traffic / goals / sales / bounces
• Campaign statistics

And countless more statistics can be extracted and derived from Analytics depending on what is required to be measured. Like all marketing campaigns targets should be set, key metrics measured and reported on. Once we know what works best then that is the best place to divert resources to. We are fortunate in having our own web analytics qualified consultant on staff.

Understanding Your Business Online

Pretty websites are great, but be sure your Web Designer or Internet Consultant understands your business. For example:

• Do they understand your products, is it highly customisable, does it come in different sizes and colours, are ther factors that affect the price?
• What is the call to action? Download a brochure?, Buy, Request a Quote, Request a Consultation? Call?
• What are the Checkout issues? Vat Exemptions, Different VAT Rates, Delivery Policies, Discounts?
• Delivery Policy Issues, Courier rates, Bulky Deliveries, Highland & Island Rates, Postage Rates, Integration with Label Printing and Despatch Systems? Integration with the Courier? Free Delivery Policy etc
• Marketing Discounts Policies, Free delivery above a certain spend? % discounts on spend, offer codes, vouchers.

It’s no good spending £5,000 or £25,000 on a website to find that what you take for granted has been overlooked. Make sure that your Web People ASK these questions.

Search Engine and Online Marketing

It’s important to get your web designers, your offline agency and your Internet consultants fully aligned to your strategy, to both avoid duplication and to ensure that they are complementing each other to your benefit.

Web Design, Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimisation, E-Mail Marketing and Social Media all work together. Make sure that your Digital Marketing Agency has expertise in all of these areas, this isn’t always easy for business owners and marketing departments, but here are a few pointers that may help when selecting an agency:

• Can your Internet Consultant explain Internet Marketing without getting overly technical. At the end of the day it is all common sense once you know how. If they know what they are doing, they will be able to explain quite clearly and easily.
• Do they understand business, most of all YOUR business, this should be reflected in their specification and proposal to you.
• Pick on one or two of your own competitors, see if your web designer can tell you why they do so well or so badly.
• Don’t accept broad generic answers and don’t be fobbed off with “It’s a trade secret”
• Ask for testimonials and ask them to demonstrate what they have done with other companies.
• Do they seem experienced enough to give you high quality professional advice
• Do their claims sound too good to be true? If so they probably are.
• Have they provided a comprehensive and comprehensible analysis of your website?
• Are they able to propose a coherent Internet marketing plan, that changes through time as results and analytics change? or are they a one trick pony just offering Google AdWords or just Link Building?
• Who will they be putting on your account? are they qualified? Will they appoint a qualified project manager?
• Are they Google AdWords and Analytics qualified
• Are they members of a body like SEMPO (Search Engine Marketing Professionals Organisation)

If they can’t or won’t answer move on to someone who will give you peace of mind, because they will probably give you results. 

About WSI In Huddersfield Yorkshire

We are a Digital Marketing and Design Agency based in Huddersfield West Yorkshire and part of the worlds largest network of Internet Consultants. We have specialists in the following fields:

• Website Design
• Website Development including Advanced PHP Programming
• Internet Consultancy
• Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
• Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
• Social Media Marketing, also known as Social Networking and Social Media Optimisation (SMO)
• Pay Per Click Marketing (PPC) also known as Paid Search and Google AdWords (we also run campaigns on Bing, Yahoo and also sites like Facebook and Linked In
• E-Mail Marketing

Talk to us about our no surprises site engagement policy and our customer testimonials.

Large corporations, all the way down to small and medium businesses are finding that social media provides a great medium for marketing, brand identity, and for interacting with customers and prospects. If your business already uses the Internet or email for marketing, then you should be using social media as well.

Why You Should Bother With Social Media Marketing 
Social media isn’t going anywhere in 2010, it will continue to have a major impact on the way we use the web. There are several good reasons for your business to add social media to the marketing mix:

It’s Inexpensive and Easy 
It doesn’t cost anything to get started. Sure, you can spend money for advertising on social media if you like, but you aren’t required to spend a penny in order to reap the benefits that social media marketing can bring to your business. These benefits include:

• Targeted marketing
• Increased brand awareness and brand building
• Improved public relations
• Connecting with customers on a more social level
• Customer service
• Polling and surveying
• Customer feedback functions.

To get started, all you need to do is set up your profile on a social networking platform such as Facebook or Twitter. Then tell the public about your sites through your existing marketing efforts such as your website, print, direct mail, or email to get people to follow you or become your fan.

A word of caution, however, ease of use shouldn’t equate to diving in with little preparation. A measured approach is recommended, including establishing your objectives, observing how are your customers are already using social media and then adopting the right personality for your business.

Your Customers are Probably Already Using It 
Social media is growing quickly, proving itself as a major means of communications for all age groups. Chances are, the people you want to reach are right there. Purchasing decisions are being influenced more and more these days by public opinion, including blogs, websites, and you guessed it – social media.

Whether it’s via video, forums, blogs, dedicated review sites or social networking, consumers are using the internet to research products, look for the best deals, the greatest bargains, and the highest level of customer service. Getting involved in ‘the conversation’ can be an invaluable opportunity to be an influence.

Keep Your Finger on the Pulse 
Social media offers opportunities for businesses and individuals never before dreamed of. Consumer information that once took the form of costly surveys, focus groups, or scientific studies can now be done via free polls on social networks.

Feedback that once took days or weeks to receive can now be viewed instantly. And responses to customer feedback can in turn be given to the public in real time. Companies can now find out what the public is saying about them and respond immediately to repair or maintain their brand identity.

Websites Alone Are No Longer Enough 
If you currently rely on your website to create sales or get leads for your business, you’re going to have to branch out into social media.

Social media marketing can help to drive more people to your site and is a great addition to a marketing mix that already includes other internet marketing such as search engine optimisation, email marketing, blogging or paid search ads. Successful web marketing lies with a good balance of all of these methods.