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Social Videography – Quality Social Marketing

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social videography

There is ever increasing demand for video content on social media. High quality social videography can help provide your followers with the content they want in a form that separates you from your competitors. Video content encourages social media engagement far more effectively than a static image. Further, your message can be far more easily and effectively communicated in detail.

For a time, one of the downsides of video content is that people would not be able to view it from anywhere like other social content. Requiring audio would make the video less effective than an image for example. This made it very important for social videography to include captions and headings that make the content less convinient to produce.

Today, social videos recieve the benefit of automatic captioning that makes watching content without audio an option. These captions have long been improved by advances in automated speech recognition (ASR) and AI technology. Find out more about Meta ASR.

Not only does it make your social content more accessible for average users, but hundreds of millions of people in the world who are deaf or hard of hearing are now able to follow every word. The convinience of social videography continues to be another benefit to businesses since live video also includes automatic closed captions for Facebook Live and Workplace Live. The live content can be translated into six languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, German and French.

Does Your Social Marketing Include Videography?

So if your business hasn’t found a space to start filming and producing your social videography content, get started today. For more advanced projects or less technology savy businesses, we can help produce high quality videos for your website visitors and social media following. We work across Spalding, Holbeach, Boston and wider South Lincolnshire for various sectors. We also take on projects for businesses across the rest of the UK and are available for remote and in person appointments to discuss your project.

Contact us on 01775 761 512

Advert Landing Pages – Website Design Tips

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Did you know you should be creating a specific landing page for every ad campaign?

In this post, we’ll take a closer look at why landing pages are so important for your adverts.

Many advertisers only focus on the ads themselves when creating campaigns. Many businesses focus on ensuring that their ads comply with advertising policies. However if you create and engaging enough ad, you will generate visitors to a page on your website.  Never miss the opportunity to take advantage of being able to create a perfect website landing pages, registration pages, squeeze pages, sales pages, or whatever you might call it.

You can create highly targeted ads that quickly build your mailing list, offer free consultations, coupon codes, events, giveaways/competitions, and many other incentives but the process has to be clear. You have guided customers to a page, now you must guide them through their next steps.

To avoid a low conversion rate, don’t force customers to search for the product or content they are looking for. Don’t use generic website pages or irrelevant landing pages that are specifically targeting your ad visitors.

A good website today is not necessarily one that is well planned or has a trendy design. The focus has shifted to clarity and content. You can draw inspiration from the latest trends, but make sure your design choices are based not only on your preferences. The focus should be on decisions that positively influence your customers’ behaviour.

So, What Is A Good Landing Page?

– A video that explaining the product/service
– A simple and prominent call to action button (buy, get a quote, contact us etc)
– A live chat function with an on hand sales representative
– A selection of reviews, partners and awards

Website Ads Support – Find us in Spalding

Give us a call if you’re still struggling. Drive By Websites Ltd can help you build website landing pages, create Pay Per Click campaigns, design bespoke graphics, and send mailshots. Whatever you need, we’re here to help. Give us a call on 01775 761512, contact us online or visit us at 14 Bear Lane, Pinchbeck, Spalding, Lincolnshire PE11 3XA.

Cryptocurrency For Ecommerce – What You Should Know

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Bitcoin Payments on websites

A growing number of companies in a variety of industries are using cryptocurrencies, allowing some customers a more convinient way to pay for their goods and services. While still only a few payment gateways (and even fewer POS terminals) process cryptocurrency payments, we are still a long way from the peak of mainstream adoption. This has never been more obvious than in 2021 and we want to help you get ahead of your competition.

Although Bitcoin (BTC) is the most famous cryptocurrency, there are many other types of digital currencies available under the name Altcoin, a generic term used for all alternatives to Bitcoin. Bitcoin is by far the most popular currency. In simple terms, it is a digital currency that is not controlled by any bank or government, but instead uses sophisticated cryptographic techniques that allow it to be exchanged between users for goods and services.

Despite price volatiliy, large companies like Amazon and Facebook (Meta) are investing time and money to adjust their platforms so that they can pay in these currencies. Major e-commerce platforms like BigCommerce, WooCommerce, and even Shopify already support cryptocurrency payments using crypto wallets like Coinbase, BitPay, GoCoin, and CoinPayments.

How Do Crpytocurrencies Benefit Ecommerce Sites?

Let’s see why you might want to add Bitcoin to your website payment options. Using cryptocurrency payment gateways can help your business expand its consumer base between local and international buyers. By this same logic, existing international retailers/brands that start accepting bitcoin can reach more remote buyers and get established in a growing future-proof marketplace.

Adopting cryptocurrency as a payment method will give you access to a whole new market of tech-savvy consumers who have built a community in the cryptocurrency market. This still applies in 2021, but it won’t last forever. As global brands like Etsy, Starbucks, PayPal and others announce the adoption of cryptocurrencies, other companies are forced to compete and move towards cryptocurrencies. If you’re late to the game accepting cryptocurrency payments you will not find yourself attracting a community of followers. In fact, US merchants integrated with PayPal are already accepting cryptocurrency from consumers, and we think you will be able to accept cryptocurrency from customers in the UK soon. It will not take long to get left behind with the current rate of adoption in crpytocurrencies.

You can also make transactions easier for customers by offering more annonymity. Cryptocurrency allows you to make anonymous purchases using encrypted wallet addresses. Unlike credit or debit card transactions that require multiple fields at checkout, customers use their digital wallets to complete cryptocurrency transactions. This could be beneficial for certain goods and services or even for any retailer in the run up to Christmas.

Getting Started with Cryptocurrencies for Ecommerce

One gateway can provide payment options for over 100 cryptocurrencies. It can be tough getting started, so whether you are an e-commerce seller new to cryptocurrency or are convinced of the idea of ​​cryptocurrency payments and ready to accept them, give us a call on 01775 761512 or contact us online.

Ultimate Marketing For Christmas

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DB Christmas Wreath thumbnail

Christmas is a peak time to build brand awareness and generate more visitors. Companies grab the attention of customers with the most engaging social media content, best contest ideas and unique Christmas giveaway ideas. If you want a good chance at capturing some of this extra attention for yourself, prepare/start seasonal promotions and offers ahead of time and fully embrace the festivities and fun.

  • Choose to market products and services that are easy to sell and represent your wider offering.
  • Aim to not only increase sales but customer loyalty. The same customers can be reengaged with other marketing opportunities throughout the year.
  • Embrace the Christmas spirit and maintain a strong connection with your brand. Your brand is already designed to stand out against your competitors, so don’t be shy about embracing the engaging sights and sounds of Christmas. It’s not just to add a festive touch to your social posts. Your campaign still has to set itself apart from Christmas marketing online and offline.

Marketing Ideas to Consider

A quick and easy Pay Per Click campaign on Facebook involves creating a target audience based on their online activity and engagements. To maximise results early, you can engage your customers in the weeks running up to Christmas. For example, invite all of your followers to post their favorite gift ideas or local charities, and use this information to help create a social media campaign that your followers have had a hand in. This also helps to maximise the organic reach of your later paid campaigns.

Interactive campaigns are very modern and perfect for seasonal marketing. We recently helped a client with a digital scratch game using simple QR codes. Extensions of this idea included unlockable discounts themed as Christmas Gifts or something similarly fitting. Cleverly executed discount campaigns can help to get people engaged and spending money in the run up to Christmas.

Some of the most fun or catchy seasonal campaign videos go ‘viral’. At the time of writing, the Romford M&S store team heads for the charts with their own catchy Christmas song. As noted in the article, one person in the comments said the film was better than a professional Christmas advert. Further, the release is raising money for homeless charity Shelter and Together4ShortLives which works with terminally ill children. While this is not the easiest or most comfortable idea for every team, the results can be staggering.

Need help getting started?

Drive By Websites Ltd can help you build your festive website landing pages, create your Pay Per Click campaigns, design your bespoke festive materials, send your seasonal newsletter. Whatever you need, we’re here to help. Give us a call on 01775 761512 or contact us online.

Adding Value To Your Website – From One Page To Ecommerce

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online content marketing SEO

It can undoubtedly be difficult to generate new content on the same topics regularly, but we are here to remind you of a few different ways to keep your site ranking highly in Google without always covering the same ground. Some suggestions might be new to you and as always we’re here to help. Here are a few suggestions for how to rethink your website content:

  • In 2021, YouTube is quickly becoming one of the most valuable marketing platforms to share useful or engaging content with returning/potential customers. Social video content in general is easily accessible on mobile devices without the extra effort of reading or scrolling. The same is true of your website. By connecting relevant search terms to your video and connecting the content to your website, customers can discover and follow your other content and website offerings.
  • You can use your website to help limit unpredictable customer service costs such as time spent answering social media enquiries or answering calls. With this your website can help provide a service to your customers and the business itself. As an example, Frequently asked questions (FAQ) areas can be a lot of work to write but will inevitably save time and money for your business.
  • Social media content is a perfect microcosm for your target customers to help determine the effectiveness and engagement of certain topics and content. With those valuable social media insights, you can expand on topics across your website and wider social network. From there, including prominent social sharing facilities on your website content is necessary to maximise the potential for visitors to share and attract new visitors.
  • You might think of writing relevant and engaging content as the only factor in achieving maximum value for money for your advertising and marketing, however your website can turn viewers into followers by offering newsletter subscriptions, coupon/discount sign ups and membership areas. A few simple tools on your website can even make this remarkably simple.
  • Social Giveaways can be vastly more engaging on social media than traditional content and fortunately it can be just as simple to write in valuable search terms and keywords for optimising your website. Services such as kingsumo actually make it even simpler to create landing pages for your giveaways that can attract entries for likes, follows, shares and email sign ups. With a bit of integration to your website, you’ll soon be able to regularly generate hundreds of extra followers and mailing list subscribers for little extra effort or expense than traditional content marketing.

Don’t leave your visitors hanging around or bouncing off your site, spend some time extracting as much value as possible from your website visitors.

Is Content Still King in 2021?

Over half of UK marketing companies prioritise blogging as their primary content marketing strategy. Clearly generating leads online is considerably easier when producing engaging and relevant content. When this is combined with other relevant value adding strategies such as the above examples, the process of acquiring and converting visitors into customers on your website has never been as effortless. It all starts with relevant original content. If you’re struggling to generate new ideas or exposure to the right demographics, we can help with Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) or implementing techniques such as those above. For businesses that are actively exploring content marketing opportunities, give us a call on 01775 761512 or contact us online.

SEO, Social Marketing, Lincolnshire Content Marketing, Business in Lincolnshire SEO

Cookie Acceptance Is Almost Over – Thankfully

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privacy

No more accepting cookies?

Oliver Dowden, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, said today that he plans to do away with “endless” cookie acceptance on websites.

The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which came into force in 2018, introduced cookie acceptance. It was not long before the futility of this feature was recognised across the country. While many businesses may still be overlooking data privacy and modern data management, even the most privacy conscious of our clients will not miss these banners. It is widely regarded as a pointless ‘tick to accept’ barrier that rarely even constitutes informed consent.

Reducing data barriers

Alternative regulations could see websites ‘assume’ consent, which seems a reasonable assumption in conjunction with the ability to retract or refuse this. This would allow website owners to provide customers an uninhibited browsing experience. Good website design simply does not go hand in hand with box ticking and popups. In fact, £11billion worth of trade is scuppered because of data barriers according to Mr Dowden.

Drive By Websites Ltd have helped hundreds of clients, both in Spalding and across the country. Our advice is always to take every data precaution and abide by the law. Contact us for help or advice with data security for businesses.

Get Competitive on your Website Homepage

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homepage SEO impact

You probably already know that your website homepage gets the most views. That's why it is so fundamental to the success of your website. Making an impressive, speedy and competitive homepage might not be as tough as you think. We have made a few simple suggestions below to help you reimagine your homepage content.

For more information or help getting started with homepage improvements, please contact us.

Stop Using The Same Password!

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Hosting Lincolnshire

Over 500 Million Exposed in Facebook Data Breach

In April 2021, approximately 20% of Facebook’s subscribers were exposed in a data breach. The data was allegedly obtained by exploiting a vulnerability Facebook says they rectified in August 2019. Records contained telephone numbers, email addresses, names, genders, dates of birth, location, relationship status and employer.

Why it Matters

When web hosts are compromised or broken, the data on their servers can be exposed to persons that should not have been able to view it. The regularity of these breaches should be highly concerning for anyone shopping and browsing the web. Unfortunately, many people are unknowingly already compromised. Anyone can help victims learn of their compromised accounts. With data breaches have been rampant in recent years, we encourage everyone to check by using a useful online resource: haveibeenpwned.com

Using the same password?

Businesses rarely change their email address and doing so is often considered bad for business. However, this presents a unique risk to businesses, particularly using the same password across multiple websites and accounts. It might only take a single account to be compromised for them all to be. When you consider the scale of this issue, If you’re a business then also consider the risk to your customers data by extension.

Get Notified If Your Account Gets Compromised

Visit haveibeenpwned.com and use the ‘Notify Me’ function to be made aware of your data being exposed. Use this to eliminate compromised passwords. In addition to this, you must avoid using the same password multiple times.

Is It Too Late To Upgrade? Websites in 2020

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website upgrade covid

Our blog earlier this year, ‘Redevelop and Remain Productive‘, was intended to remind people that it’s never been more important to have an up to date website. The opening line reads:

“If you find yourself debating how you will remain productive during this difficult period, we suggest you start with your website.”

As we head into 2021, I am confident your business will continue to face new challenges with the same resilience that so many of our clients have. However, if you did not get round to your website, perhaps your competitors did?

It might be time to take a look over your competition online and check you’re still on the cutting edge. If you aren’t providing sufficient opportunity for your customers to help you through this difficult period, your business and Google ranking will suffer. We have been helping our clients analyse their competition from around the country in order to help keep them focus their priorities. While different sectors vary greatly, there has been a huge uptake in instant engagement systems.

Businesses that had previously focused their attention on social media adapted incredibly well, with many find opportunities for higher engagement. Examples of this were offerings of support into their communities. These contributions to support causes and charities were exposed to a captive audience over the lockdown and for many this was perfect advertising. That heightened engagement carried over to websites, with many more businesses using integrated social media messaging and live chat systems.

Businesses that had not previously used social media or had neglected it are finding their customer engagement is still not returning to normal. Expanding your online offering could be one of the simplest ways to adapt to the changing times. We can take care of all of your requirements and make it as simple as possible for your team to adjust to.

“We might not be running if our website wasn’t ready before the lockdown and we just wanted to say how thankful we are. You took us out of the dark ages!”

A live chat facility offers a simple faceless contact window for website visitors to acquire quick answers to their questions. If you are not available to answer these live chat queries, you could opt for an Automated Chat Bot. These are growing very popular on websites and Facebook pages. The information you can capture from these passing customers may be very valuable to your business. It will also help you improve your website as customers will inform you where your content could be improved.

If you rather speaking to your customers, there’s an option for that too. Smartphone users are very unlikely to scroll down and read a whole load of content wording and then send you an email, especially if there’s a lengthy form to complete. Because your mobile visitors are already holding their phone, allow them to call you with one simple touch of the button. No more copy-and-pasting or memorising the phone number for your customers.

Here To Help

If you’re short of ideas, we’re here to help. The generic advice we post on our blog relates to as many businesses and organisations as possible. We can provide highly specific advice based on your customers needs and competitor analysis. Contact us for more information on how you can enhance and improve your website.

Website Designer Spalding

Boston Website Development

Redevelop and Remain Productive

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covid-19

COVID-19 has put immense pressure on businesses. If you find yourself debating how you will remain productive during this difficult period, we suggest you start with your website.

Generating Money

It’s an important time to consider whether you have maximised your potential website earnings. Both to acquire new business and also to directly generate income.

Cloudfare is a very powerful page cache and content delivery network. This system will deliver your content faster than your competitors and help maintain a higher website ranking.

If you are selling on your website, expand on your product content. If not, you can expand on your service pages with new content. Stuck for ideas? Testimonials are easy to acquire and can provide many paragraphs of new relevant content.

No products? You may not realise the opportunity exists but there are lots of original ways to generate income directly from your website.

  • Merchandise
  • Service Deposits
  • Advertising Space
  • Used Equipment

Customer Service

You can improve your customer service offering with a live chat facility to encourage faceless contact and allow people to acquire quick answers to their questions. If you are not available to answer these live chat queries, you could opt for an Automated Chat Bot. These are growing very popular on websites and Facebook pages. You can read more about them here:

https://drivebywebsites.co.uk/2020/02/05/automated-chat-bot/

Smartphone users are very unlikely to scroll down and read a whole load of content wording and then send you an email, especially if there’s a lengthy form to complete. Because your mobile visitors are already holding their phone, allow them to call you with one simple touch of the button. No more copy-and-pasting or memorising the phone number for your customers. Read more here:

https://drivebywebsites.co.uk/2019/05/23/click-to-call-the-single-best-feature-for-mobile-viewers/

Community Support

During this difficult period, if you feel you have something to announce to your clients or surrounding area then get it online. Here are some examples:

  • Product/Service to support the vulnerable
  • Discounts
  • Closing down until further notice
  • Changing opening times
  • Frequently asked questions
  • Service changes (avoiding contact etc)

Here To Help

Contact us for more information on how you can enhance and improve your website.

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