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Branding & Marketing

Mobile Matters: Why Marketing Must Move With Your Audience

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Mobile isn’t the future—it’s the present. As of September 2016, the majority of online activity happens on smartphones. From Google search queries to Facebook usage, mobile is leading how and where people engage. Marketers who fail to optimize for mobile-first behavior risk falling behind—and fast.

The Shift in Behavior

Consumers now browse, search, shop, and share primarily through mobile devices. Google has confirmed that over half of its searches globally come from mobile. Social networks like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter report that more than 80% of their traffic originates from mobile apps. This isn’t just a trend—it’s a behavioral shift that demands responsive experiences and thumb-friendly design.

Ad Strategies Evolve

Mobile ads are now more than just smaller versions of desktop banners. Platforms are offering immersive options: Facebook’s Canvas ads, Instagram Stories, and YouTube’s vertical pre-rolls are designed to integrate natively into the mobile experience. Marketers must focus on speed, clarity, and concise calls to action.

It’s not about shrinking content—it’s about restructuring it. Mobile users have limited patience, so relevance and quick value are essential.

Local & Geo-Targeted Impact

Mobile marketing also empowers real-time location-based targeting. Facebook’s expanded offline conversion tools and local awareness ads allow businesses to tie impressions to foot traffic. Search ads on Google Maps and Waze offer branded pins and call-to-action buttons that direct users from screen to storefront.

Geo-targeting is no longer just a feature—it’s a fundamental strategy for service providers, restaurants, and retailers.

Strategic Insight: Think Pocket-First, Then Platform

• What’s your story? You’re a brand built for moments—reaching people on the go, when decisions are made fast.
• What do you solve? You help busy customers get what they need without delay or friction.
• How do you do it? By using mobile-optimized landing pages, short-form content, and localized ads.
• Why do they care? Because they expect answers now—and mobile gives you the power to deliver in real time.

Fictional Ideas

A boutique clothing store wants to boost weekday foot traffic. They launch geo-targeted Facebook ads between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. showing an exclusive lunch-hour discount. The ad includes a mobile-friendly coupon and a tap-to-call button for in-store pickup. Customers nearby see it, stop in, and the store builds a loyal lunch crowd by simply marketing when and where it matters.

References

Google Inside Search. (2016). ‘Search on the Go: Mobile Milestones.’ https://www.blog.google/products/search/
Facebook Business. (2016). ‘Measuring Offline Conversions.’ https://www.facebook.com/business/news/measuring-offline-conversions
Think with Google. (2016). ‘How People Use Their Devices.’ https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/
Adweek. (2016). ‘Mobile Marketing Trends to Watch.’ https://www.adweek.com/
Marketing Land. (2016). ‘Location-Based Marketing Is Maturing.’ https://marketingland.com/

Stories Begin: How Ephemeral Content Is Redefining Brand Engagement on Instagram

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Instagram has just released its new Stories feature globally—and the format is already shifting how brands and individuals show up on social media. Gone is the pressure of a perfect grid. In its place: real-time, disappearing content that invites authenticity over polish.

With Instagram Stories, users can post images and short videos that vanish after 24 hours. While the feature mirrors Snapchat, Instagram’s existing user base and Facebook’s backing give it massive scale from day one.

The Shift to Real-Time Micro-Content

Instagram Stories changes the rhythm of content. Instead of chasing likes on polished posts, brands are learning to tell quick, relatable stories. Behind-the-scenes glimpses, daily updates, and product teasers now live in a vertical format designed for swipe-through consumption.

Ephemeral content also lowers the barrier for creativity. Since it disappears, users are more willing to experiment—and that includes businesses. This evolution reflects a larger shift: the value of a moment outweighs the permanence of a post.

Engagement Through Intimacy

Stories live at the top of the feed and auto-play, encouraging more consistent viewership. View counts and direct message responses provide real-time engagement data. Brands that adapt quickly are using this to build intimacy—talking to followers, not broadcasting at them.

For marketers, this means creating content that feels more like conversation and less like a campaign. It’s about inserting your brand into daily habits without being disruptive.

Strategic Insight: Tell Stories That Disappear But Stick

• What’s your story? You’re a brand built on transparency, showing how things work behind the curtain.
• What do you solve? You remove the formality of traditional content and meet people where they are—in the moment.
• How do you do it? By embracing vertical video, informal updates, and quick-hit narratives that resonate emotionally.
• Why do they care? Because people crave realness, and Stories offer a window into what’s authentic—not just what’s polished.

Fictional Ideas

A local coffee shop decides to start using Instagram Stories to build loyalty. Every morning, they show a quick video of the barista’s special drink of the day, followed by a behind-the-scenes look at their sourcing or roasting. They invite followers to vote on tomorrow’s feature via emoji polls. The engagement leads to longer in-store conversations and increased repeat visits—without ever running an ad.

References

Instagram Blog. (2016, August 2). ‘Introducing Instagram Stories.’ https://about.instagram.com/blog/announcements/introducing-instagram-stories
TechCrunch. (2016, August 2). ‘Instagram Launches Stories, a Snapchatty Feature for Impermanent Photos and Videos.’ https://techcrunch.com/2016/08/02/instagram-stories/
Adweek. (2016). ‘How Brands Are Already Using Instagram Stories.’ https://www.adweek.com/digital/brands-instagram-stories-172997/
Mashable. (2016). ‘Why Instagram Stories Could Crush Snapchat.’ https://mashable.com/article/instagram-stories-vs-snapchat
HubSpot. (2016). ‘A Marketer’s Guide to Instagram Stories.’ https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/instagram-stories-guide

The Inbox Isn’t Dead: Why Email Marketing Still Wins in a Noisy Digital World

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Email: Your Most Underrated Asset

In a social-first era, email remains the most personal, direct, and measurable marketing channel. It’s not subject to algorithm changes or pay-to-play visibility. It’s a relationship you control—one address at a time.

Yet many businesses treat email as an afterthought. Now is the time to rethink your approach, and use your inbox as a powerful engine for conversions, retention, and brand building.

How to Capture the Right Leads

Lead capture starts with value. Offer something worth trading for an email: a free guide, exclusive content, or even early access to a new product. Use clear, benefit-focused language and simple opt-in forms placed where they make sense—on high-traffic blog posts, social pages, or landing pages linked from ads.

Platforms like Mailchimp, Constant Contact, ConvertKit, and AWeber offer native forms and landing page tools. Integrations with Facebook and website builders like WordPress or Wix make it even easier.

What to Do Once You Have the Email

Lead capture is only the beginning. The moment someone signs up, you need a welcome sequence—an automated email or two that introduces who you are and what they’ll get.

From there, segment your list. Don’t treat every subscriber the same. Separate your audience by interest, behavior, or stage of the buyer’s journey. Each group should receive content that’s relevant and timely.

What Your Emails Should Look Like

Keep it clean, scannable, and mobile-friendly. Most platforms offer templates, but good email copy is simple:

• Subject lines should create curiosity without being spammy.
• Body text should offer value first, then a call-to-action.
• Use visuals sparingly but effectively—especially on product or event emails.

Include your logo, a single call-to-action, and footer with links and unsubscribe options. Keep it human—don’t shout, connect.

How Often Should You Send?

It depends on your audience. Weekly emails work well for most brands if you have something valuable to share consistently. For others, bi-weekly or even monthly works better.

The golden rule: Be consistent, not overwhelming. Set expectations early. Let subscribers know how often you’ll send and what they’ll get.

Strategic Insight: Build a Community, Not Just a List

• What’s your story? You’re not just sending emails—you’re building an owned channel that grows alongside your brand.
• What do you solve? You help people cut through the noise by showing up in their inbox with relevant, curated value.
• How do you do it? Through consistent, audience-aware messaging that nurtures trust and encourages action.
• Why do they care? Because in a feed-based world, email is a rare chance to slow down and connect—with fewer distractions and more control.

Fictional Ideas

A local boutique starts collecting email addresses during in-store visits and on their website. They offer a 10% discount in exchange for signups.

Using Mailchimp, they set up an automated welcome email and a weekly update featuring new arrivals, staff picks, and style tips. Customers click through to a special landing page with exclusive offers. By segmenting subscribers by product interest and location, they create seasonal campaigns with geo-targeted promotions and event invitations.

Over time, this builds a core group of loyal shoppers who regularly open emails, use promo codes, and RSVP for events—resulting in a measurable increase in foot traffic and sales.

References

Mailchimp. (2016). ‘Marketing Automation: What You Need to Know.’ https://mailchimp.com/resources/marketing-automation/
Campaign Monitor. (2016). ‘Email Marketing Benchmarks by Industry.’ https://www.campaignmonitor.com/resources/guides/email-marketing-benchmarks/
HubSpot. (2016). ‘How to Create a Lead Nurturing Email Campaign.’ https://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/32305/The-10-Step-Lead-Nurturing-Workflow.aspx
Constant Contact. (2016). ‘Best Practices for Email Design.’ https://blogs.constantcontact.com/best-email-design/
AWeber. (2016). ‘What to Send and When.’ https://www.aweber.com/blog/email-marketing/email-newsletter-what-to-send-and-when.htm

Making the Social Connection an Emotional Connection

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Jeffrey Hayzlett's 4 EsMarketers know that the best way to reach their audience is to drive an emotional connection between the brand and the end user. With the advent of social media and mobile marketing, we have an exceptional advantage to driving that connection.
Customers are no longer sharing their experiences of your brand between the hours of nine to five, Monday to Friday via the 800 number they were traditionally pushed through. Their experiences have become part of your brand’s story, online, for the world to see, 24 hours a day. So how are you telling your story?
Consider the 4 E’s:  Engage, Educate, Excite, Evangelize. Here are five tips all marketers should consider when crafting the story for their brand.
Engage:
Identify your target audience.  Decide what the key words are for your industry.  Embrace the opportunity to engage with your community in two-way conversation daily.  Trust and loyalty are built over time, as with any good relationship.  Remember, if you suck offline, you suck online!
Educate:
Your customers don’t know what they don’t know.  By engaging in communities where your customers are, you are raising awareness about what it is your business does, and adding value to the relationship.  Joining the conversation could be as simple as answering questions they may have, ie. friendsourcing.  This allows an opportunity to learn from each other; you educate them and they educate you.  Then you’re on your way to positioning yourself as an influencer and industry leader.
Excite:
Be authentic, be positive, be transparent.  I align my business with leaders: are forward-thinking, action-oriented risk-takers, who maintain a positive outlook.  There will always be those who are not (ie. twankers).  By engaging positively, you’re able to insert your unique value proposition into the relationship, and instill excitement around your product/service.
Evangelize:
Identify the influencers within each community:  hashtags are an effective method of organizing tweets around a particular topic.  They are created around an event or an existing community.  Use them!  Once you have an engaged, educated, excited community, the evangelizing will happen naturally.
Make this a priority!
Don’t be left behind, the conversations are going on with or without you.  And remember, incorporating a social media policy is vital when your team is representing your business.
Guest Post by:
JWH_AuthorPic2012Jeffrey Hayzlett, Bestselling Author, Global Business Celebrity & Sometime Cowboy
JEFFREY HAYZLETT is a global business celebrity and former Fortune 100 c-suite executive. From small business to international corporations, he has put his creativity and extraordinary entrepreneurial skills into play, launching ventures blending his leadership perspectives, insights into professional development, mass marketing prowess and affinity for social media. He is a well-traveled public speaker, the author of the bestselling business books, The Mirror Test and Running the Gauntlet, and one of the most compelling figures in global business.
Jeffrey is an esteemed business and marketing expert, appearing frequently on programs like Fox Business News, MSNBC’s Your Business, Bloomberg West, and NBC’s Celebrity Apprentice with Donald Trump. Drawing upon an eclectic background in business, buoyed by a stellar track record of keynote speaking, and deeply rooted in cowboy lore, Jeffrey energizes his role driving and delivering change. He is a turnaround architect of the highest order, a maverick marketer who delivers scalable campaigns, embraces traditional modes of customer engagement, and possesses a remarkable cachet of mentorship, corporate governance and brand building.

Social Marketing With Photos

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They say a picture is worth a thousand words—a concept advertisers and marketers have practiced for years. As marketers switched to social media, though, photos were temporarily sidelined in favor of short snippets of text.
But the photo is coming back. Tweens and teens have flooded Instagram with photos of new outfits and artistic nail polish. As these all-too-impressionable young consumers browse through thousands of photos on various social media sites, marketers are learning that if you want to reach younger generations, a picture is worth morethan a thousand words.
Whether your marketing campaign is targeted to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or a combination of all of the above, there are a few tips to keep in mind.
Keep It Interesting
Consumers log into social media sites for a variety of reasons, many of which revolve around being entertained. Pinterest and Instagram have become so successful because they provide a way for users to share concepts in one simple image, engaging them and inciting them to post comments.
But it’s important to come across as though you’re sharing interesting ideas rather than simply pushing a product. A sofa company, for instance, would do better to post photos of a uniquely-decorated room featuring their sofas rather than simply posting a photo of a sofa. A service-oriented business like a pest control company could post humorous photos of their workers, either on the job or hanging around the office. These photos humanize the business, making customers feel as though they are part of the family.
Run Contests
Several restaurant chains have invited customers to upload a picture of themselves dining in the restaurant to a social media site. For major chains, sometimes the promise of fifteen minutes of fame on a prominent social media site may be enough incentive to participate. However, smaller businesses may have to offer a large monetary prize. Customers will have fun and businesses will see their social media pages filled with interesting photos.
Pay Attention
The great thing about social media is that you’ll usually know instantly whether a photo is a hit with followers or not. Pay attention to your likes, shares, and retweets and note what time of day they happen. If some photos are more popular than others, stick with those types of photos in the future. You’ll begin to get a feel for your demographic in order to be able to better appeal to them after only a short time.
Remember, photos are only a part of social media marketing. Hashtags are still important, as are regular text updates. Don’t discount yourself as a personality in your social media campaigns. Some of the most successful social media campaigns involve the face of the company updating followers on their adventures as they travel, hang out with clients, and enjoy their own products.
 
john lessnauGuest Blogger:
During 2003, John Lessnau popularized Text Link Advertising when he founded LinkAdage.com John is working at doing the same thing 10 years later with social media links at his new website SocialLinkMart.com. Social Link Mart is an open Social Media Link Marketplace for SEOs, website owners, and social media enthusiasts to buy Facebook likes or buy and sell Facebook Shares, Google Plus Shares, and Twitter Tweets. Social link sellers are ranked by social media authority which keeps the bots and spammers out and real people in.

How Modular Booth Designs Increase Trade Show Portability

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nimlok modular trade show displayConsidering the time and money that businesses pour into their trade booths, it makes sense that the trade booths would be designed with longevity in mind. After all, why invest hours on top of hours, or thousands of dollars, into designing and/or buying your booth if it will only be used once? You want to make sure your booth looks professional and that it will meet all of your company’s needs. You want it to attract customers, but it is also important that it be easy to set up and take down, that the complicated logistics of transporting it do not outweigh the benefits of using it in the first place. Modular booth designs are a great option for many businesses, largely because they are so portable. But there are other benefits to modular designs as well. Let’s review some of these benefits.
Great portability
Let’s face it: not every booth representative is also a handyman. In fact, most are not. So why do companies sometimes expect their employees to know the intricacies of setting up and taking down a trade show booth? Modular display booths are built to go up and come down quickly and easily, without the need for complicated tools or expertise in carpentry. A booth that can be quickly disassembled saves your employees a lot of hassle, stress, and time. It also makes it easier to transport the booth as smaller pieces, requiring lower baggage fees or less room in the trunk of a car.
Display flexibility
Another benefit of modular booth designs, closely related to portability, is that modular booths are scalable – that means that you can use only a small part of the display booth when you do not need the full-size kiosk, or when you have two conferences the same week and want to have booths at both. This can also be very helpful for adjusting to different space requirements. Some trade shows will allow you the space for your whole booth, others will only allot you enough room for half. Using a modular display lets you scale the booth to the size you need.
Saving money
Many businesses shy away from modular booths because they have a higher sticker price. But the truth is that this needs to be viewed as investment: spending more upfront will save you money down the road. Instead of buying multiple booths for multiple shows, you can buy one booth for use at a number of different shows. You will also save money on transporting the booth, making it an even better investment. Finally, the time you and your representatives save in taking the booth apart and putting it back together also should be viewed as a saved cost. Time is money, after all.
Functional flexibility
Besides being scalable in size, many modular booths are also flexible in their shapes. Many can be reconfigured or reorganized to fit into odd floor spaces. Depending on your needs, you can make a booth that is wide open or a booth that is enclosed and intimate. This will come in extra handy if you want to open your booth to the public for part of the day, and then close it off to only specific kinds of potential customers later in the afternoon.
Modular booth designs are a great way to save time and money while making your booth more flexible.
About the Guest Blogger:
Justine Savage works at Nimlok, a company that provides custom trade show solutions, including modular trade show displays.
 

3 Things You Can Do To Avoid Having Your Online Marketing Emails Marked As Spam

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email_marketingWhen you decide to go into online marketing, you will find that there are many ways of going about it. One of the most effective of these is through the use of email marketing. This is a form of marketing that has been around for quite some time, so most people do not think of it as particularly innovative. However, if used properly, it can become an effective and yet cheap method of getting your products known by other people and increasing your sales.
But for it to work for you, you would need to ensure that you go about such a campaign by understanding how to avoid pitfalls. This is because it is very easy for most people to misconstrue your marketing as spam, which means that you may end up having your domain blacklisted as a spam site. To avoid this, you would need to consider the following:
Be careful about how you generate your mailing list
How you come up with addresses for your mailing list is one of the most difficult parts of doing online marketing through email. The reason for this is that getting prime emails is something that needs people to willingly submit their addresses to your organization, something that most of them may not be willing to do.
That said, however, you should make sure that how you get such addresses is as transparent as possible. For instance, when you are using a signup form to do this, you need to give the users an option to decline having emails sent to their addresses, so that they are not forced to accept them.
Make it easy for your users to opt out
Another way to avoid having your email marketing process to be marked as spam is by making sure that you give your users an easy way to opt out of the mailing list. For instance, you can add a link at the bottom of each email to make it much easier for them to simply click it to avoid receiving any more promotional emails. If you do not provide such a link or make the process of opting out to be overly complicated, they are simply going to mark your domain as spam, since this is much easier to do.
Be careful about the wording of your emails
When you are doing online marketing through email, you also need to pay attention to how your emails are worded. These days, most email programs can read the content of such emails, and then try to figure out the probability of them being spam. If you use words or phrases that are associated with spam, they are going to automatically be marked as such, which means that your readers may not get to read them in the first place. Some of the mistakes that you may make include the use of too many exclamation marks or frequent use of words such as “free”, “amazing” and “offer”, most of which are considered to be the hallmarks of spam.
Holly Sanders is an internet savvy person. She owns a blog where she gives useful and effective online marketing tips. She is one of the leading experts on internet marketing in Nashville.

An Introduction To Content Marketing

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How does content marketing work anyway? If you have been asking yourself this question, then you have come to the right place. Content marketing is done by creating and sharing quality information for free. The content can be in form of articles, videos, newsletters or eBooks. The content that you create should be related to your blog’s niche or the product you are promoting.
Content marketing works in various ways including increasing traffic to your blog and in building trust with your visitors. If you use it effectively, then you will generate traffic from other sites and also the search engines. You will know how this will happen by reading this article.

  1. Promoting Your Blog: You can easily use content marketing to promote your blog. The first thing that you need to do is write quality content and then submit them to various websites. There are some sites that will accept your content and when you submit the content, you will be allowed to insert your blog’s URL. The person who will read your content will visit your blog by clicking the link on your article.
  2. Search Engine Rankings: Writing quality content will help your blog in ranking higher in the search engines. Search engines have started using content to rank websites and blogs. Therefore, with a good content marketing strategy, your blog’s page rank will increase. You will start getting free organic traffic and this is one of the good ways of how content marketing works.
  3. Increase the number of Return Visitors: The other way is that content marketing helps in providing valuable information to the visitor. Several bloggers use content to provide free information to their blog visitors. Therefore, the visitor will always come back for more information. This is good because the blogger will never lose most of their visitors because most of these visitors will join their email list so that they can get updates from the blogger.
  4. Building Customer’s Trust: Content marketing also works by building the customer’s trust. When you providing quality content to your visitors, they will trust you and they will buy your products or the products you recommend. The customer sees that you are providing high quality information, therefore they will know that your products contain more quality information.
  5. Readers Get Information they needed: Your blog visitors will get the information that they were looking for. When you use advertisements to promote your products, the reader will not learn anything. When you are using content marketing, then you will take your time to create the content and you will produce useful information. Your readers will read them and learn something. If you are using videos, then your readers will be entertained and you can easily convert them into buyers.

These are the best ways of how content marketing works. If you want to be successful with content marketing, then you need to learn how to do it effectively. Empower Network has all the training and tools that you can use to take your content marketing skills to the next level. You can also use this marketing strategy to promote their products and earn 100% commissions.

Eric Welke is an online entrepreneur and internet marketer.  His blog can be found by going to EricWelke.com.

Benefits of Adding a Subscription Component to Your Website

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Advantages for Vendors

Building a subscription website or adding a subscription component to an existing website is a rapidly growing trend, offering vendors a host of benefits, including the opportunity to increase revenues exponentially. Subscription models allow you to establish long-term relationships with customers as opposed to settling for a one-time purchase. They offer predictable monthly or periodic revenue with the ability to add new goods or services to an existing plan. Moreover, online subscription models build brand loyalty, the type of commitment made possible by solid customer relationships.

Advantages for Customers

Online subscriptions offer customers the opportunity to receive ongoing content or promotions from your company and to subscribe to a service rather than buying outright. Typically subscribers have a clear understanding of or interest in the goods, services, or support services you are offering. Accordingly, they often prefer thelow up-front and more manageable costs inherent in monthly or periodic payments (as well as the ability to renew, upgrade, or cancel their subscription).

Any Business Can Profit from a Subscription Model

The recurring revenue stream provided by online subscription models benefits small and large businesses alike. In fact, startups in the software-as-a-service (Saas) segment of the industry are seeing profits increase at an up-to 6x growth rate. As a result, more and more businesses are adding a subscription component to their website or even changing from a single point-of-sale model to a subscription model, with the goal of capitalizing on a sustained and long-term predictable income.

Types of Website Subscription Models

Nowadays, everyone seems to be subscribing to something. The notion of receiving services or content one enjoys (or depends upon) on regular basis is highly appealing. In general, there are two ‘archetypes’ of subscription models – those which are used primarily for monetization and those which drive traffic. If you are thinking of introducing a subscription component ton your website, consider the following types of online subscription models:

  • Freemium Model: Websites offer free content but add a “subscribers-only” link, providing paying subscribers exclusive access to premium features (such as archives or special promotions).
  • Newsletter Model: Access to a digital or print newsletter is provided to subscribers only.
  • Membership Model: A user-driven, content-based model wherein paid members enjoy access to a library of information on topics related to your business. Membershipsubscriptions create an online community of users who share a common interest or passion.
  • Magazine Model: Subscribers gain access to issues of a print or digital magazine related to your website (the magazine should be issued with regular frequency and be easily downloadable as a PDF, viewed in HTML, or stored in a closed document format).
  • Blog Model: Readers who subscribe become part of a community and are welcome to post comments. While originating as ‘personal soapboxes,’ blogs are increasingly being used by businesses as part of their online strategies. Blogs can introduce a new product, announce upcoming events, get news out publicly and quickly, or share company news/information. Many bloggers also use their blog to boost visibility by announcing speaking engagements, books deals, work in other publications, and more.

To capitalize fully on a subscription model for your website, consider investing in subscription management software, designed to help you manage all aspects of the platform – including billing, managing recurring payments, providing multiple credit card payment options, and canceling/upgrading/changing plans.
Businesses are increasingly adding a subscription component to their existing monetization strategies.
Eldad Ben Tora has Over 12 years of experience in the strategy and development of products for social and commercial platforms with strong emphasis on product positioning, strategy and design. Our great eCommerce Service can provide all the subscription services tools you need, allowing you to capitalize on the technology and enjoy the expected increment in revenue.

Is Your Website Deliciously Sticky?

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What is the point of having a website?
It’s to let people know all about your business, your products, your services; it’s to give them the information they need to contact you; and it’s to give them the information they need to choose you over your competitors. It’s also supposed to convince people to browse your site and keep them coming back for more. Essentially, you want people to stick to you like glue and that is why you need a ‘sticky site’.
A sticky site is one that gives visitors want they want immediately and entices them to click internal links so that they can find out more. It also makes them want to share the stickiness with their friends, like delicious fudge.
What makes a site sticky?
There are two main factors that contribute to the stickiness of your site.
1)     Website design
2)     Content
Web design
A lot of businesses, especially small businesses, skimp on site design. One reason is that they think it’s too expensive. But the cost of losing customers through a slap-dash site far outweighs the cost of a decent looking website.
Some businesses mistake flashy for professional. They try to jam-pack their sites with too many features, to many colours and too much information from the get-go. One of the key factors of sticky site design is simplicity. Simple doesn’t have to be bland or stark; it can still be striking and bold.
In addition to being overwhelming, flashy sites can take a long time to load. Sites with a long loading time are likely to die far quicker death.
Think of your site as a map; it should direct people to where they want to go via the most direct route. In web jargon, you want a site that is intuitively navigable and usable.
Content
Content doesn’t consist only of words. Images, polls, competitions, videos – they’re all content. Search engines like words and well-tagged images and videos, so you need to choose your words (keywords) carefully. But searchers like to be engaged, which basically means that you still need to choose your words carefully.
Your content is what sets you apart from your competitors, it’s what attracts and keeps attention. It needs to be especially sticky. Once again, you don’t want to overwhelm your visitors with information. Once again you want to keep it simple. Bear in mind that you want to be clear and succinct and not curt and laconic.
Every page should have a goal and the content must support that goal. Steven Bradley says that you should follow the inverted pyramid style of writing. That’s all the most important information right at the top and the lesser details trailing down.
Search and social
Jordan Kasteler (Search Engine Land) says that you need to consider the different needs of search and social users.
Search users are likely to be looking for something specific – they want certain information and they want it now so they can convert. Social users are likely to be browsers – they’re curious; the kind of people who tell salespeople that they’re ‘just looking’ in a store.
Balancing these needs needn’t be too tricky because there is a fair bit of overlap. They both want information in as simple a format as possible, but search visitors are more likely to want your services/products and purchases pages, while social users are more likely to want your blog and about us pages – but they also want to see your services and products.
Basically, if your website and your content are designed with users in mind, you have a good chance of achieving stickiness.
Sources:
http://searchengineland.com/making-your-site-sticky-for-both-search-and-social-users-134233
http://www.vanseodesign.com/web-design/inverted-pyramid-design/
 
This guest post was written by Sandy Cosser on behalf of Elemental, a specialist web development company that balances your needs with those of your online visitors. Follow Sandy on twitter @SandyCosser