admin-HMD, Author at Hopping Mad Design

DIY websites: pros and cons

Every business needs a website, and if you’re in the process of building your first, second or third site, you have probably heard about free websites like WIX, WordPress, or SquareSpace.

These are great options for many business owners that want a cheap n cheerful site up and running in a couple of hours.

But hang on. Before you go ahead and do this, you need to get a full understanding of the pros and cons of getting a DIY site.

I’ll highlight a few points here, but these should be enough to point you in the right direction.

Speed of delivery of DIY websites

Pros

You can have a website this minute. You can choose from thousands of WordPress, WIX, or GoDaddy templates online and download any one of them today. You get to control the design style and pick a theme that best represents your business. You can quickly drop and drag information and pictures into these templates, and presto – you have your website. Plus it’s free!!

Cons

a) With your DIY website, there are restricted design parameters. All text and images need to fit into a predetermined template which only offers a cookie-cutter style solution. Great for some small businesses but shocking for others that require some form of customisation.

b) The DIY website comes with slow hosting, which kills the customer experience and is terrible for your Google rankings.

c) If you have specific business goals, a DIY website will most likely not solve this need. A cookie-cutter website has absolutely no customisation options. It’s OK for small businesses that want a very basic online presence, but anything else, it’s not ideal.

Cheap DIY websites can cause huge problems for your business.

Cost of DIY websites

Pros

a) A DIY website’s main advantage is the cost—WordPress offers 1000’s of free or paid customisable themes. WIX websites offer paid themes with drag and drop that anyone can modify and publish immediately- even if you’re a web novice or have little technical skills. For a lot of people, this is a speedy solution.

b) You can do this yourself with little help from anyone. DIY website companies have made it simple to use for beginners. Web newbies will love this.

c) They all come with instructions and help to get started. So you can be up and live by the end of the day.

Cons

a) You get what you pay for. Sure, you can have your basic site up and running, but there may be ads running within the template. And, if you want any change or addition what so ever you will have to start paying for these. DIY websites love to offer you the bare minimum to get you in and signed up. But, once your there, every little addition will cost you extra.

b) While their hosting may be cheap, you are tied to them. Ahh, you thought you got a free website, which was the end of the story.

No, no, no!!

You are stuck with them and their hosting. If you want to transfer hosting providers, this is not easy, and you will need technical help for this.

c) While they are cheap in the start-up phase, many DIY websites only provide basic functionality that will require you to upgrade to relatively expensive monthly packages. Add ons are their business model, and over time these additional costs all add up.

The effort of DIY websites

Pros

a) You can do launch a new website very quickly. Download the free template in the morning, and by the evening, you have a new website.

b) Any changes or updates to the site can be done by you in real-time, very quickly.

Cons

a) Even if you can build it quickly, it may prove difficult and time-consuming for novices. Plus, if you have any bright ideas or want to add something unique or special that’s out of the predefined template, you can forget it. They don’t allow for this. It can be frustrating and harm your business if you cannot create add ons.

b) There is minimal online support to train you or help you if you want to make updates – that’s if you are non-technical. Any issues? Be prepared to get very frustrated and watch that blood pressure start to rise. It can be a nightmare!! You are on your own, and you have better things to do than worry about a website. You’ll probably end up contacting a web design company to help you.

Styling & Company Image of DIY Websites

Pros

a) You can choose from thousands of templates that reflect your business’s personality and brand. There are no shortages whatsoever, and some are pretty cool looking.

b) The templates are easy to modify to your business brand and style. You can drop and drag images and logos easily.

Cons

The HUGE downside of DIY templates is they look cheap and are very common. Some other businesses may be using the same template. They are all cookie-cutter in style, and if you’re comfortable with that, then it’s OK, but they all start to look the same. They all become boring, dull and customers can recognise this. It cheapens your image, brand, and business profile.

If you want to express any individuality or look different, you will not be able to. Fall in line with the rest of the sheep because DIY templates are very common. And, the worst part is, customers will see this. It may affect their decision to buy from you. All up, a shocker if you want to look unique.

Technical features of DIY Websites

Pros

One of the benefits of a DIY site is hosting is already included in the package. Yes, you pay for that, but at least it’s there, ready for you to start. The security features are not bad either, so your sites protected against hackers and viruses.

Cons

Because DIY sites are cheap, the hosting is cheap. It can be slow and very unreliable. Cheap hosting is super-bad for the customer experience, which has many adverse flow-on effects such as your internet rankings. Website speed is crucial, and slow hosting providers can be its worse enemy. If you want to speed up the hosting, you have to switch plans, and this is where they start slugging you with hefty fees. It’s a great marketing trick. They entice you with very low prices, then wallop you once you have the site.

SEO of DIY Websites

Pros

DIY websites come with basic SEO features that give you some capability to help you get on Google. Some analytic features help you measure the performance of the site.

Cons

The downside for SEO of having a WIX or other free DIY website is enormous. Because their templates limit you, you are limited in your SEO capabilities. These websites will not rank that well on Google and can hurt your business. We have had to rescue so many companies because they have gone down the DIY websites’ path only to find they can rank them on Google. If you think you will be able to do your SEO just because you have a DIY website, you are mistaken. SEO is a very complicated process and involves many variables that DIY sites do not allow. It’s like trying to climb a mountain with one hand tied behind your back. It’s almost impossible.

Also read: What CMS platform is right for your next website design project?

Conclusion

DIY websites are a fun, quick way to get an amateur online. It’s inexpensive and will do the job. Overall, if you are serious about having an online presence that will help you grow your business and generate revenue and sales, you need to get it designed by a web design agency. Customised websites are intended for you, your goals, and a range of capabilities from custom plugins ( WordPress has many of these that you will need as the business grows) to personalised graphics, branding, videos, infographics, and animations.

Do you want more website traffic?

Hey, I’m Steven Waldberg. I’m determined to make your business in Sydney successful. Call me anytime on 02 9360 8514.

Can bad web design harm your SEO efforts?

Web design and SEO are intricately intertwined. So, in short, the answer is yes. Having lousy web design will harm your SEO Google rankings. You may ask how this works, and the answer is simple.
If a user conducts a search online and lands on your website, that’s excellent news. You have managed to get your website high up on the rankings where people can find you. But, if they cannot find what they are looking for and your website doesn’t answer or address their inquiry quickly, they will leave. If this happens often enough, Google will notice this and start penalising your site.

Known as Bounce Rates the more often people come to your website and bounce off that page ( to exit the site – because they didn’t get what they wanted) the worse it will be for your rankings. The most common reason for high bounce rates is a poor web design, and if you do not fix this, your SEO rankings can never improve.

To help you create a fabulous looking website that your customers will love, following are some examples of bad web design mistakes many people make and an in-depth look at SEO’s most essential components.

Examples of terrible website design mistakes

Text is too small or hard to read.

When people come to your site, they are looking for information and want this quickly. If the text is too small or hard to read, they may exit the site. The aim is to keep users on your site looking around for information, products or services they may need. Clear, bold text will reduce bounce rates and in-turn help with your Google rankings.

Also, take a look at the colour you use for your website text. Faint, hard to read colours is a massive mistake and will kill the user’s whole web experience. The trick here is to keep it simple. Make sure the text is easy to read, with separate main paragraph headings and its colour is black.

Also Read: Signs that it’s time to redesign your website

Pop-up notifications

Pop-ups are great if you have a promotion or you want the browser to fill out a form. But, try to limit these as they tend to become too annoying. Remember that people will be very reluctant to leave their details if they don’t know or trust your site. People come to your site to look around, and pop-ups can hamper the whole experience. Irritating your browsers will affect bounce rates as they WILL leave the site if these pesky pop-ups become an issue.

Your website is not mobile-friendly

The nature of search is going mobile. You can’t design your website just for desktop devices. Doing this will kill the user experience, and Google will penalise your site. You also have to look at how your website renders on iPads. People are time-poor, fussy and want information at their fingertips. Give them this! Google has tools to test if your site is mobile compatible.

Most business nowadays has mobile-friendly websites, but there are exceptions to the rule here. Don’t be one of them and expect to see decent online rankings.

Amateur content

You want to portray your business as being professional. Professionally written content will do this. Poorly written websites show users a lack of professionalism or care. You look like an amateur, and the results will speak for themselves. All pages have to have fresh, informative content that you update regularly. Please don’t be complacent about this part of your website as it’s one of the most crucial SEO ranking factors. The more you put into your website’s copy, the more people will engage with the site. It will build trust, authority and your rankings will improve.

Bad user experience

What happens when a potential customer lands on your website? Do they like what they see and start looking around the site, or is there a horrible gasp and they immediately leave? When designing a website, you need to keep the user experience in front of mind, making sure it’s easy to use, memorable, and above all, there are no hurdles to hinder the buying process. Known as conversion-focused pages these are critical to the whole web experience. So what constitutes good website design that’s also SEO compatible?

address all questions a user might have at the top of the page. If your essential information is in the lower half of the page, this can be hard for users and therefore, SEO unfriendly.
never clutter the text and make use of white space with robust, bold headings in your paragraphs
make it easy for people to find what they want. Contact us and buy now buttons should be made very clear.
have your phone number at the top of the page

Also read

: 15 gorgeous landing pages that are conversion-focused

Videos with sound

Make sure that all videos you have on your website DO NOT start automatically with sound. Uses can be in an office or a private area, and they will immediately close your site down if there’s a blaring video going off. If you want videos to play automatically, make sure they start as muted. Don’t annoy people before they have had a chance to look through your site. Loud videos can are offensive to some people. Others may like it, and this will depend on your audience. To be on the safe side, have videos as muted.

Long download times

Some people still have slow internet. Websites with large files, long pages and big images can slow the loading process down. If your website takes longer than two seconds to load this will add to your websites bounce rates. People will exit your site if they become too impatient.

While a couple of seconds might not seem like a huge deal, it does when it comes to your website’s speed. Users want fast, snappy websites to load instantly. It’s the nature of the online space and the way people search now. Do a test yourself and see how long your site takes to load. If it’s longer than say 4 seconds, then you have an issue.

Fake images from cheap photo libraries

Users want realistic images of your business and even better of yourself. Try to avoid the overuse of free or cheap stock photos from image libraries. A huge turn off and people can see right through this. A fake photo of people meeting for a coffee that’s unrelated to your business or two people shaking hands ( you know what I mean ) adds to the distrust. Keep it real and spend the money on decent photos or your business and staff. People will respond better to this.

Outbound links

If your web page has lots of links pointing to other websites, this is good if you reference a document. It is not ideal if there are too many outbound links as this helps people leave your site. Keep these to a maximum of two per page.

Any of the above web design mistakes can and will negatively impact your SEO efforts. As a web design agency, we recommend fixing these as soon as possible to avoid any further Google ranking issues.

A great example of a horrible website design!

SEO tips to help rank your website higher.

A thorough website audit

If you have designed and built a new website, it’s time for a complete audit. Or, if you have an existing site, you need an audit also. Factors to consider n your website audit are:

site speed ( are images loading with a couple of seconds )
content ( is the copy unique – make sure you haven’t plagiarised it from other sites). Content plays a crucial role in any SEO campaign, so make sure you have it written by a professional copywriter as highlighted above.
look at your current backlink profile. Where are the links coming from to your site, and are they trustworthy? If they look dodgy or unrelated to your site get them disavowed through your Google search console.
look at your URL structure and make sure it’s SEO friendly. All service and product pages should reflect the nature of the content of that page. For example, if you’re a divorce lawyer in Sydney and one of the services you offer is child custody, then the URL for that service page need to be:

www.companyname.com.au/child-custody-lawyers-sydney

This URL structure should be uniform throughout the site as it makes it easier for Google to index this page and rank it.

Write amazing content

As discussed above, the copy is king for any website. But first of all, you need to address each page on the site and write unique, informative & exciting copy based on your keywords for that particular service or product.

Using the example of a child custody lawyer in Sydney, the content for that page has to be anywhere between 1000-2000 words and the trick here is to write it better than your competition.

The SEO and web design combined formula we like to use is incredible content combined with a great backlink profile will equal higher Google rankings.

It’s a simple process, and this is the cornerstone of what Google is wanting.

Offer more insights into the processes involved in child custody and reasons why your the best divorce lawyer in Sydney to handle any child custody matter. For SEO purposes, each page must have a clear introduction and subheadings ( we can create H1, H2 and H3 headings – in the backend of your WordPress website content management system ). Make it easy for the user to read with clear call to action buttons on the page.

Title tags & meta descriptions

These are a vital component for any website as the title sets the tone for the page and is what Google reads.

The descriptions are the information under the title to give the reader more insight into the page’s nature and topic.

These titles and descriptions are your selling point on Google and entice users to click on them.

Ideally, your title tag should not be longer than 60 characters, while meta descriptions should be 160 characters at most.

Never try to overuse keywords in an attempt to rank higher. Known as keyword stuffing, Google frowns upon this. Sounding natural with a sales angle to this is the best approach.

Please take a look at our example below of a well-worded SEO friendly title and meta description:

Title = Child Custody Lawyers in Sydney | Company XYZ

Meta Description = Sydney Child Custody Lawyers. Company XYZ is a specialist divorce and child custody law firm based in Sydney offering cost-effective solutions. Call 02 1234 5678

Creating backlinks

A backlink is created when a link from an external website links back to your site. The more links you get from authoritative websites, the more trustworthy your site will be. Backlinking is, without a doubt, one of the essential components of your SEO strategy. Getting it right will shoot you up the rankings, but getting it wrong will produce dire consequences.

I could go on and on about backlinking as it’s a complicated topic, but the golden rule is this; it’s quality over quantity.

Quality linking is what so many businesses fail to understand. One quality backlink from a trustworthy site is better than 1000 links from untrustworthy cheap sites. Many SEO agencies offer cheap SEO packages where they can build ‘so-called’ links to your website for next to nothing. Cheap SEO and the building of these types of dodgy links are why so many businesses fail online.

If you’re a new business start-up in a competitive niche and want to rank BUT have a limited budget, I would be cautious about commencing any backlinking campaign. Rather blog instead and aim for the long tail easier keywords.

For existing businesses with a decent SEO budget investing in a backlinking campaign is one of the best marketing moves you can make.

In summary

I always tell my clients that the road to SEO success is a long one. There are no short cuts, and you have to be prepared to invest your time, energy and some of your marketing budget. It’s an on-going process where you have to continually improve your website’s performance, creating high-quality backlinks and producing great content if you are to succeed online. But, if you put in the hard yards, there are rewards for you.

Do you want your website to rank higher on Google? Contact our Sydney web design team to find out how our SEO services can help your business grow and beat the hell out of your competition.

This article was written by Steven Walberg, one of the marketing team at Hopping Mad Designs who has helped many businesses with their online marketing. He’s a business mentor and loves creating exciting new online strategies for Sydney businesses.

11 Tips to Speed Up Your WordPress Website

If your WordPress website is not running at lightning speed, unfortunately, this will significantly impact your customer conversion rates and Google rankings.

A two to three-second download would seem adequate for most people, but this is no longer the case. Start thinking one to two seconds.

So, let’s take a look at ways to start improving your websites speed. Some of these are quick fixes, and others will need a web development agency. In any case, the sooner you get onto this, the faster you’ll start to see improved site visitors, fewer bounce rates and higher Google rankings.

Also read: WordPress Plugins you can’t live without for 2021

1. Keep all your WordPress Plugins updated

You can get lazy and forget about updating old plugins that will slow your website. As soon as these plugins become outdated, they start to affect all facets of your site. For example, think about the security of your website. If the plugin is obsolete, this can compromise your entire site’s security, making it easy for hackers and viruses to play havoc.

For this, you will need an agency to get into the back end of your content management system and update all the plugins. They’ll do this fairly quickly so I would say that this is a speedy fix.

2. Make sure all images are fully optimised

Having all images optimised is probably one of the essential factors for page speed. Reason being, large photos can drag page load times down drastically. Video being the worst culprit. If you remember old printers and the way they used to print a pixel line at a time. The same goes for picture load times. They used to be super-slow, and you’d have to wait in some cases 20 or even 30 seconds for them to load fully. People were accepting of this, but you can forget about it nowadays. Images have to load in less than half a second if not quicker. One large image can ruin the entire site’s web experience, so take a look and see for yourself if some photos are slow to load if you have a gallery or portfolio of images.

A quick fix for this is to compress images, so they require less storage. Thre are WordPress plugins that can do this, such as Smush.it or EWWW Image Optimizer. If this is out of your comfort zone, get a web agency to handle this for you.

3. Try to avoid large pages of content

Try to avoid long content pages. Lengthy content pages will slow down your websites load times. Having images in the content will also further exacerbate load times. Plus, it makes it a challenging read for users who want to skim through the copy to find relevant sections. A way around this is to break the document up into paragraphs with clear subheadings.

Once you have reached 1500-2000 words, you will need to create a new page. Try to encourage your users to click on the next page to explore more of the article and keep them on your website. The more they delve into your site and the longer they stay there, the better this is for your SEO rankings. Remember, if you want customers to remain on the website, it has to provide a great customer experience. So, make it a super-easy quick read.

4. Don’t host videos on your site

If you want to show videos on your site, the best way to do this is to host them through a third party like YouTube or Vimeo. Try not to put them on your server as this will slow download times. All you need to do is create a YouTube account and upload your videos there. When you want to put the video on your website, copy and paste the link. WordPress makes this super-easy to do. Hosting videos on your website in a native fashion will slow things down, especially if you have many videos to showcase like real estate agents, health professionals and government agencies.

5. Lazy loading is a good idea

Do you sometimes see pages that load with text first then the images follow? Lazy loading pages are an effective weapon in your tool chest to make sure your site loads faster. A great idea as the reader gets to read the text first while images slowly load. Even though the pictures and other heavy load page elements are still there, the user gets to see some of the web pages without waiting for everything to download. To work effectively, you will need a competent web agency that knows how to do this or has a thorough WordPress knowledge.

6. Delete old blogs

You may have inadvertently written blogs years ago with rich video content and large pictures that you; ‘ve forgotten about Well, guess what? Google and your users can still access this outdated blog content. The best remedy for this is to either rewrite them or delete them. If they are old and obsolete, this is a good idea as Google will reward more current sites. Pruning old blogs or refining old copy will give your site a more polished look. Plus you will make it much faster.

7. Use a high-speed hosting service provider

Your website needs to be hosted somewhere in the cloud, and a significant factor determining your websites speed is your hosting provider. The hosting ahs all your WordPress website pages and files and needs to be fast, reliable and preferably local-based somewhere in Australia. If your hosting is slow and continuously going down, then this is a huge sign that it’s time to change. Slow-loading websites are often a direct result of cheap hosting providers.

If you have an extensive eCommerce website that’s chewing up a lot of data or a site that receives significant amounts of web traffic, then look at upgrading your internet hosting.

Also Read: Are you paying excessive monthly hosting fees?

8. Configure Multi-Level Security

Hackers can be very creative and are always out there looking for ways to get into your site. They can gain access to your site on many levels: the server, the cloud and through your WordPress Content Management system. One thing they can do is ( and this has happened to a few clients we know that we’re not using our hosting service) is to drive lots of fake traffic ( and we are talking thousands of hits within minutes) which can cause a site to crash and infect your hosting environment.

Now you may ask what this has to do with site speed and the answer is simple; reducing any spam or malicious activity on your server allows it more processing power to keep your site ticking over quickly. Plus when a website is down for an extended period by hacking, it will send a signal to Google who may perceive your site as untrustworthy, affecting Google rankings. A huge NO NO!!

9. Avoid long comments sections

Have you ever been on YouTube or other websites with a vast comments section that takes ages to load? Well, there rules regarding comments sections that will help with WordPress website load times. All you have to do is paginate these 1000’s of comments and break them up into pages. The last thing you want is to slow your page load times because it takes time to load comments. Also, look at trimming or pruning comments that seem spammy as these bastardise the comments area’s intention.

10. Update to the latest PHP

You have to be regularly updating the security of your website and the latest plugins and your server. You must be on top of all PHP updates on your server to ensure that it runs at an optimum speed. If you are running your website with the latest PHP version, it will run faster. Simple as that. If you’re like most small businesses who don’t have a server, then speak to your hosting company to see if they have the latest PHP version running.

11. Update your WordPress constantly

Lastly, you have to update your WordPress website all the time. This task may seem like a hassle, but it’s necessary for so many reasons. WordPress is always changing its versions with new updates, so to give your site the best chance of being as speedy as possible, updates are essential. For best page loa speed times you must always have the latest version, and the good news is; they will let you know when a new version is available.

Contact us today to see how we can make your website function to its best potential. If you think it’s loading to slow, we can help fix this issue.

This article was written by Steven ( one of the marketing team at Hopping Mad Designs ). He has been helping small to medium-sized businesses with their website performance and Google rankings.

Stand out from your competition with a Hopping Mad Designs website!

Psychological Triggers to MAKE PEOPLE BUY From YOU! (How to Increase Conversions) Sales Tricks

In this post, I will be giving you a secret edge over your competition when it comes to driving customers to your website with ten simple tips. Getting more sales has more to do with psychology than you would imagine.

Being in the web industry business for over 20 years, plus having my own business, I have learnt a few simple psychological sales tricks that I’m happy to share with you.

Try implementing these and see what happens to your sales. I use them all the time and BOOM they are super good! Killer results all the time.

You will be amazed at what a few simple tweaks to your website can do for you.

Tip # 1. Get as many great customer & product reviews.

People read reviews. Yes, they do see many fake reviews and can see the real ones from the fake ones, but actual honest reviews that are positive will have a massive impact on a consumers buying decision. If you have a Shopify Sore, an e-Commerce shop, are selling anything online, or are any business that has reviews, you should focus attention to nurturing all your positive reviews.

You might even go so far as to implement third party software like TrustPilot, where customers can leave reviews. The beauty of software like this is that you can’t alter any negative reviews. They are there to stay for everyone to read. These negative reviews add to the authenticity of the positive ones. But, the psychology behind these is enormous. Potential buyers or customers will trawl through these right before they hit the buy button.

Make sure you address all negative reviews courteously and professionally and never ignore these as they WILL stand out and have a massive impact on the buying decision.

Tip # 2. Create curiosity among buyers.

The more curious people are, the more likely they are going to trawl through your site and look for answers.

The best way to trigger a customers curiosity is to have little gimmicks like spin to win or pop up boxes with snippets of information that get them aroused mentally about specials, giveaways, promotions, freebies etc.

Try to create some cool pop up boxes with attention-grabbing headings that spark that curious element in someone. Offer them the opportunity to win a random coupon or a price reduction if they click on the learn more button – I bet anything they will!!

Tip #3. Use Photos or Videos to Help Customers Visualize

I bet you didn’t know that photos or a video on your web page were the # 1 conversion factors as to whether they buy from you. If your customers can visualise the product and see themselves using it, they are more likely to buy from you. Simple as that!

For example, a photo of a soccer ball here is a great way to show parents how much the kids are going to love playing with their new present. If you have an online e-Commerce store, then photos are vital in the consumer conversion process. Also, try as you can see here to use pictures in a real-life scenario or context. It makes a huge difference to see these photos used by someone.

Also read: Signs that it’s time to redesign your website

Tip #4. Use Price Anchoring to Push Prices Higher

Price anchoring is a great way to get people to hit that all-important buy now button. What you do is place two products you’re selling side by side and put three pricing tiers under each product. Most people ( and you are probably saying that this is you ) will take the middle row which you can label most popular. It looks excellent value compared to the most expensive option and looks better quality than the cheaper option. It’s the middle path, and this is where most people will click. They are more than happy to compromise and hit the middle buy now button. You might also like to highlight this row with a shaded background to highlight this even further.

If you are running an e-Commerce store, never have one price set at say $14.95. Offer more options, so consumers feel as though they are getting the best deal from you.

Tip # 5. Include Product Pictures with Human Faces

If you use a human face to sell products, buyers are more likely to identify with this. If the consumer can identify with another person, it creates a sense of aspiration that they want to be like that person in the photo. It makes sense. If I want to buy a lounge for my house, I would want to see a smiling happy photo of two people sitting on their lounge. This type of sales psychology works across all industries and niches. For example, dentists would use pictures of smiling happy people with white teeth, and a gym would have fit healthy people on their website. Using another person image creates trust.

Even better, if you could have a video of someone promoting the product or service, this would be such a powerful psychological trigger to buy.

Tip # 6. Fear of missing out

We see this all the time, and it’s such a vast psychological sales trigger. Fear of missing out drives people to buy because they feel as though they will miss out on a great deal if they don’t buy it now.

Everyone uses it from real estate agents through to online shops. Reason being, it works so well. Think about statements like:

25% off for today only
first 50 callers will receive a 50% discount
don’t miss your chance to win a free holiday
last 2 rooms available
go in-store for today only and get 70% off the retail price

All these create the fear of missing a great deal and encourage consumers to buy. If you want to sell products quickly leverage off people fear of missing out on a great deal. It works all the time.

Tip 7: Clearly State Your Prices as Low

Never just put one price and leave it at that. Always put words like: from only or just before the price and see what happens to sales. Even better, why not put phrases like; for a limited time only just…..

Its statements like this before telling them the price that creates a fear of missing out and encourages them to buy now. If you walk around Westfield Shopping centres, you see signs like this all the time outside the shops. You walk past them and before you know it your inside browsing. It’s these signs that create the sense that you’re missing out that causes you to rush in and buy.

For online businesses, you can employ the same tactics and see the results.

Tip 8. Give something for FREE

Everyone loves freebies. Who doesn’t? I do and so do your customers. Offer them a free consultation or a free giveaway in your marketing and see what happens. You might even throw in a time frame to get them moving. Like, a FREE giveaway for the next 7 days or something along those lines. At Hopping Mad Designs, we love to do a FREE 30-minute design consultation or a FREE 30 min SEO consultation. All of these trigger a very positive buying response in potential and existing customers.

Stuck for ideas?

Don’t stress we are here to help you come up with some great ways to help you improve your sales and overall website conversion rates. It’s not rocket science and can be done really easily.

Call Steve on 02 9360 8514 and I’m more than happy to have a free chat with you over the phone to give you some quick wins and tips about improving your websites sales appeal.

WordPress Plugins you can’t live without for 2021

WordPress websites are at the core of many businesses. And, for this reason, there are some fantastic plugins you should keep an eye out for in 2021 that will help your website remain current and help with some nifty marketing.

WordPress websites have many benefits which most people already know about and because it’s such a dynamic & versatile content management system you need to learn whats current and available now.

These plugins, combined with a web design team that knows what their doing can help customise your website to help capture new leads, perform better, become faster and help you achieve your business goals.

Below are our favourite 10 of the numerous examples of plugins that showcase the power of having a WordPress Web Design. If you have never thought of using WordPress as you’re preferred CMS, these should be enough to convince you.

1. Make your business more social with PeepSo

Socialising online is a great way to build loyalty among your customers and audience, and this is what PeepSo does. You can quickly build a social network plugin for your WordPress website.

It’s like having your own customised Facebook ( not as complex ) social network within your site. An excellent way for customers to interact with each other while at the same time, grow your brand and awareness online.

PeepSo is super quick to install, and it’s priced well for small businesses. All users need to do is pay a yearly subscription fee, create their business profile, and within minutes they are sharing videos, photos and messages.

2. Understand Google Analytics & grow your business with MonsterInsights

Many companies make design or marketing decisions on their website without fully understanding what their customers are doing on the site or consumer behaviour. With MonsterInsights you get real-time data to help you make informed decisions based on data and not guesswork. Far too many businesses rely on second-hand information about their websites actual performance. A big mistake and can cause you to head in the wrong marketing direction.

For 2021 install MonsterInsights and see how quickly you’ll love their interface, the information you can get and make constant tweaks to your site based on this information to help improve performance and conversion rates. If you have a WordPress site, you will be able to make these changes instantly – how good it that!

MonsterInsights says: ” Our Audience Report shows you which country your visitors are from, what are they most interested in, which device are they using, their age, gender, and a whole lot more.”

3. Peace of mind for the security of your website With Sucuri

WordPress is the largest CM4. Get more customers with easy to use Lead Generation Forms With Gravity Forms
We all know how competitive it is online, and we are all looking at ways to reach more customers, grab their attention and market to them. Well, driving more customers to your website is a whole new ball game through SEO, and this article doesn’t have the space for that. But, what we can do is reach out to your customers and get as much information as we can from them through Gravity Forms.

It’s not just about adding a few simple fields; Gravity Forms is about customising your fields based on your audience and what you are trying to achieve. It’s so easy to integrate into your WordPress website, and you can customise so many cool features like welcome emails, for any new subscriber or inquiry. Plus you can also create the style you want, so it’s consistent with your branding.

On their website, it says:’ Build and publish your WordPress forms in just minutes—no drudgery, just quick and easy form-building. Select your fields, configure your options and easily embed forms on your WordPress-powered site using the built-in tools.’

5. Get much better Search Engine Rankings With Yoast SEO

Every business wants to have better SEO rankings. Build a website and ranking it on Google is the name of the game.

With Yoast SEO you can get all the data you need from individual web pages to help improve: page titles, descriptions, page speed, generate site map, implementation of 301’s, content optimisation and other vital small fixes.

The best part about Yoast is that it’s all in real-time so as you fix the errors Yoast will let you know. If you want to get better Google rankings, then this is the ultimate SEO tool. Make sure your web developer has installed Yoast as it’s super easy to do. You will see results and improved Google rankings fairly quickly once Google starts indexing your site.

6. Live Chat with potential customers with Pure Chat

Now you will never miss the opportunity to talk with your customers online with Pure Chat. Once installed, this nifty feature will have a pop-up box at the bottom of your screen so you can chat with customers in real-time. You can even customise the look and style of the chat feature, so it blends in with your branding. In a digital age where everyone wants immediate answers, this is the perfect solution—ideal for all industries and businesses that rely on customer interaction & quick sales.

7. Get your customers to attend events With The Events Calendar

If your company or business relies on people attending events ( whether in person or virtually ) then The Events Calendar is a great plugin. It says on its website: ‘Build your brand, bolster attendance, and connect with your audience’.

It saves loads of time as you can create any event and even sell tickets. Plus it integrates with zoom, which is handy especially in this COVID-19 environment.

8. Engage with your customers with promotions and giveaways with RafflePress

Giveaways and promotions are a great way to keep your customers loyal and coming back to the site for repeat visits. RafflePress allows you to integrate these giveaways, right within your site easily. All items are responsive so that they will work on mobile.

Another nifty feature is that it integrates seamlessly with your email marketing, and social media platforms so that reach out to existing customers about these exciting giveaways and promotions your business has. If you have some great giveaways and freebies, you’ll be surprised how many people start following you on social media for the next big giveaway!

Dangers with too many plugins.

Plugins are a great idea and a quick way to promote your business but the danger of having too many WordPress plugins is that is can slow sites down. Plus, there is a security issue of having to always keep these plugins updated. Some websites can overcome this issue by having a dedicated server for faster speeds or buy larger hosting packages but for most small businesses they need to be aware of the downside of excessive plugin use. Having said that your web design agency will be able to help you decide which are the best plugins for your site and optimise these for faster download times.

In conclusion

WordPress plugins give your business the best advantage of being at the cutting edge of technology. Be adventurous and explore all of these options and see just how quickly they can transform your website into a powerful marketing tool.

About the author

This article was posted by Steven who is one of the marketing team at Hopping Mad Designs. He’s been working on WordPress websites for over a decade and has helped many Sydney businesses succeed online. If you want to get more out of your website and generate more sales leads and engage with your customer base give Steve a call on 02 9360 8514.

Signs that it’s time to redesign your website

Rebranding your website is plausibly the last thing you want to do especially during COVID-19. Why spend all that effort, time and expense when business confidence, sales and inquiries are down?

Well, now is the perfect time to invest your energy and time into rebranding your website and giving it a complete overhaul, refresh and a new lease of life.

Posted by Steven Waldberg 24 August 2020

When COVID-19 settles and it will, you will be one step ahead of your competitors by having a new website.

So how can you tell that your site is old, outdated and in need of some much TLC? Following are five telltale signs that you’re current website needs to be deleted, dumped, trashed and replaced with a fab new design that you’ll love.

1. Staff photos are outdated

Old staff photos will immediately tell you’re clients that your website is old and that the owners aren’t particularly concerned about their image. Delete staff photos that are over two or three years and replace them with new up-to-date pictures. Also, make sure they are all the same style with the same background. Different forms of staff photos look odd and don’t reinforce your branding.

See the following example of updated staff photos for a Bali Real Estate Agency with a team staff photo on the home page banner. Taking better staff photos creates trust and reinforces your branding.

inline_877_https://hoppingmad.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/bali-real-estate-agency.jpg — Current staff photos add credibility and trust to your business. Photo Credit: Bali Realty website

2. The site is not mobile-friendly

Most websites are mobile-friendly and will render correctly on a mobile, making it easier for the user to use the site. But if your small business website is not rendering correctly on mobile or handheld device, it’s time to take action and do something about it. If you have a WordPress site, then it may be a quick fix. You should also note that Google will index and promote mobile-friendly websites above others that are not. So, if you rely on Google rankings and you want users to be able to browse all pages of your site quickly, then making it mobile responsive is super important.

3. Does you’re website take forever to load?

If your website takes longer than a few seconds to load, then it’s time to look at either upgrading it or giving it a complete overhaul to speed load times up. If your current site is a few years old, then it’s a good idea to get in there and look at optimising all images and pictures to speed up download times. I know this may be hard to understand for most people, but WordPress has a plugin called Smush It that you can use. Read this: https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-smushit/.

If you are still unclear, it’s probably a good idea to get your web developers or IT team to do this for you.

Long download times kill so many things about your website and user experience, including your Google rankings, that it must be a priority. You can time it yourself and see how long pages take to load. If you are sitting there waiting this is not a good sign.

inline_396_https://hoppingmad.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/slow-websites.jpg — Slow website load times kill the customer experience & can harm sales.

4. Your branding has changed.

The most important message you must keep consistent is the branding of your business. Everything must be uniform, consistent and in harmony. Business cards, signage, menus, emails signatures, even you’re website have to have consistent messaging. Many businesses ignore this, which sends a confusing message to your customer base.

If you have recently changed your logo or updated your branding make sure your website reflects this.

5. Outdated CMS

If you haven’t updated your website in a few years the chances are that your content management system is outdated. Plus you might have old plugins that are in desperate need of updating.

Outdated plugins are seriously dangerous and not only open the door to hackers but will affect the performance of the site. Most small businesses will have had their site designed and built by an agency who might be using their own CMS. If this is the case and you are still paying a monthly fee for a CMS then it’s time to overhaul your site and move it over to a more user-friendly WordPress CMS.

There are so many advantages of having a WordPress CMS that if you’re not taking advantage of this then you are simply loosing out. Read this for more insights on WordPress CMS.

6. The sites not ranking well on Google

No one can tell you exactly what Google is looking for but one thing for certain, they are not going to rank an old website that is uninformative, poorly designed with outdated content. If, like most businesses you rely on Google for leads and sales then you have to get stuck into your site and always be updating it with new graphics, information and current news. This is the best way to help improve rankings and drive new business leads.

It makes perfect sense as Google will only want to display current websites that are trustworthy with up-to-date information. So if you haven’t touched your website in years or never published a blog or news item then now is the time to do something about it.

7. You just hate the look of it

If looking at your website makes you embarrassed, or you can’t stand the sight of it, then imagine what you’re customers, think of it. Wouldn’t you love a website that you can be proud of and show your mates? Then do something about it! The site won’t change itself; you have to be proactive and get in touch with a web design agency that can craft a new, more contemporary look for you.

Note that there are lots of free websites online where you can build it yourself. We definitely suggest leaving it to experts who can customise the design based on your exact business news, look and style.

Also read: Why your website MUST NOT be a DIY project?

8. There are no ‘call to action’ buttons

How are customers going to contact you? How do they know what specials you have? What new products have you got to market and what price discounts are on offer? These are all critical call to action buttons that need to be within easy reach of customers browsing experience. If your site doesn’t have any of these, then take action on these call to actions! Get an agency that knows about user experience and high conversion landing pages to take a look at your site and redesign it.

You can see a classic example of what call to action buttons look like on our own Hopping Mad Designs home page where we encourage people to contact us. They are front and centre, highly visible and work!

inline_32_https://hoppingmad.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Screen-Shot-2020-08-25-at-9.12.27-am.png — Two visible call to action buttons on the home page banner on the Hopping Mad Designs page are great for customer conversion rates.

9. Your site is over 4 years old

We are not saying that just because your site is more than four years old that it needs a refresh. But, with advances in technologies, consumers expectations, styles and web trends plus what Google is looking for all contribute to one thing; overhauling your website will address all of these issues. Just like any consumer good, fashion or product, these get outdated and replacing these are the norm. Same with your website, it just looks old and needs some TLC.

10. There are dead links all over the site

Over time pages disappear. You may have deleted these and without even knowing some of these deleted pages may have had internal links pointing to them. For example, you might have been promoting a new service on the home page, and this service is now obsolete. So you have gone and deleted this page resulting in an obsolete link from the home page. Having too many dead links will turn customers away and can harm your Google rankings.

This article was written by Steven Walberg who is one of the marketing team of Hopping Mad Designs. He’s had years of experience in helping small businesses improve their websites performance, customer conversion rates and Google rankings.

He’s passionate about small business and has helped many Sydney businesses get more out of their online marketing.

Benefits of WordPress for Small Businesses

In today’s competitive online space, you have to build a brand for your small business which can take the shape of many forms. And the beauty is having a WordPress website makes this possible.

Many small businesses should consider blogging, content marketing, e-newsletters and website updates to keep the content of their website fresh and their website relevant.

Doing this will build the trust of your website and help with its overall online visibility.

Unfortunately, most small businesses are far too busy running the daily operations to worry about these tasks but having a website built on a WordPress platform makes these tasks easy.

Following are ten WordPress benefits for small businesses.

1.WordPress is so much more than a basic content management system.

WordPress was the first blogging platform and was created well over a decade ago to help businesses get a basic website. Many small businesses clamoured to develop a simple web landing page, add a couple of blog posts and hey presto you were online. But, WordPress has evolved so much over the years and grown to be an essential marketing platform.

You have the flexibility to add more great features like an eCommerce store, menus, maps and delivery tracking.

Anything current for your business can be integrated into your WordPress CMS. All you need to do is think about how your business has grown and what additions you need to make to your website to reflect this. And, your WordPress platform will more than likely have the plugin to help you integrate it. WordPress has every extra module you could want from starting an online business through to adding extra website security.

2. Mobile Responsive is a Must

As web designers, we make sure that every WordPress site we build is entirely mobile responsive. Responsive design means that all elements of the web page such as images, text, videos will be rearranged automatically to fit all hand help devices, mobile phones and screen sizes.

We all know that websites must fit nicely on all screens and any hurdles hindering the user’s experience will have an impact on the time they spend on the site. This means that if your website is not responsive, the chances of people buying from you are minimal.

A quick test to see if your site is responsive is to check how it looks on you’re mobile phone. If it doesn’t reduce images and text to fit into the screen, then you need to get a web design team to look into this. Most small businesses over the last couple of years have realised the importance of having a responsive site, but there are still a whole bunch of folks out there with WordPress sites that are not mobile-friendly.

In most cases, this is a quick fix, so it’s something that you can do reasonably quickly.

3. WordPress lets you update security settings

Nothing is worse than finding out you’re website has been hacked. So, when you build, you’re WordPress website, make sure that you are up to date with all the latest security plugins. One of the best functions of WordPress is it will remind you if there are security updates needed. In most cases, it’s a quick click of a button for an instant security update.

4. WordPress websites allow easy internal linking

Whenever you write a blog, post or add a new page to your site, make sure you link internally to other pages. Creating an internal link structure is significant as it directs people to pages throughout your website. You might be writing a blog post related to a specific service offering, and you would want to have an internal link to that particular service page. Internal linkings has the benefit of keeping people on your website, which may encourage them to buy or make an inquiry. Plus more time on you’re site will reduce website bounce rates which is excellent for SEO, and you’re Google rankings.

Also, read The Do’s and Dont’s of Backlinks. Tips to make Google LOVE your link profile

5. WordPress helps you reduce and optimise image sizes.

Images and pictures on your website are generally the most extensive files. They can seriously slow your website load times which in turn can increase bounce rates and customers leaving your site. Slow load times are incredibly dangerous and can not only harm your Google rankings, but it can have an impact on sales and inquiries. You want your website to be fast, snappy and load in less than two seconds. WordPress can facilitate this by compressing and reducing all image & photo files, so your site is super fast to load.

6. WordPress has a great support network.

Like most things online, you will need help and support, and this is where WordPress is far superior to other CMS platforms. You can post a question to their forum and expect to get an answer swiftly but other WordPress experts. One of the best things about WordPress for small business is that it gives you autonomy. If for any reason you are stuck and need help the forum is there to help 24/7. Have a look at the WordPress Forum here.

7. WordPress gives flexibility in design.

Most small businesses are not designers and this is why WordPress is so handy. You can either choose from a range of free pre-existing templates that can match the style of your business. Or, you can completely customise your design based on your own unique style and taste. Obviously, you will need a Sydney WordPress web design agency to do this but the options are on the table for you. And, if you need any extra plugins added to you’re websites like a shopping cart, customised blogs or extra menus your web developers can easily add this.

8. WordPress is the most common website platform.

Any web designers or developer will know WordPress and how to use it. The interface is really easy to use and most small business owners will know how to use it after a couple of hours of training. But, like most small businesses you won’t have the time to invest in this especially during COVID-19. So if you have any design or structural changes needed on the site you can get an agency to do this for you. It’s a worldwide platform and changes, amends or additions can be implemented by anyone, anywhere in the world. It means that you’re not tied in to any one particular agency.

9. WordPress works across all industries.

Travel, beauty, medical, professional, trades, start-ups, eCommerce and Governments all use WordPress websites. The platform is so dynamic and so versatile that it can be customised to suit all industries and all types of small businesses. WordPress websites are so easy to create that it’s the perfect platform for small business startups that don’t want to invest a lot of money in the beginning phase of their business. However, as the business grows the site can easily expand to accommodate any growth.

10. WordPress is 100% SEO & Google-friendly

You will find it hard to beat WordPress for small business SEO. It allows you to easily update and modify the content, titles, tags, meta descriptions and images. Plus if you install the WordPress All in One SEO plugin will even give you tips on how to improve your sites on-page SEO performance. It does the thinking for you and guides you through the process.

There are many benefits for small business web design when using a WordPress option. From easy to add plugins, a huge online community that is there to help you anytime to the flexibility in design options. Plus it’s super Google friendly. So it makes perfect economic and business sense to utilize the most powerful web platform in the world for your next website. We would love to be able to help you get your next web project off the ground and help you rank it on Google.

Beat your competition with a Hopping Mad website!

This post was created by Steven Waldberg who is one of the directors of Hopping Mad Designs. If you’re looking for a WordPress website that can rank on Google and get loads of new business inquiries, Steven can help.

SEO PRICES SYDNEY | How Much Should SEO Cost?

Are You Unsure About SEO Prices & How Much You Should Be Paying for an Effective SEO Campaign?

Most small business owners or companies that I have come across have either been stung by a previous SEO experience or know someone who has been burn’t by a supposed SEO expert.

This happens all the time and has left a really bad taste in the mouth of the business community regarding search engine optimisation. I don’t blame them, I hear horror stories daily and they keep getting worse.

More often than not, they were tricked or scammed into signing up for a lengthy SEO contract, with poor ranking results, and absolutely no accountability. They often refuse to accept that they did anything wrong and are unable to fix those terrible SEO rankings.

This has fueled industry-wide distrust amongst the business community, who may potentially engage a search engine optimisation company.

The rule of thumb here is that you should pay a fair and normal price for an SEO service. Cheap, quick and speedy results JUST DONT EXIST – you have to pay normal prices to see measurable & successful SEO results.

It’s it OK to Engage the Services of a Cheap SEO Company?

In short NO!

This is a massive mistake and will only land your website in a Google penalty. This is a certainty.

Related article: Google penalty help.

Bargaining the SEO price down and expecting to pay a small SEO price places huge and very unrealistic cost restrictions on SEO services.

Cheap SEO budgets will mean that SEO service providers will cut corners, implement dodgy inorganic link strategies and completely ignore basic SEO principles, which should lay the foundations for your internet marketing.

As this is a relatively new industry, the market has been flooded by cheap SEO service agencies offering bargain deals, which put simply, cannot be met.

Paying as little as $300 per month for SEO is just not on and it’s SEO companies like these that are tarnishing the good name of SEO firms like Hopping Mad Designs.

If you are serious about your online rankings and Google is the only way you can get business, then YOU NEED TO HAVE A REALISTIC SEO BUDGET FOR THE YEAR.

Giving cheap SEO companies business only adds to the problem and encourages them to keep ripping people off – it’s time to wake up, and understand that they are nothing more than con artists.

Also read: 5 Ways To Tell That Your SEO Team is Ripping You Off.

What Should SEO Cost & What is a Fair Price to Pay for an Ethical + Proven SEO Company?

If you want to go down the path of paying $39 per month for your SEO then you should not read any further. SEO is based on a number of factors and is it these following variables that help determine the fair price and cost that you should be paying:

Reputation

First, reputation must be earned, and it is this reputation that takes time and many hours of expertise to implement. Not many companies can say that they have invested thousands of hours in learning and studying SEO principles. It is this background and knowledge that earns them their great SEO reputation. The better the reputation the more these companies should be able to charge. For example, Hopping Mad Designs has been in the web and SEO business since 1998 – we, therefore, feel that we are able to charge a fee that reflects this longevity.

Startup SEO businesses with no reputation or credible working history will not be able to charge as much as their peers. SEO companies that can prove their worth and show that they are able to rank their own website, MUST be able to charge accordingly.

If you are thinking about using one of these cheap SEOs, you will find that you will be treated in a production-like manner, and your work will more than likely be undertaken by someone with little or no SEO experience. Even worse, outsourced with no strategy or goals in place. Again, don’t expect any results. Be prepared to be treated poorly and be given every excuse known as to why you are not ranking!

Experience, Knowledge and Reputation all Mean a Higher SEO Fee.

Service

Next, an SEO company is a business and will have typical daily running expenses. These include: research, educating staff as well as working on your SEO (that is project management).

As an SEO client, you should be asking yourself:

> Do you expect answers to questions immediately or are you happy to wait, perhaps never get an answer or even lied to?
> Do you expect reports – what have they been doing for you?
> Do you expect an above-industry standard, speedy, quality service?

If all of the above is expected, then you will be paying for this.

If you want below-average experience, with poor results, then you do not need to factor the above in determining your SEO payments.

If you are serious about maximising your online performance then you will need to pay a realistic SEO fee. For more information please call us on 02 9360 8514

Education

All credible SEOs spend most of their downtime keeping current on all changes in the SEO landscape. Google makes roughly 450 changes to its algorithm each year, with hordes of engineers inventing ways to improve the search experience.

SEOs must be up to speed on these changes and this all comes at a price. Sure you can pay next to nothing for your SEO but don’t expect your suppliers to know the latest Google updates. They will keep on implementing old SEO tactics with little regard for the algorithmic updates that occur. This is dangerous and can lead to online penalties.

SEO is a continued and evolving process. Nothing stands still and the landscape created by Google is continually changing. Ultimately, you will have to pay for this knowledge.

THINK ABOUT THIS WHEN IT COMES TO SEO PRICING!

If an airline offered you a seat from Sydney to Perth for $15, but could not guarantee you a time for departure or arrival, with no customer service, would you buy the ticket? Or, would you prefer to pay $500 for a ticket and know exactly when you would be leaving and arriving, plus a meal was thrown in? The same logic applies to SEO and its pricing levels.

Basically, you get what you pay for; that is a certainty. The certainty that you will be working with a company that knows the ins and outs of SEO and has PROVEN and TANGIBLE RESULTS.

At Hopping Mad Designs you might pay just that bit more for your SEO, but we will GUARANTEE you results that can be backed up by over 18 years in this industry.

SEO is Worth the Investment & the Return Can Be Huge.

The price you pay for SEO must be seen in the light that it is a long-term proposition. It is not a tap that can be turned on and off. It is a continuous process that will only add value to your business. Therefore, when considering the cost of SEO for your marketing, think of it not as a cost/burden but as an asset.

PLUS the return on investment, once you are ranking is going to be massive. See for yourself, try it out, measure the performance and look at how great SEO can be for your business.

You should really ask yourself the following questions:

1) How would 1000 visits a month to your website change your perception of SEO costs? So 1000 visits, 20% will make an enquiry ( and this can be increased if your landing web page has been designed properly). This equates to 200 leads. If you are able to convert roughly 15% of these into clients, you would have 30 sales. This number can be increased if you are able to find an SEO company that has web experience.

2) Is my current advertising working and where do I currently advertise to get new business? In the past, the Yellow Pages was the place to advertise your business. Have you looked at the Yellow Pages lately? It’s gone from a huge 2 book directory to a thin paper napkin-size book.

Google has sucked its market dry and the money you were traditionally spending on the YP should now be diverted into an online SEO strategy. If you find that you have no other advertising options on the table, then SEO is your answer.

The power of being on page 1 of Google for your main keywords is enormous. If you currently have your website there you will know what I mean.

Taking this into account the pricing for SEO can be a relatively cheap proposition.

The best part concerning the cost of SEO is really this: if your business grows by 1000%, your SEO costs will remain the same. Your investment in SEO will not change (unless your strategy does), so your return on the SEO investment will have been multiplied many times. This will cover your costs and more!

SEO is NOT a One-Off Fee.

If you want to maintain your rankings then you must pay monthly for your SEO. Some people may consider this monthly SEO fee as a bit pricey, but if it is bringing in the business, then it should be thought of as a GREAT business investment.

A start n stop approach to your SEO campaign will only affect your rankings long term – so if you are going to commit to this type of marketing, you really need to stick with it for the long haul – the DIVIDENDS will pay…you just need to give it a bit of time.

ONE LAST THOUGHT.

Google your main keywords, for example, if you are a lawyer who specialises in conveyancing type in ‘conveyancing services’ and sees who is on page one. Getting your business to that position is not impossible and it is totally achievable.

As far as SEO PRICING is concerned, you will be more than surprised by what Hopping Mad Designs can do for your online digital marketing.

To learn more about our SEO pricing packages, and to get your website on page 1 of Google contact us at 02 9360 8514.

Why SEO is a monthly fee

For your websites success online you need to be paying a monthly fee for your SEO.

Cutting corners and trying to cram your SEO campaign into a couple of months is a recipe for failure.

To rank on Google, you need to build authority into your web site address and for this to happen you need to be implementing a SEO campaign consistently, methodically and very organically – and all this takes time, hence the monthly fee. This requires, depending on the competitive nature of the keywords, roughly 120-30 hours of work per month and this obviously needs to be paid for each and every month.

If we start an SEO campaign and then after 1 month stop it, then this is simply not enough time to rank and maintain your website. Sites need a good 3-6 months to rank and 1 months work, will just not work. Why? Because Google needs to index the work we are doing, plus we need to build a certain level of trust to our URL. This can only be done gradually. If we push too hard, Google will respond to this with a likely penalty.
Once the site is ranking, then our SEO team needs to be continually working on your site links and content to maintain this position. If you think that once your website has reached page 1, then that is all you need to do, then this is a huge misunderstanding. If you stop your SEO, you will begin to loose rank to your competitors. After a couple of weeks what you will see is your position begin to slide, eventually right off the first page.
Google likes to see an organic approach to search engine optimisation. That is everything that you do in and around the whole SEO process must appear natural. If your SEO strategy is implemented in an ad-hoc, rushed manner, YOU may get penalised and all the work done on the site will be for nothing.

This is why this is such an important point – SEO must be done slowly and naturally. Short quick wins with SEO simply do not exist and are unfortunately commonly promoted by less than credible agencies.

This means all link building, article writing, blog submissions must be done over a lengthy period of time; hence again the monthly fee. Plus depending on the competitive nature of the keywords you are trying to target, this fee can become quite expensive.

Many companies will promise a 1 month all up fee for SEO and this is all you need to pay.

Basically, these guys are lying to you and just want your money. To get solid, credible and consistent ranking you need to be working with a seo expert that knows the ins and outs of SEO.

If SEO is a monthly fee, how long do I need to be doing this for?

In short, SEO is now part of your online marketing

SEO is not an expense, it is an investment in your business. Like us, if you need to have a high web ranking then the cost is worth it and the monthly fee should be part of your marketing mix. This is a no brainer and if we are able to get your website sky high on the search engines, then paying this monthly SEO fee should be a pleasure, not a burden.

Having said all that it is a good idea to do SEO for say 6-9 months, measure your return on investment and then assess your marketing spend. If you are seeing a positive ROI, then continue as normal, but if your not getting the kind of sales or level of inquiry you were hoping for then it’s time to look at the factors that could be causing this such as your actual web site and it’s conversion rates.

So, if you are thinking about marketing your website online, then note that you have to be in it for the long haul. There is no point is starting this, if you are in it for the short term. A better solution for you would be an adwords marketing campaign, also known as SEM. This is a lot quicker, but the results are not as good and the costs overall can be prohibitive.

Start your SEO as COVID19 eases

What can we say except these are terrible times? COVID19 has really hit all businesses throughout Australia and the world in a way never imagined before.

All sectors have copped a beating; travel, food, cafes, restaurants, real estate, hotels, gyms everyone and every business has been touched by this horrid pandemic. Simply put, it’s stopped business in its tracks. Plus take a look at the unemployment it has created.

Also read:COVID-19 lockdowns have cost 1.6 million Australians their incomes, ABS survey shows

But all is not lost, there will be an end to this and there is light at the end of this tunnel. As of today 8th May 2020 we know that the PM is going to start easing restrictions with the lockdown and this will hearten most people who have been at home watching their business lose revenue, sales, and inquiries.

But, during this time one cannot wait and hope things will get back to normal without starting to work on their business. Now, while you have time on your hands is really the best time to look at what your business needs, what you have been putting off for ages, and what needs to be done to get the wheels of the business turning once we are out of this mess. This is not going to happen on its own and taking a proactive approach to your digital marketing and SEO is the best thing you can be doing.

So, I will list some key points that you should be doing to get your business back on its feet. This doesn’t have to be done all at once but you can take a slow approach to this and ramp it up if necessary if restrictions ease more quickly.

1) Take a look at your website and see if it needs a refresh. Go over all old content on all pages including all your old blogs and news articles. Give them the once over and update where necessary to make all information more current, engaging, and more relevant.

2) Look at your marketing budget. The first thing you might have done when the panic set in at the beginning of COVID19 was to reduce or cancel your marketing. Adwords, SEO, content marketing and your latest web project might have all been put on the back burner taking a wait n see attitude. That was probably a great idea at the time but now is the time to start reassessing your marketing budget (especially as the first Job Keeper payment has come through for most businesses). Get in touch with your SEO or web agency and look at starting your marketing again. Businesses will be back so it’s important that you are ahead of the curve rather than behind it. Businesses are going to be desperate for customers so it’s vital that your online visibility is strong. This can be all facets of the digital landscapes: Google, YouTube, Facebook etc. It’s critical that you don’t wait till COVID19 is over and then decide to start your marketing. Do this now, be the market leader and you will see how this has a positive impact on your business.

3) Look at all your communication material and see if it can be improved. What do your E-newsletters look like and can they be improved? Are you using an old CRM? Can you improve your sales processes and streamline your digital marketing to one agency? Now that you have the time, it’s a good idea to look at all of these things in a methodical manner.

4) What has happened to your Google rankings over the last couple of months and can you see areas where they need to be improved? Has your SEO agency been in touch with you and are they communicating what they have been doing during COVID19? Maybe it’s time to start looking at other agencies to see what they can offer you. Most businesses have their staff working at home and they are contactable. You have the time so do your due diligence.

5) Stay positive and look at this time as a time to work on your business model and ways you can fine-tune it to the level you have always wanted.

COVID 19 will not last forever. Yes, it’s here now and yes there may not seem an end in sight when things will get back to normal. But, it will happen and your business will open and it will be trading. But, don’t get too down about this and start looking at your marketing as a way of staying positive and keeping your finger on the pulse.

If you would like some other tips and ideas about how you can work on your business to get more clients during and after COVID19, please get in touch with us here at Hopping Mad Designs.