10 Reasons to invest In a mobile app

Mobile apps are taking over; and not just TikTok, but also in business, shopping, and commerce. 

Investing in mobile app development for your NZ business is essential for its growth. Here are ten reasons why.

1. Most users' time is spent on mobile apps

Users spend 90% of their daily screen time on apps and just the remaining 10% searching the internet. If you're struggling to get users to visit your website, building an app might be your next move.

2. Reach a global audience

Nearly everyone has internet access, and most internet traffic comes from mobile devices.

Mobile application development enables you to reach a global audience and connect with customers all over the world, promoting market expansion and increasing opportunities for business growth.

3. Increase users' accessibility 

Having a website for your business is great, giving customers a place to learn about your business, make purchases, and more.

However, investing in mobile app development will let you virtually put your business in their pocket. Mobile apps allow customers to access all they need about your business in one tap, anywhere and anytime.

4. Millions of people download apps every single day

In 2021, there were over 600 million daily app downloads. Make yours one of them.

4. Increase customer retention

New customers are difficult to acquire, existing customers not so much. Build an app for customers and offer exclusive content in the app to keep customers coming back time and time again. 

5. Build trust 

Having a mobile app makes businesses’ products or services more trustworthy for customers. 

96% of the top 50 online retailers in the UK and 94% of top 50 retailers in the US had at least one mobile app.

It also makes businesses more professional, as most companies nowadays have mobile applications.

6. Build a community

Building a community is one of the greatest ways to strengthen your brand image, improve customer retention, and increase average lifetime value.

Add features like posts, forums, and in-app messaging that allowing customers to interact with each other, discuss & review products, and help build an active community centered around your product or service.

These community members will then become ambassadors for your business in their own social circles, increasing your presence even further.

7. Increase customer engagement

Mobile apps give consumers a seamless, all-in-one experience with your business, putting your business right in the palm of their hand.

Rather than them continuing to visit your same website, create new, engaging content in the app to make them active daily users. 

8. Offer a better customer experience

A good mobile app should provide customers with everything they need to know about your products, and an easy way to learn more if necessary (customer service, FAQs, etc.).

Consumers will be able to make mobile transactions, get notified about offers and announcements, view product reviews, and so much more, all without entering a single store.

9. Increase sales & mobile conversions

Thanks to services like Amazon, eCommerce is growing faster than ever.

According to an Internet Retailer case study, adopting a mobile-focused marketing approach for 500 companies resulted in an 80% increase in sales, with 42% of mobile sales coming from applications. 

If you’re looking to grow your business, developing a mobile app is essential.

image source

10. See what users like

Market research is essential to good business.

Mobile apps can quickly and effectively collect consumer data and consumer preferences. Learning what content users most interact with will help determine the future types of content to develop, using data to drive content strategy for your app and other channels.

Activate Design has a firm understanding of the application design and development process and can help you maximise the opportunities this new exciting media has to offer your business.

If you're looking to build an app for your business, get in touch with us today.

What is On-Page SEO? And Is It Important?

On-page SEO is the process of optimising website content for both search engines and users. It includes elements such as metadata & heading optimisation, image compression, URL structure, and more.

All everyone seems to talk about these days are backlinks. So if you’re wondering if on-page is even important, think again.

On-page SEO is fundamental to the success of your search engine strategy. Even with successful technical and off-page elements, your website will struggle to rank without the proper optimisations.

What’s the Difference Between On-Page and Off-Page SEO?

Unlike on-page, off-page SEO refers to optimising for signals that happen off of your website, such as backlinks. 

Similarly, technical SEO differs from on-page in the fact that it refers to elements such as pagespeed, robots.txt files, indexing, and more.

So let’s get into it. Find out how you can level up your SEO with these 10 on-page SEO tips..

10 On-Page Optimisations You Can Do Today

Whether you’re an expert or totally new to SEO, here are 10 on-page items you can take care of today to improve your position in search rankings and drive more organic traffic to your website.

Keyword Research

You’ve done your keyword research. Great!

Now what to do with it?

Use Your Target Keyword in the First 100 Words

This principle has withstood the test of time in the world of SEO. 

Use your primary keyword at least once in the first 100 words of your blog article, product/service page, and all of the other pages on your website.

Just as users read top to bottom, so does Google.

Just imagine you were writing a blog about the best flavour of ice cream. Imagine not mentioning the term “best ice cream” until halfway down the page. Wouldn’t make much sense would it?  

Keyword Density

Now that you’ve mentioned your keyword at the beginning of the page, how often should you use it in the rest of the article?

Keyword density is the amount of times a specific keyword appears on a given web page.

In the early days of Google, most SEO “experts” were cramming their primary keyword onto a webpage as often as possible, a practice known as “keyword stuffing.”

Nowadays, this is considered bad practice. Most experts agree that the proper keyword density is around 1-2%, meaning that your primary keyword should only appear 1-2x per 100 words.

Title Tag

Your title tag is one of the most important on-page SEO factors. It gives users and search engines a high-level overview of what your page is all about. 

Let’s stick with the ice cream example.

If you’re writing an article comparing different types of ice cream, you wouldn’t title it “Chocolate v. Vanilla: Which is Better?” right?

Without reading the article, someone looking at the title may think it’s about cake or protein powders or anything else. They’d have no idea if it was about ice cream, and they’d never click on the search result.

A better title would be “The Best Ice Cream Flavour: Chocolate v. Vanilla.” 

In short, include your primary keyword (or a close variation of it) in your blog title. And similar to your copy, try to place your keyword as close to the beginning of the title tag as possible.

And though you may want to write a long, descriptive title, it’s best to keep it short and sweet. Keep your title under 580 pixels in length, as Google will cut off any characters after the pixel limit. You want users to read the full page title in search engine result pages (SERPs) right?

There are several tools online that help you check optimal title tag length, such as ToTheWeb.

Meta Descriptions

Meta descriptions are snippets that appear in SERPs directly below the title tag that allow users to understand what your page is about.

Though meta descriptions aren’t a direct ranking factor with Google, they’re still important to your on-page strategy.

To write a well-optimised meta description, include your primary keyword (towards the beginning if possible) and write a description that makes users want to click on your page. Using persuasive language that inspires the user to click on your page gives your page an indirect SEO boost.

And similar to title tags, meta descriptions also have an optimal length. Keep your meta descriptions under 920 pixels in length. 

Headings

Headings provide structure to pages, enabling users to quickly scan for the information they seek.

Take this page for example. It’s full of H2s, H3s, and H4s which help structure the page and make scanning easier.

As such, the headings differ in size, ranging in size from largest (H1s) to smallest (H6).

H1s

H1s serve as primary headings, and offer insight into the rest of the article. It’s important to include your primary keyword in the H1, and use persuasive language that makes them want to keep reading.

In this blog, for example, the H1 is “On-Page SEO: The Beginner’s Guide.”

H2s

H2s typically are reserved for main topics covered in your blog. In this blog, some of the H2s are “What is On-Page SEO? And Is It Important?” and “10 On-Page Optimisations You Can Do Today.” 

Though not as important as H1s, it’s important to use keywords in these subheadings. 

H3s, H4s, and More

Use these subheadings to further structure your article, and draw attention to supporting topics. 

Notice how in this section, “Headings” serves as the H3 and “H1s,” “H2s,” and “H3s, H4s, and More” serve as the H4s.

Image Optimisation

Images are great. They add a pop of color to your pages, and add plenty of design value when used properly.

Unfortunately, images are resource-heavy elements. They take a long time to load on websites, and pages that load slowly do not provide a great user experience.

But with proper sizing and compression, you can strike a balance between beautiful and fast.

First, you’ll need to convert your images into the proper format. Google recommends WebP (a next-gen format), but WebP files are not supported on Safari browsers. Instead, convert your images to a JPG or PNG type. These file types work just fine as well.

With the right file type, you’ll now need to compress your images. There are plenty of online tools for this process. One of our favourites is Tiny PNG. Tools such as these can compress images up to 80% of their original size, without sacrificing quality.

Sometimes, an image doesn’t need to stretch across the entire screen. Take your image : optimisation a step further by resizing the image to only the necessary size. A smaller image requires fewer resources to load.

Image Alt Text

Alternative text, commonly referred to as “alt text,” is used within your HTML code to describe the appearance and functionality of an image.

Alt text helps visually-impaired users better understand the context of an image, and search engines use it the same way. 

Just as with other on-page elements; it’s great to include keywords in your alt text, but remember to avoid keyword stuffing.

The purpose of alt text is to describe the image, and including keywords is a bonus.

So if you’re using an image of a child eating chocolate ice cream, don’t just define the alt text as “ice cream.” Try to be more descriptive: “child eating chocolate ice cream on a hot summer day.”

BONUS TIP: Save your image files with descriptive names (with keywords if possible). This can help Google better understand your images. 

Internal Linking

Internal linking is an underrated element of on-page SEO.

Internal linking is the practice of linking from one page on your site to another, typically a related page.

Linking between pages helps users and search engines better understand your content in a contextual sense by knowing which pages are related to each other.

To best structure your internal linking, link from high-authority pages to low-authority pages to increase the low-authority pages and make your entire website more authoritative as a result. 

And when linking between pages, be sure to use keyword-rich anchor text. This provides context to search engines about the link. You’ll notice a few keyword-rich internal links scattered throughout this blog. 

External Linking

Internal linking is the process linking between two pages on your website. External linking on the other hand, is the process of linking between your website and another website.

You may be thinking “why would I want to link to another website? They’re just going to click the link and leave my website.” Well, you’re not alone in that thought.

However, external links to related pages, especially authoritative pages, improve Google’s understanding of your page.  

URL Structure

Though URLs aren’t quite present “on-page,” they’re still considered an on-page SEO factor.

There are two things to remember when creating SEO-friendly URLs:

Keep them short and sweet
Include a keyword in every URL slug/extension

It’s that simple.

Let’s take a look at the URL for this blog:

It's short, sweet, and includes a keyword.

Here's a few more examples for good measure:

• Blog - www.icecreamcompany.com/blog/best-ice-cream-flavour/
• Service Page - www.icecreamcompany.com/ice-cream/vanilla

Write High-Quality Content

Now that you have the page laid out, it’s time to write great SEO content.And though you may be a great copywriter, you may not be an expert SEO writer (yet).

To write content that ranks, it must be unique, valuable, and optimised for search intent.

Unique

If you publish an identical article to one that is already ranking #1 in SERPs, not only is it plagiarism, but it also won’t rank.

Why, you might ask?

Because it’s not unique. If it were this easy to write great SEO content, everyone could do it.

To make your content unique, you have to add more value than the pages that are already ranking.

So whether it’s a new tip, more authoritative resources, a new case study, or something else, your content has to be better and more unique than the ranking content that already exists.

Valuable

There are billions of websites on the internet, and millions of people writing similar content to yours. To stand out from the crowd (and search engines), your content has to be more valuable than the rest.

To add more value than your competitors, add more details, use newer (and better) resources, cite case studies, and include images/infographics that support your writing.

Search Intent

Your content may be unique and valuable. But if it doesn’t satisfy search intent, it’s effectively useless.

Your content has to satisfy the searcher’s intent, otherwise it won’t rank.

Generally, search intent can be broken down into 3 main types:

• Informational - the user is looking for information, whether it be about the weather, recipes, or something else
• Navigational - the user is looking for a specific website (for example, Facebook)
• Transactional - the user is looking to buy/purchase something online, whether it’s a product or service 

You’re all set! Take these 10 actionable on-page SEO tips to your website and start growing your organic traffic.

And, if you’re looking for a full SEO strategy to boost your keyword rankings, contact us to speak with one of the SEO Specialists at Activate Design. 

In addition to yourself and social media profiles, your website is often the face of your business. That's why, at Activate Design, we want to build you something beautiful. 

Through the entire process, we'll work with you on everything from copywriting to web design to hosting and everything in between. 

So let's dive in, and you can see for yourself how easy it is to build the website of your dreams.

1. WEBSITE CONSULTATION

We'll first discuss your goals for the website: necessary features & integrations, target audience and more. We then propose a site that would suit you. We have developed our own CMS (Content Management System) which is the background system that runs a website, and we have created this to meet the needs of clients who need a user-friendly website that will allow them to make changes to their website themselves with ease and efficiency.

Types of Websites Available

A Simple, View-Only Website

If you just need to provide information about an upcoming event, product launch, or store opening, a simple view-only website is the perfect solution. Additionally, it can serve as a landing page for Google Ads or social media ads. 

Advanced, High-Performance CMS Website

Our most popular option, a new, high-performance website can be the facelift your business needs. Once completed, our CMS interface makes it easy for you to add new pages, blogs, and more. And don't worry, we'll provide in-depth training on how to use the CMS so you can edit your website confidently. 

eCommerce Website

If you're looking to sell physical or digital products online, you'll need an eCommerce website to do so. With the same high-performance features as our popular websites, our eCommerce solutions allow you to add, edit, and remove products, descriptions, stock levels, and more, directly in our CMS.

2. WEBSITE PLANNING

We want to build you the website of your dreams, and doing so may require a few meetings with our team to get things right. We need to determine how you want your site laid out, which colors you want to use, and more. Once we've mocked up your site, we can get started on the build.

3. DOMAIN NAME

Your domain name is your website's unique address on the internet. If you don't already own your domain name, we can help you pick one that fits your business. If you launch another business, or need a second domain for any reason, additional domain names can be added at any time.

4. WEBSITE DESIGN

With a domain name and a better understanding of your brand, our designers can get started on your website. Our talented design team will make your site come to life with a beautifully designed header, buttons & images that jump off the page, and more. 

And if you're looking to further upgrade your website with a new or improved logo, our designers can help with that too. 

5. WRITTEN CONTENT

A beautifully designed website is just the beginning. In order to grow your business, customers need to understand your business.

We'll introduce you to our copywriters, who will get to know you and your business inside out. They will then put pen to paper (figuratively), bringing your website to life with words. 

Our copywriters are seasoned SEO writers, meaning your content will be optimised for search engines, so that customers can find your business online. 

*Our copywriting services come at an additional cost, and are not included in the cost of building a website, unless discussed previously.*

6. PUTTING THE WEBSITE TOGETHER

Now that the designers & copywriters have created all of the written & visual content for your site, our programmers put it all together, ensuring consistency & functionality.

Down to the last detail, our programmers will properly size images, align navigation elements, and optimise your site to make sure it looks great on both desktop and mobile. 

7. WEBSITE LAUNCH

Congratulations! With the final touches on your new website in place, you can celebrate.

With the help of social media, email marketing, search engines, and other marketing methods, you can start driving traffic to your new website and attract new customers. 

Professionally developed websites are a powerful tool that any business can use to connect with customers and provide a positive experience for them. Sure, there are many build-your-own website building services out there, but they are only a ‘platform’, and the quality of the end result still depends mainly on your input and design skills.

Retail businesses employ professional shop fitters to design and build their store to ensure their goods are well displayed and enticing for customers. Why wouldn’t you want the same for your website? Whether you’re a consumer-facing or B2B business - your website is your ‘front door’ and usually the first interaction a customer has with your company.

When done well, a professional website can convert a casual browser into a valuable customer. However, some businesses still balk at the idea of paying for professional web designer services. But here’s the flip side—how many customers are you unknowingly losing because your website is turning them off? 

Read on as we offer five reasons why you should leave your website development in the hands of an expert.

#1: Good design attracts more customers

In many ways, maintaining a retail website isn’t that different from running a physical store. To make sales and become a profitable business, you need to attract customers. Brick-and-mortar establishments do this by investing significantly in merchandising.

An eye-catching window display will entice people into your store. They get a good idea of what you’re selling, and the attractive display draws them in for a browse.

People browsing your website are looking for a similar experience, namely:

• An attractive layout
• Products or services that are easy to find
• A professional-looking business

#2: Web Developers make the browsing experience more user-friendly

In the same way as store layouts are designed to maximise sales - a professional web developer employs design techniques to keep the user browsing your website. A well-functioning user interface (UI) and a good user experience (UX) are two essential elements in a successful website. A good UI will provide users with good UX and ultimately encourage them to act, whether submitting an enquiry or making a purchase.

In addition to being easily navigable, your website should also load quickly. Research conducted by American content delivery network Akamai shows that 53% of users abandon visits to a website if a page takes longer than three seconds to load on mobile.

Your website should also be responsive across both desktop and mobile devices. Sites that are not mobile-friendly lose a significant percentage of users who primarily use their smartphones and tablets to browse and make online purchases.

#3: Good design improves recall

We’ve already talked about how you can use good web design to make a lasting first impression. Well designed sites also create a consistent experience for the user, which helps build trust and improves brand recall.

Take Facebook as an example. Both the website and the mobile app use the same dominant shade of blue—it’s become a recognisable trademark in its own right. When we see that exact shade of blue against a white background, many of us would instantly recognise it, even subconsciously, as the Facebook colours.

Here at Activate Design, our team of professional web developers includes a graphic designer. We can create a complete aesthetic for your business and apply it across your website, logo, letterhead, in-store experience and anywhere else your customers interact with your brand.

#4: Good design projects your credibility

Online, the adage about not judging a book by its cover is flawed by default. In most cases, users only have ‘the cover’ to go on, and 75% of them make judgments about the credibility of your business just from the way your website looks. This judgment may seem unfair, but it’s one of the realities of the digital marketplace that you must address.

An outdated website gives the impression that whoever is running it isn’t up with the play. Likewise, inaccurate or poorly-researched content can make users question your products or doubt the legitimacy of your business. Regularly updating your website will help you rank better on Google - this means keeping up with blog posts and refreshing your look from time to time. Generating good shareable content attracts more visitors to your site and lends your site more authority, which is good for SEO.

#5: Professional web developers optimise your site for SEO

Just like a TV commercial or a print ad, your website is an important marketing tool. Developing the site is only part of what a good website developer offers. To get your website seen by your target audience, you need a combination of strategies, including:

• SEO Optimisation
• Pay-per-click advertising
• Social media promotion

Many DIY websites perform poorly in search results because they’re built on a standard template and are not optimised for SEO. Embedding keywords in your content is only one of many tools web developers employ to make sure your website is well recognised by search engines.

Many of these SEO techniques require coding expertise and up-to-date knowledge of SEO trends. Professional website designers engage copywriters to craft content that is rich in keywords and highly readable for the user.

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The ongoing global pandemic has highlighted the importance of an effective online presence for companies, so they can continue to operate and adapt to changing circumstances. E-commerce has become an essential service, and you need the support of a professional web developer to ensure you deliver the best possible service to your customers.

Paying for a professional website designer might feel like a significant investment at first, but it will pay for itself again and again. With a well-designed website, you can showcase your brand’s best qualities, while differentiating yourself from your competitors.

If you are considering hiring a web designer for your website need —talk to the team at Activate Design. We do web design, graphic design, app development, branding, content marketing and SEO optimisation. We’d love to hear from you.

The internet has drastically changed customer behaviour, and with it, the marketing landscape. With millions of people spending hours online every single day, it’s patently unwise not to develop and invest in a digital marketing strategy.

One of the best ways to start is to create your own website. Once you’ve established your address on the world wide web, you can more easily explore other digital techniques.

That said, here are some crucial components of a robust online marketing strategy:

SEO

SEO or search engine optimisation, is arguably the most important part of any digital marketing strategy. Why? Two things. First, most people nowadays spend their zero moment of truth (ZMOT) on search engines. ZMOT, simply defined, is when the consumer looks for relevant information before buying a product.

Second, a significant percentage of internet users don’t go beyond the first page of search engine results. Thus, the higher your ranking, the bigger the chance that the consumer will see your brand name and click on your link. The further you are from the first page, the fewer opportunities you’ll have..

This is why your website is only the first step. After this, you must invest in good SEO services so you can boost your lead generation, and hopefully, conversion numbers. SEO is especially important if you’re in a highly competitive industry, such as e-commerce.

Blogs

Content marketing, which usually comes in the form of blogs, helps immensely with SEO. With a blog, you can establish your brand identity, industry authority, and credibility. You’ll also have a platform to cultivate a relationship with your customers. All of these can contribute to your brand being interpreted by search engines as a credible entity.

What’s even better is that you don’t need a separate website for a blog. If you already have a website, you can simply host it there as a dedicated page. For some topic ideas, start with insightful discussions about industry trends and how you’re applying these as a company. You can also consult your SEO strategy and find some keywords to write about.

Social Media

During its earlier years, social media platforms were almost devoid of brands. They were instead used to interact and connect with friends and family, or even strangers who shared the same interests. Soon enough, however, companies saw the benefit of engaging their consumers where they’re already active and receptive to engagement.

Nowadays, a social media strategy is a big part of digital marketing campaigns. Remember, though, that you don’t have to be present on every platform. The most important thing is to understand how each site works and if it can help achieve your brand’s goals.

You should also engage in what is called social listening. This way, you’ll know what people are saying about your brand and address issues. You can also discover the topics most relevant to your audience and thus engage in more meaningful conversations.

Email Marketing

Unlike social media, where you’re essentially trying to talk to thousands or even millions of consumers, email is more direct. This gives way to more personalisation, which greatly increases the potential for conversions and more genuine connections.

Email marketing is especially useful for e-commerce businesses. Through newsletters, you can easily announce the arrival of new products, your latest promotions, and other offerings. You can even send personal greetings and special discounts to customers during their birthday! Doing all of these can keep you top of mind, which is important in a highly competitive space.

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is an increasingly popular advertising model, wherein a brand works with content creators like bloggers and vloggers to promote products and services. When a consumer performs the intended action (e.g., to avail the product or service or download an app), the content creator gets incentivised through commission fees.

This is an effective way of increasing your reach. If you’re a brand, you can tap the content creator’s fan base to expand your market. If you’re a content creator, you can add to your income stream and boost your reputation.

Online Advertising

The online space is a big one and unless you’re an equally big brand, it can be difficult for you to get noticed. This is where online advertising comes in. You can choose from a wide variety of options, including keyword advertising, boosted social posts, video ads, and more—it all depends on your goals.

For example, if you want to help maintain your presence in search results pages as you work on your SEO, you can opt for keyword ads. If you want to promote a certain piece of content or product, you can create a social media ad and then direct those who click on your website. If you want to target a certain audience, consider placing display ads on niche websites.

Remember to keep track of the ads that perform well so you can reallocate your resources when necessary.

The most important thing to remember is that there’s no singular formula to a successful digital marketing campaign. You might need just one, or maybe you need a combination of several. Having concrete goals can certainly help in deciding which ones are the best for your brand. 

SEO remains a vital tool to help you rank well in search engine results (SERP’s). There are many “experts” giving plenty of advice on how to optimise your website for Google, but what does good SEO website design look like?

Many designers think they understand SEO strategies, but opinions and facts can easily get entangled, confusing business owners who need to know what is best for their business. In this article, we’ll tell you what you need to know about SEO.

The Big Three SEO Techniques you need to know.

When designing a website for SEO, there are three fundamental techniques to employ:

1. Keyword research and placement
2. Making your site search engine friendly
3. Building links

Keywords and key phrases are the backbone of search results. There are many online research tools to get you started, but you mustn’t use keywords indiscriminately and diminish the quality of your content. Original visual content, including photos, videos and infographics, can also boost your site’s traffic and encourage content sharing.

Your web designer will ensure your website is easily indexed and searchable. Descriptive titles, meta tags, headings and alt-text are all opportunities to make your site more search-friendly.

Once your site is live, the ongoing SEO work begins through link building. Backlinks are links on other sites that send traffic to your site. Having high quality inbound and outbound links helps establish your site’s authority with Google and other search engines. So that’s a brief intro to SEO; now, let’s explore the subject a bit further.

With SEO, Everything IS Black and White…

But the only SEO techniques worth using are White-hat SEO.

These are the safe and long-term result producing techniques that the major league search engines recommend as part of good web design. Here are a few of what we think are the main White-hat SEO techniques:

1. Content is KING

There’s no point in having a website with poor content. A search engine is like a nightmare editor: it will catch you out on poorly written work. The best way to optimise your site for search engines is to produce excellent writing. Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft endorse websites that are the most appropriate for any given search. Google’s new Rankbrain algorithm rewards websites that provide compelling content—the longer they browse your site, the better your rank prospects. Your content needs to get to the point quickly and encourage users to keep reading and clicking links.

2. Mark-Up Matters

Semantically structure your markup to help search engines understand the content of your webpage. Keep it simple! Search engines like proper heading and titles. Use CSS to separate design elements from your content and make it easier for search engines to find what they’re looking for. If your titles are declaring certain content, make sure you deliver. Make your title and description tags more compelling by browsing the Google Ads that appear at the top of search results. Use these keywords and phrases in your meta tags to generate more clickable SERP’s. 

3. Keyword is Key

You’ve got to create your website with well-researched keywords and phrases in mind that you think your customers may use to find your particular site. Keep in mind that single words are not the most effective. Instead, try multi-word phrases that are more specific to your product/service and use them effectively throughout your website. Not sure what phrases to include? Reddit is an excellent resource for finding search phrases. Just search your topic and scan the threads for phrases that keep popping up. Another great source of keywords come courtesy of your high-performing competitors. Type their URL into a keyword research tool, and you’ll learn what keywords they rank well for. Incorporate the relevant keywords into your content.

4. Make the Link

The rule here is Quality over Quantity. You want links from other web pages that are regarded highly by search engines and relevant to the content of your page. The amount and quality of inbound links to your site affect how high up the search engine your site is placed. Talking about quality, make sure your content is easy to read and broken down into bite-size chunks. Remember, most users are browsing on their phones and don’t want to read great blocks of heavy text.  Keep your URL’s short and descriptive.

White-hat SEO’s evil twin, Black-hat SEO, uses techniques that are disliked by search engines. Unfortunately, websites that employ these techniques can suffer a number of punishments ranging from ranking penalties to complete removal from the index. Some websites can be banned. For the love of Google, do not do the following:

• Hide-and-go-Seek

Hidden content is the sneaky, underhanded content hiding within the code for a site that is stuffed with keywords. Developers can also hide this content using CSS, ridiculously small text or coloured text on the same colour background. If search engines catch a whiff of this, your website will be penalised or banned altogether. You’ve been warned.

• Stuffing is for Turkeys

Don’t stuff your site with Meta keywords. Two main Meta tags are used to inform search engines of the content on the page, and when they’re misused, they serve as an alarm to search engines that you’re using spam techniques to improve your ranking. Google is smart, don’t risk trying to fool it.

• Doorway to Destruction

Doorway pages are designed for search engines and not for your customers. These fake pages are stuffed with content and highly optimised for 1 or 2 keywords that link to a target or landing page. Search engine spiders/crawlers can detect these pages, alerting the powers that be, resulting in being flagged and banned.

• Farming Saga

The temptation to link all kinds of crazy things to your website to increase traffic is understandable. But, it has the opposite effect. Link farms or free for all (FFA) pages list links of unrelated websites. Trust us when we say they won’t provide your site with an increase in traffic. The only thing you can be sure of is the risk of having your site banned for participating in this scam. On the other hand, having good outbound links to authoritative sites can help establish your website as an information hub in the eyes of Google’s Hilltop algorithm, lifting your ranking.

The Internet is a Beast

SEO is essential because it’s all about ranking. A higher ranking will result in more customers, which is imperative for companies that make most of their money online. Good SEO can help these companies improve their organic traffic significantly. As you’ve seen, it’s not about the stuffing. You need an excellent game plan for SEO, and this is where we can help. We know a lot about how search engines work.

The internet is unfathomably large. Without search engines to help us navigate through the approximately 50 billion indexed web pages, we’d be lost in all the disorder. Search engines help find order amongst the chaos by creating an index that directs you to the most relevant website for your search query. Life is moving fast, and this index changes with it. Every day new websites are added, existing pages are redesigned, and new content is uploaded. The internet is fluid, dynamic. And search engines need to stay up to date. Enter the crawlers.

Creepy Crawlers

Search engines use crawlers to create search engine result pages by finding your website via a link from another website or the Add URL page. The crawlers then process this information and index it. When a person enters a query, the search engine analyses their index and generates results of the most relevant websites. Search engines use a ranking system to deliver relevant results. Numerous factors are taken into consideration, and your SEO success depends on your understanding.

Ranking Factors

So, relevancy is determined by over 200 ranking factors. I’m not going to list them all; however, some of the most important factors include:

• Links: When I’m talking about links, I’m referring to Pagerank, the link analysis algorithm used by Google. It takes the quantities of links into account and essentially translates every connection to a website as a vote for that particular website. Essentially, the more links you get, the higher you will rank, which is why some people lean towards farm linking. Remember when I told you that quality comes before quantity? Well, not all links are created the same. Links from authoritative websites will have more influence than links from less prevalent websites. Keep your links relevant, or suffer the consequences.
  
  
• Keywords: The keyword distribution on your page is extremely important as Google checks how often the search query can be found on it. If the search query appears in your domain, URL, and content, for example, your page will be considered more relevant and will thus rank higher. Just don’t overdo it.
  
  
• Site Age: Is it just Google who honours the knowledge that comes with age?! Google perceives older websites to be more authoritative than new websites. Take that, you young whippersnappers.
  
  
• Fresh is Best: Frequently updating your website is a good idea. It keeps you on Google’s mind. Adding new pages and deleting old ones indicates that your website is still alive and kicking.
  
  
• Algorithm Updates: Google’s Hummingbird algorithm uses semantic search to deliver results based on intent as well as language. So while keywords are still important, your page will perform better with related subtopics that are a good match for a user’s search query.

Your website’s load times and usability can significantly impact your ranking. Slow websites will have higher bounce rates, and Google demotes sites with high bounce rates or short dwell times.

If you want your website to achieve greater success on search engines, you’ve got to get your SEO just right. Doing it the wrong way can seriously mess with your reputation and your business. 

At Activate Design, we can help you with SEO and improve website performance. 

One of the key elements of successful online marketing is great content. And though forms of visual media such as videos and graphics have risen in popularity, high-quality written content continues to be the most important form of content. 

It might seem surprising at first, particularly with the rise of social media influencers, video creators, and content streamers. But when you consider what search engines classify as “good content,” you’ll notice that many of them favor written content like blogs.

As such, it’s a good idea to seek reliable SEO content writing services and work with them so that your business can reap the following benefits:

You’ll Rank Higher in SERPs

In the digital age, customers find what they’re looking for in two ways: either they will search the internet, or they will ask people they know—who may also end up searching the internet. To capitalise on this behaviour, you’ll want your content to be optimised properly and appearing higher in search engine result pages (SERPs). 

Search engines are continuously changing their algorithms so that they can deliver useful, relevant results to other users. As such, consistently producing good content is the key to good SEO rankings.

High-quality content is informative, credible, and engaging. What’s more, you need to provide a different perspective or more value than your competitors. The last one is particularly important if you’re in a highly competitive industry. Fortunately, if you’re working with an SEO copywriting company, they’ll know what to do to produce top-notch content.

It Establishes Your Expertise

Expertise is a huge factor for consumers when it comes to the products and services they avail. If they’re purchasing a washing machine, for example, they want something that can truly clean their clothes. Moreover, they would prefer an appliance built with quality materials that will last long.

Through well-crafted content, you can communicate this expertise to your target market. In the example above, you can create blogs about clothes-washing tips, washing machine maintenance, or even a quick history of the appliance.

Make sure to discuss keywords and possible topics with your chosen SEO content service provider. This way, you can churn out content that your potential customers are truly interested in. 

Doing all of these can help establish your online authority and boost your SERP rankings. Ultimately, this can help you build trust and rapport with your audience.

It Can Improve Your Social Media Presence

Social media is now practically inescapable, which means you should also have a marketing strategy centred on these platforms. The problem is that you may find it difficult to stand out, especially with millions of posts being uploaded per day.

With great content, this won’t be so much of an issue. Accompany your visuals with well-written captions and see just how much more traction you can get on social media.

If you have a considerable following, there’s also an opportunity to use social media to link out to your website. Direct them to a page with even more helpful content, thus increasing traffic and the potential for conversions.

Great Content Can Result In More Conversions

Modern consumers are a more discerning lot. They can’t always be swayed by flashy visuals or other gimmicks. Instead, they carefully study products and services before they decide on what to support. They not only want to spend wisely but they also want to spend more purposefully.

Through well-crafted content, you can give your audience more information to work with so that they can make educated decisions. Blogs are a great avenue for this, giving you an opportunity to create a deeper connection that can translate into conversions.

Don’t forget to add proper calls to action. Be clear about them—if you want your website visitors to sign up for an email newsletter, then give them all the details so they can do exactly that. More importantly, don’t overwhelm people with too many calls to action; instead of converting them, you might end up turning them away.

It Can Help Deepen Conversations

There’s no denying the great social media content can spark interest. However, the next viral video or image is already in the works. Before you know it, you’ve already been overtaken by another brand.

The opposite is true with great content, which can push your audience to know more and thus start deeper conversations. This leads to a stronger connection, which can influence stronger feelings and opinions that can influence purchases.

Writing great content can also make potential customers stay longer on your website, giving you more opportunities for conversion.

Last but certainly not least, providing meaningful, useful content can increase brand awareness. For those who already know about you, it can keep your brand current and even cultivate loyalty. For those who don’t know your brand, your appearance in SERPs could attract new customers searching for similar services. All of these are desirable results that you want your business to achieve.

As the popular digital marketing phrase goes, content is king. Based on the current trends, it will continue to be king for quite a long time. It’s therefore a wise move to start building your content marketing strategy as soon as possible so you can also enjoy these benefits sooner.

Smartphones and tablets have quickly become the device of choice for accessing the internet and online services. The dominance of mobile is equally true of consumers shopping for goods and business users in the B2B space.

App development costs have dropped, so it makes sense for even small to medium businesses to offer a mobile solution for their clients. A mobile app can provide many functions, including access to your products and services, customer support, FAQ and mobile e-commerce. There are three distinct approaches to mobile app development:

• Native (Where the app is coded specifically for the platform, e.g. iOS or Android)
• Hybrid or Progressive web apps (a combination of local and web-based code)
• Web apps (run from a mobile browser only)

Native Apps

Native apps tend to deliver the best user experience. They are optimised for the platform and can access the phone’s features such as the camera, microphone, GPS etc. However, they require more work to develop and need to be submitted, approved and hosted by the relevant app store.

Hybrid Apps & PWA’s

Hybrid apps and PWA’s combine local and web-based code, allowing them to be developed using standard web technologies. Cross-platform means clients can use them on both iOS and Android platforms.

Web Apps

Web apps are the easiest to develop, as they just run in the mobile browser using standard web technologies such as HTML5 and Javascript. These apps can’t be hosted on app stores, which means they may be less discoverable by clients. The upside is they are easier to maintain and modify, as there is no need for app store approvals. 

Choosing the right mobile application development platform

Choosing the right mobile application development platforms will depend on the type of app you wish to develop. For example, developers usually build native iOS apps in Xcode or AppCode. Android Studio is a mobile app development tool provided by Google for the Android platform. There are many cross-platform mobile app dev tools that allow you to create a single app that works across both iOS and Android, including many low-code or no-code solutions.

What are mobile app development tools?

Once you’ve decided on the platform and the type of mobile app you want to develop, it’s time to choose the best mobile app development tool. Luckily, there is no shortage of options, but generally, these tools are either native or cross-platform in nature. As mentioned, Xcode and Android Studio are the primary tools for native mobile app development. There are many popular options for cross-platform development tools—some require coding experience, others offer a low or no-code approach. As many are subscription-based, it pays to research the tool and whether it will meet your needs.

Cross-platform app creation - the pros and cons

While these cross-platform app creation tools may appeal to businesses looking for a low-cost entry into the mobile space, there are some potential drawbacks to consider, including:

• Greater chance of compatibility issues
• Slower performance
• Inconsistent user experience

Here at Activate Design, we have a dedicated software development team that can help you develop a professional app solution that performs well and delivers results for you and your clients. We’re also website developers, so we can build mobile apps with tight integration to your website infrastructure.

No/low code app development - the DIY approach

Many mobile application development platforms offer solutions that don’t require coding expertise—you start with a template and simply drag and drop components into place. An app built this way may be suitable as a basic interface for your clients, but generally, these platforms don’t offer much scope for customisation. Many are subscription-based, and the finished app can only be hosted on their platform. The risk with this approach is that all your development work is locked into a proprietary system that can’t be easily ported to other applications.

At Activate Design, we believe good design is more than just a pretty interface. We develop mobile app solutions for our clients that fully integrate with their internal systems—offering cohesive solutions designed to work together seamlessly.

Contact the team at Activate to learn more about our mobile app development services. 

Marketing specialists have been arguing the pros and cons of traditional versus modern marketing since the dawn of the internet. We thought we'd take a look at the state of play in 2021 and weigh up the benefits and disadvantages of traditional marketing against modern digital marketing.

What is Traditional Marketing?

Not that long ago, the tools of marketing were limited to print (magazines, newspapers, flyers), broadcast TV (commercials or sponsorship) or radio (Ads or sponsored content). Print, TV and radio are what we now call 'Traditional Media'. Despite predictions about their demise, these media forms continue to operate and can still deliver large audiences.

Modern Marketing

Modern marketing, sometimes called digital marketing, encompasses everything from eDM's, podcasts and websites to digital ads, YouTube videos and social media content.

The pros of digital marketing include:

• The ability to target particular demographics or interest groups
• Detailed metrics on audience responses, including open rates, viewing time etc
• Lower costs and a greater return on investment

Even if your campaign assets are expensive to create, digital marketing still wins on cost over traditional marketing because you can continuously test and modify your campaign based on the audience data received. By comparison, a TV Commercial, once completed and ready to air, cannot be easily modified. Nor can a TVC garner the immediate feedback that is available on a digital platform.

Digital marketing content is a lot more malleable as well—it can be easily adapted to different channels and customised to suit specific audiences.

Why use Traditional Marketing then?

The key to successful marketing is knowing your audience, and this is why traditional marketing still has a role to play. For example, customers expect to see a premium or luxury product advertised in a glossy magazine or a big-budget TV commercial. Likewise, a community newspaper ad or mailbox flyer can still be very effective when targeting a local audience.

Modern marketing and traditional marketing are not mutually exclusive—the best campaigns combine the strengths of both media. Let's face it, we still live in a physical world, and a well-placed billboard can reinforce your digital messaging and encourage that final call-to-action response in a customer.

There are some unavoidable disadvantages with traditional marketing though. Typically, a page of advertising in a magazine or newspaper is much more expensive than the digital equivalent. That printed content also has a shorter lifespan, as the newspaper quickly becomes yesterday's news.

There has been a significant drop in the numbers of people who watch broadcast television, as more viewers switch to streaming services and content delivered through social platforms. Last year's lockdowns saw the closure of some magazine titles, as readers migrated to online content.

Digital marketing offers one killer feature that no magazine or TV ad can match—the ability to convert ad viewers into e-commerce customers with a single mouse click or finger tap. Internet-based marketing opens up a wealth of different creative outlets for promoting your company and products, including:

• YouTube' How-To' Videos
• Podcasts
• Live-streamed events
• Social media competitions

So, in the battle of digital marketing vs traditional marketing, we have a winner, and it's digital. But while digital marketing is more effective, it's not necessarily easy. As more businesses promote themselves online, the competition for eyeballs has become fierce. Marketing pro's like the team here at Activate can help you design digital campaigns that actually deliver on their objectives. The key is integration—making sure your messaging is consistent across all platforms and working together to drive sales. We believe a great website should be the core of your marketing strategy, as it offers you the most control over your brand and the customer experience.

If you're looking to refresh your digital marketing this year, we can help you with website development, brand design, SEO and online marketing. Contact the team at Activate to get started.

2020 was the year where conducting business online became essential, thanks to Covid. 

Consumers were either in lockdown or practising social distancing, and company websites became a vital link for e-commerce and conveying important safety information. We saw many companies pivot to online sales and focus their efforts on improving web design functionality. The pandemic has influenced the messaging behind website design too, with many organisations adopting a kinder, more empathetic tone. 

So what does 2021 have in store?  We expect web design in NZ this year to capitalise on the learnings of 2020, and more small businesses will look to start or improve their website design in NZ.

Visual Trends

Clean minimal designs are making a comeback in 2021, often with a focus on bold and creative typography.  Blur is another feature showing up in many new websites, allowing developers to create a suggestion of depth and separate foreground from background. Noise, grain and other visual effects are another popular technique to give your site a more natural feel that is less clinical. In general, expect to see website visuals that offer a positive, helpful and healthy vibe. Kindness is ‘in’. 

Animation and 3D effects were often discouraged in the past because they took too long to load, but HTML5 technology has changed the landscape. We’re seeing some beautiful 3D motion, animation and interactive UI design elements out there. The popularity of animated emojis on mobile platforms has seen a parallel increase in the use of GIFs in web design. Who would have thought GIFs would be so popular in 2021! Lottie files are a new lightweight, scalable animation format that works on all devices—one of the many innovative new web animation technologies bringing websites to life.

No Code/Low Code 

As part of the drive to make websites more functional, transactional and economical, many designers and developers are turning to no-code or low-code tools and apps to provide back-end functions. These cloud-based tools can be linked together to offer services such as data collection, e-commerce, and database management. The term ‘no code’ can be a little misleading, as these technologies still demand a level of skill that requires input from professional website designers.

Community

There is a strong movement for more engagement by SME’s in their local communities, and we envisage guest blogging, online competitions and other collaborations will become increasingly popular this year. Optimising websites for local search will be a big focus too, as businesses have learnt how important it is to be visible to customers in your area. The risk of cancellation has led many organisations to switch to virtual events, including streamed concerts, online conferences and even fashion shows. The technology costs for streaming have dropped dramatically, and we believe more businesses will start to incorporate live stream features into their websites.

Less Social Media 

There is concern about the increasing power social media companies have over the internet, but there is also growing resistance and pushback from consumers. We expect to see business owners redirect some of their social media budgets into website optimisation and content marketing. There is good reason to be a little sceptical about the advertising metrics provided by platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, as you can only take the information at face value. Analytics from your website give a much better indication of traffic volumes and sales conversions.

Integration

Integrating your website into your business software eco-system is the final trend we think will accelerate this year, as cloud-based integration tools become cheaper and more sophisticated. Some of the many options for integration include:

• Feeding contact form details into your CRM application
• Passing Shopify data into Xero 
• Capturing website bookings with Calendly

If it’s time to give your website a boost—talk to the team at Activate Design. We do web design, graphic design, app development, branding, content marketing and SEO optimisation. We’d love to hear from you.