Question 1
Which tool helps you measure the success of your website?
Good job, that's right! Web analytic tools can help you measure the success of your website by analyzing visitor data.
Wednesday, June 9, 2021
Analyse and adapt
Hey! By now, you know how important it is to figure out what you want to get out of digital, how to establish your online presence, and start using digital marketing to drive people to your digital home.
But it’s also
important to make sure that your digital plan is geared toward the long haul.
Let’s go over a few ways to do that: setting realistic expectations, tracking
your results and adapting to changes in technology and your industry. The first
thing to remember: don’t expect too much too soon. It can take a bit of time to
set up your digital presence and get noticed online.
So if you’re a
hairdresser launching your very first website, your online shampoo sales
probably aren’t going to go through the roof straight away.
It takes time
for search engines to find you, and for you to implement and improve your
digital marketing plan. So, try not to set unrealistic goals you’re unlikely to
meet.
A crucial part
of any online plan is to measure what you’re doing and make sure it’s working.
This is called ‘analytics,’ and it can show you how people are finding your
website and what they do when they get there.
We’ve got lots
of videos that dive into the details of analytics, but generally, knowing where
your online visitors come from can help you figure out which of your marketing
campaigns are working and which ones aren’t.
If you know
what people do once they’re on your website, it can help you figure out if your
investment in digital is working.
For example, in
your hair salon, you don’t just want people to find your homepage, you might
want them to do lots of things like: watch your clever how-to videos, make
appointments, get driving directions to your shop, or actually buy something.
Tracking what people do on your site can help you to understand what’s working
and what’s not, so you can make changes and continually improve what you’re
doing. A final point to mention: it’s important to remember that the online
world is constantly changing. New tools, technologies and tactics pop up pretty
much daily. So a good plan combines the basic concepts that don’t change that
often, with forward-thinking to keep up with the latest and greatest.
Similarly, when
things change in your industry, make sure your online world is kept up to date.
Are you
offering the latest hot trends in hairstyling? If hair dyes become the next big
thing, you can quickly update your adverts to show customers what you can do.
To set yourself up for success
online, you need to look before you leap. And don’t stop looking! A good plan
will consider three things: first, know your online goals, and set yourself
realistic expectations. Next, use analytics to track and measure what you’re
doing and how it’s working. And last, always keep up-to-date and adapt to
changes in technology and the industry you work in. If your plan tackles all
these things and you stay flexible, you’ll be well on your way.
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Despite His Digital Presence, The Number Of Hits On Hamish’s Website Is Still Low. He’d Like To Use Analytics To Find Out More About How Customers Are Interacting With His Site. What Can He Learn From Analytics? Select The Ways You Think Analytics Can Help Business Owners.
(1) Show which pages of a website are popular.
- (A) Yes
- (B) No
(2) Log which items of the website are clicked on.
- (A) Yes
- (B) No
(3) List which parts of the website a user doesn’t like.
- (A) Yes
- (B) No
(4) Identify where in the world visitors are logging on from.
- (A) Yes
- (B) No
Marketing your online presence
OK, so you’ve
established your online home, and now you’re looking for ways to bring more
customers to your virtual front door.
Let’s discuss
some great strategies to do just that using search engines, other websites,
social media and email.
So let’s talk
about you, how are you going to get customers to find you online?
There are a few
ways to do it using digital. Let’s start with search engines. When people type
something in a search engine, they’re letting it know exactly what they are
looking for.
If you offer
relevant services and products, search engines will show your business in the
search results. Now, there are two main ways you can use search engines, and
we’ve got lots of info to share on both.
The first is
search engine optimisation, or SEO, which helps you promote your business
in the unpaid search results.
The second is
search engine marketing, or SEM, which lets you buy ad space in the search
results. SEO is all about getting your site in front of the right
people who are searching for your products and services.
Now, there are
lots of ways to do this, we’ll explain them in detail later on, but the key is
knowing what words people actually type in — the keywords. They are the most
relevant words to your business.
Understanding
these will help you improve how you show up when these words are searched.
SEM, on the
other hand, is when businesses pay to advertise to people searching for
specific keywords online.
Most major
search engines use an auction system, where lots of different businesses
compete to show their ads by bidding on the keywords they’d like to target.
Search is a
great way to reach people, but we do lots more on the Internet. We read news,
check sports scores, browse recipes, watch videos and generally browse lots and
lots of interesting content across the web.
Alongside all
of this content you might see ads. This is called display advertising.
Display ads appear
everywhere online, and come in many formats like text, images, video, and ads
you can click on and interact with.
They can be a
great way to get your message out there and you’re able to choose the people
you want to see your ads, and the websites and pages you’d like them to appear
on.
Social media
sites like Facebook or Twitter are another option for boosting awareness of
your business, and they’re especially useful for building relationships with
customers.
On most
networks you’ll create pages or profiles for your business. You can then
connect with lots of people by starting meaningful conversations and sharing
content you’ve created whilst growing your business’ online social life.
Before we wrap
this up, let’s not forget one more pretty important way businesses can use
digital: email marketing.
We’re not
talking about junk email, or “spam” that clutters up your inbox, but sending
relevant information and offers to people who have already said they’d like to
hear from you.
You can get
people to sign up, or “opt in” to receive emails from you. Then the rest is up
to you. You can send coupons to people who have made an appointment on your
site, advertise special events, or promote sale items.
Knowing all the ways you can find people online — and knowing how they can find
you — can help launch your business big-time.
The more types of digital marketing
you try, the more opportunities you’ll have to reach your most valuable
customers, wherever they happen to be in the digital world.
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Hamish’s Website Isn’t Getting As Many Visitors As He’d Like. He’s Heard That Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Can Help, But Isn’t Sure How It Works. Can You Explain What SEM Enables You To Do? Website Isn’t Getting As Many Visitors As He’d Like. He’s Heard That Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Can Help, But Isn’t Sure How It Works. Can You Explain What SEM Enables You To Do?
- (A) Buy ad space on a search results page
- (B) Bid for keywords to display your content in search engines
- (C) Tag keywords within your website content
- (D) Optimise your website’s design
Building your online presence
Hey! We’re
going to look at the first step to going digital: staking your claim online.
You’ve got lots
of options for building a digital presence, including things like local
listings, websites, mobile apps and social media. If you get these basics
right, it could make a world of difference. These days, it’s easy for anyone to
make a home online. But while a website might be the first thing that comes to
mind, you don’t necessarily need to start there. Let’s say you’re a
hairdresser, for example. Your first step to finding customers online, and
being found online, might be to list your shop in local online directories like
Google My Business. Then, when someone searches Google for hairdressers in your
area, you’ll appear in the results — no website required! You could also start
a Facebook page to give potential customers a glimpse into your business and
what you can do,like photos or videos of some happy customers with great
hairstyles that you’ve created. If this is all a bit much, don’t worry. We’ve
got loads of videos here to help you explore social media in more detail.
There’s a lot you can do without a website, but at some point, you might want
to build a home of your own on the web, a one-stop-shop where your customers
can find everything they need to know about you online. Great, let’s get going!
The most important thing to think about as you start to plan your site is what
you want people to do there. For example, do you want them to ring you? If so,
include your phone number prominently on every page. Perhaps you want them to
find your physical shop? Well, include a map and driving directions. Maybe you
want them to make appointments online? That’s a feature you can build in. Or,
lastly, you might want them to actually buy products from you online, by
placing an order or submitting a payment. That’s called e-commerce,and there
are a range of options — from simple to more complex — that we’ll discuss in
more detail in other videos.
Websites aren’t
the only online homes anymore. These days many businesses create mobile apps
for customers which they can keep on their smartphones or tablets.
Apps open up
all kinds of digital doors — for example, you can create loyalty programmes or
automatically send reminders about upcoming appointments.
Right, to be
clear: If you want people to find you on the web, you need to stake your claim
online.
That can be a
listing in a local business directory, a presence on social media sites, a
simple website or one with e-commerce, a mobile app — or all of the above.
Whatever you choose, this is the
place where people find you, get to know you, and hopefully become your
customers.
Hamish Has Created A Website With An Online Booking System For His Salon Appointments. He Wants To Engage More With His Customers And Came Up A List Of Goals. Help Hamish To Match Each Task With The Online Tool You Think He Should Use To Achieve His Goal.
Q.1 – Gather Customer Feedback
(A) An Online Gallery
(B) Email Survey
(C) A map
(D) Social Media Page
Q.2 – Tell customers about the extended opening hours
(A) An Online Gallery
(B) Email Survey
(C) A map
(D) Social Media Page
Q.3 – Show customers Hamish’s latest hair looks
(A) An Online Gallery
(B) Email Survey
(C) A map
(D) Social Media Page
Q.4 – Help local customers find the new salon
(A) An Online Gallery
(B) Email Survey
(C) A map
(D) Social Media Page
Your online goals
Every business has different objectives. It’s good to know exactly what you want to achieve online, as it can help you set the right priorities and put your plan into place. Because you don’t want to feel too overwhelmed.
There are lots of clear ways digital can help your business. Such as, building relationships on social networks, selling online, finding new customers. Or even keeping existing ones. It’s good to start by asking yourself a simple question: why, exactly, do I want to be online? Imagine you own a hair salon. Your ultimate goals could be: to cut more people’s hair, sell more premium services than the standard haircut and sell more of the products you offer. But before anyone can walk through your door, they have to know you exist. This is a great goal that digital can help with. So let’s start with that one: getting the word out in the digital world.One easy win is listing your business in local online directories. So, when people look for hairdressers on search engines or online maps, your business will show up.Then you might decide to build a website to share information about your business. This could be things like your opening hours, your location, your prices and the services you offer. Maybe even photos and videos that could entice new customers to walk through your door. You could set up a social media page on Facebook or Twitter where you could post photos of your creations, offer special deals and really connect with your customers. As you start achieving these goals, and more people become aware of you. Your goals may naturally evolve and you might want to shift your focus toward turning visitors into paying customers.Maybe even photos and videos that could entice new customers to walk through your door. You could set up a social media page on Facebook or Twitter where you could post photos of your creations,offer special deals and really connect with your customers. As you start achieving these goals, and more people become aware of you. Your goals may naturally evolve and you might want to shift your focus toward turning visitors into paying customers.Maybe even photos and videos that could entice new customers to walk through your door. You could set up a social media page on Facebook or Twitter where you could post photos of your creations, offer special deals and really connect with your customers. As you start achieving these goals, and more people become aware of you. Your goals may naturally evolve and you might want to shift your focus toward turning visitors into paying customers.Your goals may naturally evolve and you might want to shift your focus toward turning visitors into paying customers.Maybe even photos and videos that could entice new customers to walk through your door. You could set up a social media page on Facebook or Twitter where you could post photos of your creations, offer special deals and really connect with your customers. As you start achieving these goals, and more people become aware of you. Your goals may naturally evolve and you might want to shift your focus toward turning visitors into paying customers.Your goals may naturally evolve and you might want to shift your focus toward turning visitors into paying customers.Maybe even photos and videos that could entice new customers to walk through your door. You could set up a social media page on Facebook or Twitter where you could post photos of your creations, offer special deals and really connect with your customers. As you start achieving these goals, and more people become aware of you. Your goals may naturally evolve and you might want to shift your focus toward turning visitors into paying customers.offer special deals and really connect with your customers. As you start achieving these goals, and more people become aware of you. Your goals may naturally evolve and you might want to shift your focus toward turning visitors into paying customers.offer special deals and really connect with your customers. As you start achieving these goals, and more people become aware of you. Your goals may naturally evolve and you might want to shift your focus toward turning visitors into paying customers.
You could add new features to your site. Things like online appointment scheduling, a “reviews” section where people can say nice things about you, or even an ecommerce store to sell your hair and beauty products online.
Now that you’re using digital to attract visitors, and turn them into customers, you could start expanding your business by investing in online advertising.
Whatever your ultimate digital goals are, or where you currently stand, your priorities will naturally change and grow with your business. Now to make sure you’re meeting your objectives, it’s really important to measure your progress along the way.
x
We’ll dive into this more later, but with digital you’ve got lots of options for measuring your success. So let’s recap. Before you dive into the digital world, think about exactly what you’d like to achieve. Then, prioritise different online opportunities to help you accomplish your goals. In the next few videos, we’ll help you plan. First, by looking at different ways you can establish a digital presence.
Next, the different ways to market yourself online.
And lastly, how you can measure and improve your digital endeavour.
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Check your knowledge
Hamish is a successful hairdresser. He’s decided to grow his business by opening another salon.
Hamish doesn’t have an online presence yet, but thinks this might help.
Which of his business goals could being online help him achieve?
- Attract new customers
- Gather customer feedback
- Source new hair colouring products
- Advertise extended opening hours
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