But not all local directory sites are a waste of time. Niche sites with a narrow demographic or target audience can do very well and provide real value for money when it comes to advertising and being found online.

Riches in Niches

This was well proven with a new client of mine where we’re overhauling his longstanding directory site in the youth and school market. He advertises listings for hairdressers, suit and dress hire, DJs etc around special events. His advertising rates were very reasonable too, comparable to premium offerings by Finda and others,

What I found amazing when examining all the website stats, is that his modest niche directory site is getting his advertisers up to 50 times more leads than Yellow, Finda, Localist and Gopher combined!. In some instances, the traffic numbers came close to those coming via Google. In other words, advertising on his site for some had doubled the number of online leads they get each week. This is an amazing feat for any directory in the age of Google.

However the other thing we believe helped this site succeeded where other didn’t is he actually offers more than a listing. There’s advice columns, tips, videos and tight integration with social media. He’s really active on Facebook with thousands of likes. It’s a great service website and should continue to do well.

These sorts of niche directory enterprises are ideal for the small/home business operator with a passion for a particular market niche or service. The income potential is modest, hence it’s unlikely to be of interest to the big boys who go for quantity, not quality. Yet it is able to provide a nice living for enthusiasts, giving their clients great value for money.

All this is hardly new. Seth Godin and other esteemed marketing gurus have spoken of such opportunities for a decade and why building real communities can bring rewards. Let’s have more of it here in NZ.

The trend towards these sorts of services is obvious. When people are looking for a new restaurant, shop or service provider, just getting a listing of businesses isn’t enough today. They need to know what others think of them first. We’ve seen this with amazon where over 95% of buyers will checkout the reviews before any purchase. Yelps emphasis on this side is the key to its success. Consumers will generally ignore what a business says about themselves and instead reply upon what other customers have experienced.

Already their NZ database lists thousands of local businesses and this is set to explode over the coming months.

Restaurants, Retailers the big winners

Yelp is most popular in the retail, restaurant and entertainment sectors. Even at this early stage they boast over a thousand reviews for Auckland restaurants (see chart, right). This number is already approaching what some local established providers like www.menus.co.nz and others have achieved after many years of effort and expense. The launch of Yelp in NZ will provide these restaurant owners another method to gain new business and unlike those costly directory websites that require their high monthly or annual fees, Yelp is a totally FREE service!

Small, cash-strapped retailers, many of whom have a poor online presence will be the other huge winners. Yelp makes it easy to stand out if you offer quality service and products.

The trick of course to getting business from Yelp is to keep your customers happy and provide good service, thereby earning top reviews and referrals. Compared with other review services, yelp is less prone to attracting just bargain hunters and also being manipulated since the reviewers themselves have to build their own decent profile.

A Better Directory Offering?

I do suspect that some of these early NZ reviews on Yelp have been written with some marketing input. According to NBR, they’ve employed a local manager and staff to kick off the listings and reviews. But over time as more local people use the system, we should get loads more real-world reviews. From the US experience, Yelp reviews tend to have higher authority than those seen on most other directories. Fake or suspect reviews is the biggest problem with most systems today.

Local established providers like localist, menus and others will no doubt put on a brave face, but it’s an uphill battle. After all, the Yelp has a better website, better mobile apps and provided at nil cost. It’s a tough package to compete against. Yelp is good news for consumers looking for more truthful reviews and good for businesses that should be rewarded for providing the best possible service.

Ultra-Modern Marketing Pack for the Retail and Hospitality Sectors

But Yelp is still new in NZ. Certainly it’s an instant replacement for those wasting money on costly, less effective offerings from localist, finda, yellow, gopher, menus, dineout, hotfrog etc that provide relatively few sales leads for the money spent. The popular Trademe is always there of course, but these are sites for the bargain-seekers, which isn’t always ideal or appropriate. Similarly with the multitude of ‘hot deals’ websites that bring good traffic, but little profit for retailers.

To grow loyal clients, profits and a good reputation, most retail and service businesses still need their own WordPress website or e-storefront and to be found on Google+ as well as Facebook, both offering listings, referral traffic and mobile apps. Yelp is the fancy, indispensable icing on the cake. WordPress + Google + Facebook + Yelp.  Magic.

So, log on to Yelp.co.nz or download Yelp’s mobile app to start spreading your opinions and wisdom. Businesses can get in on the action, at biz.yelp.co.nz  claiming their page for free and building out their profile.

Most Seasoned Marketers are Amateurs too

I think when it comes to marketing, especially digital, we’re all in a similar situation to Hammond. Yes, most of us can drive a car. We’ve had lessons and years of experience. We think we know what we’re doing, but in reality when compared with the world’s best we’re all quite hopeless, as Richard Hammond discovered.

Yes, we can drive, but certainly not at speed. We lack the skills the best in the trade have. We can do bits of course, some good, some badly, but overall we all suck at it and the gap between the good and bad is huge. It’s not so much that clients aren’t getting some value from their marketers. It’s just that we’re far below the ideal of what’s possible today. Client expectations, fortunately, are low.

But like most things, it’s not the tools, but how we use them that’s going horribly wrong here. The technology is way ahead of what the market can understand or utilise. It’s not like learning Maths at school either. More like Latin. There can be many ways to get the right result or convey the right message. Marketing and advertising is a very complex artform and is poorly taught in the schools and universities too. They’re often teaching theoretical stuff that’s 5-10 years out of date.

Perseverance and willingness to learn is the key

We should realise, like Hammond, it’s only when we find our skillsets are inadequate and how far behind the ideal we really are. How far behind the best in the world who get 10x the returns for their clients. The differences between ‘the best’ and ‘the average’ effort is immense. From my direct marketing days I’ve seen two so-called ‘experts’ send out mailing campaigns to the same subscriber list, for the same product promotion. One got a zero response, the other over 250 a month later. Why is this?

It just means that often even the local ‘experts’ in their field can be found wanting and not know all the answers. it usually stems from the inability to learn ‘new stuff’. To experiment and learn from mistakes. This is a human condition and is not limited to consumer mortals, but well paid professionals too!

My top pick of ‘Experts’

Education is the key, but do not assume the established local ‘experts’ know it all. NZ is way behind in terms of modern marketing strategies and implementation. You need to look offshore. Finding those with an understanding of direct marketing helps.

Certainly there are those out there who really do know what they’re talking about. We’ve read hundreds of good marketing books over the years, including most of the works of Seth Godin. Waiting for your Cat to Bark by Brian Eisenberg is an essential read too and pushing the need for using personas, testing and analysis. (His techniques were used by that direct marketer with the 250 response, mentioned earlier). Another, less-known book is ‘changing the channel’ by entrepreneur MaryEllen Tribby.  She also takes on a global view of marketing and shows you how the different marketing media, when understood and blended together, can work really, really well. Here’s where to buy the book.

Data in marketing and promotional material is hardly new though. It’s been in use in the direct mail sector for a decades from around 1970. Back then the only data used was the persons name and address on the envelope and simple personalised letters being the sales offer.

Yet data in marketing was actually one of the reasons we started this blog back in 2008, showing what was/is possible. Back then was primarily still as it applied to direct mail, not so much online as my earlier articles showed.

Using Data is Hard Work

But just because we can do something wonderous with the technology, means little in the marketplace. I recall direct marketing super-geek Rafi Albo who was brought out by Xerox and gave some superb lectures to digital printshops in 2009. He quoted “the technology is always way ahead of the market”.  We tend to stick with the old ways longer than we should.

It often takes a generation to move forward. But just having kids using the net and digital toys doesn’t always work right in the business sense. There needs to be an underlying understanding of data and how humans interact with each other. The school kids won’t understand this. The successful digital marketer of the future will need to have a team approach. Those with an understanding of the technology, data and human nature.

Finding the right staff isn’t easy

As the Auzzie article stated, just finding the right people that can do this work, understanding the technology and sales aspects will be the major problem. Bringing in those from the UK or US it appears is the quickest solution – Those from markets that are 5-6 years ahead of ours who will know what do do without a lot of training and wasted effort. Get results within months, not years….

It’s unfortunate that we, like our Auzzie cousins can’t developer the skills and have training programmes in place for these opportunities. But like so many technologies now used here, it’s deemed easier to import the talent, than develop our own….

As the article noted. “One risk is that personal bloggers that set up WordPress installations might not have thought to set up a highly secure password”

Doubtless tens of thousands of sites have been compromised. Our own sites certainly felt the strain, but aside from needing to restart the database, remained intact. Most hosts worldwide were similarly affected. We also have a focus upon security, including using Cloudflare that stopped the bulk of the nasty bot traffic (graphs below).

So, what’s going wrong with WordPress?

Firstly, open source systems like WordPress and Joomla are both inherently quite secure. But it’s like getting in a car and not putting on your safety belt or closing the door. There are basic things a website owner needs to do. Like access to your business PC, the key one is around the use of strong passwords. Weak passwords using a common name are the primary method of gaining access to any CMS-based website, especially the admin password that allows access to most key files.

The fact that WordPress sites in particular are targeted is no surprise. WordPress.org sites are easy to establish by bloggers and companies using auto install scripts common with most hosting providers – Meaning that the basic security issues professional developers like myself take for granted, are often overlooked or not known about. We add in stuff that’s missing or can’t be included in the default auto install. e.g.  use of external systems like cloudflare to provide filtering at the DNS level, plus host server security tweaks, plus custom htaccess files and various plugins. None of this is costly and takes care of the technical issues, making the site almost bulletproof.

But all this technology can be undone if the site owner or developer isn’t using strong passwords for the admin level access. This was the focus of the latest attacks. Not to find holes in WordPress technology which is quite robust, but holes in site administration. The problem is that once they have access it isn’t always a cheap process to fix. Often amateur-built sites don’t even maintain backups!

Good news, you’ve been hacked?

This was the heading of an article we wrote last year. It came at the problem more from a viewpoint of traffic and seo. i.e. The more popular your website is and able to be found in a search, the higher the likelihood of your site being attacked…

Often, those companies that say their site has never been hacked, is not necessarily that their platform  or security is better, but more to do with the fact that they’ve done no SEO work, meaning they are essentially invisible online and neither new customers nor hackers can find them!

Bottom line is although it’s easy to get online with WordPress and run a successful DIY website, there are always inherent risks, primarily around keeping these nasties out, which make up around 20% of all website traffic. Having your site hacked is not always the fault of WordPress or even the host company (although some are better than others), but the lack of simple housekeeping by the website owner….

Our next WordPress Meetup we will make security the feature topic.

However a recent article entitled “Communication is a path not an event” reminded me of how much marketing has changed. Why consumers are turning off to the big sales pitch and ‘broadcast marketing’ methods. They may want to continue talking to us if the product/service being offered appears a fit, but often on their terms and timeframes.

Campaigns are a short term option

Yet today when you talk to those in the marketing and agency world the talk is always about the ‘next campaign’. i.e. A one-time effort to promote a new service or product on behalf of a client. The thing that always troubles me is that most advertising appears to start on the basis of making a sale as soon as possible, not specifically creating a conversation, generating interest or segmentation work. Any long term objective is just around promoting ‘the brand’ and maintaining ‘awareness’. Yeah, right…

Like most big company promotions, the focus is always on how quickly we can get people to do something. Theory goes that more innovative the campaign, being the message and graphics, the quicker things happen. The sale is the ultimate and only outcome.  Admirable. But in many cases we will trade off long term sales and business stability, for short term outcomes. One could argue that for many low cost consumer items no ‘conversation’ is really needed beyond ‘the stunning offer’. Those ‘daily offers’ websites are examples.

But for most higher-priced items this is seldom a good business strategy – Not all potential buyers are ready to buy based around the suppliers conditions or timeframes, hence we need systems in place that automatically tracks and responds to client engagement, whether it occurs a week, month or year after the initial campaign. Successful information marketers are good at this sort of stuff, so why not retailers or services providers? The technology involved is relatively inexpensive now.

The Followup – Let’s talk

Seth has mentioned all this more than once. The dire need for a lead capture and followup systems following any presentation or promotion, regardless of media channel. We all know how hard it is to get people to make a quick decision and have to engage with them on a longer term basis. To become a long term client, not just the guy/girl going for that below cost offer and disappear forever.

Managing and segmenting customers is an area most traditional campaigns ignore. A sale is a sale. The economics or client relationship is largely irrelevant. This was clearly shown when we examined and took part in numerous mobile and online campaigns last year that made an attempt to connect and gather consumer details. Of dozens entered via online or via text messaging, to date none have ever got back to me beyond the immediate campaign on the day of entry. Again, proving it was all about the campaign, not about building up any longer term relationship or sales opportunity down the track. As a person, I was only important to them on the day. There’s no followup or qualifying process here that digital marketing allows.

Marketing is a journey, not a destination [or a campaign]

It’s quite stupid really, yet from a creative and even corporate viewpoint I can see why it happens. Focus is always on the short term problem. Getting people (and sales) over the line for this week, month or quarter. What happens next year or with the buyer is largely irrelevant. Engaging with existing clients in a meaningful way, even utilising data on their past buying habits is seldom done. (Meaningful data analysis is not yet part of the ad agency scene. Only a handful of direct or digital marketers here do it). Yet in this modern digital realm, this is not overly difficult. Just takes good planning and patience – Something too many business owners lack…

What’s your end game? To steadily grow your business with a loyal customer base you understand, or just more sales this month?

Yet marketers and agencies are hesitant

The respected Australian marketing magagine released a study this week on how digital marketing is doing in Australia (read more).

Sadly, it seems little has changed with most marketers and agency people over there hesitant to really embrace new digital or online marketing and advertising methods. The same applies here with many outsiders saying we’re 3-5 years behind the Auzzies!

We see the issues directly around digital employment trends when tracking activity on the Seek website in AU and NZ. It’s an early indicator of where companies are. As the Magazine article quotes ” The natural evolution of digital within a business usually begins with outsourcing, followed by the employment of a digital manager, creation of a digital team and the formation into a multichannel operation”

Are we asking too much?

Another survey indicated that only 9% of surveyed senior marketers “believe traditional agencies are doing a good job of evolving and extending their service capabilities in the digital age” Certainly companies are expecting more from their marketing staff than ever before.

However there are a few forward-thinking companies out there that know they need to do something, having familiarised themselves with all the latest buzzwords. Here’s an extract of one example I found on Seek today. 

“We are looking for a Qualified graduate of Marketing, Design and Electronic Media to create and co-ordinate our own “In-House” Marketing Department to help support and assist our growth…. We require a full time Multi-Disciplined Marketing Professional to take on and grow our Online presence and traditional areas of design, print and other B2B marketing requirements….  You MUST have Qualifications and proven expertise in Web design, back end coding, CMS, Analytics, and SEO both organic and pay per view…”

They’ve simply combined four job descriptions and skillsets, into the one role, meaning whoever takes up the job is setup to fail.  Still, at least this company has a ‘new age’ marketing plan and vision, be it an impractical one. Way better than most companies today… My guess is that in a few more years this company (after burning out several marketing graduates), will have figured out how to ‘do it right’. They’ll have 4 or 5 specialists in a tight knit team, set to dominate their industry sector. Or, they may just give up in the first year and outsource it all to an incompetent agency pushing print, TV and radio promotions…

More education or better expectations needed?

I personally think the thing that explains why we’re so far behind isn’t that we’re dumb or don’t want to use these new tools. In the US and Europe, companies like Google, SEO and hosting providers do endless promotions and business educational seminars. Less so in Australia and far less here in Auckland or Wellington, perhaps due to our isolation.

But we have to at least make a start. For myself, I’ve recently established the Auckland WordPress user group. We want to emulate the WordPress meetup we’ve seen in Melbourne, where dozens of amateurs and professionals turn up every month. The response to the Auckland event, scheduled for 8th April has been very encouraging, especially given the promotion has been minimal. These popular meetups are easy to establish and get people of similar background and interests together, at little cost.

We’re not here to change the world, just our little part of it

Postscript: Inbound marketing experts Hubspot recently released a booklet outlining the opportunities for agencies and their clients – Setting up a list of modern services and expectations. Handy. Download a copy here. AgencyGuide

Essentially, this was the story of a small business owner who manufactured fibreglass swimming pools. The need to try something different to get more business occurred back in mid 2009 as his market and business slumped to a low point with orders drying up. At this point the company was already spending $250,000 pa on traditional advertising like Radio, TV, even some Google AdWords pay-per-click campaigns to help drive people to his website.  But none of this was providing many new clients.

Marketing Budget slashed – Now what?

At the time of this cashflow crisis, the business owner cut his marketing budget to about a tenth of what it was previously, with focus upon cheaper ways to find clients through informational blog posts and online videos, now commonly called “content marketing.”

Start Blogging – Solve Problems – Answer Questions

Although he started out with general information articles, the one that got most of his new business was entitled “The Problems with Fibreglass Pools” Perhaps without realising it at the time, there were loads of people putting this term into Google. As his article related exactly to this question, he quickly (within days) was on Google page one for this popular phrase.

The rest, as they say, is history. The floodgates to new business and customers had begun, just by answering a common question related to his trade. I can think of similar questions and topics that could apply to almost every trade or business profession. It made me think more about the articles I write here too. You may see a change in emphasis in the coming months.

We’ve spoken before on how easy it is to see what the popular terms are and then writing about them in your company blog can bring huge rewards… But don’t take my work for it. Read the Times article here….

Do as I say, PLEASE

Perhaps the comment at the end of the article intrigued me the most.  “Q. How have your competitors responded to all of this?  A. They still don’t really get it.” Which basically means even though people may know what to do to get more business, most still won’t change their old ways. It’s the human condition really. Fear of change, even when we know that change will do us good.

So, to that small group of entrepreneurs out there, take heed of this advice and learn from the experience of others. To me it’s just common sense, but not commonly applied….

I discovered the classic example this week that shows there are alternatives for some of you. The website itself isn’t always the major factor to getting ranked high and bring in loads of traffic. Take a look at the website www.beerfestival.co.nz

This site has a dozen keywords ranked, nearly all on page one, which likely generated loads of good organic traffic. Looking at the site itself from an SEO perspective, they’ve done almost everything wrong.  It’s essentially only one long page which isn’t good SEO practice. Certainly the visual design is great, but from an on-site SEO perspective, this one fails badly. Marketing grader gave it a lowly 31/100 score, which is low for a WordPress-based website.

Why then was it so popular with Google? Why such high rankings for the key phrases?

Power of Good Beer, Good Friends and Backlinks

As mentioned in prior articles, onsite-stuff is only a quarter of the traffic formula. Backlinks and social validation is the other 75%. In this case over 150 domains linked to them and obviously, for a festival like this, got a lot of mention in Facebook, which Google obviously took notice of. Get this side right and your very average designed website can do remarkably well for ranking and traffic. In this instance, what likely made the big difference here was that many of those sites that linked to the festival themselves had very high rankings and domain authority. They also used do-follow links and appropriate tags, as seen from my quick backlinks report here.  This allowed Google to better understand what the site was about and its importance, even though the site itself sucked in terms of SEO and good content.

So, we’ve proved again that it’s not just what you say about yourself that’s important, it’s what other say about you that really makes the difference when it comes to Google ranking.

By Design or by Accident?

The sad part about this story is that this amazing ‘SEO strategy’ was likely not done on purpose, but occurred by accident. It was natural that the various [high profile] suppliers to the festival would link their [high ranking] websites to the festival one, and in doing so, ensure a steady stream of website visitors. Now imagine if companies started to plan their websites and factor in the need for good backlinks.

p.s. Our SEO pyramid article outlined all this previously, but now we have a real world example. But for most companies struggling to get high profile, high ranking websites linking to them, good backlinks alone isn’t enough and you need a good site, with good content! But this example does illustrate what adding in good backlinks and social media can achieve – And why it shouldn’t be ignored as it often is…

Google Now – A Smarter Internet

This is amazing stuff, but considering that most marketers (and retailers) are still struggling to understand Web 2.0 we have today, what will be the impact of Google Now? It’s the beginnings of the web 4.0 concept Seth described.

But it will be the millions of early adopters that make the most of tools like this. i.e. The top 1% of businesses and the top 10% of users who see the benefit. Technology they say is always way ahead of the market, and this is a good, logical move by Google to keep them in front.  Do you agree?

]]> http://www.digitalmarketing.co.nz/websites/google-now/feed/ 0 http://www.digitalmarketing.co.nz/websites/auckland-wordpress-group/ http://www.digitalmarketing.co.nz/websites/auckland-wordpress-group/#comments Tue, 12 Feb 2013 03:38:03 +0000 Kevin Trye http://www.digitalmarketing.co.nz/?p=14523 Today we setup a local WordPress Meetup group. For those few that don’t know what a meetup group is, it’s a forum that brings people of similar interests together, physically. The meetup website helps organise and promote real events. Whether your interest is food, movies, hiking, yoga or internet marketing, there are millions of groups established around the globe – Over 50 meetups each week across Auckland alone.

Read more on Auckland WordPress Group…

Today we setup a local WordPress Meetup group. For those few that don’t know what a meetup group is, it’s a forum that brings people of similar interests together, physically. The meetup website helps organise and promote real events. Whether your interest is food, movies, hiking, yoga or internet marketing, there are millions of groups established around the globe – Over 50 meetups each week across Auckland alone.

Meetup groups around WordPress are big overseas, as are WordCamps. The biggest meetups in this region are run in Melbourne and Sydney, where 50-100 people attend each month, although these cater for both users and developers. Our group is one of the first here in NZ supporting WordPress.

Although I’m a bit of a geek, building WordPress sites for businesses since 2008 (version 2.6), I am targeting this group at ordinary people who like to promote themselves online. Web designers are welcome, but the focus is an educational one for existing [amateur] users and bloggers. Help them better utilise the WordPress platform in their small business, school or sports club. Perhaps assist those looking to upgrade their site from an old blog style, to a full WordPress CMS website, with shopping cart. Hints and tips around SEO, building traffic, mobile toolsets etc.

Part of the meetup site allows for posting of ideas and discussions that stimulate topics for the meetings. The startup article I’ve added is on WordPress 3.5.  If you or friends are interested in attending the first meeting downtown Auckland, planned for 6.30pm, Monday 8th April, simply sign up at the meetup site.

www.meetup.com/Auckland-WordPress-Users

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RNZ Insight-Click to Listen

Certainly for items like books and things easily posted are the highest risk items. Insight focused upon the opportunities and the fact that some select retailers are trying to do more to ‘go online’. The problem is, most of our small business retail websites and the sales engagement processes are poor and erratic. Some using online say they do very well, while others are not.

What’s the secret to success online?

Once you get past the top dozen retail big chains, it seems the majority of retailer sites fail to produce a steady return or live up to expectations. Some of the expert $25,000+ sites certainly look good, but looks don’t bring traffic. At the other end there’s the cheap DIY $39/month instant shop packages. But after spending 6-12 months adding in stuff, owners inevitably have little traffic and few sales.

To be successful and compete with offshore competitors and their $1m websites, both retailers and local developers need to stop playing and get serious. Instead of a focus upon looks or cost, we need to think about the things that get traffic to the site and have those people buy our goods, then tell their friends. Perhaps have gimmicks that encourage website visitors to come into the store to buy, as well as purchasing online. At least have a strategy around selling online and the role the website is expected to play.

Lesson number 1 -  Appearances aren’t enough

Many are under the delusion that all they need is a ‘better looking’ website to succeed online. But to use a vehicle analogy, there’s two key parts of a modern website. The outer shell and the internal engine. The designer builds the body and a skilled developer/coder builds the engine. Most web designers have no training or real interest in the coding, doing just the bare basics to get the site looking right.

Yet a visual makeover with better graphics and call to action statements is precisely what many companies do to try to ‘fix up’ their old or poor performing website with little traffic. Many are on their third rebuild, seeing little improvement. Why is this?

Well, a good website will have around 75% of it’s traffic via Google search. But does Google like your new website? Likely not, as Google cares little for fancy graphics or layout upgrades. Only good code, structure, content and links. Most design-focused websites don’t even comply with Googles webmaster guidelines.

What’s the cost?

If you jumped to this section first, it means you’ve got the wrong mindset and likely will fail online. You see online as a cost, not a selling opportunity, as small business did years ago when they hired a new salesperson to boast sales. And that’s what it means when you get a well coded site that’s super-optimised for traffic. Google becomes your best salesperson, bringing in most new business, working 24/7 without complaint.

Typically though, whatever was spent with the ‘website designer’ around 2-3 times this amount needs to be put into coding, SEO and backlinks work. And hiring a copywriter to critique the site and update content each week wouldn’t go amiss either. After all, if your new website can’t be found online and get a steady stream of traffic, why bother to have a site at all?

With this extra work you’re guaranteed to get loads more more traffic and new clients. Google does its best to help, biasing search results towards local well-coded websites it understands and regards as reputable. And Google’s far more effective and way cheaper than the $50,000 p.a. you’d spend on any new salesperson or shop assistant…

Building an online strategy – Taking control

The other side of the coin is that business owners need to be better educated upon what’s even possible with a well-built, state-of-the-art website assembled by experts. They also need unbiased advice. They need a shopping list. A plan.

They also need to be aware of tools like SEO Profiler, Sitebeam and Kissmetrics that monitor a website’s search ranking, content, customer engagement and coding quality. These can establish if the ‘engine’ of the website is a dud and what needs to be done. You can also use them to find out if your web designer-developer company really has the expert coding and SEO skills they say they have.

If you don’t have a mobile-optimised site, you will be left behind very quickly…

Remember, we’re not designing a brochure. Looks or branding are NOT the top priority. In fact site appearance is not even in the top three on a rebuild ‘to do’ list:

1. Hire a copywriter to set the scene; Conjure up the right words and visuals.
2. Have an SEO expert define the best keywords and market opportunities.
3. Analyse the competition, their online profile and weaknesses
4. As a reminder of why we’re doing this, set the site a monthly sales target

Remember, the website appearance is just the icing on the cake. A cake comprising dozens of ingredients. The design ingredient is still needed, but others are actually more important and need to be attended to first. Quickly responding to market forces is another critical success factor.  Paul Robson, (right) boss of Adobe Australasia recently talked about retail, noting the importance of tracking tools and mobile.

“We are at the tipping point now where we have as many mobile devices as there are PCs. Marketers need to be optimising for mobile first. If you don’t have a mobile-optimised site, you will be left behind very quickly.”

p.s. We recently discovered Adobe’s Marketing Cloud and will look to review it in a future post. 

Google Study – Consumers expect more from their stores

Hey, don’t take Pauls word for it. A recent study by Google discovered:

• 61% of respondents take their business elsewhere if they encounter a poor mobile experience.
• 67% of consumers said they’re more likely to make a purchase if a website is mobile-friendly.
• A poor online/mobile experience definitely hurts the company image and brand
• Tablets especially tend to be the starting point for those shopping online (see below)

Another study concluded that a consumer with a good mobile experience is twice as likely to buy from that company next time they want to make a similar purchase. Unfortunately, most NZ business websites fail the mobile test.  Little wonder more and more NZ consumers are looking offshore for a better online experience, proving it’s not just a pricing issue that forces customers to leave you…

Step ONE – Get Mobile-Friendly

Perhaps a good start would be to:

• Build a clean, well-coded, Google-compliant website that views quickly and properly on a mobile or tablet device. A site that is easily self-managed allowing you (or a copywriter) to add content at will to build up your Google search ranking and domain authority.
• Stage two could be to bring in some engagement technologies, expertly analyse the traffic, allow for easy subscribing or sharing of site content or comments via Facebook; building up a subscriber list, use cross-channel marketing and refine products.
• With the above in place, now you can add in more branding and a shopping cart. (read more)

The trick is to not to try to do everything at once. Turn it into a 6 month project, with goals for each stage.

p.s. Be aware that a percentage of ‘old school’ designers will rebel against these new mobile-responsive websites, since the site will auto-format elements to eliminate the need to pinch/zoom. Such ‘manipulation’ is not always welcomed by graphic artists, especially those with a print background. However the greater business good must prevail. More traffic, more sales…

Step up or remain in the past?

I fear procrastination around mobile and online will be the death of many small retailers here. Waiting isn’t really an option if you want to stop the loss of customers to competitors. People will soon become frustrated working with a company that is content to live in the past.

To see an example of an affordable, state-of-the-art website at www.easymarketing.co.nz/realty

N.B. This is a special promo site we built for Realtor marketing. Two others variations are being built, one for Retail with built-in shopping cart and another for the Automotive sector where mobile compatibility plus integration with Google maps is critical.

These new generation of mobile-friendly websites are typically half cost of existing options and guaranteed to get 2-3 times more traffic – Proving it can be done here in NZ. You just have to know the right people…

Don’t delay. Let us quote you on a mobile-responsive website or storefront

If you look at what is happening online, the key trend is around the use of mobile phones and tablets. Prices are plummeting and usage growing at staggering rates. The uptake of these devices by consumers to access the online world is breath-taking.

The use of the small screen in everyday life wasn’t even predicted in most Sci-fi movies. Star Trek had them talking to the big screen as did this ‘back to the future’ clip from 1989. It was typical of where people thought the world was going 25 years ago when it came to communication technologies. Big screen videophones. We’ve often found it hard to predict more than a few years ahead.

Mobile Websites & Mobile Apps are the future

But looking just year ahead is really quite easy. We just follow the crowd. Follow Apple & Samsung.

For marketers and small business, mobile really is the big, untapped opportunity to connect with consumers, for relatively little cost. The trend away from the mass market push advertising that Seth Godin has talked of for years is upon us. Users, especially the young, are clambering for it. It’s business that’s lagging behind in terms of adoption.

The opportunities to grow traffic and business sales using these mobile toolsets is absolutely immense. From Small Retail, Realtors, Restaurants, Car Servicing and a multitude of home services providers. There are few sectors that wouldn’t benefit…

But who to turn to in little NZ?

Sadly, most web designers that many will turn to for help are not well geared up to respond to this opportunity. Old school graphic designers and agency people really struggle with this stuff. They don’t even like to ask for outside help from ‘geeks’ like ourselves. Many still talk of building separate mobile websites! Search optimisation or mobile apps also appear in the ‘too hard’ basket.

Successful marketing today  is biased towards Google search, technology integration and customer interaction, all expertly tracked and analysed. Marketing today is far less about ‘branding’ and slick promotions. Bringing local web designers, marketers and small business owners into this more personalised mobile age is the end goal. Early business adopters here will be the biggest winners. Yet all this stuff is hardly new.  We’re only copying what has been proven overseas for several years. .

If you’re a graphic designer, marketer or business owner, email me at  zn.oc.gnitekramlatigidnull@nivek for your 2013 mobile strategy. .

Read also: Mobile Apps, the next big thing.

Already boasting a 55% market share for CMS websites, it seems nothing can challenge it in terms of popularity. Certainly a lot of its success comes from it’s easy setup and the size of the development community providing add-ons and enhancements. Even those coders that participated in the latest release exceeded 250. Automattic, the company that provides the open source WordPress scripts has 100+ staff. And the WordPress market really is immense. The last big update, v3.4 was downloaded 28 million times! When v3.1 had 15m downloads last year, I though that number incredible…

So, where does this leave all the others, including the proprietary options provided by locals like Zeald with just a few thousand clients, or the estimated 1,700 other developers around the world coding proprietary or open source CMS technology, with a diminishing user base?

Let’s fact facts. When you only have a handful of in-house coders working on your own platform, how on earth do you compete [feature-wise] with CMS developers like WordPress that have 10x more resource to throw at development and a 1,000x more third party developers to test, extend and add value through plugins and themes?  And please don’t tell me that WordPress is ‘just a blog’ and not a ‘real’ CMS for business use. Or it has performance or security issues. Like any brand of CMS, it’s how well you put it together and the quality of the host you run it on that largely determines features, speed and security… 

Yes, WordPress is now a ‘real’ Content Management System

As the highly respected smashing magazine stated “…While WordPress might have been ‘just blogging software’ for a time and didn’t have the features needed to be a true CMS, those days are gone. Anyone who says otherwise is trolling or living in the past…”

WordPress doesn’t suit everyone. Just 95% of the market.

But I do admit it is not for every business. Many other CMS alternatives provide unique features WordPress does not, or has any intention of adding.  There will always be a place for other open source and proprietary CMS solutions, especially in the corporate arena. WordPress doesn’t suit everyone – Just 95+% of the market, being small business operations with under 20 staff. (NZ govt stats)

The CMS arena certainly provides some interesting options for business. One local proprietary system we do like is www.contegro.com. They have defined a good niche for this high-end offering and it sits well with those in the design and agency sector. Adobe’s business catalyst is another that appeals to non-technical graphic designers and marketers. Then there’s dozens of special CMS offerings like sharepoint, drupal etc, able to link into business backoffice, accounting and document management systems, which is something I’d not want to attempt with WordPress. Although I now see there’s a new Xero accounting plugin for some WordPress shopping carts…

WordPress has the biggest development and support community

One of the things constantly mentioned by developers is the size of their community, being a key indicator of ongoing support and development. We’ve examined regular meetups around the three top CMS platforms, WordPress, Joomla and Drupal. As New Zealand is a bit more insular than most markets, it has no regular developer meets from a coding platform perspective.

A more representative and active web development market is across the ditch in Melbourne. We’ve recently joined the Melbourne WordPress group to keep up to date and extend our support alliances. The last Melbourne developer meetups is shown below:

• WordPress – November 2012, with 75 people attending  (Total members 578)
• Joomla – November – 15 attending  (Total members 118)
• Drupal – December training – 43 attended  (Total members 156)

WordPress – Really Good For Small Business

WordPress really appeals to the small business sector, wanting an affordable, high traffic website that’s easy to update and maintain. It has an ever-growing range of extensions, like the woocommerce toolkit and the free SEO tool from Yoast.com, to help optimise the site for Google – I’ve yet to see anything similar unless it came with a huge pricetag.  Add-ons around mobile and realty sector is exploding too, providing [often superior] website options for realtors, at under half the cost. And cost is a big issue today.

WordPress – An opportunity

So, with WordPress now the entrenched market leader, the only question is how long can the other mino providers last? Even Microsoft threw in the towel a few years back, ditching it’s ‘spaces‘ publishing platform in favour of WordPress.com technology. Yet there’s nothing stopping any developer that may have their own CMS offering from using the free WordPress.org software if they believe it better than what they currently offer clients. Or run it as a parallel offering. WordPress is really not a threat, but a huge opportunity.

Being heavily involved in WordPress development myself has certainly been good for my business this year and that of my small retail, marketing and graphic designer clients. Want to learn more or help me out? Contact me using the form below.

Most are aware of the explosion around mobile worldwide. 43% of New Zealanders now regularly use their mobile phone for internet access, up from 15% a year ago. And the use of tablets will triple in the next 6 months.

Mobiles and tablets are now outselling desktop computers and laptops. These web-enabled devices are commonly used to access the online world be it websites, social media channels or email.

How many sales is your old site costing you?

Most NZ business and tourism websites suck at displaying quickly on mobile. Most mobile users only give you a maximum four seconds – The average business website here takes twice this long.

Fixing it isn’t easy or that cheap. A typical website ‘upgrade’ that views well on mobile devices is often very costly. Some here charge $3,000 or more just to add this single ‘feature’. Many old-school developers are still building separate mobi or mobile websites! Archaic.

We believe mobile compatibility should be part of every new business website with the single site able to automatically adapt for mobile visitors. Mobile-responsive websites should not a costly option, but a standard feature.

Do you want an App with that?

But it gets even better. Sometimes a mobile-responsive version of the site is too costly, difficult or inappropriate. We can now provide a secondary, often better method to engage the mobile visitor. The Mobile App.

A good Mobile App will not be a standalone system, but will integrate tightly with your website marketing content or service data. For company employees it can access secure areas too for surveys or data collection.

But GPS and maps is the big one. For example, an app will utilise the phones GPS features to guide users to your shop or home. Map anything for your customers or field-agents on any popular touch phone or tablet. Share your map(s) instantly with others. Our GPS-enabled maps draw content from your web site – so your map is updated instantly and automatically.

Easier business reviews too, helping your search ranking. App users will be able to quickly and easy find your latest news, follow your social network feeds, touch to make a phone call or email you, watch your videos, browse your photo feeds, quick surveys, make appointments, enter competitions, coupons and much more.

Higher user engagement with Mobile Apps

Open rates for permission-based mobile app promotions and coupons are typically over 95%, compared with 20% for email. (And there’s no filters that can block the offer). A mobile app also lets users store site content for viewing later ‘offline’ which is great for airline travelers. An affordable toolset ideal for Gyms, Tourist operators, Restaurants, Retailers, Car Servicing and Realty companies..

Say goodbye to app editing and ‘app store’ barriers

But not all mobile apps are built or work the same way. Most app developers give you a separate login to change your ‘mobile app’ display or details. This is stupid.

With our newer system you’ll use the same [WordPress] CMS we provide for your company website, eliminating errors and double-entry issues. It saves costs, time and frustration… And when a smartphone user visits your website, your app can be set to launch instantly and display up-to-the-second web site content and social updates – giving you a whole new way to connect to customers. . And a user can share your app instantly – by Twitter, Google Plus, Facebook or Email. No need to log into iTunes or the android marketplace.

Beyond the iPhone & iPad – Android, Blackberry are important too

Most developers here focus upon the iPhone and iPad. However Android users are growing in numbers too. Not having an Android mobile app isolates you from a large, rapidly growing market sector.

Other features possible with apps:

• Awesome Analytics – allow you to track the app and measure usage and engagement.
• Social Media – Display Facebook and Twitter feeds in real time; Add user reviews for SEO and search ranking benefits
• Redirect – optionally redirect your website to the mobile app. Ensure a positive mobile experience and engagement.
• Signups – Build your newsletter list with automatic signups within your app.
• Appointments – Clients can book appointments through the app, notifying you instantly.
• Tap to Contact – One-touch tap-to-call & email instantly connect clients to you. Great for lead generation.
• QR Code Marketing – Place QR codes on signs and print ads for clients to scan and go directly to your app or listing.
• Send SMS notifications – Immediately alert clients for new listings and announcements (optional paid service).
• Mortgage Calculators – Let clients determine their monthly premiums.

To learn more or get a budgetary quote, fill in the form below.