START 2014 ON THE RIGHT FOOT
Well, welcome 2014! The start of the year has kicked off very positively.
Website Design in Bury St Edmunds and Suffolk seems to be quite a hot subject at the minute and I’m really enjoying speaking to some new businesses and of course meeting up with some of our existing clients, to discuss how we can help throughout 2014.
As any business, we also need to start thinking about how to generate new business throughout 2014 ourselves. Coming from a media/advertising background myself, I suddenly find myself engulfed in the many different directions we could go and of course spend our budgets!
For me, I’m going to start with the basics; I’m going to look at what happened during 2013 and where our main business came from and of course, which was the most successful part of our business. I’ll then focus on that section and start to diversify in that sector as much as we can.
I can safely say, our Website Design in Bury St Edmunds and Sudbury, Suffolk was the more positive side of the business, we completed over 30 websites last year, which showed good growth on the previous year. This was a direct result of taking on Shane, who had previously been a freelance Website Designer in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. Shane brings a wealth of experience with him and his ability to learn new techniques and programming skills is frankly amazing – well done Shane, keep it up mate!
Our App Development remained solid throughout 2013, publishing over 20 new apps on the market(s) for a manor of different clients, not just in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk but, throughout the Globe..
So, how am I going to attack the promotion of these two services? Here are my tops tips for 2014;
1. Go Mobile. One of the first things you should focus on, is your clients mobile experience. They say by the end of 2014, mobile traffic in the UK will almost definitely make up the majority of all web activity in the UK. This means a re-design of your website is going to be very important, or you are going to lose out to the competition.
2. Collect Data. Whether you are a large or small business, you should develop your email marketing strategy during 2014. Use your existing database and build on this, making sure your data is clean and targeted to the correct people – your customers! Use techniques in store to capture more details and send out useful monthly newsletters/promotions to encourage these customers to come back, or spread the word to their family or friends.
3. Site Engine Optimisation. Most of you have heard of SEO, even if you are not actively doing it. During 2014, it is no longer an option to ignore it! Lets face it, most if not all of your web traffic comes via one of the major search engines and if you are not ranked on the first page for the keywords associated with your business, then you are losing business to a competitor – Fact! Start thinking about the service you provide i.e Website Development in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk or use keywords such as Web Agency Suffolk, Creative Agency Suffolk, Web Designers Suffolk etc etc… You need to bear in mind, if you go through an SEO agency, they will charge you based on a number of keywords, so my advice is to try and target an area, as the competition for your product is more likely to be less in a specific area, rather than going up against the World! We offer a wide range of SEO plans, these start from £125 +VAT per month, give us a shout if you would like to discuss further…
4. Social Media. Lets face it, Social Media is not a fad. In fact, Social Media has definitely become a great source for new business, on a commercial level. It offers an affordable, easy and quick solution for your business to connect to your customers. Nowadays, it would be a business ‘faux pas’ if you do not have a presence on any, if not all of the social medias out there. If you don’t have time to do it your self, you can also contact us and we can have a look for you, just once a month would be a good start.
5. New Adventures. Try something new in 2014! Even as a small business ourselves, I couldn’t believe the £1000′s we spent on marketing last year, without even realising we were doing it! I must admit, the first thing to go was Yell. Never have we had an enquiry from Yell, nor do expect we ever will. I’m quite happy with the free listing, it’s free! But, days are gone where I’ll pay £60+ per month for nothing. However, I’m not just saving my £60, I’m going to reinvest with new flyers, b-cards etc etc….what ever is left over can go towards the odd local advert or an increased Google campaign but, most importantly I want to try a variety of different media out, so I find out what works and what doesn’t. When I do, I’ll let you know…
Hopefully, someone out there will find this a little bit useful and of course, if you are a business looking for a web design agency in or around Bury St Edmunds or Sudbury, Suffolk be sure to drop us a line…
Have a great 2014!
