While it’s important to make your website easy to find online, you also want to ensure you’re meeting your audience’s needs and giving them the information they want once they arrive. A website can be very expensive to build upfront, so it needs to work.

Here are 6 of the most common problems I’ve found with small business websites along with some practical tips for addressing them.

1. Overlooking your target audience

 
Rule number 1 of any successful business is to know your audience. If your website is going to have any level of success it needs to be designed with your customer in mind. Your business might have multiple audiences; but being too broad, and saying that your product is for everyone, will weaken your message. By profiling certain types of customer you can better address the benefits of your product or service that they’re looking for.

If your website isn’t targeting specific kinds of people then you might want to rethink it’s content and design.

For example: the website of a dentist might have a target audience of mother’s in their 30’s or 40′s who are looking for a dentist for their family. That’s a very specific framework to work within and it allows you to identify the benefits of your service that are relevant to that kind of person.

2. Having a poor design

 
Having a badly designed website is actually more serious than something just not looking pretty. Websites that provide a poor user experience are actually downranked by Google. So you could could be losing valuable placings and therefore potential revenue from a poorly designed website.

A big concern is using clichéd stock images on websites. These types of stock images can actually be very damaging to use because they are widely used on spam sites; to the point where they can actually significantly reduce the level of trust a customer puts in your site and therefore your business.

If you do use stock images try to be selective about the choices you make and avoid the clichés, or hire a professional photographer to take custom images for you.

3. No call to action

 
Every successful piece of marketing needs a call to action. What is the single most important thing you want a user to do when they visit your website? Do you want them to book an appointment? Buy a product? Contact you? Or subscribe to your newsletter? If you don’t have a call to action, you need one and whatever it is it needs to be clear, and immediate, and on every page of your site.

4. Thinking a website is complete and not updating it regularly

 
Websites are never complete. They are always a work in progress. You should constantly be making changes and small upgrades to improve your site and add new content. In fact if you don’t regularly make changes to your site your Google ranking will drop. Google and other search engine robots believe your site is deserted if nothing has been edited for a long time.

Adding sections to your site that you can regularly add new pages to is really important. It’s the single best way to boost search results. These sections might include a blog, latest news, before & after photos, or case studies. These sections allow you to add new content easily and build up your keywords. Meaning your website gets more hits.

5. Not including keywords in your web content

 
Having well written content is important, what’s also important is to identify and use keywords in that content so that search engines will pick up your site.

Here’s a tip:

Write down 5 words or phrases you think people will type into Google when searching for a business in your industry. Imagine they don’t know you, and have never needed your service before. What might they type into Google to find you?

Then read the content on your website and count how many times those exact words and phrases appear.

If your keywords appear less than 10 times in your site you have a serious problem that you should address immediately. Fix the problem by rewriting your content to include your keywords more often – but remember it still needs to make sense to your audience.

6. Not having a mobile friendly website

72% of New Zealanders now have smartphones. This means that there are actually more people surfing the web on their phones than on desktop computers. If a smart phone user visits your website and it isn’t optimised for mobile they will most likely leave and go to your competitor.

A mobile optimized website can result in 67% higher conversion rates. And when you consider that more than 25% of New Zealanders have at one time made a purchase or booking from their smartphone that’s a lot of potential revenue you could be throwing away by not having a mobile optimised site.

If you would like help designing or upgrading a website contact Eloquence World Design now

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Here are 6 simple ways you can create more female appeal and boost your profits:

1. Pay attention to customer service

Research shows that women have higher expectations of customer service than men do. Whether that service is face-to-face, online, or over the phone, women will leave as a result of poor, disrespectful or frustrating service.

In a study polling 5,800 consumers in the Asia-Pacific region, 45 percent of people said they would pay a premium for good customer service. Think about how you can design and integrate customer service touchpoints across all channels to make a more enjoyable experience for her. Are store signs designed to show her the way to specific products and service counters? Can you add an online chat service to your website? Are you advertising delivery options outside of traditional business hours, so she doesn’t have to take a day off work? Can she schedule an appointment immediately without waiting to be called or emailed back? How easy is it for her to find what she needs from you on her mobile phone, in three minutes or less?

2. Pass the Buchanan Test

When targeting women ‘pink’ is not a marketing strategy, nor is motherhood. Try to avoid pigeonholing women into stereotypical groups. The Buchanan Test (inspired by The Bechdel Test) was designed to test stereotyping of women in advertising. Look at your most recent ads featuring women, whether they’re print or digital and see if you can answer “yes” to the following three questions:

1. Do you feature a woman outside of the home?
2. Do you feature a woman in a role other than “mother”?
3. Is she NOT doing yoga?

You’d be surprised by how many ads fail this simple test but when you can break away from the stereotypes that’s when women feel inspired, like in this ad from Under Armour:

 ’Protect this house. I WILL’ / Under Armour

 3. Choose imagery that resonates

Think about how your business can break away from stereotypical images in your ads, brochures and website design. Did you know that most women-owned businesses are run out of a home office and employ fewer than five people? If you’re targeting female business owners it makes you think twice about choosing that stock image of the “business woman” wearing a skirt suit, stiletto heels and crossing her arms, doesn’t it? Luckily, Getty Images and Sheryl Sandberg’s organization, Lean In, have joined forces to release a fantastic new stock photo collection with 2,500 images breaking down stereotypes about gender roles, called the “Lean In Collection.”

Tara Moore / Getty Images

4. Offer women incentives not discounts

Women are savvy shoppers and will look for the best offer, which may not always be price orientated. Providing a memorable experience will ensure women become loyal brand advocates. Take price out of the equation and focus on other benefits you can offer her; then communicate those incentives to her with sophisticated graphics that go straight to her inbox or Facebook feed. 

Can you provide a complementary service or partner with another business for mutual benefit?

Tootsies Boutique in California has 3 pedicure stations right in the middle of it and regularly offers pedicure specials as incentives to come shop for shoes. Take that online shopping! (Tootsies Boutique)

5. Address her ‘Invisible Others’

The real reason women buy more is actually not very exciting. In reality it’s because they purchase for others. In virtually every society around the world, women have primary-caregiving roles and as a result they are constantly evaluating how their shopping decisions will impact those they care about. Bridget Brennan author of Why She Buys says, “women are multiple markets in one. They are the gateway to everybody else.” When selling to a woman try to find out who else might be using the product, be it a new refrigerator, a television or a car; in doing so you will be able to point out specific features of the product that might appeal to their ‘invisible others’ and as a result remove hidden barriers to the sale.

If the product is specific to her, such as lingerie or shoes, create a dedicated entertainment zone in the store for her husband or child so she can shop at her leisure without guilt. Communicate these messages visually in your product brochures and in-store.

6. Surprise and delight her

When it comes to building a reputation for excellent customer service a key element is ‘surprise’. In their study (2001) on anticipation and emotion, Mellers and McGraw found that “surprising outcomes have greater intensity than expected outcomes. Surprise amplifies the emotional experience.” Women in particular are looking for extra, emotional reasons why they should care about a brand based on it caring about them.

Ritz-Carlton are the masters of ‘surprise and delight’. In an approach they call “Radar On – Antenna Up”, Ritz-Carlton employees are trained to anticipate the unexpressed needs of their guests and are empowered to act on them.

For example: “A couple arrives at the hotel, wife is six months pregnant. Normal service would be to observe and do nothing – at best help with the bags. But at Ritz Carlton, antenna up means they get a special pillow for sleeping and alcohol free sparkling cider instead of champagne.”

Empower your sales staff to respond and act on unspoken cues. Have beautiful stationery designed for personal handwritten notes to be sent to customers when a special occasion arises. After all it’s the little things that matter.

Ritz-Carlton – The Employee Promise

Article by Jennifer Crehan, Eloquence World Design
If you would like help designing professional communications and brand marketing for your female audience contact Jennifer at Eloquence World Design:

www.eloquence.co.nz
jennifer@eloquence.co.nz
027 493 1986
Level 1, 14 Blair St, Wellington

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If you’re looking to create a professional marketing brochure for your business, here are five tips that will help you create a brochure with a big impact.

1. Get your content right

Copywriting is one of the most essential elements of any effective marketing campaign. Brochures typically offer a larger canvas on which to pitch your case to prospective customers but selecting the right words that get people to take some form of action can be tricky. One of the biggest mistakes you can make is to focus on information instead of persuasion. Brochure copy should begin with your customer not your product. Sell benefits, not features and show them how your product or service makes their life better, easier, or more profitable.

2. Keep it simple

Don’t try to oversell. Keep your content clear and concise. You don’t want to overwhelm your customers with information overload that leaves them unsure of the action they should take. When planning your brochure design work out a simple and clear structure and stick to it! It’s absolutely vital to plan what you want your brochure to do. Is it too inform people of a new service? To increase brand awareness? To showcase your products? Write down your objective and make sure you don’t get sidetracked into including information that isn’t relevant to that goal. Always include a call to action which tells your customers what you want them to do and how they can do it.

3. Be true to your brand

Spielplan Oper Graz 2013/14 season brochure design

As well as the words you use, the look and feel of your brochure needs to promote your company image and communicate who you are. Whether you’re a slick, cloud-based tech venture or an eco-friendly range of skincare products, the images, colours and typefaces you use need to be on brand and consistent with your other marketing collateral. If all of your print and web communications look like a family, you’re well on your way to making a cohesive brand which people can get excited about.

4. Use a clean design

Brochure design for Mareiner Holz, leading wood processor in Central Europe

All companies are different and have different design aesthetics, but whether your businesses brand-style is crisp and white or bold and colourful your brochure design still needs to look fresh and be easy to read. Use empty space to it’s best, make sure headings are clear and images are relevant and pull out key features to make a big statement. Just because you have a lot of content doesn’t mean everything is of equal importance. Pick out your brochure’s key items and show them at their best.

5. Use pictures

The Norwegian Opticians’ Association brochure design

Using pictures is a great way to add visual interest to your brochure design. No one wants to read a textbook! Inspire your customers with enticing photographs or illustrations and use them to draw attention to particular areas of text you want your customers to focus on. For example if using a photograph of a person you can have them looking in the direction of the text and your readers will look there too.

If you’re wanting to design a professional marketing brochure for your business we can help.

Email Eloquence World Design to ask for a FREE consultation

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For start-ups, checking the availability of web domains is playing an increasingly significant role in the entire naming process of a business. Before selecting any web domain name ask yourself these 5 questions:

1. Is it short?
2. Is it catchy?
3. Is it easy to spell
4. Is it original?
5. Who are you trying to attract?

If the answer to the first 4 questions is ‘no’ you may want to rethink your strategy, or consider purchasing multiple domains to catch your audience. Below we answer 5 frequently asked questions about website domains.

1. What is a Web Domain

Every website has a URL and every URL includes a Domain Name and a Top Level Domain (TLD).

2. What’s the Difference Between .com, .co.nz, .org, and .net; & Does it Matter Which One I Use?

Generally speaking .com is the most desirable Top Level Domain. However, with billions of websites online it is very possible that the .com domain you want is already taken, forcing you to choose an alternative TLD.

To see which alternative domain extensions might be right for your business ask yourself these two questions:

1. Is your target market specific to one country?
2. What type of business are you?

If your audience is specific to a country, choosing a country coded TLD like .co.nz, .co.au or .co.uk is perfect, especially if you sell physical products that can only be delivered within that country. If your product is available in multiple countries we suggest purchasing your domain under all the relevant country extensions to get the best local search results (as well as under .com)

For example: It’s very unlikely that a New Zealand user will be directed to a .co.fr (France) website in search results, simply because Google knows that French websites probably aren’t relevant to a New Zealander’s search. Equally websites ending in .co.nz are unlikely to be picked up in other countries.

If your business is an organisation or charity then a .org TLD might also be right for you. Educational institutions might choose .edu, and websites designed specifically for mobile device should use .mobi.

Remember, there are no specific regulations or rules. You can purchase multiple web addresses and ‘point’ them all to your website. Often registering a number of domain names with a variety of TLDs will give you the best search results.

3. How Long Should My Domain Name Be?

Domains can be up to 63 characters long, excluding the TLD. However it’s a generally accepted rule that ‘the shorter the better’. Typically, shorter domain names are easier for users to remember and spell, therefore you can better guarantee that a user will find your website correctly when looking for your website in a ‘direct search’. Anything 10 characters or less is recommended.

Including keywords within your domain name can help improve organic search results even though they can be longer.

For example: a Wellington photographer specialising in weddings might want to purchase the domain “weddingphotographerwellington.co.nz”

Before purchasing keyword based domains do your research! Find out which keywords are the most relevant to your business and which ones will give you the best results. Google’s Keywords Tool is a great free application for this.

4. What Should I Do if My Business Name is Long, Hard to Spell, or the Domain Has Already Been Taken?

If you think your audience will have trouble finding you because your name is too long, hard to spell, or hard to remember you may want to rethink the branding of your business and choose something more catchy. If this is the case, get in touch with us, we’d love to help guide you through the process.

If changing your businesses’ name is not an option there are things you can do to overcome the problem. Consider:

• Abbreviations – is it possible to abbreviate your name and still be recognised?
• Keywords – try using keywords in your domain to boost search results
• Nicknames – is your business familiar to customers by another name? e.g. Coke vs Coca-Cola; VW vs Volkswagen.

5. How do I purchase a domain name?

Web hosting providers make it easy to purchase domains and test their availability. For small to medium businesses we recommend choosing a web host with a good reputation based in your own country.  That way you can be assured of better customer support in your own timezone when you need assistance.

If you need help with selecting a domain name or web provider contact us by calling (04) 385 7110 or

Email Eloquence World Design to ask for a FREE consultation

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In just 3 years Pinterest has become the 3rd largest social networking website in the world. In July 2012 Pinterest recorded more than 23 million unique visitors and 1.7 billion page views worldwide (comScore), and it seems Pinterest has the ability to turn those visits into sales, making it a retailers’ best new marketing tool.

At its core Pinterest helps people collect and organize the things they love. Users ‘pin’ images of products, clothing, inspiring ideas, recipes, instructions and more onto their account pages known as ‘boards’. The boards are grouped by theme and other users with similar tastes may access them to be inspired or ‘repin’ the item.

According to a new Bizrate report 69% of online consumers who visit Pinterest have found an item they’ve purchased or wanted to purchase as compared to only 40% of online consumers who visit Facebook. So how can you capitalize on Pinterest’s success?

Here are four ideas for getting started on Pinterest:

1. Use Great Images

Pinterest is primarily a visual bulletin board. People visit the site to be inspired. Take professional, high resolution photos and use those on your website and boards for people to repin. Images don’t have to be limited to products either, pinners love DIY tutorials! But remember to “tell the whole story” – while a close up photo might be beautiful if it doesn’t convey enough information users may be inclined not to repin it.

For example: if you’re selling paint stripper don’t just pin photos of the product. Take a before-and-after shot of a door after your product has removed the paint. Pinterest users doing home DIY will take notice.

2. Add a ‘Pin It’ Button to Your Website

By adding a Pin It button to your website, people can use it to pin your stuff to their Pinterest boards. This opens it up to thousands of people who can then repin those things or click back to your website. Place the Pin it button next to things you want to share and let users do the rest.

3 months after Allrecipes.com added the Pin It button, people pinned more than 50,000 recipes from their website. This lead to 139 million Pinterest impressions!

3. Engage Users With a Contest

Great photos and ideas can get people repining but having engaged followers is key to Pinterest success. Why not create a contest that gets users sharing your content?

Better Homes and Gardens invited Pinterest users to create a ‘My Better Homes and Gardens Dream Home’ board to compete for $5,000 in cash prizes in a ‘Pin & Win‘ contest. Users then curated their board with interior and exterior pictures from the Better Homes and Garden website and the winner was selected by judges appointed by BH&G. The competition which ran March 6 to May 4 2012, attracted more than 11,400 new Pinterest fans for the brand.

4. Make Use of Analytics

Use Pinterest’s new Analytics dashboard to find out how many people are pinning from your website, seeing your pins, and clicking your content. You’ll also be able to see recent pins and your most repinned content of all time, so that you can get a sense both of what is currently trending and what your most popular items are overall.

To get analytics set up for yourself, verify your website with Pinterest and then click Analytics in the top-right menu under your name.

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In business you are often faced with the pressure to get fast results from various marketing pursuits. You want to do things that will make new sales quickly, often within the space of mere days or just a few weeks. This is known as ‘fast’ marketing.

This type of marketing often has deadline dates, or an incentive that encourages your audience to do something right now or in the immediate future. It can prove very successful but you have to regularly come up with the next idea to continue the momentum.

Apart from the obvious benefit of generating quick revenue, fast marketing also allows you to better track what campaigns work and which ones don’t. If you don’t get the response you’re looking for learn from it and try something new.

Slow Marketing

Slow marketing on the other hand is when you’re not looking for an instant sale but instead building personal relationships with people. The relationship you create leads to future sales when that person has need you can fill, or when they personally recommend your business. We all know the power of word-of-mouth.

Slow marketing has longterm results and can be incredibly important in establishing your brand’s reputation. Without slow marketing in the mix you run the risk of your business being too focussed on sales and fads.

Which Type of Marketing is Better?

In reality both types of marketing need to be in the mix to build a successful business. You want to regularly be doing things that boost revenue quickly, as well as building lasting connections with people.

Ideas for Fast Marketing

• Hold a competition with an incentive for customers to take action now. For a low cost solution advertise it on your website and Facebook page.
• Email, phone or send mail outs to previous clients and give them a good reason to spend money with you now.
• Hold a VIP night at your store. Supply some food and wine and let your guests and their friends be first to see and buy new products. Fashion and beauty stores might invite stylists or make-up artists to give personal advice to your guests. The more personal attention you give to your guests the more this promotion will also cross-over into slow marketing.
• Take the “popcorn chicken” approach and advertise special products that are available for a limited time only.

Ideas for Slow Marketing

• Introduce yourself to complimentary services in your industry. For example: a florist in the wedding industry might build a relationship with a wedding dress store, photographer or make-up artist who will then be inclined to recommend you to new brides.
• Hold a free workshop. Holding an event without a focus on sales establishes you as a thought-leader. A well prepared and thoughtful presentation is a sure fire way to build reputation.

What To Do Now

Look at the sales activities you employ in your business and see where the balance of your marketing lies. If you’re relying too heavily on either ‘slow’ or ‘fast’ marketing come up with 5 new ideas to get the balance right.

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User reviews are proven sales drivers, particularly in the travel, hospitality and retails sectors but any business can benefit from positive customer endorsements.

Here are 3 ideas to help you build your online reputation and drive sales:

1. Be Proactive

Make sure you have a website. This is usually the first stop for interested consumers to find out a little bit more about you. It helps search engines point people to the right place and gives you the platform to establish your brand and what you offer. It’s also a great place to publish a few of your glowing endorsements.

If you’re an online retailer why not make product reviews and ratings available directly on your site? These will add credibility to your site and save consumers the hassle of locating product reviews externally. Which they will! Remember, the more time they’re on your site, the less time they’re on your competitors’.

Shoebuy: Shoebuy is the world’s largest site for shoes. They display customer comments and ratings directly below each product, helping new customers to assess fit, design, and comfort levels before buying. They also reward customers for leaving comments with a points program. Allowing enthusiastic customers to earn discounts on their site. As they add more buyer friendly features their online reputation continues to grow.

2. Embrace The Negative

How you approach negative feedback is just as critical as building positive comments when it comes to your online reputation. Remember that potential customers will see your response and form opinions based on your reaction. If you can turn a customer’s opinion around they could become one of your best brand advocates.

A four-step, face-saving, approach will help you deal with any bad reviews:

1. Thank the reviewer for their feedback
2.  Acknowledge their dissatisfaction (and anything you are doing to avoid the same situation from happening again)
3. Point out some of the positive aspects of your business
4. Invite them back (preferably encouraging them to contact you personally)

You might also be surprised to know that negative reviews handled well can actually encourage customers to make positive purchasing decisions. “Negative reviews increase perceived authenticity of websites review systems and convince customers they have researched thoroughly enough to make a purchase decision” (Frank Gilbert, managing director, Solutionists).

3. Build a Brand Ambassador Program

If you’ve been in business for a few years and have some loyal followers you might want to consider launching a brand ambassador program. We all know how powerful word-of-mouth is, so give your most influential customers their own outlet to help you grow your online reputation. Approach customers who already promote your brand by sharing it with friends, tweeting, posting or commenting on how much they love your products or services and reward them for their endorsements. This doesn’t mean overloading them with gifts or freebies mind you. Instead, show your appreciation in thoughtful ways. You might want to host “ambassador only” events or sales. Or allow them to product test new items before they are released. You could even dedicate an area of your website or Facebook page to your ambassadors so they can submit their own content and ideas publicly.

Fiskars: Fiskars is a global craft and stationary products brand. In 2006 they established a community led program for their Fiskateers – ambassadors of crafting and Fiskars. The Fiskateers’ website offers new ways for Fiskateers to showcase their work, share their passion, and be inspired by the papercrafters around them. They host regular events and classes, have an open craft forum and their own Facebook and Twitter accounts, and it’s all driven by 1000′s of passionate customers.

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Designing a logo is just the tip of the iceberg. It serves as the first recognition point for your business and is a tool used to quickly communicate and represent your brand to your audience, however it’s always part of a bigger picture. A brand takes everything into account — it encompasses your logo, font choices, colours, packaging, website, interior design, market positioning, messaging and voice of your business… in fact it is every interaction that identifies and differentiates your business from your competitors.

1. Strategy

Effective brand design relies on a great creative brief to keep everyone focused. A Key ingredient of any creative brief is the unique selling proposition (USP). In other words what makes your brand different? What are you promising to your customers that other brands aren’t? Then communicate it in one sentence.

Once you have your USP set a framework for your audience, competitors, price point, time frames, budgets, objectives and indicate who will be involved in the final decision process.

2. Personality

Before you can tell your brand’s story through design you need to know what it is. Everyone has a story behind why they start a new venture. What is the driving force for you? Do you want to help people; make a better product; or fill a gap in the market? Then ask “who is my audience”. Who are you talking to and what kind of person are they. A brand with personality can communicate their message in a way that resonates with the customers they’re wanting to target. Brand personality can be expressed through the language you use in your advertising and products, but it can also be demonstrated through subtle design choices.

3. Colour

Colour can be one of the most powerful tools in branding when used in the right way. For example: what colour is Cadbury, Facebook, or Coke? These brands use color so effectively that you just have to catch a glimpse and you immediately recognise them. Choosing the right colours can have dramatic results on the success or failure of your brand.

Research reveals people make a subconscious judgment about a person, environment, or product within 90 seconds of initial viewing and that between 62% and 90% of that assessment is based on color alone. (Source: CCICOLOR – Institute for Color Research.)

When choosing the right colour for your brand think about the emotions you want your brand to represent, cultural factors, current trends and the market you’re in.

4. Consistency

When it comes to brand design, consistency is key! Make sure that each of the brand components (typography, colour, tone of voice, photography, layout) are unified under a consistent concept and visual style. Carefully consider how the brand is presented beyond the logo.

Why is developing a brand important?

It is often said you will be judged in the first ten seconds of meeting someone. For a product or a brand that time can be reduced to just 3 seconds. Making a good first impression is crucial.

Even low-budget branding can be achieved to a high level if you communicate your needs to your designer. As your business grows you can build on this to continue your brand’s story.

Brand identity is an investment. It’s a cohesive design strategy that when combined with a great product or service will make you stand out from the crowd, and pay off year after year.

If you’re wanting to create a professional & cohesive brand identity for your business we can help.

Email Eloquence World Design to ask for a FREE consultation

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