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5 Quick Small Business Website Tips

/ Insights      / 5 Quick Small Business Website Tips

5 Quick Small Business Website Tips

A website is a huge opportunity for small businesses to attract new customers and strengthen relationships with existing customers.

We have put together a set of five quick tips that will help small business owners get the most from their website.

Tip 1 – Make Sure Your Website Is Mobile Friendly

We have repeatedly spoken on this blog about the importance of your website by those using mobile devices.

This is especially critical for businesses that operate within a small local area as appearing in local mobile results means people can find you on the move when they may need your product/service urgently.

Tip 2 – Add A Blog

Google loves websites that have lots of fresh and relevant content, publishing a blog post once a fortnight will ensure that when Google looks at your site it can connect what you are saying to what your customers need.

Tip 3 – Make Your Contact Information Easy To Find

If people visit your website and want to find out more but cannot find a way to get in contact with you easily then they will leave and find a competitor.

We recommend you have your business phone number on every page.

Tip 4 – Make Your Site Visually Appealing

Images can help explain what you offer to customers and make your site more visually appealing. The more appealing your website to the eye the more likely people are to stay and assimilate the information on your page. This tip goes hand in hand with easy to use navigation so people can find what they need straight away.

Tip 5 – Promote Your Blog Posts More Than Once

Only promoting a good quality informative blog post is a wasted opportunity, use social media to repackage the content repeatedly to ensure

If you would like to know more about what your business needs to keep up with modern consumers and changes to the way online marketing works give us a call on 020 8861 0115

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Anoop Panesar

Business Development Manager

Digital marketing and tech specialist Anoop is a well-known figure in the Harrow and North London community. Currently the Operations Director for Aspiring Panda, the company uses cloud and development expertise to solve some of the toughest business challenges – which has recently included consulting with East African nations to provide sustainable farming.

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Technology

Why The Way You Market Your Business Online Is Continuously Evolving

/ Insights      / Why The Way You Market Your Business Online Is Continuously Evolving

Why The Way You Market Your Business Online Is Continuously Evolving

Many of the small businesses we speak to about web design and digital marketing are looking for a simple one off solution or strategy that will last for set period that can then be refreshed.

This approach is designed to give the small business owner the opportunity to reap the benefits of digital marketing without having to invest time and money on a regular basis. With the need to balance budgets and focus on the core aspects of the business this is understandable.

Unfortunately, the rapid advances in technology and the way in which the titans of digital marketing such as Google and Facebook work mean that it is virtually impossible to fully futureproof your business.

These companies regularly change the metrics they use to determine the way they rank small businesses within their platforms.

This means that in order to maximise the value of your website and social media efforts, the way you market your business online must be reviewed regularly and evolve with changes.

The Value Of Content & Having An Active Website

These companies reward organisations that are regularly creating new content and adding it to their website and social media channels. This means that small businesses that succeed using digital marketing need to have a strategy that involves the regular creation and publication of content.

This is why at Aspiring Panda we encourage our customers to understand the concept of an active website. A site that is easily updateable and aspects that update regularly such as social media feeds and blogs.

We wrote a full blog about active and passive websites last year that explores the differences and why it is important.

If you would like to know more about what your business needs to keep up with modern consumers and changes to the way online marketing works give us a call on 020 8861 0115

anu_panesar

Anoop Panesar

Business Development Manager

Digital marketing and tech specialist Anoop is a well-known figure in the Harrow and North London community. Currently the Operations Director for Aspiring Panda, the company uses cloud and development expertise to solve some of the toughest business challenges – which has recently included consulting with East African nations to provide sustainable farming.

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Technology

Get Social Media Training At Our Harrow Office

/ Insights      / Get Social Media Training At Our Harrow Office

Get Social Media Training At Our Harrow Office

In May, Aspiring Panda will be hosting a nationally recognised social media expert to deliver training to local businesses on how to define their social media strategy.

The course will be run by Kristian Downer of DowSocial who we work closely with, on our digital marketing.

What is the course about?

Staying up to date and running a successful social media campaign is becoming increasingly challenging as social platforms change and evolve. Online audiences are bombarded daily with hundreds of messages and online content, making the task of measuring ROI (return on investment) rather challenging.

This social media training course is designed to be informative and interactive. The core focus of the course is on revealing new trends, understanding audience behaviours and social media principles that will enable you to create successful social media campaigns for lead generation and nurturing existing customer relationships.

Who should attend?

This training course is targeted at users of social media who want to achieve a greater understanding of how to implement and integrate social media to develop increased brand exposure, online reach and acquire new business.

Typical attendees are marketers, business owners, community managers, PR professionals, publishers and account managers.

What is the course outcome?

Following this training course, you will be able to:

  • Design a social media strategy plan
  • Choose the right social media platforms to use
  • Confidently use content and communication strategies that work
  • Adapt the language and tones to suit each social media platform
  • Integrate social media and offline marketing methods
  • Understand the methods and tools to generate new leads
  • Track and measure social media campaign success or failure

We look forward to seeing at you at this and future events at our office in Harrow.

anu_panesar

Anoop Panesar

Business Development Manager

Digital marketing and tech specialist Anoop is a well-known figure in the Harrow and North London community. Currently the Operations Director for Aspiring Panda, the company uses cloud and development expertise to solve some of the toughest business challenges – which has recently included consulting with East African nations to provide sustainable farming.

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Technology

Three Ways Social Media Can Help Your Business

/ Insights      / Three Ways Social Media Can Help Your Business

Three Ways Social Media Can Help Your Business

Social media is an increasingly important part of the marketing of small businesses across the UK. With more than 30m users of Facebook alone, it is getting harder and harder to ignore that your target audience is active on social media.

For business owners that are resisting moving their business onto social media it is likely that they are missing out on opportunities and risking getting passed over in favour of companies that are more proactive with their digital marketing.

If you are on the fence, here are three ways social media can help your business succeed:

Generate Referral Business From Existing Customers

Existing customers are often the most effective way of getting new business as they refer their friends and colleagues to your product or service. Social media is an incredibly powerful way of harnessing this and broadcasting the goodwill your existing customer base has for what you do.

Target & Advertise To Potential Customers

Social media is powerful for businesses, in part due to the data that the platforms create and store about their users. Harnessed effectively, this can be used to advertise your business to exactly the people you want to target.

This means that you spend less money on traditional less well directed advertising platforms such as print or radio advertising.

Customer Service

Whether you are on social media or not, your customers are talking about you both the good and the bad. If you are on social media then you have an opportunity to see what they are saying about you, reinforce the positive and fix the negative.

After all, there is no more powerful an advocate than someone who has a negative experience that is given excellent customer service.

If you are unsure how to get a strategy that works for your business contact the Aspiring Panda team.

anu_panesar

Anoop Panesar

Business Development Manager

Digital marketing and tech specialist Anoop is a well-known figure in the Harrow and North London community. Currently the Operations Director for Aspiring Panda, the company uses cloud and development expertise to solve some of the toughest business challenges – which has recently included consulting with East African nations to provide sustainable farming.

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Technology

The Changing Face Of Customer Loyalty

/ Insights      / The Changing Face Of Customer Loyalty

The Changing Face Of Customer Loyalty

It is a well established business principle that retaining existing clients costs less than finding new ones. The internet has given consumers more choice than ever before, making it harder to retain customers through inertia alone.

In the current marketplace, data and convenience are king; consumers have all the information about your business and your competitors that they could need. Therefore it is crucial to get your business found, and once it is to maximise retention and revenues.

To achieve this, business owners need to find ways of keeping their business in the minds of their customers, in as user friendly and convenient a way as possible.

Technology & Customer Loyalty

One of the pioneers of customer loyalty technology was Tesco. The introduction of the clubcard allowed the company to tailor the offers it sent to the buying habits of individual customers.

This could be used to encourage them to come back, but also to spend more whilst in-store by incentivising certain purchases and creating urgency by putting expiration dates on reward vouchers.

The internet and mobile app technology has only increased the importance of communicating with customers. Firms now use email, text messages, and app push notifications to get their latest products, services and offers in front of their existing customers.

The effective use of these methods can allow businesses large and small to increase customer loyalty and revenues. The impact can be huge even for a one outlet shop. For example, if a cinema can use vouchers, emails, text or app messages to get the person to buy a £10 cinema ticket one more time a month than usual, this can have a substantial impact on income.

This will generate an additional £120 worth of revenue per person before any confectionary or drink sales. Getting your customers to come back and come back more often can be a huge and efficient way of increasing revenues without having to find new customers.

If every customer in this cinema came back just once more a month than before, then the revenue increase could be massive.

Maybe it is time for your business to see how technology can increase customer loyalty and revenues?

anu_panesar

Anoop Panesar

Business Development Manager

Digital marketing and tech specialist Anoop is a well-known figure in the Harrow and North London community. Currently the Operations Director for Aspiring Panda, the company uses cloud and development expertise to solve some of the toughest business challenges – which has recently included consulting with East African nations to provide sustainable farming.

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Technology

How Apps Can Transform Traditional Local Service Providers

/ Insights      / How Apps Can Transform Traditional Local Service Providers

How Apps Can Transform Traditional Local Service Providers

In the last couple of years we have seen apps become an important part of the business landscape beyond gimmicks and marketing extensions.

We have seen true market disruption take place in industries that have existed for decades fuelled by apps and the way they act as a portal to interact, communicate and serve customers.

Whilst not every business can develop an app and simply become “the next Uber” overnight there are opportunities for small businesses to integrate mobile app technologies into their product offering.

These apps can be used to enhance service industry businesses such as taxi firms, takeaways and laundrettes. Here are a few ways a mobile app could transform a local company providing a service.

Offer New Products and Services

The development of a mobile app can allow a service provider to expand into new territories or even launch entirely new products. A good example of this could be a laundrette that uses a mobile app to launch a collection and delivery service to customers.

All of this could be managed within the app creating opportunities for the small business and convenience for the customer.

Gain Competitive Advantage & Enhance The Customer Experience

This kind of convenience allows small businesses to differentiate themselves from their competition.

By providing a high quality and convenient service offering via a mobile app the business can keep its customers happy and ahead of the competition.

Build Customer Loyalty & Maximise Revenue Earned Per Customer

 By offering a more convenient service an app can increase customer loyalty, an app on their phone can help keep you on their mind. Combined with push notifications that flash up from your app on their mobile device small businesses can increase the amount of orders received per customer by providing timely reminders and special offers about the service being offered.

anu_panesar

Anoop Panesar

Business Development Manager

Digital marketing and tech specialist Anoop is a well-known figure in the Harrow and North London community. Currently the Operations Director for Aspiring Panda, the company uses cloud and development expertise to solve some of the toughest business challenges – which has recently included consulting with East African nations to provide sustainable farming.

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Apps Technology

10 Statistics That Show the Power of Apps

/ Insights      / 10 Statistics That Show the Power of Apps

10 Statistics That Show the Power of Apps

The rise of the smartphone has been largely powered by the influence that mobile apps are now having on the ways in which we work and play. There are apps for every purpose, from games across the spectrum of fun to apps with a hard hitting business application.

Mobile apps are going from strength-to-strength in 2015, with their applications growing from both a business and personal perspective.

To highlight the power of mobile apps we have combed the web for the latest statistics around the growth of mobile apps and related industries:

These stats show that the appetite for mobile apps is rising as the world becomes more and more digitally and mobile focused. Although the solution for every business may not be to build an app, businesses should be giving serious thought to the role that apps could play in their business.

Apps and mobile technology are not just the domain of large companies: to compete, businesses of all sizes should be looking at how mobile apps can solve problems within their business. Be that how to generate more customers, retain old ones or improve the customer experience.

Wherever your business is heading, make sure you consider the role an app could play in your business.

anu_panesar

Anoop Panesar

Business Development Manager

Digital marketing and tech specialist Anoop is a well-known figure in the Harrow and North London community. Currently the Operations Director for Aspiring Panda, the company uses cloud and development expertise to solve some of the toughest business challenges – which has recently included consulting with East African nations to provide sustainable farming.

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Technology

5 Checks To Make Sure That Your Small Business Website Is Fit For Purpose

/ Insights      / 5 Checks To Make Sure That Your Small Business Website Is Fit For Purpose

5 Checks To Make Sure That Your Small Business Website Is Fit For Purpose

The internet provides businesses with an opportunity to make their business accessible to customers anytime and potentially anywhere. In recent years, the concept of a company website has evolved to be much more than just a flyer or poster promoting your business on the internet.

Instead, with the right design, message, and layout your website has the ability to create and convert leads. However, this means that companies must consider the right approach for their business and invest in the development of an appropriate website.

For the small business, budgets for web design can often be tight. However, there are a number of checks you can do to make sure you have the basics covered.

Check Your Website Is Mobile Friendly

With more than 50% of internet traffic now coming from smartphones or iPads, businesses should make sure that their websites display properly on different mobile devices. In April, Google made this a factor in how easy it was for people to find your site using Google search. You can check if your site complies here – https://www.google.co.uk/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/

Add an Active Element to the Site

With so many businesses starting and then fizzling out, it can be difficult for people to work out whether or not a business is still operating. Adding an active element to your website – such as a social media feed, blog or booking system – lets people know that you are open for business

Make It Easy to Contact You Using the Site

The purpose of a business website is to either sell something through the site or to get a potential customer to express an interest. It never fails to surprise us when we see attractive and interesting company websites that make it difficult to get in contact and make purchases.

Don’t lose out on opportunities – make certain that your contact information or call to action works or is easy to find.

Check Your Site Is SEO Optimised

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the term for the actions you take to make your site more appealing to the search engine rankings. An important part of this is “on-page optimisation” which is the set up of your website so Google can read it correctly.

Make sure your website is set up properly so those looking for you or businesses like yours can find you

Make Sure Your Site Loads Quickly

The average internet user is impatient: if your site takes a few seconds to load your potential customer may leave without absorbing any information. Test your website and make sure it loads quickly.

anu_panesar

Anoop Panesar

Business Development Manager

Digital marketing and tech specialist Anoop is a well-known figure in the Harrow and North London community. Currently the Operations Director for Aspiring Panda, the company uses cloud and development expertise to solve some of the toughest business challenges – which has recently included consulting with East African nations to provide sustainable farming.

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Apps Technology

Does Your Business Need An App? – Three Ways An App Can Create Business Opportunity

/ Insights      / Does Your Business Need An App? – Three Ways An App Can Create Business Opportunity

Does Your Business Need An App? – Three Ways An App Can Create Business Opportunity

Smartphone technology has become a daily part of our personal and business lives. With more than 46m smart phone users in the UK, there are huge opportunities for businesses to use technology as a means of generating growth. One way of accomplishing this is by using mobile apps.

Because of the huge potential of this technology, one of the most common questions we get asked is “does my business need an app?”

The answer to this question can usually be broken down into three more specific areas that will depend on the nature of the business and its customers:

  1. Can an app be used to improve the customer experience?
  2. Can an app be used to drive customer retention and revenue?
  3. Can an app increase efficiency within your business?

If the answer to any of these questions is positive, there may be potential to develop a bespoke app for a business that will meet their unique requirements.

Can an app be used to improve the customer experience?

Apps that are most regularly used by customers are those that improve the customer experience. A great example of this is Uber. By making the ordering of a taxi simple – and often cheaper – the app significantly improves the customer experience, making the app indispensible to the user.

Can an App Be Used To Drive Customer Retention?

Apps can also be used to tell customers about special offers or products, to drive revenue, and to retain customers.

This is achieved with the use of a piece of functionality called a ‘push notification’. These notifications can keep an app relevant and drive usage by pushing a message from your app onto the home screen of a users device. If an app can help increase revenue from existing customers then it may provide value to a business.

Can an App Increase Business Efficiency?

Apps can also be useful when used internally by a business. As most members of the UK workforce possess a smartphone, mobile apps can be used to keep business owners up to date on activities within a business, or to make processes more efficient.

An example of this could be financial management software that is available via an app, or a mobile app that can track the progress of an order through a factory.

anu_panesar

Anoop Panesar

Business Development Manager

Digital marketing and tech specialist Anoop is a well-known figure in the Harrow and North London community. Currently the Operations Director for Aspiring Panda, the company uses cloud and development expertise to solve some of the toughest business challenges – which has recently included consulting with East African nations to provide sustainable farming.

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SEO Technology

Simplifying SEO For Businesses

/ Insights      / Simplifying SEO For Businesses

Simplifying SEO For Businesses

The term SEO for businesses is enough to make owners and marketing managers shudder and think about anything else. SEO – or Search Engine Optimisation – has long been considered one of the dark arts of the internet.

Something that businesses have to outsource and pay a shady company a lot of money in order to rank highly on Google searches, unsure of what they are really paying for or whether it will last.

Change Has Come To SEO for Businesses

This is no longer true: SEO is no longer about building backlinks and “gaming” the system. Google have changed things and put a focus on creative content and social media.

This means that there are now two important aspects to the SEO of a business website: the on-page optimisation, and the content and social media.

What is On-Page SEO Optimisation?

On-page optimisation is the way in which a business website is set up to appeal to search engines. These factors can include setting up the right website keywords, making your website easily crawlable (searchable) by search engines, provides a good user experience, and that all content is unique and adding value.

See Moz and their great blog about on-page SEO

Content and Social media SEO for Businesses

Otherwise known as off-page SEO, content and social media are about encouraging businesses to visit and share the content on your website. Traditionally, this involved getting websites to link to yours, and whilst this is still important it has to be organic or you could get penalised by Google.

Creating engaging and shareable content is now key to ensuring that you have a website that Google wants to rank on its search results.

For a good blog on this see this by Digital Media Role

How Do I Improve The SEO for My Business Quickly?

There are a number of different free tools for analysing your site including www.semalt.com, who offer a basic review for free with options to upgrade. There are no simple fixes or cheats to rank your website well, just the right website format and great content.

If we can help you get your head around this then give us a call.

anu_panesar

Anoop Panesar

Business Development Manager

Digital marketing and tech specialist Anoop is a well-known figure in the Harrow and North London community. Currently the Operations Director for Aspiring Panda, the company uses cloud and development expertise to solve some of the toughest business challenges – which has recently included consulting with East African nations to provide sustainable farming.

/ Related Content