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Content marketing is always changing and evolving, and this year is no exception. No doubt your business has a well-thought-out content marketing strategy in place, but are you taking into account all of the areas of web design? Some strategies end up being focused primarily on content (no surprise there), but other elements need to be considered if you want your strategy to be as successful as possible. Here is a list of just a few points you may want to consider.

Be User-Friendly
The most important part of your website has to be the ease-of-use. Yes, you want your site to be engaging, but if people can’t figure out how to work the menu, or can’t find which product they want, they’ll go straight to one of your competitors. If you have an online shop, always include a search function and test it out to check that it works (on all devices). Make sure that your search results are presented in a clean, easy-to-view way. Don’t be afraid to make use of white space – this is a hugely popular design element this year; not only does it de-clutter your page, but it also makes your website seem more professional. Bombarding the user with endless paragraphs of written content is just going to confuse them or scare them away.

Make Your Site Beautiful
This carries on from the idea of white space: while the design of your site should be minimal and user-friendly, it doesn’t mean you can completely forget about the presentation. With social networking sites such as Pinterest and Instagram on the rise, it’s clear that images are becoming more and more popular as a way of sharing content. This idea of visual content can include stylish special effects applied to page elements such as the menus. HTML5 and CSS3 technologies will help revolutionise this kind of content over the next year or so.

Get Social
The integration of business websites with social networks such as Facebook and Twitter is nothing new, but the way they’re now being integrating is. The normal share buttons still exist, but these days it’s easier than ever to link content to social networking sites and back again. Make sure you encourage discussions on your images and videos, and make the most of sites such as Twitter to engage potential clients with contests and polls.

Don’t Ignore Mobile Platforms
Smartphones and tablets are becoming more popular every year, so make sure you take these users into account when thinking about your content. Use responsive website designs so people can access your site from any device, and look into the possibility of mobile and tablet apps to reach out to more potential customers.

Online web development companies are on the cutting edge of all the latest web designs and so can help you and your business come up with a content marketing strategy to suit your budget, your employees, and your customers. If you take these tips into account, you’ll start to see your strategy bringing in more potential clients – and more possible conversions – in the upcoming year.

By Chelsey Evans

Follow @AmpheonLtd

So much has been written about responsive web design recently that it’s almost impossible to take in all of the available information that keeps popping up online; in fact, 2013 is even being hailed as the year of responsive layouts, which explains the current abundance of articles and blog posts on the subject. So, instead of delving into all the ins and outs of responsive web design (something which a web developer will be able to do for you anyway if needed), here are just a few points to consider if you’re thinking about going responsive this year.

What Is Responsive Web Design?
In a nutshell, a responsive layout of a website is one that works across all devices – from desktop computers to laptops to netbooks to tablets to smartphones… you get the idea. The aim is to create a simple yet effective site that is quick to load, easy to use, and that will encourage potential clients to stay on the site long enough to carry out the desired action. Resizing a company’s normal site to fit the dimensions of a smartphone or tablet screen simply won’t cut it – instead, you need to cut out all unnecessary images, videos, and any other items that could slow down the loading time. Menus need to be easy to navigate, and all of the important contact information has to be in a clear, accessible place. All text should also be clear and easy to read. It’s simple, but it’s amazing how many businesses don’t take mobile platforms into account when designing their sites, leaving users trying to pinch and twist their way round a slow, confusing website.

Why Go Responsive?
Your business website is often the first port of call for potential customers, and therefore, you need to make a good first impression. This is why many companies – of all shapes and sizes – spend a good portion of their marketing budget on their website and blog. This is all very well, but if you’re ignoring the millions of smartphone and tablet users out there (especially users who don’t have any other way of connecting to the internet on a regular basis), then you’re setting yourself up to fail. Before you look at getting a responsive layout, you’ll need to do some research concerning your official business website. How much traffic do you get? How much of that traffic are mobile and smartphone users? Which elements of the site are used the most – e.g. the search function? Doing this kind of analysis will help you to discover which parts of your site are the most important, and which ones can be left out of a responsive design. If your research tells you that a high percentage of your potential customers are using mobile devices to browse your site, then you’ll know that spending the money on going responsive will be a good investment for your business.

To find out more about responsive web layouts, head online and get advice from a professional web development company. They’ll be able to design your site for you, as well as analysing your traffic and supporting you in your website needs in the future.

By Chelsey Evans

Follow @AmpheonLtd

Facebook is great for many things such as keeping in touch with friends and families, sharing photos, seeing who’s checked in nearby to you, and so on. It’s also great for business – not just as an extra online presence, but as a way of actually gaining customers (and keeping them). Consumers use social networking sites to follow their favourite brands, as well as recommending particular products and services to their online friends (a digital kind of word-of-mouth that can reach many more people than normal word-of-mouth ever could). It’s been said that every ‘like’ which a company gains is equivalent to just over £100 of business, and while this would clearly be different for each brand, it’s worth putting in a bit of time and effort to make sure you get as many likes as possible. As long as you’ve already got a Facebook profile set up, it doesn’t have to be a huge job to increase the number of likes you receive. Here are just a few tips.

Separate your ‘Facebook’ self from your ‘Business’ self
This may sound odd, as it’s your business you’re trying to promote, but social networks are a place to be… well, social. Users don’t want the generic sales spiel or marketing messages which they get from your official company website, they want something different, something more interesting, something fun. While some businesses may moan and groan at the idea of having to portray their ‘fun’ side, it can actually be a really good opportunity to get creative. Interact with your existing and potential customers not as a business executive or manager, but as an actual person they can relate to. Post interesting videos on any products you sell (without the boring business talk), run contests that people can really get involved in, and ask users their opinions on certain aspects of your business.

Make Use Of Facebook Analytics
Facebook offers brands the opportunity to look at the basic stats for their page. On the ‘Insights’ tab, you’ll be able to look at information regarding who’s looking at your page, how old they are, where they live, and more. The four options under ‘Insights’ are ‘Overview’, ‘Likes’, ‘Reach’, and ‘Talking about this’. By analysing this information and seeing who responded to which posts, you’ll be able to tailor your future posts, including any images or videos you post onto your profile. If something’s not working, stop it.

Promote, Promote, Promote
Like with any aspect of marketing, you’ll need to promote your Facebook page as much as possible if you want the likes to start rolling in. To start with, this doesn’t have to be anything really big; it can just be a case of adding your Facebook link to every piece of outgoing publicity. Add it to your email signatures, your business cards, link it to your website, your blog, and any other social media profiles you have. You can also make use of QR codes that lead not to your website, but to your Facebook page.

Whatever you do on your Facebook profile, make it stand out from the crowd. If your page is clearly run by real people with real personalities, users will start to respond and trust you as a brand.

By Chelsey Evans

Follow @AmpheonLtd

With so many users on popular social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest, they can be great places to target potential customers for your business (as well as keeping your existing clients happy), but this can be an expensive way of getting traffic for your site – both in terms of money and the time it takes to build up effective campaigns. Large companies with enough employees (and ones with the right skills) can easily incorporate social media networking into their digital marketing budget, but what about smaller companies? If you don’t have a huge number of staff – or if you’re just starting out in your business – it can seem incredibly daunting. So what are the options?

Do It Yourself
One way to approach this is to start simple and build up your social media presence over time. You can do this yourself, but it will take a good few hours out of your working week, every week. It isn’t just setting up the profiles that takes time; in order to make it worthwhile, you need to be updating your social media pages on a regular basis. This includes posting statuses and pictures, responding to individual questions or requests, and engaging with both existing and potential clients. On top of all this, there’s also the advertising side. If you haven’t already done so for other PPC (Pay Per Click) campaigns, you’ll need to spend time analysing keywords, phrases, and the types of people who use your business in order to target your adverts effectively. This can be incredibly time consuming, and if you do it wrong, it could cost you a lot of money in clicks that don’t turn into conversions.

Hire A Freelancer
Another option is simply to hire a professional web development freelancer to carry out the work for you. Obviously, the downside to this is the cost, but once they’ve done the groundwork with regards to which keywords etc to use in your adverts, you may be able to carry on with the work on your own afterwards.

Pay A Company To Do It For You
Another option – one which some businesses might not be aware of – is to use a company who specialises in doing your social media marketing for you. There are several firms out there who offer these kinds of services, one of which is Social Flow. Based in New York, the start up offers both earned media and paid media options, and have recently raised $10 million in a round of financing. Their services include scheduling Tweets and Facebook posts to reach the correct people at the correct time, targeting users in a specific time-frame in order to generate the most conversions. The main advantage of using a company like this is, of course, everything is done for you. The main disadvantage is that it can cost a lot of money, so only large companies may want to consider this approach. Whatever you decide, it’s worth doing in-depth research into the different options to see which the right choice is for you.

By Chelsey Evans

Follow @AmpheonLtd

Gamification as a marketing strategy is nothing new, but with its increasing popularity with all kinds of businesses – both B2B and B2C – it’s a technique to look out for this year.

What does it mean?

Basically, gamification is the application of game-design thinking in non-gaming contexts. This can be used with many different types of business processes, and can be aimed at getting both employees and customers to participate in typically mundane procedures, such as filling in surveys or reading the content on websites, that they may have wanted to avoid before. It’s all about modifying users’ behaviours, and not only encouraging them to participate in tasks, but making them want to participate in the tasks. Creating addictive games that can link into a business process and give users the ability to experience personal achievement and progression can be effective in targeting individual consumers as well as other businesses.

How does it work?

The idea is to attract and engage customers by using interaction and participation in their online marketing strategies. Loyalty programs can be improved by introducing gamification principles, such as providing rewards to customers who interact more with the brand. It can also be used to gain new customers, when they might have been reluctant to part with their cash before.  Adobe Photoshop is a particularly successful case that exemplifies the advantages of using gamification:

Adobe asked for help from Bunchball (a gamification platform provider) when they were trying to increase sales of Photoshop, and as a result, ‘LevelUp’ was created. The idea is to teach users how to use CS5 and CS6, but in a fun and competitive way. The more skills the user perfects, the more missions they complete and the more badges they win, giving them a sense of achievement that online tutorials or reading a manual wouldn’t have provided.

What will the customer get out of it?

Each business that wants to use the idea of gamification has to decide on what will most encourage their customers. This, of course, depends on the type of business, but generally, it will be one of the following:

Money – such as special offers or cashback

Points – which they can add up as they go along

Non-monetary rewards – such as early access to products

Status – give them voting power or a badge for each ‘level’ they pass

Sociability – give users the chance to share their achievements on social networking sites such as Facebook

This last point is important, as many people on Facebook already take part in the variety of games available and use them as interactive tools with their online friends. A point system for social action is one of the biggest motivators in the area of gamification, and as Facebook users are already used to liking and sharing, it isn’t a big leap to interacting meaningfully with your business using similar methods.

If you take the time to plan how both your business and your customers will best benefit from gamification, it can turn into a successful marketing strategy which will keep your clients engaged and happy to learn more about your products or services.

By Chelsey Evans

Follow @AmpheonLtd