Brand guidelines are essential because they provide a framework for maintaining consistency across all marketing and communication efforts. They include specifications for your logo usage, color combinations, typography, and messaging, ensuring that everyone involved in your branding—internally and externally—understands how to represent your brand accurately. Consistency helps build trust with your audience, as it conveys professionalism and coherence. Furthermore, clear guidelines streamline the creative process, making it easier for teams to develop new materials while adhering to your brand’s defined identity.

Our branding services encompass a comprehensive range of offerings designed to build and enhance your brand’s identity. This includes brand strategy development, which outlines your brand’s mission and values, target audience, and competitive positioning. We also provide logo design and visual identity creation, which includes selecting color palettes and typography that reflect your brand’s personality. Additionally, we offer brand guidelines that ensure consistency across all touchpoints, and we help with naming and messaging to clearly communicate your brand story. Each service is tailored to fit your unique needs and vision.

Printing: Your graphic designs are all created by Alloy, however we act as a reseller for a fantastic UK-based, family-run printing company and also a budget, Netherlands-based printing company.

• 2 options covers every customer requirement from budget to premium
• We get a discount for buying in bulk
• As we always provide the correct files for the printers – we help them cut down their admin costs
• Which means unbeatable prices and quality
• Standard turnaround is 9 working days
• Express turnaround options available

Customer feedback is invaluable to branding because it provides insights into how your audience perceives your brand. Gathering feedback through surveys, focus groups, or social media interactions allows you to understand customers’ needs, preferences, and pain points. This data can inform adjustments to your branding strategy, helping to ensure that your messaging and visual identity align with customer expectations. By actively seeking and incorporating feedback, you foster stronger relationships with your audience and continuously refine your brand to better meet their needs.

The timeline for a branding project can vary significantly based on the scope and complexity of the work involved. Typically, a complete branding project can take anywhere from a few weeks to several months. Initial research and strategy development might take 2-4 weeks, followed by the creation of visual identity elements, which could take another 3-6 weeks. Implementation and creating guidelines can add several more weeks depending on the number of revisions and your feedback process. Throughout the entire journey, we maintain open communication, providing you with updates to ensure alignment and satisfaction.

Creating a brand identity is a multi-step process that begins with defining your brand’s strategy and understanding its essence. We start by gathering insights through surveys and interviews with stakeholders to identify key attributes that represent your brand. Once we have a clear understanding, we move to develop visual elements such as your logo, color palette, and typography. These elements are then combined into a style guide that outlines how to use them across various applications, ensuring consistency in branding. Finally, we present the complete brand identity package to you, allowing for revisions based on your feedback before final execution.

Branding refers to the process of creating a unique identity for your business that distinguishes it from competitors. It encompasses everything from your logo and color scheme to your messaging and overall customer experience. Effective branding is crucial because it shapes how customers perceive your business, builds trust, and fosters loyalty. In a crowded marketplace, a strong brand helps you stand out, making it easier for customers to remember you and engage with your products or services. Ultimately, good branding leads to higher customer retention, increased sales, and a more robust market presence.

• High quality design concepts are valuable and require a commitment from the customer, so a 50% deposit – 50% on completion of project – agreement is requested
• Payments accepted by bank transfer or card.

Rebranding should be an exciting time for your business, the evolution and growth of your company is a great step, and one that you should be able to share confidently with your customers. When rebranding your business or merging two businesses together, there is often a period of confusion for some existing customers. Follow our tips on how to  minimise disruption to the daily running of your services.

1. Register your new name, and think about trademarking it.
2. Get a new logo, make sure it’s an improvement on the old one and you continue the branding online and offline. We can help with logo design, van wraps and signage, as well as helping you co-ordinate a re-branding across the entire business.
3. Set up a website re-directs 301 file to send visitors and links going to your old domain to your new domain, if you delete it completely then your customers will think you have disappeared. The page that the home page URL redirect takes customers to, should ideally should have your old AND new business name/ logo/ branding, and a short explanation about the change of names. Including a brief outline of your services, what they can expect from you, including any upgrades and improvements.
4. Add a note to the bottom of any emails to say you have changed the company name, and direct all people to use the new email and website address. Reply to all new incoming emails from your new email address to maintain the transition even if a customer replies back to the old address.
5. Consider setting up an email folder to receive emails sent to your old email address so you can deal with these customers in a different way than brand new leads, who only know you by the new business name.
6. When customers of the previous business name use your service, include a note on an invoice or correspondence with a brief explanation. Remember to state that they can expect a the same great services, just from a different name.
7. When customers call the old phone number, remember to add at the end of any call that the business is changing names, so next time they call the phone may be answered in a different way, but not to worry.
8. Send an email newsletter out to your old customers to let them know about the change of name, it’s crucial to let them know if the phone will be answered under a different name from normal.
9. Use social media to get the word out. Most profiles will have a small bio area, this is great place to say: ‘previously known as…..” Update the profile images and other photos to come in line with your new branding, but keep a small mention of the previous company name to minimise any un-follows.
10. In the run up to the change of name, printed leaflets that you can leave with customers are a fantastic way to let people know in advance.
11. If your old business was established online, there will be business directory listings which you may have setup, or which may have been auto-generated, with your old name and address. Now you have changed the business name, these listings will be out of date and will be classed by Google as inconsistent. An inconsistent citation profile will damage your rankings on Google, so you need to fix these inaccurate listings urgently to avoid dropping down the Google rankings. As part of our monthly SEO campaigns we offer citation consolidation/cleaning services and can do this work for you to fix these inaccuracies and get your website back to being able to rank as well as possible. Get in touch to order an SEO plan.
12. Purchase virtual tracking phone numbers for each of the different facets of your business. This is a great way to find out which phone numbers are getting the most exposure and you can also enable a whisper system so an automated voice lets you know which number the customer has called, so that you know how to answer the call, to avoid confusion.
13. If you have a business website, make sure to upadte your website terms and conditions pages and the footer copyright message with your new business name and details. Incorrect business details can invalidate your terms and conditions documents s make sure they are changed at the same time.

Rebranding doesn’t have to be a daunting, keep lines of communication open and keep letting your customers know that their service will not suffer in the process. Follow our tips above and you will have a smooth transition and business will be all the better for it in the long-run. If you have any questions or need some help implementing any or all of the above please contact us for more information.

To ensure your brand stands out, we focus on identifying and emphasising your unique selling proposition (USP) through comprehensive market and competitor research. By understanding what makes your brand different, we can highlight those attributes in your messaging and visual identity. We also create a distinctive brand voice that resonates with your target audience while being authentic to your values. Additionally, we recommend innovative marketing strategies tailored to your audience and industry, ensuring that your branding grabs attention and leaves a lasting impression.

The cost of branding services can vary widely based on factors such as the scale of the project, the complexity of deliverables, and the specific needs of your business. We offer packages tailored to different budgets and requirements, ranging from basic brand identity design to comprehensive branding strategies. During our initial consultation, we’ll discuss your goals and deliverables to provide you with a transparent and detailed estimate tailored to your unique situation.

For any graphic design / web design / email template design, or any other type of design, once fully paid, you own it and can have full access to the master files. The ownership of any logos, flyer designs and graphics will be transferred to you once the project has been paid in full and completed. You may then use them as you wish.

Exceptions

1. Stock photographs that you have provided for your design are your responsibility / liability and we expect you to have gained copyright approval before sending any files to us.

We’re happy to include two rounds of edits for each design job we take on. Depending on the scale of the project we will try to be as flexible as possible. We want you to love your finished designs as much as we love making them.

Developing a brand strategy involves a thorough process that begins with understanding your business goals, target audience, and market landscape. We start by conducting research to gain insights into your industry, competitors, and customers. This information guides the creation of your brand’s mission statement, vision, and core values. We then identify your unique selling proposition (USP) that differentiates your business from others. By mapping out your brand’s personality, tone, and key messaging, we create a cohesive strategy that aligns with your objectives and resonates with your audience, ensuring that all brand communications remain consistent and effective.

Getting started with our branding services is simple! Reach out to us for an initial consultation where we can discuss your business objectives and the specific challenges you’re facing. Based on this conversation, we will outline our process, potential deliverables, and how we can help elevate your brand. Following our discussion, we’ll prepare a customised proposal for your review. From there, we can start collaborating on building a strong and memorable brand identity that aligns with your vision.

Yes absolutely, if you’ve yet to get set up we can help and even decorate your new platform to properly match your wider branding.

Absolutely. Rebranding is a nuanced process that requires careful consideration to refresh an existing image while retaining loyal customers. We start by assessing the current brand identity, including what aspects are working and what needs improvement. Through research and stakeholder input, we gather insights on how customers perceive the current brand. Then, we work collaboratively with you to develop a new brand strategy, visual elements, and messaging that align with your goals while maintaining brand equity. Our approach ensures a smooth transition that resonates with existing customers while attracting a new audience.

We offer a wide range of content creation services to meet the diverse needs of our clients. This includes blog posts, articles, infographics, videos, social media posts, whitepapers, eBooks, newsletters, case studies, and more. Each type of content is tailored to achieve specific goals, such as improving SEO, engaging with your audience, or generating leads. Our team of experts ensures that each piece of content aligns with your brand voice and message.

Our content creation process is systematic and collaborative. It begins with a discovery phase where we gather information about your brand and objectives. Next, we conduct research and brainstorm ideas. The draft phase involves writing and designing the content, which we then review and refine based on your feedback. Once approved, the content is published and promoted according to the strategy, with performance tracking from this point onward.

Content marketing is a strategic approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and engage a clearly defined audience. By providing content that educates, informs, or entertains, businesses can build trust with their audience, establish authority in their industry, and ultimately drive profitable customer action. Benefits include improved brand visibility, increased website traffic, enhanced customer relationships, and higher conversion rates, all of which contribute to long-term business growth.

The frequency of content production is tailored to your business goals, industry dynamics, and available resources. Together, we will develop a content calendar that outlines a consistent and manageable publishing schedule. Whether it’s daily, weekly, or monthly, our goal is to maintain a steady stream of content that keeps your audience engaged and positions your brand as a reliable source of information.

Success in content marketing is measured using a variety of metrics, depending on your specific objectives. Common indicators include an increase in website traffic, engagement metrics such as likes, shares, and comments, lead generation, conversion rates, and improvements in search engine rankings. We utilise analytics tools to track these metrics, providing regular reports and insights that help inform ongoing strategy and content adjustments.

Staying current is key to effective content marketing. We regularly review and update content to reflect the latest industry trends and audience interests. Our team stays informed of changes in consumer behavior and technology, ensuring that your content remains timely and resonates strongly with evolving audience needs.

We employ several techniques to ensure the content we create is relevant to your audience. This includes conducting detailed audience research to understand their demographics, preferences, and behaviours. We also analyse current industry trends and competitor content to identify what resonates with similar audiences. By continually monitoring performance metrics and feedback, we adapt and refine the content to maintain its relevancy and effectiveness.

Our process begins with a comprehensive analysis of your brand, industry, and target audience. We conduct market research to understand your audience’s needs, interests, and pain points. Using this information, we craft a content strategy tailored to your business goals, ensuring the content we produce is relevant, engaging, and capable of resonating with your audience. Regular reviews and feedback loops allow us to refine this strategy over time.

Getting started is simple. Contact us to discuss your business needs and goals. We will arrange an initial consultation to understand better how our content marketing services can be tailored to support your objectives and drive growth. From there, we develop a customised plan that sets your brand on the path to success through effective content marketing.

Absolutely. We recognise the importance of not only creating exceptional content but also ensuring it reaches your audience. Our content promotion services leverage multiple channels, including social media, email marketing, and collaborations with industry influencers, to increase content visibility. By implementing targeted promotion strategies, we maximise the reach and impact of your content across platforms.

Client collaboration is essential to our process. We encourage your input and feedback throughout the creation process to ensure that the content aligns with your brand, messaging, and vision. This collaborative approach helps produce content that accurately represents your business and engages your audience effectively.

Yes, our team integrates SEO best practices into every piece of content we create. This includes keyword research, on-page optimization, meta descriptions, alt text for images, and URL structure. We also focus on creating high-quality content that meets search engines’ evolving algorithms, ensuring your content is discoverable and ranks well, driving organic traffic to your site over time.

Yes, developing a robust content strategy is one of our core services. Our team works collaboratively with you to outline your goals, identify your target audience, and establish key performance indicators (KPIs). We then create a detailed content plan that aligns with your marketing goals and includes a content calendar, distribution plan, and methods for measuring success. This strategic approach ensures that all content efforts are focused and yield maximum impact.

Certainly. We develop distribution strategies to ensure your content reaches the right audience via the most effective channels. This includes leveraging owned media like your website and email newsletters, earned media through PR and partnerships, and paid media such as targeted advertising on search engines and social platforms.

Yes, social media content creation is a key component of our services. We design engaging posts that align with your brand’s voice and appeal to your audience, encouraging interaction and community building. Our social media strategies are informed by analytics, ensuring that content is both impactful and tailored to platform-specific dynamics and trends.

We create a variety of written materials, including website content, blog posts, product descriptions, email newsletters, ad copy, social media posts, and promotional materials. Each piece is tailored to meet specific marketing objectives. Our team has experience across various industries. We’ll discuss your specific needs during our initial consultation to determine how best to tailor the content to your sector.

Our process starts with understanding your brand and goals. We then conduct research, develop an outline, and draft the copy. After revisions and your feedback, we ensure the final product aligns with your brand voice.

Copywriting is the art of writing persuasive content that encourages readers to take action, such as making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter. Good copywriting is essential because it helps communicate your brand’s message effectively, engages your audience, and drives conversions.

Our rates depend on the type and length of content required. We can provide a detailed quote after discussing your specific needs and project goals.

Generally a good blog article that will be useful for SEO should be around 500 words long. From planning through to publication this generally takes around 2-3 hours. When working for clients on a retainer our copywriters end up learning quite a lot about the nature of the businesses they’re writing for. Often this means things get writing much more quickly, which means you get a lot more for your budget if you choose one of our marketing retainers.

The timeline for completion depends on the scope of the project and our current workload. Generally, you can expect a draft within one to two weeks, depending on the specifics.

Success can be measured through various metrics, such as increased website traffic, conversion rates, and engagement levels. We can help analyse these results after your copy is published.

We work closely with you during the initial stages to understand your brand voice and tone, ensuring all written materials reflect your unique style and message. We also conduct thorough research into your target audience, including their needs, preferences, and pain points. This enables us to write content that speaks directly to them and addresses their interests.

Simply reach out to us to discuss your goals and project needs. We’ll schedule a consultation to begin crafting compelling content for your audience. Upon completion and payment, you will have full ownership of the content created for your brand.

We’re happy to accommodate both one-off projects and ongoing copywriting needs. Many clients prefer to have a consistent voice across all their content.

Absolutely, we want to make sure we get the tone of voice properly matched to your brand identity, so we’ll work with you to get sign-off before publishing anything. With most clients, we find they’re really happy with the way our copywriters write and, after a while, they are happy for us to take the lead on this. It’s entirely down to your preferences.

Yes, we create SEO-optimised copy that includes relevant keywords and phrases, improving your visibility in search engine results while still remaining engaging to readers.

Our copywriters have many years of experience writing for businesses. Previous clients include fitness businesses, manufacturing companies, cleaning companies, fashion brands, tech startups and more. We always do plenty of research before copywriting for a client, but we’ve got a lot of experience to draw on too. If we run into a subject that our writers have never written about before we’re confident in their ability to research and product great content on it. Of course, we’ll never publish anything without your consent.

We can assist with content strategy as part of our service. We can help identify what types of content would be beneficial for your brand and how to effectively implement them.

We offer training sessions for your team to help them understand how to use the CRM effectively. This can include user training, best practices, and ongoing support to address any questions or issues.

Our process typically begins with a discovery phase, where we evaluate your current CRM setup and gather insights into your business needs. We then provide recommendations, assist with implementation, and offer training and support for your team.

CRM consulting involves assessing your business’s customer relationship management processes and systems to improve efficiency and customer engagement. It can help streamline your operations, increase customer satisfaction, and enhance your marketing efforts.

We work with a variety of CRM platforms, including Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoho, and Microsoft Dynamics, among others. We can assist with both cloud-based and on-premise solutions.

Costs can vary depending on the extent of the consulting services required, the size of your business, and the complexity of your CRM needs. We offer tailored quotes after assessing your specific requirements.

The duration of a CRM consulting project can vary widely based on the complexity of your business needs and the size of your team. Generally, we aim for an efficient process while ensuring thoroughness and effectiveness.

Our team of experts regularly participates in industry training, webinars, and workshops to stay informed about the latest trends and technologies in the CRM space. This ensures that we can offer you the most current strategies and tools.

Success can be measured through various indicators, such as improved customer satisfaction, increased sales funnel efficiency, and higher customer retention rates. We provide actionable insights based on these metrics.

We offer packages for ongoing support, including regular check-ins, updates, and additional training as needed, ensuring that you maximize the benefits of your CRM system long after implementation.

We assess your business processes and requirements to tailor the CRM system accordingly. This may include custom fields, workflows, and reporting features to ensure the system aligns with your operations.

If you’re struggling with managing customer relationships, tracking sales leads, or if your current system is inefficient, it may be time for CRM consulting to help identify solutions and streamline your processes.

Simply contact us to schedule an initial consultation where we can discuss your current CRM situation and specific needs. We’ll work with you to create a tailored plan to enhance your customer relationship management efforts.

Yes, we assist with data migration from your existing systems to ensure a smooth transfer of customer data, sales leads, and any historical records without any loss or discrepancies.

Yes, we provide comprehensive support throughout the implementation process, guiding you through the installation, setup, and training required to ensure a smooth transition.

Yes, we can conduct a thorough assessment of your existing CRM setup, identifying areas for improvement and providing a detailed report on how to enhance its functionality.

Once you’ve picked a platform we’ll provide an estimate for import and setup services.

Absolutely not, we’d always recommend a solution suited to our clients’ needs based on rigorous analysis of features across different platforms.

Expertise You Can Trust

We’ve helped businesses across Manchester and beyond achieve remarkable results through CRO. Our team stays up to date with the latest tools and techniques to ensure your website remains ahead of the competition.

Data-Driven Approach

Every recommendation we make is backed by hard data. We believe in transparency, providing regular updates and detailed reports so you can see exactly how your site is improving.

Customised Solutions

No two businesses are the same, which is why we tailor our strategies to your unique needs. Whether you’re a small local business or a large enterprise, we’ve got you covered.

CRO is crucial because it helps you maximise the effectiveness of your existing traffic. Instead of solely focusing on attracting more visitors, CRO enables you to convert a higher percentage of your current audience into customers or leads. This approach can significantly reduce your customer acquisition costs and improve overall profitability. A well-optimised site enhances user satisfaction, reduces bounce rates, and increases lifetime value for customers.

While SEO focuses on driving traffic to your site, CRO is about converting that traffic into leads or customers. Together, they create a powerful strategy for online growth.

We use a variety of techniques for CRO, including A/B testing to compare different versions of web pages, user experience (UX) audits to identify usability issues, and improving the layout and design based on best practices. Additionally, we may implement call-to-action (CTA) enhancements, better product descriptions, and streamlined navigation to guide users towards desired actions effectively.

Conversion rate optimisation (CRO) is the practice of improving your website or landing page to increase the percentage of visitors who take a desired action, such as making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter. By systematically testing and refining different elements of your site, you can enhance the user experience and drive higher conversion rates, leading to more revenue and improved return on investment.

The bounce rate of a website refers to the percentage of visitors who visit (or land) on the site then quickly leave the site (or bounce). It is used to give an idea of the quality of the site. Sites that have an easy to understand layout and are simple to navigate tend to have the lowest bounce rates.

A/B Split Testing

Split testing is the foundation of effective CRO. We test multiple versions of your pages to determine what resonates most with your audience. Whether it’s a simple colour change or a complete layout redesign, we identify the elements that drive the best results.

Behavioural Insights

Understanding how visitors interact with your site is crucial. Using heatmaps, session recordings, and user feedback tools, we gain invaluable insights into user behaviour.

Optimised Content

Compelling content is essential for conversions. We craft persuasive headlines, engaging copy, and clear messaging that resonates with your target audience.

Responsive Design

With mobile traffic accounting for a significant portion of online visitors, we ensure your website is fully optimised for all devices.

Not at all! CRO is valuable for any website, including service-based businesses, lead generation sites, and non-profits.

The timeline for seeing results from CRO efforts can vary depending on the extent of changes implemented and the volume of traffic to your site. Generally, it may take a few weeks to a couple of months to gather sufficient data following changes. Continuous testing and iterations are key components as they allow us to adapt and refine strategies based on user behaviour.

That depends on the amount of traffic to your website. Get in touch and we can take a look and give you an idea. In many cases once work begins we’ll have useful data within a few days.

The timeline depends on factors like traffic volume and the complexity of the changes being tested. However, many clients see noticeable improvements within weeks.

A/B split testing distributes two different versions of your website’s landing pages equally amongst visitors to the site. The different pages may use different images, layouts, colour palettes or words. By monitoring the bounce rate of traffic to these pages we can get an idea of the type of content and presentation that is most effective for your business.

Our CRO analysis begins with data collection to understand user behaviour on your site. This may include analysing website analytics, heatmaps, and user feedback to identify areas of improvement. We then develop hypotheses about how specific changes could enhance conversions. This data-driven approach allows us to focus on the most impactful changes, leading to successful optimisation outcomes.

While more traffic can lead to more data for analysis and quicker results, CRO can still be beneficial even with moderate traffic. Small-scale testing can yield valuable insights, and even slight improvements to conversion rates can have a substantial impact on overall sales, especially for eCommerce websites.

Yes, we specialise in analysing and optimising existing websites for improved conversion rates. Our approach involves conducting a thorough assessment of your site to identify barriers to conversion and implementing effective strategies tailored to your audience and market.

Many projects can benefit from drone photography, including real estate listings, construction progress monitoring, events like weddings and festivals, landscape and nature photography, and promotional videos for businesses. We can tailor our services to meet the specific needs of your project and help you achieve your goals.

Drone photography involves capturing images and videos from an aerial perspective using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly known as drones. This technology allows photographers to obtain unique angles and expansive views that traditional photography cannot achieve. Drone photography is especially popular for real estate, events, landscape photography, and commercial advertising, providing dynamic and engaging imagery.

We utilise high-quality drones from reputable manufacturers equipped with advanced camera systems capable of capturing high-resolution images and 4K video. Our equipment is regularly maintained and updated to ensure we deliver the best possible results for your projects. Additionally, we also use various lenses and filters to achieve the desired visual effects.

Drone photography can significantly enhance your marketing efforts by providing stunning visuals that capture attention. Aerial shots can highlight the scale and beauty of properties or landscapes, making your promotional materials stand out. Additionally, drone footage can be used to create engaging videos for social media or websites, showcasing your business in an innovative way.

The turnaround time for delivering final images and videos depends on the project’s complexity and the amount of footage captured. Generally, you can expect to receive your edited materials within one to two weeks after the shoot. We keep you informed throughout the process and provide updates on the estimated delivery timeline.

After capturing the drone footage, we use advanced editing software to enhance the images and videos. This can include colour correction, stabilisation, and adding effects or text overlays to create a professional-looking final product. Our goal is to ensure that the results meet your branding and aesthetic requirements.

We use high-quality drones equipped with advanced cameras to capture sharper and more detailed images. Our experienced pilots are skilled in manoeuvring the drones to take smooth shots and to adapt to various weather conditions for optimal results. We also employ post-production techniques to enhance the footage further, ensuring a polished final product.

To get started, simply contact us to discuss your project and requirements. We’ll schedule a consultation to understand your vision and objectives. From there, we can plan the shoot, discuss potential locations, and outline the specific services we can provide to help you achieve your goals.

Absolutely! Drone footage adds a dynamic element to promotional videos, allowing businesses to showcase their location, products, or services from an eye-catching aerial perspective. Combining aerial shots with ground-level footage can create a more comprehensive view of your brand and improve viewer engagement.

Yes, there are specific regulations governing drone use in various countries. In the UK, for instance, drone operators must adhere to the Civil Aviation Authority’s guidelines, including maintaining visual line of sight and not flying over populated areas without proper permissions. Our team is knowledgeable about these regulations and ensures compliance to keep your projects safe and legal.

Optimising product descriptions for SEO is vital for increasing the visibility of your products in search engine results. When you include relevant keywords and detailed information that addresses customer pain points, you enhance the chance of attracting more qualified traffic. A well-optimised product description not only helps your product rank higher but also improves the user experience by providing customers with the information they need to make purchasing decisions. This straightforward approach can lead to higher conversion rates and overall sales success.

An effective eCommerce content marketing strategy should encompass a variety of content types. This includes well-crafted product descriptions that provide detailed information and highlight key features, blog posts that answer common customer questions and offer valuable insights, and customer reviews or testimonials that help build trust and credibility. Additionally, tutorials and how-to guides can empower customers to make informed purchasing decisions. A diverse content strategy ensures that different audience segments receive the information they need to convert.

We utilise a variety of tools to enhance our content marketing efforts and track performance. For content creation and management, we may use platforms like WordPress or specific content management systems (CMS). Analytics tools, such as Google Analytics, are vital for tracking website performance, user behaviour, and conversion rates. Additionally, SEO tools like SEMrush or Moz help us identify keyword opportunities and optimise your content effectively. By leveraging these tools, we ensure a data-driven approach to content marketing.

Content marketing plays a vital role in the success of eCommerce businesses by helping to build brand awareness, educate customers, and ultimately drive sales. By delivering valuable information that resonates with your target audience, you foster a connection that encourages trust and loyalty. This can take various forms, including blog posts that provide insights and solutions, videos that showcase your products in action, infographics that simplify complex information, and downloadable resources. Each piece of content is designed to engage potential customers, nurture them through the buying journey, and establish your brand as an authority in your industry.

SEO and content marketing are inherently long-term strategies. It typically takes several months to see significant results, as search engines need time to index and rank your content. However, with a consistent approach and ongoing optimisation efforts, you can expect to see gradual improvements in website traffic, customer engagement, and sales over time. It’s essential to remain patient and committed to your strategy, as the effects of content marketing compound over time, leading to sustained growth.

SEO, or search engine optimisation, is crucial for ensuring that your content is discoverable when customers are searching for products or services similar to yours. By optimising your content with relevant keywords, meta tags, and high-quality links, you improve your chances of ranking higher in search engine results pages. This increased visibility leads to more organic traffic, which can significantly boost conversions. Effective SEO not only helps attract new visitors but also enhances the overall user experience on your site, allowing customers to find the information they need easily.

Our team stays informed about the latest content marketing trends and best practices through ongoing education and research. We regularly attend industry webinars, read leading marketing publications, and participate in professional communities. By keeping abreast of changes in consumer behaviour and technological advancements, we continually refine our strategies to ensure they are relevant, innovative, and effective for your eCommerce business. This commitment to staying current enhances our ability to provide you with cutting-edge content marketing solutions.

We measure the success of our eCommerce content marketing campaigns through a variety of metrics, which help evaluate performance and guide future strategies. Key performance indicators include website traffic, bounce rates, conversion rates, keyword rankings, and revenue generated from content-driven traffic. By continuously analysing these metrics, we can identify what works, what doesn’t, and make data-driven adjustments to our strategy, ensuring the best possible results for your business

Creating a content calendar involves collaborating with you to understand your business goals, key promotions, and significant dates, such as holidays or product launches. We then outline the types of content to be produced, publication dates, and distribution channels. This structured approach ensures a consistent flow of content, helps align your marketing efforts with business objectives, and enables you to plan effectively for high-demand periods.

Our keyword research process combines advanced tools and industry expertise to identify the best keywords for your eCommerce site. We focus on identifying high-volume keywords that potential customers are actively searching for, as well as relevant long-tail keywords that reflect specific customer intent. By analysing search trends and competitor performance, we can pinpoint keywords that will effectively drive targeted traffic to your site. This ensures that your content aligns with what users are seeking, helping to improve your visibility and engagement.

Yes, we can integrate email marketing into your overall content strategy. This involves creating targeted email campaigns that feature your content, such as newsletters, product announcements, and promotions. We develop engaging email content that drives traffic back to your website and encourages conversions. By segmenting your email list and personalising your communications, we can significantly enhance engagement and improve the effectiveness of your campaigns.

Yes! A better user experience and lower bounce rates can positively impact search rankings, leading to more organic traffic and conversions.

CRO is vital for eCommerce businesses because it helps ensure that marketing efforts are as efficient as possible. Instead of focusing solely on driving more traffic to your site, CRO enables you to convert a larger share of existing visitors into paying customers. By improving the shopping experience and addressing common pain points, businesses can see a significant increase in sales, customer satisfaction, and overall profitability.

Our approach includes several techniques to enhance conversion rates. A/B testing is one of our primary methods, where we compare different versions of webpages or calls to action to determine which performs better. We also focus on optimising product pages, improving load times, simplifying the checkout process, and ensuring that your site is mobile-friendly. Additionally, we may implement trust signals, such as customer reviews or security badges, to reassure potential buyers.

The timeline for seeing results from CRO efforts can vary based on the extent of changes made and the volume of traffic. Generally, it may take several weeks to gather adequate data after implementing changes. Short-term improvements can often be noticed quickly, particularly with straightforward adjustments, but more significant changes may require time to fully analyse and optimise for long-lasting results.

eCommerce conversion rate optimisation (CRO) is the process of increasing the percentage of visitors to an eCommerce website who complete desired actions, such as making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter. This involves analysing user behaviour, identifying barriers to conversion, and making data-driven adjustments to improve the overall shopping experience. The goal is to maximise revenue without increasing traffic, making every visitor more valuable.

Improvements can be seen within a few weeks, but significant, long-term results typically take 3-6 months, depending on testing cycles and implementation.

Success is measured using various metrics, including conversion rates, average order value, and user engagement levels, such as time spent on site and page views. We also look at dropout rates during the checkout process to identify where potential customers are losing interest. Comprehensive reporting allows us to analyse the effectiveness of implemented changes and adjust strategies as needed to ensure continuous improvement.

The average ecommerce conversion rate varies by industry but typically ranges between 1% and 3%. With the right optimisation, many businesses can exceed this benchmark.

We begin the CRO analysis with a comprehensive review of your website’s analytics to understand current performance metrics, such as conversion rates, bounce rates, and user flow. We then use tools like heatmaps and user recordings to observe how visitors are interacting with your site. This data is combined with user feedback to identify potential hurdles in the purchasing process. Based on our findings, we develop targeted strategies aimed at optimising those areas for improvement.

Reviewing your CRO strategy should be an ongoing process, as customer behaviours and market conditions can change. We recommend conducting a thorough review at least quarterly, but more frequent assessments are beneficial, especially after implementing new features or changes to the website. Regular analysis allows you to adapt to shifts in customer expectations and competitive dynamics.

Yes! We provide continuous monitoring, testing, and improvements to ensure your conversion rate keeps improving over time.

While higher traffic can provide more data and quicker results, CRO can still be beneficial with moderate traffic levels. Even small-scale improvements can lead to significant changes in revenue. Our strategies can be tailored to suit your current audience size, ensuring that you maximise conversions no matter how many visitors your site attracts.

Absolutely! We optimise ecommerce stores built on Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, BigCommerce, and custom platforms.

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Boost your ecommerce sales with our conversion rate optimisation services. Whether you’re struggling with high cart abandonment or simply want to increase your revenue, our team is here to help.

Let’s maximise your sales and grow your ecommerce business together!

Yes, optimising the mobile experience is an essential aspect of CRO, as a large portion of online shopping occurs via mobile devices. We evaluate how your website performs on mobile and make adjustments to improve navigation, load times, and overall usability. This can include responsive design enhancements, streamlining the checkout process, and optimising images for faster loading on mobile devices.

Yes, we offer implementation support to help you make the necessary adjustments based on our CRO recommendations. This includes collaborating with your development team or taking lead on implementation to ensure that best practices are followed. Our goal is to streamline the process, making it easier for you to see results from our strategies without added stress.

We create a wide range of email types specifically tailored for eCommerce needs. This includes welcome emails for new subscribers, which introduce them to your brand and offerings; promotional emails that highlight special discounts or new products; and product announcement emails that keep your audience informed of the latest arrivals. We also design informative newsletters that share valuable content and updates, transactional emails like order confirmations and shipping notifications, and abandoned cart emails that remind customers of items left in their carts, encouraging them to complete their purchase. Each email is meticulously crafted to engage recipients, drive action, and maintain brand consistency.

Email segmentation is the process of dividing your email subscribers into smaller groups based on specific criteria such as demographic information, purchase history, browsing behaviour, and engagement levels. This practice is crucial because it enables you to send tailored content that speaks directly to each group’s needs and interests. For example, you might send different promotions to new subscribers versus loyal customers or target customers who have previously shown interest in specific product categories. By personalising your messages, you can significantly enhance open rates, click-through rates, and overall conversions, creating a more positive experience for your subscribers.

eCommerce email marketing is a strategic approach to communicating with customers and prospects through email. It involves sending tailored email messages that promote products, announce special offers, and keep customers informed about company updates. This form of marketing is crucial for online retailers as it helps build and maintain relationships with customers. Types of emails can include newsletters, promotional emails, abandoned cart reminders, and seasonal sales announcements. By engaging your audience through targeted email campaigns, businesses can drive traffic to their online store and increase sales.

An abandoned cart email is a follow-up message sent to customers who have added items to their online shopping cart but did not complete the purchase. These emails are crucial as they remind customers of their intention to buy and encourage them to return to complete the transaction. Abandoned cart emails typically include a summary of the items left behind, and they may also provide incentives, such as discounts or free shipping, to entice customers back. This strategy can significantly reduce cart abandonment rates and recover potential lost sales, making it an essential part of any eCommerce email marketing approach.

The frequency of your email campaigns should be determined by your audience’s preferences, industry norms, and your business objectives. It’s essential to find the right balance between staying top-of-mind and not overwhelming your subscribers. We work with you to establish an email schedule that suits your target audience. This could involve sending weekly newsletters, twice-monthly promotional emails, or monthly updates. Additionally, we continuously monitor engagement metrics and recipient feedback to adjust the frequency as needed, ensuring that your emails remain welcome and effective.

Compliance with email marketing regulations is essential to protect your business and build trust with your audience. We ensure compliance with laws such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the CAN-SPAM Act by implementing best practices for consent and data protection. This includes obtaining explicit permission before sending marketing emails, providing clear opt-in methods, and including easy-to-find unsubscribe links in every email. We also educate our clients about maintaining accurate records of subscriber consent and offer guidance on how to manage user data responsibly. By prioritising compliance, we help you avoid potential legal issues while maintaining a positive relationship with your subscribers.

Building and managing an email list is a critical component of effective eCommerce email marketing. Our approach begins with creating appealing sign-up forms on your website that entice visitors to subscribe. We might also leverage social media platforms to promote sign-ups and encourage your customers to join your mailing list by offering incentives such as exclusive discounts, free shipping on their first order, or access to special content. Once collected, we manage your email list by segmenting subscribers into different categories based on their interests, shopping behaviors, and engagement levels. This segmentation allows for more targeted and relevant email campaigns, increasing the likelihood of engagement and conversions.

Getting started with our eCommerce email marketing service is simple. First, reach out to us to discuss your business objectives and specific needs. We will conduct an initial consultation to understand your goals, target audience, and current email marketing efforts. From there, we will develop a tailored email marketing strategy designed to meet your unique requirements, from audience segmentation to content planning and campaign execution. Our team will guide you every step of the way, ensuring a smooth process that leads to effective email marketing campaigns and tangible results for your business.

There are numerous benefits to implementing an eCommerce email marketing strategy. Firstly, it enhances customer retention by engaging existing customers and encouraging them to return for future purchases. Email marketing is also cost-effective; it typically boasts a high return on investment because it allows direct communication with your audience. By sending personalised recommendations based on previous purchases or interests, you can significantly boost sales. Additionally, email campaigns can lead to improved brand loyalty, as regular communication helps keep your brand top-of-mind, fostering deeper connections with your customers.

Yes, we can seamlessly integrate your eCommerce email marketing efforts with your existing platforms, such as Shopify, WooCommerce, or your CRM systems like Salesforce. This integration streamlines your marketing processes, allowing for automatic syncing of customer data, order information, and segment updates. By connecting these systems, we ensure that your email marketing campaigns are targeted, relevant, and effectively managed, saving you time and enhancing the overall efficiency of your marketing efforts.

Yes, we specialise in designing custom email templates that reflect your brand identity and resonate with your audience. Our templates are created with a focus on user experience and visual appeal, ensuring they are mobile-responsive and compatible across various email clients. We incorporate your brand’s colour palette, logo, and typography to maintain consistency in messaging and aesthetics. Furthermore, our team designs templates that encourage clicks and conversions by strategically placing calls to action and keeping the layout clean and intuitive. This approach not only enhances brand recognition but also improves overall engagement and response rates.

SEO is a critical component of eCommerce marketing as it helps improve the visibility of your online store in search engine results. By optimising product pages, category pages, and content with relevant keywords, you can attract organic traffic from potential customers actively searching for your products. SEO not only drives traffic but also enhances the overall user experience, ensuring that customers easily find what they are looking for.

This is affected by how your website is built but the most popular platforms we implement are: Paypal, Paypal Pro, Stripe, WorldPay, Sage Pay.

Paypal Standard – Your website comes with a built in Paypal Standard payment processing system, Paypal standard has it’s own commission rates for sellers. This system sends users to enter their card details onto a paypal hosted payments page

Email marketing is essential for eCommerce as it allows for direct communication with your customers. It effectively nurtures leads and encourages repeat purchases through targeted campaigns, including product recommendations, promotional offers, and newsletters. Building a solid email list allows businesses to keep customers informed, engaged, and loyal to the brand.

eCommerce marketing encompasses all marketing strategies and tactics used to promote online retail businesses and drive traffic to eCommerce websites. This includes various forms of digital marketing, such as email marketing, social media advertising, content marketing, SEO, and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. The primary goal is to attract potential customers, boost sales, and foster customer loyalty through effective online engagement and promotional efforts.

We can add a huge range of features to your shop including the following list. If you would like additional features don’t hesitate to ask and we’ll do all we can to accomodate you;.

Features include:
Advanced shipping processor
Advanced payment processing options
Advanced stock and inventory import from .csv functionality
Coupon/voucher system
Wishlist functionality
Customer email newsletters
Advanced stock control/bulk edit stock levels and print stock
Sell recurring memberships to your service/product
Live onscreen currency converter
Commission and affiliate marketing functionality
VAT validation before purchase
Advanced pricing rules/discount and multi buy offers
Personalised/message products – collect information at order
Zooming product photo gallery enhancements
Review a product to receive a discount
Sell products on your Facebook page
Newsletter integration – send and subscription system
Store credit system and gift cards

An effective eCommerce marketing strategy includes several key components. These typically involve SEO to improve organic visibility, PPC advertising to attract immediate traffic, email marketing for communication and retention, and social media marketing to engage with customers. Additionally, content marketing plays a role in providing valuable information that builds trust and authority. Each component should work together to create a cohesive strategy that drives traffic and conversions.

Identify successful landing pages and consider increasing your price to discover maximum profit per item.- eCommerce site structures need to be great – use breadcrumbs, internal searches, faceted navigation (such as Amazon use in their top nav) and filters.- Don’t hide images in JavaScript. Make them high res, easy to share, include alt tags and build a filter in Google Analytics for viewers by image search so you can see how they convert.- Rewrite or spin descriptions. Include long tail versions of keywords in descriptions as manufacturers don’t always use terms that users use.- Put delivery information on the product page to reduce drop outs and incentivise with special offers (e.g. spend x more to get free shipping)- Never 404 out of stock products, show relevant alternative products instead. Even if a product is discontinued you should 301 but never 404.- If products are being discontinued and people know, you can increase the price and let people know you can still get it from them- Make sure you are on Google shopping and build a filter to track this (see bada.ms/trackgoogleshopping for tips on making this filter)- Sign up for review sites, aggregate product reviews (such as by adding to them to Revoo or using Schema).- Prevent duplicate pages using: Robots.txt, Canonical tags, No index/follow, hide facet links in JavaScript, use XML Sitemaps and manage parameters in Google Webmaster Tools.- For link building use blogger outreach, awards, giveaways, guest posts, press releases, article marketing and blogger events.- Put social share buttons on every product page and order confirmation page

It’s crucial to review and update your eCommerce marketing strategy regularly, particularly when you introduce new products, change market conditions, or notice shifts in customer behaviour. We recommend conducting these reviews at least quarterly, though certain metrics—like campaign performance or market trends—may warrant more frequent evaluations. This allows you to stay agile and adapt your strategies based on data and findings.

Customer feedback is invaluable in shaping and refining eCommerce marketing strategies. By regularly gathering input through reviews, surveys, and social media interactions, you can gain insights into customer preferences, pain points, and satisfaction levels. This information can guide product development, marketing messages, and promotional strategies, ensuring you meet your audience’s needs effectively.

eCommerce marketing primarily focuses on online sales and digital interactions, while traditional marketing encompasses a broader range of channels such as print, television, and radio. eCommerce marketing allows for immediate engagement with customers through targeted and measurable campaigns. Additionally, digital marketing strategies can often be adjusted in real-time based on performance data, making them more flexible than traditional marketing methods.

We measure the effectiveness of eCommerce marketing campaigns through key performance indicators (KPIs), such as conversion rates, return on advertising spend (ROAS), customer acquisition costs, and overall sales revenue. We track these metrics using analytic tools, enabling us to understand the impact of our campaigns and make data-driven adjustments for improved performance.

Developing a tailored eCommerce marketing strategy starts with understanding your business goals, target market, and competitive landscape. We conduct research to identify your audience’s behaviour, preferences, and pain points. This information informs our approach, allowing us to select the most effective channels and tactics. We then create a comprehensive plan that outlines specific marketing objectives, timelines, and KPIs to measure success.

We start by understanding your business goals and defining your target audience. This involves conducting market research to identify customer preferences, behaviours, and demographics. Based on this information, we develop a multi-channel marketing strategy that integrates various tactics tailored to your audience. We continuously analyse performance metrics and adjust the strategy as needed to maximise effectiveness and return on investment.

To start with our eCommerce marketing services, simply reach out to us to discuss your business objectives and challenges. We will schedule an initial consultation to understand your needs, followed by the development of a customised marketing strategy designed to drive sales and enhance your online presence.

Social media marketing can significantly benefit eCommerce businesses by increasing brand awareness and fostering customer engagement. Platforms like Instagram and Facebook allow you to showcase your products visually, share promotions, and connect with your audience on a personal level. Additionally, social media provides valuable insights into consumer preferences, making it easier to tailor your marketing efforts and connect with potential customers.

Yes, we can assist with developing effective customer retention strategies as part of your eCommerce marketing efforts. This may involve personalised email campaigns, loyalty programs, and engagement initiatives that reward repeat customers. Our goal is to create a positive customer experience that encourages long-term loyalty and repeat purchases.

Absolutely, we use content management systems (CMS) to make sure that you’re in control of your shop without needing to be a fully qualified developer. Of course, we’re always happy to help run the site if you need a hand.

Absolutely! We use remarketing and customer retention strategies to turn one-time buyers into repeat customers, increasing their lifetime value.

It depends on your target audience. Google Ads is ideal for search intent-driven shoppers, while Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok Ads work well for discovery-based purchases. Amazon Ads is essential for marketplace sellers

We primarily utilise Google Ads for eCommerce PPC campaigns, as it allows you to promote your products directly in search results where users are actively seeking similar items. We also leverage social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest, which provide highly visual ad formats and extensive targeting options to reach your ideal customers effectively.

The average cost-per-click (CPC) for eCommerce ads varies based on factors like industry competition, keyword popularity, and overall campaign strategy. We analyse these factors to estimate likely costs during the planning stage. Our goal is to effectively utilise your budget to achieve optimal visibility and returns, and we continuously monitor CPC to ensure your campaigns are cost-effective.

eCommerce PPC (pay-per-click) advertising is a digital marketing model specifically aimed at driving traffic to online stores through paid ads. Advertisers create ads that appear on search engines and social media platforms, paying only when users click on their ads. This approach allows businesses to promote their products directly to a highly targeted audience, making it a crucial tactic for driving immediate sales.

Ad extensions are additional pieces of information that can be added to your PPC ads, such as site links, reviews, locations, and call buttons. For eCommerce, they enhance your ad’s visibility and credibility. By providing more context and options for users, ad extensions improve the likelihood of clicks and conversions. They allow potential customers to see relevant information at a glance, making it easier for them to engage with your brand.

The ideal budget depends on your industry, competition, and business goals. We recommend starting with a minimum of £500–£1,000 per month and scaling as you see results.

PPC campaigns can generate traffic and sales within a few days of launch. However, ongoing optimisation is required for sustained success and improved ROI

Ad copy and visuals are crucial elements of a successful PPC campaign because they are the first things potential customers see. Compelling ad copy that highlights your unique selling points and includes a strong call to action can significantly increase click-through rates. Additionally, eye-catching visuals create a more engaging experience, especially on social media platforms where imagery plays a key role. We focus on creating ads that not only attract attention but also encourage audiences to take action.

Retargeting, or remarketing, is a powerful feature within PPC campaigns that allows you to deliver targeted ads to users who have previously visited your website without making a purchase. By keeping your brand in front of potential customers as they browse other sites, retargeting increases the chances of converting them into buyers. This strategy is effective because it targets an audience already familiar with your products, reminding them of their interest.

PPC differs from traditional advertising and organic marketing methods in that you only pay when a potential customer clicks on your ad. Unlike search engine optimisation (SEO), which focuses on obtaining organic traffic over time, PPC provides immediate visibility and results. This model offers precise targeting options, allowing you to reach specific demographics and audiences, making your marketing efforts more efficient.

We measure the success of PPC campaigns by tracking key metrics such as click-through rates (CTR), conversion rates, and return on ad spend (ROAS). A/B testing different ad variations enables us to determine what resonates best with your audience. We use analytics tools to evaluate performance, providing insights on how to continually improve and adjust strategies to achieve better results.

We conduct comprehensive keyword research to identify relevant search terms that potential customers are using to find products like yours. This includes analysing search volume, competition, and user intent. By selecting the right keywords, we ensure your ads are shown to users who are most likely to convert, maximising the effectiveness of your PPC campaigns.

Determining the budget for PPC campaigns involves a careful analysis of your business goals, competitive landscape, and target audience. We work with you to establish a budget that aligns with your revenue targets and marketing objectives. Additionally, we consider factors such as estimated cost-per-click (CPC) for your chosen keywords, expected conversion rates, and overall marketing costs, ensuring your budget is effectively allocated for optimal results.

Creating an effective PPC strategy for eCommerce begins with thorough keyword research to identify relevant search terms your audience is using. Once we have targeted keywords, we design compelling ad copy that highlights your products and includes strong calls to action. We also utilise ad extensions to provide additional information and offer attractive landing pages to ensure a seamless customer experience. Continuous monitoring and adjustments are essential to optimise ad performance and maximise returns.

To get started, simply contact us for a consultation. We’ll discuss your business objectives, target audience, and current marketing efforts. From there, we’ll develop a tailored PPC strategy designed to effectively promote your products and drive sales, leading to meaningful results for your eCommerce store.

Yes! We handle multi-channel PPC campaigns across Google, social media, and ecommerce marketplaces to maximise your reach and conversions.

Yes, we offer services to optimise existing PPC campaigns, focusing on improving performance metrics and maximizing your investment. This may involve updating ad copy, refining targeting criteria, adjusting bidding strategies, and testing new keywords. Our approach ensures that your campaigns adapt to market conditions and continue to drive results over time.

Yes! We build all our websites with SEO best practices in mind. This includes fast loading speeds, mobile optimisation, structured data, and keyword-friendly product pages to help your store rank higher in search engine results.

Yes, our eCommerce websites are built on user-friendly content management systems (CMS) that allow you to manage and update product listings, descriptions, and other site content easily. We provide training and support to ensure you are comfortable using the CMS, so you can make updates without needing technical support.

We support integration with all major payment providers, including PayPal, Stripe, Klarna, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and bank transfers.

Your website is your shop window and as such needs to capture your customer’s attention. While it is possible to build a highly functional eCommerce store using DIY platforms like Shopify, these solutions lack the deep customisation options and performance capabilities needed to futureproof the site. If you have any advanced features, our eCommerce websites can be built on a secure WordPress core and use the industry leading WooCommerce platform offering endless customisation options.

The process for designing your eCommerce website begins with an initial consultation to understand your business objectives and gather requirements. Following this, we conduct research and create wireframes or mockups for your site. Once we have your feedback and approval, our team develops the site, incorporating your branding, product listings, and desired features. We conduct thorough testing before launching to ensure everything works perfectly.

The timeline for building an eCommerce website varies based on several factors, including the complexity of the design, the number of products, and specific functionalities required. Generally, launching a new site can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. We provide a project timeline during our initial consultation, ensuring you are informed and updated throughout the development process.

To get started, simply contact us to arrange an initial consultation. During our meeting, we’ll discuss your vision for your online store and any specific features you want. From there, we’ll outline a tailored web design plan that meets your needs and sets you on the path to a successful eCommerce presence.

eCommerce web design refers to the process of creating and optimising online stores to provide a seamless shopping experience for customers. This involves combining user-friendly navigation, attractive layouts, and effective product presentation in a way that encourages conversions. A well-designed eCommerce website not only reflects your brand’s identity but also helps drive traffic, engage customers, and ultimately increase sales.

Key features of an effective eCommerce website include intuitive navigation, product search functionality, high-quality images, detailed product descriptions, secure payment options, and customer review sections. Additionally, the site should have a responsive design for mobile users, clear calls-to-action, an easy checkout process, and the ability to manage user accounts. Each of these features contributes to a seamless shopping experience and can significantly enhance conversion rates.

A well-designed eCommerce website is critical as it directly impacts user experience and conversion rates. If your website is visually appealing and easy to navigate, it encourages visitors to stay longer, explore more, and make purchases. Poor design, on the other hand, can lead to high bounce rates and lost sales opportunities. A professional eCommerce site also helps build trust and credibility with customers, which is essential for fostering long-term customer relationships.

We work with multiple eCommerce platforms, including Shopify, WooCommerce, and Magento, allowing us to choose the best fit based on your business requirements. Each platform has its strengths, and our team can help you select the right one that aligns with your goals while providing the flexibility and functionality needed to run your online store effectively.

We recommend a platform based on your business needs. Shopify is user-friendly and ideal for small to medium-sized businesses. WooCommerce integrates well with WordPress, offering flexibility. Magento is suited for larger enterprises requiring advanced functionality.

The cost varies based on complexity, features, and level of customisation. We offer flexible packages tailored to different budgets. Contact us for a free quote.

We ensure that product listings are well-organised and easy to navigate, featuring high-quality images, clear descriptions, and pricing information. Each product page is optimised for SEO to improve visibility in search results. We can also implement filtering options, categories, and a search bar, allowing customers to find specific items quickly. Well-managed product listings enhance the shopping experience and boost conversion rates.

We prioritise usability in our eCommerce web design process by conducting user research and testing throughout. This includes creating intuitive navigation structures, ensuring clear product categorisation, and designing a straightforward checkout process. We focus on layout and design elements that guide users effortlessly through their shopping journey, helping to reduce friction and enhance overall satisfaction.

Yes! We offer maintenance packages, performance monitoring, and regular updates to ensure your site remains secure, fast, and optimised for conversions

Absolutely! If your current website isn’t performing well, we can revamp it with a modern, user-friendly design that improves conversions while preserving your brand identity and data

Absolutely! Our eCommerce web design services include integrating your brand identity into the site. This encompasses the use of your brand’s colours, typography, logo, and visual elements in a way that conveys your brand’s personality. Strong branding consistency helps instill trust and recognition among customers, making them more likely to engage with your products.

Absolutely. In today’s market, a significant portion of online shopping occurs on mobile devices. We ensure that all of our eCommerce websites are fully responsive, adapting seamlessly to various screen sizes and devices. A mobile-friendly design improves user experience, which can lead to higher engagement and conversion rates, making it a critical component of modern eCommerce.

Yes! We can implement multi-currency and multi-language support, international shipping options, and region-specific tax configurations to help you sell globally.

Yes! We provide custom-designed email templates and persuasive copywriting tailored to your brand and audience.

Our email marketing service includes a variety of emails to suit different business needs. We create newsletters that share updates and build loyalty, promotional emails that drive sales with special offers, and announcement emails that inform recipients about new products or events. We also design welcome emails that make a great first impression, drip campaigns that nurture leads through automated series, and back-in-stock notifications to trigger purchases. Each email type is crafted to meet specific objectives while aligning with your brand’s voice and image.

We work with all major email marketing platforms, including Klaviyo, Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, Omnisend, and HubSpot.

List segmentation involves dividing your email subscriber list into smaller, defined groups based on specific criteria such as demographics, interests, past purchase behaviour, or engagement history. This practice is crucial because it allows you to deliver more personalised and relevant content to each group, significantly improving engagement rates. By sending targeted messages that speak directly to the needs and desires of different audience segments, you can increase open and click-through rates, boost conversions, and build stronger relationships with your subscribers.

Email marketing is a digital strategy focused on sending emails to potential and existing customers to build relationships, promote products or services, and drive engagement. Its importance lies in its direct and personal nature, allowing businesses to communicate one-on-one with their audience. This strategy is both cost-effective and measurable, offering a significant return on investment compared to other forms of marketing. Email marketing can help nurture prospects, keep customers informed, and ultimately drive consistent revenue growth for your business.

Use your own list of email lead contacts and incorporate a subscription box to your website to build your email marketing list of contacts.

The frequency depends on your audience and goals. Typically, 1-4 emails per week is optimal, balancing engagement without overwhelming subscribers.

The optimal frequency of email communications varies depending on your industry, audience, and business goals. We work closely with you to establish a schedule that delivers consistent value without overwhelming your subscribers. Generally, it’s essential to maintain a regular presence in your audience’s inbox—whether that means weekly newsletters, monthly updates, or time-sensitive offers. We monitor engagement metrics and gather feedback to adjust the frequency and timing of emails to align with your audience’s preferences and maximize effectiveness.

We measure success using a variety of key performance indicators (KPIs) that provide insight into how well each campaign performs. These metrics include open rates, which show how many recipients opened the email, and click-through rates, indicating the number of subscribers who clicked on a link within the email. We also track conversion rates to measure how many recipients took the desired action, such as making a purchase or signing up for an event. Furthermore, we calculate the overall return on investment, comparing the revenue generated from email marketing against the costs. Detailed reports are provided to highlight successes and areas for improvement.

We track key performance metrics such as open rates, click-through rates (CTR), conversion rates, revenue generated, and subscriber growth to optimise future campaigns.

We use several strategies to ensure the effectiveness of your email campaigns. First, we segment your audience to deliver relevant content to each group, increasing engagement and conversion rates. We craft personalised content that resonates with subscribers, enhancing their connection to your brand. Optimising subject lines for higher open rates and utilising compelling visuals to catch the reader’s eye are also key components. Additionally, we conduct A/B testing on different elements of the emails, such as subject lines and call-to-action buttons, to identify what works best for your audience.

Getting started is simple. Reach out to us to discuss your business needs and objectives. We’ll schedule a consultation to learn about your goals and challenges. Based on our discussion, we develop a tailored email marketing strategy designed to achieve your objectives. Our team then handles the setup, content creation, and deployment of your campaigns, ensuring a smooth process from start to finish. We’re here to support you every step of the way, providing insights and recommendations as your email marketing efforts evolve.

Email marketing provides numerous benefits, including increased brand awareness and customer retention. By engaging regularly with your audience, you can keep your brand top-of-mind and encourage repeat business. It also enables you to tailor messages to specific segments of your audience, ensuring relevance and increasing the likelihood of conversion. Moreover, email marketing drives traffic to your website, boosts sales through targeted campaigns, and provides valuable data insights through detailed reporting, which can guide future marketing strategies.

Yes, we can integrate our email marketing efforts with your existing CRM platforms, such as Salesforce, Pipedrive, or other systems. This integration allows for seamless data exchange, enabling personalised communication based on customer interactions and histories. By syncing with your CRM, we ensure that your email marketing strategy is aligned with your overall customer relationship management approach, enhancing your ability to provide timely and relevant content to each segment of your audience.

Absolutely! We implement list-building strategies like pop-ups, lead magnets, and exclusive discounts to attract and retain subscribers.

Yes, we can help you expand your subscriber list through several proven strategies. We design and strategically place sign-up forms on your website and social media channels to capture interest. Additionally, we create compelling lead magnets, such as eBooks, discount offers, or exclusive content, to incentivize sign-ups. Targeted campaigns, such as social media ads or referral programs, can also drive new subscriber growth. Our goal is to build a quality list of engaged subscribers eager to hear from your brand.

Absolutely! We provide clear and concise instructions on how to implement your new email signature in various email clients, whether it be Gmail, Outlook, or another service. Our step-by-step guide ensures you can easily set up the signature without technical difficulties or confusion.

An email signature is a block of text and images that appears at the end of your emails and typically contains key information about the sender, such as their name, job title, company name, and contact details. An effective email signature is important because it adds a level of professionalism to your communications, reinforces your brand identity, and provides recipients with easy access to contact information and social media links. It serves as a handy tool for enhancing brand awareness and credibility with each email sent.

A well-designed email signature should contain essential information, including your name, job title, company name, phone number, and email address. It can also feature your company logo, links to your social media profiles, and a tagline or call to action that reflects your brand’s identity. Including this information ensures that recipients have all they need to connect with you or learn more about your business.

When designing an email signature, we take into account your brand’s colour scheme, typography, and overall visual identity. The design must be visually appealing yet functional, ensuring that vital information is easily readable. We focus on balancing aesthetics and clarity, using elements such as logos and social media icons to promote brand recognition while maintaining a professional appearance.

The cost of our email signature design service can vary based on the complexity of the design and whether you require multiple signatures for a team. After discussing your specific needs during a consultation, we can provide a detailed quote that aligns with your requirements and budget.

We design email signatures to be compatible with major email clients such as Outlook, Gmail, and Apple Mail. Using HTML and CSS best practices, we ensure that the signatures render correctly for various platforms and devices. We thoroughly test the signatures to identify and resolve any formatting issues so recipients have a consistent and visually appealing experience, regardless of their email client.

To get started, simply reach out to us through our contact page. We’ll set up an initial consultation to discuss your branding needs and preferences, and from there, we’ll create a custom email signature that enhances your professional communications.

Yes, we can enhance your existing email signature by refreshing the design, improving readability, and ensuring it aligns with your current branding. We will discuss your preferences and gather feedback on what aspects you’d like to improve or highlight. Our goal is to create an email signature that better reflects your brand and engages your audience effectively.

Yes, we can create standardised email signatures for teams or multiple users within an organisation, ensuring consistency across all communications. Our process involves designing templates that can be easily implemented by each team member, allowing everyone to represent the brand uniformly. This not only enhances the professionalism of emails but also reinforces brand identity.

Yes, we create email signatures that are easy to update. If you need to change information such as job title, phone number, or links, we will provide you with simple guidelines to follow, allowing you to make updates without requiring technical assistance.

• No, your quote or enquiry is completely free and no-obligation.
• Your details and privacy are important – and never passed-on or sold to 3rd parties.
• Strict no-cold calling policy.

We can take payment for project work with bank transfers, debit and credit cards, direct debit. For retainer work we require payment by direct debit.

More information

Contact us for more information here.

No. For peace of mind, all your work is completed by Alloy – except for 2 specific areas:

1. Advanced webdevelopment + programming – In very rare cases for very large custom coded web projects some help is required from independent consultants.
2. Expert UK academic copy writers – for very specialist sectors/niches – healthcare / science/ tech / news – sometimes independent authors assist with ongoing marketing campaigns.

Yes – but work (including consulting) cannot commence until payment has fully cleared.

• Other payment options include bank transfer/deposit .

To be eligible for Google Ad Grants, organisations must hold current nonprofit status as specified by local laws, and be registered as a charity with Google for Nonprofits. Additionally, eligible organisations need to adhere to specific guidelines, including compliance with Google’s advertising policies. It’s essential to check the requirements based on your country, as these can vary.

With Google Ad Grants, you can create various campaigns to promote your nonprofit’s mission, attract donations, recruit volunteers, or publicise specific events. You can use text ads that appear in search results when users search for relevant keywords related to your organisation. The key is to build campaigns that align with your goals and reach your target audience effectively.

While Google Ad Grants offer substantial funding, there are specific limitations to be aware of. For example, grant recipients are restricted to using text ads only, and there are requirements for keyword selection and performance—such as maintaining a 5% click-through rate (CTR) each month. Additionally, there’s a limit on the maximum cost-per-click (CPC), which can affect ad visibility. Being aware of these guidelines and adhering to them is crucial for maintaining grant eligibility.

Google Ad Grants is a programme that provides eligible nonprofit organisations with free advertising on the Google Ads platform. Grants allow nonprofits to promote their missions and attract support through sponsored listings that appear in Google search results. Eligible organizations can receive up to £8,000 per month in advertising credits, helping them reach a broader audience without incurring advertising costs.

There’s no formal minimum commitment, but managing Google Ad Grants effectively requires ongoing effort. Regular monitoring and adjustments based on campaign performance are essential to achieve the best results. We recommend subscribing to ongoing management services so that your campaigns can remain optimised and compliant with the latest guidelines.

The success of Google Ad Grants campaigns is measured through various metrics, including click-through rates (CTR), conversion rates, and user engagement on your website. We track data from Google Ads and Google Analytics to evaluate performance, providing insights into how effectively the campaigns are reaching your audience and achieving your goals.

To get started, simply reach out to us for a consultation. We’ll discuss your nonprofit’s goals, existing materials, and how the Google Ad Grants programme can fit into your overall marketing strategy. From there, we’ll guide you through the application process and help you develop effective campaigns that support your mission.

We offer comprehensive services to help manage your Google Ad Grants account, including setting up and optimising campaigns, conducting keyword research, crafting compelling ad copy, and monitoring performance metrics. Our expertise ensures that your campaigns comply with Google’s guidelines and are optimised for maximum visibility and engagement. We also provide regular reporting to track results and make necessary adjustments to improve performance.

To apply for Google Ad Grants, you first need to register your nonprofit with Google for Nonprofits. Once you’re approved, you can apply for the Google Ad Grants programme through the Google Ads platform. The application process typically involves providing information about your organisation, describing how you plan to use the ad credits, and demonstrating how your website fits Google’s guidelines.

Google Ad Grants are available in many countries, but eligibility varies based on local regulations. It’s essential to check the specific eligibility criteria in your country to ensure compliance with both nonprofit status and Google’s policies.

Google Ads offers several campaign types, including: -Search campaigns which feature text ads on Google search results. -Display campaigns – which show visual ads across various websites. -Shopping campaigns- ideal for eCommerce businesses showcasing products with images and prices.- Video campaigns- primarily for advertising on YouTube. Each campaign type serves different marketing goals and targets different audiences allowing flexibility in approach.

Google Ads is a paid advertising method that places your business at the top of search results immediately, while SEO (search engine optimisation) is focused on organic search rankings, which take time to build. While Google Ads can deliver quick results and visibility, SEO establishes long-term credibility and consistent traffic through quality content and website optimisation.

The average cost per click (CPC) for Google Ads varies widely depending on the industry, competition for keywords, and campaign settings. Some keywords may cost just a few pence, while others in highly competitive industries can reach several pounds or more. Our approach involves careful keyword selection and bid management to ensure you get the best return on investment while staying within budget. We work with you to establish your spending limits and monitor campaigns closely to optimise costs.

Google Ads is an online advertising platform that allows businesses to create ads that appear on Google’s search results pages and across its advertising network. Advertisers pay for visibility, typically through a pay-per-click (PPC) model, where they only pay when someone clicks on their ad. This method allows companies to target potential customers actively searching for their products or services, making it a highly effective advertising strategy.

Your budget for Google Ads will depend on various factors, including your business goals, industry competition, and target audience. We work with you to establish an appropriate budget that aligns with your marketing objectives, ensuring that your ads reach the right audience effectively. We can also help you optimise your ad spend to maximise results.

Ad copy is critical in Google Ads because it directly impacts the effectiveness of your campaigns. It is the first thing potential customers see when they come across your ad, making it essential for capturing their attention. Well-crafted ad copy should clearly communicate the value of your products or services, include compelling calls to action, and highlight unique selling points that differentiate you from competitors. Engaging and persuasive copy can significantly improve your click-through rates (CTR), leading to more traffic and higher conversion rates.

Success in Google Ads campaigns is measured through various performance metrics. Key indicators include click-through rates (CTR), which show how many people clicked on your ads compared to how many saw them; conversion rates, indicating the percentage of visitors who took the desired action, such as making a purchase; and return on ad spend (ROAS), which measures the revenue generated for each pound spent on advertising. We provide detailed reports that analyse these metrics, helping you understand the effectiveness of your campaigns and where adjustments may be needed for optimal results.

Our team performs in-depth keyword research using various tools to identify the most relevant and effective search terms for your business. This includes analysing search volume, competition, and relevance to your products or services. By selecting the right keywords, we ensure your ads are shown to users actively searching for similar items, maximising visibility and click-through rates.

Creating compelling ad visuals involves a combination of strong design and clear messaging. For display ads, we ensure that visuals are eye-catching and relevant to your target audience while incorporating your branding elements, such as logos and colour schemes. We understand the importance of aligning visuals with your overall marketing strategy to enhance recognition and engagement. Additionally, we conduct A/B testing on different visuals to determine which resonates best with your audience, continually refining our approach based on performance metrics.

To get started with our Google Ads services, simply reach out to us for a friendly consultation. We will discuss your marketing goals, target audience, and any existing campaigns you may have. Based on this conversation, we’ll create a tailored proposal outlining how we can assist you in achieving your objectives through effective Google Ads campaigns. We look forward to collaborating with you to make the most of your advertising efforts.

Google Ads operates on a bidding system where advertisers select specific keywords they want to target. When users search for those keywords, Google holds an auction to determine which ads will appear and in what order. Factors such as the maximum bid, ad quality, and relevance play a role in this process. By setting up targeted campaigns, businesses can display ads to users most likely to convert, driving traffic to their websites.

Yes, we offer comprehensive services to set up and manage your Google Ads account effectively. Starting with an initial consultation, we’ll assess your business goals and develop a tailored campaign strategy. Our team handles the setup, including keyword selection, ad creation, and budget allocation, and we continually monitor and adjust your campaigns to ensure optimal performance. By doing this, we free you up to focus on your core business while we drive results through effective advertising.

Yes, our team specialises in crafting engaging ad copy that captures attention and encourages clicks. We focus on highlighting unique selling points, using strong calls-to-action, and ensuring compliance with Google’s advertising policies. Compelling ad copy is essential for improving click-through rates and driving conversions.

As part of your local SEO plan, we carry out a thorough analysis of your online competitors within your local market. Depending on the scale and competition for your market sector; the analysis will include:

Google Places should really be regarded as a BETA program – full of bugs – it is hardly supported considering the millions of users across the globe, with just a handful of American technical workers managing hundreds of thousands of complaints and problems.

1. Google do not care if your business is damaged by their ineptitude or the errors within their system.
2. In many cases, businesses who have relied on their website generating business from Maps and suffer a Maps bug which removes them from appearing, will be forced into buying Pay per click ads to keep their business afloat.
3. So in general, try to keep in mind these limitations when you have problems with your Google Places listing.
4. Read more about Google Places bugs that have caused major damage to small business owners http://marketing-blog.catalystemarketing.com/google-places-bug-listings-disappear.html

I generally use the 3,3,3 rule when assessing google issues that they have acknowledged as not right… Sometimes it gets fixed in 3 days as it was a minor issue. If not 3 days then 3 weeks as it takes time for the index to update and catch the changes If not 3 weeks then 3 months as it is is a serious problem and takes significant coding, debugging and reindexing.Google does not function on business time as we know it. Their fixes, annoying as they are, arrive due to the time frames dictated by internal demands and update schedules.After watching Google Places for 6 years I have come to the conclusion that most problems get fixed sooner or later… that is not very comforting to you as you are experiencing the loss caused by one of their bugs.

Take a look at some of the Places support forums:

• https://groups.google.com/a/googleproductforums.com/forum/#!category-topic/business/technical-issue/mPz5bqu7ViM
• https://groups.google.com/a/googleproductforums.com/forum/#!category-topic/business/technical-issue/9JszqkewMVU

This is a tough one, as they all offer different priced packages, for different locations of the UK and also for different business categories. And as you may already know – they have some very persistent salespeople to say the least!Offers really need to be considered on an individual basis – so please do get in touch with information of your package for a second opinion on anything.As a general rule though, these directories base their high prices on 2 benefits:

1. Having a listing on their site (especially useful to those companies who dont own a website) and also being featured near the top of categories within the directory
2. But more importantly – the high prices are based on the SEO benefits that these directory listings (used to) pass on to your business website – via the flow of authority through the link.

For almost a decade now it has been possible to buy these upgaded listings, from a few directories and as a result of the link authority passed over, your website could rank very high in the search results for your region. In effect, those companies who had the money to upgrade all their listings, would dominate the results in an unnatural way that does not offer Google’s users with the highest quality companies, but instead those companies who were prepared to pay.Fast-forward to 2012 and the search engine algorithms have advanced, to be able to minimise the unnatural influence of directory links on the search results. The directory companies know this, and are making their last ditch efforts to get some money out of customers not up-to-date with the increasing rate of change within the Microsoft and Google search quality algorithms.

1. So, if the SEO benefit from all these directories is fairly similar –
2. What are the viewing numbers of these websites – and which would be the best to advertise on?

Of course – getting a free listing on all of them is a great starting point – and this service is provided for you if you are paying for a monthly marketing plan. But as they all charge to upgrade -the difficult choice is prioritising which to invest in…In general my recommendations are as follows:

• Here’s the data the directory companies probably dont want you to know – it’s a year old but gives a good idea of the scale of readership and also rate of change.

Based on the following rates of change below – you can get an idea that even Yelp, would not likely be able to compete with Yell, Qype, hotfrog or Vivastreet.

On page SEO refers to optimisation of the content and coding of individual website pages to maximise the effects of all other search engine marketing efforts. On-page SEO can involve the following techniques:

• Adding metadata based on extensive keyword research
• Editing existing copy for optimal keyword density based on our recommended keywords
• Adding copy to enhance search engine relevance scoring factors
• Editing copy to improve customer conversion rates
• URL re-writing for SEO benefits including 301 redirects so you can keep getting the benefit and Page Rank flow from your old links
• Modification of navigation system for more indexable content by the search engine bots
• Improving landing page quality scores for PPC advertising campaigns

Off page SEO involves generating interest elsewhere on the web to attract traffic back to your website. Creating links that point back to your home page and product/service pages (we call this deep linking), serves the obvious purpose of increasing visitors onto your website. More importantly though, links between sites serve as a voting system and key part of Google’s Page Rank algorithm, a crucial ranking factor for search engine results performance.

• Link-building strategies aim to attract others on the internet to link back to your site
• Links from less popular or reputable sites are of little use to SEO but can boost traffic
• Links from reputable websites will boost your website’s performance

You will have no doubt received spam from companies offering link building services. 100 links from irrelevant, spammy or generally low quality sites will not be able to offer the same performance improvement as just 1 link from a high quality, reputable site. Our link building campaigns always obtain links that are of best-value, either for traffic generation or PageRank/SEO performance influence.

Online reviews are a great way of boosting your local SEO. Reviews on Google Places profiles, Bing local business listings and some key online directories that have review features can be collected and aggregated from across the web. Google collects this data then compiles it back on the Places profile page. These reviews, together with the signals that search engines gain from scanning page content, suggest whether a local business is relevant and should be offered in search results.

We’ve worked will all kinds of completely different businesses that all count themselves as manufacturers. From bespoke blinds system builders, to multi-national car parts creators. We’ve also worked with food and drink manufacturers and software companies who have all benefited from our flexible and powerful marketing. These are all companies that make things. Whether you sell to other businesses, directly to customers or both, we can help you communicate what makes you better than the competition.

We understand that many of those in the industry and manufacturing sectors work with highly specialised products . Often these products have their own specific nomenclature and require specialist language in order to properly explain and understand their use. Having worked with a number of highly specialised businesses across several different industries, we’ve learned how to successfully integrate ourselves into their marketing efficiently and authoritatively. We’ll take the time to learn about what you do and to understand your industry as part of the marketing process so that we can function just like an in house marketing department, but at a fraction of the cost.

The type of marketing that will benefit your manufacturing business most depends on your business goals. If you want to generate more sales, reduce the bounce rate of your website, expand your product/service selections or something else entirely, we’ll come up with a plan to help you. All of our marketing campaigns are built from combinations of a lot of different practises, each combination for each client is unique.

Marketing is different for any business. But our approach for doing marketing for manufacturing is the same as we would do for any sector. To make sure that your marketing gets the best results, it has to be tailored to your business. Depending on what you do, how you do it and what marketing you already do, we will suggest the marketing strategies that will get the most bang for your buck. Ultimately, because we get to grip with the value of what you offer, we can help you communicate that to your customers.

We carry out both business to business and business to consumer marketing for our clients in industry and manufacturing. We have found more manufacturers who would traditionally have operated strictly business to business services are now branching out into business to consumer sales through online shops. We can create a campaign to reach either type of customer, or both if you like. If you’re interested in getting your manufacturing company into the world of B2C sales we can help get you started on an eCommerce platform.

Our design software is primarily for graphic design rather than technical drawings, but we can work with images from CAD/CAM software. If in doubt, give us a quick call and let us know what you have in mind and we’ll come up with a solution.

If you’re interested in selling directly through your website, whether to other businesses or directly to consumers, we can help. Having previously integrated a variety of eCommerce solutions into sites for our clients, we know the pros and cons of each of the available platforms and payment gateways. Once we know a little bit about your customers, estimated sales volumes and products we’ll set you up with the most robust and economical platform for your business.

No two campaigns are ever the same – so your service will be completely tailored to your business and market/regional niche. But in general, all campaigns follow a similar pattern that is designed to offer your business the best possible start online.

1. Technical issues on website: Coding errors, accessibility issues and other SEO related technical problems may be holding your website back from both ranking well on the search results and not converting customers as well as possible. Multiple scans and tests are run to create a list of tasks to work through and resolve before and other online marketing can commence. Once your website (which is the foundation of your online marketing investments) is performing well – the next stage can begin.
2. Technical issues with your online presence: There’s a certain set of tasks and optimal ways of setting up your social media properties, maps and directory listings – which are the fundamentals of giving your business the best chance of gaining increased exposure from online sources. You could do these tasks yourself – but your monthly plan covers this with our service, based on years of experience and experimenting with the variables – these foundations are cost effectively set at their optimal values to act as a multiplier and give your online marketing investments the maximum returns.
3. Increasing brand awareness: Generating buzz online about your brand – through the sharing of news and content, through your website, social media channels, and other online outlets to create the perfect combination of signals that gives the Google and Bing ranking algorithms, no doubts that your business is reputable, active and should be ranking well.
4. Monitoring reputation and engaging customers: Systems are set in place to monitor mentions of your business and then take action to respond, defuse or encourage criticisms and positive reviews. Taking the worry out of advertising your business online.
5. Tracking & reporting: When your campaigns are started, almost every activity is tracked and can be monitored to track success rates, and make improvements based on actual data. Monthly plans come with an end of month report with detailed breakdowns of change over the last month. Just some of the data included in your report covers:
1. Weekly rank tracking on Google + Bing of your target keywords
2. Full Google analytics integration with engagement, usabilty and goal conversion rate reporting
3. Extensive Domain + link metric data from SEMRush, Alexa, Wordtracker, OpensiteExlorer, Adwords KW Tool, OpenCalais API, uberVU
4. Brand name mention monitoring + automated sentiment analysis.

• On receipt of your invoice, payments are accepted by direct debit or card only.
• Payment for each month is in advance and work will commence on receipt of payment for the first instalment.
• Subsequent invoices are sent on the 1st day of the next month and payment is expected within 15 days.
• If you intend to pursue a long-term campaign, please enquire about discounts for paying 3/6/12 months in advance.

Product Strategy

Explore your long-term product strategy with more depth. Consider services as products if applicable. Assess whether your current offerings are viable and how they can be enhanced. Identify new products needed to meet market shifts. Key considerations include:

• Features and Benefits Evaluate if new features add value. Determine if certain elements are unnecessary and can be removed.
• Unique Selling Proposition Highlight what sets your products apart.
• Future Products Ensure your range includes items likely to be in demand. Assess seasonal product lines and optimise quiet periods.
• Profitability and Potential Compare profitability and future potential of each product line.

Price Strategy

Pricing impacts sales volume, target market, and profit. Setting the right price is crucial both for new developments and existing products. Key factors include:

• Cost Considerations Prices should cover generation or marketing costs and produce profit. Consider whole range costs, not just individual products.
• Demand Impact Price sensitivity varies; small changes can impact demand. Differentiate to lessen price sensitivity.
• Competition Benchmarking Use competitor pricing as a benchmark but strive for differentiation.
• Image and Perception Pricing sends market signals. Avoid pricing too low as it may suggest inferiority. High prices can enhance exclusivity.

Distribution Strategy (Place)

Ensure product availability meets customer expectations. Consider:

• Direct Sales Retail, online, and mail order options.
• Intermediaries Agents, specialist outlets.
• Wholesalers Reduce administrative burdens.

Evaluate options based on customer needs, product characteristics, and competition.

Promotional Strategy

Promotion distinguishes your offerings and attracts business. It’s about using various techniques to create awareness and drive sales. Consider:

• Public Relations Develop long-term strategies to build a positive image.
• Advertising Choose suitable media for your target audience with a consistent message.
• Direct Marketing Engage customers directly, measuring response for efficiency.
• Sales Promotion Use tactical offers like samples or discounts to encourage sales.

Service Elements (If applicable)

Service marketing involves people, processes, and physical evidence, which require distinct strategies. Consider:

• People Staff training and presentation reflect service quality.
• Processes Consistent service levels through routines, even during peak times.
• Physical Evidence Enhance customer experience with memorable premises or uniforms.

Tailor strategies to meet the specific needs of your market and enhance your overall brand identity.

Sustained investment in marketing while you are busy, can really help to make the quiet months a lot easier. Companies that try to invest in marketing in short bursts, to get themselves out of “quiet dips”, often really struggle to maintain any kind of momentum, which would help to stabilise turnover and compensate for seasonal dips and troughs.

General marketing tips

• Keeping an eye on all your marketing “bases” throughout the financial year will help to ensure you are prepared and ready to tackle any seasonal dips in demand for your products or services
• As you  know – marketing is all about getting in front of your potential customer’s eyeballs or ears
• More appearances in front of the potential customer (impressions) increases the chances that they will either be won over by your marketing message and buy from you, or they may have noticed your brand enough times to have built up brand awareness or even trust in your brand which motivates them to buy.
• Getting your business in front of customers requires a marketing across many different channels to increase your chances of getting customers, whilst always tracking to see which channels are working best.
• It can really help to begin collecting and building a database of your past customers and enquiries, the more information is better: Name, address, email, phone, size of property, quote price, final invoice price, any other notes. etc.
• It can help to use a tool to organise and manage all these contacts/clients, and you will find many CRM (customer relationship management) tools online, some better than others. Get in touch for more information on help setting up the best CRM system for your business as we have a lot of experience in this area, and especially as some can be linked with your website’s enquiry form for even more convenience.

Marketing channels to mobilise

1. Word of mouth marketing – Get business cards, flyers, brochures and promotional items printed and ready for use throughout the year. Then in quiet months you could push a local flyer campaign or take some time to fit local networking events into your schedule handing out flyers and building relationships with local business owners.
2. Email marketing – Continuously collect customer and enquiry information and store in your spreadsheet or CRM software. In quiet months you can send out special offers and discounts to your database of email addresses, these past customers should have a good conversion rate so contacting them occasionally with an email campaign can help to generate some sales.
3. Search engine marketing: PPC – Pay per click advertising offers immediate returns on your investment as you can visitors and clicks within a few hours. But without proper setup and maintenance of your ads they can end up costing you a fortune, so get some free advice before making any decisions and I will do my best to recommend the very best investments for your business type and requirements.
4. Social media marketing – Building up many followers throughout the year can help when business is quiet, as you have a larger group of potential customers to broadcast your message to. If business is slow It can be useful to spend some spare time reaching out to local customers or companies on twitter, facebook and even linkedin. But be careful to not waste your time as there are limits to the benefits from most strategies.
5. Search engine marketing: SEO – It can take days, weeks or even months for the benefits of SEO work to start to show, so you cant rely on SEO as a quick fix to get out of dip in sales. Investment in SEO throughout the year will help to build up a great website and presence online so that you can continue to get hits on your website when there are seasonal dips in demand. If you have any spare time, one of the most valuable things you can do to help our SEO efforts is to produce news and information articles related to your industry for publishing on the website.

Our minimum retainer period is 3 months, we think by that time you’ll be more than convinced of the value of our work. If, after that time, you decide you would like to move on that’s no problem at all. We won’t wrap you up in legal red tape and make it difficult for you to leave. We do use third party reporting tools to show the progress of your campaign and detail how your budget is being spent. Our friendly team are more than happy to go through these reports with you if you wish.

• 3 months minimum term for all marketing plans as it can take 2-3 months for the benefits of improvements to impact ranks, so a minimum term demonstrates your commitment to a successful campaign
• If you’re unsure about the commitment – why not try a 3 month campaign then observe the results for a month or 2
• You can resume your campaign at any point within 1 year
• This gives you chance to appreciate progress and consider the challenges of becoming one of the top companies on the web within your region/niche
• And gives us a guide to calculate the cost/value of generating a steady stream of leads from the internet via search engines.
• Whether it takes a further 3 months or 12 months to get the rankings you need to deliver your required level of visitors, your campaign is scaled to realistically seek dominance within hyperlocal/micro-niches of your industry.

We completely understand the need to protect your brand image, voice and reputation. We would want the same for ourselves. Rest assured that we are a small, passionate team who will take the time to really understand your business and get the tone right.

Absolutely, but we know it’s not always immediately obvious. For all our digital activity we provide third party reports to take any uncertainty out of the equation. Even with physical marketing such as flyers and business cards we have tools which can track progress to show how your budget is used to get results from your campaign.

Even if your main source of business is government contracts put out to tender, or so niche that you think no-one is searching for it, people instinctively get started with Google these days. Companies will have to do due diligence when choosing a supplier and may find you for the first time during this process. If only a very small number of people are searching for your products this is a great opportunity to make progress in search rankings and make sure that you are at the top of the list when they search.

We provide a wide range of photography services tailored to meet various needs, including product photography, corporate headshots, event photography, lifestyle shoots, and commercial photography. Each type of photography is designed to capture the essence of your brand and effectively showcase your products or events. Our goal is to produce high-quality images that resonate with your target audience and support your marketing efforts.

Booking a photography session begins with reaching out to us to discuss your requirements, including the type of photography you need, the desired timeline, and any specific goals. We’ll schedule an initial consultation to go over the details and understand your vision. Following this meeting, we’ll send you a proposal that outlines the cost and scope of the project. Once you approve, we can set a date for the shoot and start making arrangements to ensure everything runs smoothly.

We deliver final images in various formats tailored to your needs. Typically, you will receive high-resolution files suitable for print and lower-resolution files optimised for web use. Depending on your requirements, we can also provide images in different formats such as JPEG, PNG, or TIFF. This ensures you have the right files for all your marketing materials, whether online or in print.

The turnaround time for receiving final images varies based on the complexity of the project and the number of images taken. Generally, you can expect to receive your edited images within one to two weeks after the shoot. For larger projects or during busy seasons, the timeline may extend, but we will keep you informed throughout the process and provide you with an estimated delivery date.

We offer a range of photography packages designed to accommodate various budgets, ensuring that high-quality imagery is accessible to businesses of all sizes. Our competitive pricing is based on transparent quotes that detail the scope of the project, including shooting time, editing, and any additional services. We work with you to understand your budget constraints and deliver the best possible results within your means.

Product photography requires a careful approach to effectively showcase the features and details of each item. We start by gathering information about the products, including their unique selling points, to plan the shoot accordingly. High-quality lighting is crucial, so we ensure proper setup to highlight textures and colours accurately. We also focus on composition, using various angles and backgrounds to create visually appealing images that attract potential buyers. After the shoot, we conduct meticulous post-production editing to enhance the final images and ensure they align with your brand identity.

To ensure high-quality images, we use professional-grade equipment that captures sharp, detailed photos. Our photographers have extensive experience and a keen eye for composition, lighting, and angles that enhance the subject matter. We also use advanced techniques during post-production to edit and retouch images, ensuring they meet the highest standards before delivery. This careful attention to detail results in stunning images that effectively represent your brand.

To get started with our photography services, simply contact us to discuss your project. We’ll arrange a consultation to explore your needs, preferences, and goals. From there, we can outline a plan for the shoot, including timelines, concepts, and any specific requirements you may have. We look forward to capturing stunning visuals that help elevate your brand.

For some businesses, shot of products in real world situations are the best way to really show them off. Just pop your products in the post to us we’ll snap some eye catching images out in the real world.

We offer both on-location photography and studio sessions, depending on your preferences and project requirements. On-location shoots allow us to capture your products in their natural setting, which can create a more authentic feel. However, if you prefer studio photography, we have a well-equipped studio space where we can control lighting and background elements for a polished look. We can discuss the best option for your specific needs during our initial consultation.

Yes we can professional photograph your products. For larger projects we can travel to you, or simply have them delivered to our studio in Manchester and we’ll take them here.

Even the best professional photographs often need a bit of editing work before they’re ready to use online or in print. If you’ve had some photographs taken for your business but they don’t look quite right yet we would be happy to help. We have a range of cutting edge photo editing software that transform dull and lifeless photographs into great ones. Send us over an example of what you’d like and we’ll let you know how much of improvement you can expect. If you need new or additional photographs taking we can help you with that.

Yes we can produce a wide variety of videos with gallery and image slideshow effects. We can work with images from anywhere, even from you smartphone. We can create anything from powerpoint style slide shows, to piles of polaroid-style virtual photographs and annotated clips set to music, or even with a voiceover. We’ve got cutting edge graphic design and photo editing software at our disposal so there’s an amazing amount of things we can do manipulate images. Let us know what you have in mind and we’ll get to work making it happen.

The next best alternative to product photography is a professional quality digital mockup. We’ve created digital mockups for a lot of clients in the past and would be happy to help you with yours. We can add your product images or website screenshots to computer screens, mobile phones, billboards and anything else you like to show off simulations of your product or brand in the real world.

Yes, we can help with styling and sourcing props for your photography shoots. Our team understands the importance of presentation in photography, so we collaborate with you to select props and backgrounds that complement your products and branding. Whether it’s coordinating outfits for lifestyle shoots or arranging items for product photography, we ensure that every element works harmoniously to enhance the visual storytelling.

Watermarking and branding images is a good way to make sure your pictures can’t be used without reference to your business. Our graphic designers can add any graphics you like to your existing images. If you don’t already have branding or a logo, we can help you with that too. Take a look at our logo and branding services.

We primarily use Google Ads for search advertising, as it accounts for a large share of online searches. Additionally, we employ platforms like Bing Ads and social media networks such as Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn for targeted advertising campaigns. Each platform offers unique targeting and audience engagement opportunities, allowing us to tailor strategies based on your business goals.

We track several key performance indicators (KPIs) to evaluate PPC campaign performance. These include click-through rates (CTR), which measure the percentage of users who clicked on the ad versus how many saw it; conversion rates, which show the percentage of visitors who completed the desired action, such as a purchase; and cost per acquisition (CPA), which helps assess the cost-effectiveness of obtaining a new customer. By analysing these metrics, we can refine our strategies and ensure your advertising spend is working efficiently.

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is a digital marketing model where advertisers pay a fee each time one of their ads is clicked. It’s primarily used on search engines like Google but is also applicable on social media platforms. This model allows businesses to drive traffic to their websites by placing ads in front of potential customers actively searching for relevant products or services. PPC can deliver immediate visibility and is highly effective for generating leads and sales quickly.

The bounce rate of a website refers to the percentage of visitors who visit (or land) on the site then quickly leave the site (or bounce). It is used to give an idea of the quality of the site. Sites that have an easy to understand layout and are simple to navigate tend to have the lowest bounce rates.

PPC offers several significant benefits, including immediate visibility and access to a vast audience, as ads can appear at the top of search results quickly. It provides precise targeting options, allowing you to reach specific demographics, locations, and interests, which helps ensure that your ads are seen by the right people. Furthermore, PPC campaigns are highly measurable, enabling you to track performance metrics such as click-through rates and conversion rates, which allows for ongoing optimisation of your spending for maximum results.

Of course! We can jump onboard with your existing ad campaign, to make improvements or add more ads. Our experienced team is fantastic at picking up on areas where we can make significant improvements, and our broad range of skills from copy writing and data analysis.

We can help you set up everything from scratch. Firstly, we will help you put together a plan. If you know exactly what products you want to sell, and who you need to target, then we will get you started on the platform that will work best for your goals, this might be Google, Facebook, Bing, Instagram or all of the above. Once these foundations are in place we can write original ads with engaging copy to give your campaign a launchpad. Once it’s up and running we will make ongoing improvements and tweaks to improve the cost and refine the targeting as the campaign continues.

We monitor PPC campaigns regularly and make adjustments as needed to optimise performance. This can include changing ad copy, adjusting targeting options, or reallocating budget based on keywords delivering the best results. Regularly reviewing campaign performance is crucial to ensuring that your advertising efforts remain effective and aligned with your business goals.

This is a really good question and one that’s tricky to answer as it will depend on your situation. Sometimes, it can be hard to know how much you should spend, but ultimately, the answer should be determined by how much your customers are worth. We can help you collect and analyse the data to show how much it costs to acquire each customer. If you know how much you make from each customer, then we can work out if it’s worth it. Even if you are already making a return on your ad campaign, we can help make further improvements. On large campaigns, even a tiny improvement in CPC or CTR can result in big savings, so get in touch to see what we can do for you. For most platforms, such as Google Ads, you pay the platform directly for the ads by linking them to a payment card. We can set this up for you. You give us permission in the platform to act as a manager, and we make sure that your ads are fully operational and optimised.

One of the advantages of PPC advertising is that you can see results almost immediately after launching a campaign. However, it can take time to optimise campaigns fully for the best results. During the first few weeks, we gather data to see what works and what doesn’t, allowing for adjustments that will enhance performance over time. With effective management, you should start seeing positive results within the first month.

We track the success of PPC campaigns using various metrics, including click-through rates (CTR), conversion rates, and return on investment (ROI). We use analytics tools like Google Analytics to monitor how visitors interact with your site after clicking on an ad. Regular reporting provides insights into performance, enabling us to identify areas for improvement and optimise campaigns accordingly.

We use advanced targeting options available on PPC platforms to ensure that your ads reach the right audience. This includes targeting specific demographics, interests, and behaviours. We also utilise remarketing strategies to re-engage past visitors who have shown interest in your products. By precisely targeting your audience, we increase the likelihood of conversions and ensure your advertising budget is spent effectively.

The right budget for PPC advertising depends on your business goals, the competitiveness of your industry, and the specific campaigns you want to run. We work with you to establish a budget that aligns with your overall marketing objectives, considering factors such as estimated cost-per-click (CPC) for your targeted keywords, expected conversion rates, and desired outcomes. By carefully allocating your budget, we aim to maximise your return on investment while ensuring you reach your target audience effectively.

To create effective PPC campaigns, we begin with comprehensive keyword research to identify the terms and phrases that your target audience is searching for. We then craft compelling ad copy that highlights your unique selling points and includes a clear call to action. Proper landing page optimisation is essential, ensuring that once users click on your ad, they find a seamless experience that encourages conversions. We continuously manage and adjust campaigns based on performance data, A/B testing different elements to improve results.

Google Ads is one of the most popular platforms for PPC advertising, allowing businesses to create ads that appear in Google search results and across its display network. Advertisers bid on keywords relevant to their business, and when users search those terms, their ads have the opportunity to appear at the top of the search results. Google Ads provides detailed targeting options and performance tracking, making it a powerful tool for driving traffic and increasing sales.

Getting started with our PPC advertising services is straightforward. Simply contact us to arrange an initial consultation, where we’ll discuss your business objectives and explore how PPC can fit into your overall marketing strategy. We’ll conduct a thorough analysis and develop a tailored PPC campaign plan to help you achieve your goals

Absolutely! Our team conducts thorough keyword research to identify the most relevant and effective keywords for your PPC campaigns. We evaluate search volumes, competition levels, and user intent to select keywords that will drive quality traffic to your website. This ensures that your ads appear for the right searches, maximising your chances of attracting potential customers.

No, this is not possible and anyone promising this will use tactics that Google will ultimately penalise the website for, which will ruin its search performance. You can pay for Google Ads, which will mean your website shows at the top of search results pages for at least some of the day, but that is very different to ranking at the top of Google for organic searches.

Building and maintaining an active presence for your business online – top tips using social media

When you run a small to medium size business, you often carry out the roles of several employees within a larger company. Hopefully this article can help shed some light on getting the most out of your limited and valuable time, working on internet marketing and public relations using social media.

“Businesses who are relentless in building a following on social media are in fact creating their own publishing platforms, growing their marketing channels and content distribution networks. It is a digital asset that grows every year. Over time it can provide huge leverage and marketing independence if done right.”

Understand the demographics

1. 72% of all internet users are now active on social media
2. 18-29 year olds have an 89% usage
3. The 30-49 bracket sits at 72%
4. 60 percent of 50 to 60 year olds are active on social media
5. In the 65 plus bracket, 43% are using social media
6. Time spent on Facebook per hour spent online by country. Here are the top three. USA citizens get the top gong at 16% followed by the Aussies at 14 minutes and the Brits at 13 minutes.
7. 71% of users access social media from a mobile device.

The paradigm of social media only being used by the younger generations should be put to rest now!

Harnessing social media for your business

Social media is an often overlooked tool at your disposal to keep in touch with customers, keeping them interested and up to date with your services. Many people feel like social media has a life of its own, that they will never be able to get the hang of it, but remember social media can reach potential customers that wouldn’t normally get to know that your company even exists.

Tweets are something we see in our everyday lives, at the beginning of our favourite shows there are hashtags displayed on the screen, our news programs engage with viewers by reading out live tweets and adverts run competitions that utilise tweets, shares and #hashtags. You can make the most of this by spending a little time getting to know twitter.

Top tip: discover new accounts

Try checking out the “Discover” tab within your twitter account and see what is trending in your area. Twitter’s algorithms are constantly trying to connect you with other people and companies it sees as relevant to you, often these are not ideal, but occasionally twitter will suggest companies and accounts to follow that you would never have considered and could potentially open new avenues for generating leads for your business.

Diversify your lead generation sources

Your online presence is all about balance, just as with the rest of your business, so a good mix of sharing your own website’s content, social media messages from other accounts and up to date blogs will make your company stand out from the competition. By giving your customers something interesting to read they will build up more of an affinity to you and your services than they would to a company that just posts a flyer through the door.

Rather than forcing your marketing messages onto potential customers, seed your messages across multiple areas where customers could stumble across your brand, to reap the rewards of “pull marketing” instead of the usual interruption style “push marketing”

Social Media Stats you NEED to know

1. Social media marketing budgets are projected to double in the next five years. (SocialTimes)
2. The top three social networks used by B2B marketers are LinkedIn (91%); Twitter (85%); and Facebook (81%).
3. However, just 62% of marketers say that LinkedIn is effective, while 50% say the same for Twitter and only 30% of B2B marketers view Facebook as effective. (FlipCreator)
4. This one may surprise you: Google+ actually averages more visits per month than Facebook. Google+ receives 1.2 billion visits per month compared to Facebook’s 809 million. (iMedia Connection) Building a solid presence on Google+ is now an essential tool for B2B marketing
5. Grandma and grandpa are crashing teenagers’ social media party. The fastest-growing age cohort on Twitter is 55-to-64 year-olds, up 79% since 2012.
6. And the 45-54 age bracket is the fastest-growing group on both Facebook and Google+. (Fast Company)
7. The collective spending power of millennials will surpass that of Baby Boomers by 2018, and millennials will comprise 75% of the global labor force by 2025. (AllTwitter)
8. Millennials are, in general, not loyal to employers (91% expect to stay in a job for less than three years) but are loyal to brands (95% want brands to court them actively).(AllTwitter)

Build a personality for your brand

A simple tweet a day about the weather in the local area, an event in your town or to a local cafe you went for lunch will build up a personalised image to your followers increasing the chances of common ground, beliefs and ethics – extending the influence of your branding beyond the visuals of a simple logo and colour scheme, to more fundamental emotional triggers.

These followers could one day need a service from you and building an active social presence to get visibility on their social media streams increases the likelihood of your business being there in their social streams at the moment they need your service. If they feel passionately about ethical issues in common with you, such as supporting family-run businesses, buying organic or being eco-friendly, you will multiply your chances of converting these leads into customers.

Build a blog to prove yourself within your industry

By adding blog content to your website you can link to these pages in your tweets and social messages and give your followers something more involved to read about. Have you noticed how many people walk around looking at their phones, sitting on a bus, train, waiting for a friend? People entertain themselves looking at social media and keeping that content fresh will mean they always have a reason to check back to see what you are doing.

Click here to see a great example of small business blogging to market a chocolate manufacturing company.

Some tips to keep in mind:

• Don’t try too hard to sell products directly through twitter – post links to product pages that people can visit if they choose.
• Acting like a REAL person on twitter will make for a more interesting follow
• Post real links to real content that are related to your industry – become a ‘content curator’ to get far more followers
• Follow interesting people yourself, support other local business and they will support you back.
• Engage with customers that retweet and reply to you.

Other articles in our blog and internet marketing information category might hopefully fill some other gaps in your knowledge and allow you to generate a higher return from your investment of time and resources online.

First of all don’t panic, it’s not the end of the world. In fact, negative feedback can be far more useful for your business than positive! Negative comments give you a chance to demonstrate your professionalism in dealing with an unhappy customer and your dedication to outstanding customer service. A negative review with a mature and helpful response from a business can do wonders for boosting prospective customer confidence in the business.

Our tools run daily scans, these scans will be assembled into reports and delivered to you as often as you like. Most often once a week, or once a fortnight, depending on the level of interaction the business gets. If you would prefer us to respond to customers on your behalf and provide real time support and interaction we certainly can.

This is a classic advertising tactic, but could be seen as being a little dishonest. Whilst we wouldn’t encourage you to do it, we can’t stop you. Just bear in mind that if you provide the kind of positive customer experience that leads people to submit genuine positive reviews and feedback you’ll achieve far more steady and reliable long term growth than if you fake it.

That’s ok! If you don’t think you can explain what has gone wrong, try taking a picture or video on your phone and sharing that with us. Otherwise, if you can share the site logins with us we’ll have a look ourselves.

• WordPress login details (Admin user level)
• Website hosting login details (in case the website goes down and we cant access wordpress)

We’ll let you know how quickly we can get things sorted as soon as we’ve taken a look at the issue. Most issues can be fixed in 1-2 hours.

If you don’t know the login information for your website, you’ll need to ask the person who made the website for them. They should be happy to share this information with you.

Yes we can. Ask us about our web design services if you’re looking for new features, we would be delighted to help.

Reputation management is vital because a positive reputation can significantly influence customer decisions. In today’s digital age, prospective customers often rely on online reviews and ratings before making a purchase. A tarnished reputation can lead to decreased sales, loss of customer trust, and overall damage to your brand’s image. By actively managing your reputation, you can protect your brand, enhance customer loyalty, and attract new customers.

Our tools can monitor reviews on Facebook, Google Maps, Yahoo Local, Yell, Thomson Local and Freeindex.

Improving a brand’s reputation involves several strategies, including actively responding to customer feedback—both positive and negative. We focus on promoting positive content and customer stories to highlight your strengths. Additionally, we implement targeted outreach campaigns to engage with customers and encourage them to share positive reviews. If negative feedback or issues arise, we work on implementing resolutions and transparent communication to regain customer trust.

Reputation management involves monitoring and influencing how your brand is perceived by customers and the public. It includes managing online reviews, responding to customer feedback, and maintaining a positive public image. An essential aspect of reputation management is addressing any negative publicity or comments promptly to mitigate their impact on your business. Effective reputation management fosters trust and credibility, which are crucial for long-term success.

There are various tools available for reputation management, including social listening software, review monitoring platforms, and analytics tools. These tools help track mentions of your brand across the internet, assess customer sentiment, and gather insights into how your brand is perceived. We utilise a combination of these tools to ensure a comprehensive view of your online reputation.

Via our online dashboard which allows you to see reviews and ratings people have left about your business from across the internet. Updated weekly.

The timeline for seeing results from reputation management depends on the specific strategies implemented and the current state of your brand’s reputation. Generally, it can take several weeks to a few months to see substantial improvements. However, consistent efforts in monitoring, responding, and promoting positive content lead to gradual enhancement in how your brand is perceived over time.

We use various tools and techniques to monitor your brand’s reputation across multiple platforms, including social media, review sites, and forums. By setting up alerts for mentions of your brand, we can track what people are saying and quickly identify any potential issues. Regular monitoring allows us to respond promptly to comments or reviews, ensuring that we maintain an accurate and positive representation of your brand.

Handling negative reviews requires a thoughtful approach to address the concerns of dissatisfied customers while protecting your brand’s image. Our team is skilled at crafting professional responses that acknowledge the issue and offer potential solutions. We encourage resolving the matter privately, if possible, which shows other customers that we take feedback seriously and are committed to improving the customer experience.

To get started with our reputation management services, simply reach out to us for an introductory consultation. We will discuss your current situation, concerns, and goals regarding reputation management. From there, we can create a tailored strategy that addresses your specific needs and helps you maintain a positive public image.

Yes, we offer comprehensive services to manage online reviews for your business. This includes monitoring review sites, responding to reviews in a timely and professional manner, and developing strategies to encourage satisfied customers to leave positive reviews. By managing your online presence effectively, we help ensure that your brand maintains a strong and positive image in the eyes of potential customers.

Yes, effective reputation management is especially critical during a crisis. Our team is experienced in crisis communication and can help you craft appropriate responses, manage public relations, and address customer concerns transparently. By taking swift, thoughtful action, we work to mitigate any damage to your reputation and help restore trust with your audience.

No two campaigns are ever the same – so your service will be completely tailored to your business and market/regional niche. But in general, all campaigns follow a similar pattern that is designed to offer your business the best possible start online.

1. Technical issues on website: Coding errors, accessibility issues and other SEO related technical problems may be holding your website back from both ranking well on the search results and not converting customers as well as possible. Multiple scans and tests are run to create a list of tasks to work through and resolve before and other online marketing can commence. Once your website (which is the foundation of your online marketing investments) is performing well – the next stage can begin.
2. Technical issues with your online presence: There’s a certain set of tasks and optimal ways of setting up your social media properties, maps and directory listings – which are the fundamentals of giving your business the best chance of gaining increased exposure from online sources. You could do these tasks yourself – but your monthly plan covers this with our service, based on years of experience and experimenting with the variables – these foundations are cost effectively set at their optimal values to act as a multiplier and give your online marketing investments the maximum returns.
3. Increasing brand awareness: Generating buzz online about your brand – through the sharing of news and content, through your website, social media channels, and other online outlets to create the perfect combination of signals that gives the Google and Bing ranking algorithms, no doubts that your business is reputable, active and should be ranking well.
4. Monitoring reputation and engaging customers: Systems are set in place to monitor mentions of your business and then take action to respond, defuse or encourage criticisms and positive reviews. Taking the worry out of advertising your business online.
5. Tracking & reporting: When your campaigns are started, almost every activity is tracked and can be monitored to track success rates, and make improvements based on actual data. Monthly plans come with an end of month report with detailed breakdowns of change over the last month. Just some of the data included in your report covers:
1. Weekly rank tracking on Google + Bing of your target keywords
2. Full Google analytics integration with engagement, usabilty and goal conversion rate reporting
3. Extensive Domain + link metric data from SEMRush, Alexa, Wordtracker, OpensiteExlorer, Adwords KW Tool, OpenCalais API, uberVU
4. Brand name mention monitoring + automated sentiment analysis.

• On receipt of your invoice, payments are accepted by direct debit or card only.
• Payment for each month is in advance and work will commence on receipt of payment for the first instalment.
• Subsequent invoices are sent on the 1st day of the next month and payment is expected within 15 days.
• If you intend to pursue a long-term campaign, please enquire about discounts for paying 3/6/12 months in advance.

Our minimum retainer period is 3 months, we think by that time you’ll be more than convinced of the value of our work. If, after that time, you decide you would like to move on that’s no problem at all. We won’t wrap you up in legal red tape and make it difficult for you to leave. We do use third party reporting tools to show the progress of your campaign and detail how your budget is being spent. Our friendly team are more than happy to go through these reports with you if you wish.

Review monitoring is crucial because it allows you to maintain control over your brand’s online reputation. Customer reviews can significantly influence the purchasing decisions of potential customers; a high volume of positive reviews can attract new business, while negative reviews, if left unaddressed, can deter potential customers. By actively monitoring reviews, you can respond to feedback, resolve issues, and make improvements that enhance customer experience and loyalty.

Our tools can monitor reviews on Facebook, Google Maps, Yahoo Local, Yell, Thomson Local and Freeindex.

We monitor a variety of platforms, including Google Reviews, Yelp, Facebook, TripAdvisor, and industry-specific review sites relevant to your business. By keeping an eye on multiple channels, we ensure a comprehensive understanding of how your brand is perceived online and can address feedback across different customer segments.

We track various metrics to measure the effectiveness of review monitoring, including the number of new reviews received, the sentiment of feedback (positive, negative, or neutral), and overall ratings on platforms. We also monitor response times to reviews and changes in customer engagement levels as we implement strategies to address feedback. These metrics help us gauge the impact of review management efforts on your brand’s reputation.

Review monitoring is the process of consistently tracking and managing online reviews across various platforms, such as Google, Yelp, and social media. This practice allows businesses to stay informed about what customers are saying about them, helping identify trends in feedback—positive or negative—and enabling timely responses. By actively monitoring reviews, businesses can enhance their reputation and improve customer satisfaction.

Via our online dashboard which allows you to see reviews and ratings people have left about your business from across the internet. Updated weekly.

We provide regular updates on review monitoring, typically through monthly or quarterly reports. These reports summarise key metrics, trends in feedback, and the actions taken in response to reviews. We also keep you informed of any urgent situations that require immediate attention, ensuring you are always aware of your brand’s online reputation.

Responding to negative reviews requires a careful and strategic approach. We craft responses that acknowledge the customer’s concerns and express empathy. Our aim is to address the issue constructively and offer a solution, whether it involves compensation or a direct follow-up. This approach demonstrates to future customers that you value feedback and are committed to improving the customer experience.

We use a combination of automated tools and manual checks to monitor reviews across major platforms where your customers are likely to leave feedback. By setting up alerts for mentions of your brand, we can quickly identify new reviews and comments, ensuring that we are always aware of what is being said. This systematic approach allows us to respond promptly and effectively to both positive and negative feedback.

To get started with our review monitoring services, simply reach out to us for an introductory consultation. We will discuss your specific needs, the platforms you want us to monitor, and how we can help improve your brand’s online reputation. From there, we can create a tailored plan that aligns with your goals and ensures proactive management of your reviews.

Yes, we can implement strategies to encourage satisfied customers to leave positive reviews. This may include sending follow-up emails after a purchase, creating incentives for reviews, and training staff to ask for feedback during interactions. By fostering an environment where customers feel empowered to share their experiences, we can help increase the volume of positive reviews.

Yes, review monitoring is a key component of a comprehensive reputation management strategy. We can integrate review monitoring with other services such as social media management, crisis communication, and brand monitoring to provide a holistic approach to managing your online presence. This integration allows for a streamlined process in addressing feedback and improving overall brand perception.

There could be many reasons your website may not be ranking on Google. Common issues include lack of keyword optimisation, speed or load time issues, lack of quality backlinks, or technical problems like indexing errors. New websites take time to rank, and if competitors are investing in SEO this can make ranking harder. Regular SEO improvements and monitoring are key to better visibility.

A sudden drop in rankings can be alarming, but it’s not uncommon. Google’s algorithms are continually evolving, with frequent updates designed to improve the quality of search results. These updates can sometimes impact your website’s position, especially if your site isn’t fully compliant with Google’s latest guidelines.

Other factors that may cause a drop include:

– Recent changes to your website’s content or structure
– Links from low-quality or spammy websites
– Competitors ramping up their SEO efforts
– Technical issues such as slow loading speeds or poor mobile compatibility

If your website’s rankings have fallen, don’t panic. Our team can conduct a full SEO audit to identify the root cause and implement a tailored recovery plan. From addressing penalties to improving on-page and off-page elements, we’ll get your site back on track.

SEO is a long-term strategy that requires patience and persistence. Typically, you’ll start noticing results within 2-3 months, with significant improvements becoming evident after 6-12 months. Factors that influence the timeline include:

• The competitiveness of your industry and keywords
• The quality of your website’s existing content and structure
• The scope of your SEO campaign

At Alloy Marketing, we use only white-hat techniques, ensuring that our work delivers lasting benefits. While some providers may promise quick fixes, these often come with risks of penalties and poor long-term performance.

W3C validation is a code check that looks for accessibility and performance issues that can negatively impact user experience and the ability of search engines to crawl a website.

On-page optimisation in SEO refers to things that happen directly on the website to improve search performance. This includes technical improvements to meta titles and descriptions, headers, content, keywords, and image metadata. It also involves site speed monitoring and fixes, mobile optimisation, and user experience auditing to ensure your site performs at its best wherever your visitors come from.

There are several strands to this:
• Optimising file sizes for loading speed
• Correct naming of files and captions for accessibility
• Keyword-optimising alt text to communicate the subject of the image to search engines
• Image optimisation is an important part of SEO since poor optimisation can let the site down on several fronts simultaneously.

Enterprise SEO means optimising large websites with many pages, usually for corporations, charities or online stores with hundreds of products. It requires a skilled and planned approach with regular, long-term investment. We have had the pleasure of working on a number of enterprise SEO projects, including for websites with thousands of pieces of content and stores with many thousands of products. We would be delighted to help with your project. Please get in touch for more information.

Both SEO and Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising have their advantages. PPC delivers immediate results by placing your website at the top of search results through paid ads. However, these benefits stop as soon as you stop paying for ads. In contrast, SEO provides long-term, sustainable growth by improving your organic rankings. While results take longer to materialise, the return on investment is often higher.

For the best outcomes, we recommend integrating SEO with strategic PPC campaigns. This approach allows you to gain quick wins while building a solid foundation for ongoing success.

Both are important, but neither is better as they both have their own advantages. SEO offers longer-term, cost-effective results. With steady investment, your rankings will stay high, and your website will get more traffic.

PPC provides immediate visibility and targeted traffic through paid ads, we often liken it to turning on a tap for leads. SEO is ideal for sustainable growth, but PPC provides an immediate boost, especially in competitive markets. The ideal approach is to run PPC and SEO campaigns simultaneously, which gives your business maximum exposure to potential new leads.

Best practices for on-page SEO include:
• Avoiding keyword spamming. Needlessly filling the page up with keywords is bad for visitors, and Google won’t respond well to it either.
• Optimising meta content – Use well-researched, relevant keywords in well-written meta content.
• Using correct headers – Arranging content with clear headings in the correct order benefits both Google and your visitors.
• Optimising content – No list of on-page SEO best practices would be complete without mentioning the importance of keyword optimising the content itself!
• Load speed – Ensure fast load times for better user experience and search performance. Poor load teams mean that visitors drop off very quickly.
• Mobile-optimisation – Most of your traffic will likely be from mobiles, so these visitors need to have the best experience possible.
• Image metadata – Using keywords in image metadata is useful for both search visibility and accessibility.

The Importance of Link Quality

Not all links are the same. Each inbound link to your site carries a different level of trust and respect from Google. Google constantly evaluates your website for keyword relevance and valuable content, and it does the same for the sites that link to you. If a reputable website links to you, that link holds more value. Conversely, links from low-quality or spammy sites are devalued or may not count at all. Monitoring the number of links to your website helps you identify fluctuations and address any issues. One high-value link from a renowned site can offer more benefits than numerous links from lesser-quality websites.

SEO KPI Definitions

• External Backlinks (Majestic SEO): The total backlinks to your website, based on MajesticSEO’s Historic Index. This reflects changes when gaining or losing links, and updates when MajesticSEO refreshes their index.
• External Backlinks (Moz): The total backlinks to your website as determined by Moz’s Site Explorer tool.
• Citation Flow: A metric from Majestic SEO that assesses a website based on the number of times a URL or domain is cited by external pages.
• Trust Flow: Another Majestic SEO metric predicting trust based on the credibility of external websites linking to you.
• Domain Authority: Moz’s prediction of a website’s search engine ranking potential, combining various metrics into a single score.
• MozRank: Reflects a page’s importance on the internet based on the number and quality of links pointing to it.
• MozTrust: Moz’s score for link trust, highlighting the quality and trustworthiness of linking sources.

Page Rank (PR)

• Calculated by: Google
• Scale: 0 – 10 (integer numbers)
• Formula: PR measures a webpage’s popularity by the quantity of links pointing to it, irrespective of link quality. It’s an outdated metric, and although widely recognised, it’s just one of many signals Google uses.

MozRank (mR)

• Calculated by: SEOmoz
• Scale: 0 – 10 (two decimal numbers)
• Formula and Analysis: Similar to Google’s PR but with key differences, like being a decimal value. It provides a clearer picture of link profile strength. High mR requires more effort to improve.

MozTrust (mT)

• Scale: 0 – 10 (two decimal numbers)
• Formula and Analysis: Focuses on the quality of links, indicating a page’s long-term strength rather than sheer volume, helping to gauge the maturity of a link profile.

Domain-Level Metrics

• Domain MozRank & MozTrust (DmR/DmT): Scores for the entire domain, not just individual pages, offering insights into overall domain authority.

Page Authority (PA)

• Scale: 0 – 100 (integer numbers)
• Calculated by: SEOmoz
• Analysis: Indicates the potential for high rankings by aggregating link metrics, though not perfectly correlated with search result positions.

Domain Authority (DA)

• Scale: 0 – 100 (integer numbers)
• Calculated by: SEOmoz
• Analysis: Useful for competitive analysis and partnership evaluations, providing a broader picture of entire domain strength.

SEO is best as an ongoing process, not a one-off project. Search engines frequently update their algorithms, and competitors continuously optimise, so regular adjustments are essential. Ongoing SEO involves content updates, link building, and performance monitoring to maintain and improve rankings. Stopping SEO can lead to a decline in visibility over time.

Google penalties can significantly impact your website’s visibility and traffic. These penalties are often the result of outdated or unethical SEO practices, such as keyword stuffing or acquiring low-quality backlinks. If you’ve received a penalty, it’s essential to address it promptly to minimise long-term damage.

At Alloy Marketing, we specialise in white-hat SEO techniques that comply with Google’s guidelines, reducing the risk of penalties. If your site has been penalised, we’ll perform a thorough analysis to identify and rectify the issues, helping you regain your rankings and rebuild your online presence.

There is no set frequency with which Google updates its algorithm. Small updates happen all the time, major updates are also fairly frequent. Google does not always make the information public. Updates can affect the ranking of a website, but generally, if a website is well-optimised and follows best-practice guidelines, any negative impact will be temporary. Our team constantly monitors and adapts to changes to ensure the sites we optimised continue to perform at their best.

We typically advise 6-8 weeks to start seeing ranking improvements. Some websites see quicker improvements, but we can’t guarantee anything. As long as you stick with your campaign,n you will start to see progress. Remember, SEO is a marathon, not a sprint, and the benefits last a long time too. Anyone promising fast SEO results is likely using methods that go against Google’s guidelines.

To report on SEO performance, we generate monthly reports for your tracked keywords and overall site performance. Some of the information can be quite technical, but your account manager will be happy to discuss the results with you.

We create SEO content for websites by meticulously researching keywords to target and using them in well-written content. The content should genuinely address the concerns of the target audience and be well structured with clear headings, optimised meta content and direct calls to action.

Effective meta descriptions use the target keyword and compelling copy to encourage link clicks. The copy should relate to the intention of the person searching, making them want to visit the website to find out more. It also needs to be short and punchy as Google limits the number of characters that show in the search results.

There are many things that can be done to improve page load speed, all of which we’ll look at as part of an SEO campaign. To identify just a few; optimising image files sizes. Compressing scripts and files, caching, server optimisation and hosting upgrades. There are many more things we can do to help if your website is struggling from slow loading speeds.

Google personalises search results, so it’s common to get different results from the same search. This is why we often advise clients that Googling their own business may not be the best way to understand your website’s search performance. Google considers location, search history and your device when choosing what to show you. This is why we use specialist software that simulates different environments to create a more objective assessment of your website’s search performance.

Landing pages can be great for SEO. We can use them to target specific keywords that aren’t used elsewhere on the website. Optimised landing pages can improve your website’s search performance as the content will be specifically optimised for searches where the data tells us there is a high amount of demand.

Absolutely, we want to make sure we get the tone of voice properly matched to your brand identity, so we’ll work with you to get sign-off before publishing anything. With most clients, we find they’re really happy with the way our copywriters write and, after a while, they are happy for us to take the lead on this. It’s entirely down to your preferences.

No Google Ads doesn’t have any direct effect on SEO. Google Ads will increase the number of people that find your business on Google, but only in the sponsored links area of Google’s search results. For best results, an SEO campaign should run alongside a Google Ads campaign to ensure that a) your website can still be found when your daily ad budget runs out or when your ads are paused and b) users who don’t click ads still see your business c) your online visibility doesn’t fall behind that of your competitors.

Social media doesn’t directly help with SEO and has no effect on your website’s rankings. There are other benefits of social media that can help your online visibility though. Regular posts will increase your visibility, which can help send some extra traffic to your website. Social engagement can also boost brand awareness.

No, this is not possible and anyone promising this will use tactics that Google will ultimately penalise the website for, which will ruin its search performance. You can pay for Google Ads, which will mean your website shows at the top of search results pages for at least some of the day, but that is very different to ranking at the top of Google for organic searches.

Having a website is essential for small businesses as it provides a digital presence in today’s increasingly online market. A well-designed website allows potential customers to find information about your products or services, learn about your brand, and contact you easily. It can enhance credibility, improve visibility in search engine results, and serve as a platform for marketing efforts, making it a critical tool for attracting new customers and driving sales.

We commonly work with user-friendly platforms such as WordPress and Shopify for small business web design. Each platform has its strengths, allowing us to choose the best fit for your specific needs. WordPress is versatile for content-driven sites, while Shopify is ideal for eCommerce businesses. We help you select the platform that will work best for your business model and goals.

Small business web design involves creating websites tailored specifically for the needs of small businesses. These designs focus on user-friendly layouts, mobile responsiveness, and effective branding to attract and engage customers. A well-designed website serves as a digital storefront, showcasing products and services in an appealing manner while also facilitating easy navigation and seamless interactions.

A small business website should include essential features such as clear navigation, detailed product or service descriptions, high-quality images, a blog for sharing updates and insights, and a contact page with various methods of reaching you. Additionally, integrating social media links, customer testimonials, and a secure online payment system (if applicable) enhances the overall user experience and encourages customer engagement.

The timeline for creating a small business website depends on various factors, such as the complexity of the design and the number of pages required. Generally, development can take anywhere from a few weeks to a couple of months. We’ll provide you with an estimated timeline upfront, ensuring you’re informed throughout the design and development process.

We implement various SEO best practices during the web design process to help ensure your website ranks well in search engines. This includes optimising page titles, meta descriptions, headers, and image alt tags with relevant keywords. We also focus on creating a mobile-friendly design, improving site speed, and ensuring easy navigation, all of which contribute to better search engine performance.

We prioritise user experience in our design process by creating intuitive navigation systems and ensuring that important information is easily accessible. We conduct usability testing to gather feedback on various elements of the site and make adjustments as needed to enhance accessibility. Our goal is to design a website that allows visitors to find what they need quickly and effortlessly, thereby improving engagement and conversion rates.

To begin, simply reach out to us for an initial consultation. We’ll discuss your business goals, vision for your website, and any specific features you’d like to include. From there, we’ll work together to create a tailored web design plan that aligns with your needs and sets you up for success in the online marketplace.

Absolutely! We offer content creation services to help you develop engaging and relevant text for your website. Our team can assist with writing product descriptions, crafting blog posts, and ensuring that your brand voice is consistent throughout. Quality content is vital for SEO and enhancing user experience, so we focus on producing information that resonates with your audience.

Yes, all of our small business websites are built to be mobile-responsive, ensuring a seamless experience for users on smartphones and tablets. With a large number of customers browsing and shopping online via mobile devices, we ensure that your website design adapts to different screen sizes, maintaining functionality and aesthetics regardless of the device used to access it.

Social media marketing involves using social media platforms to promote your business, engage with customers, and connect with your target audience. It encompasses creating and sharing content, running paid advertising campaigns, and interacting directly with followers. Effective social media marketing not only raises brand awareness but also drives traffic to your website and generates leads, playing a key role in your overall marketing strategy.

Social media is vital for businesses as it provides a platform for direct engagement with customers and potential clients. It helps you reach a broader audience, foster customer relationships, and create a community around your brand. Additionally, social media serves as an opportunity for customer feedback and insights, allowing you to understand your audience better and tailor your offerings to meet their needs.

The choice of social media platforms depends on your target audience and business objectives. Popular platforms include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. Each platform has its unique user demographics and strengths, so we assess where your audience spends their time and what kind of content will resonate best with them. We can guide you in selecting the most effective platforms for your particular niche.

Building and maintaining an active presence for your business online – top tips using social media

When you run a small to medium size business, you often carry out the roles of several employees within a larger company. Hopefully this article can help shed some light on getting the most out of your limited and valuable time, working on internet marketing and public relations using social media.

“Businesses who are relentless in building a following on social media are in fact creating their own publishing platforms, growing their marketing channels and content distribution networks. It is a digital asset that grows every year. Over time it can provide huge leverage and marketing independence if done right.”

Understand the demographics

1. 72% of all internet users are now active on social media
2. 18-29 year olds have an 89% usage
3. The 30-49 bracket sits at 72%
4. 60 percent of 50 to 60 year olds are active on social media
5. In the 65 plus bracket, 43% are using social media
6. Time spent on Facebook per hour spent online by country. Here are the top three. USA citizens get the top gong at 16% followed by the Aussies at 14 minutes and the Brits at 13 minutes.
7. 71% of users access social media from a mobile device.

The paradigm of social media only being used by the younger generations should be put to rest now!

Harnessing social media for your business

Social media is an often overlooked tool at your disposal to keep in touch with customers, keeping them interested and up to date with your services. Many people feel like social media has a life of its own, that they will never be able to get the hang of it, but remember social media can reach potential customers that wouldn’t normally get to know that your company even exists.

Tweets are something we see in our everyday lives, at the beginning of our favourite shows there are hashtags displayed on the screen, our news programs engage with viewers by reading out live tweets and adverts run competitions that utilise tweets, shares and #hashtags. You can make the most of this by spending a little time getting to know twitter.

Top tip: discover new accounts

Try checking out the “Discover” tab within your twitter account and see what is trending in your area. Twitter’s algorithms are constantly trying to connect you with other people and companies it sees as relevant to you, often these are not ideal, but occasionally twitter will suggest companies and accounts to follow that you would never have considered and could potentially open new avenues for generating leads for your business.

Diversify your lead generation sources

Your online presence is all about balance, just as with the rest of your business, so a good mix of sharing your own website’s content, social media messages from other accounts and up to date blogs will make your company stand out from the competition. By giving your customers something interesting to read they will build up more of an affinity to you and your services than they would to a company that just posts a flyer through the door.

Rather than forcing your marketing messages onto potential customers, seed your messages across multiple areas where customers could stumble across your brand, to reap the rewards of “pull marketing” instead of the usual interruption style “push marketing”

Social Media Stats you NEED to know

1. Social media marketing budgets are projected to double in the next five years. (SocialTimes)
2. The top three social networks used by B2B marketers are LinkedIn (91%); Twitter (85%); and Facebook (81%).
3. However, just 62% of marketers say that LinkedIn is effective, while 50% say the same for Twitter and only 30% of B2B marketers view Facebook as effective. (FlipCreator)
4. This one may surprise you: Google+ actually averages more visits per month than Facebook. Google+ receives 1.2 billion visits per month compared to Facebook’s 809 million. (iMedia Connection) Building a solid presence on Google+ is now an essential tool for B2B marketing
5. Grandma and grandpa are crashing teenagers’ social media party. The fastest-growing age cohort on Twitter is 55-to-64 year-olds, up 79% since 2012.
6. And the 45-54 age bracket is the fastest-growing group on both Facebook and Google+. (Fast Company)
7. The collective spending power of millennials will surpass that of Baby Boomers by 2018, and millennials will comprise 75% of the global labor force by 2025. (AllTwitter)
8. Millennials are, in general, not loyal to employers (91% expect to stay in a job for less than three years) but are loyal to brands (95% want brands to court them actively).(AllTwitter)

Build a personality for your brand

A simple tweet a day about the weather in the local area, an event in your town or to a local cafe you went for lunch will build up a personalised image to your followers increasing the chances of common ground, beliefs and ethics – extending the influence of your branding beyond the visuals of a simple logo and colour scheme, to more fundamental emotional triggers.

These followers could one day need a service from you and building an active social presence to get visibility on their social media streams increases the likelihood of your business being there in their social streams at the moment they need your service. If they feel passionately about ethical issues in common with you, such as supporting family-run businesses, buying organic or being eco-friendly, you will multiply your chances of converting these leads into customers.

Build a blog to prove yourself within your industry

By adding blog content to your website you can link to these pages in your tweets and social messages and give your followers something more involved to read about. Have you noticed how many people walk around looking at their phones, sitting on a bus, train, waiting for a friend? People entertain themselves looking at social media and keeping that content fresh will mean they always have a reason to check back to see what you are doing.

Click here to see a great example of small business blogging to market a chocolate manufacturing company.

Some tips to keep in mind:

• Don’t try too hard to sell products directly through twitter – post links to product pages that people can visit if they choose.
• Acting like a REAL person on twitter will make for a more interesting follow
• Post real links to real content that are related to your industry – become a ‘content curator’ to get far more followers
• Follow interesting people yourself, support other local business and they will support you back.
• Engage with customers that retweet and reply to you.

Other articles in our blog and internet marketing information category might hopefully fill some other gaps in your knowledge and allow you to generate a higher return from your investment of time and resources online.

However you would like you channel to run, let us know. We can create multiple posts a day with as little or as much input from you as you would like.

With billions of people worldwide using facebook on a daily basis it has now become essential for every business to at least have a basic presence on these networks.

In case you’re still not sure if it’s worth investing time and money in your brand’s social media presence – recent updates over the past 2 years to the algorithm used by Google (and others such as Bing, Ask, Yahoo) to rank websites in their search results has started using signals from social networks to get an idea if brands are real and deserve to rank well on search engine results pages. As you may know it is possible for social media channels to become a major drain on time and resources, due to the changes, distractions and advertising featured on the pages. So the best recommendation is to get our help to consolidate your efforts and get advice on the best tools and tactics to actually make efficient use of these new marketing channels.

Top recommendations for social media marketing efficiency

• Avoid using the actual twitter or Facebook interfaces – use a management suite to monitor and publish from one place with minimum distractions
• We use agency standard tools that are expensive to run, but allow us to manage our clients’ campaigns effectively
• Please get in touch if you would like advice on the best social media management tools to use for your business

What social media messages should you spend your time broadcasting?

1. New announcements from your brand.
2. Teaser previews of offerings you are working on.
3. Related interesting news from the industry.
4. Trivia related to your product: history, technology
5. Ask for suggestions: people love to help someone out
6. Events you are holding: this informs as well as gets you attendees
7. Events you are participating in: this shows you are active.
8. Helping people find opportunities
9. Helping people solve problems is the best thing you can do to promote your brand
10. Popular events: tweet about the upcoming sports events, festivals, etc.
11. Regular industry news: yup, this doesn’t hurt if mixed in.
12. Sales announcements: Tweet about any sales announcements you might have.
13. Job openings: Tell people about open positions, both with your brand and at other places you know.
14. Ask for customer feedback: Invite people to share their experiences with your brand.
15. Participate in the relevant hashtags(eg: #news), and get more visibility.
16. Set up and announce tweet chats based on brand-related hashtags.
17. Follow people and make acknowledgement via tweets.
18. Thank people who have recently followed you.
19. Post the latest updates from your blog along with the link.
20. Direct people to other social media channels you own by tweeting about them.
21. Search on your brand name and respond to tweets that are about you.

The ideal posting frequency varies based on the platform and your audience. Generally, posting several times a week is recommended, but it’s important to maintain quality over quantity. We can analyse your audience’s behaviour and engagement patterns to determine the best posting schedule that maximises interaction without overwhelming your followers.

We measure the success of social media campaigns through various metrics, such as engagement rates (likes, shares, comments), reach, follower growth, and conversion rates. By analysing these metrics, we can assess which types of content resonate most with your audience and adjust our strategy as needed to improve performance. Regular reporting provides insights into campaign effectiveness, helping you understand the return on investment.

Developing a social media strategy begins with understanding your business goals and objectives. We conduct research to identify your target audience, their behaviours, and preferences. From there, we craft a content strategy that includes the types of content to share, posting frequency, and engagement tactics. Our strategy focuses on building brand awareness, driving traffic, and generating leads or sales while maintaining a consistent brand voice and identity.

We create a diverse range of content tailored for social media, including engaging graphics, videos, blog posts, promotional materials, and user-generated content. We focus on creating eye-catching visuals and compelling captions that encourage interaction and sharing. By mixing different types of content, we keep your audience engaged and interested, which helps to foster a vibrant online community.

To get started, simply contact us to schedule a consultation. During our initial meeting, we’ll discuss your business goals, target audience, and any existing social media efforts. From there, we can develop a tailored social media strategy that aligns with your objectives and helps elevate your online presence.

If you’d like help growing the likes or interactions on your page let us know. Once we understand a bit more about your business we’ll be able to come up with the best way to get you the results you’re looking for. It could involve sharing specific types of content, interacting with others, or paying Facebook directly for a promotional campaign.

Yes, we offer social media advertising services to complement your organic efforts. This includes setting up and managing targeted ad campaigns on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. We personalise ad creative and messaging to ensure they resonate with your target audience, and we continually monitor and optimise campaigns to maximise engagement and conversions.

Yes absolutely, if you’ve yet to get set up we can help and even decorate your new platform to properly match your wider branding.

Absolutely. Whether it’s designing assets, working out the right budget or defining the specific demographics to be targeted we can take care of your campaign and make sure it makes its mark.

Absolutely! Our team can manage your social media accounts by creating and scheduling posts, interacting with followers, and handling customer inquiries. We ensure your brand maintains a consistent presence while responding promptly to comments and messages, building better relationships with your audience.

If you have no idea where to start with Facebook and would like to work with us we’d be happy to provide a crash course to get you used to the service and how it can help your business.

Social media doesn’t directly help with SEO and has no effect on your website’s rankings. There are other benefits of social media that can help your online visibility though. Regular posts will increase your visibility, which can help send some extra traffic to your website. Social engagement can also boost brand awareness.

Video content is incredibly valuable for businesses as it captures attention and communicates information in a dynamic and engaging way. Videos can increase conversion rates, improve brand visibility, and enhance user engagement on websites and social media platforms. With consumers increasingly preferring video content, incorporating it into your marketing strategy can help you stand out and connect better with your audience.

For eCommerce, various types of videos are effective, including product demonstration videos that showcase how a product works, customer testimonial videos that provide social proof, and behind-the-scenes content that gives a human touch to your brand. Promotional videos highlighting seasonal sales or new arrivals can also drive traffic and encourage purchases.

We provide a range of video production services, including promotional videos, corporate videos, event coverage, product videos, and explainer videos. Our goal is to create engaging visual content that effectively communicates your message and resonates with your audience. Whether you’re showcasing a product or sharing your brand story, we tailor each project to meet your specific needs.

We use high-quality video equipment, including professional cameras, stabilisers, lighting setups, and audio recording gear to ensure the best possible production quality. Our team is experienced in utilising the latest technology and techniques to create visually stunning videos that align with industry standards.

The timeline for video production can vary depending on the project’s complexity and length. Generally, the entire process—from initial consultation to final delivery—can take anywhere from a few weeks to a couple of months. We provide a detailed timeline during the initial planning stage and keep you informed of progress throughout production and editing phases.

We ensure that all videos align with your brand identity by incorporating your branding elements, such as logos, colours, and typography. Additionally, we work closely with you to understand your brand’s tone and messaging, making sure that the video reflects your unique style and appeals to your target audience.

Our video production process begins with an initial consultation to understand your goals and vision. We then move to the pre-production stage, where we develop a detailed plan that includes scripting, storyboarding, and scouting locations if needed. During production, our skilled team captures high-quality footage, and in post-production, we edit the video, adding graphics, music, and other elements to deliver a polished final product.

To get started, simply contact us to discuss your project and vision. We’ll schedule an initial consultation to understand your needs and objectives, and from there, we can outline the steps involved in producing a compelling video that meets your goals. We are excited to partner with you to create engaging video content that resonates with your audience.

Yes, we offer live streaming services for events, enabling you to reach a wider audience. Our team can set up and manage live streaming to various platforms, providing high-quality video and audio to ensure a seamless broadcast. This not only enhances engagement but also expands your event’s reach, making it accessible to those who cannot attend in person.

Sometimes the best way to capture video for a client’s digital channels is by filming or photograph on site at their premises. We have the experience and the equipment to produce highly affordable, professional quality photo and video content. If you’re within 20 miles of Manchester we’ll happily visit you to capture great content at no additional cost. For those a little further afield we’re happy to travel to you too with a small increase in price to cover our travel expenses.

Yes we can produce a wide variety of videos with gallery and image slideshow effects. We can work with images from anywhere, even from you smartphone. We can create anything from powerpoint style slide shows, to piles of polaroid-style virtual photographs and annotated clips set to music, or even with a voiceover. We’ve got cutting edge graphic design and photo editing software at our disposal so there’s an amazing amount of things we can do manipulate images. Let us know what you have in mind and we’ll get to work making it happen.

Yes, we can help with both scripting and storyboarding to ensure that your message is communicated effectively. Our team works closely with you to understand your objectives and develop scripts that resonate with your target audience. The storyboard serves as a visual guide for the production, outlining how each scene will look and flow, ensuring we remain aligned with your vision throughout the entire process.

Edits to the coding of your websiteEven though most websites are written in a common programming language (html) – different designers use their own variations of the language, which slows down the speed that edits can be made by us.

• The text and images you may have utilised on your website are very useful and can continue to be used
• However, the (html) coding that your previous web-designers may have used to get your text and images to display may not be so great and in some cases, could benefit from an overhaul
• If your website is a basic, mainly static html website, then it is possible that small edits can be made with ease and should not cost much.
• However, if your website is very large or contains animations, galleries, interactive elements or quote forms, then it’s likely that edits will cost much less if the same work was being done on an Alloy website.

If you are launching a new online marketing campaign including social media, SEO etc. and your website requires major edits and additions such as news, information, frequently asked questions etc. – then working on 3rd party code will cost much more than if the same work was being done on an Alloy Website.

• In general, if you are considering investing more than £300 in online marketing for your business – then it’s likely that your 3rd party website will become the limiting factor in our efforts
• If your 3rd party website requires technical edits/corrections, you should consider if buying an Alloy website would resolve these issues at a lower cost than the edits on 3rd party code.

By spending from just £299 on an Alloy designed website – you not only get a solid foundation to build upon, but also your further marketing investments are amplified by the built-in features of Alloy websites such as:

1. Blog publishing platform
2. RSS feed output for syndication
3. Easy code editing
4. Easy edits by the customer via the CMS admin platform
5. Almost all website add-ons are from £40 and can be bolted-on with ease (testimonials, advanced quotes, link directory etc.) allowing your website to expand with your business.

Conclusions:

1. Keen to stick with your website created by a 3rd party?That’s fine we are happy to work with you however possible, but 90% certain it will cost you more(in the long-run).
2. Considering a new website built by Alloy but worried about the costs?from just £299 you can get your old website data moved over onto an AlloyCMS platform, ready for you to get publishing blog posts and to reap the financial rewards of having a website that ranks better on the search engines, and brings you more business.

Please get in touch if you have any questions.

Scenario 1: If you have had a website for several years and are ‘due’ for a brand new website, then fantastic!

• Our statistics show your new completely new redesigned site will help to convert around 10-25% more visitors into enquiries than your old website
• Building from your text and any photos on your old site, your new one can be put together faster than a website for a new company
• Any further online marketing investments in your Alloy website, build upon the strongest of foundations, to create an impressive tool for converting customers and also to build a valuable online presence for your business on the major search engines (Google, Bing, Ask, Yahoo).

Scenario 2: Possibly you have a more recently-built website, that does not perform well in terms of converting customers, or attracting visitors from search engines. It’s the same in every trade, and as you may expect – all webdesigners/ SEO / Marketing Consultants are not made equal, so if you have any doubts your current providers are not giving your business the best possible chance online – (whilst online marketing channels offer small businesses a phenomenal potential), then it’s up to you to act for the benefit of your business.

• In some cases it’s possible work with your current website to make improvements and additions
• But often edits to a 3rd party website will incur extra costs, and if you intend to make a major push for increasing online visibility and lead generation, it often becomes far more cost efficient to move over to an Alloy CMS website which from just £250, offer the strongest possible website platform to build upon.

What’s so great about Alloy websites?

• Edits to your website are cheaper than you may be used to
• Alloy sites can be upgraded to have a built-in blog publishing platform – regularly publishing news and testimonials, tips and advice, helps to keep your website and online presence ‘fresh’ and topical to benefit from even higher rankings and more leads generated from search engines.
• Your website is linked up with Analytics visitor tracking software – goals are created & conversions are tracked from day1
• Your website is coded to perform in harmony with the search engine algorithms, who sweep through on a regular basis to judge your site and determine it’s ranking potential on the search engine results pages (SERPS)
• You get an premium quality and high reliability web+email hosting service

So hopefully, after weighing up the pros and cons, you will come to the conclusion that an Alloy website offers both your business a visually appealing and high performing interactive brochure, but also acts as a highly tuned ‘engine’ that can power your online marketing activities, moving forward.[hr]

So, what’s involved in the move?

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1. Your Domain Name

Your domain name (www.mycompanydomainname.co.uk) is the most valuable online asset to your business.

1. Before you contact your current webdesigners, you need to find out if you are the legal registrant of the domain.
2. Enter your web address here to see who is the registrant of your domain http://whois.domaintools.com/
3. If you have your domain printed on stationery, or even your van, it would (of course) cause problems if it was disconnected from your website by a disgruntled webdesigner or company.
4. If you are not the registrant of your domain then you need to be very careful asking to gain legal ownership (of what you thought was your property after paying-for, but possibly isn’t)
5. Even if you are listed as the domain registrant, you need be cautious asking to gain control of the domain, and move your business elsewhere, as there are several things 3rd parties can do to slow down or complicate the move of your business away from them.
6. Once you are ready to make the switch, we can either gain control of your domain and point it to your new Alloy hosting + email account, or we may have to move your domain away from your previous conmapny, to a new domain registrar of your choice. This process is usually free, but requires a renewal of your domain for a year or 2.
7. All the details are completely managed for a seamless move with minimum hassle

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2. Your website

Your website text and images can be grabbed from your old website before it is taken down, and used in your new design. Your new website can be prepared, ready to go, so that once you give your old company notice, you can have a seamless transfer over to your new Alloy website and premium hosting account.Features of Hosting from Alloy Marketing

• Premium quality UK based hosting
• Servers are based at the premium Blue Square data centres in the UK
• Expected uptime is an outstanding 99.95% uptime
• To give you an idea, there hasn’t been 1 single hosting / uptime complaint from customers in 2012, and it’s mid-April!

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3. Your emails

When you enquire about your specific requirements, we can find out how you are currently receiving and sending emails. The identical email accounts and redirects will be recreated on your new Alloy hosting. If you are just using 1or 2 accounts this service is free.If you have more than 2email accounts, there is a nominal admin fee to cover the small costs of setting up the extra accounts on your new hosting and providing the configuration details you need to change if any.

1. If you are using hotmail, gmail, yahoomail or another free service, and you receive emails forwarded from your website, then you will not need to change anything at all and your transfer will be seamless.
2. If you are using your business email address to send/receive via POP or IMAP, using a desktop email browser such as Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird, Windows Live Mail Desktop Version etc. We can setup the same accounts on your new hosting, but with new passwords, so you will just need to open the options panel for your email software and enter your new email server passwords and details. This is a very easy process that we can provide clear illustrated instructions so that you can complete at your end within about 10 minutes.

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4. Timescales

Once your new website is designed and ready to go, and you are ready to make the move, we initiate the process by gaining control of your domain name and then pointing over to the new Alloy webhosting. Unlike many conventional agencies, we have the flexibility to be able to initiate your transfer at the weekend, so if there is a few hours when your website is not available, it’s at the weekend.

1. If you have control of your domain, the transfer time will be between 2-24 hours.
2. If you don’t have control of your domain, and we need to transfer it to a new domain registrar, so that we can gain control of it and point it to Alloy webhosting, then the process can take between 4 – 48hours.

• High quality design concepts are valuable and require a commitment from the customer, so a 50% deposit – 50% on completion of project – agreement is requested
• Payments accepted by bank transfer or card.

The design process

Here is a summary of our design process to help you keep the costs of your design as low as possible:

1. Stage 1: Research and feedback – We will send a questionnaire to collect your ideas and see which competitors have websites you like.
2. Stage 2: Mockups / concept designs – Your suggestions and ideas will be transformed into a visual mockup image of your website home page, we usually provide an intial mockup and refine this towards a finished design. Changes to the design at this stage are the cheapest, and it’s best to get something you are 90% happy with in the mockup stage, especially in terms of the general layout of the pages, and the colour schemes.
3. Stage 3: Concept converted into a working website, for you to try out and test, we will make the final tweaks and add that “polish” to visual design at this point. Changing a few photos or text at this stage is usually fine and within the bounds of your website quoted budget, however major changes to the design such as change of colour schemes, major changes to the layout of the pages may incur additional costs, but we will always notify you before proceeding with work that is beyond the scope of the original quote.

In summary, try to get all your ideas prepared and given to us at stage 1, and making major changes to the design will always be cheaper during stage 2, rather than stage 3.

Additional edits to your design

1. We will inform you of any work that is out of the scope of the original quote before proceeding with any work. 
2. Additional edits beyond the scope of the original quote will be quoted for you on an ad-hoc basis, usually at the standard rate of £30 per hour with 1/2 hour minimum.

Ownership and copyright

On receipt of your final payment of the website design balance, you will have full ownership of the website design and text, and of course any images provided by you. If we have provided photos for you in the design, we retain the rights to these photos. If you have bought photos yourself for the design, or we have bought photos on your behalf, you will have ownership on receipt of the design balance.

If we have registered a domain name on your behalf, or you have transferred your domain to our management, then you will retain full ownership of the domain as long as you are up to date with your domain name renewal payments which are paid yearly and usually cost around £7 per year for .co.uk domains and £12 per year for .com domain names. Failure to pay your domain name renewal fees within 30 days will result in your domain either expiring, so that neither us or you can control it anymore and it will return to the market for sale in 45 days. In some situations where the renewal fee is not paid within 30 days, we may choose to pay your renewal fee which would give us legal ownership of the domain name.

If you registered your domain or in situations where we were managing your domain name and you requested for us to transfer the control of the domain over to you: You have the responsibility  to renew, pay for and manage your domain name, and we can not accept responsibility if your domain is not renewed in time and goes into expiry mode.

Webdesign Add-ons

Many extras are listed to give you an idea of prices, some are not, please ask if you can’t find the add on you’re looking for.

Animation Add-ons

• Homepage slider – from £30
• Photo Galleries – from £30
• Testimonials slider – from £30
• Latest news slider – from £30
• Polls / Surveys  – from £30

Social media Add-ons

• Twitter feed – from £POA
• Facebook feed – from £POA
• Social sharing buttons – from £POA
• Social Follow buttons – from £POA
• Website feed into Facebook Page – from £POA
• Share to reveal content  – from £POA

Enquiry form Add-ons

• Extra fields in standard forms  – from £20
• Advanced enquiry forms  – from £30
• Survey forms – from £30
• Quotation forms – from £30
• Fact finder forms – from £POA
• Enquiry / quote calculators  – from £POA

CMS Add-ons

• Blogging / Article publishing platform  – from £POA
• Article submission – from £POA
• Recip. Link directory platform – from £POA
• Email marketing integration – from £POA
• CRM integration – from £POA

Subscription Add-ons

• Email newsletter subscription setup  – from £20
• RSS Feed subscription setup – from £20

Don’t delete it! Speak to us first or you might lose the SEO benefits of having had a website at all, even if it might not be a great one there will be some value in it!

As part of our competitor research we look at the design styles being used on other websites in your industry. We also chat with you about the look and feel you’d like for your site. If there are particular websites you like the look of then do share them with us and let us know what you like. If there’s a site you’d like as a template we’re always happy to take design cues from it. Rather than copy it, we’ll make you something ever better.

Weekly, or bi-weekly updates are the best way to demonstrate to Google that your business is active and deserving of ranking. If you can’t think of ways to continually update your website with new content we can help you come up with a strategy.

• For 30 days after the launch of your new website, you can request edits (within reason) free of charge.
• After this stage, or if you have a website designed by a 3rd party – website updates are charged at £30 per hour with a 1 hour minimum.
• Most edits such as changing phone numbers or addresses only takes a few minutes, so it’s worth preparing some other text you may wish to add or edit to get the maximum value for money for your 1 hour.
• Adding full pages to your website is also charged by the hour, but in general, they take 1 hour to create and then around 20 minutes of edits – resulting in an average charge of £40 per page.
• Please ask for a free no obligation quote before any work starts so you know exactly what you are getting.
• See here for the webdesign package price list

The timeline varies depending on the complexity of the project, but most small business websites are completed within 4-6 weeks

Small businesses are often targeted by cyber criminals because historically they have paid less attention to the security and maintenance of their websites. To combat this and mitigate the threat of attack we offer a number of services to make your site as secure as possible. Our security-focussed options include 3 tiers of email and website hosting, SSL upgrades and regular malware and virus scanning.

Yes, we can assist with domain registration and provide reliable hosting solutions to keep your website running smoothly.

Copyrights

First, you guarantee that all elements of text, images or other artwork you provide are either owned by your good selves, or that you’ve got permission to use them. Then, when your final payment has cleared, copyright will be automatically assigned as follows:

• You will own the visual elements that we create for this project. We’ll give you source files and finished files and you should keep them somewhere safe as we’re not required to keep a copy. You own all elements of text, images and data you provided, unless someone else owns them.
• We will own the unique combination of these elements that constitutes a complete design and we’ll license that you, exclusively and in perpetuity for this single project only, unless we agree otherwise. We can provide a separate estimate for that.
• We love to show off our work and share what we’ve learned with other people, so we reserve the right, with your permission, to display and link to your project as part of our portfolio and to write about it on websites, in magazine articles and in books.

Absolutely, we want to make sure we get the tone of voice properly matched to your brand identity, so we’ll work with you to get sign-off before publishing anything. With most clients, we find they’re really happy with the way our copywriters write and, after a while, they are happy for us to take the lead on this. It’s entirely down to your preferences.

Yes, we offer maintenance packages to ensure your site remains secure, updated, and performing well.

Yes! We use user-friendly CMS platforms like WordPress, making it easy for you to update content, add pages, and upload images.

There are great SEO benefits to regularly updating your website with new content, so we always encourage our customers to do so. We use cutting edge content management systems on the sites we build to allow for client’s and their staff to easily add updates once their websites are complete. If you’re not confident in doing this it’s something we’re always happy to help with. We can also help you put together a content plan and assist with content creation too if needed.

Yes, all websites we develop are designed to be mobile-friendly. With the increasing number of users accessing the web via mobile devices, we ensure that your website adapts seamlessly to different screen sizes. A responsive design not only improves user experience but also positively impacts search engine rankings, making it essential for modern websites.

We utilise various platforms for website development, including WordPress, Shopify, and custom solutions depending on your business needs. WordPress is widely used for content-driven sites, while Shopify is ideal for eCommerce businesses. Our expertise allows us to recommend the best platform for your specific goals, ensuring scalability and flexibility.

After the website launch, we offer ongoing support that may include website maintenance, content updates, and technical support. Depending on your needs, we can provide various support packages to ensure your website remains up-to-date, secure, and functioning optimally. We’re here to help with any issues that may arise, ensuring a smooth experience for you.

Website development is the process of building and maintaining websites, encompassing various aspects such as web design, content creation, and coding. It involves both front-end development, which focuses on the visual elements that users interact with, and back-end development, which handles server-side functionalities and database management. A well-developed website is crucial for providing a smooth user experience and achieving business goals.

The cost of website development varies based on the project’s scope, complexity, and any specific features required. After discussing your needs during an initial consultation, we can provide a detailed quote that aligns with your budget. We aim to offer solutions that provide value and deliver exceptional results for your investment.

The timeline for building a website can vary based on factors such as complexity, the number of pages, and specific functionalities. Typically, the development process can take from a few weeks to a few months. We keep you informed throughout the process and provide a clear timeline during the planning stage.

We implement various security measures to protect your website from potential threats. This includes using secure hosting, SSL certificates, and regular security updates. We also advise on best practices, such as using strong passwords and implementing two-factor authentication. Our focus on security helps safeguard your site and provides peace of mind for you and your customers.

Our website development process begins with a thorough understanding of your business goals, target audience, and specific requirements. We start with planning and designing the website structure, followed by creating wireframes and mockups for visual guidance. Once approved, our team builds the site using best practices for coding and responsiveness. We conduct rigorous testing to ensure functionality across different devices and browsers before the final launch.

To get started, simply contact us for an initial consultation. We’ll discuss your ideas, goals, and requirements for your website, and from there, we can outline a tailored development plan. Our team is excited to partner with you to create a high-quality website that meets your business needs and helps you achieve your objectives.

Yes, we offer content creation services tailored to your brand’s voice and messaging objectives. Our team can assist with writing engaging copy, creating visuals, and optimising content for SEO. Ensuring that the content resonates with your audience is essential for driving engagement and achieving conversions on your website.

We offer various types of hosting, including shared hosting, virtual private servers (VPS), dedicated servers, and cloud hosting. Shared hosting is cost-effective and suitable for small websites, while VPS and dedicated hosting offer more resources and control for larger sites. Cloud hosting provides scalability, allowing your site to manage traffic fluctuations seamlessly. We help you determine the most suitable option based on your specific needs and budget.

• Premium quality UK based hosting
• Servers are based at the premium Blue Square data centres in the UK
• Expected uptime is an outstanding 99.95%

Our hosting services come with multiple security measures to ensure the safety of your website. This includes SSLcertificates to encrypt data transmitted between users and your website, robust firewalls to protect against unauthorized access, and regular security updates to software and server configurations. We also offer automated backups to prevent data loss and enable quick recovery in case of an incident. By implementing these security features, we help safeguard your website from potential threats and ensure peace of mind for you and your customers.

We’ve helped previous clients out with malware and virus removal from their websites and servers, as well as offering some practical tips and advice on how to prevent and recover from at attack. If your website or sever has been attacked we can diagnose and repair the problem and get you back online. If you’ve got an issue with your site give our friendly team a call and let us know what’s going on, we’ll come up with a plan to fix it. Don’t do anything drastic, since it could hurt your SEO. If attacks are dealt with in the right way it’s often possible to make a full recover with no lasting damage to your rankings. We can also help protect your site from future attacks with a range of hosting and maintenance plans that offer a number of security advantages, click here to learn more.

Customer support is a vital part of our hosting services. We provide 24/7 support through multiple channels, including live chat, email, and phone. Our dedicated support team is knowledgeable and ready to assist you with any questions or issues you may encounter, whether it’s related to server performance, technical difficulties, or account management. We pride ourselves on responsive and supportive service for all our clients.

Website hosting is a service that allows individuals and organisations to make their websites accessible on the internet. It involves storing website files, data, and resources on a server that can be accessed by users worldwide. Hosting providers ensure that your website remains online, loads quickly, and performs effectively for visitors.

Choosing the right hosting provider is crucial because it directly affects your website’s performance, security, and uptime. A reliable hosting provider ensures fast loading times and minimal downtime, which are vital for user experience and SEO. Additionally, good hosting services offer robust security measures to protect your data and features such as customer support, backup options, and scalability to accommodate future growth.

Uptime refers to the amount of time your website is operational and accessible on the internet. It is typically expressed as a percentage, with a higher percentage indicating better reliability. Uptime is crucial because frequent downtime can lead to lost traffic, reduced sales, and a negative impact on search engine rankings. We strive to provide high uptime guarantees, ensuring that your website remains available to users around the clock.

How a domain expires

Contrary to popular belief, domains do not expire when they say they do. If the owner of a domain does not renew by the expiration date of the domain, the domain goes into “expired” status. For 40 days, the domain is in a grace period where all services are shut off, but the domain owner may still renew the domain for a standard renewal fee. If a domain enters this period, it is a good first indicator that it may not be renewed, but since the owner can re-register without penalty, it can also just be a sign of laziness or procrastination. After 40 days are up, the domain’s status changes to “redemption period”. During this phase, all WhoIs information begins disappearing, and more importantly, it now costs the owner an additional fee to re-activate and re-register the domain. The fee is currently around $100, depending on your registrar. When a domain enters its redemption period, it’s a good bet the owner has decided not to renew.Finally, after the redemption period, the domain’s status will change to “locked” as it enters the deletion phase. The deletion phase is 5 days long, and on the last day between 11am and 2pm Pacific time, the name will officially drop from the ICANN database and will be available for registration by anybody.The entire process ends exactly 75 days after the listed expiration date.

It’s unfortunate that one of the side effects of getting more exposure across the internet, is that your website will become more valuable and attractive to hackers.

• If you notice your website has been hacked please get in touch via email or phone, and your website will be restored from a daily backup of the day before your site was hacked.

Why do hackers hack websites?

1. Some do it just to prove they can, similar to graffiti artists tagging public places with their signature
2. Some do it to place links on your website that link back to their websites. Google may pass some authority from your website to their website through the link. If we react quickly and restore your website back to normal, it’s likely Google wont even notice.
3. Some do it to try to damage the reputation of your business – and may have been paid to hack your website by one of your competitors.

How can we stop them?

1. Strong passwords, for your website CMS login and hosting login are setup for you as standard
2. If you change your password, make sure it is strong and contains upper and lower case letters and numbers
3. Your website CMS is regularly updated and security patches are applied on your behalf

However it is very difficult to create and maintain a 100% secure website – so you should be aware that its impossible for us to guarantee your site will never experience a security compromise.Enhanced / upgraded security hosting packagesIf you are very concerned about this happening, or if your website is mission critical, we can provide an advanced hosting package that has higher security and cloud redundancy, please enquire about prices ranging from £20 per month.

We will always try to help our clients where possible and have dug some of them out of some rather sticky situations with their previous websites. Please bear in mind however that if you have worked with another company for your current or former website they may have various terms and conditions that prevent anyone but you from accessing or controlling it. We’ll do what we can, we should at least be able to point you in the right direction.

• Plans start from £20 per year for very small websites. The main factor is the storage space required for your site on the server.
• Standard CMS websites require the 200mb package to start, which gives you around 100mb for pictures + emails and this costs £40 per year.

Determining the right type of hosting depends on several factors, including the size of your website, the amount of traffic you expect, and your specific performance requirements. During our initial consultation, we assess your business needs and goals to recommend the most appropriate hosting solution for you. We guide you through the benefits and limitations of each option, helping you make an informed decision.

Once you choose our hosting services, we provide you with access to a user-friendly control panel that allows you to manage your hosting account easily. Through the control panel, you can monitor site performance, manage domains, set up email accounts, and access support resources. We also offer assistance to guide you through any advanced features or settings, ensuring that you feel confident managing your hosting environment.

To get started with our website hosting services, simply reach out to us to discuss your needs. We’ll evaluate what you’re looking for in a hosting provider and recommend the best plan based on your specific requirements. After selecting a plan, we’ll guide you through the sign-up process and help set everything up, ensuring you’re ready to go online without any hassle.

Yes, we offer seamless migration services to transfer your existing website to our hosting environment. Our team ensures that the migration process is smooth and efficient, minimising downtime during the transition. We handle all aspects of the migration, including data transfer and configuration adjustments, so that you can focus on your business without worrying about technical challenges.

You are most welcome to, you’ll be given the keys to the castle as soon as we’re done.

Yes, we ensure that your website is built on an intuitive content management system (CMS) that allows you to make content updates easily without needing technical knowledge. We provide training and support during the handover process to empower you to manage updates on your own confidently.

Regular website maintenance is important because it helps ensure that your site functions correctly and remains secure. Outdated software can leave your site vulnerable to security threats and may lead to downtime or errors that frustrate users. By conducting routine checks and updates, you can improve site performance, enhance user experience, and maintain your brand’s credibility and reputation.

If you’re not sure which website maintenance plan you need, why not give us a call for a chat, or drop us an email? We’d be happy to help you figure out what your best option is.

Our website maintenance services include a variety of tasks such as software updates, security checks, backups, performance monitoring, and content updates. We also perform routine checks for broken links, optimize images for faster loading times, and provide technical support to address any issues that may arise. Our comprehensive approach ensures that your website remains in top condition.

Website maintenance refers to the ongoing processes and tasks required to keep a website running smoothly, securely, and up-to-date. This includes updating software, monitoring site performance, fixing bugs, ensuring security protocols are in place, and backing up data regularly. Effective website maintenance is crucial to prevent issues, enhance user experience, and improve search engine rankings.

The cost of website maintenance services can vary based on the size and complexity of your website and the level of support you require. We offer a range of plans tailored to different needs, from basic monthly maintenance to comprehensive packages that include regular updates and security monitoring. During our initial consultation, we can provide a detailed quote based on your specific requirements.

The frequency of website maintenance can vary depending on the size of your site and the complexity of its features. However, we recommend conducting basic maintenance tasks at least once a month, with more comprehensive checks every quarter. High-traffic or eCommerce sites may require more frequent updates and monitoring to address any potential issues swiftly.

We take website security very seriously and implement various measures during maintenance to protect your site. This includes regular updates to software and plugins to close security vulnerabilities, monitoring for suspicious activity, and maintaining strong backup protocols. We can also install security plugins and configure security settings based on best practices to help safeguard your website.

To get started with our website maintenance services, reach out to us for an initial consultation. We’ll discuss your website’s current condition, your maintenance needs, and any specific concerns you have. From there, we can create a tailored maintenance plan that ensures your website stays secure, up-to-date, and running optimally.

Our WordPress maintenance plans are intended to take care of the stability and security of your website, as such, they don’t include content-based changes on the site such as changing colours, updating blog pots or adding photos. We do often help our clients with content-based website changes as well, but these are classed as web design projects. If you’re looking for content-based support, head over to our web design page to find out more, or just drop us an email and we’ll be in touch..

Yes, we provide emergency website support to address urgent issues that may arise, such as downtime, security breaches, or major functionality problems. Our goal is to resolve critical issues as quickly as possible to minimize disruptions to your online presence. We recommend discussing an emergency support plan with us to ensure you have the necessary coverage in place.

Absolutely! If your website is experiencing any issues, our team is ready to assist you. We provide technical support and troubleshooting to diagnose and resolve problems quickly. Whether it’s fixing broken links, addressing slow load times, or handling security breaches, we are dedicated to ensuring your website runs smoothly.

Yes, we regularly check and fix any issues related to checkout, payment gateways or the shopping cart. Broken checkout processes can frustrate customers and lead to lost sales. We make sure everything works smoothly to give your customers a hassle-free shopping experience.

Yes, we create regular backups of your WooCommerce store, including products, customer data, and order history. Backups ensure that if anything goes wrong, we can restore your store to a previous working version without losing critical data.

WooCommerce maintenance ensures your online store runs smoothly, securely, and efficiently. Without regular upkeep, your store may experience security risks, slow performance, or bugs that impact sales. Regular maintenance keeps everything running as it should, improving your store’s user experience and sales.

Failing to maintain your WooCommerce store can result in security vulnerabilities, broken features, slow checkout processes, and poor user experience. These issues can lead to lost sales, frustrated customers, and lower search engine rankings.

If a plugin update causes problems, we act quickly to resolve the issue. We’ll roll back the update if necessary and troubleshoot the problem. Our goal is to get your store back to normal as quickly as possible, ensuring minimal disruption to your business.

Our maintenance service covers plugin updates, WooCommerce core updates, performance optimisation, security monitoring, and regular backups. We also fix bugs, monitor transactions, and provide support for any issues related to your online store.

Restoring your WooCommerce store from a backup is quick and efficient, typically taking just a few minutes. We have systems in place to restore your store with minimal downtime, ensuring your customers can continue shopping without interruption.

We recommend updating your WooCommerce store at least once a month. Regular updates to WooCommerce, WordPress, and your plugins ensure that your store remains secure, performs well, and stays compatible with the latest technologies.

We optimise images, enable caching, and improve server settings to speed up your store. Fast loading times are critical for keeping customers engaged and for ranking higher on search engines. We help you create a fast and responsive store that keeps users coming back.

We test plugin updates on a staging site before applying them to your live store. This ensures that updates won’t cause conflicts or break any functionality. Once confirmed, we update your plugins without disrupting your store’s operation.

We implement security best practices, such as setting up firewalls, running malware scans, and keeping your store’s plugins and themes up to date. We also monitor your store for any suspicious activity, block potential threats, and help you recover if there’s an attack.

Yes, we monitor your WooCommerce store 24/7 for any signs of downtime or performance issues. If your store goes offline, we’re immediately alerted and can take action to restore it as quickly as possible, so you don’t lose sales.

No, you don’t need to know anything about the technical side of WooCommerce. We take care of all the updates, security, performance, and troubleshooting for you. You can focus on running your business while we handle the technical details.

With our WooCommerce maintenance services, you can rest assured that your online store is secure, fast, and functioning perfectly, all while providing your customers with a great shopping experience.

Yes, we can help with adding new products, updating existing product information, adjusting pricing and managing stock levels. Regular product updates are important for keeping your store fresh and competitive.

Yes, we offer SEO support tailored to your WooCommerce store. We optimise product pages, meta descriptions, titles and images to improve your store’s visibility on search engines. A well-optimised store brings more traffic and leads to increased sales.

Choosing WordPress hosting over standard hosting is beneficial because it is specifically tailored for WordPress websites. This type of hosting offers optimised server configurations that improve site performance and loading speeds. Additionally, WordPress hosting often comes with support from experts who are familiar with the platform, making troubleshooting and assistance more effective. You’ll also benefit from enhanced security and automatic updates that help keep your site safe.

We implement a variety of security measures to protect your WordPress site, including regular updates to WordPress core, themes, and plugins to prevent vulnerabilities. Our hosting includes firewall protection, malware scanning, and real-time monitoring for suspicious activity. Additionally, we support SSL certificates to encrypt your site, ensuring customer data is secure during transactions.

WordPress hosting is a type of web hosting specifically designed to support WordPress websites. It typically includes optimised servers, enhanced security features, and built-in tools that simplify the management of WordPress sites. With WordPress hosting, you can expect faster loading times, automatic updates, and reliable performance tailored to the needs of the WordPress platform.

We offer a high uptime guarantee for our WordPress hosting service, typically around 99.9%. This means that your website will be accessible to visitors almost all the time. We continuously monitor server performance and take necessary measures to prevent downtime, ensuring your site remains available when your customers need it.

Our WordPress hosting service includes several key features such as one-click installations, automatic backups, scalability to accommodate traffic spikes, robust security measures, and support for SSL certificates. We also offer guided support from a team experienced in WordPress, ensuring any issues are resolved quickly and effectively. Additionally, our hosting environment is optimised for speed, enhancing the user experience for your visitors.

We offer seamless migration services to transfer your existing WordPress website to our hosting environment. Our experienced team handles the entire process, including backing up your website, transferring files and databases, and configuring settings to ensure everything functions correctly post-migration. We take care to minimise downtime throughout the transfer process, so you can continue to serve your customers smoothly.

You will have access to an intuitive control panel that allows you to manage your WordPress hosting account easily. This panel includes tools for managing emails, databases, security settings, backups, and site performance. We also provide resources and documentation to help you navigate and utilise the provided tools effectively.

There are many things that can be done to improve page load speed, all of which we’ll look at as part of an SEO campaign. To identify just a few; optimising image files sizes. Compressing scripts and files, caching, server optimisation and hosting upgrades. There are many more things we can do to help if your website is struggling from slow loading speeds.

To get started with our WordPress hosting services, reach out to us via our contact page. We’ll discuss your hosting needs, assist you in choosing the right plan, and guide you through the sign-up process. Our team is ready to ensure you have a reliable and efficient hosting solution for your WordPress website.

Absolutely! We provide comprehensive support for setting up your WordPress site, including installation, initial configuration, and assistance with customisation. Our team is available to guide you through the process, ensuring a smooth start for your website.

Yes, you can use your own domain with our WordPress hosting service. During the onboarding process, we guide you through connecting your existing domain to your new hosting account. If you need help with domain registration, we can also assist you with that process.

Yes, we regularly check for broken links and missing images on your site. Broken links frustrate visitors and harm your search engine rankings. We fix these issues as soon as we spot them to ensure your site runs smoothly and visitors can access all the content without problems.

Yes, we back up your site every day to secure, offsite storage. In the event of a disaster, such as a hack or crash, we can quickly restore your site from a backup. Backups are essential to protect your data and ensure that you don’t lose valuable content or customisations.

If your site gets hacked, we clean up the malware, remove any harmful code, and secure your site to prevent future attacks. We can restore your site from a backup if needed, and we’ll work to strengthen your security measures to avoid further issues.

Yes, we provide detailed reports that include data on uptime, performance, and any issues we’ve resolved. You’ll see how your site is performing, including load times, security checks, and the status of your backups. These reports give you peace of mind and keep you informed on how your website is running.

WordPress maintenance is essential to ensure your site runs smoothly, securely, and efficiently. Without regular updates and monitoring, your site becomes vulnerable to hackers, crashes, and slower performance. Maintenance helps keep your website up-to-date with the latest features, security patches, and ensures any bugs are fixed before they cause significant issues.

No problem! We can manage as many websites as you need, whether it’s just one or a hundred. Our care plans are designed for a single site, domain, subdomain, or WordPress installation. If you have multiple subdomains (e.g. wpbuffs.com and subdomain.wpbuffs.com), they are treated as separate sites. So, if you have three sites to manage, you’ll need three separate plans.

You’re welcome to choose different plans for each site based on their specific needs.

If an update causes issues, we act quickly to identify the problem and roll back the update if necessary. We have a backup system in place that allows us to restore your site to a previous version, so you won’t be left with an unusable site. We’ll fix the issue and ensure everything is working as it should.

Our maintenance services cover a broad range of tasks to keep your site in top condition. This includes regular updates for WordPress core files, plugins, and themes. We also perform regular backups, security checks, performance optimisation, and fix any broken links or errors. If you need help with content updates or SEO adjustments, we handle those too.

We can help with content updates, whether it’s adding new blog posts, updating product pages, or revising existing content. Fresh content is essential for SEO and keeping your visitors engaged. We can also help optimise your content for keywords and make sure it aligns with your marketing goals.

We recommend updating your WordPress site at least once a month, or more frequently if new updates become available. This includes updating the WordPress core, plugins, and themes. Keeping everything updated reduces the risk of security breaches, improves your site’s functionality, and ensures compatibility with the latest web technologies.

If you neglect to update your website, your site becomes prone to security risks, slow performance, and compatibility issues. Outdated plugins and themes can become entry points for hackers, while your site may stop working correctly as WordPress and browser technologies evolve. This can lead to a poor user experience and lost revenue.

Site speed is crucial for user experience and SEO rankings. We improve site speed by optimising images, setting up caching, and fine-tuning your hosting settings. If needed, we also review your hosting service to ensure it meets your site’s performance demands. A faster website means happier visitors and better conversion rates.

We actively monitor your site for any security risks. This includes setting up firewalls, running regular malware scans, and blocking any suspicious activity. We also keep your site’s software up-to-date to protect against known vulnerabilities. If an attack occurs, we act quickly to remove any malware and restore your site’s security.

We carefully test plugin updates on a staging environment before applying them to your live site. This ensures that the updates won’t cause conflicts or break your site’s functionality. After testing, we update plugins safely and ensure that your site continues to operate smoothly.

We’ve designed our pricing to be efficient and effective, so it’s more practical for us to manage support via email. Although we don’t provide phone support, we prioritise excellent customer service, and you’ll find our email support quick, effective and friendly!

Yes, we offer 24/7 uptime monitoring. This means we constantly check your site for any signs of downtime or performance issues. If your site goes down, we are immediately alerted and can take action to restore your site, ensuring minimal downtime.

Restoring a website from a backup typically takes a few minutes, depending on the size of your site and the backup system in place. We make sure to have a smooth process in place to minimise downtime. If anything goes wrong, we act quickly to restore your site, so your visitors experience little to no disruption.

Yes, we do. Each site in a multisite network needs its own individual care plan. Due to the structure of WordPress Multisite, we cannot manage only a single site within the network.

Not at all. You don’t need any technical knowledge. We take care of everything, from updates to security, performance, and backups. You can focus on your business while we handle the technical side. If you have any questions, we’re always here to help and explain things in simple terms.

With our WordPress maintenance services, you can relax knowing your website is in good hands. We handle the technical side so you can focus on what matters most—growing your business.

• After you choose the care plan that best suits your needs, you’ll receive a welcome email with details about your plan and instructions on how to securely share your login credentials with us.
• Once we have your WordPress dashboard and hosting login details, we’ll fully implement your plan within 24-48 hours. This includes a thorough checklist of over 200 items to ensure your site is fully optimised.
• Speed improvements may take up to a week, as we need to fine-tune your core files, theme, and plugins. We take extra care during this process to avoid any downtime and ensure everything is done correctly.
• We’ll keep you informed throughout the process via email, providing full transparency every step of the way.
• Your first weekly report will arrive on the first Monday after you sign up. If you sign up over the weekend, we’ll send your first report the following Monday to ensure everything is fully prepared before we provide an update.

Yes, maintenance is proactive. We monitor and update your site regularly to prevent future problems. By investing in ongoing maintenance, you save time and money in the long run, as you avoid major issues that could disrupt your business.

Even small websites benefit from regular maintenance. Without updates, small sites can still face security risks and performance issues. Regular maintenance ensures that your site stays secure, fast, and optimised, regardless of its size.