Month: August 2021

What is Responsive Design and What Can It Do For Your Website?

Have you ever visited a company’s website on your phone, and found that the graphics were off-center? Was the text was difficult to read, and the navigation was nearly impossible? What about your tablet? Do some websites simply look jarring on your iPad? Are they simply less functional? Responsive website design eliminates these issues. By producing websites which adapt, to the screen on which they are viewed, and are usable regardless of what device you use. Why does your business need responsive design?

1. Mobile usage is rising.

More than half of Americans own a smartphone. That means that a great deal of website views are occurring on peoples’ mobile devices. If you’re emailing newsletters to your customers, engaging with them on social media, or promoting your content on blogs, your users are likely linking to your websites from these channels on their phones, and you want them to be greeted by a simple, responsive experience when they get there.

2. Responsive sites garner better SEO rankings.

Google recommends that websites utilize responsive design. Responsive websites provide users with a better experience, causing them to spend more time on the website in question. And when users spend more time on a particular website, visiting several of its pages, that site’s ranking improves.

3. Your customers are more likely to go where you want them to go.

Every business website has a goal: to convert potential customers into existing customers, and to reap more business from existing customers. In order for their website to be effective, it needs to be easy to use, and your users must be able to intuitively get from the home page to a call to action page or a point of contact with your sales team. Responsive design allows you to do just that, on a variety of devices.

Is your web design firm talking with you about responsive design? Ask about their approach to making your website accessible on a multitude of different types of devices in order to build a more successful site.

Posted on by AJ

Developing Your Content Marketing Strategy: A How-to For the Business-to-Business Crowd

Do you have a lot to say to your potential customers? Blog posts, web content, and social media posts just waiting to be written? Before you begin putting your products or services into words, take a moment to strategize around the distribution and targeting of your content.

1. Define your target audiences.

Your goal is to convert visitors to your website, blog, or social media profiles into customers. You need to have a keen understanding of who those customers are before you begin to create content. Think of the industries you are selling to. Think of the people working in those industries who are likely to buy your product or services. Those are your targets. Write down the job title of each target, and imagine their goals, as well as their concerns and questions. Develop this into a written description of each target, called a buyer persona. Inbound marketing campaigns often make use of buyer personas to visualize each target specifically as they are creating content. This practice allows you to keep your targets and their interests in mind as you go along.

2. Be clear about your goal of converting visitors into customers.

With every line of content you create, remember to keep your ultimate goal in mind. You are engaging in an inbound marketing campaign in order to convert visitors in paying customers, and you must make sure that every blog post, landing page, content offer, or social media post is steering your visitors toward that conversion point. In a blog post or content offer, this may look like something as simple as a presentation of information with a call-to-action directing the reader to contact a sales representative. On social media, it may be more subtle, as you create social media posts that gently nudge your visitors toward the idea of engaging with your company on another level.

3. Focus on appropriate channels.

Take a look at the actions and movements of your target audience. Focus on their behavior. Do they participate on Facebook or Twitter? Are they clicking through emails to get to your site? Are they commenting on blog posts? If you see a trend that points to a preferred method of communication, use that method to get to your potential customers. If your customers do not have time to click on individual emails, but are active on Facebook, make social media your channel of choice.

Working with an expert in content creation and distribution will help you to get started and to produce quality content that is distributed successfully. A firm that specializes in inbound marketing can help you to kick off your campaign!

Posted on by AJ