Ponderings on Google, and…bread: Copywriting for web

When you copywrite, remember to write for TWO audiences: The Search Engine, and The Potential Customer.

Writing in technical terms not necessarily work for your customer.

Mmmm bread, making me hungry now! So – if you make bread, your customer probably won’t understand the in-depth process you use to make bread, the tools and the exact measurements etc. They want to know that the bread is fresh, that it tastes great, that it’s the most amazing bread ever!

The search engine wants to know that you do, in fact make the most amazing bread ever, so making your the text you use on the bread website needs to reflect this.

Your customer probably won’t type into Google ‘bread making process’ when they want to buy some bread, but they might type in ‘fresh bread to buy online’

Apply to your products and services, and you’ll be making the text on your website work a lot harder for you than it might be doing at the moment 🙂

If you need support with writing for your website, perhaps give us a call (01509 265 890) and see how our team can help make your web text really work for you

Sterling Geo – the latest Win Marketing website

Win Marketing worked with Sterling Geo to develop their branding, which included a logo and business cards, as well as designs for pop-up banners.

Website design and development was also completed for Sterling Geo, and this website went live earlier this month.

Our team worked with Sterling Geo to develop the website structure and then the design, once the web design was approved, our Web Developer, Nad worked on the development of the website.

Both our team and Sterling Geo are really pleased with the look and feel of this site – especially the modern, ‘flat design’ style, using bright block colours and simplistic shapes – which really fits with their brand.

The website itself has some really nice features, especially the FAQ section, where each product page includes relevant FAQ’s, which pop up within the page, saving visitors time going to a seperate FAQ page.

So check it out, and let us know what you think!

If you are thinking about improving your website – either from a design perspective, or from a Search Engine Optimisation perspective, Win Marketing can provide support on all things web design and web development, give us a call today on 01509 265 890!

Social Media as a cost-effective marketing tool

Win Marketing recently delivered a presentation for MGC Hayles an accountancy and business advice firm based in the Midlands.

We were asked to highlight some of the benefits of implementing a social media plan and how businesses can go about this.

Below is the presentation we delivered, as well as a video produced by Erik Qualman and Qualman Productions (social media strategists and all round web marketing experts) all about social media in 2013.

So have a look through, and remember – if you are unsure:

Where to go with your social media
What to update your social media with
How to know if your social media activity is working for your business
How best to tackle pulling together a social media strategy

Give us a call today on 01509 265 890 to book your FREE 1-hour consultation with one of our experienced social media team.

Social Media as a Cost-Effective Marketing Tool: for MGC Hayles

Social Media Video 2013

Introducing the battle – Marketing: Art vs Science

Jo here, with an interesting one for you…

At a seminar last week (for the Chartered Insitute of Marketing Diploma), we were discussing elements of marketing, such as budgeting, or sales forecasting, and the question was asked ‘but surely the Finance department in a company sorts all of this out?‘

This sparked an interesting discussion – is the role of marketing to be scientific – dealing in numbers, definites, quanitiative results etc, or is the role of marketing to be artistic – creative, innovative, opinion based and remembering that old favourite, the ‘gut feel’?

Over the next couple of weeks, House Art will battle House Science on the Win Marketing blog for victory. (I may have been reading and watching too much Game of Thrones – but this is how it’s going to go!) Who will you be backing – or can there bea a peaceful co-existence of both?)

Comment below with your chosen House and why – or if you’d rather, Tweet us or drop us a line on Facebook, and I’ll put them up on the relevant blog post 🙂

Let the battle commence!

“I need a website…”

We often are asked by potential customers “how much do you charge for a website”, and this poses us with a bit of a dilemma.

In our mind, questions are asked, ‘what kind of website?’ ‘what do you need to be included on the website?’ ‘do you want to be able to edit it yourselves?’ ‘how big is this website?’ etc etc, the list goes on…

Eg – you might want to sell products online, so it would be an e-commerce site, or you may want to take booking for events through your site and would need this functionality. It all depends on what you want people to do when they are on your website.

Last week we were asked this question on the phone – someone wanting a ballpark figure, and questions had to be asked in order to gain a better idea of what he wanted before we could provide him with a ballpark figure. (Even this ballpark is still uncertain, with websites, they do have a tendency to change and grow!)

Like a car?

It got us to thinking – at which point, web developer Nad said ‘You have to think of a website like a car – there are so many types, levels of quality, and so many ways to customise it, so when a client asks “how much for a website” – it’s not dissimilar to asking “how much for a car” with no further information’.

So, when you decide you need a website – be it your first, or a revamp of your current site, have a think about it like you would when buying a car, do you want a ‘Rolls Royce’ of a website, all singing, all dancing, high quality this, that and the other? Or do you need more of a ‘Ford Focus’ – perhaps not such a large site, with less customisation, fewer ‘fancy’ bits etc?

Of course, budget plays a huge part in this decision, and so it’s really important to think through the level of cash you are prepared to part with (try and allow for more than you think you need as well – as I mentioned previously, things change and grow, and you need to ensure that you can manage potential additional costs for those ‘oh can you just include…’ moments)

As marketing and online marketing people, we may well have ideas additional to your own for your website – and sometimes these may have cost implications as well – but we will always make a client aware of costs before going ahead with work like this.

So have a think through and perhaps jot some bullet points down, and if you have seen websites you really like elements of, tell us!
Good luck, and give us a call if you want to have a chat about your website sometime 🙂