+44 1509 440 151 [email protected]
SEO 5 Trends to take notice of in 2023

SEO 5 Trends to take notice of in 2023

by | Jul 2, 2021 | Digital Marketing

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is an effective way to attract customers to an online platform. With 74,000 individual search terms being typed into Google every second, it is vital to ensure your website is ranking high.  

Did you know that only 0.78% of Google searchers will click on results from the 2nd page or further? 

Getting your website to have top-ranking SEO performance requires attention to a multitude of trends and strategies. This guide should draw your attention to the best up-to-date SEO trends to watch out for in 2023.  

1. An Effective SEO Strategy Will Need to Include Video 

Video is quickly becoming one of the most effective ways to connect with consumers. It is projected to be consumed more than all other forms of content. Google recognises this and will likely show a website on the front page if it has a video alongside the written content. 

Use video as part of your SEO strategy as it much more effective than a written document.  BUT, always stay relevant and be optimised with keywords whilst still being user-friendly.  

A great platform to start with is YouTube. It is coming to the front due to its ever-growing audience; Using keywords, along with a relevant channel name and description, can help your website rank higher in searches.  

2. Increase Your Brand Awareness and Build Trust with Influencers 

Influencers can influence the decisions of their followers because of their relationship with their audience and their knowledge and expertise in a particular area, e.g. fashion, travel or technology.  

Influencers are often associated with trust, the more trust this person has the more people will follow their opinion. Changing your SEO marketing strategy to include an influencer can drastically increase your sales and reputation as a trustworthy business.  

Choosing the right person is key, a higher follower count does not equal a good fit for your business; looking into their audience, previous partnerships, and public image is key to ensure your business will profit from this endeavour. 

3. Mobile Friendliness 

Almost every person you talk to will own a smartphone. As they become more and more advanced and widely used, it is crucial for your website to be mobile-friendly.  

Ensuring that your website is mobile-friendly and can be accessed/read as intended on a mobile device is vital to ensure you do not eliminate this sector of your audience. It also allows you to check that everything functions as intended and that there is no compromise on quality.  

Google has a mobile-friendly test that can be used to check this. 

As technology has improved, devices that support voice search have become very popular. It is predicted that by 2022 over 55% of households will own a smart speaker. 

To optimise your content for this way of searching, you should ensure that you have effective keywords, and find longer and shorter phrases that people would use in conversation when talking about this topic. Including these phrases throughout your content can ensure better SEO optimisation for your content when using voice search. 

If this feels foreign to you, we can help! Book a discovery call here. 

5. Long-Form Content Will Help Improve SERPs  

Search engine results pages (SERPs) are the pages you encounter when doing a Google search.  

Producing long-form content (not to be confused with long-tail keywords) can help to rank higher on SERPs, however, this content must still be relevant and high quality. The length of your content can affect the number of traffic/shares that your website gets. A longer read of 3,000+ words can get 3x more traffic and 4x more shares.  

A longer content piece needs to keep the reader engaged and provide information that can be shared with other people. Longer content also provides you with more space to include your keywords. 

To make a long piece of content more readable, you should split it into sections using subheadings to make it easier to find specific information (this is especially important when being used on a mobile device). 

These 5 SEO trends to watch out for in 2023 show that SEO is constantly changing and evolving. It is critical to stay on top of these trends to keep your place in the rankings. However, it can be difficult to stay on top of the latest trends. 

If you are unsure how to incorporate these trends into your business or feel like you could be doing it better, CREATIVE in TiME are here to help.

How Blogging Helps your Business?

How Blogging Helps your Business?

by | Jun 18, 2021 | Digital Marketing

What is Blogging?

Blogging is the act of posting content on a website. They are informal articles written for the purpose of showing thought leadership and expertise on a topic. 

All sounds pretty serious right? But don’t worry, it’s not that difficult!

How Blogging Helps your Business

Blogs help your business in a number of ways. They are a great way to generate fresh new content on a website and provide a catalyst for email marketing and social media promotion to improve your SEO and drive search traffic to your website.

Is Blogging Still Relevant?

Yes! Each month, approximately 409 million people view more than 20 billion pages and 77% of internet users, read blogs. That’s a lot of people. This is why 53% of marketers prioritise blogging as their primary content marketing strategy.

Why is Blogging Important?

You will have been told, if you run a business, how important it is for your company to have it found, and to have blogs on your website.

Blogging allows you to share information about your business and its services but it also allows you to share opinions and thoughts on certain topics. It is also a great way to create a personality for your company and makes your business more credible and approachable.

How Blogging Helps SEO

First, what is SEO?

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the process of improving your site to increase its visibility when people search for products or services related to your business in Google, Bing, and other search engines. 

But how can blogging help SEO? 

  • It keeps your website fresh and current
  • It keeps people on your website for longer
  • A quality blog gives others sites more reasons to link back to your site
  • A blog helps you connect with your audience

Blogging: Where To Begin

Here’s our top tips for getting started with blogging:

  1. Create engaging titles and DO NOT make them misleading! They’ll only bounce straight off the blog post once they realise it’s about something completely different to what they thought it was going to be. 
  2. Use long-tail keywords throughout. These are extremely important for any SEO strategy. Half of all searches are for terms that are four words or longer. But these can be difficult to put into your pages. Don’t know how to use long-tail keywords in your blogs? Click here.
  3. Write about trending topics/questions in your industry. You can do this by searching a keyword e.g. ‘marketing’ or ‘manufacturing’ into Answer The Public or Uber Suggest and see what people are talking about. Create your content around it! 
  4. LINK LINK LINK! So much of SEO is about links and internal links are the easiest one’s for you to get since you can create them for yourself. Link to another blog post or a pricing page that’s relevant to the information you’re writing about. 
  5. Always include a Call to Action (CTA)!

Already Blogging?

Got some smashing blogs? Great…but don’t stop there! Market your blogs. Update your blogs. Back link in your blogs. Collab with your blogs.

Use blogs to look like the authority in your industry. Use blogs to answer questions your customers have, and ones they didn’t know they had. If you’re too busy to work out how to create, format and promote your content…let us!

CREATIVE in TiME are here to help. We audit, advise, mentor and manage your marketing requirements (and all your blogging needs). Click here to book a discovery call with us.

How important is BRANDING?

How important is BRANDING?

by | Jun 7, 2021 | Digital Marketing

Branding is so important for businesses. It is not just a logo, font and colours, it’s what defines who you are, what you sell and how you communicate with people. 

Branding is everything!

Did you know that 90% of consumers expect a consistent brand experience across all of company’s channels (FierceRetail)? 

Why is branding important for businesses?

Branding is important for businesses because it builds loyalty and creditably with your audience.

Not only this, but effective branding will tend to make your brand look professional and trustworthy and provide clarity on your business vision and purpose. 

If your brand’s messages, visuals and campaigns across your channels are misaligned, you are sending out confusing signals to your audience.

Over time this can have significant consequences to your customer experience, brand reputation and overall loss of trust. 

Does branding provide a competitive advantage?

Yes it does, when done properly! Your brand is what differentiates you from other businesses in the same industry.

When customers recognise your brand, it helps lend a competitive edge to your business. When you receive more recognition, the more your brand builds and elevates above other competitors. 

Did you know: 

  • 77% of B2B marketers say branding is crucial for growth (Adience, 2020).
  • 89% of B2B marketers say brand awareness is the most important goal, followed by sales and lead generation (Content Marketing Institution). 
  • It takes 1/10th of a second to form a first impression of someone. When it comes to your brand, It takes about 50 milliseconds (0.05 seconds) for people to form an opinion about your website (8 Ways Media, 2019).
  • Consistent presentation of a brand has seen to increase revenue by 33 percent (Lucidpress,2019).  

Crazy right?! So where do you start?

Branding: Where to Start

  1. Start by defining your brand. Your values, belief and mission. 
  2. Identify why people be interested in your business. Why should they invest in your services? Think of the functional, emotional, physiological, luxury or necessity benefits of your business. Jot them down!  
  3. What is your target audience? 
  4. What are their needs?
  5. Share your brand story. Sharing your stories create an powerful and emotional bond with your audience. 
  6. Font, colours and logo – How do you represent your brand visually? Use the same colour palette, colour and logo across your platforms. Did you know choosing branding colours wisely can impact how people perceive your brand? Using a signature colour can increase brand recognition by 80 percent!

If you’re still wondering if you should invest in branding…YES! Branding shapes and gives meaning to your business.

Want to take control of your business and marketing? CREATIVE in TiME are here to help. We audit, advise, mentor and manage any of your marketing requirements. Click here to book a discovery call with us.

5 Tips for Landing a Technology Consultant

5 Tips for Landing a Technology Consultant

by | Dec 5, 2020 | Digital Marketing, Marketing Consultancy

So, you need help, advice and support with the technologies in your company and want to hire a Technology Consultant, but you’re at a loss on what to look for?

Never fear, let us take you through our five top tips for finding your technology guru. 

1. Demonstrate Relevant Experience (DRE)

A technology consultant needs to demonstrate they have relevant experience and understanding of your specific needs and challenges, whether you are an SME, corporation or a non-profit organisation, you will benefit from a technology consultant who has experience in your specific challenges. 

On a similar note, it’s very important to drill down into what the consultant/consultancy firm specialises in, an relatable example of this is in marketing, often “marketing” companies are actually website designers rather than a fully comprehensive marketing business. Are you speaking to people with very specific skills, or do they provide a wider range? Both are fine, but you need to understand what they are great at, and what they can signpost you to.

Whatever they excel in, does it complement the needs of your business?

Relevant experience will give you, as an employer, peace of mind that they can deliver on their promises. If they can’t, then it’s time to move on.

2. Communication

Communication between you and your technology consultant is critical for establishing a good working relationship that yields efficient and impressive results. If you don’t feel the communication is great within the first one or two contact points (email/ phone / video/ meeting), why would it work out. Being able to communicate with human beings is critical and you must not overlook it. Not only that, but the world of technology can be a daunting place for your other employees.

Your consultant must be able to communicate any technical speak in ‘layman’s terms’ to ensure clarity and reduce the chances of miscommunication. This is why it’s imperative your potential consultant will keep you up to date about any progress, set-backs, and developments.

So, do your due diligence, and see whether any of their previous clients/employers can vouch for their communication skills. 

3. Innovative ideas and involvement

A technology consultant must be able to come up with solutions to rectify any tech problems you’re experiencing. A great technology consultant will look to the future and determine what will benefit your business needs moving forward. 

Whether it’s improved online customer service or enhancing your digital consumer experience, it’s up to your tech consultant to provide innovative ideas.

In short, the more involved your consultant is, the more benefits you will reap.  

A key aspect to understand here is that the landscape out in the “tech” space is changing constantly. Your consultant needs to be constantly researching new solutions coming to market and have experience in other companies implementation experience to guide you. Consultants that are pedalling old solutions as its all they understand should be avoided. 

4. Processes and teamwork

Your technology consultant must understand what their role entails, what your role entails, and how that interacts with others in your company. This means making it clear what work is required of them within the organisation or infrastructure of your company. They must be organised and able to delegate work to team members to ensure quality control and productivity.

Efficient processes and a team that has clear process and teamwork is essential for their success and ultimately yours. As a consultancy firm, they should be able to adapt to suit your needs and overarching business goals. 

5. Adaptability and a Willingness to Learn

Any technology consultant worth their salt will know their industry inside out, but that in itself isn’t enough, they also need to be willing to learn about whatever sector you’re operating in.

Combining the world of tech with your niche is critical for expanding your business’s horizons and increasing revenue. 

Needless to say, this involves your consultant adopting a 360-degree perspective to your business plan.This goes a long way to ensure each and every one of your needs are addressed and looked after.

To learn more, get in touch with us today.

This blog was produced in collaboration with Remote Resource: Your web and software development outsource management team; and producers of Comfortable Shoes: Jhuti.

Online payments – a matter of life or death?

Online payments – a matter of life or death?

by | Nov 10, 2020 | Digital Marketing

Online payments, or lack thereof, could be a matter of life and death for your business. Whoa horsey, that’s a bit extreme isn’t it? Nope, not really. Never more so than now has offering digital payments been necessary for your businesses survival, 2020 and beyond.

It has been reassuring to see that some companies (even micro businesses – super proud of them by the way) have understood the importance of integrating online payments or click & collect to their websites or facilities.

Maybe some of you are transitioning as we speak to click & collect or secure card payment services, but if it hasn’t crossed your mind or worse still, has crossed your mind but you don’t think it’s worth it, it’s time to reconsider.

Customer preferences

There will be businesses who will carry on regardless with cash only options or even hand held card readers (passing the terminal between staff -ugh), and it will be at the discretion of the customer as to whether they continue to shop with you, knowing that you are ultimately ignoring their ongoing safety and not moving with the industry times. Where small businesses used to call for cash only transactions (assumedly to save a few pennies off the transaction fee from digital payments – or for self serving dodgy tax purposes) there really is no place for this type of business behaviour anymore.

I personally experienced two situations recently that are quite unfavorable given the current circumstances. Our local Chinese take away only accept cash payments, always have. Although it doesn’t entirely stop me from purchasing from them, on the times I have, I second guess it, the truth is that it doesn’t sit easy with me, and I can’t be the only one?

The second was from a small corner shop, we went to buy a couple of cans of pop, we needed to pay cash or spend over £5…unwilling to spend more, we left the shop and they lost a sale and future customers. All for the sake of a few pennies of fee.

Scary or necessary?

Even if you are a bit more tech advanced, card readers and touch screen services are suddenly more scary than fancy. Sorry McDonald’s, but you know I’m right. One article in ‘Men’s Health‘ reported that you could potentially catch infections that are common in hospitals in some McDonald’s restaurants from their touch screen machines!

Touch screen services are not necessary, but online payments are. Contactless and digital payments are the safest and most convenient way forward. Plus, as I noted in a recent blog, they literally help your customers spend more money with you.

Regardless of whether you agree with guidelines, whether you think it’s all a load of old tosh or not, if you are a successful business you should already understand that you customers dictate your marketing, dictate your business and dictate your sales…unless you are cool with making less profit and planting a seed of doubt in the mind of those putting food on your table, for sure, carry on your personal plight.

If you are now having a rethink and wish to transform your business digitally, don’t worry, it really doesn’t have to be a scary or complicated process.

Book a discovery call with CREATIVE in TiME now to improve your business for yourself and your customers.

CREATIVE in TiME
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.