Much of the talk in the world of online marketing is about drawing readers to your site. But that’s only the first part of the process. Your focus should really be on making sure that, once readers come to your site, they become paying customers.  The principles that drive conversions in online business are not much different to those in brick and mortar retail spaces. It’s all about your product, how you package it, your prices, your service and the environment. If a customer walks into a well laid out and designed shop, is met by competent and helpful staff, and finds good value for money, he/she is likely to make a purchase. In the online space, the same principles apply. Consider these five important actions to convert site visits to sales. Make your USP unmissable from the first click You can’t give visitors time to look around the site, not find what they need and move on – because they will in less than half a minute. From the moment they enter your site, if it is not already apparent from the social media post or email they clicked through from, your USP must be obvious and unmissable. Spell it out. Be classy and clever but never subtle. Engage your visitors Don’t just offer information passively – invite readers to interact with you and your product. Offer a tester of your product and ask for feedback. Keep them thinking about the product and engaging with it.  Avoid clutter and give your clients breathing space Cut down on the text and make good use of white space. Offer only the essential information and allow your customers the space to make their decisions. Add value Everyone loves a bargain. You don’t have a live salesperson on your website to upsell and/ or haggle with your clients, so you have to let the website itself do that work for you. In addition to your central USP, offer add-ins, complementary products and packages deals. Always put a time limit on those to encourage the purchase. Maintain a relationship after the sale From a “thank you” mail to follow-up offers, continued post-sale communication with your customers are always a good idea (unless they say otherwise, of course). Show your appreciation and they will likely return the favour. Contact WSI to assist you in creating a sale-closing website and marketing strategy. Please follow and like...

Did you know that 95% of people have watched an explainer video to learn more about a product or service? And that 81% of people have been convinced to buy a product or service by watching a brand’s video? Video marketing is a powerful way to boost brand awareness and sell more products. A new infographic by Webmstersjury.com lists some key stats that would make any business owner or marketer think twice about ploughing their marketing budget into anything besides video marketing. 97% of marketers, for example, say video has helped increase user understanding of their product or service and 76% of businesses say it helped them increase sales. Here are a few interesting statistics about viewing platforms from the infographic: YouTube Video 87% of marketers have published video content on YouTube; Out of those, 90% found it to be an effective strategy; 87% of marketers say they plan to use video marketing in 2018. Facebook Video 70% of marketers plan to use Facebook Video in 2018; 68% of marketers have published video content on Facebook; Of those who used it, 87% found it to be an effective strategy. Instagram Video 41% of marketers have used Instagram video; Of those who used it, 78% found it to be an effective strategy; 44% say they plan to use Instagram video in 2018. Twitter Video 39% of marketers have published video content on Twitter; 40% plan to use Twitter video in 2018. LinkedIn Video 38% of marketers have published video content on LinkedIn; Of those who used it, 75% found it to be an effective strategy; 55% plan to use LinkedIn video in 2018. For more interesting statistics about video marketing, see their video marketing infographic. Need help with your video marketing or digital marketing strategy? Then contact WSI OMS today. Please follow and like...

 Google’s featured snippets are a massive talking point within the online marketing community at the moment – and there is no doubt as to why! They provide marketers with an amazing opportunity to get their content featured and, as a result, to generate more clicks to their website. Here is what you need to know about this relatively recent search engine revelation, and how best to use it to your advantage. Google Featured Snippets and Traffic to Your Website  The question on most online marketing experts’ lips is not whether or not Google featured snippets help to generate more traffic to a website. But, rather, how much traffic they’re able to generate. According to ConfluentForms.com, a website that scores a Google featured snippet can expect to enjoy a resultant 20 – 30% boost in traffic. What Triggers Google Featured Snippets to Appear?  Most marketers assume that it is only question-based Google search queries that trigger the appearance of featured snippets. However, that is not the case. Research has shown that long-tail queries increase the chances of featured snippets appearing, and that they tend to pop up in non-question-based queries just as often. How Do You Get Your Website’s Content Featured?  Unfortunately, there is no quick SEO fix or code that can help you to score a Google featured snippet. The best way in which to make it happen is to keep creating original, high-quality content as part of a detailed content marketing strategy. Try to think about the type of information that your target market may be searching for, and tailor your content around this. You can also increase your chances of being featured by putting a targeted query in a <h2> subheading, followed by a concise answer. Long-form content is also favoured by Google, so don’t be afraid to elaborate further down on the page! For more information about Google featured snippets, online marketing and SEO in general, get in touch with the WSI OMS team today. Please follow and like...

There are many online marketing tools that can help you attract new visitors to your website, and increase your online exposure – from paid Facebook advertising, to Google Adwords and banner adverts. You’ve probably used, or at least heard of, all of these. But what about native advertising? Native advertising is a relatively new form of online advertising, where adverts are designed to blend in with a website’s look and feel. This is a more unobtrusive form of advertising that is proving highly effective for a number of reasons: Native advertising is cost-effective Banner adverts on popular websites are often very expensive. At the same time, pay-per-click ads that target customers via Google keywords can also be costly, especially in competitive industries. Native advertising on the other hand often allows for much lower and customisable budgets, so that even small businesses find them financially viable. Native adverts have a lower cost per click Most native advertising platforms allow for very specialised targeting. This allows you to create adverts that are highly relevant to specific segments of your target market, and this high level of customisation results in a lower cost per click. You’re also likely to attract more clicks when you use native advertising, as levels of engagement are far higher, as compared to traditional digital marketing. The reason for this is likely due to the unobtrusiveness of the adverts that are created to match the web design of the page on which they appear. Native adverts are less likely to annoy website visitors A lot of banner advertising is distracting and annoying for internet users, so much so that most people are aware of adverts in their peripheral vision but actually tune them out. Because native advertising is less in your face, and blends in with the design of the page on which they are placed, they are actually more likely to attract the attention of website visitors in a positive way. Native advertising attracts genuine customers Native adverts blend seamlessly into a website which makes them unobtrusive, however they are clearly marked as adverts so there is no deception involved. Internet users tend to avoid banner adverts, and a high percentage of click throughs from these adverts are accidental. With native advertising however, you’re assured that a large portion of customers click on your advert out of genuine interest. Are you looking for expert digital marketing services for your business? Contact us today for help, advice strategies that work! Please follow and like...

It goes without saying that creating a personal experience is the gold standard for all online marketing endeavours, and this is especially true for online sales and marketing. The technology to create personal user experiences in ecommerce has been around for years, but the reality is that personalisation – effective personalisation that translates into actual sales – is extremely hard to achieve. Why though? We have the technology, so why can’t we make it work? Assuming that a company has the resources (up to date personalisation technology and relevant customer data) and the time to develop and implement cutting edge personalised digital marketing strategy, the real problem might be the sheer volume and complexity of information that personalisation technology gives us access to. It’s a little overwhelming! The following 3 dilemmas are common obstacles to effective personalised ecommerce marketing: There’s so much data available for segmenting an audience With so many data points available for personalisation, it can be difficult to decide exactly how to segment your audience. Do you segment my gender? Age? What about real time specifics such as the weather or time of day? How do you decide what is important? There simply isn’t enough time to test all options, and anyway even if you do create multiple segments, having too many is not a good thing and fragments your digital marketing strategy too much to be effective. The solution: Choose a data point for which you have good, solid information as well as a clear idea of how to personalise, and use that to segment your audience. A great example is return website visitors, or people who used a specific search term to reach your website. Create personalised content marketing for these groups. By keeping your primary personalisation strategy simple, you have a greater chance of making personalisation technology work for you and be relevant to your customers. Personalisation is not an exact science, so how do you ensure effectiveness? Personalised content marketing becomes rather vague when you go beyond simple data points, and one also begins to wonder how relevant certain personalisation data actually is. For example, if you know that someone lives in Sandton, drinks coffee, and recently purchased the new Taylor Swift album, will it really help you convince them to buy a t-shirt? And if it’s raining, will this really make a difference to your strategy? The solution: Keep it simple. Yes, men and women do shop differently, so take this into account. And yes, past shopping behaviours on your e-commerce site are relevant. More specific data can be used for split testing, which is a useful way of determining strategies and market segments that could be giving you big revenues....

Is your content marketing going stale? Then it’s time to look at new ways to generate content and topic ideas. Many product and service companies generate vast amounts of data within their businesses. While this data is often used to improve business efficiency and sales, it can also be incorporated into your content marketing campaign. Consider the following ideas: Share more information about your business with your followers Many people find infographics and statistics very interesting. If you could create a unique infographic or content piece about the popularity of your products across the country, sales spikes and trends, many people would be interested. If you check out the OK Cupid blog, you will see that they regularly post articles about dating trends, sociological patterns, race and attractions, and so forth. Not only are these types of insights illuminating for the brand, but their audience is also interested in this type of information, making it ideal to share. Your company will also benefit if the article gets picked up by the press and gets republished, thereby driving traffic to yourself. Get the right content to the right people If you use data from your call centre, you can pick up on common queries and problems, and generate content that addresses these challenges. One of the goals of content marketing is to remove barriers to buying your product, so if you are able to pick up on common issues and help people, then you’re taking a step in the right direction. Need help with your content marketing? Then contact WSI OMS today. Please follow and like...