Vicky Drew, Author at Hi Digital

5 Effective ways to drive traffic to your website

Posted on March 16, 2020October 13, 2020 by Vicky Drew

Are you struggling with how to drive traffic to your website? Or, are you looking to try new ways to drive traffic to your website? A website without any traffic is pointless and many small businesses are keen to find more ways to drive traffic to their own. Finding good quality traffic at volume is a common struggle and knowing where to start and focus your resources can often be the hardest part.

To put it simply, your website needs be discoverable online. This means enabling users to find your brand and your products or services when they are searching for them, and disrupting your target audiences with your content wherever they may be online. In this article we are sharing the best ways to get traffic to your website if you are a new brand or small business.

What is website traffic?
“Website traffic is the number of visitors (users) and visits (sessions) a website receives.”

It’s easy to define website traffic and it’s easy to measure thanks to website analytics tools such as Google Analytics, which is the most popular choice for small businesses as it’s free and user friendly.

Tip! Make sure you have your analytics tracking installed correctly before you invest time and money in trying to get more traffic to your website.

The importance of website traffic
A website that receives tonnes of traffic isn’t necessarily a successful website, visits are only one metric to measure the success of your brand online. Whilst receiving a high level of traffic every day or month is great, it’s pointless if your website is not converting visitors into an action such as making a purchase or sending an enquiry.

Is your website ready for more traffic?
Be honest, is it? As an experienced and honest digital marketing agency, Hi Digital never encourage our clients to spend their time or money on website traffic driving initiatives until their website is in great digital shape. Your website is your brand’s most valuable digital asset and it needs to showcase your brand in the best way possible, after all you only get once chance to make a first impression – even online!

There are a few ways you can check if your brand should invest money into traffic driving initiatives for your website or if your money will be better spent somewhere else first.

1. Define your website’s purpose and ask yourself if your website is ‘fit-for-purpose’? Typically, a website’s purpose is one or more of the following:
– To educate and engage users with your brand and its products or services
– To drive sales
– To drive enquiries

2. Does your website look great on all devices; desktop, mobile and tablet? If not, your brand needs a responsive website and here’s 5 reasons why.

3. Can users understand your brand proposition clearly from the top section of your website’s homepage? You only have a few seconds to engage users and get them to scroll or click to find out more. If your main message is cluttered, confused or too generic it’s time to rework your brand story with a digital first approach.

The secret formula behind great websites
Simply measuring visits or visitors as a standalone metric will not offer valuable insights or learnings. Savvy brands and business owners consider website traffic in the context of the purpose of their website. A high traffic, high converting website is the dream for all brands like and there is a straightforward formula behind them:

Clear brand proposition + Fit-for-purpose website + High volume of quality traffic
=
Conversions + ROI

The formula may be straightforward but the detail and skill behind it is complex, unfortunately there are no shortcuts when it comes to creating an effective digital presence online. However, we are happy to share a few of our top traffic driving tips with you in the next section.

5 effective ways to get more traffic to your website
Is your website ready for more traffic? Great! Let’s discuss how to increase traffic to your website. Digital marketing is a complex business and there are numerous ways to get more website traffic. Some tactics are expensive, some are time consuming, some are free (yay!), some give instant results and some offer quality results over a long period of time. At Hi Digital, we pride ourselves on being efficient, so we’ve identified the 5 most relevant website traffic driving methods for small businesses and start up brands.

1. On-site SEO
You have to literally spell it out to Google what your brand’s website is about so that it will show your web pages to users Googling topics you talk about. On your website Google reads page title, meta description, image ALT text, URL and more. Make sure you include relevant keywords and search phrases to help search engines find you and display your webpages higher up the search results. The higher you rank in search engine results the more traffic to your website.

Tip! Allocate one target keyword to each of your webpages and ensure your meta data includes this phrase.

2. Get listed in online business directories
Listing your website in business directories that have a great reputation with Google is a great way to start building quality back links to improve your website’s reputation, and increase your webpage rankings in search engines. Many online business directories are free and are relatively easy to populate, if not a little time consuming. They also make your brand discoverable to users searching for your product or services in these directories too!

3. Organic social media
Social media channels offer a fantastic free marketing platform where you can showcase your brand and reach new audiences. Ensure that you focus your resources on the channels where your target audiences are most likely to be and create great content with them in mind. Key channels to consider are Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Linked In.

Recent algorithm changes on the key social media platforms mean that organic posts from brands and businesses get limited exposure compared to a couple of years ago. If you regularly share great content with clear calls-to-action to visit your website you can expect to see an increase in traffic to your website.

4. Paid advertising
Investing in paid advertising online is the quickest way to increase traffic to your website. However, it can be expensive and if campaigns are not created well there is a risk of little or no ROI for your brand. Popular and effective types of paid advertising are PPC (Google Adwords), paid social media and retargeting.

Paid advertising enables you to target the exact users you want, when you want and with the message you believe is perfect for them. Always appoint an experienced digital marketing consultant to manage your brand’s paid online advertising to ensure maximum results.

5. High quality blogging
Blogging is great for business but only when it’s done well. Brand’s need to write about topics their target audiences are interested in and each blog post should be engaging and informative to add value to readers. High quality blog posts will be displayed in Google’s organic search results and drive more traffic to your website. For more content marketing and blogging tips to improve SEO read this blog post.

The role of a digital marketing agency
Are your business goals to improve your brand’s presence online and attract more customers? A digital marketing agency or consultant can be a valuable extension to your core team. Effective digital marketing strategies take experience and skill, and there are a number of digital marketing services for you to choose from and navigate between. Outsourcing your digital marketing needs to a specialist is a cost and resource effective solution to help you to achieve the results you want efficiently, and long term.

Let’s grow your brand’s digital presence
It’s time to explore how digital marketing can help your startup brand or small business. Hi Digital are a boutique digital marketing agency dedicated to growing small businesses with effective digital strategies. We’d love to help you reach your business goals and be a part of your brand’s growth. Please email us info@hidigital.co.uk or please get in touch with using the form below to book a free consultation with us.

Alternatively, find out more about what we do or discover free digital marketing tips on our blog.

Content marketing and blogging tips to improve SEO

Posted on January 20, 2020September 12, 2023 by Vicky Drew

A blog that’s part of an effective content strategy can make your website, and your brand, more discoverable online amongst potential clients researching your area of expertise. However, blogging for business is a hit-and-miss form of digital marketing and reading a set of effective content marketing tips before you start is highly recommended.

A well researched and written blog can add SEO value, improves search engine ranking positions (SERPS), increase organic traffic and demonstrate your expertise – but it will require sufficient resources, mostly time and often money if you outsource to content creators. Whereas, a poorly executed blog will add zero value to your brand, target customers, and website – so you may as well not bother!

At Hi Digital, we often incorporate blogs or articles in to our client’s digital marketing strategies and we see the positive impact they have on increasing organic website traffic, and in time enquiries. In this article, we’re sharing our top content marketing and blogging tips for small business owners and start up brands to help you improve your website’s SEO and boost organic traffic.

What is content marketing?
“Content marketing is a strategic marketing and business process focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience, and ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.”

Types of content marketing
Blogging is one of the first types of content marketing that you may think of because it is the most popular. However, there are many types of content you can incorporate into your content strategy such as video, case studies, infographics, user generated content etc. Every brand or business should identify the right mix of content types that will add value to and attract their target customers, and our content marketing tips will help you understand yours.

Why is content marketing so important?
An effective content strategy is designed to add value to potential customers and to your business. Content marketing is all about your brand’s target audience, understanding what they value and showing them how your knowledge can benefit them.

From your brand’s perspective creating great content your target audiences will enjoy can help you to build relationships and trust with them. However, your ultimate goal should be to stimulate interest in your products or services. At a commercial level, brands with an effective content marketing strategy often experience:

– Increased website traffic
– Higher conversions rate
– More loyal customers

Blogging is great for business
Adding a blog to your website can be an effective tool for increasing traffic to your website from your target audiences, and you can showcase your expertise to them and set yourself apart from your competition. Blogging enables you to give your brand a voice and bring its personality to life, don’t hide behind your story or service pages, share your knowledge and ideas to give users more reasons to choose you.

Create a great content plan for your blog in 5 steps
Blogging is a time-consuming task, especially if you’re not a natural copywriter, many business owners or brand managers will start a blog for their brand full of great intentions but soon the frequency of posts trickle away as other areas of business take over. This pattern is very common, but you are missing out on potential customers.

We believe that through proactive planning you can find your blogging mojo and share fantastic content with exciting new audiences, here are five simple steps to create a great content plan for your blog.

1. Define your target audience
Before you start writing a blog it’s essential to understand who you are writing content for? Does your business want to attract busy Mums of young children? First-time home buyers? Marketing Managers at top global brands? Create a persona for each of your target audiences and describe their demographics, their current mindset, likely challenges, interests or hobbies, favourite brands etc.

Once you’ve created a target customer profile or three you can define how your brand can communicate effectively with them. As part of your content strategy think about the tone of voice for your writing, the style and type of images, blog length etc. For example, a busy mum may welcome shorter articles or even a video on niche topics whereas, a Marketing Manager will welcome detail and knowledgeable insights, maybe even an infographic.

2. Know the topics your target audiences are interested in
The best performing and most read blogs are relevant, high quality and well-written about topics that audiences find interesting. So, how do you know what your target audience is looking for? The first and most obvious place to look is Google, your target audiences will be actively researching topics relating to your brand or business on this mighty search engine.

When you write a blog its important to focus the copy around 2-3 popular search terms as this will help Google find your blog and display it in the organic search results for users to find. Your most important target search term should feature once in your title and first paragraph, then dot each target search term through your full text a few times and don’t be too repetitive as Google may recognise this as spammy behavior.

Useful keyword research tools
There are two great tools that you can use to research topics for your content strategy and brand’s blog, and they are both free to use:

Google keyword planner: this is great tool for identifying popular search terms, simply add one or two words into the tool and Google will suggest related terms and how many searches they receive every month. You can use this tool for generic and niche keywords, group them in twos or threes et voila there you have some popular, relevant topics to blog about

Answer the public: once you’ve chosen your target keywords this tool is great to understand the context behind those keywords and the type of questions users often ask on this topic. This tool is great for helping you work out the angle of your blog post.

3. Write quality content at length
There’s rarely an occasion where you can learn something valuable from or feel engaged with an article that is only 500 words long. Recent trends show that Internet users have short attention spans and prefer messages that are short and punchy content (E.g. explainer videos). However, when it comes to informative written content marketing such as blogs you need to balance quality and length. You don’t need to write 2,000 words for the sake of it to try and impress Google’s algorithm, instead write great quality engaging content tailored to your target audience.

The ‘perfect blog’ length doesn’t exist and there are many contradicting reports online. We recommend blog posts are at least 1,000 words as Google likely rewards longer length articles over shorter ones, and this length allows you to talk informatively on your chosen topic. The secret behind making longer articles engaging is to break the copy up into digestible chunks of a couple of paragraphs separated by engaging sub headers. Never present one solid wall of text as it’s extremely off putting and uninviting to read, try featuring numbered lists and use images to add intuitive gaps and pauses.

4. Set a content plan and publish blogs regularly
From your keyword research in step 2 you should have identified at least 12 blog topics you are going to create some great content for. Publishing one blog a month on your website is a great starting point for small businesses and is the minimum advised to please Googles algorithm. However, frequency isn’t necessarily the most important factor when trying to improve your website’s SEO, again it’s about the quality of content, and the consistency of when you publish it.

If you are starting a new blog, we highly recommend launching with as many posts as possible so that Google can crawl and read lots of great content quickly and reward your website for it. Once you have a good content base add new quality content at regular and consistent intervals E.g. monthly, or if you have the resource twice a week. Create a simple blog calendar and allocate time for researching, writing and publishing each blog and stick to it.

5. Don’t forget to share your fantastic blog content
The great thing about blog content is that its highly shareable and this makes it a valuable content marketing asset, once you published your blog you can share it on your social media channels (Twitter, Linked In, Instagram, Facebook etc.), in email newsletters, on your homepage or other webpages, in online ads etc. Share your blogs frequently wherever your target audiences may be.

Finally, within your blogs enable users to learn more about your business by linking to other blogs and pages of your website. And, most importantly always include a call to action (E.g. get in touch) so that you can start a relationship with your readers.

Consider outsourcing your content marketing needs
Copywriting isn’t for everybody, the thought of writing 1,000 words every month may fill you with dread and slowly this task will move to the bottom of your ‘to do’ list. Outsourcing your blogging or content marketing strategy needs to an expert with a solid reputation is a cost and resource effective solution to help you to achieve the results you want efficiently, and long term. Think realistically about your time and expertise, can you effectively manage and publish a great blog for your business?

At Hi Digital, we create engaging content for several clients and provide a creative copywriting service to a wide variety or target audiences and industries. If you’d like to create a great content strategy for your brand, please email us info@hidigital.co.uk or please get in touch with using the form below to book a free consultation with us.

We are a boutique digital marketing agency
Hi Digital are dedicated to growing small businesses with effective digital strategies, and we’d love to help you reach your business goals. Find out more about what we do or discover free digital marketing tips on our blog.

5 digital marketing benefits you need to know

Posted on October 16, 2019May 11, 2020 by Vicky Drew

It’s common to want to do some digital marketing activity because you’ve heard that you should, or you know another small business owner has done so and they are seeing great results. Maybe you like the look of a competitor’s Instagram or you’ve seen ads on Google when you search for your brand name, or related products and services. These are all valid reasons to explore digital marketing for your business and the good news is that there are many tangible digital marketing benefits for all brands, especially as part of a wider digital strategy or brand marketing strategy.

What is digital marketing?

“Digital marketing encompasses all marketing efforts that use an electronic device or the internet. Businesses leverage digital channels such as search engines, social media, email, and other websites to connect with current and prospective customers.”

Digital marketing is a broad term. It’s no wonder that if you’re new to digital marketing you may feel overwhelmed. Digital marketing is a toolkit for growing your business: an effective digital presence will help your brand to find new customers and enable potential customers to find your brand online.

A digital marketing strategy delivers digital marketing benefits
Before you launch any digital marketing activity for your business you need clear goals and a focused strategy to help you achieve them. A digital marketing strategy will map out the most effective methodology (content, channels, targeting etc) to get you to your goals.

Whilst it’s wise to test activity and gather learnings on digital marketing channels, such as Facebook ads or a website blog, your digital marketing activity can only be as effective as your digital marketing strategy. Without a strategy to synchronise all activity towards the same goals, your business will not reach its full growth potential and any budget, resources etc will be used inefficiently.

Why is digital marketing so important?
It’s fairly obvious that without any digital marketing potential customers are going to struggle to find your brand online, especially if you don’t have a website or any presence on social media. However, having a static presence online isn’t going to be very effective and drive you towards your business goals. Digital marketing can leverage your brand amongst a whole new audience and what kind of small business owner doesn’t want that to happen! Below are five key digital marketing benefits that will help you decide if this form of promotion is the best next step for your brand:

1. Make your brand more discoverable
Our first and favourite digital marketing benefit is that it improves your brand’s discoverability online and makes it easy for customers to choose you over the competition. How? An effective digital presence enables customers to discover your brand when they actively seek your services or products online (E.g. via your webpage organic listing whilst they are searching on Google), or you can disrupt them with a standout ad whilst they are browsing Facebook and make them notice what a great choice you are for them. Digital marketing provides plenty of options you just need to know which activity is best for you and your business goals.

Your customers are more digitally engaged than ever before and want to discover brands wherever they are and whenever they find the time. Internet penetration in the UK is at 95%, we’re nearly at saturation and 67% of those online are using social media. Your UK customers are highly likely to be online and social media is a part of their everyday life.

2. Cost effective and accessible for all budgets
Many areas of digital marketing are free, all they need are your time and a little creativity which is why social media platforms such as Instagram are great for small businesses with a visual story to tell. When it comes to investing in paid digital advertising you can spend as little or as much as you like, however, before you launch define campaign KPIs such as CPA (cost per acquisition/customer), CPO (cost per order) or CPL (cost per lead).

Consider your business goals and decide how much you are willing to invest in digital marketing for the year. Be smart and invest it in the channel(s) most likely to help you reach your business goals. For example, if you want more quality leads via your website then a critique of your website to ensure its fit for purpose should be your top priority, followed by tactics to generate more relevant traffic. If you’re new to digital marketing or too busy to manage it yourself, we highly recommend consulting with a digital marketing expert or agency

3. Accurate data and measurable results
The digital world is rich in data and a digital marketer can track as little or as much data as necessary. From understanding the SEO performance of your website to the engagement of each social media channel, or from the ROI of your PPC advertising on Google to the volume of leads generated per campaign or website page. There is so much data available and it can be tracked in real-time or the following day, this means you can always react quickly and manage budgets tightly.

Tracking and understanding data links back to the goals of your digital marketing strategy. One of the reasons we love digital marketing is because it’s easy to understand success, identify growth opportunities and navigate through challenging areas. This benefit of digital marketing is hard to ignore when you compare it to traditional marketing.

4. Focus resources to target your ideal customers
In addition to capturing data on your digital marketing performance, paid digital advertising on social media and search engines enables you to focus your budget towards specific target audiences. The data these platforms collect on their users is sold to advertisers so that brands can run targeted digital marketing campaigns which are much more effective.

For example, you can target users who are physically local to your business or who fit your target customer demographic profile. Within your adverts you can tailor your messages to specific customers too. Today users only want to see messages and content that is relevant to them, especially online. When your brand messages are tailored you can expect higher engagement and higher conversion rates.

5. Connect with customers on any device
Fundamentally marketing is all about connecting with customers at the right time and in the right place. Today this also includes wherever they are on the Internet and on every type of device such as laptops, smartphones and tablets. For your brand this means you will need a responsive website and a digital marketing strategy which targets and engages potential customers well on any device. Your website and campaign ads need to look equally great on a laptop and smartphone too.

When should a business start digital marketing?
If you don’t have a digital presence online then the time to create a digital destination that attractively represents your brand is now! However, before you start launching advertising campaigns on Google and Facebook we recommend that you allocate time to define your goals and devise a digital marketing strategy to help you reach them. For example, is there a challenge or opportunity you’d like to solve or focus on? Below are a few common goals that digital marketing can help with:

– I want to attract and engage more high-value clients
– We need more reservations from tourists in our restaurant
– I have a surplus of stock to sell through quickly
– We want to rely less on partners and generate leads directly from customers

The role of a digital marketing agency
If your business goals are ambitious, or you’re excited for your brand’s next phase of growth or launch, then a digital marketing agency or consultant can be a valuable extension to your core team. Effective digital marketing strategies take creativity and skill, they are not learnt in a morning training session and digital channels do not work in silos. Outsourcing your digital marketing needs to an expert with a solid reputation is a cost and resource effective solution to help you to achieve the results you want efficiently, and for the long term.

Reach your business goals
A well thought out effective digital marketing strategy will help you reach your business goals, this is the key reason to invest in digital marketing. Are you ready to explore digital marketing for your brand? Hi Digital are a boutique, digital agency dedicated to growing small businesses with effective digital strategies and we’d love to help you reach your business goals. Please email us info@hidigital.co.uk or please get in touch with using the form below to book a free consultation with us.

Alternatively find out more about what we do or discover free digital marketing tips on our blog.

How to choose a digital marketing agency for your small business

Posted on August 15, 2019May 11, 2020 by Vicky Drew

Every small business owner knows they need a ‘presence’ online and any experienced digital marketing consultant knows that just having a website or Facebook page is not enough to deliver ambitious business goals. On the flip side, if your business goals are not ambitious you don’t need a digital marketing agency!

Effective digital marketing strategies take creativity and skill, they are not learnt in a morning training session and digital channels do not work in silos. Your customers are online 24/7 on multiple devices and want to discover brands whenever they find time and wherever they are. A winning digital presence is easily discoverable amongst target customers and showcases a brand’s proposition in a clear, consistent and compelling manner.

If you’re a small business owner or entrepreneur behind a startup the chances are high that you are:

– extremely busy,
– wearing multiple ‘hats’ from HR to new business,
– very mindful of cashflow,
– not an experienced digital marketing manager.

Does this sound like you? Please read on for 6 tips to help you choose the right digital marketing agency or consultancy for your small business.

1. Make the decision to outsource your digital marketing needs
Today, many small businesses outsource key business areas (E.g. accountancy) and appointing a digital marketing agency is very common. Learning a complex new skillset is time consuming and whilst it’s admirable to wing it and learn as you go there will come a moment in your business when you need to outsource.

Ask yourself: Does your business need strategic digital marketing expertise? Can you really create and optimise your entire digital presence on your own or within your small team? Will an intern have the level of digital marketing experience you require? Answer for this moment and think ahead to six-months’ or twelve-months’ time. Whether you need expertise now or in the near future your goal is to find a talented and great value digital marketing consultant with all of the skills you need.

2. Define your digital marketing brief
Every business is unique and your digital marketing agency brief should reflect your business goals and your brand ethos. To start your brief, define your brand proposition in a few sentences and the, consider where you are now and where you’d like to be in 12 months’ time. Digital marketing is a great means to raise awareness, acquire new customers, increases sales and more! Describe 3 to 5 goals or reasons why you want to invest in digital marketing.

Write a list of the areas or channels where you believe you need help E.g. responsive website design, SEO, social media content creation etc. Your list may be long but your digital marketing consultant will manage expectations and help you prioritise everything when you meet for your initial consultation. Finally, decide an approximate digital marketing budget and if you require an adhoc project or a monthly retainer of on-going support.

3. Research online for digital marketing support
The best digital marketing agencies and consultants will be easy to find online and Google is a great place to start. Research is time consuming but it’s an essential step – please don’t just go for the first business you see in Google, instead create a shortlist of 3 to 5 companies you like the look of.

You can research suppliers local to your own business especially if you have a local business and you want to grow its presence in your local area. A local digital marketing consultant is most likely to know your local area well and be available for regular face-to-face meetings if that’s important to you.

However, most important is that they have the skills you need to grow your business online. Spend time going through their website to understand the services they offer. It’s easy, and common, to get bowled over by big brands in a digital marketing agency’s portfolio. However, the chances are as a small business you’ll be lower down their priority list of clients if there’s a household brand in the mix. Big brands have big budgets and are often very demanding of their suppliers’ time.

You should be able to decipher from their website if they work with small businesses like yours. Next consider, do they understand the challenges that small business owners face and how much your business means to you? At Hi Digital, we love to work with small businesses for five very good reasons !

Before you add an agency or consultant to your shortlist consider the following questions: Do you think they can meet your brief? Are you getting a fantastic first impression? And ultimately, would you like them to be responsible for promoting your brand online based on what you can see online about their business? If it’s a yes save their details as we go through the next steps.

4. Validate their testimonials and reviews
From the research conducted in step 3 you probably know what this digital marketing agency or consultant does, but now consider how they do it and if their clients think they do it well. Many websites will include client testimonials and bigger agencies boast case studies. Client reviews can also be found on a companies social media pages, directory listings and their Google My Business profile.

This research step gives real context to their service and ethos. What are they or their team like? Do they deliver results? Are they efficient? You know what kind of people you like to work with and will be able to gauge if they fit that criteria. It’s totally acceptable after an initial consultation to request references and/or speak to their current and past clients for a more personal referral.

5. Finalise your shortlist and meet in person
At this stage you should have a list of about 3 digital marketing agencies or consultants you’d like to work with. Send an enquiry and schedule a face-to-face consultation with the person who will be your main contact not just their business development manager. This is a collaboration to last at least a few months so you need to establish rapport with your day-to-day contact. Following your consultation you can expect to receive a bespoke proposal presented over the phone, email or face-to-face. Be critical yet reasonable and ask yourself: Do they understand you, your business and your customer? Do you like them? Are they value for money? It can be that simple. Trust your instincts and remember you can ask to speak with their current or past clients.

6. Avoid digital marketing training courses in your early stages
It’s tempting to sign up for a digital marketing course and ‘learn’ it all in a few hours. However, do you really have the time to spend a day or more a week implementing these new ideas? There’s a lot of homework from these courses and they are suited to somebody with enough time to invest in them and get the best results. Training courses are often in groups rather than personalised to your business so there are a lot of data gaps that you will need to personally fill.

Whereas, if you utilise an experienced digital marketing agency or consultant to set your digital foundations for growth and gain momentum you can always bring it inhouse later. Outsource those digital marketing skills you don’t have yet and let your consultant create a beautiful website that is fit for purpose, looks great on every device and is easy for you to update ad maintain in the long term. Let them create and deliver a digital marketing strategy aligned to your business goals, whether that’s paid social or PPC, or a social media strategy with content creation.

Just like an accountant or HR manager a digital marketing consultant has honed their skills over several years for successful brands, and to put it bluntly you can’t learn effective digital marketing in a few hours. Invest to learn alongside your digital marketing consultant in 1-to-1 sessions with bespoke advise and ideas tailored to your unique business, Ask lots of questions and when you’re ready to take it inhouse do, you’ll be set up to scale your activity and continue your business growth for years to come.

Hi Digital are a boutique, digital agency based in Harrogate. We are dedicated to growing small businesses with effective digital strategies and we’d love to help you reach your business goals. Please email us info@hidigital.co.uk or please get in touch with using the form below to book a free consultation with us.

Alternatively find out more about what we do or discover more free digital marketing tips on our blog.

5 local digital marketing tips for small businesses

Posted on July 10, 2019October 5, 2022 by Vicky Drew

In their early years, many small businesses typically start growing their client base within their local geographic surrounding area and a common goal amongst Hi Digital’s clients is “we want to be known for the best ‘X’ services/products in the North of England”. Thankfully, this kind of goal is possible with an effective local digital marketing strategy.

Every small business has the opportunity to make their brand more discoverable online amongst local audiences and to make it easy for prospective clients to choose them over the competition. So, before you embark on nationwide or global domination it’s advisable to build your reputation and establish what you stand for within your local community! Whether you sell online via an ecommerce website, you’ve a bricks and mortar set up seeking more bookings, enquiries, or footfall, or you’re a home-based business wanting to attract new clients – a discoverable digital presence fueled by effective local digital marketing is essential.

Read on for five easy local digital marketing tips to help your brand engage its nearest physical customers:

1. Define your brand story
Is it clear to potential new customers who land on your website or social media profile page for the first time what your brand is about? Ensure that you are sharing a clear, compelling brand story. In addition to explaining what you do and why, you can also reference your location and heritage to appeal to your local target audience. Can you describe what your brand does in a tagline of up to seven words, a couple of sentences and a few short paragraphs? Give it a go and critique it from the perspective of your target customer(s).

Online you only have a few seconds to create a ‘wow’ first impression so don’t forget to feature beautiful imagery and utilise the bespoke features of each digital channel or platform. Once your brand story is articulated well, tell it consistently on your website, social media channels and any third-party website listings. Give customers a fantastic experience wherever they discover and interact with your brand online just like you would if you met them in ‘real life’!

2. Create a Google my Business profile
Google my Business is a fantastic free local digital marketing tool that will literally put your business on the map. For example, if you are a coffee shop in Leeds you will want your business to show on the Google map in the search results every time a user searches for ‘coffee shop Leeds’ and/or ‘coffee near me’ when they are physically local to your business.

Your first step is to create a listing that accurately reflects your brand and utilises all of the great features such as opening hours, website, contact info, photos etc. Ensure you describe your business using one or two key phrases a customer may use to find you on Google so that Google knows they are looking for your business.

Next, you want your business to be featured above your competitors in Google’s map listings. This bit takes time as you need to build your reputation with an active and popular Google my Business profile. The most effective way to do this is to gather authentic Google reviews from customers and respond to each one.

3. Build a responsive website optimised for local SEO
Your small business’s website doesn’t have to be complicated and contain multiple pages, however, it does need to be a responsive website and be discoverable via search engines for users actively searching for your brand or its products and services.

One-page websites can be great for small businesses with a simple brand proposition but they are limited in terms of their local digital marketing potential, most small businesses need about five webpages. Each webpage has a role to play in capturing traffic for your target local search keywords (E.g. event caterer York), the more pages the more local search keywords you can effectively target. The trick is to nail your brief to ensure your website will be ‘fit for purpose’ and within budget, and then it’s time to copywrite, design and build your website well.

Tip: Never skip the design phase of any website project if you want yours to be beautiful and well thought out.

Website templates are tempting to small businesses because they are quick and simple to implement. However, be mindful that templates whilst cost effective in the short term they can be restrictive in the long term, many are difficult and expensive to manipulate for your content and brand proposition as it evolves over time. Trust us, a small business’s needs evolve quickly! If you have a little more budget available appoint a small business digital marketing agency such as Hi Digital to create a bespoke website that’s easy to update and maintain yourself day-to-day whilst adding additional features and pages cost-effectively.

4. Be active on social media
Some days it feels like the world has gone social media mad and every business is told you need to be on social media. Do you? Yes. Your customers once they know your brand name are probably going to research you on social media so you need a presence that proudly portrays your brand on the channel(s) they are most likely to use. It’s important that they see recent content here too otherwise they may question if you’ve closed down.

Creating great content for social media takes time and planning to find your optimum formula. Try starting with the social media channel that your key target customer is most likely to be active on and create content with them in mind. If that channel is Instagram here’s 5 tips how to improve your Instagram strategy. Organic (free) growth on social media takes time and the algorithms of each platform frequently change, we recommend that you focus on engagement with your content (comments as well as likes) rather than follower growth, and have fun getting to know and networking with your local audience.

5. Encourage reviews and share the best
Trust and recommendations are key to success online, especially with the overwhelming amount of choice from local, national and global brands. Each review you receive online be it on Google, Facebook or a review partner, is going to help you win more customers and they are a key part of a local digital marketing strategy. Consistently deliver a 5 star service and then share those reviews with your audiences on your website and social media channels. Don’t be shy, shout about what your customers really think of your brand!

Are you ready to take your small business into its next stage of growth? Do you want to create or optimise your brand’s presence online? Hi Digital are a boutique, digital agency dedicated to growing small businesses with effective digital strategies and we’d love to help you reach your business goals. Please email us info@hidigital.co.uk or please get in touch with using the form below to book a free consultation with us.

Alternatively find out more about what we do or discover free digital marketing tips on our blog.

8 benefits of Video Marketing for Small Businesses

Posted on April 3, 2019June 27, 2023 by Vicky Drew

Video content is an accessible and effective form of communication for consumers and brands, whether between friends or on a commercial B2C or B2B level. After over a decade of video being hailed as the next major marketing tool, it is finally having it’s moment and audiences can’t get enough of short-form videos (less than 60 seconds in length) on Instagram, Tik Tok, Facebook, and Linked In, and educational videos such as “how to” tutorials remain a firm favourite on YouTube and websites. Video marketing is no longer just for big budget global brands or TV commercials – hurray!

Many brands, from micro businesses to SMEs are embracing video marketing and seeing great results such as bigger brand reach, stronger conversion rates, increased organic search engine traffic. In this article I explain 8 benefits of incorporating video content into your brand’s digital marketing strategy.

1. Better engagement with your target audiences
Video is now part of our everyday life and audiences consume videos daily particularly across social media platforms such as YouTube, Tik Tok, Instagram and Facebook, and customers want to see video content from your brand. Videos are accessible, engaging and often educational – by publishing video content your brand can engage existing and prospective customers in a more interactive and exciting way.

2. Videos tell great stories
From explainer videos to how to tutorials, and glossy brand videos to raw behind the scenes and live streams. There are many ways brands can create video content, the first step is identifying the right style(s) to connect your brand with your target audience. Define your story and deliver it well.

3. Adaptable for multiple channels
Don’t invest in video and just add it to your website, this strategy is expensive and limits your ROI, use it to reach new audiences on a variety of channels and platforms. Plan where you intend to broadcast your videos and ensure that your project brief clearly lists each format, you may wish to collaborate with a video production agency or produce video content from your smartphone with your marketing team.

Tip! Shoot content from multiple angles such as vertical, square, wide angle etc so that you have plenty of content for all of your digital marketing channels.

4. Reach bigger audiences
Video content is often favoured by social media channels (i.e. Instagram, Linked In) and is likely to shown to more users which will increase your brand’s overall reach. The more engaging your video content the bigger the audience it will reach! Videos can also be used to advertise your brand in multiple placements on multiple platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. These sites have fantastic targeting available so you can ensure your budget is only spent attracting the right customers for your brand. If you are considering using video for advertising please check the video advertising specifications of each platform before you begin filming and producing your video ads.

5. Great value for money
Video may not be as expensive as you think, always strive for value for money by producing content with longevity and create content to broadcast in multiple places. Think of producing video for your brand as a series rather than one blockbuster film. For example, create content to last you six months then share and promote it on a pre-determined schedule. Just like websites, many cheap video templates exist but we recommend creating your own unique style so that you can bring your brand’s unique personality and proposition to life.

6. Great for on-site SEO
Always add video to your website. Put very simply, Google loves video and it can help your website increase its search engine results page (SERP) rankings. Why does Google do this? It knows how much users love to consume video and if your video is relevant to the rest of your website and adds value to users you’ll be rewarded. Video can increase dwell time on your website, reduce bounce rates, and boost organic traffic from search engines.

7. Get creative with influencers
A successful social media influencer may be able to help your brand increase its reach, boost engagement, and drive incremental sales or leads. Influencers can add credibility to your brand and introduce you to their loyal following, however, when it comes to influencer marketing authenticity is key. Consider the following questions: Is your audience on YouTube, Instagram or somewhere else? Which influencers are influencing them? Would the influencer provide a relevant, genuine endorsement for your brand? Influencers create fantastic video content day-to-day and partnering with the right one(s) could add tonnes of value and creativity to your brand.

8. Align to your digital marketing goals
As with any investment its important to set objectives and define goals. What is it that you want to achieve from your digital marketing strategy? Is it likely that video content could help? For example, if you are a new brand with a unique story, product or service to explain and your target customers are likely to be on Instagram – it’s extremely likely that video will help your business succeed. If you do pursue video content within your digital marketing strategy there are two key metrics to consider when understanding how engaging your videos are:

- video views: the number of times your video has been watched
- viewer drop off rate: how many seconds do users typically watch your video for

An effective video marketing strategy delivers high views amongst your target audience and engages them in your video for more than a few seconds.

Let’s explore video marketing for your small business
Are you considering incorporating video into your digital marketing strategy but don’t know where to start? We’d love to help you create the right content to help grow your brand and business. Please email us info@hidigital.co.uk or get in touch using the form below to schedule a free consultation with us.

Hi Digital are a boutique, digital agency dedicated to helping start-ups and small businesses to fulfil their goals, with a winning digital presence and effective use of digital marketing. Please browse our service portfolio and learn how we can help your small business to improve it’s presence online.

5 reasons every brand needs a responsive website

Posted on January 30, 2019May 11, 2020 by Vicky Drew

When considering the digital part of your business the first thing you will probably think of is your brand’s website, or lack of. A great responsive website is the most tangible digital asset a brand can have whether your business model is B2B or D2C, and if you offer ecommerce or have a more traditional bricks and mortar set up. Two of the most common questions we receive from clients are:

1. Do we need a website?
2. Should we invest in a new website?

The answer to question one is easy: yes, you definitely do – 86% of UK adults (aka your potential customers) use the Internet daily. Our answer to question two depends on your current website: is it a responsive website? A responsive website automatically adjusts the webpage content being displayed to the device, such as a laptop, tablet or smartphone, which the user is browsing with. Today every website should offer an intuitive user experience to each user on every device. If your brand’s website isn’t responsive then we recommend you invest in a shiny new one to create a ‘wow’ first impression with your customers and, provide a great user experience with all users.

Below are five reasons every brand and small business should have a responsive website:

1. You’re missing out on mobile and tablet customers
Depending on your industry 25-75% of traffic to your website will be via a mobile device, that’s a huge pool of potential customers wanting to know more about your brand. If you invest most of your resources into your social media channels your traffic will be weighted to mobile and smartphones. If your website doesn’t work for these users, they’ll find a brand website that does in just a few more clicks.

2. Without a website your business is not easily discoverable to customers
Users searching for your brand name or your products/services locally and/or nationally will not find you in a search engine – 77% of UK adults use the Internet to find information about goods and services*. Google is arguably most people’s best friend so if you’re not on Google how are potential customers going to find you? Google loves responsive websites and lists them higher in organic search rankings too giving your brand more exposure.

3. You’re creating a negative impression of your brand
We’ve all had negative experiences trying to make a purchase on or even browse a website via our smartphone, many of us get frustrated and leave after a few seconds. Having to pinch and zoom to read text, buttons not working, and endless scrolling are just a few of the common bugbears from bad design and UX (user experience). Don’t be that kind of website! Treat your website like your shop window and create a first impression that wows on all devices. Engage users instantly and help them choose you over the competition. Impressing the digital savvy consumer of today is tough but get it right with a fantastic browsing experience on each of their devices and you may have a loyal customer for many years.

4. Your competitors may not have one… yet!
Stand out from the crowd and give potential customers another reason to choose you. If your competitors already have one don’t stand out for the wrong reason, create your own and do it better.

5. It’s not as hard or expensive as you think
Responsive websites are easy for talented designers and developers to create and build. We offer end-to-end responsive website packages which ensure your brand has a website that is fit for purpose to deliver your business goals, easy to update and delivers a ‘wow’ first impression. Our great value service includes project management, content planning, copywriting, design and development – we always adopt a collaborative approach and welcome your team to be involved at every key stage. We charge a clear one-off fee which varies depending upon the brief and once your website is live there are no on-going maintenance fees.

If it doesn’t have one your brand needs a responsive website. What next? Whether you have a dated website that you have haven’t refreshed in years or you’ve never had one, we’d love to help you create the website your brand and your customers deserve. Please email us info@hidigital.co.uk or get in touch to schedule a free consultation with us.

Hi Digital are a boutique, digital agency dedicated to helping start-ups and small businesses to fulfil their goals, with a winning digital presence and effective use of digital marketing. Find out more about what we do and how we can help your unique brand.

5 practical ways your small business can improve it’s Instagram strategy

Posted on December 17, 2018May 11, 2020 by Vicky Drew

Facebook bought Instagram back in 2012, back then it only had 30million users and now Instagram has over 1 billion monthly active users and 500million daily active users*. The growth in popularity of Instagram has been incredible and its a great social media network for raising awareness of your brand – if your target audience are known users and your brand has a visual story to tell.

Facebook is still the most popular network, but they’ve made it increasingly difficult for small businesses and brands to build an engaged community without investing serious advertising budget. Which is why many brands are choosing to focus more time and resource on their Instagram strategy. Instagram provides a great platform for creative expression and has huge reach potential. Below are 5 practical ways your small business can improve its Instagram strategy.

1. Tell your brand story
Every brand has a story, define yours and create a clear brand proposition using words, hashtags and images. Is it clear to new users who land on your profile page for the first time what your brand is about? Utilise your Instagram profile bio section and create story highlights that tell your brand story as you want it to be known. Define your tone of voice and list the content you intend to create and share. Going forward, everything you do needs to tie back to your brand story and proposition.

2. Identify your audience
Who do you want to talk to? Who are you talking to? Your social media content needs to resonate with the audience you are trying to engage with your brand. Create a persona for each of your target audiences and describe their demographics, TV they like, where they shop, where they eat etc. Next think about how your brand can communicate effectively with them. What will grab their attention and drive a result? Once you’ve done this a whole wealth of content ideas will transpire.

3. Make time to plan ahead
When creating content always do it with one of your audience segments in mind and define what it is you want them to do. A variety of content is key, pushing the same messages a day in day out can get boring very quickly and interest may tail off. The amount of content ideas you may be overwhelming so try grouping them into themes and then plot them in a calendar for the week or month ahead. As long as your content fits your brand story don’t be afraid to try new ideas – finding your winning Instagram content formula takes time, and a lot of test & learn.

4. Be active
Communication is a two-way street and pushing out content is not enough in the algorithms of Instagram. All social networks reward their most active users with higher exposure. Start conversations, find conversations, join conversations, follow hashtags, and always interact with/respond to your followers and fans. Spend five minutes a day diving into Instagram you might be surprised what you find.

5. Test, learn & measure
What does success look like for your brand on Instagram? What do you want to achieve and why? Success on social media is not just about the number of followers. How engaged are your followers? What do your followers look like? How engaging are your posts? Do you want to drive traffic to your website to then generate sales? Only you can define this. Benchmark where you are now and set targets to help you achieve your goals. Monitor your progress at least monthly and pick out your best and worst posts. Listen to your audience. When they love something – tweak and repeat. When a post drives high CTR – tweak and repeat. And so on.

Social media is not rocket science, there is no one size fits all formula to drive success and every brand needs a tailored approach. The above steps will set you on the right path for a winning Instagram strategy and if you would like to discuss your brand’s Instagram or social media with Hi Digital please get in touch with us.

Hi Digital are a boutique, digital agency dedicated to helping start-ups and small businesses to fulfil their goals, with a winning digital presence and effective use of digital marketing. Find out more about what we do and how we can help your unique brand.

Already on Instagram? Follow our Founder Vicky Drew.

*Source: TechCrunch – Instagram hits 1 billion users

3 reasons to rethink your digital strategy

Posted on December 17, 2018May 11, 2020 by Vicky Drew

As a small business owner you probably have a website and you post some content on social media but, are you maximizing the potential that an effective digital strategy can add to your business? Consider your brand mission and your business goals. Whether you want to raise awareness amongst your target audience or, increase sales of a specific product or, build a steady revenue stream across the year; improving your digital presence and implementing the right kind of digital marketing activity will help you realise these goals.

To succeed in a competitive marketplace a small business needs to incorporate digital into their overall growth strategy and they need to do it well. Often small businesses face the biggest challenges and below are 3 reasons to rethink your digital strategy:

1. Digital evolves quickly
The digital world is complex and evolving quickly. It’s also a world full of acronyms and emerging trends. In 2018 Instagram launched IGTV and Google released their EAT algorithm. And we’re constantly hearing about voice search and the importance of video. You might also be wondering if you need a responsive website – hint: yes, you do! When did you last sit down and review the digital trends that are relevant to your business? It’s difficult to know where to start and most importantly why but you should not sit still or ignore the changes.

2. We live in a constantly connected era
Your customers are more digitally engaged than ever before and want to discover brands wherever they are and whenever they find the time. We check our phones on average 28 times a day*. We browse multiple websites and use multiple apps, we have our favourite social media channel and Google is arguably our most knowledgeable friend. It’s time to improve your brand’s discoverability amongst local audiences with a winning digital presence and make it easy for customers to choose you over the competition.

3. First impressions are everything
Just like in the real world first impressions are everything online. Each of your brand’s digital destinations only has about 3 seconds to impress, if a user doesn’t like what they see they will either hit the back button or the X top right of their screen. You’ve more than likely put in a lot of effort to get that user to your Facebook page, maybe even paid for that visit to your website, so make sure you are showcasing your brand effectively and guiding users swiftly to what it is you want them to do e.g. make a reservation. Look at each of your digital destinations and imagine you are discovering your brand online for the first time Do you get a consistent brand experience? Do you understand the story and proposition of your brand?

If the above has inspired you to rethink your digital strategy and you want a personalised service for your business, please get in touch with us. Hi Digital are a boutique, digital agency dedicated to helping start-ups and small businesses to fulfil their goals, with a winning digital presence and effective use of digital marketing. Find out more about what we do and how we can help your unique brand.

Author: Vicky Drew