July 30, 2015
While there are advantages of having in-house personnel manage your SEO campaigns, there are many more that come with partnering up with a dedicated digital agency, specialized in SEO. Here is a list of some core advantages. 1. Ongoing training and expertise. Search engines are dynamic, rankings and visibility change every time the search algorithms are updated but it can also mean new opportunities for you. Understanding this is critical to a business and its success. It is vital to have ongoing search engine marketing training. This is exactly the job a digital agency performs. They monitor and stay ahead of industry trends. 2. Resources at hand. There are many parts to an effective SEO program, many ongoing. A successful SEO plan doesn’t favour one or the other element but it creates a balance. Think about an SEO program as a table and the elements the legs. If one of these is missing you are bound to have a lopsided table. Balance them out and you will be working with a well-oiled machine. Here are some examples: Keyword research Content edits Inbound connections Social/search integration On-line reputation management In-depth reporting 3. Team v. Individual. This probably goes unsaid, but would you prefer to have a team of specialists working on the project or an individual managing your account? Agencies offer a team of experts that will be constantly monitoring and working on your account. Something to remember: having a dedicated team means that time and resources are more efficiently allocated to perform tasks that produce results. 4. Cost effectiveness One of the biggest constraints that decision makers face is the question of how much does a certain service cost. If you were to hire an SEO specialist to keep in-house it would mean a salary plus a benefits package. When hiring an […]
July 30, 2015
The Island are looking for graduate developer to work with us on our exciting projects and websites. Get in touch if you are interested...
July 28, 2015
On-line search engines have been buckling down on calibrating their algorithms to give high quality results based on location. Google is the best at doing this, thanks to an update that rolled out almost a year ago. It is important to know that local search can change your SERP presence but even more so it is important to know how to act on local SEO in the most effective manner […]
July 23, 2015
Welcome to part 2 of our responsive design series, if you missed the first post, be sure to check it out here. In this second post we will talk about some of the benefits responsive design has to offer. 1. Flexible web design No matter what device the user experience will be the same. It helps your business be recognized and to be honest people enjoy a good user experience, there is nothing worse than waiting for ever to load a page or complete a login. Happy customers definitely mean happy business. 2. Cost effective website Compare the cost of ‘owning’ one site or owning two…maths aside, you can easily save money and time as you will be able to concentrate on functions, content and updates for a single website that will work seamlessly across devices. 3. Search engine optimization Google itself recommends a responsive web design and the importance of SEO in today’s market means that everything must be on point. If you use the one website for your business you will be able to concentrate properly and create effective SEO. Also all your results will be in the one place. 4. Improved conversion rates A well designed website that is optimized and consistent will for sure have a positive impact on the conversion rate of your site. People will be familiar with functionality and layout, therefore providing them with a better user experience that translates to engagement. 5. Future viability of your website Responsive sites are made to adapt to different systems and characteristics, meaning it is pretty sure that once designed, and designed properly, it shouldn’t require too much work when newer devices hit the market. This point links back to cost effectiveness. [contact-form-7 id=”400″ title=”The contact form”]
July 21, 2015
As a small business or start-up the first step is to get on-line exposure. Your main goal will be to get more individuals talking and purchasing your products. It doesn’t matter how big your business is. Here is a list of reasons why you should focus your efforts on building your business through SEO. 1. More than 100 billion searches are made every month. This means that every day an average of 3.3 billion searches are performed every day. This is a huge amount of activity. Indeed, even the most modest percent would mean a huge amount of new guests to your little business’ site.With this number of people on-line, why would you not want to be a part of it? 2. SEO Traffic and Sign-ups are free. When you undergo an ad campaign on social media you are linked to your budget. When that runs out so does your exposure. Luckily, organic traffic driven by search results is completely free. Sure, you need to pay an SEO agency or professional to work on the optimization of your website and someone to take care of your content, but these are considerably less costly than a continuous ad campaign. All the content can stay on your website for a long time, but always remember Google loves fresh content, so keep updating to stay relevant. 3. You can become an authority via Hyper-targeted content. One of the most ideal approaches to demonstrate your skills is to be perceived as a power in your field. If everybody on the web knows you have the best content in your industry, then they’ll send individuals to you. 4. You can increase customer engagement and relationship building. Are you of the opinion that content is only for web search tools? You should reconsider. The reason that organizations put […]
July 15, 2015
There is no denying that this era’s customers are smarter in choosing which businesses and services they decide to associate with. There is a plethora of information available to them from the brands themselves as well as the many voices in social media. However, they are now also more distracted and more sceptical than ever when it comes to being bombarded with promotion. Millennials, who have grown up with social media as a marketing tool, are very savvy when it comes to being marketed to, and are the most active at opting out of communications if they feel overwhelmed. There are many challenges for marketers, as they perform various tasks to maximise reach, convert the enlightened and build customer loyalty. Social media is great for reaching high engagement levels and pushing great content. More so now that mobile is overtaking our daily life. Brands need to optimise their social media presence and digital content experience to open up to the amazing opportunities today’s technology can deliver. If you can master the 3 tips listed below to improve customer satisfaction, you’ll be in a great position to draw in those meaningful connections while at the same time creating genuine associations with completely new groups of people. 1. Influence and encourage fans to be loyal and involved. We live in a world where marketing isn’t as exclusive as it used to be. Trends are set by the press, niche influencers and your client base. In light of this new reality, retailers need to use creative approaches to interact with consumers, in which they are engaged as brand promoters. If customers can relate personally to content, they’re significantly more prone to share it. 2. Let go and practice platform agnosticism. In this modern era, there is no need for digital marketing campaigns to only drive traffic to destination […]
July 13, 2015
There is a lot of buzz around about websites needing to be responsive. But what does that mean? Responsive web design is a collection of techniques that allow a website to adapt to different device specifications, such as screen size when being viewed. What it means in a more ‘practical’ way, is that, the website is able to recognize the features of the desktop, smartphone or tablet, and easily adapt to it to give an optimal user experience without limiting the functionality. The reasons for this adaptability are very clear. In the second half of 2015, and the beginning of 2016, the usage of smartphones to browse the web is estimated to increase by about 20% compared to the last two years. Therefore, it is increasingly important to keep these users in mind and understand how to properly engage with them to offer the best user experience on all devices. How can we make a better online user experience? Before responsive design, the mobile experience usually translated poorly. The first step towards a better user experience was to create mobile versions of the traditional websites. This is one type of solution but still their capabilities were limited. This is where responsive design comes into play. Thanks to responsive design your users won’t be worried about having to be careful of where they click if using a touch screen or zooming in and out, they simply will enjoy the site as if it were tailored to that device. The image provided above is a perfect example of what we have done with one of the best bars in London, Nordic. Now their website is perfect for big screens and even better on your smartphone. Our next posts will cover further benefits of responsive design plus a checklist of what you should […]
July 9, 2015
A digital marketing strategy is essential for any business that is looking to use on-line tools and platforms to grow their business. But how do you start creating a digital marketing strategy? Here is a list of 8 reasons why you should have a digital marketing strategy and some tips on how you can create your own, or refine the strategy you currently have. 8 reasons to create a Digital Marketing Strategy 1. A strategy can help you identify goals and objectives. A company with a digital marketing strategy is one with clear cut objectives when it comes to increasing their client base or to build on existing relationships. A digital marketing strategy will give you direction to reach these goals. 2. Empower your on-line value proposition with a digital marketing strategy. A well-defined on-line customer value proposition will help you separate your on-line service and encourage existing and new clients to engage and stay faithful. A digital marketing strategy will also help you differentiate yourself in an on-line crowded market place. 3. A strategy will help you better understand who your on-line customers are. Your on-line market in most cases will be different from your traditional one. Therefore with the help of a digital marketing strategy you will be able to tailor your offer to those people. Digital is often referred to as the “most quantifiable medium ever”. Yet, Google Analytics and similar will just give you information such as how much traffic you can expect which is not based on sentiment or perceptions. There are a wealth of client feedback tools to identify your potential weak points and to find ways to solve these issues. We suggest starting with Kampyle, PollDaddy or UserSnap. The first two are survey creators great for feedback on blogs, and the latter is a simple visual feedback tool. 4. A […]
April 14, 2015
The Island are looking for digital design and developer interns to work with us to continue building the better web for our clients and users. We are offering extremely beneficial work experience across some great projects so please get in touch if this sounds interesting to you.