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  • How Do I Create a Free Website NZ?

    How Do I Create a Free Website NZ?

    So, you’ve decided you want to create a free website NZ, but you are not sure where to begin. You are wondering whether building a free website is easy. With the availability of several different website builders, building a website is pretty straightforward.

    However, the question you should be asking yourself is whether you want to build a free website or a cheap, affordable website for your business.

    A free website builder comes with some limitations that you may not be fond of, especially if you are building a website for your NZ business.

    The first issue is the domain, which is never free. What you will get instead is a free subdomain with the site builder’s name in it.

    Second, the free website will feature ads, some explicitly visible and some not so.

    In short, your free website will not have the visual appeal and the essential features that you need to create the right first impression on your visitors.

    If you are still looking to create a free website in NZ, here are the steps to take.

    Step 1 – Choose a Website Builder

    The biggest hurdle is finding the right website builder to build your free website on. As you may already know, several site builders are offering free plans where you can build your website.

    What’s more, you won’t even have to worry about hosting your website as most of these site builders are hosted in the cloud. This also means that no matter where you are in New Zealand, you can build your free website easily. All you need is a computer and an internet browser.

    Let’s take a look at some of the top free website builders.

    • Wix – Wix is the biggest website builder. Its biggest draw is the stunning array of features that Wix offers for free. You get access to almost everything – appointment booking systems, photo galleries, email marketing and more. However, with the free plan, you have to make do with the sticky ad that shows up even as you scroll down. Not to mention the lengthy URL, which isn’t easy to remember.
    • Weebly – Weebly is another option. But then again, you get a website with a very visible and sticky ad on the page that expands when visitors hover over it. Weebly is a good website builder for its ease of use and the simple drag and drop website builder. The design options are limited but you can also add some features to your site.
    • Webnode – The biggest reason to choose Webnode is that the ads are not that visible. The ad is only visible when you scroll down to the bottom of the page. It blends so well with the design that you may hardly notice it, at least at a glance. Webnode allows you to build as many pages as you like. No limits whatsoever. And there’s a good variety of mobile-friendly templates. If you would like to connect your own+- domain name, you can do so by upgrading to their Limited plan, which is the cheapest plan the service offers.
    • UCraft – This is a good option if you already have a domain name and want to use it with your free website without upgrading to a paid plan. However, there’s a downside – you can only create one page with the free plan. Moreover, the website builder is not as easy to use when compared to other website builders. On the flip side, the ad is very subtle and does not take away the limelight from your brand or message.

    These are some excellent free website builders but as you can see, they are not really free. If you want to connect your domain name, need access to all features or in some cases add additional pages to your website, you will have to upgrade to the paid plans.

    Step 2 – Choose Your Domain Name

    Once you have decided which website builder is right for you, it’s time to choose a domain name for your business website. When it comes to a business website, there’s no scope for a subdomain as it looks unprofessional. When you want to build credibility and earn the trust of your prospects, you need a domain name.

    Step 3 – Sign Up with the Site Builder

    The next step is to sign up with the website builder of your choice and set up your website. Here are the steps to take:

    • Sign up using your email address. Some site builders allow you to sign up using your social network account.
    • Pick a template. Explore the templates by categories and choose one that you feel suits your business and goals best.
    • Customise your site. Head over to the dashboard and look for the customisation tools to create your website. Explore the available options before you move on to the next step.
    • Design your business website. It’s time to build your website and set it all up. Upload the content including text, videos and images. Create as many pages as needed. This step can take a lot of time – from a few hours to even weeks depending on the time at hand, your skills and the kind of design that makes you happy.
    • Choose your plan. Look for a plan that covers your website building requirements.
    • Connect your domain name. If you already have a domain name, it’s time to connect it to your website builder. If you don’t already have a domain name, you can pick one right from your site builder.
    • Publish your website. Your website is ready to go live.

    Is a Free Website Really Free?

    Now that we have looked at the important steps of building a free website, it’s time to consider the real cost of a free website. As we have already seen above, a free website offers limited scope and comes with a lot of caveats, which are not favourable for a business website.

    Eventually, you will have to upgrade to a paid plan. A better option is to hire a web design agency in Auckland to build a professional website at affordable prices. You will not only end up saving your time but you will get a customised website that’s tailored for your business and needs. Contact Numero today for a free quote.

  • How Do I Get Leads from Web Design?

    How Do I Get Leads from Web Design?

    Every business owner dreams of having an unlimited flow of leads. No matter the business you operate or the industry you are in, a professional website can go a long way in generating quality leads for your business.

    So what does it take to build a lead generation website? In this post, we take a look at some of the essential features to include when building a lead generation website.

    Provide Social Proof

    People want to get a product that’s proven to work and is trusted by others. Your prospects would like to know that others are using your products/services and are happy with your company.

    Including case studies and testimonials to your site will help boost your credibility and add validation to your brand. And that’s social proof! In short, people trust your brand if they see that others trust you. So if others are using your product/service, your visitors would want to do use it too.

    For instance, if your target customer is a working mom, your visitors will feel at ease with your brand when they see case studies and testimonials from other working moms. They will instantly relate to their experience and testimony. These testimonials will act as references for your business.

    Use a Call to Action on the Homepage

    The aesthetic appeal of your homepage will help grab visitors’ attention but it’s your call to action (CTA) that will help retain that attention.

    But it’s wise not to bombard your website visitors with a wall of text.

    Your homepage is the starting point of your marketing funnel. So make the most of this by offering a valuable lead magnet to encourage your visitors to subscribe to a recurring campaign, like a newsletter.

    Here are some excellent CTAs to add to the homepage:

    • “Book Your Free Trial” – A free trial/demo is a great way to grow your company. This allows you to generate demand for your products/services and build a list of prospects who are currently trying your product. On the homepage, place a CTA button and form for a limited-time free trial of your product. Use the form to collect the visitors’ name and email address. Once the demo/trial is complete, follow up with the prospect to take things forward.
    • “Subscribe to Our Newsletter” – Most people visiting your website for the first time aren’t ready to make a purchase. You can help them to get to know your brand and products/services better without any commitment/effort by inviting them to subscribe to your newsletter. Follow up with the prospects who opt-in to your mailing list to understand their level of interest and eventually convert them into qualified leads.

    Contact Information

    Including a contact number on your website boosts consumer trust and adds credibility to your brand and offerings. Even if your visitors do not contact you, seeing a contact number will give them peace of mind.

    Live Chat Service

    Live chat programmes are becoming a must-have tool to have on a website. Many visitors expect this feature when they want to know about a business they are considering. In the absence of a live chat feature, you may be missing out on highly valuable leads.

    Before you put in place a lead generation strategy using live chat, begin by auditing your site to identify the pages that your visitors spend the most time on. A professional web design agency in Auckland can seamlessly integrate a live chat tool with your website.

    You could even consider integrating your customer care team with the live chat feature. This way you can make sure the needs of every visitor are addressed.

    Use Videos

    Online videos are a great way to close the gap between the online world and reality while increasing your conversion rates greatly. This is especially true for e-commerce websites.

    Not just any video will do. Be sure the video speaks to your visitors rather than at them. Users who watch a product video are more likely to convert compared to those who just view an ad.

    Videos make your visitors feel more informed and help validate their purchase.

    Invest in a Customised Website Design

    This goes without saying, but when you want to generate quality leads, you must avoid generic templates and websites that look like a million others already floating on the internet.

    Instead, get a customised website within your budget. Be sure to make the purpose of your website clear so your web design agency can build a website that’s tailored to your business, target audience and goals.

    With a clear goal in mind, your web design agency can customise your website for lead generation rather than simply building a visually appealing website. A professionally designed, user-friendly website also builds trust and confidence in your brand, prodding your visitors to take the next step.

    Test Continuously

    No tip will work for you unless you test them to identify what works for your specific goals and requirements. When you want to improve the quality and number of leads coming your way, it’s important to proactively test new lead generation techniques and make constant improvements to your website. There’s no other way to identify what works for your business than proactive testing.

    There are many aspects of your website that you can test and improve including:

    • Calls to action
    • The layout of the landing pages
    • Images and visuals you are using
    • Test different offers – free trial, free training, free gift, free coupon, etc.
    • Sales copy

    Need a Lead Generation Website?

    If you are ready to build a lead generation website for your business, contact Numero today. We are New Zealand’s premier web design agency with years of experience. Whether you want to build your online presence or need help taking your website to the next level, we can work with you to bring your vision to life.

    Contact us today to discuss your website design requirements.

  • How Much Does it Cost to Build a Website in NZ?

    How Much Does it Cost to Build a Website in NZ?

    There’s no straightforward answer to the question – “how much does it cost to build a website in New Zealand?”

    It’s somewhat like asking “how much does a watch cost?” You could buy one for a few dollars. It may work for a few years or even a few days; no one can tell. On the other hand, you could buy a luxury watch for thousands of dollars, but for most of us, that could be excessive.

    The same holds for web design costs. So the answer depends entirely on your requirements and how you go about getting the job done. At the lower end of the scale, you could get a website for almost next to nothing by building one yourself. On the other end of the scale is a website designed by a web design agency, which can cost a few thousand dollars. And then there are many other options in between.

    Countless Options, But Only One True Choice

    • There’s no dearth of free DIY website builders these days. But it can take weeks and months to set things up what with learning the ropes and experimenting with different layouts and designs! You may have to make do with limited features and even ads on the website.
    • Then there are premium website builders, but you will still have to take the time to build the website. The big question is – do you have the time?
    • You could hire your friend’s, cousin’s son who knows how to work with WordPress, to build you a website. Sure, you won’t have to put in all the hard work, but you may pay a bit more. Not to forget, the cost of fixing all the things when things begin to go south (and they will!)
    • You could hire a freelancer or a one-man web design agency. The fees may be close to the more realistic cost of professional service, but you’ll have to make do with limited experience, resources and expertise. There’s no guarantee it will be a hassle-free experience. More often than not it isn’t!
    • You can even hire a web design agency in New Zealand to build your website – like Numero, for instance! With a team of web designers with years of experience building websites for an array of businesses, you will have a completely hassle-free experience.

    If you are looking for a website that delivers the results you seek and a website that’s free of bugs, errors and issues – there’s only one true option to consider – hiring a web design agency!

    How Much Does a Small Business Website Cost in New Zealand?

    In our opinion, the question shouldn’t be “how much a website costs?” Instead, the question should be, “how much do I need to invest to get a website that delivers results for my business?”

    You need a website that is user-friendly, SEO-friendly and conversion-friendly. Building such a website is no mean feat. It takes experience and lots of time. And that can never come cheap!

    At the end of the day, you get what you pay for. The lower the web design fees, the higher the compromises you can expect to make. You may save in the short-term but you must also account for the cost of the business you will lose owing to a poorly developed website!

    A well-developed website can deliver traffic, leads and sales for your business.

    And that’s something you don’t want to compromise, do you?

    When you think from that point of view, your website is not a cost but an investment!

    So how much would that investment be?

    A custom small business website in New Zealand would cost from $1,000 to $10,000 and upwards, depending on the features you want and the size of your site.

    Aspects that Determine the Cost of Your Website

    There are 5 important aspects of web design that directly affect the cost.

    • Project Size – The cost of your website is directly proportional to the size of your project. The greater the scope of your project, the more the time needed to build and hence, the higher the cost. The scope of your project is defined by the number of pages you need, the kind of features you need (booking system, newsletter integration, etc.), and the complexity of the design.
    • Design Style – The cost of your website design project will depend on the number of unique designs your project needs. For instance, the homepage, blog, product page, and contacts page, each demand a unique design. The more the number of unique designs your site needs, the higher is your investment.
    • Ecommerce – An e-commerce website demands an array of features such as security, shopping cart, payment gateway, cookies, products, users, etc. This will increase the budget of your project significantly.
    • Database – If your project involves a database integration, it will call for extensive technical expertise and experience in solving issues that arise. If you need database integration, your web design cost will go up.
    • SEO Integration – A good web design agency will make SEO optimisation a part of its web design project. But when you need to create new content for your website, it must be optimised for SEO and that will carry a cost.
    • Additional Features – There are additional aspects that can increase the cost of your website such as content writing, additional pages, blog setup, photo galleries, newsletter integration, professional photography, etc.

    Web Design New Zealand – What to Expect?

    A professional web design agency will offer the following features as standard for all their standard web design charges:

    • Custom website design (instead of a template)
    • Content Management System (such as WordPress)
    • Responsive design to make sure your website works on all devices
    • Optimised code to make sure the website loads quickly
    • Features such as slideshow, contact form and social media links

    Contact Numero for a Professional Website Today!

    As mentioned above, your website is an investment. So make the right choice. Rather than choosing an agency based only on cost, it’s important to look for an agency that can build a winning solution for your website. And that’s something Numero can offer you. Contact us today to discuss your web design project in New Zealand!

  • On Page One but Not Getting Leads? Why Not?

    On Page One but Not Getting Leads? Why Not?

    There’s perhaps no feeling worse than putting the time, effort and money to creating content and building traffic to your website only to find that it’s not converting visitors into leads. Your website has a first page ranking and you find that you’re not generating any more leads than you were before the rise in the ranking!

    It’s difficult to keep calm, collect yourself and put all the more effort in continuing you’re your SEO efforts when you don’t see any real results.

    Trust us, we know that feeling. It’s a frustrating situation but it’s not unsolvable. And more often than not, the solution is far simpler than you thought.

    In this post, we look at some of the most common reasons why you are not generating leads despite the traffic.

    Your Contact Forms are Complicated

    Your site could boast of fabulous content but if you are not backing it up with a good web form, you are losing valuable leads.

    You might be tempted to procure as much information you can capture from your visitors. However, minimalist contact forms do far better than complicated forms.

    Make sure your lead capture form contains as few fields as possible. Retain only those fields that are necessary.

    Why alienate your visitors with a complex form when procuring an email address can keep the window of opportunity open? You can always get back to them to fill out a much complex form once they are primed and ready!

    Follow these tips when building a contact form:

    • A headline that makes the offer crystal clear.
    • A brief explanation of how you will use the contact information.
    • The least number of fields.
    • A link to your privacy policy page.
    • A bright CTA.
    • Information about data security.

    Weak or Vague Calls to Action

    One big reason your site is missing out on leads is that your CTAs are weak. Take a good look at the CTA buttons on your website and landing pages.

    If you are not giving your visitors a good idea of what you expect them to do – i.e. a strong CTA – they will leave your site no sooner than they landed!

    A generic “submit” button won’t cut it! This word not only has a subconsciously negative connotation but it’s also extremely boring and passive.

    Your CTA should have an active voice, clearly tell your visitors what they must do next. If your goal is to generate a sale, your CTA could be “Buy Now”. If you are asking for their email address in exchange for a free download, your CTA could be “Yes, I want my free report”.

    Your Website isn’t Offering a Solution

    A website that’s aimed at generating leads should deliver value. Sure, some sort of self-indulgence is fine but if your website is about nothing else but you, you and you – it will alienate your visitors, leaving them wondering how you can help them.

    You might be offering a world-class product. However, if you don’t tell people how you can help solve their problems; how your product can help relieve them of their pain points, they won’t be convinced! As a result, they won’t convert.

    Address prospects in a friendly tone, establish that you recognise their pain points, show that you can provide a solution and you will see a spike in conversions!

    Insufficient or Poor Content  

    Analyse your website’s engagement metrics.

    Are your visitors spending sufficient time looking at your content, images and videos that communicate your message?

    Is their stay too short or long?

    If your visitors are leaving your website soon, it’s a sign you lack sufficient content. The good news is that it’s easy to add content. Simply brainstorm some ideas and get the entire team involved. Better yet, hire a copywriter!

    If you have more than sufficient content, then audit the quality of your content. Perhaps your visitors can’t find the information they’re after? Is it possible that the content isn’t engaging enough?

    Here are some pointers to help improve your content:

    • Be on-point. Do not beat around the bush lest your visitors get frustrated and leave your page.
    • Use a range of media to grab visitors’ attention: images, text, videos, games, interactive elements, etc.
    • Make sure that you are writing content that resonates with your audience. If your target customers are laypersons, steer clear of jargon that they’d have a hard time to understand.
    • Be clear and direct when talking about how your offerings will solve their pain points. Let them scroll down to find out specific features. This way, you are neither distracting them nor diverting their attention by feeding too much information than they’re prepared to take in!

    Poor Web Design

    An outdated or poorly performing website can dramatically reduce your conversions. Even little details such as typeface and colour choice can make or break your conversion rate.

    Here’s what you can do to begin with:

    • Take the time to define your target audience. Who is your target customer?
    • Implement A/B testing to identify which colour-scheme or layout delivers higher conversions.

    If your website still doesn’t deliver results, it needs more work.

    Perform a thorough site audit to identify the weak points. See if your site has any of these signs of a bad website design:

    • Your website is not mobile-friendly.
    • The design is inconsistent.
    • The imagery used is of poor quality.
    • Readability is awkward.
    • Slow website load speed.
    • Lacks whitespace.
    • The user journey is not clear.

    Want to Improve Your Website Conversions?

    If your website isn’t generating enough leads, it’s a huge cause for concern. Your website is delivering poor or worse yet, negative ROI. And that’s the last thing you want!

    It’s especially frustrating when your website has a first page ranking but is not poised for lead generation. Follow these tips to fix some of the most common problems with conversion and you will be on the right track.

    At Numero, we have many years of experience putting together winning lead generation campaigns for our clients. Get in touch with us today to speak to a lead generation specialist!

  • What Percentage of the Google Search Traffic Goes to the Top 3 Searches?

    What Percentage of the Google Search Traffic Goes to the Top 3 Searches?

    When it comes to online presence, all business owners have the same goal – to rank their website at the top of the search engine results pages (SERPs).

    Although an uphill task, it’s a goal worth pursuing. After all, a top position in the search results can skyrocket your organic click-through rates.

    In fact, a ranking on the first page won’t mean much if your website does not show on the top 3 spots. According to a study by Backlinko, the top 3 results in organic search get 75% of all clicks!

    Let’s take a look at some critical findings of this study that throw light on the value of showing up at the top spot:

    • The number 1 result in the organic SERPs receives an average of 31.7% of the traffic.
    • The second position gets 24.71% of traffic and the third position gets an average of 18.59% of all clicks.
    • Organic click-rates for positions 7 through 10 are almost the same.
    • Moving up one spot in the SERPs will increase traffic by 30.8% on average. But that depends on which position you are moving from and to. Moving from #3 to spot #2 will give a remarkable boost in CTR. But moving from #10 to #9 or even #7 won’t make a huge difference to your traffic.
    • The tenth position receives an average of only 2.5% traffic.
    • URLs that feature a keyword receive 45% more clicks compared to those that do not feature a keyword.
    • Title tags with a question receive 14.1% more traffic compared to pages that do not have a question in the title.
    • Title tags that are 15 to 40 characters long receive the highest traffic. Per the study, pages that have a title tag length of 15 to 40 characters see an average of 8.6% more traffic compared to sites that don’t fall in this range.

    #1 Ranking – A Long-Term Process

    Most business owners want to rank on the first spot of Google SERPs. It’s the ultimate goal! At the same time, it’s important to remember that getting to the first position on Google is not an overnight task.

    In fact, a #1 ranking in the SERP is the result of extensive hours and often, many years of time and money.

    This holds true especially for extremely competitive keywords with websites that have existed for decades. In such cases, you are up against heavyweights who have been around for years, have unmatched domain authority and a ton of backlinks. They are churning top-quality content and receiving numerous backlinks in turn.

    With increasing competition and more content being added than ever, that’s a task that’s extremely difficult to achieve.

    In their desire to achieve this pipe dream, many people end up taking their business down. Getting a top spot on Google is a fantastic vision but it might not be worth the price you end up paying.

    So instead of wondering how much traffic a top-ranking page gets and chasing a dream that might not prove valuable to you, ask yourself how much time, effort and money you are willing to put in? After all, you get what you put in.

    Tips to Improve Your Search Rankings

    If you are starting out just now, you can’t hope to rank on the first page anytime soon. But here are some strategies you can consider to improve your rankings in Google.

    Optimise Your Website

    Google penalises any page that fails its extracting usability and quality standards. So before you begin to build backlinks or add new content to your website, it’s important to optimise your website for usability.

    Are there any broken links? Moved images? 404 errors? Fix and update those errors to make your website offers a consistent user experience.

    Once you make these essential updates, your website is ready to go up the rankings ladder in Google SERP.

    Go Mobile-Friendly

    Look up your website on a mobile device. Do you have to squint or zoom-pinch to be able to read the text? Are the links so small that they don’t recognise your clicks?

    Now think about your visitors. What kind of impression will they have with such a website? Will this experience annoy them or impress them?

    Your answer will inform the next step you need to take. The solution is to invest in a mobile-friendly website that is easy to navigate and use no matter the device it’s accessed on.

    Build Backlinks

    Backlinks are at the core of improving a website’s search rankings. Search engines look at the anchor text (the text third party websites use when linking back to your website) in a piece of content to assess its relevance to the URL it’s pointing to. If most links use the same anchor text, it can raise suspicion and Google may even penalise you.

    Google will also consider the quality of the pages that you’re linking to. They must be relevant to your content, whether they lead to another website or a page on your own site.

    Focus on Gaining Authority

    Google does not want to compromise the user experience it offers to its searchers. So it won’t rank any website that is not relevant or lacks authority.

    Your priority should be to establish your authority as a reliable source of information that your users trust. When Google recognises that, you can expect an improvement in your search rankings.

    That’s a long shot that will take a lot of time and effort but it’s well worth it. Begin by publishing high-quality content on a regular basis. Work on increasing engagement with your content by sharing on social media and even publishing guest posts on third-party blogs.

    Parting Thoughts

    Your site is at the core of your digital presence. If you want to improve your online presence, you must work on improving your search rankings so more people can find you. A Numero, we have years of experience in SEO and can help your site get better search engine rankings in Google.

    Get started today! If you are ready to improve your online visibility, contact us today!

  • How to Increase My Conversion Rate Using Landing Pages?

    How to Increase My Conversion Rate Using Landing Pages?

    Most businesses spend a lot of time driving traffic to their sites and blogs in the hope that visitors will convert on their own. However, if these destinations don’t attract prospects into the sales funnel, engage and convert them into paying customers, all your effort is going to waste.

    That’s where landing pages come into the picture. They are an important part of inbound marketing. Landing pages are aimed at persuading visitors to take a specific action upon landing there. These goals differ with industry. For a software company, it could be a ‘free trial’ whereas, for an online store, it could be ‘buy now’.

    A great landing page converts your visitors into qualified leads. But receiving a ton of traffic isn’t enough. Your landing pages should convert your visitors. In this guide, we look at some techniques to help increase your conversion rates using landing pages.

    Write Attention-Grabbing Headlines

    The headline is an important element of your landing page.

    You have all but a few seconds to impress your visitors and grab their attention. So be sure to keep your headline on point, bold and benefit-driven. That’s the easiest way to gain your visitors’ attention.

    Blogs with catchy and useful headlines see the most shares on social media. This holds for landing pages as well.

    When you want to keep your landing page conversion rate high, your headline should be short, creative, solve a specific problem and create urgency.

    Include Testimonials and Reviews

    Testimonials are known to increase sales. When done right, a positive endorsement from other people will assure your visitors about your credibility and legitimacy.

    There’s nothing more powerful than word of mouth marketing; reviews and customer testimonials are the closest form of social proof on the digital medium.

    However, be sure to use testimonials only after you have delivered results.

    A lot of businesses use reviews and testimonials that are weak and highly generic. Avoid writing the testimonials yourself or paying someone for them.

    Use CTAs that  Compel Visitors to Take Action

    CTAs or calls to action are a crucial element of your landing page. It’s not just a button; after all, this is where the action happens.

    Think about the relevance and value for the visitors when designing your CTA. Generic CTAs like “sign up”, “submit” or “click here” don’t tell your visitors what they can expect to receive by taking the desired action.

    Every landing page you build should have one call to action that tells your visitors what they must do next. Avoid placing more than one CTA to avoid confusion, which can affect conversions.

    Include Relevant Videos

    Your landing page must engage your visitors until they convert. Videos are a great way to engage your landing page visitors.

    When done right, videos can help boost your landing page conversion rate by 86%.

    One idea is to create an explainer video where you explain what your organisation does or what your offer is all about. A face-to-face, honest, conversational video that addresses your prospects can go a long way in improving your conversions.

    When creating a video, be sure to follow some basic best practices.

    Use low volume music in the background. This can improve engagement and help hide any audio inconsistencies.

    Use captions. This can help engage users who keep their devices muted.

    Get Rid of Distractions

    When designing the landing page, avoid going overboard.

    Keep distractions to the minimum and focus on getting to the point right away without leaving any room for the visitors to be distracted from the end goal of your landing page.

    Here are some tips to remove distractions:

    • Use minimal navigation elements. Avoid putting too many links in the navigation bar or the sidebar. This can distract your visitors and adversely affect conversions.
    • Limit form fields. Take a good look at your lead capture form. Ensure you are not trying to collect a lot of data at once. If visitors feel that they are giving up a lot more than they are receiving back, they are unlikely to convert.
    • Avoid pop-ups. Pop-ups are annoying and distracting, especially when you want your visitors to focus on your offer.
    • Avoid information overload. In your copy, avoid giving information about anything other than your offer.

    Place Important Information Above the Fold

    The phrase “above the fold” originates from the newspaper industry. The most attractive stories would be placed on page one above the fold so people could see the headlines and would be enticed to buy the newspaper.

    You can follow this technique for your landing page by placing the most important elements above the digital fold – the point where the visitor must scroll down to read further.

    Keep Testing

    Every little detail on your landing page can affect your conversion rate. So it is imperative to test your landing pages as frequently as you can to determine what’s working in your favour and what’s not. Look at these numbers to understand the benefits of constant testing:

    Conclusion

    Landing page optimisation is not an easy job. What’s more, there’s no set formula to getting your landing page right. It’s a proactive process that calls for your time, attention.

    There are a variety of errors that could mar the performance of your landing pages. The above tips and techniques can help counter the most critical ones. However, we hope by sorting these common issues, you can improve your landing page conversions.

    Don’t have the time or the resources to improve your landing page for conversions? Get in touch with our landing page conversion optimisation specialists today.

  • Do I Need a Chatbot for My Business Website?

    Do I Need a Chatbot for My Business Website?

    Chatbots – automated conversation programmes – are the talk of the town. You have perhaps noticed that several companies have set up their chatbots. Now you have a burning question in your mind – “do I need a chatbot?”

    Chatbots can certainly make customer service quicker, modern and efficient. However, they also call for a good amount of maintenance. But they are extremely popular, look uber cool on a website and they are an efficient way to boost your customer service.

    How to Tell if Your Business Needs a Chatbot?

    Ask the following questions to determine whether your business needs a chatbot:

    • Will it add value to your business? Would a live chat be a better option instead?
    • Is a chatbot the right communication channel for your target audience?
    • Do you have in place a messaging strategy or do you get the same questions repeatedly from customers and prospects?
    • Do you have the resources on hand to set up a chatbot and monitor its performance?
    • If you are a high-profile business, will a chatbot make your business look cheap?
    • Is your team to provide back up to handle complex questions/issues?

    What Can Chatbots Do?

    A chatbot isn’t just a snazzy addition to your website. It can bring a range of benefits and add excellent value to your business when done right.

    Let’s take a look at some of the top reasons why your business should invest in a chatbot.

    Chatbots can Automate Boring Tasks

    How often did you miss converting a prospect into a customer because they couldn’t find someone to help answer their questions?

    More importantly, how often did you realise that those questions have already been answered in your FAQ section?

    Nothing could be more frustrating than that!

    However, when you have a chatbot, you will have answers to all those basic questions in one place. Chatbots can answer those questions easily, efficiently and quickly.

    Offer Better Service with Chatbots

    People want help but more often than not, they do not want to physically talk to someone.

    And that’s a puzzle that you must solve!

    However, there’s no denying that people love to chat.

    A study by Servion predicts that by AI will handle 95% of all customer interactions by 2025.

    That leaves you with two options:

    • Option 1 – Hire many customer service agents
    • Option 2 – Invest in a chatbot system to handle most of the work and hire a skeleton crew of agents to take care of complex queries/issues.

    We’d highly recommend option 2, especially because a chatbot will stay active 24/7, and it will perhaps have an answer to most of the frequently asked questions.

    Scale Your Business Effectively

    A chatbot is an automate programme that enables you to handle multiple customer queries at the same time. If your current customer care solution is completely handled by human agents, you are certainly limited to handling only a certain number of queries at a time. After all, human agents can only answer one or two customers at a time.

    Another point to note is that while chatbots handle multiple questions at a time, they can offer a certain level of personalisation that’s difficult to match even if you have a huge team of customer care executives.

    This gives chatbots an edge as they can answer multiple customers at the same time whilst offering a personalised service.

    When you complement your human agents with a chatbot, you can scale your operations easily without worrying about the rising number of calls and chats.

    Chatbots Help Build Trust

    Chatbots can build trust and credibility in your brand.

    If the chatbot is the first interaction your prospects have with your business, you can use this opportunity to educate your prospects about your products and how you can solve their pain points.

    Bots can help create a positive first impression, resulting in a strong bond between your brand and the consumer.

    Time Efficient and Cost-Effective

    Once you have visitors landing your website, it’s important to keep them engaged. With a well-designed chatbot, you can engage visitors easily and quickly. This can further help convert prospects into customers.

    And think about all the money you will save by reducing your human customer care team. Money that you could instead use to promote your business and generate more traffic!

    Understand Your Customers Better

    Finally, chatbots can go a long way in helping you learn from your visitors and customers.

    Most chatbots follow a decision tree structure. A question unfolds several possible answers; the customers choose their answers and continue.

    The best part about chatbots is that they can store all that information (the answers) and save it so it could be put to better use later.

    Thereby, learning something about your consumers.

    Convert Visitors into Customers

    Let’s say a visitor lands on your website, explores the different pages and is ready to take the next step. Perhaps he has a question? Maybe he wants a quote?

    What happens if the only way to reach your business is by filling out a contact form? He has to fill in the form, wait patiently for a response.

    Given that lead quality deteriorates with time, swift replies and action are crucial.

    With a chatbot, your visitors can easily and quickly find the answers they are looking for, turning them into warm leads. Chatbots can answer quickly, minimising the possibility of misplacing or losing leads.

    Chatbots can schedule appointments and meetings instantly, route potential customers to your sales team or even convert visitors into customers by helping them choose a product.

    What’s more, chatbots can effectively handle the qualification process on your behalf. By collecting data from the customer’s visit, chatbots can distinguish qualified leads from unqualified leads. This will dramatically reduce deadend leads, saving you time, effort and money.

    Conclusion

    With so many things to offer, chatbots are a wonderful investment. They are the future! So now is the time to prepare for the future. Need help setting up a chatbot for your website?

    Schedule a free consultation to discuss your project!

  • Do I Need a Business Blog for SEO?

    Do I Need a Business Blog for SEO?

    Whether you have a question, need more information about a product/brand or are researching a subject, Google can help you find the answers you need. For a lot of people, the search engine giant is the first thing that comes to mind when they are looking for information on just about anything.

    This means that if you want your prospective customers to find your website, it must show up in the search engine results pages (SERPs). And that’s easier said than done!

    A business blog is a fantastic way to boost your search rankings.

    So to answer the question, “Do I need a business blog for SEO?”, the short answer is YES!

    Blogging improves your website’s SEO because it gives a huge boost to some important ranking factors. When you have a business blog that’s regularly updated with quality, relevant and engaging posts, it can boost your website’s performance in the search engines.

    Here are some ways a business blog is good for SEO.

    Improved Visibility

    A business blog allows you to reach an extensive range of search queries. For example, if you search Google for “do I need a business blog for SEO,” most of the results will come from blogs.

    Blogging helps attract more diverse search queries that a website simply doesn’t. If you are not blogging, you are losing a huge number of potential visitors.

    Keep Your Site Fresh, Relevant and Current

    Google wants to offer its search users relevant and current information. It does not want to deliver outdated information to its users.

    A blog allows you to keep your website fresh and updated. Every time you update your website with fresh content, you give search engines reason to crawl and index your site.

    By constantly updating your site, you are indexing your site more often, staying on the search engines’ radars constantly.

    Engage Your Audience for Longer

    Google’s topmost priority is offering its search users the information they are looking for. If a visitor leaves your site within moments of landing on it, it tells Google that perhaps it is not relevant to the specific “search query”.

    However, when someone stays on a page for some time, Google perceives it as relevant, useful and helpful. After all, why else would you stay on a website long enough?

    A blog post gives people a reason to stay around to read the entire text rather than a page that does not have any information/text.

    More Indexed Pages

    Search engines give preference to websites that are trustworthy and credible. They don’t want to dole out random information to their search users. They want to deliver reliable information to their users.

    And one way they measure this is by looking at the number of indexed pages your site has. Generally speaking, a larger website corresponds to being a good source of information. However, search engines realise that this isn’t always true. That’s why even smaller websites are able to rank high!

    However, with a consistent blogging strategy, you can have lots of indexed pages over a period of time.

    Rank for Long-tail Keywords

    Many people begin SEO with the goal of ranking for the most relevant keywords for their business. For instance, if you sell baby diapers, you would love to show up on the top of the search results for the keyword phrases “baby diapers ”.

    However, that’s a difficult goal to achieve.

    Instead, you can aim to rank for long-tail keywords – longer, specific keywords that are highly relevant and easier to rank for.

    Although long-tail keywords are important for your SEO strategy, they are not as easy to incorporate in your product pages. But they are the perfect fit for a blog post.

    If you are looking to rank for long-tail keywords like “baby diapers small size,” the best way to go about it is to write a blog post on that topic. When people use that search phrase, they are looking for more information as they are not completely sure how business blogging can help them.

    Establish Industry Authority

    When you blog about newsworthy topics relevant to your industry, your readers will perceive your business as a thought leader. With a blog, your business gets a voice. You also get the opportunity to establish your expertise.

    By consistently creating content that helps your target readers, you become an authority in their eyes. And this can prove extremely beneficial for your sales and service departments.

    Easier to Get Backlinks

    Google sees backlinks as a signal of authority. When more and more sites link back to a site, Google considers that as a signal of authority and trustworthiness. But getting backlinks is the most difficult part of SEO.

    A blog can make the task much easier.

    By consistently adding blog posts, you are filling your site with loads of valuable information. If your website has great content that is worth linking to, third-party websites will point to your site when they want to point their readers to some valuable information on related topics.

    A HubSpot study found that businesses that have a blog earn as much as 97% more inbound links compared to those that don’t have a blog.

    Although there are many ways to build backlinks, one effective strategy is to create a stellar quality post on a topic that other people have already tried their hands at and then do an outreach campaign to sites that have linked to blogs on that topic.

    Conclusion

    Starting a business blog is one of the best decisions you’ll make as far as your SEO strategy is concerned. If you do not have the time or the resources to consistently maintain a blog, delegate blogging to the copywriting team at Numero. With years of experience in business blogging, our writers can write for a range of industries including technology, medical, manufacturing, professional services, B2B, B2C and more.

    Get in touch with us today to discuss your business blogging needs.

  • Why Do I Need Google Search Console?

    Why Do I Need Google Search Console?

    When you want to get your website in front of your target audience, you must focus on improving your rankings for your target keywords. There are several fantastic free tools that can help improve your rankings in search engine results pages (SERPs) – and Google Search Console (formerly Google Webmaster Tools) is one of the best.

    While most business owners with websites are aware of Google Analytics, not many have heard of Google Search Console. In essence, it’s your control panel where you can monitor and direct how Google views your website.

    For instance, let’s assume you removed a page and forgot to redirect the URL. The next time Google’s spiders crawl your site, GSC will notify you if there’s a 404 error. This alert tells you exactly where you need to add a redirect.

    In essence, Google Search Console helps ensure your visitors don’t leave or bounce your website. GSC enables you to offer a better user experience to your visitors and to perform an array of SEO tasks.

    If you are still not sure why you need Google Search Console, here are some ways it can help your business:

    Keep a Tab on the Progress of Your Content Marketing Strategy

    Head to Content Keywords reports in Google Search Console and you will know the most common keywords on your website as identified by Googlebot, the search engine giant’s web crawling bot.

    This is a fantastic feature you can use to assess the progress of your content marketing efforts. By knowing whether a specific strategy is working, you can steer your content marketing efforts in the right direction.

    Compare this list against your own list of keywords to identify discrepancies/contradictions if any. If a specific keyword has a higher (or lower) significance than you intended, it’s time to update the content.

    Know Where Your Visitors are Coming From

    If you serve a specific country, it’s important to gain traffic from that specific geographic region than any other location. Google Search Console provides precious data about your visitors’ location, so you can ensure you are targeting the right people.

    Click on the Search Analytics bar and choose Countries from the menu.

    Now you will see the clicks received from each country, in descending order. You can choose to view the results by click-through rate, impressions or even search ranking position.

    Monitor Your Click-through Rate (CTR)

    We highly recommend keeping tabs on your CTR. Any huge movement is critical. If the CTR has gone down, but impressions have increased, it means you are ranking for more keywords. So the average CTR has come down.

    However, if the CTR has increased and so have the impressions, it means you have lost keywords. If both your impressions and CTR are up, you are on the right track!

    Learn Which Websites Link to You

    This is critical information when you are focused on improving your search engine rankings. Backlinks are a huge ranking factor, so every link pointing to your website is a signal to the search engines that your content is useful and trustworthy.

    Generally speaking, the more backlinks you have, the better it is for your website. Of course, quality is important too. One link from an authority website is much better than two links from sites with low authority.

    Head over to the left-side menu and click Links to Your Site under Search Traffic.

    You will see a list of all sites that are pointing a link to your website. You will also see a list of all the pages on your site that have the most backlinks.

    Under the section titled “How your data is linked”, you can even see the most common anchor text used by people linking to your website.

    Find Website Security Issues

    Whether your business is big or small, if your website gets hacked, it can affect your business in many ways. Sensitive customer data may be compromised, you may lose sales for as long as your site is down (especially if it’s an eCommerce website), lose your reputation or lose search engine rankings among other things.

    Google Search Console offers an easy and quick update if your website has security issues that you must know about. From the left-side menu, click on the Security Issues option.

    If there’s nothing to worry about, the Console will tell you so. And if there’s an issue that needs your attention, you will have all the details you’ll need to find out how to fix it.

    Sync with Google Analytics

    Google Analytics helps track and report your website traffic. If you are not already using it for your business website, we highly recommend you do so at the earliest.

    Google Search Console works in tandem with Google Analytics and it’s easy to sync them together so you can view your GSC data right from the Google Analytics reports.

    They may sound very similar, but there are some key differences. Whereas Google Analytics provides insight into the total interest or number for a given keyword, Google Search Console shows you the most commonly used keywords on your website.

    Another critical difference is that while Google Analytics tells you if leads are converting, Google Search Console shows you why they are (or aren’t) converting.

    Conclusion

    The Google Search Console is completely free and it offers a lot of useful information that you can use to give the much-needed boost to your digital marketing strategy to improve leads and conversions.

    It offers a transparent view of your website’s SEO health from the search users’ perspective. When you fix any issues, your site is sure to enjoy improved rankings, eventually gaining more traffic, leads and sales. Be sure to log in to your Google Search Console account regularly to assess your Search Analytics and customise your SEO strategy accordingly.

    Need help with SEO? Get in touch with Numero today.

  • 5 Tips to Increase Your Return on Investment from Google Ads

    5 Tips to Increase Your Return on Investment from Google Ads

    Every marketer wants to make the most of their ad spend. Naturally, we all want to increase conversions and keep spending low. This paradox of growing your client base whilst spending less on ads can sound impractical. Impossible even.

    Fortunately, there’s a performance indicator that hits the middle ground – return on investment (ROI).

    If you, like many other Google Ads marketers, are looking for ways to improve your return on investment from Google Ads, you’re in luck. In this post, we will share our top 5 tips to raise your ROI.

    Use Negative Keywords

    Negative keywords are search phrases you could add to your ad campaign to filter out irrelevant traffic. When you create a list of negative keywords, Google will no longer trigger your ad when users search for these terms, which ensures your ad shows up only for highly relevant, targeted searches.

    By doing this you can reduce wasted ad spend on irrelevant clicks and traffic that won’t ever convert. Negative keywords are also a great way to boost the CTR (click-through rate) of your ads, which will improve your ROI.

    Be sure to update your negative keyword list proactively by keeping track of keywords that bring irrelevant traffic. Some negative keywords you can begin to include in your list include:

    • Jobs (unless your ads are for recruitment)
    • Free
    • Closeout
    • Tips/Tricks/Hacks (unless you are advertising a video or a blog post)
    • Wholesalers

    Turn Off Automatic Audience Targeting Expansion

    It’s important to pay attention to some automatic features Google enables when setting up an Ads display campaign.

    When you set up a Google display campaign targeting a predefined audience, Google offers you the option (chosen by default) to automatically expand the reach beyond the list provided to them.

    Although this strategy can prove successful, this default feature won’t offer any value unless you are using a huge audience list.

    If you are setting up new campaigns or working from smaller lists and allow Google to expand its reach by default you will likely spend 2x or 3x more without boosting your revenue.

    Understand the Importance of Quality Score

    The ROI of your PPC campaign can depend, to a great deal, on your quality score.

    Why?

    If you offer a low-quality experience, Google doesn’t want to display your ads. By raising your cost per click, they are essentially asking you to do either pause your ads (as they don’t make any financial sense) or improve your user experience.

    Here are the aspects that Google looks at to determine your quality score:

    • Click-through rate – If your ads show up for the keywords you bid for, and only a few people click, it looks like your ads are irrelevant.
    • The relevance of a keyword to its ad group
    • The performance of your landing page – Google relies on analytics to assess how users respond to your landing page. If they find your landing pages don’t convert most of the traffic from their ads, you are likely to receive a poor score.
    • The relevance of your ad text to users’ searches – If people are not clicking on your ads, Google has a reason to believe that your ads are not relevant. Or perhaps they click and bounce off of your page because there’s a mismatch between what you offered and what they saw on the page.

    Google will consider these aspects to rate your ads on a scale of 1 to 10 where 10 is best and 1 is a catastrophe.

    Even after you’ve updated your user experience, your quality score won’t improve overnight. Google is judging by your past poor performance. For an updated score, they must be sure you have really improved the user experience.

    If you find your campaign is performing poorly, it’s best to resolve this situation the soonest.

    So how does quality score relate to ROI for your Google Ads?

    If your quality score is 7 or greater, you will get a discount compared to others. This discount can reduce your cost by as much as 50%. Your ads would get better placement.

    On the other hand, if your score is 6, the cost will rise slightly. If the score is 2 or 1, getting a good ROI on your Google Ads is next to impossible. You may end up paying as high as 400% more compared to those who have a decent quality score.

    Target Audience by Income Level

    When setting up your PPC ads, the first question you should be asking yourself is – who can afford my products/services?

    When you know who to target, half your battle is won already.

    So how does income filtering helps improve your Google Ads ROI?

    When you take the time to identify who is buying, the effects will trickle down not only to your ROI. When your sales team spends less time providing quotations (be it in person or over the phone), it reduces your overheads as well as the strain on your human resources.

    Likewise, when your sales team spends most of their time on quality leads (instead of chasing bad leads), they will be able to make the most of their time and you can divert your sales budget to better, more experienced salespersons, which will again translate to better lead-closure rate.

    Use Google Ads Extensions

    You can supercharge your ROI by using Google Ads extensions to your advantage. With extensions, your ads will show with added features that make them more ap0ealing to your audience. Some of the best extensions include:

    • Location – This extension shows your address to your audience.
    • Calls – Add a call button so viewers can click on it to reach you instantly.
    • Reviews – Displays customer reviews to establish social proof.
    • Callouts – Show pop-up notifications for promotional offers.
    • Site links – Add a link to your landing page.

    Conclusion

    Google Ads is an excellent tool that every business should leverage to boost sales and revenue. However, sometimes, making the most of your Google Ads campaign might not be straightforward. These five techniques can help you see a better ROI on your Google Ads campaign.

    Schedule a free consultation with our PPC specialists to see how we can reduce wasted ad spend and improve your ROI in no time.