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Your Squarespace Website and SEO – Can it Rank Well in Google? 

Posted on by Phil

When it comes to website building, you have plenty of options. But can a Squarespace website rank well in Google? Is it worth the time, money, and effort to build a website on the Squarespace platform? We’re here to answer those questions once and for all.

Squarespace is an incredibly popular platform for creating websites. It’s easy to use, has a wealth of features, and boasts an impressive suite of templates. But does that mean you should use Squarespace for your business website?

Let’s take a look at what Squarespace offers when it comes to SEO.

The Pros of a Squarespace Website for SEO

First off, Squarespace is equipped with basic SEO tools like meta tags and titles that you can customize for each page on your site. This means you can provide search engines with detailed information about the content of your pages, which helps improve their visibility in search results. In addition, Squarespace also provides an XML sitemap that makes it easier for search engines to index your pages. Finally, the platform also has built-in support for SSL (Secure Socket Layer) encryption and AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages). Both are important for improving your website’s security as well as it’s ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs).

The Cons of Squarespace for SEO

There is one major downside when it comes to your Squarespace Website and SEO – its codebase isn’t optimized for speed or performance. That means if your website takes too long to load or isn’t responsive enough on mobile devices, it could hurt your SEO rankings in the long run. The codebase for Squarespace is also not accessible, so there’s a disadvantage there too when it comes to technical SEO. There are certainly ways around this issue – such as using caching plugins or leveraging content delivery networks – but they do require extra work and knowledge on your end.

All in all, Squarespace is a great option if you’re looking to quickly set up a basic website without investing too much time or money into the process. Its built-in SEO tools are useful for optimizing your site’s visibility in SERPs, but there may be limitations due to its non-optimized codebase. However, these issues can be addressed by leveraging external services such as caching plugins or content delivery networks. Ultimately, whether or not a Squarespace site ranks well in Google depends on how much effort you put into optimizing it for performance and speed!

What about Squarespace for Ecommerce?

Squarespace offers a comprehensive e-commerce platform, it’s true. But… How does the proprietary system stack up against the opensource Woo Commerce for WordPress? Check out this article: Selling online: Squarespace vs WooCommerce, which is better?

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Can I Manage Google Ads Myself?

Posted on by Phil

Can I Manage Google Ads Myself?

The quick answer is, Yes, you can. You can create a google ads account and set up an advert that’ll be up and running fairly quickly. But ask yourself, how well can you manage Google Ads? Do you understand the intricacies of:

  • Identifying key reports that will give you the most insight into your campaigns?
  • Are you comfortable interpreting the data in your account and knowing what actions to take to optimise your campaigns?
  • Can you explain key Google Ads data such as Ad Rank, Search Impression Share, Quality Score, or Interaction Rate?

If you do, then you probably don’t need to read on, and I’ll bid you a good day. However, if those things seem a little foreign to you then perhaps you should consider outsourcing an expert to Manage google ads for you.
Can, would, or do you service your own vehicle? Or if you employ people do you do your own employment contracts? And do you do all of your accounting with the aid of an expert in their field?
Again if this is something to consider. Having an Expert manage google ads for you will ultimately give you the best opportunity to see measurable, tangible results – and a positive ROI.
If you choose to manage Google Ads yourself, whilst it may seem easy to get started, it is virtually impossible for a novice user to know whether or not they are getting the best results possible, and there are a lot of parts to a successful campaign.

Managing Google Ads

Managing a Google Ad account is not simply looking at the reports once a month and making a couple of random tweaks. It’s about knowing exactly what’s happening in the account day to day. And then being able to dedicate time each week to check key reports. It’s also important to understand how to research ppc keywords, costs per click, and even the user’s search intent. Then there is the landing page each ad directs the user to. Is it optimised for user experience, is it even relevant?

Google is pretty smart – we all know this. But an expert in Google ads will make calculated adjustments and apply new opportunities to maximise traffic, conversion, and ultimately revenue.

In competitive industries, like law firms, travel, and tourism, or Finance and insurance to name a few – this requires daily check-ins and adjustments to bids strategies, for example, just to maintain the ad position and level of traffic to the website.

A lot can happen in the space of a month. Google Ads is definitely not a “set and forget” platform, so don’t be tempted to think that a profitable campaign will remain profitable without any intervention from you. It’s likely that it’s taken months, maybe years, to get it to a profitable state, and it will continue to require work and time to keep it profitable.

You Can Lead a Horse to Water…

You may have heard the saying ‘you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink’. This also applies to Google Ads. And in particular your website. Imagine the information (or content) on your website is the water. Once you lead your prospects to said water, you need to ensure they find what they are looking for. Simply put, what do you want those visitors to do once they get there? And how easy is it for them to drink – or take that action – How will you make them stay longer? How will you convert them into contacts and then customers?

And if they do convert, what is your lead nurturing process or strategy?

These are all relevant questions to be thinking about and if possible answering before you even set up the Google Ad account.

A "working website" picture pasted on a cardboard box

Why you shouldn’t Manage Google Ads yourself

On more than one occasion I have heard from clients who tried to manage Google Ads on their own. And all too often, have made a complete mess of it. They end up spending thousands of dollars and have no idea if they got any ROI from it.
We’re all human, and with digital marketing being such a minefield, we understand the attraction to manage Google Ads yourself.

Google encourages you to have a go, with their ‘easy’ AdWords Express offer that pops up with every Google service you sign up to.
It seems by doing it yourself you will save on agency fees.
There are so many companies offering SEO and Google Ads services. They hail from who knows where around the world at seemingly cheap rates. (if you’re like me you get at least a few emails a week in your inbox)
All the Google Ads companies claim to be “experts”
Yellow Pages have sale reps selling Google Ads every time you want to talk about how expensive their adverts are.
It’s really hard to know who you can trust and at least if you manage your digital marketing yourself, you’re the one in control right?

If you have tried outsourcing to digital marketing companies before you may have had a bad experience. Unfortunately, as marketing companies, even the honest ones, often get tarred with the same brush, or worse we inherit the distrust or the baggage the client carries with them from the previous firm.

How do you Choose the Right Marketing Agency?

There are still a number of reasons you’ll see better results using a certified expert to manage Google Ads and should avoid trying to do it yourself –

  1. Being found in ways you don’t want to be
  2. Showing the Search Results in the wrong locations
  3. Being found for the wrong keywords
  4. Appearing for negative searches
  5. It’s always Changing

Get a professional to Manage Google Ads for you

Like the references above in the first section, about vehicle servicing legal contracts and accounting practices, there are some tasks or jobs we don’t (or shouldn’t) do ourselves. Factors like not having the time, resources, or expertise to do them as well as they need to be done all contribute here..
Some people may ‘have a crack’ at certain tasks (probably) to save money, some may just enjoy learning or doing it themselves. When it comes to digital marketing and Google Ads, it all depends on how much time you have to learn and keep up-to-date with the ever-evolving changes.
It’s a well-known fact that time is our most valuable commodity – in fact, the one thing on earth we can literally never obtain or acquire is more time. Smart people understand that swapping money for (other people’s) time is an investment – after all, we can always get more money – but we can never get more time!

The Damaging Effects of upsetting Google

We see this so often. To save money, people sacrifice their time to create their own templated websites. Often they try to do their own SEO and manage Google Ads themselves too. Months down the track, they give up in frustration and ask for help. Or worse – they deduce that digital marketing doesn’t work! The trouble is that on the internet, some things last a long time. A website that has been penalised by Google or damaging SEO practices can take months (or more) to put right.
If you’ve tried to manage Google Ads yourself, we understand you’re probably just trying to lead your horse to water. But you may be just getting led down the garden path…
You could actually be doing or already have done some lasting damage that will take time to put right. If you’re spending a bunch of money on Google Ads but not getting results, or even worse, you have no idea if you’re getting results at all – the best advice we can give you is, STOP! Talk to someone who understands and get yourself back on track.

Increase Brand Awareness: A Guide to Getting Your Name ‘Out There’!

Posted on by Phil

Have you ever wondered how some brands become household names? How do they get their name ‘out there’? And where the heck is ‘there’?

We’re here to tell you that it isn’t easy, but it can be done, but you’re going to need some understanding of what you should spend on marketing… And you’re going to need some money to spend. In this article, we’ll discuss the basics of brand awareness and how to increase your brand’s visibility in the marketplace. Let’s get started!

What Is Brand Awareness?

Brand awareness (or branding) is essentially an outbound marketing tactic. This strategy used by businesses to create a presence in the marketplace and build relationships with potential customers. The ultimate goal of any good branding campaign is to create recognition in the minds of consumers. That’s so that when they need a particular product or service, your company will be the first one that comes to mind. That means it needs to be frequently getting in front of people – and hoping the right people respond to it.

Outbound marketing

Outbound marketing is a traditional tried and true technique of promoting products and services to the wide world out there. It employs traditional methods or tactics, such as radio, television, and print ads. Outbound also includes tactics like generic email campaigns and direct mailers. Outbound marketing is primarily about getting your message out. And hoping it hits its intended target, whether that be through clever design or effective targeting tools like demographics. Outbound Marketing has been around for decades. But is it still as effective today in the digital world?

Inbound Marketing

Inbound Marketing is the future of digital marketing; no longer are we talking about simply pushing out messages and hoping for the best, Inbound puts the customer first. It’s all about providing customers with valuable and tailored experiences.  Ideally, you’ll not only keep them informed but also entertained, meaning they can stay engaged with brands for longer. In a world where there is an increasing number of ads and messages vying for attention, Inbound is key to staying relevant with customers in the long term. In short –

Inbound Marketing is no longer ‘nice to have’ but essential for success in the modern digital world!

How To Increase Brand Awareness

There are several methods for increasing brand awareness. Here are some tips on how to do so effectively:

  • Identify a Target Audience – It’s important to identify who your target audience is before you begin marketing your product or service. You need to know what kind of people will be interested in buying your product or service and tailor your strategies accordingly.
  • Utilize Social Media Platforms – Leveraging social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube can help you reach a large number of people quickly. You can also use these platforms for more targeted campaigns by targeting specific demographics based on interests and location information.
  • Content Marketing – Content marketing helps establish trust with potential customers by creating informative content related to what you have to offer. This could include blogging, creating videos, e-books, whitepapers, etc., all designed with the intention of educating people about your products/services and establishing credibility in the industry as an expert source of knowledge.
  • Paid Advertising – Paid advertising is another way of getting your name out there quickly and effectively. By utilizing search engine optimization (SEO) techniques such as pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns and sponsored ads on social media platforms, you can reach potential customers at a much higher rate than organic tactics alone would allow for.

There’s no Silver Bullet to Getting your name ‘out there’.

As you can see from these tips, there are many ways to increase brand awareness for your company or organisation. It’s important to remember that any good branding campaign requires time, effort, research, and dedication if it’s going to be successful—so don’t expect miracles overnight! With patience and persistence though, you’ll soon have your name ‘out there’ where everyone can see it! Good luck!

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NPS – Net Promoter Score – How happy are your customers?

Posted on by Phil

We’ve all heard the team “the squeaky wheel gets the grease.” And although we definitely recommend visiting a mechanic over fixing your car with a can of grease, this expression really does still apply to your customers.

Customer reviews have a lot of power — especially in the internet age, when recommendations and complaints can go viral on social media faster than you can say “the customer is always right.”

Word-of-mouth recommendations, and complaints, are taken incredibly seriously by consumers. Recommendations from friends and family members are the most trusted source of advertising for 83% of respondents, and nearly 100% of customers surveyed said they trusted recommendations from other people — even strangers — more than content from brands.

Conversely, a Harvard Business Review study found 48% of customers who had negative experiences with a company told 10 or more people. And as it turns out, customers like talking about bad customer experiences more than good ones — American Express’s “Global Customer Service Barometer” survey found the average customer in the United State tells 12 other people about good experiences — and 24 people about bad experiences.

If you’re reading this and starting to panic because you have no idea what your customers think of your product or your service, remain calm. You just need a method to start surveying them and analyzing their reviews to determine how loyal and enthusiastic your customers are — or aren’t. That’s where the Net Promoter Score® can help. It’s also why it NPS should be incorporated into your overarching marketing strategy

→ Download Now: Customer Service Metrics Calculator [Free Tool]

What Is Net Promoter Score?

The Net Promoter Score, or NPS, is a simple survey method to help you determine how loyal your customers are. NPS is a customer satisfaction metric that measures, on a scale of 0-10, the degree to which people would recommend your company to others.

Surveying Your Customers

NPS is calculated by surveying customers and asking the question, “on a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend to a friend?”

So once you’ve collected the answers to this question, you can categorize customer answers into three groups:

  • Customers who answer with a 9 or 10 would most likely recommend to a friend, so they are promoters.
  • Customers who answer with a 7 or 8 are neutral, so they are passives.
  • Customers who answered between 0 and 6 most likely wouldn’t recommend to a friend, so they are detractors.

Tally up the total number of respondents, and then tally up the number of respondents in each category. Determine the percentage breakdown of each category.

Calculating NPS / Net Promoter Score

Then, to calculate NPS, you subtract the percentage of “detractors” (customers who wouldn’t recommend you) from the percentage of “promoters” (customers who would recommend you). Obviously, the fewer detractors, the better. Regularly surveying and evaluating the NPS for your business allows you to establish benchmarks so you can figure out how to improve the loyalty of your customers — and, hopefully, generate more positive recommendations than negative reviews.

So, if you surveyed 31 customers, and twenty four were promoters and three were detractors, 77% would be promoters, and 10% would be detractors. The formula for your NPS calculation would be:

NPS = 77% – 10% = 68

Net-Promoter-Score_Calculation.

Net Promoter Score by Industry

Context is important when it comes to most statistics and data, and NPS is no exception. The average NPS varies across industries, so it’s important to consider the context of your industry when evaluating your own company’s NPS. Below are customer experience management company Satmetrix’s calculations for the average NPS, by sector, in the United States:

1. Department/Specialty Stores: 52

2. Tablet Computers: 52

3. Brokerage/Investments: 46

4. Online Entertainment: 43

5. Online Shopping: 43

6. Airlines: 39

7. Auto Insurance: 39

8. Credit Cards: 37

9. Laptop Computers: 36

10. Hotels: 36

11. Home/Contents Insurance: 35

12. Smartphones: 34

13. Banking: 34

14. Grocery/Supermarkets: 32

15. Cell Phone Service: 32

16. Software & Apps: 30

17. Shipping Services: 28

18. Life Insurance: 26

19. Drug Stores/Pharmacies: 26

20. Travel Websites: 18

21. Health Insurance: 14

22. Cable/Satellite TV Service: -6

23. Internet Service: -7

Average-NPS

Source: Satmetrix

NPS – The Impact of the Net Promoter Score

Referral Marketing

A high NPS helps companies take advantage of referral marketing. It helps companies harness the enthusiasm of engaged, promoter customers to generate buzz and awareness and attract new customers. Through customer loyalty and brand advocacy, brands can use enthusiastic customers’ word-of-mouth and online recommendations, social media promotion, and event attendance to gain new leads and customers.

Here are a few more convincing stats about the power of referral marketing — if you aren’t already convinced:

The success of referral marketing is a reflection of social proof — the theory that consumers will adapt their behavior according to what other people are doing. If a person knows your company already has hundreds of happy customers, they’ll be more likely to consider purchasing from you.

NPS / Customer Loyalty

It’s easy to focus on how to acquire new customers, but you also want to constantly evaluate how to retain existing customers and keep them happy, too.

Why? Two big reasons:

  1. It’s 5-25X more expensive to acquire a new customer than it is to retain an existing one.
  2. Increasing customer retention by 5% can increase profits by 25-95%.

These numbers aren’t anything to scoff at. While marketing and sales teams are hard at work attracting, converting, and closing new customers, customer success teams need to be hustling to retain customers and reduce churn. NPS is a way to measure progress on that front.

Companies should measure NPS results over time — both the overall  Net Promoter Score, and the breakdown of scores in each category — to evaluate churn risks and other potential potholes. An increasing number of promoters and a decreasing number of detractors is ideal, but you should also measure how the breakdown changes over time. An increased number of detractors is an obvious red flag, but pay attention to your passive responses, too.

What should you monitor with NPS?

If the number of promoters decreases, and the number of passives decreases, that could mean customers are less satisfied and are at risk of becoming detractors or switching to another brand.

If the number of detractors decreases, and the number of passives increases, that could mean customers are happier with your product, but that they still aren’t completely satisfied enough to promote you.

An abrupt change in the number of promoters or detractors is a clear signal, but stay vigilant of passive respondents, too — they could be on their way to either end of the NPS spectrum.

Now that you’re ready to learn from your customers — and engage them through customer loyalty programs and social media — it’s time to start asking questions.

You can use survey tools to ask your customers the NPS question — “on a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to refer us to a friend?” We also suggest leaving an open form so customers can comment about why they gave the answer they gave so you can analyze your quantitative and qualitative results.

Net Promoter, Net Promoter System, Net Promoter Score, NPS, and the NPS-related emoticons are registered trademarks of Bain & Company, Inc., Fred Reichheld, and Satmetrix Systems, Inc.

11 Stats about Landing Pages for Marketing

Posted on by Phil

A landing page (LP) is a standalone website page dedicated to a specific marketing campaign. The primary function is to convert site visitors into leads. Landing pages typically offer visitors something that they may be interested in. For example, this may be an Ebook or a free trial, in exchange for contact information. Getting this information then gives businesses the tools they need to further nurture leads and urge them down the purchasing funnel.

Since landing pages are tailored to customer interests, using them in your marketing strategy can help you convert a significant number of qualified prospects since you can assume that they’re ending up on a landing page because its content interests them.

If you’ve yet to consider using them or you want to update your current LP strategy, this piece will go over 11 stats that make a case for using landing pages as a means to increase your conversion rates and generate more leads.

 

 

Landing-page-sketch

 

11 Stats That Make a Case for Landing Pages

 

1. The average Landing Page conversion rate across all industries is 9.7%.

Given that 10% is a benchmark for a good conversion rate, taking the time to create a LP that carefully considers the interests of your target audience will benefit your business. Whether you sell SaaS or clothing, or recuitment, a higher conversion rate from landing pages means a longer list of leads to nurture into paying customers.

 

2. Landing pages are the least popular type of sign-up form, but they have the highest conversion rate (23%), and 62.6% of leading landing pages already use them.

Using LP’s to obtain customer contact information for lead nurturing is likely to bring higher conversions. If you decide to use forms, the highest-converting number of fields is 3, with an average conversion rate of 10%. The most popular combinations use email address and name (7%) and email address and birthdate (5.7%).

3. Businesses using optimisation software for their LP’s see an average conversion lift of 30%.

Optimisation is always an essential factor for generating traffic anyway. Using optimisation tools to perfect your landing page strategy is valuable for increasing conversions.

 

4. Addressing buyer fears on LP’s can increase conversion rates by 80%.

Marcus Sheridan, a popular keynote speaker at Inbound, ran an experiment where he found that addressing customer fears, like email spam or personal date use, on his LP increased his form conversion rate. Be upfront with consumers about what will come from completing forms on your landing pages.

 

5. Personalised CTAs convert 202% better than default versions.

Consumers prefer personalisation because it ensures that they aren’t overloaded with irrelevant information that doesn’t pertain to their interests. Given this, using personalized and targeted CTAs in your landing pages will likely increase your conversion rates.

 

6. 48% of top LP’s ranked in Google Maps and organic search query results

Ensuring that your landing pages are SEO optimised is key. Optimising for both Google search and Maps increases the likelihood of showing in search queries. This increasies exposure and the possibility of generating more leads. If you also link landing page CTAs in email ads, you’re ensuring exposure and visibility from three different channels.

 

7. 65% of top LP’s have their business name in the title tag.

Customers value transparency. Using a recognisable brand name and logo shows them that you’re not running a scam or being deceitful. You’re claiming ownership of the CTAs and personal information you’re asking for. Therefore, Including your business name on your landing page is a simple step you can take that can help you increase conversions.

 

8. 30% of top LP’s use video content.

If you already use video as a part of your marketing, great work! Incorporating video into your LP strategy can help you increase conversion rates. In fact, relevant embedded video content can increase conversions by 86%. And, furthermore, 80% of video marketers say that video has directly increased sales.

 

9. 36% of top LP’s have testimonials, 11% have reviews.

You likely already solicit reviews and testimonials from current customers. Repurposing them to use on your landing pages can increase customer trust and higher conversion rates, especially considering that 60% of consumers think that user-generated content (UGC), like reviews, are the most authentic form of content a brand can use.

 

10. 55% of top LP’s submissions on the HubSpot blog came from Ebook offers.

If you have a blog or website that wants to distribute long-form instructional content, offering Ebooks in your landing pages can help increase your business conversion rates.

 

11. 49% of marketers report that increasing customer acquisition is their primary objective in 2020, and a top priority for marketers was generating leads.

If you fall into either of these categories, LP’s can be a valuable element of your marketing strategy to generate leads and increase customer acquisition.

 

Landing pages are a valuable piece of your marketing strategy.

Considering the above stats, we can see that marketers who create landing pages that build trust with page visitors, provide valuable information, and use different content types see higher conversion rates.

Whether you already use them and aren’t obtaining the results you desire or you’re new to landing pages in general, using them will likely help you draw in new customers and drive revenue.