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Web Design UK - The Web Surgery

Free Website Health Check

By Search Engine Optimisation, SEO, Top Tips, Web Design, Web Design UK

Do you have a website and not sure how you can improve the performance?  – Get Our Free Website Health Check Today!

Whether you have just launched your new website or have been around for several years, it never hurts to check in and see if your site is doing all it can.

The Web Surgery offer a Free Website Health Check which has been designed by our talented web experts to provide all our customers with real insight into their website and how it can be improved.

Nobody is perfect and good businesspeople always look to improve and invest in their online presence. If you’re not sure why your website isn’t delivering the results you want, book your Free Website Health Check today.

What makes a Good Website?

There are many different factors that go into a well-designed, effective and popular website.  Our free digital health check is your opportunity to get your website the professional once over, with recommendations for how it can be improved.

A good website incorporates many different features and it will include:

  • Suitable, responsive design: well-designed websites which are responsive for all devices and screen sizes are favoured by Google and satisfy your customers. The web design UK customers can benefit from means there is no excuse for a poor design and our web design services are available on a scaled tariff to suit all budgets
  • Search engine optimisation: how do you expect your website to be found by search engines if you haven’t optimised it? SEO should be an integral part of your business’ digital strategy.
  • Fresh content: the most popular websites are regularly updated. You need to provide your visitors with quality, regularly updated content and the easiest way to do this is through a blog or through social media channels which can be embedded in your site such as YouTube.

We can provide recommendations in all these areas and can also discuss our services in relation to each individual area, if you decide you need professional help to lift your site to the next level. Things which you may not think are that important such as spelling errors or broken links can have a significant negative impact on your website.

Get in touch for your FREE Website Health Check

You want to rank well for your chosen keywords and you want your website to impress all potential customers that come your way.  If you’re not currently getting the traffic you want or perhaps you are getting traffic but not conversions, then our free health check can help point you in the right direction.

Get in touch today for your free Website Health Check and see how we can help.

Web Design London - The Web Surgery

Top 5 tips on how to become a successful entrepreneur

By The Web Surgery, Top Tips, Web Design, Web Design UK

Having a great idea for a new business is just the first step to becoming an entrepreneur. But being a successful entrepreneur takes a lot of dedication and determination. Below are the 5 top tips on how you can become one;

Passion

We’ve all heard the phrase ‘Do what you love and you’ll never have to work a day in your life.’ This isn’t necessarily true. Being an entrepreneur is not a 9-5 job. The most successful men and women in the world work around the clock, sometimes living on 3-4 hours sleep a day. You need to live and breathe your business if you have any chance of reaching your goals.

Be healthy

It might sound cliché but yes, being healthy counts for a lot if you truly believe in your business idea. Successful men and women can set their alarms for as early as 4am and swear by it. Get up early, go for a run, eat a healthy breakfast and get to work. By 9am you will have caught up with emails, set a list of tasks for the day and all before your neighbour has even brushed her teeth!

Watch your wallet

Nobody is going to give you money to begin with. It’s easy to make a little bit of cash and then go crazy with it. Investing back into your business is a no-brainer. ‘Speculate to accumulate’ as the saying goes. Be sensible and think about the funding your business will need in order to fund a lavish lifestyle.

Focus

Do one thing at a time. If you’re going to do a job, do it right. Rushing a business plan is just setting yourself up for failure and your goal shouldn’t always be to make money. Focus on your mission by setting new targets on a weekly/monthly basis. Maybe you’re looking to increase traffic to your website or upsell your product through social media. Focus on growing your idea and you will eventually see the benefits of doing this.

Go with your gut

Trust your instincts. If something doesn’t feel right then don’t do it. This is your business idea and you are the boss. There are so many horror stories about entrepreneurs investing their time and money into ideas that they don’t feel comfortable with and before they know it, are back at square one and penniless. Your intuition is your most valuable asset so use it wisely.

The importance of having an online identity

By Marketing, PR, The Web Surgery, Top Tips, Web Design, Web Design UK

Having a positive online identity is a great way to market yourself or your business. But why is it so important and how do you create one?

If you are searchable in an engine then you are already on the right track.  A small business with a website is usually guaranteed to target more of an audience than one without. Having a website lends credibility to your brand and adds a professional touch to your business.

Build your brand.

It is also important to try and build a strong social media presence. Not only does this help to promote your brand but it also creates and prolongs relationships between clients and potential ones. To do this, you need to consider which platforms are suitable for you. Facebook and Twitter are the most popular but if your business is quite visual (maybe you sell art or jewellery) you might consider using Instagram or Pinterest as well. Linkedin is useful for areas such as sales and recruitment.   Using every social media platform isn’t always necessary and you might find yourself investing time in something that is of no benefit to your business. Using at least two forms of social media is usually enough.

People love reviews.

If your business has some great feedback then let the public know about it. Customers use social media as a point of contact for customer service and the way your business is perceived can be based on how many positive/negative reviews there are. Feedback is key to driving sales and helps to establish a trustworthy and powerful brand. Unfortunately, negative reviews are hard to banish but if you can focus on building a positive view of your business, they will move further down the pages of a search engine which makes it difficult for users to see.

Contact us today to find out how we can create or improve your online identity.

App Development

Benefits of developing an app for your business

By Marketing, PR, The Web Surgery, Top Tips, Web Design, Web Design UK

Whether you like it or not, technology is the future.

Many businesses now choose to develop an app for their customers so they can be accessed easily from anywhere at any time.

Below are a list of reasons as to why now might be a good time to create one for your business.

 

Increase sales

Most of us carry either a mobile, tablet or both around with us everywhere we go in our day to day life. Having an app makes it easier for your customer to browse and shop your products/services leading to an increase in sales.

Engage with customers

Personalized apps mean that you can engage with your customers through:

Easy to access payments: This is a big time saver as opposed to filling out lengthy registration forms. A customer who finds your services quick and easy to pay for will always be happy to use your app and even recommend you to other users.

Loyalty rewards: Many big business apps often target their customers with loyalty rewards. These might include discounts, special offers or vouchers. This is a great way to not only increase sales but more importantly to engage with the user through great customer service.

Push notifications: These alert your customer to your business when they are least thinking about it. A simple notification reminds the user that your app is there and that it can be used at any time. The beauty of creating an app is so that customers can access your business in an instant.

A place for everything and everything in its place!

Having an app is like having your very own direct marketing channel. And what better way is there of creating awareness for your brand? Every piece of information you gather which you feel appeals to your target audience will be available to them all in one place. The more your customers use your app, the more it will be recognised.

Visit us today to find out more about creating an app for your business and how it might benefit you.

Web Design London - The Web Surgery

Top 3 tips for website success

By Ecommerce Web Design, The Web Surgery, Top Tips, Web Design, Web Design UK

Creating a website is a great way to market your business. Your services/products are available to the public 24/7 and are visible to a much wider audience.

However, it isn’t as simple as launching your website and then seeing your profits soar dramatically. There are many technological tools used to design a website and then you have to think about how to compete with hundreds and thousands of other online businesses. Below are three top tips to catapult you to website success!

1. Understanding your business and why people will visit your website

There is no point in creating a website for your business if you don’t know why you need one. You must ask yourself how your business will benefit from being online. It is always a good idea to establish a solid plan for how you want your website to look and work.

Example: If you work in eCommerce, your website will need to function quickly so that customers can order and pay for products with ease. Therefore, your business is all about image and the better quality your pictures are, the more the customer is likely to place an order.

2. Navigation 

Another important tip is to make sure the user can easily navigate around your website. You need to think like the customer. Why am I visiting the website? What do I want from this? You will lose customers if they find it hard to understand how your site works.

Example: If you own a beauty salon, you might create a website to make it easier for customers to book in for a treatment. Therefore, as soon as the user enters the site, they need to see straight away what they need to do in order to book an appointment online. Once they’ve spotted this link, it may encourage them to have a browse on other pages

3. Inform your customer with the most important details

From the second the user enters your website, they need to know in roughly 3 seconds who you are and what you do. Links to your services/products should be highly visible as well as contact information and (if appropriate) prices. It is easy for your customer to leave your site and click on a competitor if your details are hard to find.

Contact The Web Surgery today to see how we can help create your website.

Web Design Consultation

Top 5 benefits of SEO

By Marketing, SEO, The Web Surgery, Top Tips, Web Design, Web Design UK

Search Engine Optimisation is one of the most effective online marketing strategies you can use.

So what is SEO?  This is a clever tool used to improve search engine rankings. Search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing and so on) display links to pages based on how relevant they are to the user.

Below are the 5 benefits of using SEO.

1 – Open business 24/7

SEO allows your business to be available to the public 24/7. This means that users on the other side of the world in different time zones will be able to connect with your service when you are in bed. Meaning you could literally be making money in your sleep!

2 – Brand awareness

Being in the first couple of result pages on any search engine shows that you are trustworthy. Users will then associate your content with your brand. The higher up your page ranks with a search engine, the more aware the user will be with your brand.

3  – Cost Effectiveness

SEO specifically targets users who are actively searching for your product/service online. If you put enough time and effort into learning about how you can stay on top of the competition, you will save yourself tons of money as opposed to paying for adverts.

4 – Increased Traffic

If your website ranks high up on the search engine result pages, this increases traffic (users) to your website. Websites are usually found through search engines, so if your website is highly visible, this will drive clients directly to your business!

5 – You have to be in it to win it

Most of your competitors WILL be using an SEO service. So if you don’t invest, your chances at staying above or on the same level as your competition are very slim.

If you want to get the best out of your online business, investing in an SEO service is vital.

Get in touch with The Web Surgery today for more information and to see how we can help your business.

Black Friday Deals 2016

Black Friday 2016 – Black Friday Sale Starts Today!

By Marketing, The Web Surgery, Top Tips, Web Design UK

Our Black Friday Sale starts today!

Up to 50% off!

Find the best Black Friday Deals & Sales for 2016 at The Web Surgery.  The Web Surgery’s Black Friday Sale is now on until 23:59 GMT on Friday 25 November 2016.

We’ve reduced EIGHT of our services with up to 50% off – see our latest Black Friday deals…

  1. Health check for your website, marketing and SEO
  2. Website updates
  3. Social media content updates
  4. SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)
  5. Newsletters
  6. Marketing
  7. Logo design
  8. Video production

We are also offering £100 for anyone to Refer A Friend to us for Websites, Video, SEO, Social and Marketing*.

To get our latest Black Friday Deals sent to you – just fill out the form below with your First Name, Last Name and Email address.  We will then send you all of our Black Friday deals.

Black Friday Sale – up to 50% off!

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10 ways to increase website traffic

Ten Ways to Increase your Website Traffic

By Marketing, SEO, The Web Surgery, Top Tips, Web Design UK

You have a fantastic website you have invested in. You are really proud of the design and are happy to share and promote it but you still need to increase your traffic further.

There are many ways you can increase your website traffic, some more technical than others. However, all these methods of boosting your website traffic can be put into practice and achieve quick and effective results. Here’s our top ten methods for increasing traffic:

1. Optimise your Site using Researched Keywords

Before you get started trying to boost your website traffic through any other methods, spend some time focused on your keywords. Optimise your site to your chosen keywords and develop a keyword list which is relevant to your customer base. You can then choose a focus keyword for each of your web pages and blog posts and ensure it is naturally woven into your content in a way which is informative to readers and easily crawled by search engines to generate organic traffic.

2. Blog Regularly

Blogging is not about putting any old content up on your site and leaving it there. Blogging is about providing helpful, insightful content which appeals to your target audience. If you have a good handle on your customer base and have an understanding of their hopes, cares, likes and dislikes, then your blog can be packed with relevant and useful information for them. Spend time monitoring your audience, on social media and through any feedback methods you use. With this research you can create blog posts which solve problems you know exist in your target audience. All blog posts should also be well-structured, with headers and sub-headers and of course optimised images.

3. Include Internal Links

On your pages and also on your blog posts you should include internal links to your other content. Every blog post should include at least one internal link as this helps guide your readers through your site. It also looked upon positively by the search engines and makes your content much more likely to be found.

4. Syndicate and Promote your Content

Writing quality content is one thing but you also need to share it. Promote it on your business Facebook page and share it on your personal profile. Post your content on LinkedIn both on your profile and your company page. You can also create image posts which are more effective on Twitter, so add a relevant graphic to your posts so it can stand out when posted on Twitter.

5. Use Facebook Groups

Facebook Groups have gone a huge resurgence recently and they are a great way of tapping into the niche, specific audience your business targets. Start a group which you can use to drive traffic to your site. Members can use the group to ask questions about your products or services and also get support when needed.

6. Target Long-Tail Keywords

Long-tail keywords are very specific phrases and niche keywords integral to your industry. They don’t have a high search volume but the point is when they are searched for, the users know exactly what they’re looking for. Businesses report getting much more quality traffic from long-tail keywords because they are less competitive and more focused.

Major keywords such as ‘inbound marketing’ or ‘shoe shop’ can take many years to rank highly for but you can be found in search engines for your chosen long-tail keywords much more quickly and you can expect people searching using these terms have a predisposition to buy or at least find out more when they reach a relevant site.

7. Show off with your Headlines

Your blog headlines should really sell your business and the content in question. Headlines significantly impact the popularity of a post because they are essentially what a user sees before clicking. Great headlines will deliver traffic via social media and will also boost the potential organic traffic that comes your way. Media outlets which have mastered the headline include well-known companies such as Upworthy and BuzzFeed. The whole success of these businesses is built on their bold headlines. However, the content has to match the headline and clickbait is not a successful strategy for online success.

8. Invest in Paid Search

You can get traffic to your site for free in many different ways but investing in paid search considerably boosts your success. If your website is converting well then the paid traffic you receive will soon be covered by the income you make from it. Google AdWords and other paid search methods are the fastest possible way of getting prospects to your website.

9. Consider Guest Posts

Both writing guest posts for other sites and accepting guest posts on your own helps to boost your website’s position. Guest posting elsewhere gives you the opportunity to share links back to your own site whilst accepting other people’s content means they will share the content on their channels too. Both these methods have reciprocal benefits and give you the chance to instantly increase your traffic.

10. Expand into Video

By using video on a landing page you can increase conversion by approximately 80%. The power of video has truly come into its own in the last few years and it provides another easily digestible content form for your site. All businesses can use video in some way or another from product reviews to how-to guides and promotional shots of your premises. Video is a rich form of content which audiences really engage with so if you become known for your videos, traffic will be boosted.

At The Web Surgery we specialise in helping businesses boost their traffic in a number of ways and believe all these tips are actionable. If you need further support or guidance you can get in touch with us today.

eLearning web design UK

Top Tips For Converting More Website Leads

By Marketing, SEO, The Web Surgery, Top Tips, Web Design UK

With an online presence you expect your business to generate more business.

Investing in a quality web design means you have the base to work from but what are you doing to ensure traffic that comes to your site turns into sales? Converting the traffic that arrives at your website into tangible custom does take a certain

Investing in a quality web design means you have the base to work from but what are you doing to ensure traffic that comes to your site turns into sales? Converting the traffic that arrives at your website into tangible custom does take a certain

Converting the traffic that arrives at your website into tangible custom does take a certain skillset but it can be learned. Anyone who visits your website is a potential customer and each lead has the potential to become a sale. Here we’re looking at several ways you can improve your conversion rates and see more leads turn into customers.

1. Goal-Orientated Design

Your landing pages must be focused on the goal you have in mind. You must optimise your landing pages with a clear and unmissable call to action. Without a clear call to action your potential customers may be enthusiastic and interested, but they won’t necessarily bite. Keep the pages uncluttered, the content concise and the focus on the sale and the benefits you’re offering your customer. Landing pages should be free of anything except the core deal or offer and how to redeem it.

2. Effectively Measure Results

You need to have a full understanding of your conversion process. Map it on a step by step basis so you can track individual actions and see exactly how each converted sale occurred. As you learn this process you will begin to see patterns emerge and these patterns can guide future exchanges with potential customers, improving the chance they too will be converted into sales. Measurement is essential for understanding your conversion rate and taking the next steps needed to improve it.

3. Offer Something Irresistible

Special offers have existed since the first sale was made in the first market. However, they can be optimised and designed to be too good to miss for your business. If customers are looking at a special offer they need to be convinced and this is your job. At the point of considering the offer they are already halfway there in terms of making a purchase so you simply need to nudge them a little further.

However, they can be optimised and designed to be too good to miss for your business. If customers are looking at a special offer they need to be convinced and this is your job. At the point of considering the offer they are already halfway there in terms of making a purchase so you simply need to nudge them a little further. High quality persuasive content, video demonstrations of products and authentic testimonials are ideal for selling a special offer and convincing customers they’re making a sound investment.

4. Improve Lead Quality

People land on your website all the time but not all of them are your target customer. Unqualified leads can be a drain on resources if you dedicated time and energy to pursuing them. Instead, utilise the data you’ve collected from your previous sales and create highly targeted landing pages which fulfil the needs of your perfect customer. This content will not only appeal to them exactly, it will also mean that unqualified leads look elsewhere. This saves you time and effort and allows you to focus your energies on the customer group most likely to make a purchase.

5. Use A/B Testing

How do you know what your customer really prefers if you don’t give them various options? A/B Testing allows you to hone your sales pages to perfection. There is singular way of knowing which style of call to action is best for your potential customers, unless you test out a number of options. The same goes for button colour, email or telephone preferences and other changeable factors.

A/B Testing will always bring up changes you can make, and sometimes it is the smallest change, like switching a red Buy Now button to a green Buy Now button that make all the difference.

Once you have reached the point that your business is getting steady traffic you should rightly congratulate yourself. However, this is not the end of the process and the next step is to find the qualified leads amongst this traffic and get those valuable conversions.

Have some questions on our Top Tips for Converting more Website Leads?

Contact The Web Surgery for a free no obligation chat and see how we can help.