At this time of year many organizations are completing their strategic planning and budgeting for the year ahead. It's an opportunity to reflect on the previous year to analyze what worked, what didn't, and what should be priorities for 2015. Here at Deep Dish Digital we too have had a chance to do some reflection and analysis specifically as it relates to online marketing for our clients. We do our best to stay on top of trends and compare that with what's actually working and what's just hype. Based on this here is our gift to you - Recommendations for what your online marketing priorities in 2015 should focus on:

Make sure your website design is modern

As a general best practice it's recommend you refresh your website's overall design every four years or so. We're not advocating you upgrade your website just for the sake of it, but after four years the web will have changed significantly - New programming technologies, new browser standards, and new ways regarding how people are using the internet (i.e. mobile access). In addition, website design is much like the fashion industry, constantly evolving with new looks and aesthetics. If your website looks out of fashion then there's a good chance it's internal workings are also out of shape. The good news is that it's never been cheaper or easier to create a new website especially if you don't require anything too sophisticated (e.g. integrated with internal systems or embedded software-as-a-service). Most small and medium sized business can get a modern website built for less than $1000 if you use tools like WordPress, Squarespace, or Shopify.

Treat your website like an actual store or office

Often websites are treated like a marketing task you can check off the "to-do" list once complete and then forget about it until problems arise. This is the wrong approach. If you have analytics set up on your website, and you should, you'll find your website probably gets more traffic than any of your stores, dealerships, or offices combined. Typically, most visitors to a website are "new visitors" compared to "returning visitors" so it's paramount that you make a good first impression. Society is shifting to performing more and more activities online that used to be conducted offline, so your marketing strategy should reflect changing consumer habits. Your website is no longer an online brochure, it's your most visited business location.

Being mobile is the new black

The hype around having a mobile strategy and website sometimes seems a bit much, but the truth is the amount of web traffic being generated from mobile devices has experienced staggering growth in the past few years. More than 70% of Canadians have a smartphone or tablet and this is increasingly becoming their main device for surfing the web. When we analyze our client's websites mobile traffic from the past four years it has gone from under 10% to more than 30% and in some cases approaching 50%. If your website looks or acts broken on a mobile device then you're missing out on a large portion of traffic. The world is becoming increasingly mobile and so too should your online marketing strategy.

Stop obsessing about SEO and instead amp up your PR

There has been a cottage industry built up around search engine optimization (SEO) with a plethora of companies offering services to increase website placement within search results for key terms. However, recent updates by search engines like Google has made it increasingly difficult to get results just by optimizing your website's content and links. There are definitely some basics that all websites should adhere to so that they can be properly indexed by search engines (see: seo simplified for short attention spans), but beyond good hygiene you need to really focus on attracting the attention of reputable people to link to you and talk about you online. Search engines more than ever operate on the principal of treating the web as a popularity contest - If reputable people, websites, and press are referencing your business and linking to it then your popularity quotient goes up. Foster relationships with influential people and press and you'll soon be the belle of the ball.

Create content for lead generation

Does your website offer content beyond being a large brochure of sales copy? If not, you have the equivalent of a media station that broadcasts nothing but commercials and very few are going to want to visit that regularly. People use the web for two main reasons: to solve a problem or be entertained - Your website should follow suit. In 2015 commit yourself to generating content that brings value to your audience instead of trying to only sell them something. If you've created a really valuable piece of knowledge then put it behind a landing page that requires people to submit an email address to download it. Now you have a lead you can add to your email database and nurture into the future with more valuable content. Tell your story, don't sell your story.

Explore do-it-yourself online advertising

The free ride of social media marketing is over and you now have to pay-to-play. But, we're going to let you in on a secret, a lot of online advertising is much simpler to execute than you think. Unless you need to do a national campaign across multiple demographics with millions of impressions then there are a number of services that are ideal for small and medium sized businesses. Particularly, Facebook Ads are easy to set-up and even help with suggesting creative. You can literally create a facebook campaign in an hour and use it to drive traffic to your website or offer. There are also other services like AdRoll that allow you to create a campaign that will repeatedly show your ad to people who visited your website - It creates terrific awareness but can get expensive since you pay for impressions. Google AdWords is also a DIY option to consider although it can get complicated quickly; if you choose to use Google Adwords try start with their "lite" version called Google AdWords Express.

We hope you enjoyed our list of online marketing priorities for 2015. Did we miss something? We welcome your comments and feedback. Happy holidays and all the best in the upcoming year.

Deep Dish Blog

ADVICE, TIPS & INSIGHTS