Out with the old and upload the new!

by denise 10. January 2012 10:03

If your business could make a New Year’s resolution – what would it be?

How about a new look for 2012?

If you can’t remember the last time the words ‘website’ and ‘update’ were mentioned in the same sentence in your office, chances are a website makeover is long overdue.

A new year's resolution to develop your online marketing with a new and user friendly web design or ecommerce website could make 2012 a successful year for your business!

But where do you start?

Paul Haslam, Creative Director at The Web Bureau in Belfast has simplified the process into the following 5 easy steps:

1. Say what you do

Websites must reflect the company accurately in order to attract the correct audiences. Your website is your ‘online face’ and the first place many prospective customers will visit to find out if you offer what they need. If it’s not on the site they probably they won’t stay. If products and services offered by the company do change regularly, it is important to communicate this on the site. Broadening the appeal of the company can only be a good thing.

2. The sales path

A journey through a website should be easy for users. Whether the end goal is a purchase or simply a sign up for a newsletter, you should make the process as straightforward as possible. Looking through your website analytics will allow you to see how many visitors to your website actually completed any of your set goals. Converting ‘visitors’ to customers should be the ultimate goal of the site; if it isn’t, you’re missing opportunities. User journeys should be regularly tracked. If the conversion rates are continually poor, you may need to reconsider the user journey.

3. Needle in a haystack

If users can’t easily find the page they need, they’ll leave the site. By keeping the layout simple and using clear, specific headings on pages and subpages, users will be able to see immediately where they want to go. Analytics will allow you to see how long people are staying on your site or how many pages they access before they leave your site. But it won’t tell you why they have left, so you may want to consider implementing a site survey as users exit the site.

4. Be the boss

Having the ability to manage the site yourself is a huge advantage. Content Management Systems allow you to easily update content without going through your web developer. Regularly updating product lists, stock quantities, promotional offers and news items may just set you apart from your competition!

5. All singing, all dancing

Perhaps you want the option of doing more on your site. Additional features such as blogs, quizzes and videos may not be supported by your current system but can easily be incorporated into a new system. This is also the type of content that will encourage users to return. If you do decide to set the ‘online facelift’ wheels in motion, it is important to keep in mind the key purpose of the site. By making a brief checklist of objectives and working closely with your web developer throughout the process you can ensure you get a website fit for 2012.

Paul Haslam is Director of The Web Bureau and can be contacted at paul@thewebbureau.com

The Web Bureau can also be contacted via their website www.thewebbureau.com, Facebook and Twitter pages.

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Tags: Web Design Belfast, Web Design Northern Ireland, Website Design Belfast, Website Design Northern Ireland, E-commerce Northern Ireland, Ecommerce Websites, SEO Belfast, Internet Marketing Belfast, Internet Marketing Northern Ireland, Online Marketing SEO

Belfast Yankee Candle Company Blown Over By Increase in Online Christmas Sales

by denise 22. December 2011 09:41

A Belfast candle company has been blown over with an incredible 1500% increase in site traffic as it cashes in on record online Christmas sales.

With almost 1,000 organic daily site visits, www.yankee.co.uk is one of the largest distributors of Yankee Candles in the UK and Ireland.

Graeme Ferguson, Managing Director of Yankee Store Ltd, is delighted with web traffic to his refreshed website.

“Last Christmas our site was receiving an average of 60 organic visits a day and this December we’re seeing nearly 1,000.

“While E-commerce sites will always perform best at this time of year to witness such growth in traffic in 12 months is absolutely incredible.”

The Centre for Retail Research, is expecting online Christmas spending in Britain to reach a total of £13.4bn. This expected online spend was highlighted on Cyber Monday (5th December 2011).

“We experienced a significant surge in online traffic and received a higher than average quantity of online orders but were well prepared for the increase in demand. Our dispatch teams worked extremely hard to get the orders processed and the site coped particularly well, maintaining speed and performance.”

Graeme Ferguson attributes much of the site’s success to the Belfast web specialists The Web Bureau.

Colin Graham, Technical Director of The Web Bureau said:

“80% of the population are now hooked up to the Internet and of that number 75% research purchases online before buying.

“These figures highlight how important it is that firstly consumers can find your website and secondly that you make it appealing to purchase from your website.

“For www.yankee.co.uk we wanted the site to be attractive as well as easy to use but we also implemented a successful Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) strategy resulting in the site being ranked within the top 3 Google results for related search terms.

“To encourage repeat visits several additional features were integrated into the site. This included competitions, a media centre to upload product images and videos and a Paypal payment option.

“Links to the company’s social media pages have also been incorporated allowing customers to contact the company via the most suitable medium.

“We’re pleased the site is already delivering such great results and the online marketing strategy is producing high levels of organic traffic.”

Graeme Ferguson, Managing Director of Yankee Store Ltd who also has six stores across Northern Ireland, said:

“Working with The Web Bureau we were able to upload a ‘review’ feature for our customers to leave their own thoughts and opinions on products. This is a great indicator for us of what is popular with the customers and allows us to select our ‘fragrance of the month’.

“Customer feedback is very important to us and the response to the site has been very positive. Happy customers results in return visits and that’s the principal aim.”

More information on The Web Bureau can be found at www.thewebbureau.com

The Web Bureau can also be followed on Facebook and Twitter.

(Image, from L-R: Graeme Ferguson, MD & Maria O'Neill, Retail Manager, Yankee Store Ltd pictured with Colin Graham, Technical Director, The Web Bureau).

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Tags: SEO Belfast, Web Design Belfast, Web Design Northern Ireland, Social Media Marketing, E-commerce Northern Ireland, Ecommerce Website, Affordable Web Design, Ecommerce Website Design, Internet Marketing Belfast, Internet Marketing Northern Ireland

The New Google Analytics: Have you Switched Yet?

by Lea Glover 14. December 2011 12:33

If like many Google Analytics users, you have been trying to avoid the new interface, then its best you take the next few weeks to get familiar with it! Google recently announced that the old version will be turned off in January 2012.

To help you get started, here’s 5 new and improved features:

Google Analytics

Dashboard Overhaul:

Users now have the freedom to create up to 20 dashboards under one account, and each dashboard can be uniquely personalised with relevant widgets and formats. The dashboard overhaul provides more freedom and valuable insight into Google Analytics data. Want to create a customised dashboard? Simply drag and drop widgets which are displayed in metric, pie chart, table or timeline options.

Keyword Clouds:

This new feature is fantastic for SEO research. The keyword cloud is a text data visualisation tool displaying keywords with larger keywords indicating higher search volumes. Word clouds are not a new tool but they are new to GA. Rather than viewing a long list of keywords to spot trends, users can visualise keywords based on bounce rates, visits and pages per visits.

Real-Time Data:

Until recently, real time data was typically delayed up to 24 hour after the visit. With Real-Time reports this data is available as it happens. The Real-Time data reports identify currently active pages, instant referrals, keywords and geographic locations driving traffic. Real-Time reports can also be useful to test campaign tracking prior to launching campaigns.

Social Engagement:

The new Social Reports track social interaction, identifying behaviour changes for visits and the number of social actions taken for each website. Determine which content is popular, ‘shared’ and goes viral. And just last week (8th Dec 2011), Google Analytics announced Social Data Hub, inviting all social networks and platforms to integrate their activity streams with Google Analytics.

Goal flow Visualisation:

This is especially useful for ecommerce sites, the Goal Flow tool can be used to visualise the ‘flow’ of users through a site. Is your checkout process too complicated? Determine at which point people are abandoning their carts then improve the process. Goal Flow Visualisation provides a much better understanding of the entire conversion process by displaying data via interactive graphs and charts.

These are just a few of the improvements made to Google Analytics, for more info visit the Official Google Analytics website or sign up to our blog by filling in your email address (top right) to receive updates Google Analytics.

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Tags: google analytics, keyword clouds, ecommerce, seo, search engine optimistation