You can download the work sheets and action plan that accompany the presentation ‘Digital Marketing Opportunities for 2012′ below.

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While companies allocate a great deal of time and resource to drive visitors to their website, once there they’re often left to their own devices with much less attention paid to the landing page that needs to convert them to leads and then sales.

Here at LexisClick online marketing we believe that the following key ingredients are essential if you want to develop high performing landing pages.

1.   Headline: Your website needs to answer ‘what does this site offer?’ almost instantly so keep your headline clear and simple.

2.  Sub-headline: Your sub-headline should offer a brief description of what you do.  Avoid waffle and jargon, the content should inform the reader and add value – don’t just talk about yourself.

3.  Benefits. Prospects want to know what you do, the benefits and advantages, and what they mean to them.

4. Primary Calls-to-action. In order to drive conversions it’s important to include multiple calls-to-action above the fold. By offering two-to-three calls-to-action you will map the different stages of the buying cycle.

5. Navigation: Your visitors need a clear roadmap into your site from your homepage in order to keep your bounce rates low.  Make sure your navigation is visible at the top of the page and again at the bottom and remember to keep it simple.

6. Relevant imagery: Most people are visual. Make sure you use images that illustrates what you offer, try not to use stock images as people will recognise them as such. Short videos are great too.

7. Content offer: To generate even more leads from your homepage, feature really relevant content offers, such as a whitepaper, ebook or guide. As many of the visitors to your website are not ready to buy make sure you offer a link to resources where they can learn more, so you can develop the relationship by gathering their email addresses.

8. Multiple calls-to-action: When visitors end up at the bottom of your homepage, don’t forget to display calls-to-action there as well for even more lead generation opportunities. Calls to action are not just for the top of the page.

9. Testimonials: Customer validation is a powerful indicator of trust. Include a few of your best quotes on the homepage or clear links to them.

10. Social media: Include social sharing links to encourage visitors to spread the word

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Just when you thought you’d got on top of all the new social media, along comes another one…  Pinterest .  Pinterest, an online bulletin board for your favourite images, is stepping up as a valuable marketing tool for businesses.

Launched in 2010 Pinterest is already experiencing phenomenal growth with more than 7 million unique visitors in December, up from 1.6 million in September, and it’s driving more traffic to company websites and blogs than YouTube, Google+ and LinkedIn combined according to recent stats. To check out Pinterest for yourself click here

Hot tips for small business social media marketing

Check to see if your Vanity URL is available.

Before you launch your brand presence on social media here’s a handy little tool to check whether your vanity URL is available. Remember that it’s important to make sure that whatever you choose it’s simple and easy to remember. http://namevine.com/

Use a thirdy party platform to distribute content.

It avoids logging in and out of  multiple social media channels. Tools such as HootSuite or Crowdbooster allow you to publish once and to distribute everywhere. You can integrate your Facebook Page, Twitter account, Google+ page, LinkedIn profile and other social networks – and manage them from within one easy-to-use interface.

Find out when and what to post on Facebook.

Stay on top of the latest information in your industry by knowing what your fans engage with most, and when to post it on Facebook,  by utilising a service called Edgerank Checker.

Google Alerts.

Even though it’s been around for a while still one of the easiest tools for businesses to monitor their online reputation is Google Alerts (http://www.google.com/alerts). Each time Google finds a mention  of your business, it will send you an email as it happens, daily or weekly – it’s a free and indenspensbile tool!

If you’d like help with managing your social media give us a call for a friendly no obligation chat on 01202 788333

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One of the top two ways to drive traffic to your website and landing pages is through email marketing – the other is through search. Here the team at LexisClick provides some top tips to get the most from your email marketing. Stephen Bavister MD at LexisClick says ‘Although it may seem obvious, the first rule of email testing is to do it! And unless you’re highly experienced we suggest you keep it simple and just run one test at a time.’

Rule #1 Improve response rates by routinely testing: A recent survey found that 58% of marketers surveyed are not optimising their email conversion rates by testing. They just guess at which email opt-in forms, subject lines, creative and landing pages work best. On average email tests can help improve lead generation campaigns by 20%. Fortunately, email testing costs next to nothing, and you may not need to involve your IT team or a designer. Some of the most powerful tests are from wording changes alone.

Rule #2 Split your list randomly: Each test list must have as similar a group of names as possible. List sources, list type and length of time a name has been on a list are all factors that will cause large differences in response rates.

Rule #3 it’s critical you run all versions of your test at the same time: This means splitting your list and sending out all versions of the creative simultaneously.

Rule #4 Conduct landing page tests separately: Don’t run email tests at the same time as you’re testing landing pages otherwise you can cloud your results.

Rule #5 Measure results as far down the ‘funnel’ as possible: What is your goal for the campaign. Do you want forms completed, on-site engagement, phone calls or sales? Then make sure that you measure the goal against the email version that the respondent received.

If you’d like help with your online marketing give us a call on 01202 788333 .

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Perhaps it’s no surpise that YouTube is up there with the most visits, but that’s closely followed by three BBC websites,  the BBC, BBC mobile and BBC iPlayer. Sky Sports slips in at fifth place before BBC weather jumps in at number 6.

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SEO FAQ 1 - What is Search Engine Optimization or SEO?

SEO are specialised techniques used to optimize your web site, to be Search engine friendly and achieve a good page ranking (PR).  Without proper optimization, the chances of placing highly in Search engine results (SERPs) for the keywords important to your business are low.

SEO FAQ 2 - Why is my site not showing up in the search engines, such as Google, BING, MSN, etc

There can be many reasons a web site doesn’t show up, or display well, in search engines results. Any of the following can affect on your web sites search engine positioning, and web traffic.

• You might not be using search engine optimized web design and copy
• Your site may not be readable by the search engines
• You may be missing information critical to properly index your webpage.
• Use of some scripts can prevent search engine spiders or bots from crawling your web site or reading its content.

SEO FAQ  3 -  “Organic  Seo” or “Natural SEO”

Organic SEO placement in search engine results (SERPs) means that the site displays well naturally in search results, with no need for paid inclusions such as PPC advertising. A site that has a good organic ranking is likely to be more stable in its long term search engine positions, with less likelihood of position changes due to new algorithms, frequently applied by Google and other search engines.

SEO FAQ4 -  Keyword research and SEO

Keyword research has a huge affect on web traffic, you need to know what your potential customers search for and which search phrases they use

At LexisClick we research the most important keywords (priority keyphrases) for each page you want to index and want to rank highly in search engines. From this we now know what keyword phrases are most searched for, and which are a waste of time.

SEO FAQ 5 -  What is search friendly design

Search friendly design means, to make a site that is easy for the search engines to read and index.

Search engines can’t read or index some of the following:

• Flash animation
• Java Scripts
• Many engines and directories hate Automated Submissions, many consider them SPAM and may ban your domain for their use.

If you’d like help with your digital marketing challenges from an agency that specialises in digital marketing get in touch.

We’re a full service digital marketing company based in Bournemouth, Dorset specialising in helping ambitious businesses achieve their objectives, through effective online marketing. Our services include web design, SEO services, advertising, email marketing and social media marketing.  If you’d like more information feel free to take a wander round our site, contact us or call 01202  788333.

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Research conducted by the Design Council found that over a third of the UK’s fastest-growing businesses see design as integral or significant. Here at LexisClick we believe that any business that undervalues the importance of design may be missing out on vital opportunities.

Design can bring a range of commercial benefits if integrated across your business:

• a stronger identity for your business
• improved market position relative to your competitors
• increased sales of your products or services
• greater customer loyalty and fewer customer complaints

All businesses can benefit from an accessible and easy-to-use website, which comes out of good design. Online customers who find your website intuitive are much more likely to purchase from you and revisit your website in the future.

When planning your website, you should think about how your users will want to interact with your site. Attractive and accessible design, ease of navigation, well written content, clear ‘call to actions’ and well designed e-commerce functionality will all make a difference to how effective the site is. At LexisClick Online Marketing we can help you model different customer journeys for each of your target segments so that you use this insight to help define your site map, information and structure.

User-centred website development should include the following steps:

• Understanding your business objectives and how this will affect your website – for example, are there certain requirements that will have an impact on the usability of your website?
• Building ‘wireframe’ models of the website and other mock-ups that can be used to test the ‘look and feel’ of the website prior to full development
• Thinking about ‘persuasive design’ and how your website will support the customer to achieve certain goals on your website – eg a purchase or online registration
• Designing, building and testing – this should be an iterative process that moves towards more functional prototypes and the final ‘live’ website. At this stage, you should aim to use expert evaluation alongside further user testing to ensure your understanding of the user all the way up to launch

At LexisClick our Bournemouth team of web designers love producing sites that are good to look at and great to use. We put a lot of time and effort into planning the websites we design. We start with your target audiences and what they are looking for, then we look at the key messages you want to communicate. Only when this is planned and agreed, do we let our creative web designers loose on making your website look fantastic. When it comes to building your site, our team cover a range of technologies, including the latest content management systems, ecommerce systems and we specialise in building sites in php.

If you’d like us to help you design and build a website, that’s easy to find, a pleasure to use, the first to return to and regularly recommended – give us a call.

We’re a full service digital marketing company based in Bournemouth, Dorset specialising in helping ambitious businesses achieve their objectives, through effective online marketing. Our services include web design,  SEO services, advertising, email marketing,  design and social media marketing.  If you’d like more information feel free to take a wander round our site, contact us or call 01202  788333.

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Most companies use email marketing these days as it’s an extremely cost effective way to communicate with prospects and existing customers – and it’s easy to understand why.

To help you create an outstanding email marketing campaign, here are 5 top tips from the LexisClick E-marketing team:

1. Personalise your emails. By simply starting your email with “Hi [subscriber_name]” instead of the boring “Hi there”, you can increase both your reading and click-thru rates enormously. This way your subscribers feel like they already have a relationship with you as you’ve addressed them by their first name.
2. Include multiple calls to action. What is it you want people to do after reading your email – click on a link, visit your website?  Make sure all roads lead logically to your call to action. Remember, if you confuse them, you lose them.
3. Integrate your email marketing campaign with the rest of your online marketing activities. Include links to your social media sites as well as your blog. Your signature is a great place to do this. The more often you repeat your message the more powerful it becomes.
4. Write about one subject. People’s attention span online is short – about 8 seconds for the average email. Work this to your advantage by only writing about one subject. Put the most important thing first, get to the point and be brief!
5. The Preview pane.  Popular email clients such as MS Outlook show a preview of an email when it’s selected in your inbox. Always have some interesting content at the very top of your email, as this is the part that will show in the preview window of your subscribers’ email program. If it’s interesting enough, then your subscriber will open your email and continue reading.

At LexisClick we offer two levels of service for email marketing.  If you’re happy to manage your own marketing, we offer self service access to a market leading email marketing platform. Alternatively if you’d like to hand it over to someone else to manage we offer a fully managed campaign option for both your emails and e-newsletters.  A 12 month campaign starts from £19 per month, plus send rates.

Call us today on 01202 788333 for a chat to discuss how we can help you grow and develop your business.

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As it’s the first week in January, it’s crystal ball gazing time and not one to be left out we’ve taken a look at the many predictions around what will be the next big thing in Marketing in 2012. We’ve selected a few of what we think are the hottest trends. So read on to discover why the only place to be seen this year is on screen. And if you’re feeling downcast by tales of economic woe, how brands will be ready to divert your attention through gamification and interactive apps. Find out why your purse could soon become a collector’s item and community focused initiatives are set to capture the hearts of consumers.

Digital wallets
Contactless payment devices such as near-field communication (NFC) and QR codes will enter the mainstream in 2012. When used in smartphones, they encourage customers to merge their wallet with their mobile phones. Surveys suggest consumers are ready to embrace this trend. Two-thirds of UK shoppers say cash is inconvenient , according to 2011 surveys by Barclays and PayPal. According to Juniper Research, 300 million devices will be on offer to allow consumers to “tap and pay” through NFC by 2014. It is estimated the value of contactless payments and ticketing using NFC will reach $113bn (£72.4bn) per year by 2016 around the world. (Source: Stylus.com)

Welcome to the cloud
Businesses will invest large amounts of money in cloud computing and mobile technology next year. According to the report: IDC Predictions 2012: Competing for 2020, 2012 will see more money spent on mobiles and tablets than PCs and 80 per cent of commercial applications are set to be on cloud platforms. “The UK is underinvested in IT –  and with advertising and consumer spending rapidly moving online and kit becoming out of date, some rise there is likely,” points out chief executive of the Centre for Economic and Social Research, Douglas McWilliams. (Source: IDC.com, Insight.com)

Local marketing and partnerships
As the clean-up efforts following the London riots show, community love is on the rise. This year will see a resurgence of local marketing to tap into people’s collective devotion to their local community. While the internet by nature is international, there is a growing market for local websites and scope for businesses to tailor websites to specific localities. Brands are also set to tap into this trend for collective working as partnership marketing becomes more common. This will not just be about tactical value-based promotions but about strategic alliance with other brands. (Source:23red)

Screening
In 2012, if it is not on screen, it’s not worth seeing. Touchscreens and tablets have made it much more convenient for consumers to view online while they are on the move. UK supermarket chain Sainsbury’s has tapped into this trend by partnering with television provider Sky, allowing shoppers to watch sports events while they shop using in-cart iPad docks and speakers. In 2012, video consumption will soar as brands increasingly use this channel to engage with customers. Video brochures, video newsletters, and regular video communications will become standard features on websites. According to Cisco, 80 per cent of all internet traffic will be driven by video by 2015. (Source: Trendwatching.com, Milwardbrown). Running in tandem with this is the prediction that mobile is set to overtake the desktop PC and laptop – which is why it’s more important than ever to ensure that you have responsive web design to allow for the multitude of devices that your potential customers can access your site via.

Playfulness
In a bid to escape from the grim news about the economy, consumers will become more responsive to entertainment and escapism. Big brands will become more playful, using gamification and other “funware” that use points, puzzles and level progression to attract and engage customers. Social tools and technologies that enable people to interact with TV programmes will explode in 2012. Viewers will be able to interact with TV and producers will draw on this data for creative inspiration. Services such as Bluefin Labs and GetGlue indicate traditional TV ratings may be bolstered by “social ratings” as advertisers start to take into account how a show is travelling beyond the TV audience. (Source: Milward Brown)

LexisClick is a full service digital marketing agency, we specialises in helping businesses grow by using the power of digital marketing, with services such as web design and build, SEO, PPC, email marketing, and social media.

To find out how we can ensure your marketing is on trend in 2012 take a look around our website www.lexisclick.com or give us a call on 01202 788333.

From the LexisClick Marketing Team

(Adapted from Trends for 2012 from The Marketer January 2012)

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Peeks have seen a big uplift in conversions from their email marketing campaigns by using themed bespoke templates designed by our in-house design team. If you’d like  a bespoke email template designed to your requirements click here or give us a call on 01202 788333

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