Things You Should Know For 2017

Facebook

The platform's getting more and more business friendly.  If you’re not spending some of your time every month looking at how your business page is performing, you’re probably missing out.

Video

Continues to grow in importance - particularly on the aforementioned network.  Remember when you didn’t see the point of writing blogs?  Equate that to you currently not seeing the point of doing video.

Advertising

A little bit of money now goes a long way.  If you can’t find $50 a month to spend on digital ads then you’ve probably got bigger problems to worry about.  However, a $20 narrow.io account and a dollar a day on Facebook Ads will have a significant impact on your business.

Mobile

Google is splitting its mobile index from its desktop one and guess which is getting priority?  You don’t really need to understand that - what you do need to do is look at how your website performs on mobile, and if you’re blogging that you’re using AMP technology.  No idea what I’m talking about - you should probably get in touch.

Strategy

If you’d like help developing a plan that makes best use of your time and resources, drop me a line. If you’d like help setting up Facebook ads - get in touch with Molly at Taylor Digital Marketing - she's great.

It's Friday

I'm not going to be sending a regular weekly email this year, most likely it will be monthly or when there's something of particular relevance.

I wish you all a very profitable 2017.
 

Do you love music?  Tell us about your favorite track and we'll see if it fits one of our playlists: http://musicto.com

Image credit: Focus by Kenya Allmond on Flickr

See you In January 2017

I’m going to spend December building the new brand positioning statement for Simply Friday and developing a new strategy for 2017.

During that time I won’t be writing emails but will instead be writing on the blackboard, playing guitar and hanging out with Charlie (he makes a really good sounding board!)

I wish you all a fabulous end of the year and holiday season.

See you in 2017.

Dealing with Loss or Grief? Listen to this, it really helps you feel better.

Image Credit: Me

Grief Directory Outreach Strategy | Digital Product Launch Pt. 5

What Are The Emotions & Behaviors We Need To Create In Order To Make This Work?

1/ Create Curiosity

We need to get a human being to open an email from an address they don’t recognize, read the information inside and then take the time to click out and see how their organization is being represented on a directory they’ve never heard of.

2/ Create Connection

We next want them to interact with us - preferably by email to tell us what they think of the entry, if they’d like to make changes, if they want us to remove it, etc.  

At this point it isn’t what they come back to us with, it is the act of them responding that is the critical behavior.  If they respond, it means we have their attention and that in turn allows us to start developing a relationship with them.

3/ Create Action

The final behavior we are seeking is for them to start creating things for us.

• Create a link to the directory from their website - preferably in a blog post or at least on a resource page.
• Create activity on social media by writing new posts and updates about the directory or sharing Grief Directory social posts and updates
• Create awareness of the directory in their audience by writing about us in their newsletter

Successive Steps

While we may generate some links directly from the initial outreach email, it is likely that the best links, the ones that are most considered and easily shared will come from having a dialog and developing a relationship with the organization.

We don’t even get to that step if we can’t get them to open the initial outreach email.

Next Week: Creating Curiosity by Email

Dealing with Loss or Grief? Listen to this, it really helps you feel better.

Image Credit: Unsplash

What I've learned about web design in the last 12 months

(or - why websites are kind of like human beings)

• There is no one design that works for everyone
• Your website should be as unique as you are
• The only way to find out what that looks like is to change and measure the results
• It costs less to change your website today than it ever has

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Think about it, we've evolved over millions of years - sure we're pretty recognizable as humans instead of say gorillas, or fish, or sofas even, and yet we're all unique!  We're different shapes and sizes, colors and creeds, we have different languages and behaviors and we dress in a myriad of ways to help us get what we want.

But this didn't happen overnight - there had to be change, there had be a selection process in order for the most "successful" traits to win out.

The Takeaway For Your Website

There is a utopian design for your business' website, one that turns all those visitors into paying customers or clients.  The only way to get there is to try different versions - hell, call them generations,  of how it looks and functions.  So do this:

• Decide how long each generation will have to develop useable data - say two to three months
• Choose which metric you want to improve
•  Make changes to your site and / or strategy
• Measure the results
• Discard what didn't work
• Rinse and repeat

 God With a Fast Forward Button?

The only question you need to ask yourself right now is how quickly do you want to evolve?

Big Caveat

This isn't just about the design of your website, it's about your content too.  What you put out into the world has a huge impact on who visits you and whether they choose to engage.  When it comes to SEO, website design is inextricably tied to content strategy so to evolve successfully, you need to be looking at both.

Let's Talk

This isn't complicated, it just requires a little strategy, planning and execution.  If you'd like some help setting it up, call me on 310 980 2499 or email me and let's talk.

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Written while listening to: Drive (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

Image Credit: Dog Reads Newspaper by Steve Eng on Flickr

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