Strategy Archives

The value of an informative website targeted to the needs of prospects and customers can never be underestimated. But business owners who take website content planning and development a step further and create a simple system of website-content links and tools tailored to their industry will enjoy continuous site traffic and the intake of qualified leads.

Build a 2D Representation of Your Website with a Sitemap

A sitemap, or a flow chart diagram, is an effective website content development method to help organize a website’s structure and determine where information should be placed. Design trends favor a streamlined navigation structure with well-organized categories so visitors can find the content they are searching for, quickly and easily. Gloomaps provides simple site mapping tools to help create and build visual sitemaps.

The Crucial Question: Does Your Website Need a Blog?

Whether it’s a “blog” or not, you do need new, updated content on a consistent basis. The ideal place to put this website content is in a blog. You could post this content on a webpage, but it isn’t nearly as effective because readers can’t subscribe, and therefore you can’t obtain their emails to turn them into customers.

Your blog’s unique content also showcases your knowledge, and by posting links to it on your email campaigns, advertisements, and external blog sites your web site will receive more hits and email subscribers. In addition, branded social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube demonstrates your expertise and develop inbound traffic.

Drive Traffic to Your Website with Email Marketing Campaigns

It is vitally important to produce email campaigns featuring links to websites, blogs, and social media pages to complement business marketing strategies. These campaigns are a critical piece of a successful website content planning strategy. Think of your business website as the hub of the system. Your email marketing campaigns promote the content you create for your customers and prospects, and they drive traffic to the hub. If you are not currently using this strategy to promote your business, it’s time to add email marketing to the mix.

Everything else that connects and enriches the information on the hub will be content driven by external websites. Examples include websites like Yelp that provide reviews of businesses, industry associations, news media, and other websites that share press releases and blog posts.

Using this organized and consistent approach to website content planning and development will ensure that your site is information-rich and always up-to-date. Not only does it encourage you to blog about current trends and design fresh email campaigns, but it also demonstrates your connectivity to the industry at large and to your target market. To learn more about why developing a website content planning strategy is key for your business, contact us at Millennium Agency.

About Millennium Agency

Millennium Agency is a nationally recognized, top woman led B2B branding, positioning, and digital marketing firm who knows how to create value that emotionally influences your customer’s buying decision, giving you the competitive advantage. As your trusted partner in B2B software technology and manufacturing, we provide the branding and positioning framework that make an impact – so you can focus on what you do best – run your business successfully. With offices in Boston and New Hampshire, and a worldwide presence, the professionals at Millennium Agency would like to learn more about your business.  Visit www.mill.agency or book time here. 

In all honesty, you’d probably rather be watching this blog as a video right now. We’re not being modest or self-deprecating, we’re referencing data.

While outstanding blogs are an irreplaceable pillar of any marketing strategy, the data shows that in 2019, online video traffic could account for up to 80% of all consumer internet traffic. Facebook alone is generating more than 8 billion video views daily, and that doesn’t account for YouTube, Instagram, or Snapchat, just to name a few social media platforms that deliver video content to their millions of users.

Take it from data nerds like us, that sort of strategy is a no-brainer.

Text has much more Competition than Video

Whether it’s text messages, social media push notifications, emails filling our inboxes when we wake up, news headlines that shock us throughout the afternoon, or the ever-growing backlog of books piling on our shelves at night, each of us is swimming in a sea of copy. Even if your blogging team is staffed with the Shakespeares, Hemmingways, and Faulkners of the marketing world, it’s still best to not put all your focus into just one form of content marketing.

Video Ads can Boost Your SEO

The fact is, effectively crafted video ads are one of the strongest supports for your blogging efforts. How so? Well, in addition to acting as a way to draw potential customers deeper into your website, online video assets are one of the most efficient ways to supercharge your Google search ranking and rise above the competition. This bump is because having an engaging video guarantees the potential client will stay on the web page for as long as it takes to watch the clip. That user-dwell factors heavily into how search engines serve your website to curious users.

The more engagement on your website, the better chance your marketing team must keep users hooked with quality blogs and written content that can keep the conversation going.

There are More Places than Ever to Display Video Ads

Gone are the days when only the most well-funded advertising budgets could afford to display video ads. For businesses interested in video but hesitant to commit to buying TV air time, there are so many more options in the digital age. Thanks to the power of the internet, any business can run online video ads on services like Facebook with intensely focused geographic and demographic targeting to make sure you get the most bang for your buck.

In addition, the value of organic video views can’t be understated. While not every online video is likely to “go viral,” cultivating a consistent content production schedule that includes regular video blogs or tutorials is a great way to build a strong following on social media.

To learn more about how online video marketing can help your company and to get started on your very own video strategy, contact Millennium Agency today.

About Millennium Agency

I recently was on a call with a potential client who said, “My website was doing so well and now it’s not. Nothing has changed so I don’t understand why we are not generating leads and new sales.”

I replied, “The first thing you want to do is check your website metrics. The reason is that if you don’t keep your website current and your competitors do, you will decrease your website rankings, and before you know it, you may show up on the bottom of the list or on page two or three. The problem is only going to get worse.’”

In marketing, doing nothing gets you nothing. If you see a drop off in your web traffic it may be because you are not optimizing your website. Not doing anything may be part of the problem.

Plainly put, if you spend zero dollars maintaining your website, your return on investment will be … well…zero dollars.

I’m sorry to break the bad news to you, but here it goes; you can’t post content that doesn’t align with your company’s products and services on your outdated website on Friday and wait for the money to roll in on Monday. That’s not the way it works in today’s fast and ever-changing business landscape.

Case in point; I recently spoke with a well-known local business who wondered why business was down. It didn’t take long to identify the problem. Would you believe that their website wasn’t even mobile-friendly?

Now more than ever, your website needs to be a critical part of a marketing plan and keeping it updated is even more important. To drive your business goals, website optimization must be a top priority.

Why is the life of your website two years? That’s how long the product life cycle of your website is. If you own a small to medium sized business, your website needs an update every two years. Why? The website is the virtual extension of your brand. A lack of brand identity will damage your marketing results. Previously you could get away with updating your website every three to five years without damaging your brand or business, but the product lifecycle for a business website has shortened.

Technology is advancing at a much faster rate today than just five years ago. This pattern of humans advancing quicker and quicker as time goes on is what futurist Ray Kurzweil calls the “Law of Accelerating Returns (LAR).” LAR theory suggests that because technology is advancing so quickly, your website requires change at an exponentially faster rate than current practice dictates. Websites who don’t stay relevant risk maturing at an accelerated rate.

We see this trend all around us. That’s why we re-launched our website this month. At Millennium, we know how quickly design preferences are changing, and how our customer needs are evolving. We believe our website is our brand ambassador. Our website is another member of the sales team that works 24 / 7 making sure your needs are met. If you would like to take a tour of our new website or ask about how to manage the life of your website, please click here. If you feel that your business could benefit from website optimization, contact Robb Atkinson, Strategic Account Director of Millennium Agency.

About Millennium Agency

If you are a successful business owner, chances are your business’ website has a blog/article section, news releases, and a strong social media presence. If your business doesn’t publish content such as this regularly, you may want to reconsider the benefits offered by content creation.

Here are three reasons why content is key when it comes to strengthening your brand and promoting your business:

Build Your Brand

Content creation is exponentially beneficial to your branding efforts for a variety of reasons. The most significant way in which branding is strengthened is through the establishment of your positioning. Content displays your presence in your industry and gives your business a platform to discuss exactly who you are and what you’re all about.

A solid content creation strategy will not only strengthen your website but your social media standing as well. Posting full sized blogs and articles gives your social media pages more substance and gives followers more reason to frequently visit your pages as well. Engaging content functions to both maintain your social following and attract new followers too.

Show Yourself as a Thought Leader with Industry Presence

Generating content shows audiences that you are an authority in your field and a leading player in the conversations surrounding your industry.

By regularly publishing blogs and articles, you are consistently displaying your expertise in what you do. When consumers view your content and understand that you are a knowledgeable and trustworthy source, they are far more likely to come to you with their business. For example, if you owned “Joe’s Plumbing” and consumers could see on your website that you offer key tips on tracing a leak in a sink, there is a far higher chance that they will come to you to fix their sink.

Content is additionally beneficial because topics can be diversified to show your audience that you are more than just the product/service you offer. Offering a variety of engaging topics creates the thought-leader presence that many successful businesses hold. Presenting your business as a thought-leader separates your brand from the crowd and keeps you current and relevant to consumers in an ever-changing market.

Increase Website Traffic with Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

This last section is a critical advantage of publishing content. Search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc. prefer to place search results at the top of the page if their websites are constantly updated. This is because they want to provide users with the most up-to-date answers to their inquiries.

After conducting keyword and market research, you can home in on what it is your target audience is looking for on the web. Once you know this information, you can set up a content creation strategy that caters exactly to what they are looking for.

When content is both relevant and consistently published your business will begin to climb search result pages and therefore your business will experience higher website traffic, ultimately creating more leads and more sales.

In today’s day and age where consumers frequently turn to the internet for all of their inquiries, it is becoming increasingly more important for businesses to have a strong web presence. Filling a website with content strengthens your brand, creates a thought-leader presence, and enhances your SEO. If you feel that your business could benefit from a powerful content creation strategy, contact Linda Fanaras, President/Strategist of Millennium Agency www.mill.agency.

About Millennium Agency

Have you noticed that most businesses include articles and blogs on their websites, and post frequently to social media? The internet has changed the way businesses reach out to and communicate with consumers. Blogs, articles, posts, and more are part of a business’ content strategy. Content development helps brands retain their current customers as well as connect with potential customers. In addition to lead generation, there are many other benefits of having a content creation strategy.

Here is why reaching out to a skilled content development team is a great investment that can help your brand succeed:

Stay Current

Constant creation of well-written material on your website is essential to staying current on the web. By updating your site with relevant information, you can increase the flow of traffic to your pages and educate prospects about new and exciting topics related to your brand. In addition to new customers visiting your website, providing consistent, memorable content will help your business stay in the forefront of your existing customers’ minds.

Having content developers produce current information for your business is also beneficial for search engine optimization (SEO). Search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing place regularly updated websites at the top of their search results. This is because they want to provide the most useful information to their users, and updated sites are often the best source for new information.

All too often, a good business that produces an excellent product or service will come up lower on a search engine’s list of results, simply because their website has not been updated with recent information. A great way to ensure that your business has the best possible SEO is to invest in skilled content creation that keeps your site flooded with interesting information.

Promote your Brand

Skilled content development will help you place your business in the industry spotlight. For example, if your business produces anti-virus software, it is important to show your customers and social media followers that you are a thought leader in that field. Posting articles and blogs that detail new and exciting industry information shows your readers that you are a key player in your field. Content development also enhances word-of-mouth advertising from your readers sharing your insights with others.

Reach a Diverse Customer-Base

A skilled content development team can help you produce content that appeals to a broad customer base to stimulate lead generation. Experienced writers know how to develop messaging that resonates with a diverse customer base and can write professionally about a variety of different subjects. By diversifying your content and utilizing targeted writing strategies, you can achieve recognition from readers who may not have previously shown interest in your business.

The digital era has changed the way businesses communicate. By investing in skilled content creation, you can ensure that your business stays current, promotes your brand as an industry thought leader, and diversifies your audience. If your business could utilize new content creation strategies, contact Linda Fanaras, President/Strategist of Millennium Agency www.mill.agency.

About Millennium Agency

It may be easier than ever before to get involved with web design and development. There are a myriad of software tools and hosting companies which make it very easy, even for someone with almost no background in the field, to put together a decent-looking website today.

But – should you? There are some ways that poor web design can really detract from your site, and send visitors running for the hills. If you have a business and you’re putting up a new website, you should be aware of and avoid the pitfalls listed below. It’s still a good idea to leave design and development to the professionals, especially if you’re also incorporating content marketing, copywriting, brand strategy, and other elements.

Forget splash pages

About the only thing a splash page accomplishes these days is to increase your bounce rate, because visitors can’t immediately locate what they came for, so they leave in frustration. It’s much better for visitors to see your home page first, so the menu can quickly direct them to the category of information they came for in the first place.

Non-uniform presentation

When visitors to your site are confronted by several different font sizes, clashing color palettes, and non-traditional locations for expected information like the Home, About, Services, and Contact pages, they quickly form a negative impression. They won’t waste time trying to figure out what makes them uncomfortable – they’ll just leave.

Logo navigation

Not surprisingly, a majority of visitors to web pages have the impression that by clicking on the company logo, they will be navigated directly to the Home page. It’s a very simple thing to ensure that this expectation is met, and that you don’t give someone a reason to move off your site.

Excess or oversized images

Having numerous graphics and images may be appealing to users, but there is a cost for including all those images – it slows down the display. The last thing you want is for a site visitor to be sitting there, staring at a screen which is ‘loading’. Studies show that about 40% of all users will skip town when confronted with this slow-loading scenario.

Overlooking the value of whitespace

This may sound like a curious ‘mistake’ to make, but there is no doubt about the truth of it. Over-crowded screens that have too much text and too many images make the screen just plain busy, and hard to interpret at a glance. Sometimes a glance is all you might get from a trigger-fingered user who’s just a mouse-click away from the next site. By strategically incorporating significant whitespace, the overall presentation remains clear and uncluttered, far more palatable to the nervous visitor.

If it’s time to focus on great web design, using best practices, then contact Linda Fanaras, President/Strategist of Millennium Integrated Marketing www.mill-im.com at [email protected] or 877-873-7445.

About Millennium Agency

Millennium Agency is a national, award-winning, digital, creative, content/PR, and video marketing firm. With offices in Boston and New Hampshire, our team unites creative branding and data analytics to accelerate our clients’ growth, while combining our clients’ vision with our marketing expertise to increase sales opportunities and drive brand success. From video advertising and web design to social media and PR, Millennium can guide your marketing efforts every step of the way. Contact the professionals at Millennium Agency to learn more!

Linda Fanaras is the President and Founder of Millennium Agency (www.mill.agency) located in Manchester, NH, and Boston. She can be reached at 877-873-7445 or [email protected].

So, you think your company has a good-looking website? That’s great. The problem is appearance is only half the battle. The real question is: do your customers trust it? As digital marketing continues to become a large part of everyday life it is important to gain and maintain customers’ trust. One simple way to do this is through a website design that will increase conversion rates. Building trust through the web has the potential to increase website conversion rates. By following these seven simple steps you can help your company create an authentic web design and build trust with your customers for years to come.

Add a Contact Us Page

Always be sure to incorporate a “Contact Us” page within your website. Contact pages show your company is inviting feedback and listening to customer concerns. Being open to a dialogue with your customers is a great way to build positive relations and a 2015 B2B Web Usability report found 98% of respondents would leave a website without a contact page, diminishing the credibility you’re trying to build online. In addition, be sure to include a phone number and email address, but also a physical address for the company. A physical address gives the customer the appearance the company is tangible and tangible items increase trust as they usually appear more realistic.

Add an About Us Page

Try to include pictures and bios for the employees within your “About Us” section to add a personal connection with the customer and help build trust and loyalty. Also be sure to add each employee’s social media links in the “About Us” section. Customers can use these to build interactions with both employees and the company. It is important to be responsive with your social media accounts and interact with customers as often as possible. This gives customers the impression that you care and are listening.

Publish Papers/Reports

Increasing trust and validity can also come from publishing educational material. Companies who only use social media were found less trustworthy than those with recognized work. If your company is able to, add a link to these publications through a website and allow customers to view them for free. This helps to build trust by eliminating the privacy concerns customers face if they are required to share their personal information.

Keep Your Web Design up to Date

Your web design and content should be kept current and consistent. Keeping up with current design trends is advisable, but avoid changing the design too often as this can decrease brand recognition and negatively impact SEO. Design trends change almost every year, but when your website goes from a calm layout with a menu bar at the top to a scrolling screen with no menu bar customers may get confused. Confusion turns customers away as they do not want to spend the time to navigate your website trying to find what they are looking for.

Incorporate UX and UI

When designing a website, think about the five elements customers want to avoid: busy layouts, pop-up advertisements, small print, lack of color and slow load times. A well-designed UI circumvents common distractions and deterrents, guiding the customer through an ideal UX, which keeps them on your website and leads them to a desired end product.

Implement an Easy Navigation System

Ensure your webpage has an easy navigation system. Customers will spend very little time looking for something on a website. If you are able to guide customers through your website with ease, it will help increase your conversion rates. Utilizing both UX and UI are great ways to ensure your company’s website is easy to navigate.

Provide Social Proofs

Take advantage of social proofs such as press/customer logos, case studies, and number of subscribers, etc. to add credibility to your site. Adding success stories can build trust with customers because it invites them to become part of the story. Additionally, this is a great way to add transparency within your website, allowing the customer to see who you are and what your company is about.

By using these seven elements your website can go from a good-looking website to a user-friendly and trustworthy site all while increasing customer satisfaction. Increased customer satisfaction will lead to longer time spent on your site, leading to a better conversion rate and improved customer relations.

Do you think your website has what it takes to maintain a trustworthy relationship with your customers? Contact us to learn more about website development or for a free website evaluation.

About Millennium Agency

How to use WordPress has become one of the leading blogging platforms on the internet. What many users still do not realize, is that WordPress can be used in many ways other than just blogging. The user-friendly content management system (CMS) can also be utilized for business related reasons, as well as personal projects. (more…)

Given that Google Analytics is one of the most widely used tools to track website traffic, and one our agency uses itself, we decided it would be a good idea for a little Analytics 101. This week we’ll review the ins and outs of the content tracking data within Google Analytics. (more…)