Category: Website Design

How Much Money Do I have To Spend?

Like all things in business, everything comes down to the dollar value and the ROI. The more you spend the more you expect bring in. It’s s9imple math and you need to do the sums before you plunge big dollars into Google or your SEO company.

Let’s have a look at PPC costs to start with. PPC requires that you spend money daily. For competitive keywords this cost per click can escalate; in some cases up to $100 per click – that’s exactly right. For this type of investment you would need to be constantly monitoring your PPC, to make sure that you are not over paying and you are getting the right type of traffic. Over time, PPC costs can mount up to quite a sizeable chunk of money, which can take up most of your marketing budget.

With PPC, you can set the amount you want to spend with your daily budget, but if you have used it up the temptation is always there to keep on increasing this. Before you know it, you have doubled your PPC budget.

SEO in terms of costs, we find, is more of an upfront investment, but over time this cost becomes more affordable than a PPC campaign. You should be expecting to outlay more money in say the first 6 months of a SEO campaign, but after roughly 8-12 months of continued SEO you will find that it brings in a MUCH higher return on your marketing dollar.

Businesses love being at the top of Google organically, this is their nirvana, so based on this fact you can be assured that SEO is a much better value proposition than PPC – by a long shot – we at hopping mad designs much prefer SEO to PPC.

 

SEO Takes Time, PPC is Immediate

If you have just launched a business or have a new product that you have created a dedicated website landing page for, then PPC is the way to go. It’s effect is immediate and you will see a spike and increase in traffic that day. The more you spend on PPC the more traffic you are likely to get. Just leave Google your credit card details and they will take care of the rest.

SEO alternatively, like all good things, take time. It needs to be nurtured, watched, loved and over a period on a year, will produce the desired benefits.

If you are after a quick and rather expensive short term solution, then think PPC. If you are in it for the long haul and are a serious about establishing your brand online, then SEO is the best and most attractive option.

 

Will it Work or Wont it.

Effective SEO processes take time and lots of effort. You have to be forever watching what’s going on and monitoring what Google does. This is why you have to pay a SEO company for this, that understands the algorithmic changes that Google implements. The upside with SEO, is that you can be on page 1 for hundreds of your main keywords, generating serious traffic. The downside is that Google can flick and algorithm and your rankings start to slide. This can get really disheartening and have an effect on your business. All the good work you have done, the money and time spent on attaining these rankings can disappear overnight. To avoid these mishaps and ranking fluctuations we suggest only using a SEO agency that can prove that they know all the nuances regarding SEO.

PPC is the exact opposite. As long as you keep dishing out the money you are going to be ranking. There is zero risk and you are guaranteed that you will have your advert online 24/7.

 

SEO Can Very Competitive

Before starting any SEO campaign, you have to look at the competitive nature of the industry you are trying to compete in. If the niche is jammed packed with existing, high profile businesses that have been there for years then it’s going to be extremely difficult for you to come in there and dislodge these guys from page 1. If you a dead set keen on SEO and are determined to rank, no matter the competition, then you better be prepared to stick it out for the long haul and be conditioned to spend some good dollars. This is going to be especially true if you have a new website that has little authority. Playing with the big boys online is going to take some real commitment and faith in the ability of your SEO provider.

 

PPC Puts You In the Drivers Seat

In you want real control and management of your online marketing, then PPC is the answer. You can change ads, control viewing times, areas it will display and where you want it to be sitting in the ad hierarchy. Essentially, you hold all the buttons that control the campaign. It’s immediate and happens in real time.

SEO unfortunately is completely in the hands of Google. If your SEO company has done a good job, then you should see specific landing pages ranking for keywords, but ultimately Google is judge and jury here. You can control certain pages and what is indexed, but ranking and the pages that are displayed are completely out of your control. Saying this I reckon that I have been able to rank pages that are keyword specific within a week – but that’s for another blog. For the purposes of this article all you need to know is that PPC gives you more control.

 Take it anyway you want but for my money I would go SEO any day of the week. As a business owner I am in this for a long time so no matter what the reality is, I would much prefer to relinquish control to a certain extent and have my website ranking organically.

 

Whose Got More Clout

In my experience and I’m fairly certain I am covering the wider audience here, most people click on the websites that rank organically. I never really click on the ads on the side as I think they are just out there for dollars and are a tad untrustworthy. This is the big issue when it comes to PPC v SEO. People who click on PPC ads are generally price shopping, looking for the best deal and may not be the type of client you want.

Because your are ranking organically, SEO adds more authority to your brand and will attract the right type of person to your website. After all who wants tyre kickers, bargain hunters and time wasters. People will trust these type of websites much more than paid ads, so by the time they make the call, they are nearly committed to buying from you.

 

The Best Solution.

The  Best solution for any business is to have a combination of the PPC and SEO. If you are starting out online, get Adwords going for a couple of months until your SEO kicks in. Once you are seeing organic, solid, natural rankings your can scale back on your PPC spend. It’s like scales, they will start of weighted towards PPC, but over time they will tilt towards SEO.

If you are a potential client of Hopping Mad Designs or an existing client and have been searching for some reviews on our company, then the following should give you a clear indication of our work ethic, abilities regarding website and graphic design as well as our SEO capabilities.

If after reading these reviews you are left in any doubt about our skill set, I urge you to call us on 02 9360 8514.

 

NSF CONSULTING:

I didn't think the web design experience would be so smooth or enjoyable. Hopping Mad were brilliant. They really took the time to understand my business, kept in constant contact throughout the process, stayed within my budget and came up with a design that was stunning. They then trained me on how to update and manage the website myself and have helped me with any technical queries I had. They are efficient, open communicators, and importantly, really fabulous designers. I have already recommend them to other small businesses.

 

SPECTRUM BUSINESS SOLUTIONS

Hi Steve,

I Have referred an accounting firm who are a client of mine to you guys today…they need a new website etc.

(They sometimes take a while to make decisions, so I don’t know when they will call you…)

I have given your team a big wrap (or is it rap??)…so I hope they contact you soo

Thanks again for taking care of our needs!

 

BALI VILLA ESCAPES

A huge thankyou to Steve and the team at Hopping Mad Designs – what a wonderful website. The guys were true to their word, on time and always big on communication – they understood the brief from the beginning and came back with some exciting options – PLUS their SEO work is awesome. Since launching the website we are averaging 2-3 inquiries per day – well done team!!

 

QUIP CREATIVE

When branding and marketing are central to your work, redeveloping your own brand identity becomes critical (and this can be surprisingly difficult). Working with Hopping Mad Designs to develop a new brand identity and website made this process remarkably easy. Not only were they able to create a look and feel that captured the essence of my company’s brand, but their vision also gave me the confidence to take risks. Through quality design, Hopping Mad Designs were able to bring to life the unique elements of my business, while foregrounding the professional integrity of my services. Not just talented, but a truly genuine bunch of people, whose dedication to small business is rare—I’d happily recommend them (and often do).

 

TRAVEL INSURANCE PLUS

After an industry wide search Hopping Mad Designs (HMD) were selected to:
Design, develop and host our website, and;
Construct and implement our Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) strategy.

The design and development of our website was delivered before time and on budget.  Steven and his team adopted a transparent and consultative approach that ensured expectations were managed and misunderstanding avoided.  Their communication was clear and concise that culminated in a product we are extremely satisfied with.

Steve has also implemented our SEO strategy which is central to lead generation.  Underpinning HMD SEO success are ethical and Google friendly strategies that balance short and long term objectives.  To date we have seen continuous improvement with key word and brand rankings.

I have no hesitations in recommending HMD.

Relying on what used to be popular or old school marketing campaigns is just not going to work anymore. And, your website is the very first step in the ladder that is the online world. Getting a professionally designed website will give the business advantage that your competitors may not have.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics states that only 41% of businesses in Sydney and throughout Australia have a website – I find this an amazing statistic, considering the longevity of the internet and how long Google has been around. I will make a bet that these companies slow on the uptake used to be real strong advocates for the Yellow Pages. The reason for their reluctance to embrace the internet is either through a lack of understanding or their business is all local and through word of mouth. It is these types of businesses that really need to get their head around the online world and this can only begin once they get a website designed. From this point onwards, they can then use their website as a great marketing vehicle.

So What Can A Professionally Designed Website Do For My Business?

Let’s say you are a accountant and you have never had a website. You have relied on word of mouth, events and get togethers to hand out your designed business card and in turn wait for the business to come through the door. But what happens if they loose your card or they some how forget who you are or what your firm does? These people will go to Google and search for you. If you are not there or cannot be located easily, then this will result in a lost opportunity. Your website is your online business card or brochure.

Alternatively, if you have a website that has been search engine optimised for Google, then not only is your website going to be found but it will also highlight so much information about your business. It is such a good marketing tool, that any business that thinks that they can get by without having a website is sorrily mistaken.

Burying ones head in the sand and thinking that this is a passing fad is just bad business. Eventually, this ignorance will consume your business to the point where there is nothing left. I know this is a really harsh statement but lets have a dose of reality here – you know in the back of your mind that what I’m saying is 100% truthful and inevitable.

So What Are Some Other Advantages of Having a Website.

1) You can post information online that will help customers know more about your business. Think about opening times, new services you may be offering, product specials, new staff members etc.

2) If you want to market to a new audience who are on mobile phones, then a website is the perfect medium for this. Get you web developers to design a mobile website for you along with your new site.

3) You can link to your social media from your website. Business owners who are not in the web space will most probably not have any social media presence, but even a small amount of activity on Facebook or Twitter and even Linked In will show the world that you exist – AND this can all be linked from your website.

Why Use Hopping Mad Designs?

There are so many reasons why you should consider using us for your next web design project. But if I can give you just 1 main reason it would have to be this: WE KNOW WHAT IT TAKES TO BUILD SUCCESSFUL WEBSITES. Our sites are recognised Australia wide for their creativity, usability and performance. Plus and I will emphasise this point; we know how to rank your finished final website on Google.

Hopping Mad Designs has a whole range of solutions to get your business online – call us today on 02 9360 8514 to for a FREE 1 HOUR CONSULTATION.

Have you ever been on a website and seen an ad appear that is totally unrelated to the website you are on and this ad looks somewhat very familiar? This is what is termed retargeting or remarketing. What happens is that an advert will appear on a website, as a result of a previous search you have done.

For example, you might have searched for ‘ SEO Companies in Sydney’, landed on a particular website, but never made an inquiry. What happens is that this website ( if they have implemented a retargeting campaign), will have a display ad appear when you look at other websites. Remember, this is not a Google search result. These ads will only appear on other websites.

Some people might think that these types of ads are annoying BUT statistics have shown that the click through rate or buy rate is much much higher when your potential customers see a RETARGETED DISPLAY ADVERT.

 

RETARGETING ADVERTISING IS A VERY POWERFUL MARKETING TOOL

 

Australian research has shown that up to 93% of visitors to a website leave without making an inquiry or buying from the site. Add ing to this, 73% of consumers abandon and exit a shopping cart website, even though their trolley cart is full, they simply leave the site. This is a frightening statistic and leaves the door wide open for another marketing platform to help businesses reach their audience.

Retargeting is a potent and highly efficient way of re engaging these consumers again, who are predisposed to buying from you. That is, they are nearly over the line, but just need that gentle reminder.

WHY USE HOPPING MAD DESIGNS FOR YOUR RETARGETING CAMPAIGN?

 

We will partner closely with you to achieve your business objectives.
We will always:
> discuss your business objectives with a face to face meeting in our Sydney studio.

> prepare a targeted and well thought out plan, formulated in conjunction with you to
set out milestones and KPI’s

> examine and prioritise areas of your business that are in urgent need of extra sales and web traffic.

> undertake keyword research,that aligns with your key products or services.

> create awesome looking display ads by using our graphic design team – plus we have in house copywriters that can come up with catchy text to compliment the graphics.

> work our appropriate landing pages for these retargeted ads – that is, which pages on your website will your customers land on once they click on your ad.

> constantly test, measure click through rates and conversions – refine and modify ads on an on going basis.
ensure CPC rates are managed effectively

> prepare monthly reports and campaign analysis with regular meetings to go over campaign strategies.

 

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF RETARGETING FOR YOUR COMPANY?

You get to promote your business or brand on other high quality websites. This is a great way to increase your exposure online and get communicate to your audience again. If they didn’t buy from you in the first instance, then this gives them another opportunity.

 It really reinforces your brand. Let the team at Hopping Mad Designs come up with a great looking display ad for you that will stay in the mind of the consumer. If it’s memorable, then the consumer will be more likely to buy from you and not your competitor.

 

It increase the amount of leads you are likely to get. SEO and Adwords are a great tool, but retargeting TURBO CHARGES your online profile and will BOOST sales.

 

GOOGLE only allows you to write so much text on your adwords and will only display around 20 word snippets in the search results. Retargeting opens this window wide open and allows you to be as creative, loud, expressive and as ‘over the top’ as you like to capture the attention of the consumer. RETARGETING IS A REAL GAME CHANGER. You are able to personalise your offerings and be as targeted as you like.

You can change the advert depending on; special promotions, events, product specials, anything you can think of and this can be done relatively very quickly. If an ad is not working we can redesign it for you in a matter of hours and have it live that day! It’s any extremely dynamic and responsive from of advertising and if used properly can be a great addition to your online marketing arsenal.

SEO + ADWORDS AND RETARGETING should all be used together to give your business and website maximum exposure to your client base. The advantage of retargeting is that your SEO company can handle this for you, so there is no need to outsource this work to another third party. It is a simple add on.

TYPES OF BUSINESSES THAT SHOULD BE THINKING ABOUT RETARGETING.

Retargeting is for any business that relies on their website and Google to bring in new  customers and business.

HOTELS > promote specials and discounted room rates.
AIRLINES > offering last minute seat deals
RETAILERS > who have specials or products they need to promote quickly
ONLINE BUSINESSES AND ECOMMERCE WEBSITES > looking for more exposure
INSURANCE COMPANIES > promoting, car, travel, health, business and home insurance.
LAWYERS, SOLICITORS, ACCOUNTANTS and all other B2B’s > wanting to expand their customer base or promote a new service ….perfect for accountants trying to get extra customers for the end of financial year – great for lawyers offering a new conveyancing arm to their practice.
TRADIES and BUILDERS >  looking to get new business.
PUBS, BARS and CLUBS > promoting their events, restaurants or bars

If, after reading this, you are a bit curious and would like to know more about retargeting. why not get in touch with us and find out all the great benefits it can bring to your business.

 

Panda 4.0 will hit about 6.95% of search results. So what?  Well, this is going to affect a lot of websites whose content is lets say very poor. So no matter the type of quality of back links your site might have, if the on page content is not relevant or is weak, it will be devalued.

Let’s go back about 18 months and look at what was achievable in terms of search engine optimisation. You can, realistically rank a site with a powerful linking campaign. A few links from some high page rank sites that gave you authority was all that was needed.

Kiss those days goodbye. Panda 4.0 has meant that they want their users to find only quality content with meaning. This means that anyone wanting to engage a SEO firm must also be looking at utilising the services of a web copy writer. They now both go hand in hand. trying to rank by just back linking will get your site penalised.

I think this is an absolutely fantastic outcome. I for one, am fed up with sites ranking that are light on actual content. It’s a scam and its these kind of sites that are going to feel the full brunt of Panda 4.0.

 

What Kind of Sites Have Suffered Because of Panda 4.0?

Panda 4.0 is designed to help authentic small business who  have useful content and are there to provide a local service. These guys are the winners. The losers are sites that had very thin content. Businesses who were lazy in their approach to their online marketing, ignoring their website and never updating it with new content or information.

Moving forward as more updates rollout, Sydney businesses really need to come to terms that if they are going to have the kind of success online that they want, they are going to have to think larger in terms of their marketing. As the rules become more stringent, they need have have a larger budget for SEO, copy writing and social media strategies. A $500 per month meagre budget for these services is not going to cut it anymore.

I don’t make the rules, I am just explaining to you in harsh terms, the realities and consequences of these types of algorithmic updates. It may take some time for the message to sink in but those Sydney entrepreneurs who are quick on the uptake will see the benefits first.

As an SEO Company Sydney agency I get so many phone calls everyday from businesses that have been affected by these new Google rules. many of the folks understand what they have to do now and in the future to succeed, but there is still a resillient bunch of people who have their heels dug in deep and are still clinging to the old ‘black hat‘ ways of SEO. That is, they refuse to pay for a proper service, they want to rank within a week and they are not committed to adding any content. These are the people who are the real big losers when these updates happen. I do try to explain, but it just falls on deaf ears.

So the message I want to say loud and clear to all you businesses out there: WATCH OUT as Panda 4.0 is not taking any prisoners. If you do not comply your are going to get slapped down on the rankings.

THE NO PERFORM NO PAY TRICK.

This is a favourite of many SEO companies and is designed to lull you into an extreme sense of false security. You think its a great deal. It sounds like the perfect offer. I mean you have nothing to loose but all to gain. But, like with all these types of offers there is a huge downside. That is, in order to rank some of your keywords these companies will use extremely spammy and totally non compliant methods to rank easy non competitive keywords.

Sure they may be able to rank these very temporarily, you will see the results, and then after they lock you into a contract, your rankings are going to SLUMP. Why you ask? Because the links they used to get you a prominent position on Google are unsustainable. They have spammed you to page 1 and this WILL NOT LAST. Once ranked ( even for a day) you will have to pay them.

So, you will have to pay them, because they did rank you but they will come up with some fanciful and colourful excuse as to why the rankings are falling. In the meantime, you are handing over cash to these guys every month – BE WARNED – no rank no pay deals are a SHAM!

 

THE QUOTE LOW TRICK

Again a great way to secure your business without actually doing anything. Many SEO companies in Sydney and throughout Australia are so desperate to get your business that they will undercut any quote and will then, once they have you signed up, do absolutely nothing. That is, they work on the theory that you wont be looking at your rankings until the 3 to 4 month mark at which point they will say its Google’s fault you are not ranking.

Meanwhile they have your money and have been taking it gladly since they signed you up. Yes, they may have done a few back links on really dodgy websites, but they won’t have looked at your actual website to see if there are any errors, or why it’s not Google compliant.

Quoting very low prices and getting you in with them is a really nasty trick and WILL result in your website getting penalised due to the poor work being carried out.

SEO and websites need time, effort and lots of hard work and communication to make it successfully rank – there are ABSOLUTELY no short cuts when it comes to SEO and this is why you must pay a proper price that reflects the man hours invested. Paying relatively nothing means you are going to get exactly that in return. In the meantime your competitors are doing the right thing by using a proper SEO company and winning all the new business. Gambling with your SEO and leaving it to a bunch of overseas ( and in some cases local) strangers is a huge risk. Be very careful at this stage of your business marketing.

 

THE WE PROVIDE EXTENSIVE REPORTS TRICK

So many companies will show you their reporting system. These ranking reports generally come at the end of every month and will show you how well your website has been performing. I have seen reports up to 30 pages; with graphs, statistics, trends, analytics, basically information overload.

Don’t be dazzled and overly impressed by these reports. They are there as a disguise to fool you into believing that work is being done. They are ALL SMOKE AND MIRRORS – TOTALLY USELESS and extremely hard to understand. Their philosophy behind this is, that if it looks impressive and complicated, then they MUST BE doing some great work. It's a bluff and a trick to get you to commit to another months SEO work.

Nice charts, pretty graphs and lots of comparison tables are absolute crap and don’t mean a thing. Be careful about this as it’s a way in which these SEO companies trick you into thinking that actual proper work is being done. Remember your concern is about rankings and if this is not happening then all the great looking reports mean nothing. A waste of paper and an waste of time and a waste of your money!

You will see this in their quotes as well – often they are 20 -30 page quotes full of absolute BS. Avoid these guys at all costs – their intention is to take your money – thats all they care about!

 

THE CHECK OUR WEBSITE RANKINGS – LOOK HOW GOOD THEY ARE TRICK.

Make sure these guys are ranking organically and that you haven’t found them through adwords.  A common mistake but happens all the time. SEO companies will tell you they are in the top 3 positions, when in fact they are the ads at the top.

You think, WOW, how good are these guys, but the reality is, they are paying to be there, which is NOT what SEO is about. Be careful with this one – its easy to get misled and make the wrong choice based on this illusion. SEO companies spend thousands of dollars weekly to appear in the top 3 positions. Why? Cause it's a lucrative business to sacm you out of your money. Be careful here – know the difference between organic, natural rankings and pay per click advertising. This small difference could save your business.

Designing websites for the travel industry is not as easy as it appears. Travel related websites are all competing very aggressively online for the lucrative market share. You have some seriously big names and players with marketing, design and SEO budgets all looking to not only be right up there on the search engines but also to have the best looking websites with all the latest add-ons and easy booking systems.

At Hopping Mad Designs we have just completed a travel industry website for a luxury Bali villa website called Bali Villa Escapes. As you can see the design style is very contemporary, the navigation is easy to use and the whole feel of the site is very inviting. PLUS we have been, within a short period of time (within 3-4 months) been able to rank this website on the first page of Google for extremely competitive keywords. The end results is an extremely sales focused website that has an enormous amount of online sales, booking, inquires and new leads.

The trick to designing and marketing websites for the travel industry is to ensure that each website has a point of difference. We don’t offer a template style solution, where a one size fits all. What we do offer, is an all round website design, digital online marketing and search engine optimisation service.

You may ask why you should be working with Hopping Mad Designs for you Travel Agency website or Travel Industry Website? The answers are quite simple:

• We strive for a point of difference. That is we look at alternative design styles that will really set you apart, create a unique selling point for your service or product. To us, your website has to be engaging, inviting and people must feel like they are already well on the way to their holiday destination when they land on your site.
• We look at ways to save you money online. With us you never have to pay expensive, over the top agency fees. We are extremely price sensitive and try to pass as many cost savings as we can during the web build process.
• Your website will be built using the best open source (available to everyone) content management system platform. With us, there are no ‘lock in’ contracts or extreme limitations using the CMS. You get total freedom and the intellectual property is all yours. Add videos, new locations, content, hotels, rooms, rates, prices, specials, blog pages, testimonials anything you like. You are in total control of the content
• We will design your site so it is mobile friendly or responsive – this covers the whole tablet and iphone market.
• We really know SEO. So if you let us design your website, we can from the very beginning look at a SEO campaign and work out a clear path to get you to page 1. Our SEO guys are absolutely awesome at what they do so if you are relying on Google to generate website sales then leave all this to our SEO and design team.

 

So if you want a web, graphic and SEO agency to take care of everything for you please give us a call here at Hopping Mad Designs on 02 9360 8514.

From the moment you start partnering with us you will notice the huge difference we will make your web project. Aim main aim is to deliver you a final product that is creative, extremely search engine friendly and most importantly will deliver you a huge ROI.

Properly managed Facebook campaigns can bring in serious amounts of new business as proven in the past by some of our social media campaigns – one for example was a campaign we implemented for a ‘rental villa company’.

Adwords were delivering OK results but as soon as we started the Facebook campaign we ended up with about 1000 ‘likes/followers’ in roughly 2 months and  the site was getting about 3 rental leads per day extra – all this with a $10 per day budget. This is a great ROI !

 

Following are a few great reasons why businesses should now consider engaging a company like Hopping Mad Designs to handle their Facebook profile and ad campaign.

 

Tip 1.    Facebook Reach is Huge – so you get a massive BOOST in new Customers.

Let's not underestimate the power of Facebook. Yes, Google is still the king BUT Facebook comes in at a very close second. There are over 1.3 billion users and companies engaging daily on Facebook and your business needs to be part of the mix here.

I am not for 1 minute suggesting that you ignore Google and reduce any adwords or SEO spend that you may currently be doing. But, I urge you to realistically put aside a budget for Facebook advertising – it can be a small percentage of your overall marketing spend, BUT at least give it a try. As I said before, we have don this in the past and the results are really quite good.

Once you get fans and likes and a loyal following on Facebook, there is really no turning back.

 

Tip 2.    The Facebook Ad Program Assists Companies Focus In On Their Core Demographic

The key to any marketing campaign is knowing your target audience and knowing what they are looking for. Strategically marketing to this core audience is what will generate sales and in the end grow your business. And this is the BEAUTY about Facebook. It let’s you target an exact demographic, and then encourages these users to ‘like’ your page. Once they are hooked then you’ve got them.

The great thing about this is you are not wasting time or effort appealing to the wrong audience. You can zoom in and really hit your market hard with specials,  give aways, coupons, company news, new products, basically anything you like thats going to trigger a sale.

For example if you run a backpackers hotel you can streamline and specifically target your ads to a certain demographic of users who are say 18-25 who are based in an area, who like to travel and who are single. It is this kind of filtering system that makes Facebook so appealing.

 

Tip 3.    Facebook Ads Create a Following and Act as a Tremendous ‘Word-of-Mouth’ Tool.

People love word of mouth recommendations and if users on Facebook can see that their friends have ‘liked’ your company then most likely they are going to start following you. This can happen quickly so be prepared for the rush.
Once a group of interested parties start following your Facebook page you can easily see how quickly this spreads. This is called ‘viral marketing’ and Facebook is the perfect facilitator of this.

I have literally seen businesses get over 500 followers in a day if there Facebook ad is effective and is backed up by a great looking Facebook page. Highly creating and cleverly worded ads can have a huge impact. Driving people from these ads to your homepage is what it is all about – an IMPORTANT tip here is to plane this out carefully. Perhaps get a graphic design agency to come up with some clever graphics for your FB page to really give your brand a push.

Remember an attractive landing page designed specifically for your market will have a tremendous impact on your clients reaction to your brand and how they will interact with it. This is vital so try not to cut corners with the design side of things.

Tip 4.    Facebook Ads Are A Lot Cheaper Than Google Adwords

Don’t be surprised if you are in a very competitive niche to be paying upwards of $40-$50 per click on Google Adwords. Yes thats right. And this is only going to get more expensive as the market matures and alternative sources of advertising start to dry up. This is NOT good news for a small to medium sized business wanting to crack into a new market or promote a new product line. Google is such a premium product that alternatives like ads on Facebook are actually quite cheap by comparison.

It would be good to split test the performance of both ad streams and find out the best ROI you are getting for your advertising dollar. Both platforms will have analytics where you can review and dissect performance and leads. But make sure you ask your clients where they found you; Google or Facebook. The results may even surprise you.

A Simple Conclusion:

All company owners and marketing agencies, today operate with one main goal and that is to drive sales and broaden the consumer base. Facebook is slowly creeping into this space by providing businesses the opportunity to tap into certain markets and compete with the ‘big boys’.
The very nature of Facebook now allows small businesses to reach out and in a much more level playing field and grab some of those new consumers who were previously unattainable. What a fantastic opportunity this is and I suggest businesses ( no matter the size) seize this moment and start making some money!

 

 

We know exactly what it's like.

There's nothing worse than watching the pros doing their service launches and making thousands or even millions of dollars, while you're stuck where you've always been, working your fingers to the bone, but never seeing any results for all your hard work. And to make matters worse, as your bills start piling up, you are always asking yourself when your accounting business is going to pay off?

You can see the doubt in your colleagues’ eyes. You feel like you've failed and the seeds of doubt begin to grow in your mind as you question the value of your service, and whether the whole journey to the edge of the profession has just been a waste of your time.

Until now the only way to reverse this situation and get your sales flowing, has been to hire an experienced Google AdWords marketing consultant to setup your campaign, and put together a tailored plan to help convert more of your visitors into buyers.

The big problem with these methods is they require huge investments on pay per click options (for example, up to $35 – $40 for per keyword and there's no real way to get good without copping your fair share of falls. Which for a beginner simply isn't worth the risk.

That's why today, we are delighted to share with you our 10 years’ experience for providing SEO services that is capable of boosting your online sales by up to 200% – within 3-4 months’ time.  We know that may sound unbelievable, but case studies on the home page of our website prove that it all works, so what are you waiting for?

We have over the last 18 years has personally dealt with hundreds of small businesses one-on-one and helped them to achieve the results they desire. Professionals and tradies, new starters and experienced, he had seen them all.

In my latest blog posts, I reveal the exact steps you need to follow in order to achieve your most important life goals faster than ever before.

Whether you're trying to boost your sales, create a brand awareness or even find the niche for practicing, Hopping mad designs gives you the missing piece of the puzzle you need to finally make your dreams a reality.

 

And what makes HMD different to every other SEO service providers in Sydney is that it allows you to make achievable plans and visualise your deadlines.

What this means is that as your prospects enter the search term, you practice would appear within first 3 positions within the search engine.  Visitors will click your page discovering all the benefits of your services.

So if you want to unleash your true potential using the techniques hopping mad designs had developed working with small businesses in over 20 different industries, just click pick up your phone and call now.

Everything needs working on, from management decisions to merchandise procurement, website maintenance to online marketing still needs a real human calling all the shots and making those important calls. Don’t forget about the search engine optimisation on top of this as well. The list is huge and if you are serious about succeeding online, then you need to be committed from the start of the exercise.

Following are some of those huge myths and misunderstandings about having an online store .

 

1. The website will easily run the entire business or company.

If you have a great idea and think that by simply setting up and eCommerce website, the dollars are going to start rolling in then forget it. Sure the idea may be great, but hold off on those airline tickets to the Carribean as there is a lot of work and a sprinkling of luck that needs to be done before you start to see the results.

News Flash: Someone needs to physically be there and pack the products and mail them to the customer. Ecommerce websites if designed and marketed properly can be an awesome transactional tool, BUT someone still needs to be there and do the actual work. If it’s a new business then you have got to be personally involved with this for at least a couple of years. I really hate to break this sad news to you, but this is the reality in the online world. Because, the goal posts are forever changing and competition is always coming on board, you really need to be on your game if you are going to get those sales. Involvement, tenacity, drive and marketing know how will be the key to your success.

A point to note: if you think that by implementing a CRM or customer relationship management system, whilst this may help in the management of client details and product management, automatically modifying inventory down as customer orders are placed, charging and invoicing the client as well as communicating orders back to you as the site owner in real time, will not mean that you can leave your eCommerce website to run itself. Sure you may have a CMS system to manipulate and change content/products, but again this will not liberate you from working on the website.

At least for the short term, you will need to work on an an e-commerce site such as looking for new products, change the website to reflect these new products, ship new orders out to clients, manage stock levels, answer customer inquiries and complaints, manage refunds and again as mentioned before; SEO.

2. There are expenses for an online business

There are many advantages to running an eCommerce store over an actual shop. Rents are obviously much lower, staff level can be taken down plus a whole range of fixed costs associated with running a premesis. However, a shopping cart website will also have many on going fees and costs; including search engine marketing ( getting the website to rank on Google for all the products),  Eway fees, hosting costs, phone bills, 1300 numbers, shipping fees, the cost of designing and building the actual site plus web maintenance costs as well as other fees in running a basic business. There is no such thing as an expense free business. There are operating and daily costs involved, so be warned, a eCommerce site if you want it to be successful, will cost money.

 

3. Websites require no maintenance at all.

A website over time needs to be updated. Sure you can have a website and leave it for a year or two, but eventually you are going to have to face the fact that you need an overhaul or a redesign. This is a fact of the online world and something that needs to be budgeted for. Things also go wrong with a website, upgrades to software happen, links break, graphics need updating and this is all part of the wonderful updating process.

A great example of this is to see if your website works on a mobile phone. That is, is the site responsively built to fit on most screen sizes. Most older eCommerce websites will not have this function and this another technological maintenance issue that needs to be addressed. Older sites that don’t work properly, that look out dated, will actually harm your business. Think about it, a potential customer will want to be wowed by a great looking website and not by a site that was designed and developed in the 90’s.

Her are some common mistakes that are often left on websites that need to be FIXED FAST!

• You have left the Christmas sale price on the site and its now June. Come on, get this changed ASAP – this is a massive turn off and people will expect to pay Xmas prices all the time.
• You have large images on the home page that has meant that the site keeps crashing and you have never bothered to change it – time t0o get proactive and delete those large unnecessary images.
• Swapping you bank three months ago, and you have forgotten to change your merchant payment gateway details within your website CMS. How many sales have you lost because of this
• You have a new 1300 number and have not put this on the website – OUCH!!!
• Forgot to change the email address on the contact us page, when you changed all your companies email addresses. An absolute killer.
• You haven't even touched your social media in years and all your social media links are deactivated.
• Customers are getting an ‘out of stock’ message because you have been too lazy to update the new inventory arrival in your CMS. This is a massive reason why you need to be vigilant when it comes to managing your sites systems and inventory levels.

If you are thinking about starting and ecommerce website design, why not give me a call and we discuss how we can make your new website every bit as successful as you would have hoped for. It is not as easy as it looks, this is why we are here to help you out and guide you down this sometimes mysterious path known as the 'online world'.