When Alex Coppock from Communion Architects first approached us in 2012, he was keen to explore ways to improve search engine rankings and bring more visitors to his website. Since then, his website has remained in top two organic keyword positions and website traffic has grown 10x.

Alex has always taken a very thoughtful approach to his website and I invited him to write an article reflecting on his journey with his website. What follows are his thoughts on how he has changed the way projects are featured on his website over the years from a simple way to showcase the buildings Communion has worked on to something that has a much wider purpose. To my mind, the shift beautifully reflects Communion’s generous, people-focused spirit and its mission statement – working closely with people to deliver exceptional projects that transform spaces and change lives.

I’ll let Alex tell the story from here…

And why they are good for SEO

Notes

Review examples
What do I mean by reviews?

• LinkedIn – Shame they are tucked down the bottom
• Google Ads  – With seller ratings – 150 reviews and 3.5 average ratings https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2375474?hl=en-GB
• Local search – Google My Business location reviews https://support.google.com/business/answer/3474050?hl=en-GB
• Added manually on your website – Via 3rd party such as Trust Pilot https://uk.trustpilot.com
• Embed directly on your website – Collected on 3rd party SayHola https://sayhola.co
• On Facebook – Show upfront before any updates. Moved to a thumbs up/down rating rather than five star
• Twitter review – Recommendations
• Podcast reviews
• Helps bubble up popular shows
    

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

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

Seth on his blog

If we decided to simply reduce our waiting and worrying allocation by 50%, just imagine how much we could discover, how many skills we could learn, how dramatically attitudes could shift.

If you have time on your hands, don’t wait until COVID or the Lockdown is over. Use the time now to learn something new.

Paul Boag writing for Smashing magazine on How To Convince Others Not To Use Dark Patterns

‘Brands always used to be able to get away with manipulation because consumers were mostly unaware of being manipulated. Even if they did realize(sic), the choice was limited, and so there was very little they could do. That is no longer true. The web has changed that.

We need to help management realize the fact that consumers have changed. That in every consumer’s pocket is instant access to every other company on the planet that offers the same thing as you. It is so easy to find your competitors and so simple to swap that one small annoyance is enough to make people switch.’

Dark patterns are tricks to make people do things they don’t mean to do. You’ve probably come across them on an airline website when booking seats or paying extra for insurance. Find out more about what they look like here.

While these tricks seem like a clever way to up-sell, here’s an example Paul cites as a reason why dark patterns are not as profitable as they might seem.

‘Sure enough, the sales of filters skyrocketed, and the e-commerce team was pleased because they were one step closer to meeting their targets.

Unfortunately what they were not aware of was what was happening elsewhere in the company.

The marketing team who ran the companies social media channels found themselves having to spend time addressing complaints on Twitter and Facebook.

The customer support team received an increase in calls asking for refunds or complaining. Each call was costing the company £3.21, more than the profit margin on the filters.’

From Wired

‘“My main gripe is that you’re selling a course for $6,000 to a person from middle America who’s put all their funds into this, and you’re teaching them to sell avocado slicers online with 40 other people who are also selling avocado slicers,” he says.’

Get rich quick schemes almost never work out except for the people who start them or sell the courses. Much like MLM schemes and too-good-to-be-true share offers.

It’s a dirty area and best avoided.

• Tips to keep customers engaged and even get some new ones, ready for when the lockdown lifts.
• Easy but effective marketing updates to do while you’re not changing the beds.
• Inspiration to bring people back to you with confidence.

Every podcaster who does interview shows struggles in booking, interviewing, and following up on their guests to some degree. Building rapport is an added hurdle at times too.

On this episode, we continue last week’s conversation with Rob & Kennedy of The Email Marketing Show and dig into the process of preparing, emailing, scheduling, & interviewing guests, and reconnecting with them after the podcast goes live.

If you have a podcast, this episode is worth a listen.

Even though we’re changing tack on the podcast and reducing the number of guests, the idea of using automated emails to get guests excited for when their interview is published is a great idea and something I should have done years ago.

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. But on Google Maps, it is anything but flattering to find out your Google My Business listing has a doppelgänger. A duplicate GMB listing can hurt your rankings and put your business listing at risk of suspension. Meanwhile, it’s not uncommon to see your competitors spamming Google Maps by creating multiple listings for one business.

Read more about how to remove duplicates on Whitespark

Subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts or Android.

Genevieve shares her journey into crowdfunding her business and the strategy she implemented to make it a success.

Sponsors for this episode:

• 34SP.com – A Fast, Secure and Managed WordPress host based in the UK. Visit 34sp.com and use the code WPINVENTIVE at checkout to get your first three months of hosting completely free.
• BombBomb.com – A simple way to create and send personal video by email. Visit vid.us/somethinginventive to get 10 video examples from real users.

Subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts or Android.

Ben speaks with Nikki Elbaz, a copywriter specialising in email marketing for SaaS/tech companies.

Sponsors for this episode:

• 34SP.com – A Fast, Secure and Managed WordPress host based in the UK. Visit 34sp.com and use the code WPINVENTIVE at checkout to get your first three months of hosting completely free.
• BombBomb.com – A simple way to create and send personal video by email. Visit vid.us/somethinginventive to get 10 video examples from real users.

Subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts or Android.

Ben speaks with Rod Hande, an up and coming magician on what marketing methods he uses to promote his business. Rod also does his first video conference magic trick!

Sponsors for this episode:

• 34SP.com – A Fast, Secure and Managed WordPress host based in the UK. Visit 34sp.com and use the code WPINVENTIVE at checkout to get your first three months of hosting completely free.
• BombBomb.com – A simple way to create and send personal video by email. Visit vid.us/somethinginventive to get 10 video examples from real users.

Subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts or Android.

Ben visits Sarah in her home office to talk about why she wrote an Environmental policy as a solo worker and freelancer and her forthcoming book ‘Survival Skills for Freelancers (or how to go solo without going loco).’

Sponsors for this episode:

• 34SP.com – A Fast, Secure and Managed WordPress host based in the UK. Visit 34sp.com and use the code WPINVENTIVE at checkout to get your first three months of hosting completely free.
• BombBomb.com – A simple way to create and send personal video by email. Visit vid.us/somethinginventive to get 10 video examples from real users.

Subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts or Android.

Ronald shares his experience of how he got into the world of WordPress and became a brand ambassador for Yith.

Sponsors for this episode:

• 34SP.com – A Fast, Secure and Managed WordPress host based in the UK. Visit 34sp.com and use the code WPINVENTIVE at checkout to get your first three months of hosting completely free.
• BombBomb.com – A simple way to create and send personal video by email. Visit vid.us/somethinginventive to get 10 video examples from real users.

Subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts or Android.

Through my Fastershire links, I get to work with many businesses in the hospitality and tourism industry. So when event organiser, Steve Gardner-Collins invited me to come along to the Three Counties and Cotswolds Tourism Forum with a press pass to cover the event, I thought it would be a great opportunity to get to learn more about this sector.

Sponsors for this episode:

• 34SP.com – A Fast, Secure and Managed WordPress host based in the UK. Visit 34sp.com and use the code WPINVENTIVE at checkout to get your first three months of hosting completely free.
• BombBomb.com – A simple way to create and send personal video by email. Visit vid.us/somethinginventive to get 10 video examples from real users.

In the digital age we live in, small businesses are needing to pull out all the stops to generate sales and spread brand awareness. One of the best ways to get consumers on board is by running targeted email campaigns. Many businesses may opt for traditional marketing strategies, such as television and newspaper spreads; however, as a small company, you may not have the funds to promote your products and services on such platforms.

Email marketing is a popular strategy that more and more businesses are using to drum up interest for their brand. Sending regular communications to your target demographic is not only cost-effective, but easy to do too, so here are some of the best email marketing strategies to use in 2020.

Have a clear goal in mind

Before using email marketing, it’s essential that you have a clear goal in mind for your small business. Understandably, the main purpose of sending out emails is to nurture leads into sales, so figuring out who your audience is, the types of products they’re interested in, as well as how to catch their interest is key.

Don’t hide your email subscription

One of the main problems that many websites face is not having a mailing list that’s easily visible. To increase your opt-ins, consumers need to know how and where to subscribe to your content. The first thing that you need to do is have a sign-up form that’s easy to spot on your webpage, blog, or another resource page. To draw more consumers in, adding a link to the form on your social media channels, email signature, and other relevant locations is advised.

Let consumers know what to expect

Whether the purpose of your emails is to provide your audience with company updates, or you would like to promote your blog posts, it’s important that you tell consumers what to expect before signing up to your business. Providing as much information as possible will give visitors an informed choice, helping to reduce the risk of them unsubscribing in the future.

Offer incentives

If you’re having difficulty drumming up interest for your small business, why not provide an incentive? After all, we all like a freebie or something that will benefit us, so when audiences subscribe to your email newsletter, providing cost-effective incentives such as a discount voucher, a free eBook or a raffle entry can make all the difference between securing more subscribers or consumers losing interest.

Segment your lists

Once your email list begins to gain traction, you should start segmenting them to help you work out what types of emails are best sent to whom. Sure, it will take time to get things right; however, it will all pay off in the long run. You need to remember that all your subscribers will come from different walks of life, so the last thing you want to do is send out a marketing email to the wrong demographic. 

Create the perfect newsletter

To increase the chances of consumers taking an interest and signing up to your brand, it’s important that you create a newsletter that is eye-catching from the get-go. These enewsletter samples can give you a better idea of what you should incorporate into your own to help you stand out from competitors. Remember, consumers will get tons of emails each day from rivals, so you will need to think outside the box and have a USP (unique selling point) to make your presence known. 

Before you send out any emails, make sure that you take the time to thoroughly proofread what you have written. Spelling mistakes and bad grammar can put people off, so if you aren’t sure it’s suitable enough, reaching out to friends and family to have a look can help.

Mobile-friendly is crucial

With technology continuing to advance, so does the popularity of mobile phones. If you want to target a younger audience in particular, the chances are the majority will own a smartphone, so it’s crucial that you optimise your marketing emails so your audience can read about your business while on the go. 

Consistency is key

As a small business owner, it can be disheartening to put your blood, sweat, and tears into email marketing and not see the results you expected. You have to remember that success rarely tends to happen overnight, so even if you’ve curated the best e-newsletter out there, consumers need time to become aware of your brand before you notice an increase in subscribers. Staying consistent with your emails and showing that you’re passionate about your business can help make your target audience take you more seriously.

Email marketing can be a great way to let your target audience know about the latest developments, trends, products, and services that your company has to offer. If you aren’t sure where to begin, using all the email marketing tips listed can you get you off to a good start and help build a loyal following. 

Subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts or Android.

Ben talks with Edward White from ATLIVE to discuss how he got into film making and developing his own style.

The sponsor for this episode is 34SP. A Fast, Secure and Managed WordPress host based in the UK. Visit 34sp.com and use the code WPINVENTIVE at checkout to get your first three months of hosting completely free.

Interesting idea from NatWest to support women in businesses.

We’re here to help you to turn your idea into a side-hustle and your side-hustle into your main-hustle. It’s time to close the gender gap in business, for good.

Not only do we have money for some of you (and we all know that helps), we also have mentoring, workshops, crowdfunding coaching and events in your community.

Apart from using the word ‘hustle’ – which I don’t think a business should ever be doing – I support this idea and it’s positive bias to support women. It’s crazy that ‘the system’ has worked any other way and a balancing of renumeration and authority is the only way forward.

Genevieve from Writability brought this scheme to my attention with her project.

I’d like to reach more of the UK’s plucky but under-resourced SMEs and help them succeed with better sales and marketing copy.

Check out the project and see if you can support Genevieve or one of the other projects in the scheme with as little as £1.

Subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts or Android.

Ben talks with Jonathan Mahan from Bombbomb on how video improves business and gathers some tips on how to get comfortable on camera.

The sponsor for this episode is 34SP. A Fast, Secure and Managed WordPress host based in the UK. Visit 34sp.com and use the code WPINVENTIVE at checkout to get your first three months of hosting completely free.

Subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts or Android.

Based in the United Arab Emirates, Lubna Forzley-Badr shares how she disrupts corporate businesses through the art of storytelling and creative a business narrative.

The sponsor for this episode is 34SP. A Fast, Secure and Managed WordPress host based in the UK. Visit 34sp.com and use the code WPINVENTIVE at checkout to get your first three months of hosting completely free.

Subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts or Android.

After spending three days, attending 12 talks and walking over 20,000 steps, I’m back from Bath Digital Festival. I was lucky enough to interview some of the speakers and attendees to bring you a flavour of the state of technology and marketing in 2019.

It’s a fully packed episode and I hope you enjoy it.

The sponsor for this episode is 34SP. A Fast, Secure and Managed WordPress host based in the UK. Visit 34sp.com and use the code WPINVENTIVE at checkout to get your first three months of hosting completely free.

Subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts or Android.

Ben meets with Nicholas van der Walle to discuss how Astute Graphics managed the process of updating their website with a new product pricing system.

The sponsor for this episode is our Internet Marketing Club. Remember to use code INVENTIVEPODCAST for 20% off annual membership.

Subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts or Android.

Ben talks to Claire Doré, a life coach about her tips on reprogramming your mindset and achieving your goals.

The sponsor for this episode is our Internet Marketing Club. Remember to use code INVENTIVEPODCAST for 20% off annual membership.

Your business ethics are the moral principles that guide your business – take your eye off the ball for one moment and you could be in a world of trouble.

Ethics in business are slippery fish with many business leaders not realising the impact one wrong decision can have. Just ask Uber, H&M and Pret a Manger – Just three examples where leaders have chosen not to see what’s really going on and suffered the consequences – bad publicity. So what can you do to ensure your business ethics are sound?

You might think that you’d know if you were faced with an ethically dubious choice to make – sexual harassment, blatant environmental damage, or misleading packaging for instance – clearly the wrong choices – and not sustainable for long. Yet, every day we read about deceiving CEOs embezzling millions or other dishonest dealings, which could lead us into thinking that ethics is clear cut and those who are responsible were bad apples all along.

But can you be so sure? And are you willing to stake your business on it? With concrete definitions of good ethical practice, beyond the laws and regulations that businesses currently live by, becoming more difficult to identify, there are increasing numbers of scandals hitting the news recently. As ethical scandals go, few are harder to beat than the Cambridge Analytica scandal of 2018, whereby the harvesting of the personal data of millions of Facebook profiles without consent was used for political advertising purposes. This one example shows just how careful businesses need to be in our present social environment.

But it isn’t just the big media-worthy scandals. Ethics is increasingly becoming an issue for the smaller business. So connected are we by social media that one wrong move can have the world banging on the door demanding retribution. Any infraction will swiftly gain bad exposure, followed by circulation by those who are happy to disfigure your business reputation. You don’t want to be at the receiving end of that kind of publicity. So, how do you ensure you’re not sitting on an ethical time bomb;

• Be aware of euphemistic language – ‘Pretexting’ was used to disguise phone record hacking and to lie in the Hewlett-Packard spying scandal. This example of euphemistic language masked the true nature of the misconduct until it was brought to light most disparagingly.
• Be aware of ethical numbing – In an environment where we are repeatedly exposed to certain behaviours, these can seem to be acceptable. The S. Postal Service Pro Cycling Team began to adopt the unethical behaviour of doping, although when testifying they admitted it was wrong.
• Be aware of routinisation – We may try to justify our behaviour by claiming that ‘this is the way we’ve always done it’ and therefore it seems normal. Perhaps behaviour has changed incrementally until eventually a completely different behaviour emerged – this is likely what happened with Carillion.
• Be aware of shifting responsibility –By omitting information and putting the responsibility onto the consumer to discover information that might influence their decision to buy, you could be inadvertently acting unethically.

With world environmental issues in the news every day it is expected of business to do its part in reducing the impact we have. If your business is blatantly flouting that expectation then expect to, sooner or later be hauled across the coals for it. Younger people in particular are becoming more knowledgeable about ethical practices and their hyper-connectivity means hyper awareness. On the other hand, even the smallest change made for the health of the environment will have public support – by way of example, my LinkedIn feed revealed recently that Waitrose introduced its new plastic-free section in one of its branches in London – a positive endorsement for Waitrose and one that received many views and likes.

Leaders need to be aware that ethical challenges can come from unforeseen directions and be so complex as to be almost unidentifiable. However, the most astute enemy of the business may just identify and expose any dubious ethical conduct, especially those businesses who try to justify or ignore behaviours that could be construed as unethical.

You may think that you’re immune from ethical responsibility, but ethics is about more than following the rules, it is about being responsible and identifying potential ethical issues before they come and bite you on the rear end. As business leaders we are all vulnerable to the rules of ethics, and complexity, lack of understanding or self-deception will not be acceptable excuses.

Identifying any new and complex ethical issues is vital for the success and endurance of your business. Your ethical behaviours are increasingly under scrutiny and have greater consequences than ever before.

Image by Pixabay