“Googling it” has become a common form of follow up action after hearing a radio ad or viewing an ad on TV. This means that there is no clear cut segmentation between online consumers and offline consumers.

The benefits of creating an integrated digital strategy are numerous. In short, however, one of the best outcomes of implementing an IDS is that just about everything can be tracked.

For example, different website URLs can be referenced in offline advertisements which can then be tracked using code like Google Analytics. This means that you can track the actual advertising sources that your users are coming from.

But what does it mean for your digital marketing strategies? We’ve included a quick check list below to help you check the health of your digital strategy.

1. Do you have Google Analytics installed on your website?   YES / NO
2. Do you have code installed in all your links on your website to track which link has been clicked?   YES / NO
3. Are you ranking in the search engines for slogans and tag lines that are used in your offline advertisements?   YES / NO
4. Are you using promotional codes or unique URLs in your offline advertising so that you can track where your website visitors are coming from?   YES / NO
5. Are your digital offers available offline as well, in-store or over the phone?   YES / NO

If you answered no to any of the above questions, your digital strategy may not be fully integrated. Contact Reload today to discuss how we can help your business get the most out of your marketing strategies.

It’s no good having a fantastically designed website that communicates your brand and engages with your customers when they reach your website if they can’t actually find it when they start searching in search engines. And similarly, it’s no use having a website that ranks at the top of Google if your users only get frustrated after the first 10 seconds they spend on the site, only to return to the search engine results and go to a competitor’s website that ranks below yours.

But there are a few ways that you can balance the requirements of both users and search engine spiders:

1. Content, content, content. Search engine friendly websites are all about the content. However, usability experts say that users won’t read your website extensively and excess content will only frustrate them as they won’t be able to find the important information they are looking for. There are a couple of ways to ensure your users can still find what they are looking for while also increasing the content on your website for the search engines. Firstly, make sure important content that is aimed at users is kept above the fold line. Users will read by scanning the page and they’ll often get sick of reading before they get to the bottom of the page. Search engine spiders, however, are not so fussy. They’ll read the text even if it’s at the bottom of the page. Therefore, place SEO content at the bottom of the page and even segment horizontally with a line to deter users from reading that far and becoming bogged down.
2. Use logical headings. These need to strike a balance between your SEO keywords and the need to also guide users as to what will be included in the page content. Users read a web page by first scanning the headings before deciding whether it is worth the time reading the content. Search engines also like headings so it’s important to make sure your headings are logical and well thought out.
3. Keep content fresh. Make sure your content is always up-to-date. Users will become frustrated if they find out of date information, particularly if your site advertises upcoming events or other date-related items. Search engines also like to see fresh content that is constantly updated.
4. Check for errors regularly. Not only are broken links frustrating for users but they also annoy the spiders. It goes without saying, but you should also make sure there are no spelling errors on your website.

Obviously there are far more ways to improve the usability or search-engine-friendliness of your site, but these are just a few starting points to help strike a balance between a user-friendly site and a search-engine-friendly site.

A new website won’t just pop up into the search engine results overnight without some SEO basics applied to the site first. Following that, search engines then have to find and index your site. And even once they’ve indexed it, it’s often another 3-6 months before any meaningful results occur.

Unfortunately, in most cases, results are not going to happen overnight. There are a number of external variables that are out of your control that can play a part on how quickly and successfully your website climbs up the ranks.

Firstly, the search engine algorithms are constantly changing as Google, Yahoo! and Bing endeavour to continually serve the most relevant search results to its users. Therefore, it’s highly beneficial to outsource your SEO to a SEO company who would continually monitor these changes in the algorithm.

Secondly, the competitiveness of the industry and search terms that you are targeting can also influence your ability to move up the rankings with ease. Generally broad search terms, such as “events” or “cars” will be much more competitive and more difficult to rank for than specific, targeted keywords that are relevant to your business and your website, for example “corporate events Brisbane” or “cars for sale Brisbane”. Usually, it will be much easier and quicker to rank for specific keywords that are less competitive and more relevant to your business. Additionally, if you choose your keywords strategically, you’ll also be more likely to get much more traction and draw high quality traffic to your website.

Finally, there’s no way to control what SEO tactics your competitors are using. Therefore it’s vital that you employ a long term SEO strategy to ensure that your website is constantly optimising against your competitors. If you stop applying SEO to your website but your competitors continue with their SEO, it won’t take long before you drop out of the ranks as your competitors overtake you.

In most cases, SEO is not going to happen overnight. The reason for this is because of the number of variables that cannot be controlled. However, by putting the right strategies in place, and by keeping an ongoing long term view of SEO, you’ll start to see meaningful, worthwhile results and add value to your business.

When it comes to web strategy, sometimes you might need a complete overhaul of your website’s structure. Starting from scratch with a clean slate is sometimes easier than just continuing to tack things on top of an existing deficient structure in an attempt to make things simpler, when in fact things are just getting even more out of control.

However, if your website’s foundations are simple and efficient, sometimes all that’s needed is some basics that will help to improve the overall usability of your website. Here are a few basic tips to ensure your website is as user-friendly as possible.

1. If you have a lot of pages on your website, it’s a good idea to use breadcrumb pathing to increase users’ situational awareness. This can help users easily find their way back through the path they just took.
2. Make sure your headings are relevant and meaningful. Most users will just scan a page of text rather than actually reading it word for word. Therefore, help your users find the information they need by ensuring you use relevant and meaningful headings.
3. Write your online content using an “inverted pyramid style.” Provide the most relevant information to users at the top of the page before they get sick of reading (or scanning).

Obviously there’s a lot more to good website usability that just these three, but getting these right will put your business on the path to an effective web strategy.