It may be time to think about blogging for your small or online business. Brisbane-based business owners are naturally skeptical about the need, time, and return on investment that blogging will have.
Having a blog manager and writer can at least remove the concern of time. However, one of our friends in business – Landscapers Greenscene Gardenscope – have managed to write their own geographic-focussed blog (albeit with a landscaper’s English), build their backlinks, and move up the rankings purely through “doing a little bit quite often”.
Others simply cannot afford the time or headspace for blogging, and can’t get their head around social media. Never fear, there are a hundred reasons why a professional blogger can save you time and increase your blog’s profit potential. One of the best reasons is… they keep going when you simply cannot, because their livelihood depends upon it.
Profit potential is the hidden potential that blog traffic will turn into attuned, happy to pay customers – i.e. the best kind.
Today I’ve written up “So You’ve Got a Blog – What Now?”. This two page PDF will walk you through the marketing to-dos, gives you some topic starters, and also includes what your Blog Writer does, if you’re lucky enough to have me on your outsourced team. Call Jen on 07 31030238 for a blog writing quote.
So You’ve Got a Blog – What Now
You may have noticed that on November 9, Google implemented ‘Preview Search’ to let Google searchers have a quick preview of the website’s first page. So now anyone looking for a certain goods (or even web designers in Brisbane) can have the benefit of a ‘quick look’ at the websites offered up merely by hovering over the magnifying glass.
As yet, the Google Preview ignores Flash. And as YouTube uses Flash to work, any videos that search has found won’t show up in the preview. And for those with fancy Flash files on their landing pages, obviously Instant Preview is going to be blank as well, leading the searchers to other website alternatives.
Web Design without Flash
Of course, here at Red Planet Design we’ve long known that pure Flash pages are not great for search engine optimisation, and we discourage use of Splash pages (i.e. the page says loading….). This doesn’t mean you are relegated to a static site, as dynamic elements (e.g. a changing feature image) can be implemented without affecting the page’s visibility in search. See for yourself in this site, where Javascript just changes the header image: http://www.peterjonesconstructions.com.au/
As BigMouthMedia said in their blog post about Previews and Flash:
“it would be advisable to always consider how your website renders without Flash, JavaScript, images or stylesheets, as people browse the web through many media – not just on desktops.”
Good Web Design from Three Perspectives
The new Search Preview tool also has implications for good web design. Brisbane businesses would do well to think about how their present website looks on three levels:
- The way it looks on common browsers and desktop PCs
- The way it looks (and works) on mobile smartphones and small devices
- The way it looks to users in a Google search – including the title, content snippets, and sneak preview
As you use the Preview yourself, you’ll perhaps be more attracted to sites with nice use of colour and layout, as long as it also describes what you were looking for!
Well, they say it’s difficult to get a DA through Council… and they’d be right, usually! But with Town Planning Strategies (in Redcliffe, north Brisbane), our experienced Town Planner (Robyn) will help you get your property Development Application approved, with customised plans and strategies to suit.
Being informed is a must when you are a developer. That’s why Town Planning Strategies have included a section ‘Planning in Queensland‘ with info about the Sustainable Planning Act and IDAS, and links to all the Local and Government resources and maps, on their website.
If you see this website and think, “wow, that’s a clean, modern, and easy to use website”… please let us at Red Planet Design know and find out how you can get this kind of quality website too… all for under $1,000.
Strong SEO Copywriting will attract customers to your website, sure. This involves researching and including relevant keywords in your site. Some people think that’s where the story ends.
But if you want people to take the next action step and buy from you, the writing must be strong enough and use emotional appeals. Mr Sturk at Mequoda Daily calls these trigger words:
“Trigger words are words that motivate people to act on something. There are a variety of trigger words, but the strongest tend to make an emotional connection with the reader.” – Mequoda Daily post
Customer Benefits
Using customer benefits is one trick of many successful copywriters to create these emotional appeals. A lot of people have the wrong idea about what is a benefit. I can give you a real example from financial services – a topic that can be dull as dishwater or a real motivator. Headline:
“If Growing And Protecting Your Wealth For Future Generations Is Important To You – Contact The Family Wealth Generation And Wealth Protection Specialists, Bronson Financial Services…”
The ‘trigger words’ in this headline are ‘growing and protecting your wealth for future generations’… this is what gets the reader thinking yes, that’s exactly what I want… however, there is no direct emotional appeal like fear, anger or love. But as this headline clearly relates very well to target market needs and what they provide, I believe it does its job very well.
Some people might be afraid of using a headline in their home page, but on the complete home page we put in eight headlines/subheadings, each relating to different selling points.
Sheep huddle together and all look the same. Be confident enough to stand out – and connect to your audience.
It’s always a surprise to find out a competing graphic designer charged out 10 hours to design a DL flyer, so let’s discuss what a small business owner in Brisbane should expect to pay for a well-designed brochure. (Often a tri-fold DL)
When looking at getting some print design work done, there’s a few things to consider.
- Designer is adept at carrying out the brief, with solid design skills, to the point of making it print ready.
- Designer gives a quote or estimate upfront of entire job, not just an hourly rate. (Since 3 hrs x $90 ph only costs $270, whereas 10 x $80 ph costs $800). This should include high res PDF, all print ready. He/she may also state whether the cost includes print management – i.e. liaison with your printer. (RPD can design A4-folded double-sided brochures from $300 – $400+ GST).
- Designer is a decent person with good customer service (ie. calls you back promptly, happy to do changes, etc)
You should also be mindful of printing prices. Red Planet Design can actually give you economy print choices so that on a smaller print run, a very low cost digital printer is used, and on quality or larger runs, a reliable full service printer is used. We pass on the savings to you and never charge a commission.
And of course, these days you can even have personalised print, different shapes cut (like a wave), different styles of designs done for various markets/products, and of course gloss spot UV varnish on high quality paper, all to make your print brochures stand out.
This coming month I’m getting out in northern Brisbane area, offering free web appraisals. Using a 100-point checklist for checking each website, it’s clear that there is a lot more to a good website than nice design and structure. Checking off:
- Domain names and URLs – (dynamic or static), keywords, redirections, etc
- Browser issues
- Logo display
- Design considerations (33 points)
- Architectural issues (won’t be looking in-depth, mainly note loading time)
- Navigation issues
- Content (grabs attention, WIIFM, needs and benefits, justifies/calls to action, no typos, etc)
- Content appearance
- Links & buttons
- Home Page (provides a good overview, no splash page)
- About us Page (links to contact/support pages)
So before you say, oh we’ve got a website thanks… perhaps let an outsider take a look.
You may never know if there is something missing until it’s pointed out. For instance, our clients last year were, to start off with, unhappy with their copy not being proofread. Well, with a proper edit and all the right keywords in the right places, this Concrete Products supplier is attracting many more clients via Google for ‘concrete sleeper retaining walls’. On top of this, more people are using the Quote button to ask for a quote via a form (before, it didn’t do anything).
They say that simplicity is beautiful, but it can also be profitable. Call Jennifer on 07 3103 0238 to book in your complimentary website appraisal.
