Some keywords are more valuable to rank for than others, despite having lower search volumes.

Most keyword research tools will show you a value for CPC or Cost Per Click. This is the average value that an advertiser would pay per click to advertise on Google.

This is a helpful metric in determining if ranking for a certain key phrase would be valuable. If advertisers are willing to pay to bid on it, it’s likely to be a valuable keyword to target!

High Value Keywords

Some keywords have high commercial intent, meaning that they are more likely to drive a purchase.

As an example, you can see here that the keyword “personal injury lawyer” has an estimated CPC value of £110! That means advertisers are willing to pay £110 every time someone clicks their ad.

This would be a highly lucrative keyword to rank for.

The reason advertisers are willing to pay a high price to bid on this keyword is that it’s likely to result in a sale for their business.

(Plus, winning a personal injury law case could be worth hundreds of thousands, or millions of pounds!)

This is a high commercial intent keyword!

Low Value Keywords

To contrast this, here’s an example of some keywords related to someone searching for a blink 182 song.

Although these keywords get thousands of searches per month, advertisers are not willing to pay much to advertise on this search.

That’s because searchers are not likely to purchase something when searching for this. This is a keyword with low purchase intent!

When choosing your keywords, make sure to pay attention to not only the search volume but also the CPC value. This is often a good indicator of how valuable it would be to rank!

www.byter.com

The Next Step

Going a step further than the brand awareness and engagement stages of marketing, it’s a good idea to take a look at social media lead generation. Collecting leads on social media has huge advantages. For one, it will aid you in finding people interested in your company, but what’s more, it will ensure you can keep in touch with potential customers.

You might be asking what a social media lead even is? Good question. In fact, let’s take a look at some key terms that will be useful to know before we go any further.

Key Terms to Know

Social Media Lead

A lead is any information someone shares that you can use to follow up with them. This may include names, email addresses, occupations, employers, or any other information that a social media user shares with you.

Social Media Lead Generation

This is simply any activity undertaken on social to collect new leads.

Social Media Lead Nurturing

This includes taking new leads through the customer journey, or as marketers would say: ‘through the sales funnel’.

Social Media Lead Converting

This is the process of turning potential customers into paying customers. Naturally, this is the final stage of collecting social media leads.

Quality or Quantity?

Your specific industry, campaign and goals will all contribute to what can be considered a quality lead. As a good rule of thumb though, quality leads will include useful information and clear signs of intent of engaging with your business. Try to think quality over quantity.

To Facebook and Beyond?

Of course, generating leads can be done most effectively on the platforms being used by your potential customers. As well as having the sharpest tools to collect leads on its platform, Facebook’s 2.45 billion user network stands alone and so is the natural first place to look. But is it the only place? Certainly not. The golden rule here is to ensure you are familiar with the demographics of the different platforms available to you before starting your campaign. Do they line up with your target market?

Let’s now turn our attention to how we can generate more leads on social media.

Tactics to Get More Leads on Social Media

1. Optimize Your Profile 

Make sure you don’t shoot yourself in the foot here. Everything should be in place to collect leads organically. Consider the following as a checklist: 

Contact Information Provided

Supporting customer enquiries is essential, so ensure your contact details are available on your profile.

Call-to-Action Buttons Created

With different platforms offering different profile features, make sure you use the ones that fit your specific goal. Own a restaurant? Make use of a ‘Reservation’ button if the platform has one available and so on.

Link in your Bio Added

Along with the likes of “comment down below” and “don’t forget to like and subscribe”, “link in bio” seems to have been added to the current cultural vernacular. Easily and often taken advantage of on Instagram, try to add a call-to-action so people know why they should click and what they should expect to find.

2. Create Compelling Content

Whether it is brands looking for sales or like-hungry selfies, everyone’s competing for attention on social media. Furthermore, once you factor in diminishing attention spans, your content will have to be as click-worthy as possible. It’s really the only way to collect leads. Think sharp images, sharp copy. With the likes of Shoppable Instagram Posts, just make sure they have a place to click!

3. Create User-Friendly Landing Pages

Great! Someone’s clicked on your link. But wait! You’re landing page is a mess, so they’ve clicked again, but this time straight off. Keep things seamless, relevant, easily scannable and as personal as possible. If forms are vital, pre-fill as much as you can and keep things as unsensitive as possible to reduce the obstacles to completion.

4. Use Social Lead Ads

Facebook Lead Ads

These are pretty much promoted forms, through which leads are collected and synced either straight to your customer management system or to you sales team. Facebook’s retargeting tools are especially handy when it comes to lead nurturing. Just make sure your website has Facebook Pixel installed to facilitate lead tracking and cost measurement.

Instagram Lead Ads

Partially filled in forms (email address, full name…) can all be pre-completed in these ads designed to aid marketers collect information.

LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms

According to Wordstream, the typical website conversion rate stands at 2.35%, whereas the average LinkedIn Lead Gen Form is as high as 13%. Now available as Message Ads and Sponsored InMail, the platform again uses pre-fill sections. What’s more, to help generate leads, LinkedIn Dynamic Ads feature direct call-to-actions.

YouTube TrueView for Action Ads

Loaded with prominent call-to-action buttons linking to a site of your choice, these ads were designed to help advertisers drive a specific action, not least generating leads. Simply select “Leads” as your goal.

Other Options

While other sites such as Pinterest and Twitter, don’t have specific formats for lead ads per se, both platforms offer ad options that can boost social media lead generation.

5. Incentivise Appropriately

People need a reason to share their information with you. Depending on the type of lead you’re after, here are some incentives that could do the trick:

Contests or sweepstakes

These can work especially well when teaming up with a relevant influencer or brand partner. For entry, just ask participants to share whatever information you want to know.

Discount code 

Newsletter sig-up for a discount code. Sounds simple enough. Just make sure you have a strategy in place to convert your newly nurtured leads.

Gated content

Industry depending, the likes of invite only webinars and access to private Facebook Groups provide compelling incentives. The information exchanged, such as emails and job titles, can be invaluable in your marketing and business efforts. There are many great incentives at your disposal along with the aforesaid webinars. How about email newsletters, leadership articles, whitepapers, sales emails or customer content like case studies? Just make sure that whichever route you go down, you always remember to tell customers what’s specifically in it for them.

6. Personalize Your Offer

With a Heinz Marketing study showing that personalized content helps with lead generation more than any other marketing goal, be sure to make the most of the targeting tools available on various platforms. Taking gender as an obvious example, why not run two campaigns for different audiences in tandem, tailoring the message accordingly? As well as pre-filled in forms, LinkedIn Dynamic Ad format takes a user’s name, picture and job title to ensure they can be addressed directly, well worth it when we consider that it results in a 19% higher click-through rate and 53% higher conversion rate than those that don’t.

7. Measure and Refine with Analytics 

Collecting social media leads is all well and good, but you really need to be collecting analytics insights along with them. You can monitor which social platform is the best source for your business, once you’ve set up goals in Google Analytics to track leads on your website. It’s then simply a case of adjusting accordingly. Be sure to keep an eye on social analytics tools to help you identify the type of creative and messaging that perform best.

Whether they know it or not, social media lead generation is part of every marketer’s strategy. To ensure yours stays on the right track, be sure to keep these seven tactics in mind and, as always from the Byter Team, good luck!

www.byter.com

You’ve heard the story a thousand times. The protagonist embarks on an adventure, makes some new friends, overcomes obstacles and returns home a changed person. In short, the Hero’s Journey.

This classic story structure is shared by stories around the globe from Theseus and the Minotaur to Rocky Balboa and as a result is lodged firmly into our cultural DNA. It was, though, Joseph Campbell, the academic who first coined the term way back in 1949, who provided its original structure:

• The Departure Act: The Hero leaves the “Ordinary World”.

• The Initiation Act: The Hero ventures into the unknown “Special World” and is birthed into a true champion through various trials and challenges.

• The Return Act: The Hero returns in triumph.

A little over half a century later, screenwriter Christopher Vogler released his book The Writer’s Journey, in which he refined Campbell’s three phases by identifying the 12 steps that make it up. 

Though they are not necessarily always carried out beat-for-beat, let’s now take a look at Vogler’s 12 steps in more detail and see how the Hero undergoes inner and outer transformation in each one.

The 12 Steps of the Hero’s Journey

1. Ordinary World (we meet our Hero)

This opening leg sets the stage, showing the Hero’s mundane, relatable reality. It provides the juxtaposition with the strange new world yet to be discovered.

Example: Rocky Balboa working as an anonymous debt collector and underground boxer in downtown Philadelphia.

2. Call to Adventure (the adventure begins)

This stage takes the Hero out of their comfort zone, confronting them with an unignorable problem. The catalyst can take several forms. With the stakes of the adventure set, the gauntlet is thrown down for our hero: will they rise to the challenge?

Example: Dorothy being swept up in a tornado in The Wizard of Oz. 

3. Refusal of the Call (the Hero digs in their feet)

It’s certainly not always a simple case of our Hero putting on their shoes and heading out the door. Often, they require quite a nudge. 

Example: Luke Skywalker initially refusing to join Obi-Wan on his mission to rescue the princess, only changing his mind once he finds out stormtroopers have killed his aunt and uncle.

4. Meeting the Mentor (the Hero acquires a personal trainer)

With the Journeys carrying with them significant dangers far too risky for our as yet unproven Heroes, we are often introduced to a mentor. The mentor ensures our Hero has the tools to carry out their adventure, usually through a mixture of practical training, seemingly limitless wisdom and some, let’s say, carefully chosen words of tough love. Although, the mentor can be something as faceless as a map, preparation for the Hero’s next step is still the case.

Example: Mickey Goldmill in Rocky. The time-worn, but not time-beaten old trainer, who takes Rocky under his wing in preparation for his world title fight with Apollo Creed.

5. Crossing the First Threshold (the Hero enters the other world in earnest.)

The central conflict has been launched, the theme has been established and the characters are developing nicely.

As Vogler writes: “This is the moment that the balloon goes up, the ship, the romance begins, the wagon gets rolling.” Our Hero is ready and there’s no going back.

Example: Stitch crashes on Earth in Lilo & Stitch.

6. Tests, Allies, Enemies (the Hero faces new challenges and gets a squad)

Our Hero has stepped into the Special Word and begins getting to grips with their new reality. Usually one of the longest stages, it makes a prime hunting ground for a series of tests to be passed. In this stage, we often are introduced to aliens, enemies, friends and foes.

Example: In Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Spencer, Bethany, Fridge, and Martha don’t get off to the smoothest of starts when they bump into a herd of bloodthirsty hippos.

7. Approach to the Inmost Cave (the Hero gets closer to his goal)

The stage is all about the Hero’s approach to the most dangerous spot in the Special World, where the ultimate goal of the adventure is almost always located.

Example: The Death Star in Star Wars. Obviously, use of the words ‘Inmost Cave’ aren’t necessarily literal.

8. Ordeal (the Hero faces his biggest test of all thus far)

Described by Volger as a “black moment” and Campbell as the “belly of the whale”, this eighth stage is by no means fun for our Hero. Their greatest fear must now be faced, bringing with it their biggest test. Survive and they become transformed, and according to Volger, thereby informing every decision they make from then on. Though not necessarily the story’s climax, the Ordeal finally provides the opportunity for our Hero to be worthy of such a title.

Example: Sam carrying Frodo on his back all the way up Mt Doom in The Lord of The Rings, using Samwise Gamgee as the Hero.

9. Reward (Seizing the Sword) (the Hero sees light at the end of the tunnel…)

The “reward” is the object or knowledge of which the Hero has spent the entirety of their journey fighting. The time to reach out and grab them is now!

Example: Dorothy can finally escape from the Wicked Witch’s castle with the broomstick and the ruby slippers.

10. The Road Back (… but that light is a little further away than expected)

We’ve reached the beginning of Act Three. With the reward “in hand”, it’s time to return to the Ordinary World. However, obstacles can and do still arise.

Example: Before Neo can leave the Matrix again, Agent Smith kills him.

11. Resurrection (the last test is met)

Referred to by Volger as the protagonist’s “final exam”, we see if our Hero has “really learned the lessons of the Ordeal”. It’s a stage known for miraculous near-death escapes. Queue the sweet music…

Example: Simba learns that Scar killed his father and throws him off Pride Rock.

12. Return with the Elixir (our Hero has a triumphant homecoming)

… because, finally, the Hero gets to return home. They’ve grown. They’ve matured. All in all, they’re returning to the Normal World a different person, with the “Elixir” won during the journey in-hand.

Example: Proving that some Hero’s Journeys can conclude elixir-less, Peter recalls his Uncle Ben’s words and embraces his role as Spider-Man.

Rigid Rules?

The 12 Stages of the Hero’s Journey were created to help readers dissect a plot by fostering a stronger understanding of story structure. But remember, they’re not a set of handcuffs. As long as your understanding of the basics is sound, feel free to experiment and bend it in ways that defy reader expectations. 

As always from the Byter Team,

good luck!

www.byter.com

Stop. Leave the expensive equipment on the shelves and those workshop sign-up emails unanswered. If your goal is to become a good videographer, it’s about paying attention to a few often-overlooked key details, then getting down to honing your craft.

As twentieth century American author and motivation speaker Jim Rohn put it, “success is neither magical nor mysterious, (but instead) the natural consequence of consistently applying the fundamentals.” Whether you’re shooting a higher-end production, or something as seemingly basic as a daily vlog, it’s the video filming basics that will help most to keep you on track.

Let’s take a look at 13 timeless tips and techniques to help you in your videography journey.

Smartphone Starting Point

Chances are you own a smartphone. Though often overlooked, they can be a great place to start practicing videography. You can ensure your phone’s kept level by turning on your screen’s overlay grid. Just remember to shoot in landscape and use the back camera for increased quality. If your budget allows, why not buy a reasonably priced gimbal stabilizer, an external microphone and a video tripod, then have a play around. If it’s not enjoyable at this stage, you know what to do.

Shoot Planning

Storyboards are a luxury afforded to you when shooting the likes of short films and commercials. To give yours a professional feel, be sure to add scene sequencing illustrations, which will act as a guide during both the shooting and editing processes. For the shoot specifically, remember to take into account the time of day and natural lighting, along with the specific cameras that are going to be used.

When covering events such as weddings, you’re going to need to know the timeline better than you know your own name. Prepare a shot list (first kiss, cake cutting, etc) and stick to one specifically chosen style.

Good Lighting

As touched upon above, one of the fastest ways to ruin the chances of your videos looking professional is to use the lighting incorrectly. Again, things are somewhat budget depending. If it’s simply a case of lamps and the sun, think of ways they can improve a scene. Always pay attention to the lighting throughout the process all the way back to the original conceptualization. It can literally make or break a scene’s effectiveness.

Simple Backgrounds

Though there are exceptions to the rule which naturally come at a more advanced stage in your development, one of the last things you want is your scene to look cluttered. You need the audience’s eyes focused on your subject(s). Simple, solid-coloured backgrounds such as a wall or bedsheet should do the trick. Just make sure your subject isn’t too far away from it creating an unwanted shadow.

Composition Improvements

The thing that will give you away as a novice quicker than anything is the lack of proper framing and composition. Arrange and allow visual elements to tell your story, whilst changing your camera’s framing to keep everything aesthetically pleasing. It’s sadly not a case of just aiming your camera at your subjects.

The Rule of Thirds

In photography, this is a type of composition in which an image is divided evenly into thirds, both horizontally and vertically, and the subject of the image is placed at the intersection of those dividing lines, or along one of the lines itself. With the subject’s head not in the centre, but instead a little higher, they’re provided with a visual breathing or walking space when facing the sides. When taking over-the-shoulder-shots, it’s a good idea to remain on the same side of two people talking, while having a foreground and a background helps to create depth within a scene.

Proper Camera Placement

When beginners want a close-up shot of their subject, they tend to place their camera right up close, potentially creating unattractive facial distortions and making it difficult to crop out the scene’s edges. Instead, be sure to place your camera a couple of feet away and optically (not digitally) zoom in with your camera lens in carefully, eliminating the likelihood of a pixelated-looking video.

Manual Focus over Autofocus

Make sure to either use the exposure/focus lock on your smartphone or switch your standalone camera to manual focus, then put your own eyes to use. Of course, the autofocus feature has its time and place, but it has the potential to ruin a recording going in and out of focus during the likes of dimly lit scenes.

Opting for a manual focus also brings with it the opportunity to direct your viewer’s attention in more novel ways. By using a rack focus technique, objects can be focused on successively, with a shallow depth field helping to blur everything else out.

White Balance Settings

One way to ensure you’re going to be spending far more time in the editing room than you want is to forget to set the same white balance on all your cameras. Don’t rely on the default settings, as there’s no guarantee they all will have the same default colour temperatures. That way, you’ll be keeping things consistent and professional, while keeping post-production costs at a minimum. Remember, there’s no “perfect” white balance. Let your own intuition take the lead. Just try to keep things consistent.

Expose Scenes Evenly

On a similar note, using more than one camera can result in clips with different exposure settings. The same scene can appear darker in one camera and brighter on the other if you don’t set the same exposure settings, such as your aperture, frame rate and ISO levels. This is why dedicated cine lenses have t-stops, which stand for exact aperture values, instead of the more theoretical f-stop value on regular photography lenses.

For beginners, it may be easier to shoot in controlled settings where you can have the same lighting no matter the time of day and use the same camera with the exposure locked. It may take longer to record, but at least it will save you the headache of correcting your exposure during post-production.

There’s no shame in beginners using just one single camera in a controlled environment with the exposure locked. If you’re forced to shoot outdoors, with sunsets and clouds at play, remember that speed is key. Either way, always keep in mind the need to minimise time spent in post-production where possible.

Add Cinematic Techniques

By applying some cinematography techniques, you’ll really start to take your videography skills to the next level. Remember though, it’s never about using them for the sake of it. Be creative of course but chose them wisely and ensure that they serve your story, keeping in mind the old adage that less is often more.

Keep Things Steady

Steady surfaces and tripods are required to ensure you don’t run the risk of allowing your audience to view your work as nothing more than a home video which makes them want to vomit. Be it panning, a crane shot, or dollying from side to side, keep things steady, only moving your camera when you need to.

Shot Timing

To hold you viewers’ attention successfully, keep in mind the sweet spot is between five to ten seconds per shot. Furthermore, avoiding the temptation to pan or zoom for the first ten seconds should help keep camera movements and recording time to a minimum.

Think Like an Editor

To avoid the stress and frustration of having only one subpar shot of a scene, you’ll want to ensure you have a few “safety shots” keeping your angle and editing options open and the chances of reshoots to a minimum.

As was the case with the start of this article, when it comes to video editing software, it’s advisable to stay within your means. It’s certainly worth getting to grips with a simpler program before you delve into more complicated and, no doubt, more expensive options.

Unfortunately, there are no shortcuts if you choose to undertake a career in videography and want to become a great cinematographer. However, by following these tips and techniques, you should be on your way.

As always from the Byter Team, good luck!

0203 978 8820

Info@byter.com

www.byter.com

Simply put, the potential revenue of an online company takes a massive hit if its website isn’t getting anywhere near enough traffic. With this in mind, let’s take a look at what you need to keep an eye on in order to help ensure that your business doesn’t succumb to such a fate.

Target audience

Question Time

The reasons your website isn’t getting any (increased) traffic can vary, but they’ll never be known unless you have a clear understanding of who to target. As such, ask yourself the following questions: Who are they? What are their needs? What are their concerns?

Your target audience not knowing that your website can provide them with solutions or, worse still, not even being able to find you in the first place, isn’t exactly a great way to increase your traffic. As such, we come to a fourth question that needs asking: in what ways can your business provide solutions?

Research

It all begins with research. Be sure to delve into your existing customer database to lead capture forms as well as analytics data to help create your ideal buyer persona and gain a fuller understanding of their buyer’s journey. Having done this, your website’s content can be suitably adapted.

Awareness

Inbound Marketing

Inbound marketing tactics can be used to ensure that your target audience is actually aware of your business and can associate you with solutions, paving the way for them to become customers.

To create such traffic during this awareness stage, it’s all about using the correct channels to provide relevant information for your target audience. Ideas include:

· Creating relevant content

· Improving SEO leveraging social media platforms

· Creating a Google Ads campaign

This should help in getting them on to your website, but they need to be engaged enough to stick around. At this stage of the buyer’s journey, new channels could be used. Ideas include:

· Chatbots

· A call to action

· Forms

CRM integration is a great way in which you can turn a lead into a customer at this stage. If this isn’t an available option for you, why not try emails and workflows? The resulting surveys and feedback on the likes of Google My Business or general social account promotion could snowball into attracting new visitors.

Keywords

With keywords playing a vital role in your site’s ability to rank well, you need to ask yourself what keywords you are trying to rank for through your current content and whether they are in line with what your target audience are searching for.

Keywords involve somewhat of a balancing act. Ones that are too popular are generally harder to rank for, while the opposite can drive no traffic at all. As such, it’s worthwhile to use a keyword tool, which provides an insight into the search volume and ranking difficulty of each keyword, as well as highlighting similar popular keywords related to your search term.

Be sure to specify search terms though long-tail keywords. For example, ‘branding agency notting hill’, as opposed to simply “branding agency.” Seed keywords with minimal competition as well as long-tail high-volume keywords are the way to drive an even higher amount of traffic.

Technical on-page optimisation

On-page SEO consists on technical elements, which should reflect the chosen keywords for each page. These technical elements include:

· Page titles

· Meta descriptions

· Alt tags

· URIs

· On-page content of a page

With on-page SEO being vital in terms of driving traffic to your website, it’s essential that you check that all of these technical elements are correct for your key pages.

Make sure not just to pull from the page content, and instead use a range of your offered services that a user may search for along with these terms. This will help Google to understand what your page is about, thereby improving your rankings over time, increase your traffic and ultimately allow your audience to associate your website with providing solutions to their problems.

Content

Ensure that the content on each page of your website is relevant to the user intent by linking your keywords, technical on-page optimisation and content all together. Your landing page is particularly important, as irrelevant content here will likely lead to nothing but your potential customers exiting the site, creating a high bounce rate.

Relevant Content Tips:

Keep content detailed

Use H1s and H2s to clearly organise content

Ask yourself, where in the buyer’s journey are your target audience?

Weave your keyword into your content

Don’t duplicate content from other pages

Blogs

Seldom does a great blog not involve a content strategy. By showing your expertise in the products and services you provide, an informative, authoritative and trustworthy image can be created. A solid and relevant content strategy will ensure you target a specific stage in your buyer’s journey.

As stated earlier, the potential revenue of an online company will take a huge hit if its website isn’t getting anywhere near enough traffic. By following the above advice, the possibility of your company falling into the same category should be kept well at bay.

Good luck!

www.byter.com

When we think of the main digital marketing channels available to us, it’s PPC and SEO that crop up most often. Though their features, targets and methods differ, the goal always remains the same: making sure your online presence is as strong and visible as possible.

This begs the obvious question: which is better?

PPC

Let’s first look more closely at PPC (pay-per-click).

PPC is jam-packed with clever technology but, despite this, still remains renowned for its speed. Of course, such technology does come at a price, but if set up correctly, it more than allows you to reap the rewards.

Google Ads

Being loaded with technology and algorithms, Google Ads allow you to home in on your targets, through tactics such as remarketing. The algorithms feed on your account’s data, providing the biggest bang for your buck.

This increasingly automated platform uses a huge bank of algorithmic data in targeting the precise time and searches that it knows will convert – all backed by an experienced paid media specialist, enabling your business to instantly reach the summit of the Google SERP.

This visibility is great for:

Promoting new websites.

Advertising new ecommerce product lines.

Keeping on the front foot against your competitors.

Reporting on every single piece of data, thus increasing the effectiveness of your campaigns.

SEO

Let’s now take a closer looks SEO (search engine optimization).

Likened to that silent hard worker in the shadows, SEO is technical, complex and analytical. With Google not revealing all the elements that make up their search algorithms, hours can go by researching, experimenting and implementing changes across a wide range of on-page tactics and off the site link. As a result, SEOs much research, plan and execute to ensure you get as high up the rankings as possible, although without the aforesaid speed advantages of PPC.

Nevertheless, if a strong strategy is applied, the potential long-term rewards are huge. Such a strategy involves optimising your content for targeted, valuable keywords, enabling search engines to crawl and index your site more easily. This leads to organic search results, hopefully near the top of page one, with your SERP snippet being engaging enough to entice users into clicking onto your website.

With the buyer’s journey acting as a guide, your site’s content can be crafted in a way that effectively answers your potential customers’ queries which, when coupled with a fantastic user experience, builds trust and ultimately action in the form of sales.

SEO and PPC: Head-to-Head

Put simply, when deciding on which route you want to take, think in terms of goals and objectives. Let’s see what a new business’ digital marketing journey might look like, building from the ground up.

4. Business building an audience at the top of the marketing funnel.

☝

3. Message of brand now being spread by returning customers

☝

2. SEO elements now used to capitalise on new traffic

Converting traffic into returning customers

☝

1. PPC tactics to ensure online visibility

E.g. wide-reaching campaign with broad targeting.

Remember, it’s choosing how and when you use each channel that matters. Although PPC might be faster and more measurable in terms of garnering traffic, once the money is no longer put into PPC, the ads stop and the traffic heads out the door along with them.

Alternatively, SEO can offer greater levels of (albeit longer-term) consistency for a less direct cost. Keep in mind SEO can effectively be done manually, through the likes of amending product descriptions on your site. Although the site will still earn traffic without this, it certainly doesn’t hurt to keep the momentum going.

Better Together?

With Google suggesting online consumer intent dependent touchpoints range from anywhere between 20-500, it seems unwise for a business to rely on one single channel for acquiring traffic. As expressed in the above diagram, the multi-channel approach helps to ensure that you don’t miss out on visibility across the entire buyer’s journey.

In summary, there’s no hard-and-fast rule about which one of PPC and SEO is better. Each has its own advantages at particular times, with different businesses being able to reap the rewards of each in different ways. More often than not though, a carefully applied strategy will contain a mixture of the two.

As always, good luck.

Byter Team.

Info@byter.com

0203 978 8820

www.byter.com

Do you want to build your brand name, grow an engaged online community and ultimately increase sales? If the answer to all these questions is a resounding ‘yes’, then ignore social media at your peril.

This article will help you to establish the presence of your business and voice on social media, as well as provide three great ways to increase traffic to you once you’re up and running.

But before we dive right into the land of likes and even more likes, let’s take a moment to fully consider what your brand message is and the various available platforms you’re consistently going to use to get it out.

Platforms and a Plan

All social media platforms have their own different strengths and weaknesses and it’s important that you consider which ones will be more beneficial to your specific business. For example, Pinterest is a great creative, photo-sharing platform far more suited to industries such as interior design than the likes of tech.

In terms of sheer numbers, Facebook rules the roost (2.38 billion users). Also, on the podium are Instagram and Twitter, boasting their own staggering userbases (1 billion and 330 million respectively). Honourable mentions that are definitely at least worth considering are Snapchat, Tumblr, Reddit and the aforementioned Pinterest. All of these platforms provide businesses with the chance to immediately reach a far and wide audience.

To augment your social traffic, it’s crucial that as a business you have analysed the benefits each platform could offer, the audience they will reach and the brand message they will send out. As might be expected, the demographics of each platform’s userbase do differ and a bit of research can go a long way in ensuring that your products and services are reaching the appropriate audience.

What’s your Goal?

When researching each available platform, it is vital to decide what exactly you want to achieve with social media. Perhaps you have a number of followers you would like to reach in a certain period of time. Perhaps it’s simply a key message you want resonated on the platform. Without a carefully considered set of specific goals laid out, it will be difficult for the correct processes to be put in place to maximise potential traffic to your pages. Such a plan will emphasise the point alluded to earlier that not all social networks are the same and that a one-size-fits-all approach is not a recipe for guaranteed success.

Ok, so what are the three ways you can increase your social media traffic?

1) Visual Content

For businesses such as yours, it’s essential that the content you post is eye-catching. With social media users often following hundreds if not thousands of different accounts, it’s important to remember that their attention spans are frequently low and competition for their attention is high.

Making your content highly visual is a great way to grab a user’s attention. Instagram is a fantastic platform to explore the use of visual content, allowing you to create an overall theme that, in time, can become instantly recognisable each time you post. Sadly, when it comes to great visual content, there are no shortcuts.

Think:

· High levels of professional photography

· Vibrant, striking colour schemes

· Visuals that tell stories and show your business in a new light

· And, above all, a clear message

2) Mobile-Friendly Content

With the vast majority of people using social media on their mobile phones, it’s essential that your content is created in a mobile-friendly manner that will be easy to navigate. Ignoring this point is a sure-fire way to activate that inescapable issue of your audience’s diminishing attention spans. Including key information about your company within its ‘bio’ section is an often-ignored point to keep in mind. Remember to include:

· A link to your website

· Your contact information

· A concise summary of your business

Try to keep things clear and instantly understood.

3) Reply Quickly

With social media has become a way for customers to interact with companies, whether that be reviewing products and services or dealing with any questions or complaints, one of the most effective ways a company can gain popularity is to communicate with their audience as often and as quickly as possible. When we consider that one in three people go to competitors after having been ignored on social platforms, we see that necessity in replying to tweets, private messages or comments. Furthermore, it’s worth considering installing the customer chatbot feature offered on Facebook, creating a live conversation with any potential buyers.

Stay on Track

The best way to see if what you’re doing is working is to keep track of your traffic at regular tri-monthly intervals, while always keeping an eye on what your competitors are doing to ensure you stay ahead of the game.

Again, when it comes to increasing your social media traffic, there really are no shortcuts. Creating the appropriate content and getting your brand’s message across takes time. State your specific goals before you dive and always keep in mind the importance of building relationships with your customers and potential business partners.

Keep all this in mind and you’re well on your way to increasing your social media traffic and gaining more customers as a result.

Good luck!

Byter Team.